Your marketing funnel serves as a visual representation of the consumer’s journey from potential customer to customer. Hence, as a roadmap, it is a valuable resource. However, it is important to maximize each stage of your marketing funnel. This way you can get the highest possible conversion rate.
How many stages of marketing?
In general, there are four main stages. These include awareness stage, consideration stage, decision stage, and action scene. Each stage has a main goal. As a result, this means that every action (or reaction) in this step must point to the purpose of the step.
For example, during the awareness stage, consumers become familiar with the brand. Their pain points are recognized and the brand’s products or services are presented. The goal is to pique their curiosity so they move on to the second stage where they actively learn more.
In the third stage, consumers make a decision. Will they invest in your brand? If so, they will take action and move to the lowest level of the funnel, where they become full customers.
As you might guess, the faster you can move someone through your funnel, the faster you can earn dollars in sales. In addition, the fewer people “drop out” of your funnel, the higher your income. You can start tightening up your processes by applying the following tips to improve your marketing funnel results.
Table of Contents
1. Maintain brand consistency across the funnel.
All brands are scrutinized by consumers more than ever. According to one recent survey, only 34% of people say they trust brands. One way to increase trust between you and the people in your funnel is through consistency.
Having a consistent look and feel ensures consumers that what they see is really what they get. On the other hand, inconsistency can confuse them and make them distrust your brand.
For example, suppose the content of your awareness stage is very formal. You create a professional, focused and concise image. What if you made your consideration of the stage content crude or humorous? A sudden change in tone can lead to loss of interest and potential sales.
View all of your consumer-facing marketing assets that are being used in your marketing funnel. Do they match? Are they a reflection of the face and voice of the brand that you want the world to see? If not, make the necessary changes so you don’t get undermined by the lack of brand authenticity.
2. Keep testing and tweaking.
Each stage of the marketing funnel consists of several built-in touch points with the consumer. One of your goals should be to continually test these touchpoints. Making minor changes to titles, graphics, and more can mean the difference between hitting or missing your numbers.
Digital marketing agency Matter Made shows how big a small touchpoint improvement can be. The firm studied what would happen if the company reduced visitor leads from 1.9% to 0.9% and marketing leads from 38% to 15%. Making these changes alone resulted in a dramatic drop in customer retention of over 82% per year.
Testing and using analytics ensures that you keep demand and interest high throughout the funnel. Just make sure you follow best practices including isolating your changes. You must know exactly what aspect of what you are doing is causing your numbers to go up or down.
Don’t know how to test correctly? It can be helpful to work with a professional team of marketers who can help.
World-class marketing firms use advanced technologies to obtain both macro and micro information. For example, their team members can show you how to use data for accurate attribution so you can drive engagement.
3. Personalize touchpoints.
Consumers demand personalization from companies. Actually, McKinsey reports that about seven out of 10 people expect a personalized experience with a brand. With these statistics in mind, look for opportunities to personalize all the customer touchpoints in your marketing funnel.
Many marketers fear that they won’t be able to use automated systems for customization. However, you don’t have to go overboard or revert to manual processes to give a personal touch.
Personalization doesn’t necessarily mean writing unique emails or texts. It simply means showing the consumer that you understand their position and are ready to meet their needs.
Looking for ideas to personalize your marketing funnel? First, use consumer names as soon as you know them. An email that starts with “Dear Sam” sounds friendlier than “Dear Visitor”.
You must also store detailed information in a CRM or similar system. As a result, any employee of your company can “grab” relevant data, such as purchase history.
Be sure to write down any personalization you experience as a consumer. Keeping track of how other brands personalize their marketing funnels can influence your future decisions.
4. Tell consumers what to do next.
Never underestimate the power of a call to action (CTA).
After all, your customers can’t read minds. That’s why you need to be clear about what you want them to do next. No matter where they are in the marketing funnel, they deserve your guidance.
Take the time to review all of your touchpoints and content. Are your calls to action clear and understandable? Do you only have one CTA per interaction to avoid confusion and indecision? Checking your calls to action for clarity and relevance can be a huge benefit in moving people deeper into your funnel.
If you’re running out of CTA ideas, go to the basics. Ask visitors to fill out a simple form. Ask consumers to click on the link. Ask followers to share the post. Just make sure your calls to action are very sincere.
However, CTAs that worked a year or two (or even months!) ago may no longer deliver results. Hence, this is another reason to keep track of your conversion rates and the demand they create, as mentioned in tip #2 above. Sometimes changing the CTA can have an unexpected effect at the funnel stage.
Marketing is an evolutionary process. As a result, make sure you spend time improving your marketing funnel to get the most out of each stage.
