How it Works: Lead Funnels

What in the heck is a lead funnel?   Does my business really need one?

Leads are the backbone to a growing business… they are the fuel, the oxygen to feed a thriving business.   The more quality leads you can get, the more products and services you can sell.   It really can be that simple if you have the right system in place (key phrase: right system in place).  

A lead funnel is systematic approach to generating leads to your business through your website. Lead funnels really started back in the late 1990’s when most sites had obnoxious pop up’s that would try to sell you something …   This ultimately paved the way to a more strategic way of selling using the following formula: 

Attract leads -> build trust with the leads -> grow a list of customers -> build a relationship with your customer list -> convert leads into customers -> offer your customers additional opportunities to work with you -> ascend your customers to repeat purchases.  

Most website visitors are much more educated than they were in the late 1990’s — pop ups simply aren’t enough any longer.   You need a process in place - and you need to deliver value in advance to convert clicks into customers.     A lead funnel does just that — its a proven way to attract your best prospects into your business so that you can nurture them into paying customers.  

So if you are asking if you need a Lead Funnel — the short answer is:  “If your business needs leads and customers —> you need a lead funnel”.  

Most lead funnels have five parts to it: 

1.  Lead Magnet:  Attract Leads to Build Value 

Put simply, a lead magnet is something you give away for free in exchange for their email address or phone number.    In theory, you wold create a lead magnet that would attract your ideal customer and provide value. 

Examples: 

• A coupon/discount or free trial
• Guides or report
• Video Training 
• Cheat sheet/Handout 
• Toolkit/Resource List
• Assessment/Test 
• Quiz/Survey

2.  Landing Page:  Exchange value to build an email list

A landing page (previously called a squeeze page) is a website where you exchange your lead magnet for an email address. You’re offering something valuable enough that your prospective customers are willing to trade their email addresses for (understanding they will be contacted by you in the future.)

As a marketer, I want your email address so I can send you emails, and you want something from me.  That’s what we’re trading here... we’re bartering. Everything that happens inside of a lead funnel is an exchange.

PRO TIP:  A landing page is much different than a standard website page … it is a page dedicated to ONE specific call to action (to get the web visitor to take the lead magnet offer).   It has no navigation on it & no other content on it except promoting the lead magnet).    It can normally only be found from an advertisement (either an ad on a company’s website or an ad on any platform like Google, Facebook, Instagram or Youtube). 

3.  Thank you Page:  Fulfill Promise & Build Trust

On the thank you page, you build trust with your prospective customers by giving them what you said you’d give them. You fulfill on your promise.  

The thank you page is also a great opportunity to upsell whoever opted in to take your lead magnet.   Adding an offer to the thank you page can be a great way to recoup any advertising costs (if your running paid ads to your lead magnet).  

4.  Sales Page: Offer product or service to build your customer list. 

After your leads have received value from you, they are more likely to do business with you. This is the best time to offer a product or service to them on your sales page. Offering a product or service right away also helps you recoup your ad costs quickly and build your customer list.

An upsell is another sales page that your customer will see after they buy the initial product. In essence, you’ve already got a hot lead, so this is one of the best times to sell your lower end products or services.   In some cases, you can sell higher ticket items.  

WARNING:  Don’t ask for Marriage on the first date!

Be very careful on the upsell offer you make after someone enters your lead funnel and takes your lead magnet offer.   This is kind of like dating — these leads need to get to know your business a bit (see indoctrination/follow up funnels below) before you ask for a huge sale.   

Here is what you look like if you make a high dollar offer too early to a prospect that just opted in to your lead magnet: 

Don’t do it!   Slow down and let the lead funnel do it’s job before going too big too early in the customer relationship! 

5.  Follow up Funnel: Communicate with your list to build relationships.

These are the emails sent out after you collect email address’ (prospects taking your lead magnet offer).   

We refer to this email sequence as an “Indoctrination Sequence” - where you provide valuable content for free in the emails - as well as additional products/services that can help the customer. 

When you get this right - you will continue to grow your list and have the ability to market to this list without having to pay advertising costs.    

The key to a good indoctrination and follow sequence is having strong conversion content.    This type of content is used to help educate a prospect on the problems solve (your products/services).    Basically, they are your sales collateral put into blog format. 

• Conversion Content topics: 
• Five ways ____ helps ____.  
• Don’t make these 7 ____ Mistakes.  
• Guide to ____ for ______. 
• Checklist of items for ______.  
• The secret to ____ for _____.  
• Five ways to ____ for ____.   

Use these conversion content pieces to educate and indoctrinate your new subscribers to your business.    Make it about THEM … and ALWAYS add value every time you send out an email.    Use a strong indoctrination series to go from stranger to an obvious choice to do business with.  

Now that you have a better understanding of what a lead funnel is — get out there and build one to fuel your business for growth!  —> or hire a company like ours to design it for you!