How to Make Sense of the So-Called ‘Conversion Funnel’

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In this, the first in a series of articles on optimising your digital marketing strategies, Azam Marketing explores The Conversion Funnel.

Conversion Funnel.

I’ve been hearing the above mentioned over and over again in the countless meetings and conferences that I’ve attended in the past decade or so in this industry.

The word sounds powerful and sophisticated; however, sometimes I’m left wondering if we really understand what it is all about.

Let’s go back to the basics.

I guess a sales funnel would be best described as like a highway tunnel – it’s a means to drive large amounts of people to a certain goal or target…  get people directed from A to B.

Similarly, a conversion funnel’s main purpose would be to drive people from A to B in a controlled environment, for example getting consumers to search on your core PPC keywords, click on your text ad, and buy or enquire about your products and services that you offer as a business. Simple really isn’t it?

As simple as it might sound, you should be thinking about your Conversion Funnel strategy before you launch your marketing campaigns: who is your target audience, who will you be looking to drive to your site and by what means.

Should you use PPC, SEO, display or affiliates? Perhaps it should be a balanced mix of all?

When the potential customers are finally on your site, via whatever channel you decided to use, how will you get them to purchase your products or sign up for your services – and complete the journey you have determined you would like to take them along?

In two short and simple words: Action Plan.

Have one in place. And stick to it.

Make sure you are consistent with the message you are pushing through to your potential customers.

Ensure your ad texts and banners are highly relevant and compelling against the keywords you have selected. Ensure you direct users to the most relevant landing pages possible and that it’s easy and clear for them to buy your products or sign up to your services.

Don’t confuse the users by making them have an arduous journey through the site and don’t confuse them with too many choices.

We are humans after all and easily distracted. A crossroad with no signs, no-one telling us what to do or where to go… we are just going to turn back and return to where we came from.

Best strategy is to have as few clicks on your Conversion Funnel as possible and get the user to complete the path as painlessly and as quick as possible.

So what next? You’ve planned your strategy – you have your Conversion Funnel in place and it’s all ready to go.

In order to measure the effectiveness of your strategy, you should always measure and analyse the performance of your funnels.

Set up tracking on the Conversion Funnel path (for example using Coremetrics, Omniture or Google Analytics), and improve it where applicable. Identify the strong as well as the weak areas of the path.

Are there any parts in the journey that make the user drop off? What can you do to fix it?

It’s all about testing, refining and fine-tuning.

Due to the fast-changing nature of the internet, the behaviour of your target audience will be constantly evolving and we should always be a step ahead, ready to adapt and adjust.

It’s also important to look after your customers now that you’ve handheld them through the Conversion Funnel and made them take an action or complete a purchase. Do your utmost to ensure they become repeat customers and remind them about new products and services that may interest them.

Make them feel special.

Use Azam Marketing’s award-winning conversion rate optimisation team to significantly boost your sales! Email results [at] azam.net now with details about your website and what you require assistance with.