How To Optimize Your Funnels For Conversion

Are you thinking about creating a sales funnel, or you already have one, but it’s not working? The first step is understanding how to optimize your funnels to help your business convert visitors into customers or clients. This is also known as a conversion funnel analysis.

In the course of your business, you may have created a few different types of funnels. These funnels could be for sales, leads, or even donations.

No matter what type of funnel it is, optimizing them for conversion rates will help to generate more revenue in less time. In this post, we’ll explore how to optimize these funnels for maximum conversion rates so that you can make the most out of every lead and sale!

But before we get into how to optimize your funnels, let me explain what it is for those new to the subject.

What Is A Sales Funnel?

In a sales funnel, you organize your leads into a step-by-step process that allows you to capture a target audience and move them towards your ultimate goal.

The goal is to move past your initial marketing efforts and convert them into paying customers.

A sales funnel often crafted as a diagram that can illustrate the cycle of how potential customers are processed from their first contact with your company until they purchase.

A sales funnel, also referred to as the sales ad, landing page, contact form, checkout, and thank you page used to capture the lead’s information and conduct a sale. Many tools on the market let you create these sales funnels easily, including our own sales and marketing software, Lead Convert Pro.

It’s always best practice for companies to get in front of as many prospective clients as possible, no matter what stage they’re at in the buying process. This way, you u can start to build a relationship with them and move them through the funnel.

Traffic will also help you analyze what is working and what is not. This will help you set new goals and understand what direction to head in for future marketing efforts: more traffic, a certain type of content, or other activities.

Getting Traffic To Your Funnel

A sales funnel is a step-by-step process involving some combination of advertising, organic search, blogging, social media outreach, and email campaigns.

Various strategies are also possible to help increase conversions, such as conversion rate optimization (CRO), search engine optimization (SEO), or retargeting through SMS marketing and referral campaigns.

Making Sure That Your Traffic Converts

Most companies start by focusing on traffic generation. This is a great place to start because it’s easy. Still, we often see those who are more interested in generating leads than driving traffic stop here and forget about some of the other steps that happen after someone has already expressed interest.

So how can you get these potential customers through your sales funnel?

The most important aspect of a sales funnel is the conversion process. It’s how potential customers are turned into actual paying ones.

You don’t want them to click on whatever they want and then leave; you want them to go through the entire process so that they make a purchase.

Understanding your potential customers’ main stages will go through when purchasing a new product or acquiring a new service is the perfect way to get started.

The 4 Stages Of A Sales Funnel (AIDA)

This customer journey is made up of five stages: awareness, interest, desire, and action.

Pro-Tip: Ensure that your sales team can identify which step every lead is in as soon as they make contact to know how to deal with the prospect. Warning: Engaging in the wrong way with a potential customer can mean losing the opportunity to build a relationship and lose a deal.

The first funnel stage is awareness.

This means that prospects are aware of your company but have not yet developed an interest. This stage is also known as the top of the funnel (TOFU).

The awareness stage is the first step in a prospective customer’s journey. This individual has just been confronted with an issue that needs solving and searches for information online to help them better understand their problem and solutions they can use.

They find your company through top-of-the-funnel content (informational) on your website, which will be used as tools during this phase of their decision-making process.”

How to identify prospects in the “awareness” stage:

You can identify awareness stage leads because they download educational content that is not related to your specific brand or solution but instead identifies the problem they are trying to solve and teaches them about possible solutions.

You should be able to spot an Awareness Stage lead by looking at who downloads educational content online without any interest in what the company provides – this means these people don’t really care which provider solves their problem as long as someone does!

Pro Tip: Ask the prospect if they have ever heard about your company or ever used the product or service you offer to get an idea if they are still in the awareness stage. If they answer no, then it’s very likely that they are.

How to deal with potential customers in this stage:

These folks want a product/solution for their pain point. So it would help if you only focused on educating rather than selling.

Ensure that your sales team can identify which step every lead is in as soon as they make contact so they know how to begin the process.

Here are a few ways to build awareness:

The best type of marketing at this stage is called inbound marketing, which means putting out content that can help potentials customers.

Build your social media posts and promotions with guest bloggers or influencers, share white papers on everything from marketing strategies to product updates.

Infographics make it easy for readers who don’t have the time or patience for long pieces of content.

The good news is that there are plenty of sales funnel tools to help get the word out about your brand.

These tools include social media management software like Hootsuite, Email Marketing Platforms like Pitchbox, and Advertising Channels like Google or Facebook Ads.

The next stage is interest.

They know who you are and want to learn more about your company or products/services but have not yet decided whether or not they will do business with your company.

This stage is also known as part 1 of the middle of the funnel (MOFU).

This is why it’s important to offer them something for free. These can be eBooks, case studies, webinars, or anything else that would interest your prospects and help build the relationship before a sale occurs.

You want this person to enter your sales funnel because they are curious about your company but not quite ready to buy yet.

How to identify prospects in the “interest” stage:

The folks at this stage know that they have a problem or issue that they need to find a solution for. They are looking to learn more about your product or service and any helpful information that they can get.

How to deal with potential customers in this stage:

You have to be tactful when talking with your lead before they’re ready to purchase. You should focus on maintaining a relationship that positions you as an expert in the field, so by the time they are ready for their next project or need something else done, it will more likely happen through you than someone who makes them feel like just another customer.

Pro Tip: At this stage in the funnel, your sales team should still be in marketing instead of sales. Focus on providing valuable information without being too pushy.

Focus on the following types of content:

During this stage, you’ll want to focus on the following types of content: 

Email campaigns that are designed with a professional tone will help keep your business looking good.

Plan and post blog posts at least once per week so potential clients can see what they’re missing out on by not purchasing from you. If someone doesn’t have an account yet, lead magnets make for great incentives as well!

Chatbots are also very effective when communicating with prospects who may be hesitant about buying something new or different from a company like yours.

Retargeting ads work best in tandem because people aren’t always ready to buy right away but might still visit your site now and then – retarget them during those infrequent visits via social media channels.

Then comes desire.

At this stage of the sales funnel, your prospect is now considered a prospect. You have done everything you can to catch their attention and get them interested in your product or service, but they are still not 100% sure if it’s right for their needs.

They want to see how well it fits within budget restrictions and what kind of outcomes you promise before making that final decision on doing business with your company. This stage is also known as part 2 of the middle of the funnel (MOFU).

How to identify prospects in the “desire” stage:

These types of protection already know everything about the product or service you are offering, and they are probably familiar with your company.

How to deal with potential customers in this stage:

At this stage, your team can offer a free trial or demo to show the prospect what your business offers. They can also provide pricing options to see if the potentials customer has the budget to move forward.

Pro Tip: Ask the prospect how soon they are looking to make a purchase or sign up for the service to gauge whether they are ready to move forward or not.

Focus on the following types of content:

Testimonials – you can’t go wrong with a few quotes from satisfied clients! Pricing pages- as humans, we’re constantly making decisions and comparing prices.

Case studies – it’s not always about the numbers, but how they were achieved. Discount/promo codes live demos or tutorials product comparisons.

The final step is action.

You’ve made it to the last section of the AIDA funnel: the Conversion Action Stage. Now that you have your visitors engaged in your web content, it’s time to start turning them into buyers.

Make sure you have clear, easy-to-understand contact information and provide them with an opportunity to make that next step.

Pro Tip: There’s no need to spend time trying to educate these prospects. It’s time to provide them with an offer and ask for the sale.

How to identify prospects in the “action” stage:

People at this stage will be asking questions about pricing, warranties, or time-specific such as “How long will it take to get my project completed?”.

How to deal with potential customers in this stage:

Prospects at this stage have decided to move forward with a particular product or service and are now trying to decide which company they will choose to do business with. Assure them that your company is the best choice for them, and don’t be scared to ask for the sale without sounding needy.

Focus on the following types of content:

If you want your potential customers to take action, then be sure that they are aware of the following: insider or customer success stories (offer them a sense of comfort and trustworthiness), special offers (give them an incentive with which they can better understand what it is their receiving for themselves in return from taking such steps towards getting started!), bundled packages so as not to overwhelm visitors at this stage! Finally, follow-up email campaigns.

Increase your conversion rates

You’ll want to look at what’s working and not working concerning how people find, interact with, and complete a purchase on your website. This can be done by creating Google Analytics goals that will help you keep track of your conversions.

For example, if more than half of people come from social media, then it’s time to start thinking about how you’re going to optimize the conversion rate for those visitors.

Optimize Your Funnels for Better Conversions

Improve your conversion rates through these three simple steps: define, optimize, and test.

Defining funnels allows you to know exactly which type of funnel it is and how many conversions are needed to be successful within that funnel.

You can then work on optimizing the funnel by increasing conversions with a few simple changes. Finally, test out your new conversion rates and see how they work for you!

Let’s take a closer look at these 3 steps.

Define Your Funnel

In the world of small business marketing, there are many types of funnels. Many of them are lead-based, and they lead you to sales.

Others are sales-based, and they are meant to lead you to customers.

A conversion is when a marketer creates a path towards specific calls to action that leads to a sale. That action is the funnel.

Sales-Based Conversion Funnels

A sales-based conversion funnel is best for businesses that sell a product or service. This type of funnel will come with many steps, and each step should be optimized to create the ideal customer experience.

Lead-Based Conversion Funnels

A lead-based conversion funnel is best for businesses that offer a program or high-ticket offer. This type of funnel will have fewer steps, and they are designed to attract potential leads who might become customers in the future.

An optimized funnel is not just about the conversion; it’s also about ensuring that your customer has a great user experience on their way to purchase. According to marketing charts, about 60% of marketers focus on understanding the customer journey to improve conversion rates.

The first step in optimizing any funnel is identifying what kind you are dealing with: sales-based or lead-based conversions?

Once you know which one it is, then go through each stage and make adjustments accordingly so that customers feel like they’re being guided down an easy path towards checkout.

Content Optimization

Step One: Lead Engagement – this would be your first interaction with potential customers via email marketing or social media.

You want to make sure that your content is tailored towards generating qualified leads on a specific topic or information about how they can contact you for more details.

Sales Copy – Your headline, along with a few sentences, must capture the attention of your potential customers quickly.

You can do this by asking them a specific question that identifies a problem that they may have. Plus, you can offer a quick solution with those few sentences that will let them know that you have the solution they are looking for.

Pro Tip: The right question will not only grab people’s attention in the middle of the funnel. Some of your prospects can be people who don’t even know that they need your product or funnel.

So focus on trying to capture everyone’s attention when writing your attention headline.

Step Two: Lead Capture – this step focuses on ensuring that your sales landing page contains the right elements to guide your visitors towards a specific goal.

Design – Your landing page must look modern and professional since we already know that first impressions are everything. If your page looks like something from the ’90s, people will leave no matter what you have to offer.

Sales Copy – Again, your headline and first few sentences need to engage the prospect. But Unlike a post, email, or advertisement, you can provide more information about your services or products.

Try to break up your content into short paragraphs, bullet points so that people can skim through it quickly if they want to.

Social Proof – Ensure to add reviews or testimonials from previous customers to create trust and expertise about your company.

Pro Tip: Use a video to promote your campaign on your sales funnels to increase conversions by 86% according to Vidyard.

Step Three: Lead Conversion – this would be the second stage, where potential customers are encouraged to provide their email address and some basic personal info so that you know who’s coming into your funnel. This will allow you to communicate with the lead in the future through SMS or your email list.

Offer – Your initial offer should be something free or inexpensive that will make it easy for your qualified leads to become customers without feeling like they are putting themselves at risk by taking you up on that offer.

The important thing here is to capture their information and creating the “first transaction.” This will make it easier to ask for a bigger purchase down the road or moving through a checkout process.

Action – Creating a sense of fear of missing out (FOMO) can help to push the prospect towards conversion.

Putting a bit of pressure can be done in many ways, from simply pointing out that if they want a solution to their problem, they should wait no longer, or you can add a countdown timer with a time limit where they can take advantage of your offer.

Step Four: Thank You Page – The final step is to ensure that customers feel comfortable with the transaction that they just made.

This can be done by having an optimized thank you page that makes them feel like they made the right decision.

Thank them – It’s obvious that you should thank the prospect or new customer for trusting your business with their interaction.

Contact Details – Provide additional ways that the lead can contact you, including support phone numbers, social media links, website, etc. You can also let them know to expect an email from your team.

Pro Tip: Make sure that your landing page loads fast. Testing shows that even a one-second delay in page load can reduce conversions.

Funnel Tracking

Ensuring that you install a tracking code on your funnels will help you keep track of your lead conversion rates.

The most common ways to track your conversion rates are through Google Analytics, Google AdWords Tracking Pixel, and Facebook Pixel.

It’s important to know if visitors leave your funnel without taking action so that you can retarget them with marketing materials that will hopefully bring them back in the future:

Pro Tip: Visitors that don’t convert are usually customers at the top of the funnel in the “awareness” stage. Remarketing them with helpful tips and information will keep you at the top of their mind, which can bring them closer to the interest stage.

You can also retarget people who converted with offers, free trials, and other engaging content to help close them on a bigger purchase in the future. Plus, sending these prospects an email newsletter will keep them engaged with your company.

If you’re not tracking your conversion rates over time, then you’re losing money and wasting your time. You may think that the conversions you get “happen,” and that’s all there is to it, but that is far from the truth.

If you want to know how you’re doing and make adjustments, you have to give your sales team the tools they need to succeed.

Test Your Funnel

It is important to test your funnel for conversions. This can be done by doing A/B testing. Many tools on the market can help you do this. Use them to see which of your offers work best, and then use those for future campaigns.

You can also test specific elements on the page, such as colors, buttons, headlines, and more. When you find what works, use it for all of your other campaigns so that you know they are the most effective options.

To make sure your funnel is converting, it’s important to test out its various conversion points. A/B testing will help you pinpoint which elements are working best and where the bottlenecks in your funnel exist. For example, a study showed that removing the navigation menu on your sales funnel landing page increased conversions by 100%.

Many tools on the market can be used for this type of conversion funnel optimization – from heat mapping software like Hotjar or CrazyEggs to more complex CRO solutions like Google Optimize 360 Studio …

To summarize: You should use different types of tests when optimizing a website not to go down any dead ends with conversions while trying new changes.

Measure Your Conversions

You want to keep track of how many conversions happen on each page throughout your funnel because that will help you refine where people get hung up or lost in the process. For example

This is an opportunity to constantly evolve, learn from mistakes, and make adjustments on the fly to improve your sales funnel.

Conclusion On How To Optimize Your Funnels

A sales funnel a marketing tool that converts customers by taking them through the steps they need to buy.

Optimizing your funnels for conversion means you’ll turn more visitors into clients or customers, and it can be done with some simple tweaks. Are you looking for help in creating an optimized funnel? Contact us today!

If you are looking for ways to create an optimized sales funnel, we can help create the perfect marketing strategy! Our team of experts has the experience and expertise in conversion optimization processes.

We will work with you to identify where your marketing funnels need improvement and offer solutions that drive more conversions without adding any additional costs or time requirements on your end.

Contact us today if this sounds like something you’d like help with; our services come at a reasonable price point, so it should be easy for even small business owners to take advantage of these benefits!