Lead generation is how your business finds customers through your marketing efforts. This is often depicted as a funnel. To make a lead generation funnel that converts interested people into customers, you should use the correct marketing channels to help move prospective customers through the funnel. NEXTFLY, an Indianapolis web design company, is here to help you determine which digital marketing tools would best be used to help convert website visitors into customers.
What Is A Lead Generation Funnel?
The customer journey is the process of making a purchase. Once customers become aware of your business, product, or service, they follow a set of steps. The lead generation funnel shows how customers go from being aware of your business to considering buying your product, making a purchase, and finally becoming loyal customers.
Let’s say your business is a shoe store. Potential customers first become aware of your store, browse your selection, and do not make a purchase. Later, they revisit and make a purchase, eventually making more purchases from your store.
While this example is for a brick-and-mortar store, the lead generation funnel model applies to sales through your website. Using digital marketing strategies, you can help move customers through the funnel without much direct interaction on your part. Using the right digital market strategy effectively can make your customers who enter your lead generation funnel convert quickly.
Lead Generation Funnel Creation Steps
Step 1 – Preparation
Before you even think about the structure of your funnel, you need to know exactly who you’re targeting. Creating a buyer persona, or a description of your ideal customer, is the foundation of any effective lead generation strategy.
- Who are they? Think about demographics, locations, interests, and behaviors.
- What problems do they face? What solutions are they looking for?
- Where do they hang out online? Is it on LinkedIn, Instagram, or niche communities?
- What kind of budget are you willing to spend on marketing efforts?
Building out detailed personas helps you create content that resonates with your audience at every stage of the funnel, leading them to trust your brand enough to convert.
Step 2 – Creative Awareness
Awareness is at the top of the funnel. The goal of creating awareness is to grab the attention of your target audience and make them aware of your brand or solution. This is the stage where you’re introducing your business and letting prospects know you exist. But here’s the key: you’re not selling yet. You want to appeal to speak directly to their issues and emphasize how you can provide solutions through valuable content.
- Blog posts or articles that offer solutions to common problems
- Ebooks or whitepapers for in-depth resources
- Landing pages that advertise webinars or free training to demonstrate your expertise
- Social media content that is shareable and engaging
The goal here is to draw people in with valuable information and capture their interest.
Step 3 – Create Desire
Once potential customers are aware of you, they’ll start to consider whether they desire your products or services. While you may have cast a big net to draw people in by making them aware of your business, it’s only natural that some people aren’t interested and fall off. This smaller group is the next step in the funnel, but they’re more likely to become customers.
During this interest and desire stage of the funnel, these people will consider your competition, research your products, and read reviews. This is where you need to nurture your potential customers with some key tactics to help them convert. A good goal here is to get their information so you can continue to encourage them to make a purchase. You can do this by:
- Get their email information with a form field
- Start an email marketing campaign for new customers
- Create a pop-up offering them discounts before they leave your site
- Follow up with abandoned shopping carts
- Create a remarketing campaign to follow your visitors after they leave your website
- Write content pages based on keywords that target desired services and locations
Step 4 – Encourage Conversions
At this stage, more potential customers have dropped off, but there are still some who are on the fence about making a purchasing decision. This is the time to convince them that your services are the best.
Make sure your website pages convert customers with a “call-to-action” on each service page. Whether it’s to give you a call, fill out a form, or make a purchase. Your calls to action need to be clear and concise to avoid confusion. Other ways to encourage conversion are:
- Offer urgency or scarcity: Use tactics like limited-time offers or limited stock to encourage quick decisions
- Provide social proof: Show testimonials, case studies, or reviews that demonstrate how your product/service has helped others
The key is to remove any remaining doubts and make it as easy as possible for them to take action.
Step 5 – Build Loyalty
You don’t want a customer to visit your store only once. You want to earn their business for life. That’s why it’s important to build loyalty. Encourage customers to write reviews and feature them on your website to help convert more customers. You can also entice customers to return to your business with coupons, special offers, and showcasing new products in an email marketing campaign.
For those customers that didn’t make a purchase, don’t count them out quite yet. Use retargeting ads or email campaigns to re-engage these customers. Retargeting can be an effective way to turn cold leads into paying customers, especially if you have an audience that’s already shown interest in your product or service.
How You Know Your Lead Generation Funnel Works
Building a lead generation funnel that converts isn’t a one-time thing—it’s an ongoing process that requires continual optimization. The best funnels are constantly tested, tweaked, and refined.
- Analyze funnel metrics: Keep track of key performance indicators (KPIs) like conversion rates, click-through rates, and customer lifetime value
- A/B test your landing pages: Test headlines, copy, and CTA buttons to see what resonates best with your audience
- Monitor lead flow: Look at where leads are dropping off in the funnel and optimize those areas to improve retention and conversion
By continuously monitoring and optimizing your funnel, you’ll ensure that it remains effective in generating and converting leads.
Call NEXTFLY® To Help Build A Lead Generation Funnel That Converts
NEXTFLY is an experienced Indianapolis web design company that has helped many businesses convert website visitors into customers. Whether you need help attracting new customers, or nurturing your current customers, we have the digital marketing tools to help. Tackling automation, managing digital ad services, and creating content can be very challenging for non-marketing professionals. Trust a local Indianapolis team with years of dedicated marketing experience to help increase your sales. Talk to NEXTFLY today to see how we can help.