Create a Facebook Sales Funnel – Do’s and Don’ts

If you belong to the field of marketing, you probably have a good idea about the concept called the “customer decision journey” or “purchase journey”.

It’s the main concept which branches out into the overall customer experience which usually develops when a customer researches about your product, visits your store, purchases your product and gives you post purchase feedback.

For all marketers, the customer experience journey is one of the most important aspects of sales and promotion. After all, once your customer is happy with you, they’ll stay loyal to your brand for a potential lifetime.

Which is why, every marketer, store owner or retailer tries to woo their customer by providing them the best options that fit their needs.

But trying to win your customer over in real life is a lot easier than doing it on digital, or the internet. And to create that kind of camaraderie with your audience which will entice them to visit your e-store is not as simple when you consider all the factors involved in digital marketing. From search optimization to highly concentrated competition and creative ideas being introduced by brands everyday, you find yourself wondering how you can bring your customer to your store without getting bankrupt in the process.

Using a Digital or Facebook Sales Funnel:

The answer to this question is a facebook or digital marketing funnel.

Let’s focus on Facebook for now, as it is one of the most used platforms by both laymen and businesses.

An e-marketing funnel is basically your customer decision journey translated to digital. Like conventional purchases, your digital journey also involves four main steps:

• Research
• Selection
• Purchase
• Post-Purchase

The research phase starts when person G develops a need or want of a certain product. Say the product is a custom made suit. But G is travelling and will need to place an order online. Once that’s established, G will start their research online.

During their research, they also visit your website but leave the search midway and goes out for that work lunch they had scheduled.

Now while G enjoys their lunch, your work begins. The first step in creating Facebook’s marketing funnel is to target your ads in a way that they tap into the audience’s interests. And if they’ve already visited one of your digital channels, you can retarget them to remind them of your product.

For instance, G is interested in buying a custom made suit, you’re a brand who sells them. It’s a match! But how will you convince a potential customer to purchase your product or come back to your website? By showing them content that catches their attention.

Once G comes back from lunch, they open up Facebook again and the fifth post they see on their newsfeed is an ad from a website they visited a few hours back. G is a little creeped out by the invasive quality of digital advertising, but visits your website anyway.

Once browsing through the attributes of your product, they like what they see and decide to take it a step further and talk to your representative.

Congratulations, you’ve reached the selection stage.

They talk to your human rep or chatbot and like the way their query was dealt.

That, and a combination of free shipping, a variety of customization options, and a friend’s positive feedback on your Facebook page, enable them to make a purchase decision and they place their order.

Now, what brands need to understand is that a sales funnel doesn’t end after purchase. You are after all operating in a very competitive industry, and the more loyal customers your brand has, the more edge you have over your competition. To ensure that loyalty stays, your post-purchase advertisements or offers can retain those customers for you.

Use retargeting ads, custom audience options, engagement based ads and recommendation prompts to remind them of your brand.

If they have had a good experience, they’ll automatically engage with you and even write a glowing recommendation. Make sure that recommendation is available on both social and web.

Remember how the final push in G’s case was a friend’s online recommendation? Use those to create more sales and leads for your brand.

Digital vs Conventional Purchasing Journey

In a way, a digital or Facebook sales funnel is easier to follow than a real life one. For one, people are always on their phones. It’s the first screen they check when they wake up and the last one they switch off before sleeping. So if you’re visible on that screen, you’ll reach them one way or the other.

It’s also easier to build a patch to purchase journey for your audience through digital platforms. Here, not only can you track your audience’s search and purchase behavior in real time, but you can also create customized and scalable content which taps into their query and interest immediately.

Another reason is that people are more comfortable behind screens, and this enables them to talk more about their experiences. This means that they won’t only engage with you, but will also drop a feedback or two if you ask them too.

The Do’s and Don’ts of Creating a Facebook Funnel

We’ve discussed what a Facebook sales funnel is and why is it more beneficial. Now let’s discuss the do’s and don’ts of the process:

• Firstly, do set up tracking ads all across your web assets. This includes Facebook Pixel, SDK and Offline Events, and Google Analytics and Goal setup.
• Don’t forget to create custom audiences. Your retargeting options are vast if you know how to reach people who’ve previously engaged with your brand on digital. This creates recall for them which is always important for a brand.
• Do use Facebook’s conversion and purchase ads. The new development might be a tad more expensive than usual website click ads, but if configured properly, they can bring you quality leads in no time.
• Do set up proper conversation CTAs in your ads. For instance, Facebook recently introduced WhatsApp CTA ads in their algorithm. Learn how to connect WhatsApp to Facebook or add a call button on your page and use that to your advantage to create direct conversation with your audience to ensure 360-degree follow up measures that helps them get to know you better.
• Don’t be intrusive. Whether it’s retargeted ads or conversions, you need to make sure that your audience isn’t annoyed of your brand. And select your placements wisely. Select the Audience Network placement whenever you can and make sure your ad is being delivered with finesse.
• Do value your customer’s feedback. If they say your website needs to update their payment method, look into it. If they are cooperating with you, reward them by offering special offers or discounts. This not only keeps them happy, but also places you in their good books.
• Do use the updates and trends in e-commerce to your advantage. Be it voice search or 3D product showcasing, SEO optimization or mobile first indexing, use them to update your website to match the demands and preferences of your customers.

That’s all folks!

That’s how you create and maintain your sales funnel online. These funnels not only save you some major costs, but also create actionable results for you which can help you grow your brand to whole new levels.

So make sure you optimize your digital standing to the maximum, and keep in touch with your customers at all times.