Maximizing Conversions: Elevate Sales Funnel Performance
Digital marketers not only want to capture the attention of prospects, but they ideally want to turn them into loyal customers. That's where Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) comes into play. It's not just about boosting sales; it's about delivering a seamless and delightful journey for your potential customers. Whether you're crafting landing pages, streamlining engagement processes, or nurturing leads through the sales funnel, CRO is your secret weapon for success.
Defining Conversion Terminology
First, what is a “conversion” in this context? A conversion is an engagement with marketing content that expresses interest, like a student in a classroom who raises her hand because she wants to learn more or engage in a healthy, educational debate. That’s what all businesses strive to gain from their customers and prospects: engagement. The reason for driving engagements is to move each prospective customer or “lead” through the sales funnel to the next stage in the buying process, ending in a purchase. They convert to the subsequent stage. Buying a product is the final conversion in a series of conversions as I'll explain.
A conversion, as it applies to the sales funnel (see diagram below), is a specific activity such as opening an email, or clicking on the hyperlink within that email, which marketers refer to as a “call-to-action” (CTA). All marketing initiatives have the objective of steering a prospect’s behavior to act, and we lead them to the CTAs intentionally. Conversions manifest in many ways including filling out a form on the company website, downloading a white paper from a landing page, liking or commenting on social media posts, engaging with the company app on a mobile device, attending an event or webinar, or even giving the company a call after reading a published article in a media outlet because the phone number was listed at the bottom of the article.
As we talk about buying stages within the buyer’s journey in a B2B organization, marketers talk in terms of marketing qualified leads (MQLs), which represents engagement by someone who meets basic criteria to be in the company’s ideal customer profile (ICP). What do I mean by that? If I am in the cybersecurity industry targeting cybersecurity professionals, I want to qualify engagements by Chief Information Security Officers (CISOs) as one of my target personas for whom my offering is relevant/helpful. When I find out that someone with the title “Security Guard” accidentally received an email through my marketing efforts, that would be an oversight as someone doing live security would not likely be involved in cyber practices as well. That engagement would not be qualified, and I would take a hard look at my targeting tactics to figure out how the security guard got on my email distribution list in the first place given the fact that my marketing materials would not provide information relevant to his role.
Further down the sales funnel, marketing passes the baton to the sales team and the lead converts to a sales qualified lead (SQL) after a discovery call to confirm ICP criteria has been met. The last stage before closing is the “opportunity” stage where the lead has a determined propensity to buy the product, representing an estimated revenue amount at close we call “pipeline.” Pipeline, revenue, and leads in the various stages of the buyer’s journey are all metrics that can be used to measure a company’s success. The higher the numbers, the more healthy the company because customers and prospects alike are acknowledging value.
Note that the marketing and sales funnel diagram above is the most simplified version to express a buyer’s journey and generally creates a precedent for ownership of a lead at each stage. Some business models are more complex and have additional stages not listed here.
Driving Conversion Behavior
When potential customers are engaging with marketing content as MQLs, prior to converting to sales stages like SQL, we refer to those leads as being at the “top of the funnel.” At this stage, people are generally seeking information and exploring their options. They are looking for solutions to their problems and are open to discovering new products or services. Understanding their challenges and providing valuable content is key. Content needs to be clear, concise, and simple while still appealing. Content needs to convey empathy. It should demonstrate that the company offering a solution truly understands the problem they are solving, having walked a mile in their customers’ shoes.
The goal is to educate, inform, and pique their interest enough to drive them to speak to a sales rep from whom they can get deeper insights. As a marketer, I am metaphorically calling prospects to act: “sign up,” “read this,” “fill out this form,” “register for my event!” And once I’ve gotten them to figuratively raise their hands to engage with my content, I work closely with the sales team to “nurture” them further down the sales funnel.
“The goal is to educate, inform, and pique their interest enough to drive them to speak to a sales rep from whom they can get deeper insights.”
After leads are converted to the sales stages (SQL, Opportunity), they need their pain points to be heard. The best way marketing can assist the sales team at this stage is by arming them with assets that serve as ammunition to combat objections and concerns. At this point, prospective customers want to hear how a product will help solve their specific issues. Sales reps need to gain trust by providing examples or case studies that demonstrate successful outcomes other customers have experienced. Buyers need reassurance that they are making the right decision, which can take time. Marketers can also come up with creative incentives to help increase the velocity with which those decision makers finally sign the deal.
At every stage, sales teams should be backed up by their marketing counterparts (what we call “sales enablement”) to put buyers at ease with confidence-boosting marketing materials that leverage empirical data to prove success rates.
The Power of Incentives
At each stage of the sales funnel, incentives can be a secret weapon for driving conversions. Think of incentives as a friendly nudge in the right direction. On landing pages, marketers can offer enticing incentives like limited-time discounts, free resources, or exclusive access to webinars to prompt visitors to take action. As prospects move deeper into the funnel, personalized incentives based on their preferences and behavior would be more attention-grabbing, showing that the company is trying to get to know them as individuals, listening. This could be a tailored discount code or a special offer that aligns with their interests.
At closing, special considerations can be built into contract negotiations such as a discount for agreeing to share their story with the marketing department to build a case study around their imminent triumph. That eventual customer feedback gets cycled back to the product team where it is used to improve the product, ultimately helping increase CRO when the product is stickier and more pleasing.
Incentives not only sweeten the deal but also show customers that their engagement is valued. It's a win-win strategy that can significantly boost conversion rates across the entire sales funnel.
Trust Is the Ultimate CRO Strategy
Building relationships with customers and delivering value will encourage customers to be loyal. Those loyal customers will spread the good word as positive viral marketing about the company and the products they are using. That good press, whether formally documented or word of mouth, will help with brand recognition and drive net new leads into the sales funnel. If prospects have a positive impression of your solution before even entering into a conversation with a sales rep, then half the battle is won already. Build trust with your customers and new leads will seek your product out, ready to convert!
About the Author
Allison has an international MBA in marketing and entrepreneurialism, and has built her career on developing strategic marketing plans. By working with Microsoft for nearly a decade, she honed corporate marketing skills before transitioning to the startup world to help companies grow brand recognition and subsequently revenue. There, she explored various SaaS industries including cybersecurity, DevSecOps, telematics, and industrial IoT (IIoT). All of these industries leverage automation, machine learning, predictive analytics, and various forms of data management. It has been Allison’s pleasure to bring these powerful tools to light and watch as companies grow their business.
Visit her on LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/AllisonQDurbin
