How to build a Facebook sales funnel for any business

If you want to level up your company’s digital marketing strategies, building a funnel or sales funnel on Facebook is an excellent alternative.

As of today, the largest social media platform with the most global reach is Facebook with over 2890 million users using its core products: Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger. It is certainly an excellent place to reach a large part of your target audience.

Although sales funnels have been around for a long time, in recent years they have been integrated as part of a powerful digital marketing strategy. While Facebook ads are a powerful strategy for attracting leads and generating sales, it’s not easy to get them to buy your product/service the first time they see your ad. Customers live online and most likely already buy from another company. They research, verify quality, compare prices and check reviews. You have to convince them to leave the other provider and buy what you offer.

To help you generate profits, we explain how to create a successful Facebook sales funnel for any type of business. But let’s start at the beginning by answering…

What is a Facebook sales funnel?

A Facebook sales funnel is the visual description of the theoretical journey you expect customers to take when they buy your products and/or services through Facebook. That is, it represents the journey of complete strangers who eventually become buyers and loyal customers. The purpose of the Facebook sales funnel is to design an advertising strategy that will be different depending on the audience you have at any given time.

Parts of the sales funnel

The Facebook sales funnel is divided into 3 parts:

• Top of funnel – Awareness level (known as TOFU)
• Middle of the funnel – Consideration level (known by its acronym MOFU)
• Bottom of funnel – Conversion level (known by its acronym BOFU)

TOFU – Top of the sales funnel

This stage aims to make them aware of your brand and generate prospects. Here begins the process of building your audience by using Facebook and Instagram ads and creating organic content.

The first thing you should do is to analyze the characteristics that you think the buyers of your products/services should have, i.e. you should be very clear about who your buyer persona or ideal buyer is.

MOFU – Middle part of the sales funnel

The middle part of the funnel represents the stage in which the audience already considers your brand as a probable purchase; it is the beginning of the lead generation process. The objective is to retarget the general audience and eliminate those followers that are not attractive. This stage is the most complicated because your audience will be made up of a large number of people. Marketing strategies will go towards people who already know the brand and have shown some kind of interest.

BOFU – Middle of the sales funnel

The bottom of the funnel represents conversion opportunities and its ultimate goal is to achieve tangible sales. It is a dynamic stage, live chats, Messenger bots and explanatory videos, among others. Marketing strategies will target the prospects that showed the most interest.

Why use sales funnel in a marketing strategy?

Most people are not ready to buy after a single ad however, when they abandon, they don’t necessarily say “No” but, “Not right now”. As we explained at the beginning, the vast majority of users will not buy what you offer the first time they see your posts. They don’t know your brand or trust you yet.

Your first ad may be successful and you may make a sale, but the chances of it happening are low. Keep in mind that your brand’s ads interrupt the actions users are doing, such as chatting with friends, watching news or funny videos. To get their attention, you need a captivating ad that gets the user to stop what they are doing.

How to create a Facebook funnel at each stage?

Here we explain the main techniques to create a successful Facebook sales funnel. You will learn how to map and sequence your Facebook campaign along the buyer’s journey.

Before you start developing the funnel, you will need two things:

1. Sign up for the Facebook Business Manager.
2. Install a working Facebook pixel on your website.

Top funnel strategies – TOFU

Marketing strategies are aimed at strangers who do not know your brand and have not seen your publications. At this stage, it is advisable to focus your efforts on generating trust, helping potential customers to solve doubts and problems in situations related to the product/service you offer. Make an effort to offer useful and quality content.

For example, if you sell designer furniture, it is not a good idea to talk about the characteristics of the furniture. It is preferable to make a 15-second video in which you introduce the company and an overview of the products and/or services you offer. You can also explain how to solve a stain problem due to spilled liquids or how to take care of wood.

Actions to be executed:

1. From Facebook Business Manager, click on “Audiences” and create a “Custom Audience”. Save this TOFU audience.
2. Publish.

Strategies in the middle funnel – MOFU

This is considered the most complex stage. People already know what you offer and you have captured the attention of part of the audience. Now you must nurture prospects and convert them into leads. Your strategies must serve to move potential buyers to the bottom of the sales funnel.

You should use the type of tools that allow you to store data (email address) of potential customers such as: guide downloads, online chat registrations and surveys among others.

Actions to be executed:

1. From Facebook Business Manager, click on “Audiences” and create a MOFU Custom Audience.
2. Select everyone who has interacted with your TOFU campaign and save that audience as MOFU (leads). You must exclude those who have already converted or else you will show ads from the previous stage of the funnel and lose money.
3. Create the new campaign targeting the leads.
4. Set up the ad targeting the MOFU audience you saved.
5. Publish

Bottom funnel strategies – BOFU

The publications at this stage can be those that give an answer to what users generally ask you before buying what you offer them. People know you but generally, they need an impulse that motivates them to buy. At this point, you have managed to convince your potential customers about the benefits of your brand and they want to buy but need a push.

You can advertise with a dynamic catalog, promotions and special offers.

Actions to be executed:

1. Create another BOFU custom audience in Facebook Business Manager.
2. Now you will be able to include people who have visited your website and those who have downloaded any of your content. Remember not to include those who have purchased from you. Save the BOFU audience.
3. Create an ad with the ultimate goal of converting, selling.
4. Configure the ad to target the saved BOFU target audience and publish.

Important – After Sales Actions

Don’t forget the customers who have already bought from you, because they are the best. Develop Facebook ad campaigns that are targeted only to them. Show them your appreciation, wish them success and offer them incentives to buy again.

Tips for the success of your sales funnel on Facebook

1. Develop the characteristics of your target customer (buyer persona) in order to customize ads according to their preferences.
2. Use Facebook ads to increase reach but don’t spend the entire budget. Invest in high-quality, high-performing content.
3. Create content by segmenting your audience.
4. Use the content remarketing technique to reinforce your audience’s awareness of your brand.
5. Promote content with the tool offered by Facebook called “similar audiences”, so you will reach an audience equal to your current audience.
6. Don’t forget to interact, you must be present when people communicate with you.
7. Give the audience the boost they need with incentives (promotions, discounts, gifts) that lead them, for example, to visit your website or product page.
8. Don’t neglect your customers, make them loyal so they keep buying. Your customer service must be excellent, they must feel totally satisfied and delighted.

Final Words

The Facebook sales funnel is an effective marketing tool, however, it is not something you do once and then forget about. It is a marketing tool that must be continually updated and optimized.

To create a successful sales funnel, quality content, creativity and audience analysis are critical. If you use these Facebook funnel strategies, you will be amazed with the results.