What Is an E-Commerce Sales Funnel?

In the world of e-commerce, bringing a potential customer to make a purchase is not obvious. Marketing specialists have no choice but to develop different strategies to get in touch with potential customers and increase their sales.

With so much choice available, a potential customer can browse several websites before making a decision. How can a business reach and engage those prospective customers?

Source: Pixabay

What is an e-commerce sales funnel?

One way to make a sale would be to use the sales funnel. The purpose of the sales funnel is to sell an item or service through e-commerce. The process is to track a visitor upon arrival on a website until a purchase is confirmed. It differs from traditional web marketing, which consists of sending offers directly to the customer and restarting it several times by email. We'll be back soon on e-mail recovery.

As we mentioned, the sales funnel begins when the visitor enters a site looking for a solution to solve a problem. Because of his interest, he gives his email on a capture page (landing page) to receive either a discount on a first purchase, a gift, a newsletter, informative videos, etc.

The reward depends on the desire the company wants to offer. The email sent by the company will contain content and a link that will redirect the qualified prospect to a purchase offer web page. This is a different process from traditional marketing, as the company sends content before offers.

Sell, without selling

For example, a person searches for a sofa. She finds several models interesting, but she wants to continue her research before making an informed choice. She gives her email via a form or the capture page (landing page) in exchange for a gift. The email she receives includes content on the sofas, personalized videos and a link that brings her to another web page with the various buying offers. The customer will be more interested in completing the transaction as she will not feel the pressure to complete the purchase. That is why it is said that this process is about selling, without selling.

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The role of email in the sales funnel

Once the customer information is collected via the capture page, the company can reach the potential customer via email, but not any way. The registration is the entrance door to the sales funnel in order to have the possibility to contact the customer again. The company will have to determine how often it wishes to reach its target by email, and ensure that the experience remains pleasant for the visitor. Otherwise, negative impacts could harm the relationship.

There are two basic concepts:

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Spam Act

In Quebec, there is Canadian anti-spam legislation C-28 that targets companies that abuse the revival of emails. You can read the article onlegal framework for email marketing.

Ethics

The sales funnel is, in a way, based on the trust relationship the company wants to establish with its potential customer. Let's go back to the example of the visitor who wants to buy a couch. He made his registration because there was an interest. Later, when sending the e-mail, the company takes the opportunity to talk to him about real estate, a subject that has no direct connection to the couch. The potential customer may respond aggressively to the offer even if legally, the company has the right to do so. The potential impact of the company's shares is a loss of interest in the prospect and indirectly a possible sale.

Source: Pixabay

How many times?

With regard to reviving email, the company will be able to establish its approach to reviving qualified prospects. If a customer does not wish to receive emails on a daily basis several times, the customer may stop opening emails or unsubscribe from the mailing list. There is no written rule because everything depends on the characteristics of the target clientele and its needs.

According to Direct Marketing Association, approximately 35% of companies send between 2-3 emails per month, 21 between 4-5 times per month, 19% 1 emails per month and 9% between 6-8 emails per month in 2014. Don't forget that you have to give the recipient time to read the message.

Maintaining the e-commerce relationship

The main idea of the sales funnel is to sell while establishing a healthy relationship with potential customers. Sending emails with a lot of content, a link that redirects to a paid offer page and re-launching email takes an important place. Through the route, different processes can integrate into the sales funnel to optimize the relationship and sales. Establishing different strategies that respect the path of potential prospect is a way to convert it into a customer.

Source: Pixabay

Image cover page: Pixabay

Sotheary Chan