Last updated - October 1, 2021
Your sales funnel is the journey that people go through, from learning about your business to buying from you. You’ve most likely seen various blog posts that teach you different techniques on how to acquire more leads and drive ideal customers to your website. But what happens after they get there?
If you don’t know how to properly nurture the leads you’re getting, chances are they might go cold. So, to help you prevent that, let’s take a look at six tactics you can use to move customers through your sales funnel.
Always include a strong call to action on product or service pages
Calls to action (CTAs) are powerful prompts that you can use to tell prospects what to do on your website. It’s important for you to place CTAs on your product or service pages so you can grab people who are already interested in what you offer and improve your site’s conversion rates.
To make sure you’re creating strong CTAs, try to use command verbs like “ get”, “subscribe”, “download”, or other action words that tell potential customers exactly what they should do. You should also try to use bright and bold colors for your CTA buttons so they stand out on your pages.
Now, let’s take a look at some examples of sites with strong CTAs for inspiration.
For instance, American International University has created three different CTAs to target people at various stages of their buying journey. There’s the “find a program” CTA for newcomers who are just starting to look through the different programs on their site, and the “apply” CTA for prospects who are ready to apply for a degree.
Finally, they also include a “request info” prompt so people can ask for more information if they have any questions. The beauty of providing these different CTAs is that they’ve ensured no one is left wondering what to do on their site and this increases their chances of channeling more people through their sales funnel.
Loganix also does something similar on the link building services page. If you look through it, you’ll find that we’ve added relevant CTAs that play a huge role in converting our prospects. For example, we’ve included a “read case study” CTA to show people the results that we’ve been able to get for previous customers.
There’s also a prompt that encourages prospects in the consideration stage of their buying journey to read more testimonials and this can help quell any doubts they might have about our services. You can’t always predict what stage your website visitors might be at, so it can help you to create various CTAs that target people at different levels of the sales funnel, regardless of whether they are newcomers or prospects who are ready to convert.
Help customers make informed purchases with content
People will be far more likely to buy from you if they’re confident they’re making an informed purchase. And the best way to educate your prospects is through content marketing. For instance, you could provide competitor comparison pieces that give buyers different options on the best products or services that can help them.
Or you can create case studies to highlight your work with previous clients and the results you were able to get for them. Many people also appreciate companies that provide user guides because they provide specific information on how customers can use the products they’ve bought.
Another type of content that you could create is buying guides. Most people like to use buying guides because they provide the necessary information needed to make the best decision. To give you some inspiration, let’s study these examples of buying guides that some companies have created to help their customers make informed buying decisions.
As a company that provides accounting software for small and medium-sized businesses, FreshBooks knows that there might be some people in their audience who are new to the idea of online accounting and need some guidance in choosing the best software to help them.
So, the company has created this buying guide to explain what cloud accounting software is, its benefits, and the major reasons why many businesses are switching to it. It’s a great way to give their audience more information about online accounting software so people can be sure that they want to make the switch before going ahead.
Helix Hearing Care also does something similar on their website by educating people on the different hearing aid solutions that they offer. They’ve provided very helpful information about hearing aid options, including invisible ones that people might not even know about.
And, on top of that, they also include a very engaging video that explains how today’s technology has helped to create smaller hearing aids for people with hearing loss. It’s a great guide that gives detailed information to prospective customers so they can choose the best types of hearing aids for their needs.
If you want to move people through your sales funnel faster, you should also consider creating detailed content that can give your customers all the information they need to make well-informed purchases.
Follow up with leads that didn’t convert
It’s incredibly important that you follow up with people who were previously very close to making a purchase. For instance, you can make a note to call back prospective customers you were previously in talks with to remind them of what you do.
Or you could send a reminder email to people who have abandoned their carts (potentially with a discount code). When doing this, you want to include pictures of the items they selected so they can remember what they left behind — it’s sure to help you improve your conversion rate.
Another way to follow up with leads is by sending them a relevant article that can help them solve a pain point. For example, say you had a sales call with a prospect who mentioned that they had problems importing contacts into their email marketing platform. If you have a relevant blog post that addresses this issue, you can always send it over to the prospect. This shows that you were thinking of them and it can also prompt potential clients to take a second look at your services. Not every business is the same but you can definitely apply this example in a way that works for you.
When following up with a potential customer, you want to make sure you’re not being too pushy. If you put too much pressure on prospects who are yet to make up their mind, you may end up chasing them away. You want to convince them to do business with your brand but not in a way that you start to look desperate.
Ensure you’re always on your audience’s social media feeds
Social media is one of the best marketing tools you can use to grow your business and drive more traffic to your site. You want to ensure that your company, products, or services stay on the mind of your prospective customers. And you can do this effectively but subtly by staying active on social media.
Make sure you create a social media calendar and outline all the content you want to push out so you can be consistent with it. And you don’t have to manually post all your content — you can use tools like Buffer or Sprout Social to bulk schedule them in advance.
To consistently engage with your target customers on social media, try to make sure you include questions in your captions so your followers can give answers in the comments section. You could ask what they think about your brand, your content, or simply ask how their day is going.
You could also hold contests or giveaways on your social media pages to engage your audience. You can ask the participants to leave comments or tag other followers as part of the rules for the contest. Not only does this help to increase engagement with your audience, but it also widens the reach of your brand. In turn, this should help to channel more people into your sales funnel.
Make it incredibly easy for customers to take the next step
The easier it is for someone to take the next step with your business, the more likely they’ll be to make a purchase. So, it’s important for you to set your website up in a way that allows people to quickly take the next step without any problems.
You can do this by using strong CTAs to tell people exactly what to do when they land on your site. Or you could create a section that highlights the necessary steps prospects should take so you can move them through your sales funnel.
You could also try to make sure that you have several contact options for visitors who might want to get in touch with you to ask more questions that will determine the next step they take on your site. Let’s take a look at an example of a website that uses this tactic well.
Excel Builders are custom home builders in Delaware, and they do a great job of providing multiple contact options so their visitors know how to reach them in case of any questions. They’ve highlighted their phone number at the top of the page and also included a contact form by the right hand side.
This is very convenient for people with queries and it’s a great way to ensure that prospects can get more information and clarifications that will help them take the next step. It’s a tactic that can work well for your site, especially if you have a lot of information that might be overwhelming for prospective customers.
Ensure contacting you with questions or concerns is simple
If prospective customers have a question or concern, they’ll want to get in touch. But, if it’s difficult to do this, they’re likely to leave without making a purchase. That’s why you should create multiple contact options so people can choose the one that’s best for them.
You could provide email addresses or phone numbers specifically for your business, or even create a live messaging option so prospects can connect with a company representative faster. You want to create multiple options so you can meet the needs of your different customers. To help you manage all this, check out LearnWoo’s guide on how to handle multichannel customer service for your business.
To communicate successfully with prospective customers, make sure you train yourself and staff on the art of listening. You will have a lot of customers with different issues or concerns, so you cannot adopt a one-size-fits-all approach. You need to master the art of active listening so you can get all the necessary details you’ll need to satisfy each and every customer. And, if you find that you cannot do all of this on your own, you’ll want to look into outsourcing the task to a customer support team. Doing this will allow you to concentrate on other parts of your business and it also ensures that each customer’s needs are being met on time.
To give you some inspiration, let’s study an example of a website that provides plenty of suitable customer service options.
Getting legal help can sometimes be confusing, especially if you consider all the technical terms being thrown around in the legal field. This is why it’s important for law firms to provide contact options so potential clients can reach them with all their questions.
Florin Roebig does this well by including several ways for people to contact them. On their homepage, you’ll see that they’ve included their phone number, a live chat option, and a “speak to a specialist” button, making it very easy for prospects to get in touch to discuss their cases. Regardless of the industry your business is in, you need to make sure you have at least a couple of contact options highlighted on your page. This will help you connect with prospective customers who might move into your sales funnel and convert in the long term.
Summary
In this article, we’ve looked at the different ways you can take leads through your sales funnel, and these include using strong calls-to-action, following up with leads that didn’t convert, and making it incredibly easy for people to contact you.
Now it’s your turn to take action and get started on these tips so you can get more conversions for your site. And, if you’re looking to learn more, feel free to check out LearnWoo’s SEO & marketing archives to stay updated on marketing tips and hacks that can help you grow your business.
