opens IMAGE file When we talk about sales we know that consumers usually need at least a couple interactions with our brand before they are willing to pull out their credit card. There’s a process – a sales process. Statistics show that it can take anywhere from 7-12 interactions with a brand before convert to a paying customer. That’s why the sales funnel is so vital.
In the world of digital advertising, it’s even more vital because there are so many impressions and ads that are delivered to potential customers. It’s also vital because the sales funnel allows us to work more efficiently in our processes. We don’t have to manually initiate specific actions; the consumer behavior can trigger different ads and truly make the sales funnel personal to their needs and wishes.
We’ve seen a thing or two over the years and want to share just a few of the secrets we’ve learned for digital ads and sales funnels.
Secret #1: Retarget your audience based on THEIR behavior. We used to do this with cookies, but now we can retarget consumers based on so much more. We can use IP address, Device Identifiers, and more to track consumers and send specific ads based on THEIR digital history. Retargeting based on this type of smart data allows advertisers to be more effective than ever before.
Secret #2: Timing matters. That’s why we love looking at the data. We’re not just in the business of using smart data to send effective ads, but we’re all about looking at what is working (and NOT working) so that we can format and execute better digital ad campaigns in the future. The more you study your campaigns, the more you will learn if you are exhausting your audience by advertising to them too often, not enough, or finding a good sweet spot. Pay attention to consistent downward or upward trends in sales and even opt-out rates.
Secret #3: A multi-channel approach is the ideal strategy. The fact is that everyone is faced with hundreds, if not thousands, of ads each day and often we need to send reminders in slightly different ways so that consumers remember that they had been considering our offer. Doing so on multiple different digital channels is extremely effective for this. The same basic offer and message can be delivered but with slight tweaks to fit the exact digital channel. For example, an ad in an Instagram Story is quite different from a display ad on a website. We want to make sure we’re staying consistent, but also native to the platforms.
Sales funnels can be complex marketing pieces because they truly are unique to each brand and offer, but if you are using the power of data, your sales funnels will take a customer on a calculated journey. You can bring them from the point of awareness about your offer, to interest, and eventually to conversion. Data is power when it comes to sales funnels and at Data-Dynamix, we’re all about giving you that power!