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Originally Posted On: https://socialmediaseo.net/2020/04/04/creating-an-inbound-marketing-funnel-that-turns-prospects-into-leads/

 

An inbound marketing funnel is one of the most effective ways to build a loyal audience. It’s also a way to capture website visitors and convert them into leads. That’s the best chance you have to turn them into sales.

A marketing funnel is critical in doing so. Without a funnel, you’re leaving money on the table. It’s estimated that 96% of people who come to your website aren’t ready to buy and they’ll leave.

Just because you build a funnel, doesn’t mean that you’ll get leads. The funnel has to be built with conversions in mind.

Read on to learn how to build a marketing funnel that gets leads you can turn into sales.

Know Your Target

The best inbound marketing funnels start and end with your customers. You have to design each step of the funnel that speaks to them.

If they don’t relate to your brand or they don’t trust you, they won’t buy from you. It’s that simple.

You need to understand everything you can about your audience. You want to figure out the problem they’re trying to solve when they go to your site.

You have to dig down and get to the underlying emotions of that challenge. Do they want to feel financially secure? Do they want to feel confident? Are they tired of feeling frustrated?

Make a complete list of all of the possible underlying emotions that your prospect may try to solve. You’ll then want to focus on 1-2 of them in your funnel.

The Goal of the Funnel

Ultimately, the goal of your funnel is to move someone from being unaware of your brand to become a lead. The final step is that you get the sale.

There are many steps in between Point A and Point B. You should have a goal for each step of the way.

For example, 7% of your website visitors enter your marketing funnel. 30% of those people read your emails.

You can also set a target for sales, such as 15% of people who go through the funnel convert into a sale.

How Will People Enter Your Funnel?

The success of your entire funnel depends on one thing: the quality of your leads. That’s why the top of the funnel is so important.

You have to figure out how people get to your website. This has to be aligned with your target market and what they’re trying to accomplish when they first visit your site.

What kind of search terms would they use to find your business before they become aware of it? Let’s say that you have a landscaping business.

Someone that’s starting to consider hiring a landscaper would search for “is hiring a landscaper worth it.” They know nothing about your company, they’re just thinking about it at that point.

You want to think about all of the possible search terms that someone would use at this stage to get into your funnel.

Retargeting Ads

Not every single visitor to your site will convert into a lead. They’ll leave your site and they’re unlikely to return.

There is one way to make sure that you can put your content in front of them. Have you ever visited a website only to leave and see an ad for that same website a few minutes later?

That’s called retargeting, and you can do the exact same thing. You place a tracking cookie on your website which allows you to target recent visitors with display ads or Facebook ads to visitors.

This is an effective way to get people to come back to your site and enter your funnel.

Have a Great Offer

You have two offers in your funnel design. The first offer is something that offers a lot of value for free. The second thing offers value – at a price.

What would be compelling enough and valuable enough for someone to give me their email address and name? That is the question you need to answer.

You could do an email series, a free printable, a guidebook, or a case study. Just make sure it’s something that the user wants and needs.

Design Your Forms

How will someone sign up for your list? This may seem like it’s the easy part of the funnel because you’re just setting up a form.

You can’t ignore this part because your form has a huge impact on your conversions, too. The colors, headline, call to action, button color all have to draw attention and get people to sign up.

A tool like 123FormBuilder can help you create a form that will convert your visitors into leads.

Test and Improve Your Funnel

How do you know if your funnel is converting? You need data. It’s is an absolute must to measure your campaign. This is the only way to know if your funnel is working.

Should your conversion rates drop, don’t give up. Make adjustments.

If you see that it’s working, that doesn’t mean that you can rest on your laurels. There is always something that you can do to improve performance.

Think about what an extra 1-2% in conversions could do for your business. It’s worth taking the time to test and improve.

Pick one thing at a time to test and change. You may decide to start with the headline on your form or change the color of the button.

Let that test run for a week and see if you see any changes. Stick with the element that’s giving you the best results and move on to another thing to test.

Build an Inbound Marketing Funnel to Get Quality Leads

An inbound marketing funnel enables you to capture website visitors before they leave your site. That allows you to nurture those leads and turn them into sales.

You’re able to connect and build trust with your audience, giving you the best opportunity to improve your bottom line.

For more great digital marketing tips, be sure to visit the home page of this site.