Breaking Down the Product Conversion Funnel

Kirsten 0:04

You're listening to the creative teacher podcast, a show for busy teachers looking for ways to engage, inspire and make an impact in their teacher businesses. I'm Kiersten, a teacher business owner who is all about simple and actionable tips, strategies and resources that result in wins, big or small. If you're looking for that extra spark of creativity, you've come to the right place. Let's dive in together.

Hello, hello, welcome to another episode of the creative Teacher Podcast. I'm really excited for this topic, we're going to be thinking about how we can break down the different steps of a product conversion funnel. So I will be talking about what a conversion funnel is, and the different steps in that funnel. And we're also going to make it a little fun and put in an analogy, based off of what might be coming up in the next month. Spring break is almost here, it's almost going to be warmer weather. So I thought it'd be fun to kind of compare it to planning a vacation, and I will walk you through those steps. I'll also be sharing with you some tips to keep teachers or potential customers engaged at each step of the product listing conversion funnel. So you don't want to miss out on this episode, I know you will get a ton of value from it.

So there are four main parts of a funnel from when you are viewing a particular resource to purchasing that particular resource. So the first step would be awareness, the second step, interest, the third step, desire. And the fourth step, action. This is something that is prevalent in multiple industries. So this is something this concept is not specific just to TPT. It's something that can be applied to other niches in different markets as well. So as I mentioned earlier, I'm going to kind of relate planning a vacation to illustrate the different stages, since again, it is almost spring break. So let's think about step number one, awareness. This is our destination discovery. Imagine you are dreaming about your next vacation, but you haven't decided on a destination yet you're thinking possibly Beach, maybe you're thinking somewhere like where you get to hop along Hopalong planes and going country hopping maybe in Europe, or maybe you want to just find something unique and exotic. So you decide to research different places, and you're looking at pictures and reading about different experiences. This is similar to the awareness stage in a product conversion funnel, where potential customers are becoming aware of a product, whether it's through a Facebook ad or on social media, such as tick tock or Instagram. Or it could be just a teacher recommended the resource or recommended a potential store that they might be really interested in. So there's a lot of different ways teachers and potential customers can be aware. And in the context of a TPT product. The awareness stage is beginning when teachers or potential buyers are discovering a particular resource on TPT. And again, this could be through social media link shared or even just when they're typing in a couple of key words and they see resources pop up in the TPT search results. So step one is the awareness.

Step two is interest. In the context of going on a vacation or planning a vacation, you're narrowing down your destination options, you're thinking okay, I want to look for beach location. So you start exploring specific activities and attractions Each place has to offer and maybe thinking about what makes each destination unique, the perks of traveling to that specific country or maybe the downsides and as we are going deeper into what makes each destination unique. This is very similar to how potential customers are exploring the different features or benefits of a product during the interest stage. Once a teacher is discovering a product, they are basically looking at the product descriptions the cover As the thumbnails, and they're kind of comparing just to see how the resource aligns with their teaching needs. So similar to planning a vacation, educators are looking at the different features and benefits of teaching the resource. So just to recap these two steps, awareness, let's say specifically for TPT, they are typing in some keywords, and they see a bunch of resources pop up in the search results, they're looking at snippets and titles and covers. And they are clicking, just to kind of get a little bit of a feel of which resources they might be interested in. And they might check out the thumbnails or the description just to see a little bit about what might be beneficial for them and why they might be interested in buying.

Now going into stage three, that would be desire, imagining the experience putting themselves in their shoes. So vacation wise, you might be like narrowing it down, you've got one or two perfect destinations that you're super excited about. And you can feel that Margarita in your hand and you're laying out with a book or just listening to the waves, or you have this really cool excursion that you're excited about. And you're just really thinking about enjoying the scenery and trying the different food and engaging in different activities. This can be compared in a product conversion funnel, through creating a strong emotional connection and a sense of longing for the product. So just like you're anticipating your vacation, then you might have the same feelings as far as teachers are like adding it to their wish list or putting it on a collection on TPT. They're envisioning how these materials can enhance their lessons, save them time, or engage their students effectively. And of course, this timeframe could range somebody like me, I'm usually this person, well, impulse purchase is like, Okay, this is it, this is what I need. So they add it to their cart. So it's this desire stage is very short. Or some they might sit on it, they might marinate it, they add it to their wish list, or they might even dive deeper into the previews. So they are getting a lot more interested than just surface level stuff. And they're really, really thinking about purchasing this and utilizing it with their students.

Alright, so the fourth step would be action, booking the trip actually going through with putting your card number down and getting those plane tickets. So in this stage, you have taken the step of actually booking your vacation. And this is very similar to when the potential customer has moved through the funnel, and they are actually making the purchase or when they're actually adding it to their cart and going through the checkout process. They might even add a gift card or coupon, and then they're completing the transaction. So this is where the conversion happens is when they're actually purchasing the resource. So as you can see, the product conversion funnel is very similar to when you're probably likely thinking about a destination for a vacation or planning out a memorable trip. So a successful product conversion funnel will lead potential customers from awareness to taking action, which can result if your resources quality in satisfied buyers and users.

Now, let's talk about some ways to keep people in each step of the funnel. Naturally, because it is a funnel, you're going to have people slip out after each stage. In a perfect world, it would be a nice little cylinder, right? But alas, it is a funnel. So you're going to have people lost throughout each step. But there are some tips to kind of patch things up and keep more people in each step of the funnel.

So for the awareness stage, when we are thinking about the TPT search results, specifically, we want to think about optimizing those things that people will see on the search results. So optimizing the titles with keywords, adding the appropriate tags, optimizing your product covers, crafting an engaging snippet that hooks the attention of potential customers, and also leveraging your social media, utilizing ads, doing whatever you can to get that awareness out there. That's going to be really getting as many people as possible to view that actual real source in, hopefully, the first couple of pages of the search results. This is a big focus of mine this year is to drive more traffic to my resources, through SEO optimization, product listing, optimization, and also through other marketing platforms. So this is something that is really, really huge, you want your funnel to be the top of the funnel to be as big as possible. So you want that wide range, the higher the range, the more likely you're going to get more people converting.

Now, let's go into the second stage, the interest stage, this can be really optimized by creating eye catching thumbnails that are representing your teacher resources. Thinking about how teachers, a lot of people, most people, in fact, who are visual learners are visual creatures. And so visual appeal can definitely increase click through rates, you want to always guide the reader through so that they are wanting to get that edge to click on the preview. So going from the thumbnails, you're giving them a kind of a journey of what the benefits are, why it's going to be really great. And also just what's included just a succinct way of kind of getting them interested in it. And of course, you don't want to throw everything and the kitchen sink at them in the thumbnails and the covers. You want to just entice them just enough to want them to click on the previews. And then this description is of course, descriptive, but not too overly descriptive, where it's reading, like a novel, be detailed, showcase what's included, why it's beneficial, even adding some reviews or highlighting some reviews, all of those good best practices of creating compelling thumbnails and detailed descriptions. If you need to, you can always go back to a couple months back, I did a product listing series, there's a four part series if you want some tips on covers thumbnails, previews, titles and descriptions.

Alright, let's think about the desire stage stage three, we want to consider the value through pricing. So this is kind of one of those things where people are kind of comparing prices at this stage. At some point, they're kind of saying, Okay, well, this kind of has, what does this include in this resource versus this resource that I'm considering? How what can I get out of it? How can I utilize it with my students, and one of those ways that they might compare is through pricing. So just thinking about the overall value of your resource? Is it priced appropriately, using potential data tools to help you price, you might have to increase or decrease the price. Also thinking about having interactive previews, or sample pages that allow teachers to experience a really great glimpse of what the resources quality and content entails. So always just make sure to give even more visuals in the preview offer samples. If necessary, utilize video previews, something that has really been, I believe, very helpful is in the description. I link suggestions of use videos for my social studies units, and it's a 10 to 15 minute video that I have. For each unit, I have recorded a detailed walkthrough of the resource. And I do believe it is one of the reasons why it's converting pretty well, even when it is a new resource. Another thing is just showcasing positive reviews and testimonials from other educators who have found value in your resources. This can be also highlighted in the preview, this can be highlighted in the description. It's just a really great way to build credibility and trust.

And finally, the action stage creating a sense of urgency. This is really great, because you can always do this through limited time offers such as site wide sales. So that is why it's always important to make sure you are participating in every single site wide sale that is offered on TPT. And then also think about other collaborations that you might be able to participate in such as hashtag sales. Those are really popular and there are plenty of groups out there who host these types of things. And this is a really great way to kind of incentivize educators who make a purchase decision sooner. I highly recommend checking out in your product statistics, any resources in the activity section if you'd click on the activity tab that might have a high number of people who have on their wish lists. So you don't have to keep track of it too often. But I see, you know, I like to compare it. Okay, how recently have I added this resource to TPT? Like, when did I upload it and comparatively, how many people are adding it to their wish lists? For some resources, I can see, like, if there's a ton of people looking at the preview and adding it to their wish list compared to other resources that were posted around the same time, this might be a really great clue that people are interested in it, but for whatever reason, they are on the fence, and they're not quite ready to buy. So this could be a really great way to run a promotion, maybe to in your adding it in your note to follow or saying you have it at a limited time discount for 48 hours. So just see what resources are already selling. Also see which resources are already selling well during a specific time of year and make sure to promote it on your social media platforms, any type of marketing platform that you have, like email or even run an ad to it. Those are all really great ways to get those fence sitters to take action.

Hopefully this episode was valuable and helpful to you. And I am going to talk to you next week. I hope you have a wonderful day and rest of your week.

Thanks for listening to the creative teacher podcast. If you enjoyed listening to today's episode, feel free to subscribe and leave a review. I'd love to hear your feedback. You can also follow me on Instagram at the southern teach dot designs. Have an amazing day.