This is an in-depth comparison of a website and a sales funnel.
In this guide you’re going to find out:
- What is a website?
- What is a sales funnel?
- How are they different?
- How do sales funnels and websites work together?
- And so much more.
If you’re new to digital marketing, you may wonder what the difference between a sales funnel and a website is. Aren’t websites and sales funnels the same thing?
In marketing, knowing what kind of online presence performs best is crucial. You must determine several patterns and what provides a higher return on investment.
Right now, you might confuse a website with a sales funnel. That’s fine—most people do at first. But ideally, by the end of this post, you will have a clearer understanding of everything.
Let’s get started!
Contents
Sales Funnel vs. Website: An In-Depth Comparison
The focus distinguishes a sales funnel from a website.
Creating an online business, writing blog posts, and other content are just a few of the many things a business owner does on a website.
Meanwhile, you can use an online sales funnel to create leads and compel site visitors to take specific actions based on your campaign’s goal.
Now, I’d like to explain further the differences to help you understand better.
What Is a Website?
A website is a structured collection of interconnected web pages, photos, and other digital content accessible through your own domain name and available on at least one web server.
About Us, Contact Us, a Product/Services List, and a Blog page are some elements that make up a typical website with five to twenty or more pages of content. Each page is like a chapter in a book.
How Does a Website Work?
A person can access your website if you host it on a server and register under a domain name.
First, enter a domain name or website address in the search bar. Then, the browser passes the request to the DNS Server.
Then, it passes the request on to the main server or the server.
The HTML code on the server then accesses and translates it into a web page that visitors can interact with.
Then, the server responds to the browser, and you can access the website.
What Is the Purpose of a Website?
The purpose of a website varies depending on the website owner’s needs.
Most often, websites has the following four main purposes:
- Provides information
- Sell products and services
- Provide an opportunity to communicate with others
- Makes it possible to just have fun
Of course, it’s common for a business or organizational website to combine more than one of these purposes. However, it’s usually possible to identify one purpose as the primary purpose.
What Is a Sales Funnel?
The term “sales funnel” refers to a consumer-focused marketing model that illustrates the process of a customer’s journey toward the purchase of a good or service.
Think of it as a prospect’s pathway to becoming a fully paying customer.
Like a normal funnel, a sales funnel narrows as you go down.
The basic sales funnel model is based on the AIDA model (Awareness → Interest → Desire → Action), consists of four main stages:
- Awareness – the consumer becomes aware of a category, product, or brand (usually through advertising)
- Interest – the consumer becomes interested in learning about brand benefits & how the brand fits with the lifestyle
- Desire – the consumer develops a favorable disposition towards the brand
- Action – the consumer forms a purchase intention, shops around, engages in the trial or makes a purchase
Like a normal funnel, a sales funnel narrows as you go down.
How Does a Sales Funnel Work?
A sales funnel is the process prospects go through to become a customer. Each stage of the funnel takes the buyer one step closer to purchasing.
The sales funnel is a blank canvas on which you can describe and improve your sales process to gain more customers.
Using this approach, you can see the customer’s path from awareness to buying.
Here’s how it works:
Most of the time users have to go through these four key steps Awareness > Interest > Desire > Action.
Let’s take a closer look at each of them.
1. Awareness
The highest number of potential customers is in this stage of the process. They’ve identified an issue, started looking for a solution, and discovered a business via content marketing, social media marketing, or another method.
2. Interest
The number of potential customers decreases, but the likelihood of a transaction rises. If the customer wants further information, this is when they contact the company. The prospect will also research the competition to see if the firm’s product is the ideal fit for their needs.
3. Decision
The prospect shows a greater interest in the company by contacting the company to get answers to their inquiries.
This step of the process may include sales pitches, deeper research into the company’s many options, and price negotiation.
Refusal to purchase something stops the buyer from progressing through the funnel altogether.
4. Action
It’s the culmination of all the previous steps of a sales funnel. At this time, the buyer has decided to purchase the product.
Companies may employ different marketing strategies to keep their goods at the frontline of their customers’ minds if a potential consumer rejects a company’s offer.
An effective sales funnel guides potential consumers through each stage of the funnel until they are ready to buy your product or service.
What Is the Purpose of a Sales Funnel?
The primary goal of a sales funnel is to increase sales.
However, if you are more detailed, the sales funnel helps to visualize sales processes at each step, measure the conversion rates between each of the steps of the sales funnel, and to further optimize and improve them.
This is how the main sales funnel purposes could be described:
- Increase the number of leads for businesses
- Locates gaps in the marketing strategy and resolves them
- An increase in sales
What Is a Sales Funnel Website
On the Internet, it is very common to see such an expression as a sales funnel website.
This is a very similar operating principle to the basic sales funnel, except that the purchase process already takes place on the website, and it helps users avoid deviating from it.
A sales funnel website could be described as a series of pages linked together that help the user follow a set of steps linearly, leading to a specific goal (usually a conversion).
The main goal of the sales funnel is simply meant to walk prospects through the entire buyer’s journey without you having to do any of the work.
What Are The Main Differences Between a Sales Funnel and a Website?
Characteristic | Sales Funnel | Website |
Definition: | A model that shows the consumer’s journey from awareness of a product to purchase and customer loyalty. | It refers to a collection of related web pages hosted on a single domain name. |
Target: | Target a specific goal | They are general |
Conversion: | Conversion rates are high | Conversion rates are standard |
The main difference between a website and a sales funnel is that a website is just a series of interconnected web pages that work under one domain name. Meanwhile, a sales funnel is a model that represents the path a customer has to take from product awareness to purchase and, in some cases, even becoming a loyal and repeat client.
Here’s a cool visual to help explain.
On the website, prospects can go anywhere they want (even possibly avoid buying your product or service). Meanwhile, prospects are only moving down or closer to a sale inside the sales funnel.
How Do Sales Funnels And Websites Work Together?
Websites and sales funnel complement each other, allowing you to achieve better marketing results.
A website allows you to present yourself and your products or services, while a sales funnel helps guide the user towards the purchase process and achieve better sales results.
Using both is a way to promote your business and get it up and running. A business website acts as an open book for a broader audience to peruse, whereas you only build sales funnels to drive sales.
The website presents the traffic, and the sales funnels guide them to buy action.
Sales Funnels vs Websites: Which Is Better?
My answer is that a website and sales funnel are crucial! Combining them will help you get the most out of paid and organic traffic.
The ideal way to drive traffic is to have a traditional website offering everything visitors might need. Think of sales funnels as “plugs” that mend leaky websites that lose daily visits, customers, and sales.
You must still consider your business objectives when deciding whether to use both approaches or settle for one. Most businesses begin with a website because it is more cost-effective and allows them to take advantage of search engine traffic.
But if you want to get a lot of sales right now, use a sales funnel. You can expect increased conversions, especially from paid visitors, because of its ability to test, target, and improve.