Testing your idea before launch. Sales funnel

Sales funnel: how to test an idea and engage an audience before launching a product

When I was launching my first product, I found that the hardest part was not creating the product itself, but drawing attention to it. So I started with a simple but powerful tool called a sales funnel. It’s not just a marketing jargon term, but a real strategy for testing an idea and engaging the audience before the product launch.

Think of it as a four-step process, where each step helps you understand whether your idea really has potential. First, you publish content to see if people are interested. Then, if they start to subscribe, you know there is interest and you can move on to more active forms of engagement. Next, you make small, affordable offers to see if people are willing to pay for your ideas. And finally, if you get a positive response, you can safely scale your product.

? What is a sales funnel?

It’s like a route plan for your business that shows how potential customers go from learning about you to buying your product. It includes several key stages.

Етапи воронки продажів: впевнено до продажів

WOW Stage 1: Articles and content

This stage is aimed at testing passive interest. When you publish articles or other content, you are trying to draw your audience’s attention to a particular topic. This is the first contact that helps you understand whether people have an interest in what you are writing about. If they read, comment, share, it means that they are interested in the topic.

WOW Stage 2: Followers

The next step is to activate this interest. If people subscribe to your updates, to your channel or group, it means that they are interested not only in reading the material once, but also in following the development of the topic. This is the first active action on their part, which shows a deeper interest and willingness to receive new information on an ongoing basis.

WOW Stage 3: Quick sales

Now that you have subscribers, you can move on to quick sales. At this stage, you check if the people who have already shown interest are ready to pay for something specific and affordable. It can be a small product, service, course, or other item that meets the interests of your audience.

WOW Stage 4: Testing your readiness to scale

If people are actively buying your offers at the previous stage, it means that you have the potential to further develop your product. You already know that there is interest and willingness to pay, and now you can gradually offer more expensive products or services, moving people further down the funnel.

This approach allows you not only to create a loyal customer base, but also to gradually prepare them for large purchases. Such a sales funnel helps to effectively engage people, check interest and readiness to buy, and plan further business development based on real data.

Or the sales funnel can look like this ?

WOW Stage 5: The event

At this stage, we move from passive content consumption to active engagement. If a person not only reads your articles, but also registers for an event, attends it (whether online or offline), and even more so participates in interactive elements, it means that they have reached a new level of engagement. It’s no longer just interest – it’s an active action that shows a willingness to deepen their knowledge and engagement with your brand.

WOW Stage 6: Quick sales

After a person has passed the previous stages of the funnel, it’s time for quick sales. Here, it’s important to offer something small and affordable to lower the barrier to purchase. These can be inexpensive products, services, or even symbolic offers. The main goal is to get a person to make their first purchase, even if it’s just €1.

? As in the example with games, when a player buys something for €1 for the first time, he makes an important psychological step – he opens his wallet and confirms his willingness to pay. This is a key moment that shows that they are ready to invest in the product. Subsequent sales become easier because the person has already crossed the psychological barrier of the first purchase.

An effective sales funnel: why does a small amount matter?

Offering a low price at the beginning of a sale makes it easier to make a purchase decision. When a person is ready to spend even a small amount of money, it opens up opportunities for further interaction and the sale of more expensive products or services.

Thus, building a funnel from mere interest to the first purchase is an important strategy for gradually engaging customers and increasing their loyalty to your brand. This allows you to understand how much people are willing to invest in your product and whether it makes sense to market it further.

This funnel, built around content, subscriptions, events, and quick sales, is a powerful tool for testing the viability of your idea and engaging your target audience even if the product is not yet ready. It’s not just a sales mechanism – it’s a strategy that allows you to gradually test the interests of your audience and adapt your approach at each stage.

Four key stages of the funnel:

• Articles:
  → This is the initial stage where you test the passive interest in the topic on which your product is based.→ If articles generate interest, attract attention, and gather feedback, this is the first indicator that the topic is relevant to your audience.

  → It’s important to analyse how engaged people are, whether they share and comment on the content, and whether they come back for more.

• Followers:
  → Once people have shown interest in your articles, the next step is to subscribe. This is a signal that your audience is ready to receive regular information on the topic of their choice.→ Subscribers are the first level of active engagement. They are not only interested in the topic, but also ready to receive more information, follow the news and developments.

  → This is an indicator that the audience is ready for deeper engagement.

• Events:
  → Organising an event is the next step in engaging your audience. If people are willing to attend your event, it shows that they are ready to spend their time learning more about the topic.→ An event can be online or offline, but its main goal is to immerse your audience in the topic and move them to a more active level of engagement.

  → This is the stage where you can start to build a more personal connection with your audience by engaging them in discussions, interactive sessions, or other types of interaction.

• Quick sales:
  → Selling a small, affordable product quickly is the final test of your idea’s viability.→ If people are ready to make the first purchase, it shows that your topic is not only interesting, but also has commercial potential.

  → This stage is important to confirm that your audience is willing to pay for solutions related to the topic they are interested in.

This approach allows you to ...

not only to test the viability of your idea, but also to start building a relationship with your audience, gradually moving them from passive content consumption to active engagement and, ultimately, to purchase. This makes your funnel not only effective for testing ideas, but also flexible and adaptable to your audience’s needs.

Sales funnel: examples

Sales funnel for an online course

1. Attracting attention. Publishing blog articles about training in a particular topic, advertising on social media.
2. Generate interest. People register for a free webinar or download a free guide.
3. Consideration. Webinar participants receive an offer to purchase the full course at a special price.
4. Action. People buy the course.
5. After-sales service. Providing access to the course, support via email or chat, promoting additional courses or materials.

Sales funnel for e-commerce

1. Attracting attention. Advertising new products on social media, SEO-optimised blog articles.
2. Generating interest. Potential customers subscribe to email newsletters to receive discounts and news.
3. Consideration. Receiving a series of email newsletters with offers, reviewing products on the website.
4. Action. Customers make a purchase.
5. After-sales service. Sending order confirmation, requests for feedback, offers for repeat purchases.

Let's create a working sales funnel together!

Success in product promotion starts with a simple thing: you need to understand what your potential customers are interested in and what they really need. This is where the sales funnel is your best friend.

First, you throw something interesting into the content, then move on to subscriptions, and now you’re testing fast sales.

It’s a great way to not only test whether your idea is worthy of attention, but also to attract people who are ready to become your first fans and customers even before you launch your product.

If you want to figure out how to build your funnel and make it work to the fullest, let’s talk!Sign up for a consultation — and together we’ll come up with a strategy that will take your business to the next level.

And one more thing! If you want to receive more useful promotion tips, subscribe to my newsletter. If this article was interesting for you, share it on social media – together we can help Ukrainian products enter the global market!!!! ?