Conversion funnel. Sales funnel. Marketing funnel. As an author, it’s to your benefit to know what these terms mean.
A funnel (regardless of whether it’s called conversion, sales or marketing) is the term that applies to a process you take subscribers, clients and potential clients through that usually starts with a free offer and ends up with a paid offer.
Basically, you are guiding the customer toward various conversion points. Ultimately, you are encouraging people to take you up on a paid offer. There are various ways to set up funnels. When you know what you’re doing, you can turn a $20 book purchase into one that generates hundreds, even thousands of dollars in sales.
Authors Want to Make Money
Although some authors could care less about making money, most do want to make money from their efforts. If you’re able to make money you’re able to keep writing without worrying about how you’re going to pay your bills.
Selling books, in most cases, is not going to give you the type of revenues that will pay all your bills. Sure, for a handful of authors, their book revenues are substantial. For most authors, it’s necessary to incorporate various revenue streams in the mix.
The image of my white board (above), shows a simple conversion funnel virtually any nonfiction author can develop.
Simply put, you create a free offer that your readers are interested in. From there, you have a low-priced up-sell that’s an easy “yes” for subscribers.
Not sure how to create conversion funnels. Click here http://www.powerupforprofits.com/salesfunnel to access several templates virtually anyone will benefit from.
What’s the Process?
Most people agree you need a sales funnel, yet, many have no idea how to make them really work.
There is a process customers go through when buying your product. It is built on need and desire. The greater the investment on the part of your customer, the more you must build confidence, trust, and credibility in their mind. If you are selling $10 widgets, that’s one thing. If, on the other hand, you are seeking to build long-term relationships with your customers and be viewed as the “go-to” expert, you need a systematic approach. While widgets are sometimes part of my clients’ product offerings, they usually want to go beyond the widget and make a difference in the lives of their customers. They want to provide long-term solutions and create ongoing relationships with their customers. They want to build their business based on trust, value, and integrity.
No matter how great your product, most people will not buy a high-ticket product or a $1,000, $5,000, $10,000-plus mentoring course or consulting contract without first being introduced to you by way of a free or $20-$50 offering. This is what is referred to as “funnel marketing.”
Customers enter your funnel by way of something that is very low risk such as a free or very inexpensive item. Based on their experience with that first contact with you, they decide what their next course of action will be.
Most people who use funnels stop with a one off approach.
But smart marketers know there is much more to the sales funnel process than this. Even if someone says no to your first offer, they may be interested in something else. But unless you know what that something else is, you are leaving a ton of money on the table. Additionally, you are not allowing your customers to have more than one choice in how to do business with you.
One person who is a hands-down expert on robust sales funnels is David Perdew. David has built his business teaching others how to create conversion funnels. Right now you can access lots of FREE templates when you go to http://www.powerupforprofits.com/salesfunnel
You will learn how to…
- Include all the correct funnel elements before you ever build a web-page
- Understand the difference between single- and double-optin funnels and when to use them
- Improve funnel performance with simple split testing to double and triple conversions
- Review simple optin funnels that will turn your prospects into buyers immediately
Avoid being like other authors who wish they were making money. Be among those of us who absolutely understand the power of conversion funnels without having to figure it all out for yourself. http://www.powerupforprofits.com/salesfunnel