3 Ways A Conversion Funnel Can Make Or Break Your Business

Written by: Media Shower

A conversion funnel is a model that can help businesses understand the path their customers take from discovery to conversion. A good one can help spot leaks in the funnel and can help the business come up with strategies to plug those leaks. A hastily constructed or incorrectly formatted funnel, however, can do more harm than good by missing mistakes or giving false reassurances about the strength of the funnel. The same principles appliy to the entire process of finding the best matched new job.

Many people will enter a conversion funnel, but only a few will make it out through the bottom.

Know The Elements of the Basic Conversion Funnel


The basic conversion funnel consists of four phases:

  • Awareness
  • Interest
  • Desire
  • Conversion
  • The first phase, awareness, is when the potential customer first becomes aware of your brand, service or product. This is the largest section – or top – of the funnel. The next level, interest, is where potential customers become interested in your brand. This section of the funnel is smaller because most people who become aware of your brand will not become interested in it. The next section tightens even more, where some of the people who are interested in your brand form a desire to purchase your product. In the next phase, conversion, just a few of the people who became aware of your product will take action and convert.

    Simplify Your Conversion Funnel


    As discussed in the article " Oops! – 5 Common Mistakes When Optimizing Your Conversion Funnel ," an overly complex website with too many entry points can lead to lost conversions. When websites are too complex, and potential buyers have to travel too far to get from awareness to conversion, the funnel spring leaks, and sales are lost unnecessarily.

    Test All Changes


    When you make any changes, no matter what section of the funnel it affects, always test before you implement. Whether you alter your payment system, your shopping cart, your Facebook ads, your paid tweets, your landing pages or simply a link in a social media post, always test it before it goes live. When a potential buyer clicks a broken link or lands on the wrong landing page, that person ceases to be a potential buyer.

    A good conversion funnel will help you identify where you are losing potential customers and why.

    Conversion funnels aren't actually funnels. In a physical funnel, all of the liquid poured into the top will eventually make it out through the bottom. This is not the case with a conversion funnel. Most of the people who enter at the top will "leak" out before they make it to the bottom. But by building a strong conversion funnel you can identify those leaks, leading to more conversions and more sales.