Creating a Sales Funnel for Your eBay Business

Sales funnels.

What do these funnels do exactly?

Today, we teach you what they are and how to make your own…

Refusing to create a sales funnel is something unheard of in the marketing industry. This is because sales funnels create customers rather than find them. Finding customers is an easier task compared to creating them. Finding requires locating a sales platform where a product’s target market can be found. Creating customers is harder. Because not all registered users in a platform are willing to buy items they’re not interested in. See the difference?

Creating a sales funnel for your eBay business is the best step you can make to invite more customers. Not only does it entice more customers to buy from you, but it gives you a strong following as well. This can happen especially if you know what offers to present at given times of the year. It’s more effective if you’re knowledgeable of what your target market wants and needs.

This blog will help you understand what a sales funnel is, why it’s important, and how you can make it work.

What is a Sales Funnel?

As mentioned earlier, a sales funnel invites more customers to visit your eBay store and buy from you. These customers are classified into three types: leads, prospects, and customers. From this point forward, let’s pretend your eBay store sells photography gear.

• Leads

Your leads are defined as the people who either discover your eBay store or those you wish to transact with. Leads come in big groups, but you can break them down into those whom you are interested in. A good example of a qualified lead is someone who’s in the photography industry. An unfavorable lead is someone who’s interested in photography but doesn’t practice it.

• Prospects

Prospects are sometimes considered as qualified leads. But this depends from one company to another. Other companies define prospects as potential customers. They are those who have initiated contact with your eBay store in the past.

• Customers

Customers need no further explanation than those who provide you with profit through sales. The best outcome for having customers is getting return customers. These customers not only make return purchases, but spread influence for your eBay store.

Do I Really Need a Sales Funnel for My eBay Business?

Any eBay business could use a good sales funnel. This is because sales funnels not only brings in customers, but solves problems as well. Imagine having a system that works and delivers more than you’ve expected. It’s like a dream, isn’t it? Here are among the many benefits making your own eBay sales funnel can bring:

• Predict the numbers of leads, prospects, and customers for every sales funnel stage
• Determine who among your leads will eventually turn into customers
• Detect problems in the sales pipeline that may cause problems over time
• Pinpoints the problematic stages where the number of customers are lacking
• Simplifies the process of implementing improvements by showing which stages needs work done
• Urges eBay sellers to funnel stages that improvements
• Helps eBay sellers become competitive by showing their eBay business’ weaknesses

What Are the Stages of Every Sales Funnel?

Every eBay sales funnel has stages that focus on individual sales matters. Among those stages are the following:

• Awareness

Known as the first stage to every sales funnel. Awareness is when a prospect learns of your eBay business’ existence. From seeing your products, a prospect may realize that he can put it into use. The realization hits your prospects upon finding your listing on eBay. It can also happen after a Google search and etc.

• Interest

This stage signifies your prospect’s complete realization that he does indeed need your product. Your prospect understands that having your product can solve a problem he has. Interest can be built in numerous ways. Among these ways is through Google searches that can point either to your eBay listing. Google searches can also point to posts on your eBay business’ social media account.

• Decision

Now that your customer has developed an interest, he may now make decision on whether he truly needs it. And if he does need it, when does he buy it? And when he does buy it, which payment option will he use? Should he opt for a packages deal instead? There are tons of decisions that can go through your prospect’s head at this stage. The best way you can help is by providing the options for him.

• Action

This stage is where the action of buying may or may not happen. Your prospects may turn into a full-fledged customer at this point. All he needs to do is make up his mind about your item, setting up shipment details, and paying you the amount he owes.

How Do I Create My own eBay Sales Funnel?

Creating an eBay sales funnel comes in 4 crucial steps:

• Do your research

Gather the needed data and find out what your customers want and need. Needing and wanting are two different things. So it’s important that you know how to get the right answers to those questions. Determine the kind of problems your customers would want to solve and if your products can help them. One of the best ways to do this is by looking for product reviews surrounding the niche of your products. Find reviews for your specific products. Get to know what previous buyers liked and disliked about it. Research what needs to be improved on the actual product.

• Buyer profiling

Let’s face it. Not all customers interested in the same products are similar. One may have a different reason for buying the product than the next one. One may want to purchase the item for a whole other purpose. These differences are perfect reasons why profiling your eBay customers is a special task. Not only does it save you the effort of expecting a number of customers to be interested. It also saves you from making eBay business decisions you’ll later lose profits from. Or worse, regret.

• Generating eBay store traffic and lead count

Bringing people into your eBay store to see your listings is one of the hardest tasks there is. It requires patience, marketing skills, and sometimes, money. eBay sellers who want free advertising tend to strategize through social media. These sellers would often create eBay store accounts on social media such as Facebook and Instagram. Upon creating these accounts, the sellers’ next agenda will be generating a following. This following will then spread influence by liking or sharing the seller’s posts. Although it’s free, this strategy is not necessarily the easiest way. Not only does it takes time, but patience as well.

For eBay sellers who can pay to generate traffic and leads, affiliate marketing is their best bet. This allows them to advertise their eBay items on several websites. While this strategy is expensive, it becomes effective over time.

• Follow Up

The best, least annoying way to do this is by sending your customer follow-up emails. These emails can come in the form of eBay store newsletters that either confirm your buyer’s order or entice them to accept offers (e.g. limited time offers). It all depends on the eBay store’s nature and the seller’s preferences in handing out offers.

Summary

After a few months, you’ll see moderate to big differences on your eBay sales after using offers. Watch as your expected conversion rates, double or even triple over time! Start comparing sales and traffic statistics. And pretty soon, you’ll figure out what works best for your eBay business.

Did our eBay sales funnel blog give you more insight on the matter? If it did, please feel free to share your thoughts in a comment below. For more eBay sales funnel tips and tricks, please visit our blog today.