If you’re like most people you’ve heard of a sales or marketing funnel. For those who haven’t, it’s a broad series of steps customers go through on their journey with your company.
This is the 5 step marketing funnel model I use:
👋 AWARENESS
🤔 CONSIDERATION
💲 DECISION
🤝 LOYALTY
📣 ADVOCACY
Here’s where things get interesting.
I’ve found that founders typically invest the most time and money in top of funnel activities first, like spending money on Facebook ads to build awareness.
This is the number 1 mistake! Why?
If you don’t have the rest of the funnel optimized first, you’re literally going to be throwing away money, because those people likely won’t buy, and you won’t have a way to get in touch with them again.
So what do you do instead?
Invest time and money optimizing the bottom of funnel activities first, then work your way up.
This way, you know that every person who lands on your website at the top of the funnel will have the best chance of becoming a repeat customer by the time they reach the bottom.
Also, it’s soooo much easier to get an existing customer to purchase a second time than to get a new person to purchase once. You should be doing everything you can to nurture your current customers so ideally they never leave.
So what do you need to do at each step of the funnel? I’ve broken it down below:
📣 ADVOCACY
The best customers you can have are those people who not only repeatedly buy, but also tell all their friends about it too. That’s why it’s important to develop customers into advocates. It’s unlikely that someone who buys your product once will start referring people unless they have an amazing experience. This type of trust takes time to build. For this stage, target people who have purchased from you twice or more.
Build a Community
Your current customers are the best advocates for your products and businesses so it’s important to nurture and engage them. Your goal is to develop advocates who not only purchase regularly, but who encourage their friends and family to buy as well. To do this, invite customers to a private community page on Facebook, Slack, Discord, SMS, e-mail or others. Then regularly ask for their advice, have them taste test new products, and share behind the scenes updates. You can build community as a two way conversation, between you and an advocate, or invite everyone into a shared group.
Refer a Friend
These programs incentivize customers to spread your brand by offering a discount to a friend and receiving a discount for themselves. Customers must already have a high repeat rate so they value the discount. You also want to make it easy to share why a friend should try your Brand’s products.
Video Testimonials
Your best customers are often the best spokespeople for your brand, so encourage them to be! Offer them free product in exchange for a video review/ testimonial on why they love your product so much. How should you use this? Include the video on the product detail page to assuage new customer fears, share as organic social posts, and use in paid ads to really extend its reach. Make sure you explicitly get the customer’s permission through a video release to use the video in promotions.
Recommended Partners
Free Gift Milestones
Have you ever received a free gift from a brand that you weren’t expecting? I have and it’s always a welcome surprise. An easy way to make people feel valued is to reward them with a free gift for certain key milestones. Include a bonus gift when they receive their 2nd month’s subscription. Send some free branded swag for their 6th month subscription. Maybe include a $20 bill after their 1st year. Surprise and delight your customers and they’ll always remember you (and share with their friends).
Affiliate Program
The best programs help a brand gain more visibility while only paying out by commission. Effective programs 1) Have excellent rewards and commission structure to make sharing worthwhile. 2) Share posting inspiration to make it easy to create content. 3) Provide free product every month. 4) Build a relationship with each affiliate so they feel part of your community.
🤝 LOYALTY
Customer loyalty starts with someone’s first purchase. They liked your product enough to try it out, but now it’s up to you to win their hearts, minds, and tastebuds.
You want them to know everything there is to know about your products and brand, so they can live the lifestyle. The goal is to get this customer to enjoy the first purchase, then come back for a second.
E-mail Marketing Automation
E-mail is still the number 1 driver of repeat purchases for a brand. Why? It’s a perfect avenue to get information directly to a customer. Just like any relationship, you need to communicate in a valuable way while communicating often enough to stay top of mind. Set up key automation flows including welcome, shipping confirmations, abandoned cart, and reorder threshold emails.
Recommended Partners:
- Klaviyo
- Klaviyo is the recommended e-mail marketing platform for stores using Shopify because of the robust automation options.
- Pricing: Free for first 500 contacts, $30/month for 1000 contacts, $60/month for 2500
- Klaviyo
SMS
Communicating with your customers via text is a great opportunity to be more direct, but can also feel like you’re invading their personal space. First, make sure you have very clear opt-in agreement and explain exactly what you will send them. First, set up transactional emails including shipping confirmation and delivery information. After that, it’s important to build a relationship. If you’ve ever used online dating apps, think about how you build a relationship with someone you only know via text. Start with a joke, then ask about them, their likes, dislikes, preferences. Then share your mission and values. Do this at a Founder level and a company level. The more personal you can sound, the better.
Recommended Partners
- Klaviyo SMS
- Blueprint
- Attentive SMS
Unboxing Experience
When a customer receives your box at their door it’s likely the first physical experience they’ll have with your brand. Done well, the right packaging and unboxing experience is a chance to deliver a functional product and create a memorable moment for your customers. When a customer opens the box they should have a “wow” moment of excitement, and be encouraged to share the unboxing experience on social. Prompt customers to take a photo of the products and share on social media with an insert or language directly on the box. Make sure your approach aligns with your mission and values, as this is an important touch point.
Recommended Partners
- NoIssue – Sustainable Packaging Company
- NoIssue creates custom sustainable packaging including boxes, tissue paper, tape, and more to create the perfect unboxing experience.
- Pricing: Varies by Product
- Sticker Mule – Branded Labels, Stickers, and Packaging
- This company makes it super easy and affordable to create custom branded materials for your company. I use them to create branded tape for our shipping boxes.
Subscription Platform
Consumable products make great subscriptions so your customers can make sure to never run out. Make it easy by letting them subscribe to your products to receive them every month. Now most people won’t subscribe for their first order, so it’s important to nurture existing customers and encourage them to subscribe. Use language that reflects their reason to buy. I subscribed to monthly deliveries of my favorite energy drinks so I could always stay focused.
Recommended Partners:
- Recharge is the subscription platform for Shopify. It integrates with tons of other platforms including Klayvio
💲 DECISION
There will come a time when a customer is ready to purchase but will need to get over a few obstacles. They’re thinking:
Is there a coupon so I can purchase this cheaper?
Does my cart meet the minimum for free shipping?
If I don’t like the product, can I return it?
How long will it take to ship and deliver?
If I add it to my cart, will I get a discount code emailed?
Here are some suggestions to overcome these obstacles:
Free Shipping Minimum
Once a customer decides they want to try your products, it’s important not to surprise them with any extra fees. Part of the value equation is what benefit they’ll receive for the price. If your product price doesn’t include shipping, then it can surprise customers at checkout and cause them to abandon their cart. Set free shipping thresholds and make them clear in the announcement bar at the top of your site. Even better, create a progress bar so they know how much product to add to reach free shipping.
Recommended Partners:
- Rebuy – this app does many things, but one is provide a free shipping threshold progress bar
Product Recommendations
When a customer visits your store for the first time they may not know what to buy. Make it easy by providing product recommendations so they can give it a shot. Create a variety pack if you have one product with multiple flavors. Create a sampler box if you have multiple products. Or simply show your best selling or most recommended products to instill purchase confidence.
Free Product Trial
Some visitors will find your product interesting, but may not be ready to commit to placing a large order, especially if you have a high price point or threshold for free shipping. Offer your customers a free sample product to try. You can do this two ways. Let them order online and offer a small pack for “free, just pay shipping” of $3-$10. Alternatively, offer them a 100% rebate to buy the product in store. Make sure you have a clear email follow up sequence to convert trialers into full price customers.
Recommended Partners
- Chop – this company offers an automated rebate program that you can offer to visitors on your site. They fill out their email, purchase the product in store, and scan their receipt to receive a rebate via Venmo. It’s a great partner for in store rebate programs.
Store Locator
Sometimes customers prefer to do their shopping in-store vs. an online store. Set up a store locator so customers can purchase at their local store.
Recommended Partners
- Pear Commerce – Shows your customers where to purchase at their favorite retailer’s online store (ie. Target.com). Why? This can be an easy path to purchase for frozen, refrigerated, and heavy items.
Upselling and Cross-Selling
Once a customer decides to purchase it’s the best time to try and get them to spend a little bit more. Offer them an upsell to a higher price point, but similar item. at Good Food Brands, people who check out with our 6 item box are shown our 12 item box at a 10% discount. Alternatively, cross-sell them complimentary items. If you’re selling matcha, recommend they add an electric whisk to their order.
Recommended Partners:
- One Click Upsell
2 Day Shipping
Amazon Prime has trained consumers to expect 2 day shipping. If you can offer free two day shipping, prominently promote this on your site. If you can’t, consider partnering with a Third-Party Logistics (3PL) company to fill in your coverage gaps.
Recommended Partners
- Delivrr – a 3PL that enables you to offer 2 day shipping to customers across the country.
🤔 CONSIDERATION
Once someone lands on your website, they are looking to find out “what the product is, why should I buy it, and will it work for me?
People want to know if the product aligns with their lifestyle and values (current or aspirational), so get creative with your copy and visual content.
- Setup landing pages for different ad audiences to test language and conversion rates.
- Setup Microsoft Clarity to see where people are clicking on your site, spending time, and getting frustrated. It’s like Hotjar but free!
- Fill out your blog with lifestyle content or product benefit content
- Build a recipe database if you’re selling an ingredient or mix
- Your product detail pages should answer all the questions a founder has about your products, including benefits, function, and nutrition.
- Use Tolstoy to introduce yourself to customers via video and answer FAQ
👋 AWARENESS
Finally we get to awareness. It’s time to drive traffic to your website once you have all the other funnel elements setup and optimized.
Most people will drop money into Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads to drive traffic. While these can still work, they are getting incredibly expensive.
Look for organic audience building opportunities, including on Linkedin, TikTok, Instagram Reels, events, and more.
Getting free press in your local paper, radio station, or tv station are my favorite ways of getting awareness.
- Create an irresistible story and pitch to press (Foodbevy PR editor database)
- Build an audience of supporters using organic growth. Meet your customers where they already are.
That’s all! Let me know what tools, successes, or failures you’ve fun into with your marketing funnels.
Here’s the link to my Marketing Funnel Guide I mentioned.
If you use it, send over your experience, I’d love to know how it helps you.