Automated sales funnels help streamline the customer journey from the awareness stage to the final purchase without the need to regular manual intervention. These are advanced tools that help transform your website visitors into highly qualified leads.
You can create a simple, automated sales funnel that takes the guesswork out of the marketing funnel process. When implemented well, it can help with lead generation, lead nurturing, lead qualification, sales facilitation, and customer retention.
Investing in marketing automation tools that gather and nurture leads and transform your prospects into customers can help you make the most of your campaigns. Key benefits of creating automated sales funnels include increased time savings, consistency, cost efficiency, and scalability. It also means improved lead management, response times, data collection, and data analysis.
Building an Automated Sales Funnel
If you seek easy-to-implement steps to create an automated sales funnel, you should take the following steps:
1. Market Research
Before you start creating your funnel, it is important to do market research. This can help you determine who you will be targeting and the solutions they are seeking. The funnel requires a match between the product and the market.
It is important to approach every customer making them believe that your brand will help them solve an issue or achieve a goal instead of selling them a product or service.
Market research provides you with valuable information and insights into the following:
- Market size
- Demand
- Location
- Economic indicators
- Price
- Market saturation
Make sure to find answers to the right questions when doing your research. These questions should focus on:
- Finding out the issues your customers are facing
- Determining how the competition is generating traffic
- Finding out the solutions people prefer
- Considering how you can make your offer more lucrative
The gathered data can help you create your messaging and offer that connects effectively with your audience.
2. Create the Right Offer
You can make your funnel more effective by creating the right offer. It should match your offer. This can help generate more qualified leads into the funnel and increase your conversion rate.
When you create a unique value proposition, it defines the value your brand holds in the eyes of your customers. Answers to the following questions can help you create such a value proposition:
- What can I offer that stands out from what is currently offered in the market?
- What are our business’ strengths that make us different?
- How do I better appeal to the specific market segment?
Use brainstorming to find ways to create an offer that is better than the competition.
3. Drive Traffic
Keep in mind that consumers are much more likely to buy from a specific brand once they have been educated during the early phases of the funnel. Providing access to educational content to your target audience can build brand trust. They are more likely to build a relationship with you. It is recommended to create the following types of content:
- Articles that provide solutions
- Research reports
- How-to videos
Make sure to include a call-to-action element in the content. This can be in the form of opt-in or lead-capture forms. The CTA element can allow your audience to take the next step to learn more.
You can use the following elements for automated lead generation:
- Landing Pages: Create dedicated landing pages to convert visitors into leads. This will require you to offer valuable content in exchange for their contact information.
- Online Forms: Include easy-to-use forms on your website for collecting visitor information.
- Social Media Engagement: Create social media content and engage with your audience. Besides commenting, they can also participate in polls.
All the data can be automatically stored in your CRM system. The lead information can be integrated into your CRM system for effective tracking.
You can further use paid ads to drive more leads. It is recommended to target ads at different stages of the funnel. Ideally, you should use ads to generate leads for your content. Then, you can allow the funnel to convert those leads.
4. Create Lead Magnets
Next, you should offer something of value to a prospect whenever they provide you with their contact details. When potential customers provide their contact info, they agree to allow further engagement.
The lead magnet must have the following attributes:
- Offers a quick win
- Readily accessible
- Addresses a real issue or provides a solution
- Showcases your expertise
- Easy to comprehend and use
The lead magnet should vary based on where the prospect is within the sales funnel. You can create the following lead magnets for different stages of the funnel:
Top
- Toolkit
- Checklist
- eBook
- Worksheet
Middle
- Case study
- Webinar
- Video training
- Email course
Bottom
- Live demo
- Comparison chart
- Free consultation
- Free trial
The prospect must clearly be informed who will benefit from the lead magnet. The following example explains this:
You offer marketing services to photographers and videographers. You have offered an eBook at the top of the funnel. It showcases how they can book more wedding clients. In the middle of the sales funnel, you can provide different lead magnets such as:
- An email course for startup videographers to sign up for their first clients.
- A case study on how your service helped a specific photographer grow their sales by 300%.
5. Email Marketing Automation
Now that you have your prospects’ email addresses, you should take steps to nurture the leads. This involves the process of building a good connection and taking them through the sales funnel.
The reason for choosing email marketing to nurture leads is that it allows you to send mini-campaigns that deliver value. The different ways it achieves this is through:
- Educating prospects about the issue while providing solutions
- Introducing the offer and providing reasons why it is better than what the competition has to offer
- Providing industry-based news and insights
- Sharing testimonials from other customers
- Sending updates on your business
With email marketing, you can choose from innumerable templates, strategies, and email sequences that can help guide your warm prospects to turn them into customers.
Automated email marketing flows are important because just a single email campaign targeting your leads cannot work. Email marketing flows help you create campaigns that rely on triggers and lead segmentation.
6. Re-Engaging
A significant percentage of your prospects will not turn into paying customers immediately. So, it is important to find ways to continue with the relationship and this is where retargeting campaigns come into the picture.
Retargeting helps you remind your leads of your products/services once they have moved on from the first contact. You can drive these campaigns through the following platforms:
- Google Ads
- Facebook Ads
- YouTube Ads
- Instagram Ads
For example, retargeting Google Ads can be focused on prospects who have been exposed to your email campaign but did not make a purchase.
Besides following these steps, it is recommended to monitor your sales funnel and take regular steps to improve it. Keep in mind that almost 7 in 10 businesses do not monitor their sales funnels. It is recommended to measure the key metrics at every stage to pinpoint the weak areas. The key metrics that need to be measured include leads, total sales, acquisition costs, conversion rate, customer lifetime value, average deal size, and cycle time. If you need professional help in creating an automated sales funnel that converts, it is recommended to contact us at Clear Imaging, Inc. Give us a call at 1(800) 380-6942 to discuss your goals or send us a message.
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