From Leads to Sales: How to Build a Conversion-Driven Digital Marketing Funnel
Picture a funnel. Not the kind you use to pour juice or petrol with, but a hypothetical one that takes in sales leads on the wide end and turns them into customers when they reach the other end of it. While it’s certainly not a perfect analogy for how customers convert, the funnel model has been used as an example to explain conversions for decades, being modified and adapted to better fit various sales and marketing needs.
However you choose to define your marketing funnel, it helps to think of it as potentially your best-ever salesperson. Once built, the processes that make up your funnel will be constantly drawing new and old customers. However, unlike your most charismatic and vivacious salespeople, your funnel will be working silently in the background as it improves all your sales efforts, including those initiated by your sales team.
Unfortunately, funnels have a way of becoming bloated, especially when a business operates across multiple digital and offline channels. It can’t always be helped, but regardless, an overly complicated model of customer behaviours can lead to confusion and bad decisions later on. For instance, with an overly complex funnel, you can be running expensive ad campaigns that result in a lot of clicks and views but still have dismal sales overall.
When you go into the limitless expanse of online markets, what you want is a conversion-driven digital marketing funnel. This way, your whole organisation always has its eyes on the prize, saving resources and ensuring more of your activities are geared towards conversions—the thing that truly matters for a functional business.
There’s no better time to fix your funnel than the present. To make things simpler, you can consult with a trusted marketing agency. They can help you come up with a digital marketing strategy NZ-based customers will respond to, ramping up your conversions, brand, and profits. In any case, let’s look at some things you can do to make your digital marketing funnel focused on conversions.
1. Know Who You're Talking To
Before you build anything, you must know the ins and outs of your audience. No, your audience cannot be just whoever wants to buy, otherwise you will find yourself screaming into the void with no conversions to show for it. If you do have a target audience, you must dig deep to understand their pain points, motivations, and deal-breakers. Aim to build your funnel like you’re designing it for your best mate and you should be in the right place.
2. Hook Your Audience with an Offer That Makes Sense
Digital marketing has changed significantly since the 2000s. Most customers now demand some kind of exclusivity. This can come in the form of discounts, eBooks—anything that holds unique value to your target audience should be good.
The key here is to focus on real value. Your hook must talk about things that resonate with your customers. After that, good copy, professional visuals, and a solid call to action should be created to guide your leads through your funnel.
3. Set Up a High-Converting Landing Page
Your landing page should be optimised to convert. Declutter it to highlight the benefits, include a bit of social proof, and a call to action that makes it easy to buy. While that sounds simple, these things can be deceptively difficult in practice. Designing a high-converting landing page isn’t always so straightforward, but a good digital marketing agency should be able to help with that.
4. Use Retargeting to Draw Back Errant Leads
While real-world funnels direct all the stuff down to the spout, it’s possible for leads to escape at different points in a digital marketing funnel. That’s why retargeting is so important. Remarketing can warm your lost leads back up and set them back into your funnel where they can convert later on.
Treat remarketing efforts like ads, social media, content, and email campaigns as necessary, ongoing expenses to stay top of mind with your leads and existing customers. When warranted, give occasional incentives to drive more of your customers down the spout.
5. Don't Forget Mobile Users
Chances are that a majority of your online visits come from smartphones and other mobile devices. If your business targets young adults or teens, an overwhelming majority of your visits and conversions are going to originate from mobile devices. Even if your customers prefer to use a desktop for purchases, they may still have found your business over mobile. This is all to say that your funnel should look good and work smoothly on every screen size.
Mobile friendliness is no longer a negotiable part of web design. Regardless of who your customers are, make sure your website has fast loading times, readable text, and zero annoying pop-ups. Depending on your audience’s behaviours, you may even want to develop a mobile app to make it even easier for customers to buy.
6. Test, Optimise, Repeat
A funnel isn’t a one-and-done thing. Your first version will never be perfect, and if by some miracle it is, it won’t be for long. Knowing all that, it’s a good idea to run A/B tests on your campaigns, landing pages, subject lines, headlines, and other digital marketing elements as your resources allow. This will give you points of comparison for conversion rates and bounce rates, giving you a clue if there’s something that needs fixing.
7. Track What Matters
Vanity metrics are the bane of any serious business. Sure, it’s nice to see a bump in visits or have a post get a thousand likes. Still, these things mean little if they don’t bring in any conversions.
At the end of the day, you want your sales and marketing teams to be focused on:
- Conversion rates
- Repeat sales
- Cost per acquisition
- Email open rates
- Return on ad spend
Though other metrics can be useful, you want to focus on the ones that tell you if your funnel is doing its job. Work with an agency with a solid track record to build a funnel that boosts all the right numbers.
Ready to Funnel Leads Like a Pro?
Whether it’s the first time you’ve ever heard of a funnel or you simply want some clarity in the one you have, give these ideas a try. If you want to avoid the trial-and-error of refining your funnel yourself, give the experts at Author Digital a call. Our multidisciplinary team can help you look at your funnel from all angles, guiding you towards a solid pattern of success through simple, results-driven journeys.
A note
Henry Blackwell
Henry Blackwell is a marketing professional. He has spent the last 10 years working in-house and within agencies, growing profitable businesses through brand and customer-centric digital marketing in New Zealand, Australia, the United States, the United Kingdom and Europe.
“My approach to marketing is a combination of heart and head. My heart brings an empathetic and intuitive approach to deeply understanding the qualitative requirements of marketing that many simply do not care to do. My head brings an analytical mindset that leverages data-driven insights to deliver profitable performance for the businesses I work with.
This skill set allows me to deliver systematic customer acquisition, conversion, and retention.”
– Director