Looking to up your conversion rate? Traditional style sales funnel letting you down? Well, you might just need a survey funnel instead. A data-driven marketing tactic that can help you to get a targeted understanding of your customers and what they need. Therefore providing you with a much-increased chance of being able to close that sale. Read on to find out more about what they are and how to create them in the most effective way for your company.
How to Create Top Converting Survey Funnel
Defining Survey Funnels
Before we can break down the steps you need to go through to create a survey funnel, we must first define what they are. In essence, survey funnels are an email marketing tool that allows you to better get to know your customers. By better knowing who they are and what they want, you can then offer them actions and buying choices that are much more likely to convert.
The survey part comes from the fact that such funnels start with a question. That is, you are surveying your customers to get the answer that is specific to them, the individual. This then provides data that you can use in real-time to direct them to the next stage of the funnel, as well as store for analysis and use later on too.
survey funnel
In fact, survey funnels can be so effective that they are used by practically any type of business that works with online marketing. After all, knowing as much about your customers as possible is nearly always conducive to a positive outcome no matter what industry you specialize in.
Of course, the theory behind survey funnels is that different types of people will react differently to the sales messages that you provide. Therefore by using a survey funnel you can segment your customers and provide them with sales messaging and information that is much better suited for what they need. This being something that should have a positive knock-on effect on conversion.
A good simple example of this and one that we will use through this guide is that of a meal box service. One that uses a survey funnel to separate customers into different types such as families, singles, and couples.
Such a survey funnel will then be able to offer a larger meal box option to those that have families to feed. However, as this would not be relevant to a single person, the survey funnel will direct them away from the family boxes. Instead of guiding them to a single person, or ready-made meal option.
While for a couple, the survey funnel will direct to a smaller meal box option, one designed for 2 portions a day only. Alternatively, a business may set it to lead such a customer to a choice that only covers a few nights a week, so they can eat out on the others. Thus, maximising the chances of each visitor making a purchase. Although this would require a different or additional question to be included in the survey.
Additionally, survey funnels are also used for another purpose. That of encouraging your customers to engage with you as a business by making micro-commitments. That is, as your visitors answer the question you put in front of them, they will be committing to being interested in your product or business. Albeit at an unconscious level. Something that cumulatively can add up to enough to push a maybe into a yes when it comes to making a sale.
In fact, as people often like to know about themselves, the ego has a role in this process, encouraging them to continue on. Something that can help to make it as easy as pie to motivate visitors to engage with your company in this interactive way.
Of course, the benefits of using survey funnels in your business are a bit more nuanced than just getting more conversion. In fact, survey funnels are flexible enough to be used in a range of situations for a variety of purposes.
For example, you can use survey funnel to improve your eCommerce business or implement it in a B2B setting. It is just a matter of asking the right questions. Survey funnels can even be used in a real-life business as well as online. Although the execution will look a little different. That is, it will usually be facilitated by store staff, or intelligent signage can work, in some cases.
A Step By Step Guide To Setting Up A Survey Funnels
Step 1: Survey Funnel Strategy
Before you begin the process of crafting a funnel to display on your website, you need to make sure you have your strategy worked out. In fact, when it comes to survey funnels having a clear objective is very important. With that in mind, you must know the actions and information that you want to encourage and collect by asking your questions. In fact, it is this that will inform how you craft your specific survey questions later on.
One way to do this is to draw out the strategy in the form of a flow chart. In fact, by doing this, you will be able to see the crucial difference between the survey funnel and the more traditional sale only funnel very clearly.
You can expect a more traditional sale funnel will often look something like this:
Unfortunately, the problem is that this is one size fits all method. An approach that has been shown to not be as effective as when you customize your marketing materials and strategy to a particular group. In fact, one of the most significant advantages of marketing online is the vast opportunity for more advanced personalization and the increased success this can bring. An opportunity that is only being wasted by using only the more traditional type of funnel.
A survey funnel, on the other hand, looks a bit different than the one above, as you can see below.
Of course, you segment your visitors by asking the right questions in your survey. Queries that allow you not only to collect valuable data but also section off the different parts of your demographic in real-time.
The value of using an survey funnel is that it allows you to define the sources of traffic that are visiting your site. Something that means you can make sure your strategy is superior to the traditional sales funnel one. The reason being that you won’t be tiling every potential customer with the same brush. What that means is at each stage of the funnel process, you will ask about visitors’ differences. Then account for them and provide content and a selling proposition that best matches what they need.
Additionally, using such a strategy should help to reduce down a phenomenon called attrition as well. This is when a potential customer visits your page but then clicks away again without having taken a valued action or making a purchase.
Often, this occurs because the customer is displeased with the experience when they get to your landing page. However, by inserting a survey into the chain beforehand, you can show that your business is dedicated to offering them the best products and services. That you genuinely care about them as an individual, rather than seeing them as just another anonymous customer to be convinced to part with their money.
Step 2: Writing The Right Survey Questions
Soon we will get to the part where I will talk you through each step of creating a survey funnel. However, first, we need to carefully consider the types of questions and answers (or outcomes as they are known in the content of survey funnels) that you will provide.
When it comes to questions, clarity and brevity are absolutely critical. In fact, if your question isn’t clear, you won’t get a valid answer, and that means any customers will be directed to the wrong sales message. Thus lowering the efficacy of the whole system.
With that in mind, there are a few things you need to remember when asking survey questions for your funnel. The first is that you must be careful not to over complicate things. That means using clear words and terminology, as well as being careful in how you phrase your questions.
In particular, avoid jargon wherever possible. Also, make sure you don’t end up leading your visitors into a specific answer that isn’t actually the right fit. If you are in any doubt here, try your questions and outcomes out on a few people before you go live or use A/B testing. It can really save you a great deal of hassle in the long run.
In fact, in the name of clarity, you may wish to offer an alternative to written multiple choice answers for your survey. With some business employing images that best represent the options on offer instead. Something that is not only much faster to use for the visitor, but can be more engaging as well.
Lastly, above all else, keep it short! Visitors to your site will not want to be taken on a wild goose chase, and are in fact likely to react badly if you ask them to do anything complicated or wait for too long. With that in mind, make sure you always include a progress bar within your survey funnel and keep the questions shorts and sweet.
Step 3: Devising The Right Survey Outcomes
Of course, writing the right question is only one side of the task, as you absolutely have to have the right outcomes as well. In fact, many people get a bit confused here because there can be some confusion over the term outcome.Which also may be framed as the answers you provide for visitors taking the survey to choose from.
Also, as it is these outcomes being used to direct your visitors to the correct funnel. To that end, the response or outcomes that you will provide for each question will be closely related to the goals that your business wants to achieve or the action that you want your visitors to take. This being something that can be broken down further into the following categories of funnel or propositions.
Step 4: Using The Outcomes To Redirect Your Client To A Customised Funnel or Landing Page.
The first type of funnel you can use your outcomes to redirect to is educational. That is, you want to find out what your customer is lacking and then send them to a site that provides them with specific content that allows them to address this gap. In fact, this approach is familiar from many other forms of content marketing because it is the information itself that is most valuable. It is helpful to the site visitor because they are getting educated on a topic relevant to them. While also being relevant to your business, because by educating your customers in this way, you better inform them of their needs and the buying processes. Something that means they are much more likely to convert as sales.
Of course, it is content that is truly king here. That is, you need to provide an educational redirection option that needs to entertain as well as inform. This means that while a written piece can be the best choice, that is not always the case. In fact, it is entirely possible to direct your visitor to a video, animation, or even an audio file that explains the subject in question in more detail.
In fact, by matching the form of the content to the type or demographic of the visitor, you can further help it to be even more effective. Just be sure to redirect the visitor back to the beginning of the survey, or to a sales page after they have access to the information. After all, you won’t want to lose that valuable lead after you have put in all that work.
The next type of answer you may wish to provide is a sales page. In fact, this option is most like the more traditional sale funnel set up, just with one key difference. The difference is that instead of having one sales message for everyone, you will use your survey to segment the different types of visitors into groups. You can then direct each group to a customized sales message. Something that will help boost your chance of making a conversion.
Finally, another possible option that you can offer your customers is to direct them to a page where they can perform a valued action. This usually means completing a form filling in additional information. Data that you can then use to contact them in the future and further customize their experience. Of course, these types of responses often work best when motivated by additional factors, so be sure to offer a reward such as a discount coupon when using this approach.
Step 5: Choosing The Right Software
While we inch closer to the step by step example of setting up a survey funnel, there is still one more thing you need to sort. It is choosing the right kind of software to use. In fact, there is a whole range of options when it comes to survey funnels, including Clickfunnel, Smart Funnels, Survey Funnel, and the like.
Of course, some are better than others, but it really does depend on your wants and needs. For example, with the provider Survey Funnel, you get an auto-render feature included. An innovation that means you can work with any type of email marketing software, including Mail chimp.
However, with Smart Funnel, there is more of a focus on real-time reports. Something that can make your efforts particularly responsive. Additionally, when it comes to Click Funnel, you get a clear easy to use dashboard. One that not only allows you to monitor the effectiveness of your survey funnel but can make the task of crafting it a great deal clearer and easier as well.
With that in mind and due to the easy availability of survey funnel software we will assume that you will be using them to create the funnels that you will use in your campaign.
Step 6: A Simple Survey Funnel Process Example
Finally! We have reached the point where I take you through the process of actually creating the survey funnels you will use online. In fact, to do this, I will be using a simple two-stage process. However, do remember that there it is entirely possible to create a more complicated and advanced survey if you so choose. Just be aware of unnecessarily over complicating things as this can put visitors off.
First, of all, you need to use your software to create 3 minor funnels. Those are (using the meal box example above) families, couples, and single people. Then you need to create a survey page. In fact, you can build from scratch or adopt one of the many ‘drag and drop’ options that most builders have. Just be sure to edit the individual elements of the page, so they are relevant to your survey.
Once you have created your page, click into the survey elements, and you can start to edit the questions you will ask. To do this, click on add question and add as many outcomes as you like. Remember, the outcome you add should correlate with where you want to direct your visitors to).
That is, for our question: How many people do you usually have to cook dinner for? The answers would be 3 or more, 2, 1, which relate back to the family, couples, and single segments. Of course, it is possible to word the question differently or add additional questions to further qualify your leads. Although, as we are just doing a simple 2 step process here, we won’t be going into any more detail here.
Also, it does pay to remember that while all of your questions will be important. The one that really matters is what some people call the ‘bucket’ question. That is the question that clearly segments the types of visitors coming to your site. The idea being that this will allow you to direct them to customized propositions or locations that will be much more effective than a single sales message.
Once you have your question/s and outcomes in place, it’s time to consider the locations you will redirect each group of visitors to. That is where you will be directing each of the three types of visitors we are using for this example. What that means is you need to do two things. The first is to establish what it is you want from your visitor. While the second is to set this up on your survey funnel system.
In this example, it’s relatively simple because we want a family to buy a family meal kit. A couple to buy a couple’s one, and a single person to buy the single person option. What that means is in outcomes, you can create a custom field and then select the (only) question you have entered.
Then set the first answer to equals 3+, which will be for the family option. After that, on the other side of the page, you can insert the actions that you want to happen. In this case, you will want to direct this group to a webpage with the benefits of and sale proposition for the family box.
Of course, for this to be as effective as possible you will need to utilize all your marketing expertise. Therefore, customizing the sales proposition for the needs of the group that you are directing there is vital. Additionally, adding a special offer price (time-limited, of course) to help close the deal on this landing page is a good idea. While including a clear call to action is essential here as well.
You will then repeat this process with the other funnels with the 2 people answer redirecting to the couple’s box page. While those checking the outcome of a single person will be directed to the one person box page.
Also, remember that you are not limited as to where and what you can redirect your visitors to. That means while (due to the question that we are asking) a sales page for each type of food box is the best choice here, there is a myriad of other options to consider as well.
One of these is to redirect your customers to a walkthrough of your product or process. This being something that may be in the form of video on Youtube or a podcast on iTunes. Additionally, you can redirect your visitors to a page that allows them to schedule an online chat, call, or even a face to face meeting. Just be sure to let your objective for that segment of visitors guide you.
Using Analytics To Measure Performance
Now you know how to create a survey funnel; there is just one thing left for you to learn. It is how to measure the performance of the funnel you are using. After all, reflexivity is the name of the game if you want your company to increase sales. That is reflecting on what you are doing well, what needs to be improved and then changing this. In fact, if you don’t make any effort to monitor the success of your survey funnels and alter them when necessary, you can run into a host of problems.
One of these is making decisions based on hunches rather than actual data-driven facts. Something that is both an inefficient way to work, and a waste of all the precious data you could put to excellent use.
Additionally, businesses not taking a reflexive approach can find themselves in a situation where their survey funnels become too complicated and long-winded. Something that at best can make your company look less than professional, and at worst, cause a visitor to abandon the process altogether, resulting in the dreaded visitor attrition.
Of course, because you will be working online, you have the benefit of being able to collect data reasonably easily. You can also analyze that data to see which questions and outcomes are the most effective, and which are not.
One way of doing this is to use survey funnel software not only to plan out each stage of your funnel as above but also to analyze the results for each part as well.
In fact, this is another reason why choosing specialist software is so essential when it comes to survey funnel. You will be pleased to note that many of the software options come with automatically updating dashboards as standard. Something that means you will be able to take decisive action when making improvements. All while knowing it is backed up by reliable and clear data.
However, whether you choose to use specialized software or not, there are a few categories that you will need to monitor when it comes to your survey funnel. The first is tracking individual customers’ paths through your funnel, While the other is monitoring actions users take while taking this path. Additionally, having precise data on which paths through your survey funnel resulted in the most conversions is seriously helpful as well. The reason being that you can replicate this approach (Rather than the specifics) across the other segments for maximum effect.
Key Industry Terms Used With Survey Funnels
Finally, if you are new to marketing or survey funnels (and even if you are not), you’ve probably noticed that there is plenty of terminology to understand. With that in mind, you will find most of the key industry terms connected with this subject below. Something that you can use as a glossary, or refer back to if you want to impress your colleagues!
Lead – This is another word for the visitor to your site. That is the person that you want to convince to make a purchased or completed another valued action.
Magnet – The device used to attract leads into your conversion process. A survey funnel is an example of an interactive lead magnet because it asks visitors to be involved in the process, rather than just be directed by it. Something that can make the end result much more effective.
Funnel – This term refers to the process of directing certain types of leads along a particular route. Something that, in this case, can help your business provide them with a better service and experience and so increase the number of conversions.
Traffic – This term concerns the number of visits to your landing page as well as where they came from. In fact, traffic can come from a variety of sources such as your sales funnels, social media, searches, email links, and your website.
Segmentation – The process of splitting up the visitors to your page into particular demographics. This is what your survey does. It can and is often used synonymously with funnel and funneling.
Outcomes – In this context, outcome refers to the possible answers to the questions you will ask in your survey. That is the outcome for a family answering the question: How many people do you usually cook for per night would be 3+, rather than 2 or 1. It is the outcome that is used to decide where to direct the visitor next.
Demographics – The characteristics of the different types of visitors you get on your landing page. It can be typed by gender, age, class, religion, region, or even finer details like hair type and eye color.
Flow chart – A visual way of recording information in a logical step by step order. The way you can plan your survey funnel before creating it. See the image below.
EMBED GENERIC FLOWCHART
Valued action – An action that you want a lead to perform, such as sign up to a newsletter, book a call, or provide some other information. Usually seen as separate to sales conversion.
Sales conversion: When a client makes a purchase and goes from being a visitor to a customer.
Sale proposition: The ‘ask’ that is when you invite your site visitor to buy and lay out the reasons why they should do so.
Sales funnel A different type of marketing funnel. One designed to lead customers to a sales proposition. Not as effective as survey funnels for segmenting visitors, and so does not provide them with a customized experience. (Which is known to improve conversion rates).
Conclusion
In conclusion, if you are looking to improve your marketing process, why not use a survey funnel? By doing so, you will be able to better segment your visitors, directing them to pages that are of particular relevance. This being an action that should improve both their experience and your conversions.
Additionally, using a survey funnel can provide you with other benefits such as the collection of valuable data, and the ability to automate a great deal of your marketing process. The latter being something that can save time and person-power and allow you and your staff to focus on what you do best. Successfully running your company!