When we think in a limited way, sales planning ends up only acting in the most advanced stages of the Funnel.
But when we think about increased sales as a result of a more expansive marketing plan, it becomes clear that all stages of the Funnel are responsible for bringing more customers to e-commerce.
That’s the topic of today’s article. To what extent is sales planning just about selling? What other influences does it have? And how exactly do you develop a sales plan?
We have a lot to talk about. Shall we go together?
Understanding the E-commerce Funnel
First of all, we need to understand how the Marketing and Sales Funnel works in e-commerce.
We’ve discussed this topic extensively country email list here on the blog. Throughout the text, we’ll provide several links to help you delve deeper into the topics we’ll cover.
To effectively integrate sales planning and marketing planning, it’s important to analyze the E-commerce Funnel first.
This will show us exactly what impacts sales but is not directly related to them.
It is important to understand that not all marketing planning actions are directly related to sales planning.
But when we work with e-commerce, down syndrome and her time all departments, teams, and individual professionals are working with full focus on sales.
In other words: in e-commerce, any marketing action is related to sales and seeks to measure its results in the evolution of the number of customers.
Below, by analyzing the three main stages of a Funnel (Top, Middle, and Bottom), we will understand exactly how this relationship between sales and marketing actually happens in e-commerce.
In the texts below you can analyze all the stages of the Funnels in more detail:
Everything and More About Digital Marketing Funnel [Complete Guide]
What are the Types of Sales and Marketing Funnels? See 5 Examples
What is a Sales Funnel? Steps, Methods and 9 Tools
Top of the Funnel
The Top of the Funnel is associated with actions aimed at generating leads.
It’s at this stage that many e-commerce businesses fail to invest because they don’t see a direct return in sales, and it’s what we’re talking about when we mention the need to integrate sales planning with marketing planning.
When we think about Inbound Marketing and caseno data Digital Marketing , the Top of the Funnel is related to the Discovery stage in the Customer Journey .
Then, in the next step, they are treated through Lead Nurturing. More on this in the next item.
If you want to delve deeper into Top of the Funnel strategies, I suggest reading the text below:
Top of the Funnel: Strategies and Content for this Sales Stage
Middle of the Funnel
The Middle of the Funnel is the stage commonly associated with the treatment, qualification and nurturing of your leads.
Here, the leads generated at the Top of the Funnel are worked on so that they get closer to a sale with each new interaction with the brand.
This can be done through:
- Email marketing;
- SMS;
- WhatsApp;
- Newsletters;
- In-depth content;
- Content about the brand and the product;
And whatever else is possible to accomplish.
It’s important to understand that the Middle of the Funnel is a strategy, and it’s not just related to the media or channels chosen.
A newsletter, for example, can be top-, middle-, or bottom-of-funnel. The important thing is what’s being said in the newsletter and what its objectives are.
To delve deeper into this topic, read our text dedicated to the Middle of the Funnel below:
Middle of the Funnel: What It Is and How to Create This Type of Content
Bottom of the Funnel
The bottom of the funnel is a stage 100% related to sales. Here, inbound and outbound actions are executed together in most e-commerce businesses.
This stage is also the most common in e-commerce. Most of them primarily employ Bottom of the Funnel strategies, especially Google Ads and Social Ads in general.
At the Bottom of the Funnel, strategies are focused on sales, and on an audience that is already ready to make a purchase.
All e-commerce businesses will work at the Bottom of the Funnel—whether they apply the three stages or not.
Those who apply this approach work on the Bottom of the Funnel as a culmination of the efforts made so far. Leads have been generated, qualified, and nurtured. Now it’s time to sell.
Those who don’t apply it skip these first two steps and either start generating leads directly at the Bottom of the Funnel or simply seek maximum exposure for their products, without worrying about lead generation.
We have a text that goes much deeper into the Bottom of the Funnel, follow it below:
Bottom of the Funnel: How to Produce Content for This Stage
So, as we’ve seen, e-commerce companies will always work on the Bottom of the Funnel, but they won’t always apply the Marketing and Sales Funnel in its entirety.
Before we move on to the text and talk more directly about sales planning, we just need to clarify one question: is it necessary to work with the Marketing Funnel in e-commerce?
How the Funnel is Applied in E-commerce (in Practice)
Well, the point is that these three steps are closely related to Inbound Marketing, and Inbound itself isn’t as widely applied in e-commerce.
Much of the concept of Inbound in e-commerce, however, is applied through the Marketing Funnel and the understanding of the Consumer Journey.
When you create a personalized shopping experience for your customers and they come because of it, that’s an Inbound strategy.
And if you’re aiming to attract new customers and visitors to your website through this personalized experience, you’re applying Inbound to e-commerce, working at the Top of the Funnel.
The point is that most e-commerces work primarily with digital outbound tactics , especially ads, and especially ads that showcase the product directly.
But even preferring these Bottom of the Funnel tactics, many e-commerce businesses end up working on the Top and Middle of the Funnel, sometimes without even realizing it.
In this topic, I’d like to shed more light on these “hidden” applications of the Funnel, seeking a more realistic look at how sales and marketing planning actually happens in e-commerce.