Quick Guide To ECommerce Sales Funnels And Their Features
An eCommerce sales funnel is a marketing process for consumer-oriented businesses in which the online customers are guided through a series of stages to purchase products or services.
The eCommerce sales funnel uses several tools, such as e-mail marketing, search engine marketing, and social media platforms, to engage potential customers and transform them into actual consumers.
This beginners guide to creating a website sales funnel will help you route your eCommerce site towards a much better sales and engagement position.
What is an eCommerce Sales Funnel?
An eCommerce sales funnel begins when a customer visits the e-commerce website’s homepage or landing page. The goal of an eCommerce sales funnel is to guide each customer along a path that leads to purchasing something at the end of the process.
Each time an e-commerce client interacts with your company — by signing up for e-mail, browsing your eCommerce store catalog, making a purchase, or even opening an e-mail from you — they are guided through the eCommerce sales funnel.
You will get a comprehensive idea about the differences between the traditional and eCommerce sales funnels at the end of this guide to the marketing sales funnel.
eCommerce sales funnels have a lot in common with traditional eCommerce sales funnels, but there are also significant differences. Undoubtedly, eCommerce businesses should be aware of these differences to increase their conversion rates and customer loyalty.
How eCommerce Sales Funnels Work (Inbound vs Outbound)
Before we go into the difference between an eCommerce sales funnel and a traditional marketing funnel, let’s talk about Inbound vs Outbound Marketing.
Inbound marketing focuses on attracting visitors to websites by providing exciting content for people searching for information related to specific topics. Outbound Marketing is focused on persuading clients to buy certain products by pushing offers at them.
The eCommerce sales funnel uses both inbound and outbound marketing to increase revenue. Because eCommerce websites receive more traffic than other e-businesses, eCommerce businesses typically need to do less outbound marketing on their eCommerce website.
An eCommerce sales funnel will start with inbound marketing by providing interesting content that potential customers are searching for information about. If an eCommerce business doesn’t have time or resources for creating engaging content, then they can hire someone to do the job.
But even if you don’t have the resources to hire someone, there are still some things eCommerce businesses can do to improve their eCommerce sales funnels and increase conversions.
The Difference Between An eCommerce Sales Funnel And A Traditional Marketing Funnel
The eCommerce sales funnel vs traditional marketing funnel question can be answered by summarizing the differences between the two into three key distinctions.
The eCommerce sales funnel is an evolution of the traditional marketing funnel that keeps consumers engaged and converts them into paying customers.
Clicks matters
The eCommerce sales funnel includes a cost-per-click or pay-per-click approach to website traffic instead of using a more expensive CPM (Cost Per Thousand Impression) model, which was the most popular method prior to eCommerce marketers’ adoption of PPC traffic sources.
Clicks in eCommerce usually result in lower conversion rates than impressions do on traditional marketing campaigns. Still, eCommerce is all about ROI (Return On Investment), so marketers continue to find new ways of conversions with eCommerce sales funnels.
Social Media Plays a Vital Role
The eCommerce sales funnel also includes social media marketing (SMM) in its approach to online advertising. When combined with PPC eMarketing channels, it can dramatically improve eCommerce conversion rates compared to traditional marketing campaigns that only use the CPM model of website traffic delivery.
Email for Expansion
Finally, eCommerce sales funnels include eMail marketing strategies to drive eCommerce conversions and keep consumers actively engaged in the conversion process all the way through checkout.
Much like building an email list is a requirement for every marketer because it directly affects their bottom line, driving eCommerce conversions should be at least one part of every eMarketer’s overall strategy when optimizing ROI. eCommerce marketers can’t ignore eMails because of their high ROI potential.
All three eCommerce marketing techniques mentioned above (cost-per-click, social media marketing, and eMail) are foundational components of eCommerce sales funnels that maintain consumer interest and focus all the way through eCommerce conversions for pay-per-click eCommerce marketers.
Traditional marketing channels like CPM and print ad buying explicitly do not keep consumers engaged in the conversion process all the way through check out. It means they don’t work very well with eCommerce conversions, so marketers should not use them to drive conversions.
The only thing missing from an ideal eCommerce sales funnel is search engine optimization (SEO). Still, eCommerce marketers can rely on ecommerce sales funnel optimization and eCommerce analytics programs to optimize their eCommerce sales funnel conversions for keywords users have already searched for.
The eCommerce analytics packages give eCommerce marketers highly valuable insight into consumer online shopping habits that marketers use to improve conversion rates, especially when the eCommerce conversion amounts are tied directly to marketing costs.
For example, an eCommerce marketer will know how much traffic they are receiving from organic search engine results, what kinds of keywords the traffic is using, and whether or not these keywords convert at a high enough rate to justify paying for PPC ads instead of relying on free SEO traffic.
The combination of CPM with pay-per-click advertising eCommerce eMarketing is eCommerce analytics.
Final Thoughts
When marketers embrace eCommerce sales funnels instead of traditional marketing funnels, they embrace the trends driving eCommerce growth at the doors of brick-and-mortar stores. And you can rely on this ultimate guide to sales funnels and their differences for your eCommerce site.
eCommerce marketers quickly replace push marketing with pull marketing by optimizing for eCommerce conversions at every step of their traffic generation process. It makes particular consumers never lose interest in eCommerce product offerings until they pay for them via eCommerce conversions.
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