Most companies spend too much money on marketing. What’s worse, is that these overpriced efforts end up not producing the results they were promised. This combination of wasted time and wasted money can be a massive frustration for business owners and leave them wanting to pull their hair out.
Does that sound familiar?
If so, this problem can be solved by implementing an effective sales funnel on your website. Sales funnels, when executed correctly, are a simple way to increase the amount of leads your website is generating and then convert those leads into customers. If you own a business and want to increase sales, grow your online presence, and launch marketing efforts that actually work, then this guide is for you. All you have to do is follow these three simple steps
- Create Compelling Content
- Capture Contact Information
- Automate Email Campaigns
Here’s how to get started.
1. Create Compelling Content
Step 1: Clearly Communicate Your Brand Message
The first step toward an effective sales funnel is being able to clearly communicate what your company does. If visitors on your website aren’t able to quickly understand what you do and how you can help them, they will disengage and ultimately disappear. If you confuse your visitors, you’ll lose their attention. But if you tell a story that engages your prospects, your sales funnel will produce results. Follow along our checklist for ensuring you can clearly communicate your brand message.
Checklist:
- Define what your customers want in relation to your product or service
- Identify the main problems your company helps customers solve
- Position your company as a trusted guide with empathy and authority
- Give your customers a plan to follow that will solve their problems
- Offer a clear call-to-action to get started along this path
Step 2: Create a Website That Converts
The second step toward creating an effective sales funnel is to build a website that converts. That means your website should be using content and calls-to-action to drive visitors through their buyer’s journey. The banner on the homepage of your company’s website should let visitors know what you offer and how it benefits their lives—as clearly and concisely as possible. Follow along with our checklist on how to create a website that converts.
Checklist:
- Clearly state what you offer customers in the header of your website
- Place an obvious call to action in the top right corner of the site
- Offer a piece of content in exchange for your visitor’s email address
- Use images that illustrate what success looks like for your customer
- Make the text on your site scannable and easy to digest
In addition to these messaging techniques and design tactics, you should implement more opportunities to drive conversions, such as downloadable content, blog subscriptions, chat bots, and pop-ups. By combining compelling content with conversion opportunities, you’ll see your website become a production machine.
2. Capture Contact Information
Visitors might be successfully landing on your website, however, they will very rarely buy based solely on an initial impression. In order to close more deals, you need to get your company’s name and marketing message in front of your prospects early and often—making several impressions. Then, when your prospects are ready to buy, you’ll be the first solution they think of and their obvious choice. This is the power of content marketing.
How do you accomplish this strategy? The key piece of an effective sales funnel is a lead generating PDF—a piece of content given in exchange for your visitor’s contact information.
A lead generating PDF should provide value to your customers, help them solve a problem that they’re facing, and position your company as the authority in your industry or field. If the piece of content doesn’t immediately create value to your prospects, it won’t effectively gather contact information and generate leads.
Checklist:
- Create a lead generating PDF to offer on your website
- Ensure this downloadable content offers immediate value to your customers
- Establish your brand as the authority in your industry or area of expertise
- Give your piece of content an intriguing title to increase downloads
- Capture email addresses of prospects so you can engage with them
3. Automate Email Campaigns
Now that you’ve successfully captured contact information with your lead generating PDF, it’s time to capitalize. Email campaigns are the key to converting your new lead into a customer. According to HubSpot, the future of email is still very bright:
- Email generates $38 for every $1 spent, which is an astounding 3,800% ROI
- 73% of millennials prefer communications from businesses to come via email
- 99% of consumers check their email every day
- 59% of respondents say marketing emails influence their purchase decisions
- 78% of marketers have seen an increase in email engagement over the last 12 months
Nurture Leads with Automated Emails
Automated email campaigns are the ideal way to engage with your prospects and onramp them to your company’s products or services. Emails are also an incredibly low-risk way to build a relationship with your contacts and gradually establish trust until they are ready to make a purchase.
The first email in your automated campaign should begin by following-up and sending a copy of the lead generating PDF that the contact requested. In the next emails (most campaigns should have a total of four to five emails) continue to remind your contact of your brand message—the problem that your prospect is facing and how you can help them solve it. In the final email, be sure to “ask for the sale” and convert the lead into a paying customer. Here’s our checklist for how to nurture leads with automated emails.
Checklist:
- Draft a sequence of five emails that deliver valuable information to your prospects
- Acknowledge the customer’s pain point and restate your product as the solution
- Use this sequence to educate your contacts on your product or service and why they need it
- Use the nurturing sequence to establish a sense of familiarity among your prospects
- Close the sequence with a sales pitch to turn prospects into paying customers
The Takeaway
If your goal is to build a more productive and profitable business, your first step should be clarifying your brand message. Once you’re able to clearly communicate what you offer customers, you’ll be able to implement this message on your website in a compelling way. By using conversion tactics, you’ll then be able to gather contact information from your website visitors and begin nurturing those leads into paying customers. Using this strategy and following this checklist will help increase engagement, generate marketing results, and grow your business.
If you need help implementing an effective sales funnel on your website, visit us at greenstonemedia.com to schedule a free consultation.
