How to Create Ad Funnels for Different Types of Products

Increase revenue with effective ad funnels

Marketing for specific products is a mainstay in how companies generate revenue. Most companies have a few flagship products with a variety of accessories and support options. It is important for companies to be able to draw potential customers toward these flagship products on a regular basis.

Ad funnels can help you do this by guiding potential customers through the buying process of relevant products. But creating these funnels can be a challenge, especially if you’re new to marketing or if you have multiple products to advertise.

Read on to gain a better understanding of ad funnels and discover how to create ad funnels for different types of products.

What Is an Ad Funnel?

An ad funnel is a series of actions or content components on your website that takes potential customers through the buying process. In essence, it is the method that a company uses to acquire customers, generate leads, and convert leads into sales.

Whether companies realize it, they very likely use some type of funnel in their operations.

There are different types of funnels, but the most common one is an ad funnel. It uses a series of ads to guide customers, rather than using emails or submission forms, for example.

You can use ad funnels on a range of different channels. For example, Facebook has an ad funnel planning tool since the majority of people doing business on Facebook use ad funnels to attract customers. If you plan to try building funnels on Facebook, make sure to check this ultimate guide to Facebook ads funnel from StableWP. Other platforms can use ad funnels, and many of the leading options have a tool to help you plan and implement it.

Why Ad Funnels?

Ad funnels are useful for a variety of reasons. One of the most important reasons is that they can be used across multiple channels. Once you develop the content, it is relatively easy to reuse it across different channels. The biggest limitation is that you may need to restructure or reshape your ads for different website components since each platform has its own size requirements.

Ad funnels are also effective at getting the attention of potential customers. Although many consumers want to pretend that they are immune to the influence of ads, the truth is that well-constructed ads are impossible to ignore.

So, well-designed ads can help you get the attention of nearly everyone you’re targeting. That is exactly what you want at the beginning of your funnel: to have the widest reach possible.

How Funnels Work

Funnels work by casting a wide net, drawing in potential customers, and weeding out bad leads. Hence, the metaphorical structure of a funnel channels leads to a smaller and smaller structure until they become customers. Funnels have three main sections. Here is a look at how each section works.

First Section: The Opening

The funnel begins with the opening, which has a wide structure. It is the first part of the funnel that potential customers interact with and casts the widest net. This is the part where your initial ads are used to get consumers’ attention.

For your ads to be effective, you need to design ads that hook consumers in within the shortest time possible. For most ads, this is a tagline or an image. You need to hook consumers quickly because they are inundated with these types of ads and try to ignore them.

You want to use content that’s hard for them to ignore, even if it is for a product that they can’t or won’t use. Doing so gives you the best chance of bringing in customers.

Section Two: The Cone

The cone is the section that tries to qualify leads and weed out unqualified leads. It starts with a large group of interested consumers and provides more information about the product. As new information becomes available, consumers that lose interest will fall away.

Likewise, you want to find a way to remove consumers that would buy the product and not see the benefits of your products. These are the consumers that leave negative or bland reviews and often return products, which costs you money.

In the cone, focus on asking questions and showing the product. Your goal is to build familiarity with the product so that consumers can connect and engage with it. As consumers’ interest in the product grows, look for reasons why it may not be a good fit for them. That way, you can slowly weed out people that your product is not good for.

Section Three: The Tip

At the tip of the funnel, your only goal is to help consumers see how the product solves their problems and to convert them into sales. At this point, the majority of the consumers that have not left the funnel are interested and pre-qualified for the products that you have to offer. Show them how your products fix their specific problems and guide them through the buying process.

Creating Funnels for Different Products

Companies often have different funnels for different products. Ads have a limited amount of space in most cases, and you want to maximize the impact of each product by limiting it to one per ad.

There is a simple method of creating a funnel for a product. However, different types of products need different funnel components and content requirements. Let’s take a look at some effective tips to create funnels for different types of products.

High-Price Products

Creating ads for high-price products requires a bit of finesse. This is because most consumers are price sensitive. The high cost of a product can immediately eliminate 90% of people who see an ad based on what that price is.

Car companies often have this problem, since brands like Lexus and Infiniti are significantly more expensive than Hyundai and Toyota. While placing ads in the right places can help with this, these products have a price range that is immediately prohibitive.

To create ad funnels for high-price products, focus on their designs. The quality and style of their designs are often what sets them apart from other products and justifies the high price point. So make it the primary focus at the beginning of the funnel.

Keep the price out of the funnel until you reach the tip. By then, your leads will be interested and qualified, so they may be willing to compromise on their price sensitivity for all of the value that the product can provide.

Consumables

Consumables are an important product type to consider when developing ad funnels. Many consumers need consumables on a regular basis. For the most part, consumables are also affordable since they are generally sold on volume. That means that price sensitivity, while still a concern, is less important for these products.

When developing ad funnels for consumables, focus on their value. Value is determined by a variety of factors, including construction quality and price per unit. Whatever value your product provides should be the focal point of your ads.

This is especially true if the price per unit is better than that of your competitors. This is how many big box stores like Target and Walmart, promote products in their ads so that consumers can compare and shop for a wide range of items in one ad.

Later in your funnel, focus on how your product offers better quality both in construction and in ease of use. This will push consumers closer to buying because they often make repeated purchases based on the quality and affordability of each product.

Specialty Products

There are many products that can fall into the specialty product category. These products are designed to do one thing and one thing only.

They are like consumables in this way but are not items that you would easily get rid of. Musical instruments are a prime example of this, because each instrument is designed to have a unique sound and blend of custom-designed features.

Creating ads for specialty products should focus on what features make them special, especially if those features are easy to see. Your ads should make it clear what the product is and try to highlight something special about it that will draw customers in.

Returning to our instrument example, guitar ads focus on their shape and special paint jobs. These are both features that are easy to see and are the most immediate ways that consumers differentiate specialty items.

Medium-Cost Products

Most products fall into the medium-cost product range. These are things that people are willing to buy, but don’t have a price point so low that it doesn’t matter. Determining which products fall into this category is a bit difficult since it is subjective based on the product type.

For example, you can have high-end toasters that are cost-prohibitive, and very affordable toasters that have a price so low that it doesn’t matter much to consumers. The products in the middle fall into the medium-cost products category.

Products in this category typically don’t have special features that differentiate them. They are general products that people buy, and not specialized versions. To create ads for these, focus on their value over time.

For example, people want to buy toasters that will last a long time and do a good job, so they’re willing to spend a reasonable amount of money on them. That means that you can focus on the toaster’s long-term value compared to its price.

Do this at every stage of the funnel while increasingly focusing on the quality of the job that it does at its specific task. This will help consumers grow attached to the product and make it easier for them to decide to buy it.

Final Thoughts

Every product is a bit different, so creating an ad funnel for each product requires detailed research and planning. When done correctly, companies can effectively sell products with minimal investment in advertising costs and see a higher return on investment.

Develop your product ad funnels with value in mind using these methods, and your company should see an increase in conversion rates.

Written by: Gaurav Sharma

Gaurav Sharma is the Founder of Attrock, a digital marketing company. He works closely with top marketing influencers and has helped numerous brands, e-commerce firms, and SaaS companies grow.

He is also a certified Google Analytics and Google Adwords specialist and regularly contributes to reputable publications like HuffPost, TechCrunch, and many more. Connect with him on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook.