#6 Steps for Improving the Sales Funnel Businesses can obtain more purchases by persuading prospects to flow smoothly through the sales funnel

By Sawaram Suthar

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The aspects and entities of a sales funnel vary with different ventures; yet, the desired outcome is the same - more and faster sales! When transitioning to the next stage, losing a considerable number of prospects is common and inevitable; but most of this loss is avoidable, resulting in a successful purchase.

Below are six steps to help you convert faster, thus making room for more lead engagement and more purchases.

Interpret Data Sensibly

Businesses obtain volumes of analytical data throughout the sales funnel. Collecting this data only makes sense if you understand its implications and use them to establish next steps. Correspondingly, it helps to strengthen your sales funnel.

Calculate the average closing percentage using the number of leads generated and sales closed. This data allows you to estimate the number of new leads generated to achieve sales goals.

Businesses can also define several illustrative factors, like prospect percentages, conversion failures, and lost sale stages. Therefore, data needs to be gathered from a variety of sources to accurately predict future trends.

Heighten Engagement with Content

Customer engagement is one prominent factor in boosting sales funnel efficiency. It unambiguously depends on the content you push to your customers. Businesses can broadcast on many channels, like:

  • Business blogs
  • Social networking and publishing sites
  • Pay-per-click campaigns

Businesses can seamlessly persuade customers to travel down the funnel once they have been provided with informative, engaging and compelling content. Throw in extra care when crafting the content, based on the buying stages, as well as presenting it on the right channels, where your customers live.

Get Live Chat

Live chat is prominent today. Live chat for e-commerce sites, is culminating the competence in addressing the customer queries. They can utilize it to tactically move the prospects through the sales funnel.

It falls between the 'interest' and 'decision' stages of the funnel. Here, prospects are drawn to the site for their interest in your product/service. They are reluctant to buy due to their pre-sale concerns.

To identify such prospects; initiate a chat with them and sort out their concerns using live chat. It can be used to effectively counteract prospect hesitations, thereby improving the sales funnel.

Marketing and Segmentation Automation

Automated segmentation helps finalize each prospect's specific content or type of product/service. Automating marketing endeavours helps seamlessly deduce the most convincing leads through predictive lead scoring.

Automation also paves the way for streamlining your CRM. The CRM organizes the leads into the sales funnel. Most of your lead nurturing and sales process becomes more prudent, as a result.

Your sales funnel is shrewdly intensified, cutting out unreliable entities. Thus, automation helps your sales team make the best out of quality leads with minimal effort.

Quick Follow-Up is Key

Customers contemplate carefully before making a purchase. They consider every aspect and eventually, seek clarification when questions arise. The opportunity for closing the sale depends upon how quickly businesses address these requests.

It also defines a business' commitment toward customer service - a binding factor that prospects consider. Therefore, always ensure consistent and timely follow-up.

Leads should be nurtured while conversations are taken into consideration. Staying involved throughout the process with follow-up activities boosts the sales funnel flow.

Show Gratitude and Reward Loyal Customers

Repetitive purchases and customer retention are more important today than ever before. Businesses must facilitate already-existing customers, amidst new endeavours for generating new leads. Establish your gratitude for existing customers by:

  • Sending a 'Thank you' email after they make a purchase.
  • Sending special wishes on their personal occasions, like birthdays and anniversaries.
  • Send seasonal greetings= with relevant purchase options.

These will help you build a loyal follower base. You can also reward loyal customers with special offers for new products and other privileges. The existing customers already know your brand and service, making it easier for you to achieve an iterative purchase.

Wrap Up

Enabling seamless prospect-to-customer transition relies on a variety of conversational abilities and techniques. Businesses can obtain more purchases by persuading prospects to flow smoothly through the sales funnel.

Sawaram Suthar

Head of Marketing, Acquire

Sawaram Suthar is head of marketing at Acquire, and also a founder of Jagat Media. A digital marketing consultant, he has experience in things including branding, promotions and page optimization, along with research and strategy. He has an MBA from the University of Pune. 

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