Purchase funnel: its stages and their importance

When you define the different stages of potential customers, you can monitor them from the moment they enter your purchase funnel until they reach the opportunity stage; basically, from one end to the other through several instances. 

Stages potential customers go through

Not all potential customers will buy a product or service from you. The Internet, social networks, search engines and, even, websites are filled with advertisements. 

Customers won't click on all these advertisements but when one draws their attention, it's likely they do. Then, usually, the company will lead them to a landing page or an article. Even though it's possible they are not ready to buy the advertised product right away, it's likely they register their email address in exchange for a piece of educational or valuable content, such as a free e-book or a checklist. 

<<< Marketing and Sales for the success of your company >>>

Now, they've become a "lead" of the company. In the following days or weeks, they will receive some content via email. Eventually, it's likely they ask for a meeting or a phone call. Depending on their commitment to the company, they are now in a particular stage of your purchase funnel known as the main stage. 

At the same time, you can define the stages that potential customers go through in the purchase funnel of your company. This will help you plan your sales process and understand the steps you need to follow to turn your potential customers into actual customers.

Defining the stages of potential customers: the process 

Before defining the stages of potential customers in your company, you need to understand how the sales process works. What type of customers do you have? Are they direct consumers (B2C) or other companies (B2B)?

Here, there are five main stages involved in the buyer's journey that both types of companies B2C and B2B use frequently: 

• • Subscriber stage
  • Lead stage
  • Marketing Qualified Lead stage (MQL)
  • Sales Qualified Lead stage (SQL)
  • Opportunity stage

Moreover, you can also customize stages apart from the standard stages that companies may use depending on their specific needs. 

• The subscriber stage

Now, let's say a user clicks on your advertisement and he/she is redirected to your website. This user takes a look at what you have to offer but doesn't carry out any immediate action to show interest in your product or service. 

This is the first stage that potential customers go through and it's the same for all sales processes. Here, your target audience turns into a "new potential customer" for your company due to its marketing efforts in social channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, or, even, Google Ads.

However, they can register their email address to subscribe to a newsletter (either through a pop-up placed cleverly or a non-intrusive call-to-action). 

In this stage, you only have their email address and that's it. Users are now subscribers, but they are not qualified potential customers yet that you can call to prospect. 

• The lead stage

At first, there's a chance your subscribers disregard the emails you send to them, especially if they don't know you well; however, this will change eventually. Opening and clicks rate can improve and it's possible that subscribers start to engage with your emails and visit your website more frequently. They can even download an ebook or register for a webinar. 

In this stage, you have more details about your subscribers, such as their name, phone number, and, maybe, the place where they live. Your subscribers are, now, leads and you can interact more with them by sending them articles, infographics, checklists, among others, according to the type of content you know they are interested in.

Actually, in this stage, you can also make them register for a trial or ask for a sample of your product.

In such cases, you can use a marketing automation tool to qualify potential customers even more and send it to your sales team to follow them up. Did you know that companies that encourage leads are the ones that generate 50% more leads?

And, if you're a seller, as soon as a potential customer is assigned to you, you need to get in touch with him/her and nurture him/her through different channels such as email,  LinkedIn, Facebook, or phone calls to make sure they are turned into leads. 

You have to keep in mind the following:

• • Your first interaction with them should take place within 24 hours. Send them a customized email introducing yourself and welcoming them to your company. 
  • Make sure that call reminders and follow-up emails are set up in your management system of potential customers. 

• MQL stage

Once your potential customers have registered for a free trial or asked for a demo of your product, they will turn into marketing qualified potential customers or MQL. 

You should ask for certain information, such as their name, email address, company's name, size, and domain; if they are the people who make decisions in the company, their target audience, and, you should even check their participation level to see if they're suitable to become MQL of your company. 

Here, you'll find three ways to check MQL qualification:

1. Check if your potential customers coincide with your buyer persona (make sure you have one). 
2. What's the definition of an ideal potential customer according to your sellers? Then, ask them what is a "qualified potential customer" to them and work from there. 
3. Establish the right demographic factors for your purpose, such as the company's size, industry, location, and function.  

Some companies call this process "lead scoring". These rules help you create a ranking system to classify MQL scores. 

This assures your sales team will get only high-quality potential customers that can improve your productivity; it's also useful to keep both the sales team and the marketing team focused on their goals. 

During this stage, potential customers have been reading about your product or service and know exactly what you're offering. If your product has different subscription plans, there's a chance that your potential customers know the characteristics of each plan. 

These activities increase your potential customers' engagement with your company and conversion possibilities. One more thing you should do is offer them a free sample or tutorial of your product. When customers accept this invitation, they turn into prospects of your company.  

Potential customers accepted by the sales team

In this stage, your sales team receives potential customers from the marketing team and decides to accept them or not, mainly through a discovery call. A potential customer accepted by the sales team (or SAL) is an MQL that has been revised thoroughly and has passed to the sales team for his/her approval. 

Now, why is this stage critical? Basically, this stage helps align the functions of both the sales team and the marketing team of your company, guaranteeing they are on the right track and on the same page. 

There are two factors for the sales team to accept an MQL:

1. Precise information: contact information should be precise. If some potential customers are disqualified, the marketing team has to check the information again.
2. Adjust it to the ideal customer profile (ICP): if the potential customer meets with your ICP, vertical structure, company's size, engagement, or budget to buy your product or service, or if he/she has a current requirement, you can pass him/her on to the sales team.

If a potential customer is sent to the sales team too soon, he/she can be disqualified immediately. 

A standard process that sellers can use to qualify potential customers is the Budget, Authority, Need,  Timing method, commonly known as BANT. 

These four parameters help companies to determine the number of sellers that they should use to do research on a potential customer and assign all the available resources of the company for different potential customers in different stages of the sales lifecycle. Once you've done this, your sales team will determine if the potential customer is ready to buy your product or service. 

These are the potential customers that, in general, are ready to have a conversation since they have responded positively when you ask them to schedule a quick call or meeting. Potential customers with a "scheduled meeting" can pass to the next stage and be labeled as "ready to buy".  

• SQL stage

Your company's sellers will have to qualify potential customers and assign them to another employee in the company. Qualified potential customers from the sales area, also known as SQL, represent a fundamental commercial opportunity. A SQL is a potential buyer who is ready to have a conversation with your sellers and somebody who has expressed their interest in your product or service. 

If your potential customer is in this stage you can say that, now, it's more likely that he/she becomes a paying customer than other potential customers. These potential customers have particular needs, a schedule for implementing solutions, an appropriate budget, and, what's most important, they are ready to make a purchase. 

• Opportunity stage

A customer asking for information about a product doesn't mean that he/she is ready to buy it. However, it's possible he/she gets other alternatives from your competition that adapt better to his/her budget. 

Here, it's where your efforts are very important. There's a chance they buy your product or service so you must seize this opportunity. The fact they have agreed to see how the product works means they are ready to buy it from you. 

This means that potential customers are, now, prospects for your sales team and an opportunity for your company. These phone calls are very important and you need to make sure you offer them added value to convince them that your product is what they need. 

A way of doing it is by making your conversations or demonstrations highly customized, i.e. adapted to your customers' problems and needs. Discuss with them how your product will help their business in particular, how they can create customized modules adapted to their business environment as well as other value propositions. 

Once you've won or lost a deal, you can create two optional stages in which the customer is marked as "won" or "lost". 

"Customer"

If you were able to nurture potential customers, they will buy your product. You can make this final stage one of your main stages; however, it's not finished yet: you still have to keep in touch with them to ask them if they are satisfied with your offer. Therefore, you will have to provide them with all the necessary help and be quick to answer their questions; this can help you keep the customer for a long time. 

"Lost" 

Sometimes you can't turn customers into leads. Your potential customers can change their minds before closing the sale at the end of the funnel, or they can choose a product from your competitors. In this case, you can mark them as "lost" customers. 

Mapping your customers' stages this way will help you stick to your sales process and classify good potential customers from the rest. Even though these stages represent the usual approach used by many companies, you can mix and combine the main stages of your company according to the product or service you offer and, even, skip or add some new stages. 

<<< Commercial process to generate sales with 90% of effectiveness >>>

What's important is that you're aware of each stage of the purchase funnel which your potential customer goes through so you can have a more meaningful and efficient experience with them.