2024 Ecommerce Sales Funnel Guide

Hey there 👋

Creating a robust sales funnel & optimizing it is THE most consistent way to increase the conversion rate of your ecom store.

And sales funnels are no joke — they’re pretty tricky to make and optimize.

That’s why we’ve made an entire guide for creating your own ecom sales funnel PLUS 3 bonus strategies to optimize every little cogwheel in the sales machine.

Grab any drink you feel like right now, and let’s get into this.

What Even Is an “Ecommerce” Sales Funnel? 📦

In simple words, an “ecom” sales funnel is an order of steps designed to guide your potential customers through each stage of awareness — from not knowing of your product to being a loyal customer buying constantly.

We’d call all these stages the customer journey:

Of course, your ecom sales funnel can be a lot more advanced than this, but this is the core of any great funnel & none of these stages should be skipped.

You can’t skip adding flour when baking a cake — it’s the same with the customer journey 🎂

Let’s look at each stage in a little more detail:

1. Awareness 👀

At this initial stage, potential customers become aware of your brand. They realize they have a problem, and your brand appears as a possible solution. Here are a few ways to reach your customers & achieve high mindshare:

🟥 Social Media & UGC
Posting about your products on popular social media platforms like TikTok, YouTube & Instagram, primarily through UGC is one of the best ways to organically attract customers.

Check out our post to learn exactly how Stanley rose to $750m by creating a virus on TikTok with their quenchers (and how hot Mormon wives from Utah were the main spreaders).

🟥 Referrals

Encourage your existing customers to refer friends and family. Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly powerful and can bring in high-quality leads who are more likely to convert.

Offer incentives for referrals, like discounts or free products, to motivate your customers to spread the word.

Here’s an awesome example from Bombas:

I can’t think of anything this referral system doesn’t have, it’s that good.

🟥 Organic search

Optimize your ecom store site for search engines to attract organic traffic — this means using relevant keywords, creating high-quality content, and ensuring your site is user-friendly & aesthetically pleasing to browse.

Also, Google’s internal documents were leaked recently & they had some SEO secrets you really shouldn’t know about.

2. Consideration 🤔

At this point, your potential customer knows you exist and can consider purchasing from you — your new goal is to nudge them in the right direction, towards your ecom product pages. Here are a few things you can leverage at this stage:

🟥 Email Marketing 

Promote your products through targeted email campaigns — make sure these emails are hyper-personalized to address the specific needs and interests of your target customers

P.S. — You can segment your email list to send more relevant content and offers to different groups of subscribers. We even made a guide for you on email marketing A-Z for ecom.

🟥 Social Proof 

Use customer reviews & testimonials to build trust with your target market. Seeing that others have had positive experiences with your product can help convince potential customers.

UGC helps with this massively — feature customer reviews on your site right under the products (split test this!).

And here’s a very convincing example from Selfmade, showing tens of user-generated content straight off the bat, really maximizing social proof:

🟥 Optimize Product Pages Ensure your product pages are compelling and informative. Include high-quality images, detailed descriptions, and clear CTAs. Split testing is also key here.

3. Purchase 🤑

At this stage, your potential customer is convinced that they want to use your products and are ready to purchase. Your new goal is to ensure they do so with zero friction.

If you’ve already implemented everything in the Consideration stage of the customer journey, all you need to do for this stage is really hone down on the previous actionable steps, plus:

🟥 Cart Abandonment Reminders 

These make the difference. Send reminders to customers who have left items in their cart without completing the purchase.

Offer incentives like discounts or free shipping to encourage them to finalize their order. You could also add a sense of urgency in your reminders, such as limited-time offers, to prompt quick action (the urgency has to be real!)

Stay tuned for more exciting updates from Ecommerce & Unicorns! Subscribe now:

4. Retention 🔁

You’ve turned visitors into customers — now, focus on turning them into loyal customers who keep coming back.

🟥 Loyalty Programs 

Implement loyalty programs to reward repeat customers, this can be done with special points, discounts, or exclusive access to new products.

Also, make it easy for customers to track and redeem their rewards through your website or app.

🟥 Thank You Messages 

Send personalized thank you messages after each purchase, with a small discount code. Expressing gratitude can make customers feel valued and more likely to return.

🟥 Human Engagement

Keep your audience engaged with regular updates, new product announcements, and relevant content through email marketing and social media — this must feel human & create a sense of belonging in your customers.

P.S. — Stay tuned for our bonus strategies coming up soon — they’ll really help amplify every stage we’ve covered so far! 👀

5. Advocacy 📢

This is the hardest but highest yielding stage — when Loyal customers become advocates, promoting your brand to others and driving new business.

🟥 Encourage Reviews and Testimonials 

Ask satisfied customers to leave reviews and testimonials. Positive feedback can influence potential customers and boost your credibility — offer small incentives for these actions.

🟥Engage on Social Media 

Engage with your customers on social media platforms — respond to comments, share UGC, and foster a community around your brand by hosting contests & giveaways.

You don’t have to do everything at once, just make sure your funnel isn’t missing any of the steps above.

Let’s cover a few bonus optimization strategies that amplify every stage of the customer journey:

Bonus Ecom Sales Funnel Optimization Strategies 🎁

1️⃣ Invest in Paid Ads

This directly relates to the “Awareness” stage of the customer journey. Paid ads are a much faster way to spread the word of your brand & attract high-quality targeted traffic that actually needs what you sell.

If you’re going for PPCs (pay-per-click ads), you should look into Google Shopping Ads.

They show images alongside the price & reviews, which make for a very clickable combo:

 2️⃣ Start a Blog

Pair blogs with good SEO & they’ll function as another medium to attract organic traffic to your ecom site — completely free.

Your blog content needs to be unique & really show your brand’s personality, while also providing valuable insights for your customers.

Essentially, you need to step into the shoes of your target audience and really find out what is aesthetically pleasing for them (that includes visuals & writing).

Have a look at this example from Beardbrand:

Easy to consume, full of valuable information & visuals — just pure eye 🍬

3️⃣ Implement Live Chat

This is slept on. A 24/7 live chat may add more expenses, but it really makes anyone browsing your site welcome — they can ask any question and get an answer, hopefully in under a minute for haste.

Here’s a lovely example from Warby Parker:

They’ve already got the most frequently asked questions ready to be answered, plus a live chat that asks for your name & email address — very well done.

And that’s it! We’ve covered ecom sales funnels A-Z plus a few bonus strategies for you — this is pretty much everything you need to get started & find success.

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Thanks for reading and supporting E&U (Ecommerce & Unicorns)

Daniil from ECORN