One of the benefits of using a live launch model is that you have the opportunity to review your sales funnel strategy between each launch. By evaluating your metrics, you can see what worked, what didn’t, and what you can make even better the next time around so that you not only hit your goals, but exceed them.
That said, launches have a lot of moving parts. It’s not always easy to identify where the problems are coming from or which part of the sales funnel most needs your attention—especially if you’re relatively new to launches.
But before you get too lost in the data weeds, take a deep breath—there are several easy steps you can take to optimize your sales funnel that don’t require a deep dive into metrics or overly complex approaches.
How to Improve Your Overall Sales Funnel Strategy
As a business owner, you need quick and effective solutions that can move you toward your goals without wasting valuable time and resources. Fortunately, you don’t have to venture too far down the launch strategy rabbit hole to find actions you can take to improve your sales funnel. Here are four tips to help you optimize your funnel and exceed expectations for your next launch.
Tip #1: Look for Key Areas to Maximize Impact
The best way to preserve your energy while still improving your sales funnel is to look for the areas where you can make the biggest impact right now. While there may be a number of kinks in your funnel to eventually address, focusing on the biggest wins will make sure your next launch is better than the last.
You can take one of two approaches here: Top-down, or bottom-up.
If you start at the top of your sales funnel, you’re going to look for ways to create more visibility. This is all about gaining new leads, and you’ll want to look at things like email opens, sales vehicle registrations, and social media engagement. Maximizing these metrics will get more leads in the door.
If you choose a bottom-up approach, you’ll look at maximizing impact toward the bottom of the sales funnel, where your prospects are asked to take action. You’ll focus on areas like your sales sequence or landing page. Something as simple as a more compelling call-to-action or well-placed social proof can directly impact your conversion numbers, giving you more bang for your energy buck.
Which approach you take will depend a lot on your audience. If you have very few leads, there’s not a lot of reason to start with optimizing the bottom of your funnel. On the other hand, if you have a steady flow of leads and a lot of visibility, spending too much time top-of-funnel is a bit of a waste of energy—which is exactly what you’re looking to avoid!
Tip #2: Focus on One Change at a Time
Once you’ve identified areas for improvement within your sales funnel, it can be tempting to want to address them all at once. You might even be tempted to wipe the slate clean and try again from scratch (please don’t do this).
Focusing on too many aspects at once is not only exhausting; it’s a surefire way to muddle your sales funnel strategy.
Instead, focus on making one or two changes to your sales funnel at a time. This will give you the chance to clearly observe how the adjustment impacts your metrics and decide how to proceed based on your findings. Think of yourself as a scientist conducting an experiment—by isolating one launch variable, you can see exactly how it affects the success of your sales funnel without questioning whether anything else was involved.
Plus, who knows—you may even discover that one change is all you need to optimize your sales funnel and have the best launch yet!
Tip #3: Find Ways to Segment and Personalize
People are more likely to buy from those they know, like, and trust. One of the ways in which you can build those kinds of relationships with your audience is through segmentation and personalization.
Even if you’ve already implemented some segmenting into your email sales sequence, you can instantly improve your sales funnel by finding more ways to personalize your communication with your contacts. The more you can tailor your emails to where your customers are in their journey, the better results you’ll see.
A good first step in segmenting your email list is to divide them into warmer and cooler leads, who require different kinds of communication to move forward. Your warmer leads may just need a bit of reassurance before buying, whereas your cooler leads likely need more nurturing to feel confident in making a decision.
Once you’ve done that, pay attention to the actions your leads are taking, whether within your email sequence or on your landing page. Are they clicking the links in your emails? Did they visit your landing page but exit shortly thereafter? Depending on their behavior, you can take additional steps to personalize your communication and guide them through the sales funnel.
There are infinite ways to segment and personalize content, so be mindful of your strategy here. Maybe you want to create dynamic content that changes based on job title or revenue level. Or, maybe you want to segment based on geographic region or whether they stuck around for your full webinar.
Don’t forget Tip #2 when you implement this strategy. Focus on one type of segmentation at a time, see how it does, then move forward with more adjustments if needed.
Tip #4: Get Feedback and Use It
Don’t undervalue the power of feedback in optimizing your sales funnel strategy. Knowing what your audience is thinking and feeling can give you important insights about what you may need to change to get better results from your launch.
To get the most valuable and well-rounded information, aim to collect feedback throughout as many points in the sales funnel as possible. This could include:
Conducting market research before you launch to better understand your audience and position your offer
Asking webinar attendees for feedback about your webinar
Including a pop-up exit survey on your landing page to find out what’s stopping visitors from purchasing
Requesting testimonials from the clients who purchased your offer
Once you have the data, don’t forget to actually use it! Feedback is only as valuable as you make it by putting what you’ve learned into action.
Get Personalized Launch Recommendations From an Expert
If you’re looking for customized feedback that can take your launch to the next level, check out our Launch Strategy Intensive. You’ll have the chance to sit down with a strategy expert who can walk through your launch plan step-by-step and offer personalized recommendations for how to optimize your content. With launch support in your back pocket, you can rest easy knowing that your next launch will be in tip-top shape!