autoresponder

Here’s a relatively new strategy, have you heard of an automated sales funnel? It is the smart way to build your business and attract traffic to your website, turning potential leads into buying clients. Read this article to get a detailed look at how you can make this process work for you.

An automated sales funnel operates on the principle of moving prospects through the sales process to a successful conclusion. Just as liquid moves through a funnel and is directed automatically to an outlet so also the sales funnel moves prospects through the process to the end result.

Attracting people to your website is all well and good but then what? Simply bringing potential customers to your site and not turning them into buyers of your product or service is just so much wasted time and effort. You need to consider the following:

What is the purpose in getting people to visit your website?

Once they are on your site what should they do next?

Getting people to your website is obviously with the intent to sell them a product or service. Once they are on your site are you well equipped to turn the potentials into paying customers? You have to have your objectives clearly outlined and your marketing strategies in place.

While there are some leads that will buy once they are on your site, there are a host of others who are just visiting for the purpose of information gathering, researching, and looking for upgrades and so on. These are warm leads that have the possibility of turning into paying customers. This however does not happen miraculously by itself and if you make the mistake of thinking it does, boy are you in big trouble.

Your website is the first step in the automated sales funnel, which is designed to automatically turn potential leads into ready to buy leads. Your relationship building should be firmly in place so that you are well equipped to handle the actual buying. In order to do this you will need to set up tools on your website that will highlight the potential customers interest in buying and trigger an automated follow up regime. The potential customer needs to be fed relevant information that is both necessary and interesting. Some of the things you can do to set up your automated sales funnel are:

Consider using a Blog as your information platform, keep it updated with niche specific information and capture your potential clients with an opt-in form.

Offer something of value for free in exchange for their name and email address and be sure to make the offer niche specific.

Use an auto responder and automatically email the offered item download link. Most auto responders send an automatic thank you script with a link to confirm the opt-in; do not include your link here or they can take your free offer and you lose your lead if they don’t confirm! Develop a separate welcome email explaining what they can expect to receive from you (i.e., future email) and include the free offer link just prior to your signature line, or in a post script (PS:) immediately following your signature line.

Incorporate a series of follow up messages that automatically provides valuable advice based on the niche specific product website that you want to send them to. Remember, most people need to be exposed to this information or product upwards of 7 to 10 times before they make a purchase decision.

With an automated sales funnel in place things will progress smoothly and warm leads will automatically be followed up on and converted to sales. In order to build a successful sales funnel you will need to consider various factors carefully, such as your target audience, buyer’s behavior and human psychology, and put a lot of planning together.

Putting together your automated sales funnel takes time, hard work and dedication and you have to be prepared to work honestly and not short change anyone or your credibility is down the drain in an instant.

To learn more about how to set up your autoresponder, read “Introduction to Autoresponders“.