If you have a hunting, outdoor or shooting sports website that was designed to generate email contacts and sales, then you are probably already very familiar with online sales funnels. They start with ads, PR, email or blog articles (like this one) that move prospects through a series of steps that include internal links, emails, CTAS, or lead generators—eventually giving the visitor to your website the chance to take the next step, like buy now.
It’s a proven system, and one that works better than ever in 2021. However, we often meet with business owners and marketers who aren’t having much success with online contact/lead generation. They know that something isn’t working in their funnels but struggle to identify the problem.
There is never going to be a single solution, of course. Problems range from poorly communicated products or even a slow loading website. In our experience, however, most “lack of conversion” types of problems tend to boil down to one of four issues. Let’s look at each one in turn…
1. They Didn’t Have a Real Interest in Your Products
It’s very easy to mistake “website visitor” for “qualified prospect.” You may think the two are interchangeable, but there might be a lot of people who show up to your website without any intention of buying anything.
There are a lot of reasons for this. It could be that you compete in a highly competitive segment like i.e. holsters that require a great deal of searching and research. Or, you may be focused on search terms that have a lot of overlap with another type of product like “hunting scope” vs. “best deer hunting optic.” However, the most common problem has to do with marketers using SEO and paid ads (if you can do paid ads) to increase traffic rather than focusing on conversions.
Your sales funnel only works if you bring in qualified buyers, or at least interested prospects. Focusing too tightly on clicks or impressions just wastes money and opportunities.
2. You Haven’t Built Up Enough Credibility
We can say definitively that almost every business owner in our industry would like to have more qualified customers. The vast majority of them could use help making sense of search engine optimization, social media, and other online marketing channels. And yet, we still have to produce new content updates to stay competitive. Why is that?
The answer, of course, is that these potential customers don’t yet know that you have solutions that can help them. They are aware that they want to achieve a certain result, (secure their electronic fishing equipment, hunt with an AR, or export firearm products) but haven’t yet seen the proof that you can solve their problems. So, you have to demonstrate the possibilities through blog posts, social media, PR, testimonials, and more.
For our clients, we help them create articles, customer testimonials and videos that help prospects see them as the leader in their given segment.
If you have a credibility gap in the sales funnel, it’s always going to hinder conversions. No one wants to explore working with you until they trust you and have faith that you can help them resolve whatever problem they have.
3. Your Sales Funnel Isn’t Set Up Correctly
Your online sales funnel has to start and lead somewhere. What is the offer you ultimately make? Is it a demo, 30-day trial (like Walther’s Try or Buy) or maybe a discount on your product?
In other words, if the final offer in your online sales funnel doesn’t make prospects think “I want that,” then there’s always going to be a bottleneck in the contact/lead generation process.
➡ See this article to fix your sales funnel.
4. Use the Right Sales Funnel Software
So many brands in the outdoor, hunting and shooting sports industry when approaching their sales funnel don’t think that it involves the complete customer lifecycle so they sign up for Mail Chimp or Constant Contact and send a few emails here and there only to see their time wasted when click through rates and sales generate little to no results, which can be frustrating. There are three softwares (hunting and 2A friendly) we use to create highly effective automated sales funnels that work to our client’s advantage:
- Klaviyo – Geared specifically for ecommerce brands that provides easy to understand segmentation and SMS.
- Keap – A complete CRM and Automation program that can connect your store.
- HubSpot – An inbound marketing software for companies that generate over $3M/year that provides a complete end-to-end solution for growth-stage companies.
If you have questions about these solutions, Garrison Everest is certified in all three to help you generate more online sales.
Is It Time to Fix Your Broken Online Sales Funnel?
It doesn’t matter how great your website looks, or how much money was spent on its development – if it isn’t helping you save money or create more sales, then you’re losing money.
Contact our team of business and marketing growth specialists today so we can schedule a free assessment and help you generate a plan that moves your company forward!
Photo credit: Buzz Hayes of Confluence Group
