How To Launch A Membership Site – Part 2: Communication Channels
Read previous articles in this series:
Preeminence is the key ingredient necessary for success with a membership site (or any business), but without means to communicate your message you will find it impossible to create an awareness of your expertise and convince people of the benefits of purchasing what you offer.
I introduced the concept of communication channels in the Blog Profits Blueprint as it pertained to building a successful blog. Communication channels are as important when it comes to launching a successful membership site, because you need a means to attract attention and funnel people into the process you set-up to demonstrate what your membership site is all about.
The Email List
How To Set-Up Your Sales Funnel
In the final chapter of this series on the Sales Funnel we look at how you can begin the process of setting up your own sales funnel based business, in particular an Internet business. I will illustrate using an example of the sales funnel I am currently developing for my own blogging information business.
If you haven’t read the first three parts of this series please do so now.
- The Sales Funnel Explained
- The Sales Funnel Part 2: Generating Leads At The Front End
- The Sales Funnel Part 3: Back End Profits
Find A Profitable Niche
Once you realize the potential of a sales funnel, which I hope you do by now after reading this series of articles, you should consider the possibilities of creating one in your niche.
A sales funnel can only succeed in a market where there is a demand for what you offer and you are capable of delivering services or products to meet that demand. Assuming you are operating in a marketplace and meet those two criteria, then you have a business and can begin the process of planning your sales funnel.
If you are yet to find your market niche then your focus must remain on finding the right business opportunity for you. You can’t build a successful sales funnel if you don’t have a market for the products and services you sell, so make sure you tick that box first.
If you are not sure whether you have a good market for a sales funnel you can test by setting up initial lead capture mechanisms and attempt to make front end product sales. This can be as simple as an email newsletter combined with selling an ebook, or even before creating a product, by performing keyword research and setting up a survey site, just like you do with the ebook business model.
Until you have actually made money you can never be certain the potential for a sales funnel based business is there. I’d place more trust in your conversion rate for actual sales rather than opt-in rates to a free newsletter as indication of a business opportunity. Having a newsletter as a relationship builder is a great first step – just don’t assume people are willing to buy until you sell something.
Planning Your Sales Funnel
The Sales Funnel Part 3: Back End Profits
Now we head into the meaty section of the Sales Funnel, the back end, where the big profits are made. If you haven’t read the first two parts of this series make sure to catch up, starting with the sales funnel explained and a look at front end marketing.
As I discussed in the last article, the front end of your sales funnel is all about capturing the attention of prospects, people inclined to desire want you provide. Potential customers are called “leads”. The expectation is a certain number of your leads will convert into customers and a small but very responsive group, will buy up everything you offer. This last group are called your “hyper-responsives” and it’s this group that is responsible for a significant proportion of your profits because they fuel your back end sales.
Pricing Points
Your back end is made up of your higher priced items, products and services that present significant value – or at least perceived value. Essentially we are talking about meeting the same need (or needs within a niche), just with different media. This might include information distributed via audio (CDs/DVDs/MP3s/Podcasts) or visually (Video/Movies) or live (Conferences/Seminars/Workshops/Retreats) or privately (Phone Calls/Coaching) or even common front end media such as ebooks, newsletters (electronic and print), subscription services and teleconferences.
The specific distinction between the front end and the back end is all about the type of customer and the price paid. In the back end all your customers have traveled through your front end, sampled your free materials, purchased an entry level product or service (or several) and have enjoyed significant value from what you offer, so much so, that they are eager to buy more from you.
At this point it becomes much easier to make sales, although since the idea behind a sales funnel is to filter prospects to find hyper-responsives, you don’t have nearly as many people reaching your back end as you do entering your front end. In many cases it’s common that only a small percentage, say 1-2% of the overall people entering your front end make it through to the back end. That’s okay because that small group are spending big bucks.
The Sales Funnel Part 2: Generating Leads At The Front End
In part one of this series on the Sales Funnel, I related my story of becoming a customer of the Double Your Dating information product business, and how I experienced the sales funnel used by David DeAngelo, to sell his dating products.
The sales funnel is a systematic marketing process where you progressively filter your prospects into customers and further refine them into hyper-responsive customers. Your customer base becomes smaller and your profits increase as you sell higher priced items to your hyper-responsives in the back end of your sales funnel.
Before any of this can happen, at the top of the funnel you need to attract prospects, and it’s at this point where your marketing creativity can really shine.
The Front-End
The front-end is the most dynamic aspect of the sales funnel and the area that requires continuous experimentation. There are literally endless techniques available at the front-end, limited only by your resources and imagination.
The Sales Funnel Explained
Fundamental to the success of many Internet companies, in particular information product based businesses, is the concept of the sales funnel. Many of the most well known Internet marketers established themselves in a niche and dominate by crafting a highly refined sales funnel process, guiding consumers through a tested and optimized channel of marketing and sales.
Basic Sales Funnel Structure
The sales funnel begins by capturing the attention of prospects. Some prospects are convinced to become buyers, who purchase an entry level product, demonstrating that they have a need for what is on offer and are willing to invest money to solve their problem. The sales funnel continues to nurture the best customers, filtering out mismatches and refining the specific target customer, offering them more specialized products and services, often at higher prices.
By the end of the process the funnel has identified the ultra-responsive customers who purchase everything on offer and experience the most value and satisfaction from every purchase made. It is from these ultra-responsive consumers that the majority of profits are made.
In the following series I will introduce you to the sales funnel using simple language. I will teach you how to craft a sales funnel, including analysis of the front-end and back-end, and demonstrate why you must continuously test your funnel process to ensure long term success.
To open the series I will relate to you my story of how I was first introduced to the sales funnel online as a customer, which led to further exploration of the funnel by reviewing how other Internet marketers implement the funnel in their business. If you are not sure what a sales funnel is, the story below will clarify things for you. Let’s begin…
