The Importance of Trust Funnel

Many marketer professionals argue the days of a traditional sales funnel are numbered. While this statement is slightly premature, things are indeed changing at a rapid pace. Closing a sale is not the end of the buyer journey anymore, or at least it doesn’t have to be. Likewise, commoditizing customers is a grave risk that tends to do more harm than good. Now, this isn’t to say we need to dismantle the whole concept of a sales funnel. The point is to fine-tune it for success in highly saturated markets dominated by consumers. Make no mistake: It’s a matter of survival for businesses across industry sectors. 

The new funnel accounts for the fact that trust is the glue that holds consumers and brands together. It helps you lay the basic infrastructure for your core processes and strategies. You get much closer to generating long-term, sustainable growth and have a chance to outpace your competition.

Here is a guide on why trust funnel matters and how to go about designing it.  

The Game Has Changed 

The customer-centric operation remains the backbone of modern business strategies. Sales funnel plays a lead role in planning and executing performance-based marketing. While it continues to add value to organizations, the main issue is it can only take us so far. When we say that, we imply the conventional funnel is limited by its final destination, the neck or the bottom. Usually, this is the point at which consumers convert. Once they do, your mission is accomplished, or is it really? 

Well, this kind of approach has worked like a charm for a long time. Nowadays, it fails to deliver results because we face new requirements in a shifting business environment. We have to engage in consumer retention and ongoing support. The logic behind it is simple. You go the extra mile for your customers to bridge the gaps in communication and interaction that arise after purchase.  Hence, it’s no longer enough to have a tunnel vision, which only chases one end goal— revenue. This old approach either ignores retention and advocacy or sees them as optional additions.  

You cannot afford to make this mistake. Adopt a new mindset, which elevates trust and loyalty to the very top of the list of priorities. Also, understand the importance of missing links in interaction, such as post-purchase customer experience and service. 

Main Workings of a Trust Funnel 

Trust funnel reconfigures the sales flow and re-envisions the whole buying cycle. In the process, it puts forward new focal points and objectives, encouraging you to postpone selling to people for later. 

The updated version has five main components:

  • Attraction revolves around means of building credibility instead of merely spreading awareness. Think in terms of prime digital real estate, such as social media, business website, and organic search. You want to employ them to convey a sense of familiarity and sympathy. 
  • Interaction (engagement) involves activities aimed at initiating communication and proving authenticity. Namely, businesses have to be highly responsive and ponder “always online” approach. They are forced to consider techniques like implementing chatbots to creating a FAQ website section. 
  • Conversion traditionally occupies the very bottom of sales funnels. When it comes to trust funnel, the situation is a bit different. This concept promotes transparency, user-friendliness, and honesty on your part. So, prioritize trust magnets like case studies, social proof, and customer testimonials. Make sure the sales process is streamlined and requires a minimum number of clicks and steps. 
  • Retention is a critical follow-up system, which all about fostering consumer loyalty. Why is this so vital? Well, studies reveal it’s much more comfortable and way less expensive to sell to existing than to new customers. 

Advocacy is the process of nurturing and maintaining long-term relationships with people. It is the hardest one to accomplish, but the benefits are immense as well. Most notably, you are able to spur word-of-mouth and to get it for free, too.

trust funnel

Extended Sales funnel scheme

Marching Toward Success, Step-by-Step 

As you can see, each stage of the trust funnel contains several noteworthy tactics, channels, and tools. Let’s examine the case of interaction a bit closer. Apart from the aforementioned FAQ and chatbots, it may require you to deploy other systems as well. To be more precise, many companies have managed to work wonders with employee engagement and influencer partnerships. On the other hand, retention could encapsulate loyalty programs/loops and post-purchase content/freebies. These are both great ways to influence behavior and reassert your credibility. The main takeaway is you have to weigh the pros and cons and see what makes the most sense. Is it better to pick a limited number of tactics or to try casting a wide net with more of them? Answers vary depending on your specific case. 

Moving on, you should bear in mind most businesses launch the trust funnel phases in linear succession. Be that as it may, it is crucial to realize they aren’t isolated from one another. On the contrary— trust funnel sections are mutually dependent and ideally reinforce each other. In particular, you want to get the first three stages right. They enable you to maximize the outcomes of the other two. 

And remember, the ultimate goal is not just to sell, but to turn leads into true brand ambassadors. These are the people who exhibit deep brand affinity and are ready to spread the word around. We know what you might be thinking: “Well, this is a lot to handle.” This is an understandable notion, and trust us, we feel you.  At the same time, we learned that benefits that wait are too great to be missed. For example, an increase in retention rates of just 5% can lead to a 25%-89% spike in sales. Simply put, leads that originate from referrals are qualified and very likely to convert. They offer immense lifetime value. 

So, do yourself a favor and make an effort to redesign your funnel. Embark on a journey of constant learning and refinement. Make your digital marketing self-sufficient and your organization future-proof.  

Following these steps, you should be able to keep up the pace with consumer preferences and sustain robust business growth. 

It’s all Comes Down to Trust 

A steady stream of well-paying consumers is the lifeline of any business. To witness it lifting your boats too, you need to put the cusomers first and everything else second. Yes, sales funnel is still useful in guiding our activities. However, building trust is now the name of the game, a highly effective strategy for the long-term. You can start by reshuffling your list of priorities. Get in front of your audience using suitable channels and touchpoints. Create an initial sense of credibility and comfort. Cultivate more profound, meaningful relationships while removing friction from the journey.

You’ll have an army of devout advocates generating buzz around your brand and coming back for more. It’s time to step up your strategy in order to reinforce your bottom line in one stroke. 

We can help you with that.