Funnels for E-Commerce Businesses

Funnels for e-commerce businesses are quite different than a funnel for coaches, consultants, and higher-end 1:1 services.

With an e-commerce funnel, you’ll typically have a visitor come to your site, ideally opt-in, add items to their cart, and checkout online using their credit card. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week. While you sleep. Without needing phone calls or any kind of one on one sales.

Depending on the niche, e-commerce funnels often have a higher volume of suspects entering the top of the funnel, with a low percentage opting in (for a lead magnet), and only some of those becoming new customers with a one-time lower cost purchases.

Tracking the wrong funnel steps, metrics, or conversions can be costly – and applying the wrong “fixes” to your e-commerce funnel can tank your conversions.

So what steps SHOULD you track in your e-commerce funnel, where are you leads falling out, and what can you do to stem the bleeding?

(Related, See Leading vs. Lagging Indicators: Driving Success With Leading Indicators )

In our Funnel Optimization Workshop we covered different funnel shapes, where funnels are typically broken, and even got into Fast Funnel Fixes for the Most Common (and Unusual) Business Funnels! In addition, we specifically discussed e-commerce funnels!

E-Commerce Funnel Steps

At our Mastermind we love talking about funnels and we have e-commerce businesses in both our Founders Group and our regular Mastermind.

Typically, we see e-commerce funnels start with a mix of PPC, SEO, Social Media, and Content Creation at the Top of the Funnel (ToFu). These are all the inputs that fill the top of your funnel.

These then turn into website visitors (based on unique page impressions). You’ll track that in your web analytics tool of choice, like Google Analytics.

If you’re savvier, you won’t wait for a website visitor to complete a transaction with you before getting to know who they are. Ideally, you’ll have a visitor opt-in for a coupon code, discount (beware discounts, though!), buyers guide, etc. You’re exchanging a lead magnet for their opt-in so you can follow up with your visitors who don’t purchase from you. This empowers you to have a Cart Abandonment campaign and a future campaign.

You’ll then want to move your visitor to actually transact with you and complete a purchase.

Hopefully, you have cart add-ons and upsells in place for customers to increase the size of their transaction with you.

And then, down the road, they’ll ideally publish a review of your product, rate your business, refer their friends, convert to a paid subscriber, and continue buying from you.

In an e-commerce business, you’re not after one purchase. You’re looking for long term customers who buy again and help you to grow your business.

So to recap, your e-commerce funnel will likely look like this:

• Visitors
• Opt-Ins
• Add to Cart
• Add on Upsell
• Completes Purchase
• Reviews Your Business
• Refers a Friend
• Subscribes
• Buys Again

Where Most E-Commerce Funnels Are Broken

To see where a funnel is the leakiest, we apply an iterative process of improvement (from the Theory of Constraints (ToC) covered extensively in The Goal).

Every e-commerce funnel is different, but the online funnels we review at our Mastermind from new members typically have have a high volume of website visitors, but a low opt-in rate (if any), and a low conversion rate to paying customer.

Each conversion in your funnel (progress from one step to the next) has a percentage and a name.

For example, the percentage of people who click your PPC ad and visit your site is your Click Through Rate (CTR). The number of people who opt in after visiting your site is your Opt-In Rate. And so on.

Typically, our Mastermind Members have websites that are already getting conversions and sales, and we’ll assume you already have products that are selling well on your website, too.

That assumes there’s a proper product / sales page and your top of funnel both qualifies – and disqualifies – prospects.

Without properly attracting the right prospects – and repelling the wrong prospects – in your ads, product / sales page copy and offer, you’ll end up with a low opt-in and purchase rate.

Fixing Your Poorly Performing E-Commerce Funnel

So how do you get more of the right visitors to your site?

How do you increase your opt-ins, conversions, and upsells?

And how do you increase the profitability of your sales?

Each kind of leak in a funnel has a different fix.

For example, if you’re getting opt-ins, but not purchases, look at your follow up. What kind of abandoned cart automated follow up do you have in place to reach out to prospects who were interested in purchasing – but then didn’t?

If you’re getting purchases – but not repeat customers or reviews – again, look at your follow up. Are your customers getting a welcome email? A follow up email asking for a review and for referrals? A follow up offering a special on their next purchase? A VIP invite to a customer only event? What’s on your order confirmation page after they purchase?

What about if your website is getting tons of traffic, but your opt-ins are low? How are you attracting your website visitors? Are your ads congruent with your landing page and with your offer? Are your ads both attracting the right suspect and repelling the wrong suspect? Is your opt-in offer above the fold? Is your offer compelling enough? How well do you know your avatar?

If you don’t have an upsell in place, could you? What else do you have to offer that increase the Amount (the “A” in my FAQs to Profitability) of the transaction? Do you have cart add-ons and an offer to join a recurring membership or subscription program to increase the Frequency (the “F” in my FAQs to Profitability!) of Transactions?

This iterative process to find the worst performing part of your funnel, fix it until it’s not the worst performing part of your funnel, and then repeating, is your key to improving the throughput of your funnel and growing your e-commerce business!

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