onlinefreedom September 10, 2020Like many online businesses, getting customers to your Shopify landing page can be challenging, but it’s only a small part of the battle — the real challenge lies in making the sale. Thankfully, this problem often boils down to issues relating to sales funnel optimization, a problem that can be solved in a few easy steps.
Before you get ahead of yourself, you need to understand what exactly a sales funnel is. Understanding this concept, inside and out, will allow you to make any necessary adjustments to optimize your sales.
What Is A Sales Funnel?
In short, a sales funnel is a series of steps that a customer takes before making a final purchase. In other words (depending on the platform you use to sell your products), the customer is guided via a series of little steps that brings them closer and closer to making a purchase.
Let’s take a look at the two of the most common platforms, cherished by aspiring entrepreneurs, to make their fortunes online.
Shopify’s Sales Funnel
Shopify’s sales funnel one of the most notoriously complicated sales funnels in the industry. This is not a sales funnel for novices, but rather a tool for established experts, complete with a loyal audience and trustworthy brand.
Shopify’s sales funnel is rather straightforward: product page; cart page and a three-step checkout form for customers to input their contact information, shipping options, and payment information. After all is said and done, they are re-directed to a simple “thank you” page.
Now, this all sounds very straightforward, but as always, there are a few ways to optimize your sales funnel to stay ahead of the game.
Clickfunnels’ Sales Funnel
Clickfunnels is essentially a sales funnel-designing tool that allows you to complete control over every aspect of your sales funnels.
Almost any combination is possible with Clickfunnels — create a two-step checkout form and place it directly on your front page to help increase your conversion rate and maximize your upsells.
The designing capabilities of Clickfunnels promotes massive growth and is something that you don’t often see with other e-commerce solutions, including Bump Products and Multiple Upsells.
The only downside is that, from time to time, you may need to opt-in with a third-party solution, such as CF Pro Tools or Funnelish, in order to complete PayPal and Stripe payments; however, in our experience, this is a small price to pay for such creative freedom.
How To Troubleshoot Where Your Conversion Leaks
If your traffic is high but your sales are lacking, take this as a sign that you need to troubleshoot your sales funnel as soon as possible.
Don’t let the “techie” term throw you off — troubleshooting a sales funnel isn’t as tricky as it sounds.
The first thing you need to ask yourself: which part of your sales funnel is making people leave without making a purchase?
The answer? If you have a high bounce rate on your landing page, then look no further — your landing page is the first culprit. You’re going to need to put some special work in, in order to optimize it for cold traffic.
After you’ve done this, you’re going to want to take a close look at your cart page: do you have too many “add to carts” but limited checkouts initiated? Don’t worry, we can help you solve this issue.
Next, you’re going to want to shift your focus to your checkout form. Trust me, a lot of people like to partially fill out these forms, only to abandon them when it comes time to enter their payment information.
We highly recommend installing either Hotjar or Smartlook into your website code (right after the “head” tag of the source code) for a detailed understanding of your visitors’ behavior and to understand what drives them away from certain pages.
Once you have made these corrections, it’s time to experiment: bring in some traffic and closely examine the behavior — why are they bouncing and on what page? Look for patterns and mark them as red flags for areas in need of deeper inspection. For example, are your visitors’ closing windows after reading your sales copy? Are there signs of negative reactions to your images or graphics? Everything needs to be closely monitored — every strange indication, no matter how small, should be considered.
How To Optimize Your Shopify Sales Funnel
Here are three easy steps that you can implement today in order to optimize your Shopify sales funnel for conversions.
Step One — Optimize Your Front-End Offer:
To do this, all small details of your front-end offer must be scrutinized, leave no stone unturned. Tackle this task from a customer’s perspective and really examine your offer page.
Take a look at your product: is it something that will benefit your customer? Can it help him/her solve a problem? What’s in it for the customer?
—Looks and professionalism are half of the battle. Be sure your products are delivered in branded packages, exactly the way they are displayed on your landing page.
Take pride in your landing page and structure it accordingly; you’d be surprised how much of a difference a well-placed headline or a banner can lower your bounce rate, keeping the traffic on your page. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try new things. If it’s not working, simply try something new.
Be sure to include simple, yet effective product descriptions. Humans have short attention spans, and as such, your text should be catchy and smooth flowing. Try to Include testimonials and an FAQ section to build a trusted reputation.
Take note of the fonts and colors you are using to advertise your products. Remember, every little bit helps.
Step Two — Get Rid Of The Cart Page (or optimize It):
It’s not uncommon for a customer to add a product to their cart, only to leave before heading to the checkout. Honestly, sometimes the best way to combat this is to scrap the cart page entirely, sending them straight to the checkout instead.
—Keep in mind: there are apps that will allow you to do this, but many paid platforms will require you to get special permission from the developer or support team.
Either way, should you choose to stick with the cart (or you can’t get rid of it), we recommend adding reviews and testimonials to build trust. Countdown timers are also a good idea. Keep in mind, should you choose, you could always add Upsell X, to recommend additional products to your customers upon checkout. This can be a great way to increase your average order value.
Step Three — Use A One-Step Checkout Solution:
If you’re looking for a one-step checkout solution to optimize your sales funnel, be sure to consider Carthook and Checkout X as they both offer amazing customer service in two separate ways.
Let’s break it down: Carthook will cost you $500/month, with no free trials; on the other hand, Checkout X costs $39/month and they offer a 14-day, free trial. They both integrate with any of the marketing tools you could possibly need and they also integrate with most payment providers. So, depending on your budget, take a look and choose the option that’s best for you and your business.
Need Better Optimization? Don’t hesitate to Contact Us
Feel free to drop us a message if you’re interested in learning more about how to optimize your sales funnel. We’ll work alongside you and make suggestions that correlate with your business model.
We are familiar with it all: Shopify, Clickfunnels, WordPress, and WooCommerce. No matter the platform, we’ve got you covered.
