Mapping out your customer’s buying journey helps you see what’s actually working, and what’s quietly leaking leads. A sales funnel is simply the process of turning awareness into action: attracting the right people, building interest, creating desire, and ultimately getting them to convert. The more friction you remove at each stage, the more leads make it to the bottom. That’s why a good funnel isn’t about adding more steps, it’s about making each step clearer, faster, and more relevant.

It also helps to understand that marketing and sales play different roles here. Marketing brings people in and builds interest, while sales turns that interest into actual revenue. When those two work together, your funnel becomes more efficient. But funnels aren’t perfect — they take time to build and often suffer from drop-offs when leads lose interest, don’t see value, or aren’t ready to buy. That’s why the real work isn’t just creating a funnel, but continuously testing, refining, and focusing your efforts on the leads most likely to convert.

Sales Funnel Template Overview

Steps to create your own sales funnel template

Now that you know the benefits and challenges of a sales funnel, it's time to create your own sales funnel template. We'll take you through a step-by-step guide on how to do this.

Step 1: Start with your goal in mind

As with any campaign, the first step is to have a goal in mind when building a sales funnel template. What are you trying to achieve? More sales? More leads? A higher conversion rate? Once you know your goal, you can start planning the steps necessary to get there.

To help you grasp the idea of a clear goal, here’s one simple example: 

“Goal: To increase sales by 10% this Q2”

This is a specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goal. Having a SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Timely) goal like this will help you stay focused when creating your sales funnel template. 

Step 2: Figure out who your target market is

Next is to identify who your target market is. This will help you understand your customer’s journey and determine what messaging will be most effective in getting them to take the desired action. 

Are you selling to businesses or consumers? What's their age range? What are their interests? And more importantly, what are their pain points? The more specific you can be, the better.

Not all customers are created equal. You need to segment your audience so that you can create targeted content for each group. The more specific you can be, the better. This will make it more likely that they'll take the desired action.

Here's an example of a clear target market:

“Our company sells natural dog food. The target market is dog owners who are concerned about what goes into their pet's food and want to feed them the best possible diet.

These people are worried about their pet's health, so they're more likely to be interested in natural dog food. And since we know they're specifically interested in healthy pet food, we can create content that addresses their concerns and speaks directly to them.”

Step 3: Choose your channels

Once you know your target audience, it's time to decide which channels you'll use to reach them. This will largely depend on where your audience is spending their time. Will you rely on paid ads, organic traffic, or social media? Or a combination of all three?

In the digital space, some common channels include email marketing, social media (like Facebook, Instagram, or Linkedin), content marketing (such as blog posts or ebooks), paid advertising (such as Google AdWords or Facebook Ads), and referral programs.

Other channels could include more traditional methods such as print ads, TV commercials, direct mail, or even phone calls.

Step 4: Create attractive offers

If you want people to take action, you need to give them a reason to do so. This is where your offers come in. They should be relevant to your target audience and provide value that solves their pain points. That’s why it’s crucial to create offers that are clear, concise, and easy to understand.

Your offer could be a free trial, a discount, or something else entirely. It's up to you to decide what will work best for your business. Here are some examples:

• If you’re selling a physical product, you could offer free shipping on orders over $50. 

• If you’re selling a digital product, you could offer a free trial or a discount for the first month.

• If you’re selling a service, you could offer a free consultation call.

Step 5: Create a sales page

Now that you have nailed down an offer, it's time to create a landing page or a sales page. This is the page where people will go to learn more about your offer and take action on it. Your landing page should be designed with one goal in mind: conversion.

That means including elements like a headline, images, and a call-to-action (CTA) that are all geared towards getting the visitor to take your desired action. 

It's also important to ensure that your landing page is mobile-friendly and loads quickly. If it's not, you risk losing potential customers.

Step 6: Create a thank you page or gift

Once someone takes action on your offer, it's important to thank them and direct them to the next step in your funnel. This is where a thank you page or gift comes in.

A thank you page is a simple page that thanks the customer for taking action. On the other hand, a gift is a physical product or digital download given to the customer as a way to say thanks.

Both options can be effective, so it's up to you to decide which makes the most sense for your business. The idea here is to strengthen the relationship with your customer so that they're more likely to do business with you in the future.

Step 7: Check in with your customers

It is important to have a follow-up strategy and check in with your customers after they've converted. This is a good time to see how they use your product or service and if they're happy with it. You can also ask for feedback so that you can improve your offering.

This is also a great opportunity for your sales rep to establish a relationship with your customers and build trust with them.

There are a few different ways to check in with your customers:

• Send them a follow-up email a week after they've made a purchase, asking how everything is going. 

• Have your sales rep call a customer month after they've converted to see how they're finding your service.

• Send out a survey six months after they've made a purchase to get feedback on their overall experience.

Step 7: Measure your results

Finally, you need to track your results to see how well the sales funnel template you created is performing.

There are various ways to track results. You could use Google Analytics to track website traffic and conversions. You could also use a tool like Hootsuite Insights to track social media engagement.

Whatever method you choose, make sure you're tracking the right metrics. This will vary depending on your business goals, but some common metrics to track include website traffic, conversion rate, and customer lifetime value.

Sales funnel examples

Each industry has its unique sales funnel, but all businesses have some commonalities. Let's take a closer look at these sales funnel examples for inspiration. Consider any of these a free sales funnel template you can use as well.

SaaS sales funnel

A typical SaaS sales process involves getting a website visitor to try the free trial and then converting them into paying customers. A SaaS sales funnel would look like this: 

1. Drive traffic: First, you need to drive traffic to your website through SEO, content marketing, or paid advertising.

2. Convert visitors into leads: Once you have website visitors, you need to convert them into leads by getting them to sign up for your free trial.

3. Get leads to convert: After trying out the free trial, it’s time to turn these leads into subscribers or paying customers.

4. Retain customers: You need to retain customers by providing them value and excellent customer service.

Ecommerce sales funnel

For eCommerce, the goal is often to get potential customers to add items to their cart and then complete the purchase. Here are the common stages in an eCommerce sales funnel:

1. Lead generation: Ecommerce businesses would use awareness strategies like SEO or paid advertising to attract potential leads to their online store.

2. Get visitors to add items to their cart: Once lead generation is successful, the idea is to get leads to add items to their cart by using effective product pages and compelling calls to action.

3. Get customers to complete their purchases: Often, people do not complete their purchases, so in this stage, businesses would start using effective checkout processes and upselling techniques.

4. Improve brand loyalty: Finally, eCommerce teams will strive to retain these customers by providing them with value and excellent customer service.

Real estate sales funnel

The real estate sales funnel typically starts with online ads that generate leads. These leads are then contacted by a real estate agent to set up showing appointments.

Once a lead has been qualified as a potential buyer, they are taken on showings of properties that fit their budget and needs. If all goes well, the sale is then closed and the customer becomes a homeowner.

Here’s a quick look at a typical real estate sales funnel:

1. Lead capture: The first step in any real estate sales funnel is to generate leads. This can be done through online ads, cold calling, or by working with a lead generation agency.

2. Qualifying the lead: Once you have generated a lead, the next step is to qualify them. This involves ensuring that they are interested in buying a property and have the budget to do so.

3. Showing properties: If the lead is qualified, the next step is to show them properties that fit their budget and needs. This typically happens with the help of a real estate agent.

4. Closing the sale: The final step in the real estate sales funnel is to close the sale. This is when the lead officially becomes a customer and buys a property.

From Funnel to Results

Making a sales funnel template is a great way to visualize your customer's buying journey and see where you can improve your sales campaign. By mapping out each funnel step, you can more easily identify problem areas and optimize your sales process accordingly.

Each business has its own unique sales funnel template. There is no one-size-fits-all solution. However, by following the steps in this article, you can create a sales funnel template that will work for your business.