The traditional sales funnel is, for the most part, dead. Whereas before marketing leads led to opportunities, which translated into sales — today’s funnel is owned by the consumer. They move throughout the funnel based on what their needs are at the time. As a result, figuring out where your website falls in the sales cycle may be challenging.

Today’s funnel is an amalgamation of customer awareness, leading to consideration, decision, and eventually, action. But customers sometimes start at the consideration phase. Or they might begin by making an immediate decision based on a fleeting moment, but then backtrack to building a greater sense of product awareness.

Here’s what you can do to ensure your website provides value regardless of a customer’s place in the funnel:

  1. Educate — Inbound marketing practices require you to provide valuable information to potential customers. Positioning your company as experts will engender dedication from customers, which can then lead to sales. Use your website to maximize content marketing opportunities.
  2. Entertain — Customers are savvy, so they know when a website isn’t giving them a valuable experience. Your site needs to offer multiple opportunities to deliver an experience that’s memorable.
  3. Assume Mobile — Customers may never visit your website via their desktop. You need to assume they may only access your website through their mobile device. Your site must be set up for immediate, bottom of the funnel sales as well as top of the funnel informational searches, and it must be intuitive and navigable.
  4. Provide Support — Hard sales don’t work; customers are just too well informed. But if your site is designed to offer support features to guide visitors, the goodwill from that experience can lead to improved sales opportunities.

Websites will continue to remain a fluid element of today’s sales cycle. By altering your perspective on the value they can provide, you can better maximize its value.

Is your website actively providing a positive experience for customers? To learn more about how we can help, click here.