Do you manage a business that depends on online leads to generate revenue? If so, having a strong lead sales funnel in place is essential to ensuring that those leads don't fall through the cracks.
When I started out in digital marketing to drive business leads my focus was on getting as many quality leads for a website and landing pages as possible for the budget and simply assumed the business owner would then take care of that lead and convert as many into customers. Once I was working in-house and generating leads, I started to realise how many of those leads were simply being wasted and how optimising the process for how online leads were handled could be an absolute game changer.
Here are seven warning signs your lead sales funnel might be leaky:
1: Direct lead connections to CRM systems:
According to a Gartner study, 79% of marketing leads never result in sales because they are not effectively followed up on. You're losing out on useful information and follow-up chances if your leads aren't being recorded into a CRM system.
2: Calling leads back too slowly:
According to a study by InsideSales.com, if you wait more than 5 minutes to call back a lead, your chances of qualifying them drop by 400%. To improve your chances of turning leads into clients, make sure your team is promptly following up with them.
3: Failing to segment your leads
Segmented email campaigns have a 14.32% greater open rate than non-segmented efforts, per a MarketingSherpa report. You can develop more specialised and successful marketing campaigns by grouping your leads according to their characteristics, interests, and behaviour.
4: Not tailoring your communications
According to an Epsilon study, personalised email campaigns had a 29% greater open rate than non-personalized ones. You may boost engagement and encourage more conversions by using personalisation, such as addressing the lead by name or referencing their particular hobbies.
5: Not retargeting
According to an eMarketer analysis, visitors who are retargeted have a 70% higher conversion rate than those who are not. You can raise the likelihood that leads will return to your website and become customers by employing retargeting to keep your brand top-of-mind.
6: Lack of a clear call-to-action
According to a study by Unbounce, adding a call-to-action to your website can boost conversions by up to 304%. Make sure the calls to action on your website and marketing materials are crystal clear and direct prospects through your sales funnel.
7: Not tracking and evaluating your outcomes
Only 42% of B2B organisations, according to a HubSpot survey, track the ROI of their lead generating activities. You won't be able to determine what is and isn't functioning without measuring and analysing your results. Make sure your lead generation efforts are being tracked and evaluated by a system.
The wrap up
Improving these can be an absolute game changer and really helps get the most from your marketing budgets. Something I’ve also found is that leaky sales funnels tend to get even more leaky as lead volumes increase as staff can’t keep on top of things and an even higher percentage falls through the cracks.
If you want to grow your business then getting the funnel in order for online leads before you try scaling will be key to success.
