Web 2.0 has drastically changed the consumer behavior. Unlike physical world, a consumer in digital environment is more informed & action oriented. As a result of this the conventional sales cycle (SPANCO) has also seen a major shift in the strong digital wave. Now, sales funnel is more customer & value centric.

Digital Sales Funnel

Let us understand the digital avatar of SPANCO

Step-1: Suspecting – In digital media, seller has the capability to target its audience based on its preferences. Hence, the “suspects” have been transformed into “Target Audience”. This class of audience remains on observatory mode where they listen to the seller’s communication (Ads, Product Reviews etc).

Step-2: Prospecting – The second stage of digital sales funnel comes into the light when the observatory audience takes some action on the seller’s communication & comes to “interaction mode”. This class of audience can be termed as “Engaged Audience”, as the audience through its action has shown some engagement (Question, Submission of Inquiry) in response of the communication.

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Digital Sales Funnel

Step-3: Approach – The stage of “approach” comes when the seller connects with the prospective customer. Here, in digital sales funnel, we call such group as “Qualified Audience” which is convinced with the product / service on offer and steps into “response mode” to discuss further.

Step-4: Negotiation – In physical sales scenario, negotiation can be in terms of pricing, commercial terms etc but in digital environment it is the “consultation” where the seller is pushing the value quotient of its offering to complete the sales cycle & buyer is seeking value on money before final decision. In this stage, customer is in “discussion mode”.

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Step-5: Closure & Offer – The last stage of sales cycle is “Closure & Offer: where the process of sales gets completed. In digital sales funnel, the audience in this stage can be termed as “converted audience” where it has decided to make a purchase decision.

Conclusion – Marketers those who are involved in sales through digital media should consider consumer behaviour shift & pitch the products accordingly.