Sam Makad
Sam Makad is a business consultant. He helps small & medium enterprises to grow their businesses and overall ROI. You can follow Sam on Twitter, Facebook, and Linkedin.
Do you understand your marketing funnel and how potential customers are interacting with it? If not, there may be some fundamental areas you’re overlooking.
Many marketers are faced with the frustration of generating traffic but not winning the number of conversions they’d like.
There are many possible reasons for this. Your sales and marketing efforts may be misaligned. Your product offer may not match search intent. Or you simply may not have a clear enough path to conversion.
A lot of these issues come from a “leaky” marketing funnel. That is a funnel that isn’t functioning as intended because it allows potential customers to leave the path before they convert.
The good news is, it doesn’t have to be this way. If potential customers are falling out of your funnel and you’re not sure why, it’s time to calibrate your approach.
Let’s start with the basics.
Marketing funnel basics
You’ve probably noticed marketers using a variety of marketing funnel models.
Some break the funnel down into four steps, some into as many as seven, but the primary components remain the same.
Awareness Stage: You want your target audience to be aware of you.
Consideration Stage: You want your prospect to consider you as the solution to their problem.
Action Stage: The potential customer is convinced and takes the action you want them to take.
As an example of this simple funnel in action, imagine you are a brand that sells outdoor gear.
Jane has recently moved to Washington and needs a raincoat.
Jane is killing time on her coffee break by scrolling Instagram and seeing an ad for your lightweight raincoat.
Jane has now become aware of you.
✅ Awareness.
The first stage of your funnel has been successful.
Jane is intrigued by what she sees in the ad and wants more details.
She clicks on the ad, which brings her to a product page.
The page shows her pictures and details about the raincoat. Does it come in her size? Does it have pockets? How durable is it? What do people who have already bought it have to say?
Jane is now considering your product.
✅ Consideration.
Stage two is complete!
After reading the customer reviews on the product page and looking at a handy comparison guide you have conveniently crafted for her about similar products from competitors, Jane is ready to buy.
She clicks “Add to cart.”
Jane has taken action!
✅Action.
The final stage of your marketing funnel is a success!
This is a dream scenario.
With real prospects, the buyer journey often meanders more. They may become aware of you through organic SEO, a TikTok, or a friend’s recommendation.
They may compare prices, brands, and features for days, weeks, or months.
They may add the item to their cart and leave it there for weeks. Or put it in and take it out again.
As beautifully crafted as our marketing funnels may be, real humans seldom behave in a predictable, linear fashion.
However, this doesn’t mean that your funnel is not successful.
A win is, after all, a win, even if the path is winding. (And when it comes to understanding user behavior in marketing funnels, you can certainly expect it to be.)
But optimally, this is how a good marketing funnel will function at its most basic level.
You’ll notice our example included several key components:
- There was a way for Jane to find your brand
- There was a direct path from her awareness to considering your product
- There was valuable content to help her make her decision
- There was a quick and convenient way for her to convert
This is how your funnel should be built to optimize for conversions. Smooth, intuitive, and concise.
Let’s take a closer look at how to optimize for each stage.
How to build your funnel to optimize for conversions
You can see from our above example that it would have been possible for Jane to “leak” out of your marketing funnel at any stage along the way.
Here’s how to keep that from happening.
1. Analyze your current funnel
The first step to optimizing your marketing funnel is to analyze what you already have.
Map out your current buyer journey and how it relates to the funnel you have built. Does your funnel have all the necessary components to convert potential customers? Is there enough content in every stage of the funnel?
You’ll find the answer to these questions by diving deep into your data.
Here are some tools you can use for this:
Heatmaps: Heatmaps are incredibly useful for mapping user behavior on your website and sales pages. Use tools like HotJar to see what people are clicking on, what navigational paths they are trying to take, and where they get frustrated.
Google Analytics: Google Analytics is terrific for tracking basic traffic metrics. You can find where your users came from, what they clicked on to get them there, how long they stayed, and if they converted, among many other valuable insights.
User data: Partner with your Customer Success and Sales Teams to mine data from customers who filled out surveys, unsubscribed, or needed more information. Use this data as a tool to optimize your content at every step of the funnel.
If you find a particular area of your funnel particularly weak, use data to build a strategy to strengthen it.
2. Create compelling and relevant content for every funnel stage
According to Smith.ai, 68% of marketers prioritize top-of-funnel content. Awareness stage content is essential. After all, it’s how your customer base knows you exist.
However, it’s all too easy to get into the practice of pumping out blog posts and social media posts without much thought to what will happen next.
An effective marketing funnel needs relevant content at every stage, not just at the top.
For example, StudioSuits, a men’s clothing brand known for its affordable tweed jacket collection, strategically uses various content types.
At the awareness stage, they attract attention with engaging blog posts on fashion trends and style tips.
At the consideration stage, they offer detailed guides on fabric quality and durability.
At the action or decision stage, they present case studies and customer testimonials showcasing satisfied clients.
Another example is Custom Frame Store, a custom frame shop in LA. They create their funnel by focusing on search engine optimization for initial awareness.
Their strategy is to focus on localized keywords such as "frame stores in LA" and SEO-optimized content highlighting their unique offerings.
Once visitors land on their site, engaging visuals and detailed product descriptions keep them interested. They capture leads with enticing offers, such as coupons, when a potential client signs up.
Lastly, they make the purchasing process smooth and user-friendly, encouraging conversions with clear calls-to-action and easy navigation.
3. Capture Leads
A marketing funnel’s primary function is to turn leads into customers. But don’t discount prospective customers who showed interest but didn’t convert.
Capturing these leads is a huge advantage to your marketing efforts. They self-select as a database of people interested in what you’re offering – a much easier pitch than going in cold.
Beyond TOFU content, a great way to capture more leads is to offer a taste of your services for free.
For many B2B companies, this means offering a free version of a digital tool or product or a limited trial of a premium product.
For other businesses, it may mean free estimates or consultations.
For example, the Aurit Center, a law firm specializing in Arizona Divorce Mediation, offers a free first call to those seeking a separation or divorce in Arizona.
Imagine the relief a potential client feels when they make that phone call.
Psychologically stressed and emotionally fried, words like “lawyer” and “legal separation” only add to their anxiety about their entire terrible situation.
They are likely fraught with fears over the cost of legal help, what will happen to their current home, if they can see their children and other concerns.
Offering that free phone call is a genius move. It allows potential clients to take the first step at no risk to themselves in an already shaky time. If that call is handled well, a potential lead becomes a client.
If the call wasn’t enough, the lead needs nurturing.
4. Nurture your leads
Lead nurturing is the process of building and maintaining a relationship with potential customers so they will look to you when they are ready to buy.
Research from Invespcro says that 80% of new leads do not convert to sales. In many cases, this is due to a lack of nurturing.
Setting your funnel up and letting leads leak out without any strategy to catch and nurture them is leaving piles of money on the table.
To optimize your full-funnel marketing strategy to its most significant potential, you must have a plan for nurturing leads.
Email marketing is one of the best ways to nurture leads.
Its benefits are:
- Easy to get customer feedback
- Easy to analyze results
- Easy to A/B test
- Easy to set up
- Inexpensive
If you’re struggling to nurture your leads, focus on email marketing campaigns to get back on track.
5. Build good UX design
We’ve all been there. You want to book an appointment or purchase a product, and you get sent into a repetitive digital loop from Purgatory with no way out.
Don’t be this marketer.
Bad UX design is like dropping a rock on your own foot. Frustrating your target audience is a great way to ensure they correlate frustration with your brand—the opposite of what you want.
Good UX design is every bit as essential as smart, choppy copy. Don’t try to be overly clever or “snappy.”
When it comes to UX design, simple is best. Your focus should be moving prospects through the funnel as intuitively and simply as possible.
6. Become your audience
When you feel confident that your content and UX design are top-notch and your funnel is ready for action, walk through it yourself.
Put yourself in the mind of your prospective customers and see if the funnel works as you intend.
Even better, have someone who was not involved in building the marketing funnel walk through it.
We get so used to the project we’re working on that we may take some things for granted, like the color of a CTA button or the placement of a sidebar.
Have someone who represents an average internet user navigate your site or sales page and see what happens.
7. Continuously improve
The only constant is change. Your audience will change, your marketing team will change, and your product will change.
A good marketing funnel needs to be monitored on an ongoing basis to remain optimized and effective.
Just because you have it dialed in now doesn’t mean it’ll stay that way. Make it standard practice for your team to analyze and optimize quarterly.
Some ways to do this include:
- Regular implementation of heatmaps on crucial pages
- Routine monitoring and reporting of Key Metrics
- Infrastructure for gathering customer feedback
- Fine-tuning of content strategy
- Strategic A/B testing
In Summary
An effective marketing funnel doesn’t have to be complex. Make sure you have built it so people become aware of your offer. Next, give them all the information they need to consider your product as a solution to their problem. Lastly, make it easy for them to convert with good UX design and plenty of relevant information.
Build trust and nurture leads with email marketing and free samples of your product or service. When the time is right, demonstrate that you are the help they have sought.
Analyze and optimize your funnel each quarter to keep enjoying growth. What works in one quarter might not work in the next. Adapt until you find your groove, then ride the wave to success.
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