The term re-funnel is related to a concept called marketing funnel. A marketing funnel is a model which describes the journey of a customer or lead right from the time he becomes aware of the product/service to the point he purchases it. It is also known as the Purchase Funnel.
It shows a pathway the leads follow as soon as they enter the first stage i.e. Awareness. Not all leads make it to the end of the funnel. Therefore there is a difference in the number of people who enter the funnel and make it to the last stage. There may be various reasons for them having to drop out of the funnel. However, it is very important for marketers to re-funnel those dropouts as generating new leads every time is a difficult task. Also the dropout leads have already gone through some content before actually deciding to drop out. Therefore the time and effort required to convert them would be less compared to new leads.
Top 7 Strategies to Re-Funnel the Dropout Leads
Following are the top 7 strategies to Re-funnel those dropout leads:
Convince About Opportunity
Marketers must create content that convinces leads about a special opportunity they may be missing out on. Marketers must convince about the opportunity their product or service offers to the leads. It is important to make prospects realize about the opportunity they can grab by making a purchase.
For example, in the month of November, when the Prime Minister of India announced demonetization, newspapers were filled with e-wallet advertisements. They convinced people about the advantages e-wallets offered and influenced them to opt for their services to continue with their lifestyle uninterrupted. Users also got convinced about the opportunity since arranging cash was a big problem then and these e-wallet companies saw a huge rise in their number of subscribers.
Educate About Usage
Instructions about the product or service must be clear. If the prospect is unclear about how a product or service works, there is a high chance of them dropping out. Therefore marketers must educate about the usage by providing clear information to reduce dropout rates due to lack of usage information. There should be no uncertainty about the product in the minds of the prospects and marketers must convey all information effectively.
For example, Lenovo launched a hybrid laptop called the yoga pad. To demonstrate how it worked and the various functions it performed, a creative was made to educate people about its usage. Had it been just one picture of the laptop, nobody would have understood the functionality of the laptop unless they visited the store, which was highly unlikely.
Remove Barriers
Every person has certain barriers or questions that stop them from making the purchase. It is important for marketers to understand and remove those barriers and gain the prospect’s trust. A prospect will not end up being a customer until all his mental blocks are removed. Every business will have different barriers and marketers must make sure that they cater to each of the barrier effectively.
For example, an e-commerce company may have customer barriers related to the quality of the product, therefore they offer 14-day replacement/refund policies to gain trust. Also for people reluctant to share their card details online, cash on delivery services are offered. Thus it is made sure that there is no barrier left that stops a prospect from becoming a customer.
Incentivize Usage
This refers to the process of rewarding your customer for purchasing your product. When customers are rewarded for their purchase, they may end up making repeat purchases because everybody likes being rewarded. Marketers nowadays are heavily using this phenomenon to build a customer base.
For example, PayTm often offers users cashback when they buy something using their services. The avidity of a cashback results in them coming back and making repeat purchases using PayTm.
Reward Loyalty
Incentivizing usage promotes users to make a repeat purchase. However it may be limited to a certain number of times or period. Once customers start to feel comfortable with your product and garner your trust they become loyal customers. Rewarding loyal customers is even more important than incentivizing usage. Loyal customers spread goodwill through word of mouth and act as salesmen. Thus special attention should be given to loyal customers as a company spends a lot of effort to bring them to the loyalty stage.
For example. Future group had launched Payback cards to reward loyal customers. Benefits included special offers across all future group stores, points for every purchase and exclusive sale previews for card holders. Customers could redeem their points across several partner companies.
Create a Sense of Urgency
This refers to creating urgency in the minds of the customers. Tricks include limited period offers, limited stocks or one time offers. These create a sense of urgency and the customer ends up purchasing in order to reap maximum benefits. The fear of losing the deal triggers the purchase action.
Trigger Purchase Action
Creating a sense of urgency and trigger purchase action usually work in tandem. The latter focuses on playing with the mind. Showing content like click here to try, buy now etc. This pushes the prospect to click on such buttons thus making the purchase. When content like limited period offer or limited stocks is bundled with click here or buy now buttons it persuades people into taking the desired action thus triggering purchase action.
There are many more strategies that can be used for re-funneling the dropout leads. However, the above 7 are the most effective and commonly used strategies. So now that you know the tricks, use them to re-funnel your leads and improve your marketing efforts.
