How To Optimise Your Sales Funnel To Attract New Customers

Having a sales funnel is a classic approach to generating business leads that has stood the test of time. Though the methods have evolved throughout the ages, the core model remains the same.

Automation is a business tool that has given startups and entrepreneurs a competitive edge in the market. So how can businesses blend the old with the new to be continuously successful and scale up? Here are the marketing automation strategies to optimise your entire funnel.

Set Up the Infrastructure

To be able to use an automated sales funnel, you must first set up the appropriate infrastructure. The foundation of an automated marketing funnel is an email marketing system that will allow you to send mass emails to a list of prospects. This system will be responsible for building a rapport with clients and moving them through the sales funnel toward conversion.

In addition to an email marketing system, you must also use a service that will capture the emails and enter them into the system. Having an email verification system in place to rank email addresses and remove those that have no value will also help keep costs low and improve overall conversion rates.

Focus on Content

Content is the bread and butter of modern business, especially one that is looking to drive traffic to their website and generate tangible leads. Your content is what captures your audience’s interest and encourages them to pay attention to what comes next.

The content you share via social media or on your website should align with your core message and brand strategy. The idea is to appeal to both your target audience and search engines as a voice of authority in a given subject through the creation of a strong content strategy.

In addition to having accessible, SEO-friendly content readily available online, it’s important to have targeted content that will act as an entry point that encourages your audience to start the automation protocol. This could be a pre-recorded webinar or master class, or a downloadable workbook that showcases your value with a minimal investment of your time. By providing you with their information, they trigger the automatic process and move further into your funnel.

Build the Relationship

Once you’ve collected email addresses and provided exclusive content, it’s time to tell your story via automated emails. These emails should be set up at set intervals to find a balance between keeping interest and not being overwhelming. Consider having as many as ten automated emails before starting to talk about sales, each providing a valuable tidbit and cultivating a relationship with your brand.

People don’t like feeling like they’re being sold to, even if they know that it’s your ultimate goal to get more customers to your business. Focus on creating trust and getting them familiar with your brand, and continue to showcase how your business can be a solution to their problem.

Recycle Your Leads

What happens when you get to the end of your automated emails and your customer hasn’t purchased anything? Should you delete them and start fresh with a new batch of leads? Absolutely not! If someone has stayed throughout the entire automated email funnel based on the lead magnet you used, it’s time to move them to your general email list instead. This way you continue to build a rapport with them using automated marketing, so that the next time you run a promotion, they’ll be first in line. That being said you need to have asked for their permission to do so due to GDPR regulations so I recommend including a tick-box asking for them to be added to your newsletter list in addition to your automated email funnel list upon initial signup.

Use the Right Accessory Tools

While email marketing tools may have the biggest direct impact on your sales funnel, there are other forms of automation that will have an indirect impact. Social media scheduling tools allow you to set up and run a campaign over time without having to dedicate hours each day to improve your funnel. Automated project management software can keep your team on the same page and track the effectiveness of your funnel.

By having the right core infrastructure, tools and strategy in place, you can trust that your audience is following the path from lead to conversion while you focus on improving your services and growing your business.