How To Help Marketing Clients Revamp Their Sales Funnel

Marketing firms often work with clients whose customer acquisition strategies are failing and who need a major upgrade to their sales funnel. For agency professionals tackling such a project, the challenge is not only to build a deep understanding and trust with the client, but also to help them make the necessary changes in your sales funnel to better connect with future prospects at each stage to communicate. .

Below, each of Forbes' 20 board members describes their top priorities in helping clients redesign their entire marketing funnel. Using these techniques, marketers can identify the solutions that will most help their customers achieve their sales goals.

1. Success measurement of the customer's USP

I will question the customer's unique selling point. This is the “front door” to the marketing funnel. I will analyze the behavioral analytics of the client's website to benchmark USP performance. I then conduct a USP intervention workshop with my client and create alternative USPs to test changes in marketing funnel performance from top of funnel to conversions. -Ken Brown, Lounge Lizard Worldwide, Inc.

2. Conduct buyer journey interviews

The first thing you need to do is conduct purchase interviews to find out how and why your client's customers bought from them. After five or seven conversations, you'll see trends in their responses, allowing you to understand how your client can improve their messaging to have greater impact. -Corey Quinn, Corey Quinn, Inc.

3. Mathematical management decision calculations

When redesigning a client's marketing funnel, you must first perform the calculations that will guide future marketing decisions. What is the lifetime value of a customer? How much does the customer currently spend to acquire a new customer? What is your target cost per purchase? The only way to make marketing an investment and not an expense is to know the calculations that should guide all decisions. So I'll start there. -Mario Schulzke, PathLabs

4. Check Google Analytics. Interview with the sales and marketing team

I recommend starting by looking at the data available in Google Analytics, Salesforce, and other “point of truth” software tools that can be used to analyze sales funnels and audience characteristics. You then interview sales and marketing teams to uncover key insights that the data doesn't fully reveal. We found that this combination gave us a clear foundation for rebuilding a marketing funnel. - Rebecca House, House of Ideas

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5. Evaluate the customer's reputation

Start by understanding your customer’s reputation. Most people only work with, buy from and invest in brands they trust. Assess popularity first, then work your way up to capitalize on exposure opportunities and down to increase loyalty. -David Racine, PR Punch

6. Evaluate the customer’s customer experience

The first thing I look at is the continuity of the customer's experience from one stage to the next. Creating a great and consistent customer experience (from initial customer awareness to the launch of a product or service) is becoming increasingly important. Therefore, it is important to take a step back and look at the entire journey globally. – Greg Kihlstrom, Clever Brands

7. Analyze the customer's current efforts

The first steps should be to analyze the customer's current efforts. What works and why? What doesn't work and why? Best channel used? Are they targeting the right consumer? Where are the resources placed? Once these questions are answered, we have a basis to begin restructuring our overall efforts. -Liza Hoyt, The Hoyt Organization, Inc.

8. Align strategies with the customer's core goals

Redesigning the marketing funnel focuses on aligning strategies with the client's key business goals. This can be as simple as customizing messages or as complex as restructuring the entire program. Comprehensive metrics are essential to enable effective measurement of all aspects of the marketing stack. This holistic approach ensures seamless integration, strategic alignment and optimal performance. - Valerie Chan, PR Plat4orm

9. See how the customer behaves

First, I'll look at how they nurture new and existing leads. There's a big step between getting a lead and closing a deal that seems obvious but is often overlooked. Marketing needs frequent and relevant touchpoints to move qualified leads through the funnel, especially with long sales cycles! - Christine Slocumb, Clarity Quest Marketing

10. Integrate AI approaches into public engagement

By prioritizing the integration of AI insights with deep emotional audience engagement, we can redesign the funnel to directly address customer challenges and highlight the customer's unique value proposition. This combination of accurate data and targeted messaging ensures every touchpoint is tailored to consumer needs, increasing conversion rates and enabling demonstrable ROI on marketing investments. -Dennis Kirwan, Dymic Digital

11. Check whether the customer is correctly targeting the ideal customers

Redesigning a marketing funnel can be compared to deep sea fishing. The first step is to ask the customer if they are fishing in the right place by checking their destination. Are they advertising on the right platforms with precise geo-targeting to reach their ideal customers? Then test their hook by conducting a comprehensive review of their digital assets, including their website, landing page, social media, advertising, and news references. - T. Maxwell, eMaximize

12. Use customer journey maps

First, look at the funnel itself because customers don't follow a set path. Then use customer journey maps to analyze the motivations behind each behavior the customer engages in throughout that journey. This allows them to “choose their own adventure” in terms of content. Not only is this the best way to make a sale; This is the best way to build a customer relationship. - Roger Hurney, near Madison Ave

13. Create high-performing content at the top of the funnel

We believe that only 5% of a brand's audience is in the market at any given time. So we always start with the other 95%: What content assets and messages are aimed at this top-of-funnel audience? Most companies focus on the bottom of the funnel, but strong awareness leads to consideration and trust. This is where MQL comes into play. -Beth Newton, Alpha | Hello

14. Thoroughly research the client's target audience

First I would look at the client's target audience; Specifically, I would first conduct a thorough analysis to understand them, where they turn for information, what challenges they face, and what their buying process is. This due diligence gives us the basis to determine how best to position their value, which channels and tactics are most effective, and what content, touchpoints and reach are needed. - Renee Yeager, Yeager Marketing

15. Check the CLV/CAC cost ratio

When analyzing the marketing funnel, we first examine the relationship between customer lifetime value and customer acquisition costs. Although rare, the funnel will dictate all decisions. Using a combination of incrementality metrics and media mix modeling, we analyze this relationship to find the most impactful channels. In doing so, we shift the focus from simple acquisition to long-term profitable growth and aim to attract loyal, high-value customers, not just them. Views -JP Johl, Homage

16. Analyze traffic patterns

Always check traffic first. From there, you can understand the mistakes being made in the funnel. Check to understand where the traffic volume is coming from and what is happening on the landing page. There is always at least one of three errors: 1. There is not enough traffic, so nothing happens. 2. You are targeting the wrong people or using the wrong platforms; or 3. Poor communication leads to poor success rates. - Nico Tettenborn, Make it Tetten GmbH

17. Compare the customer's current MER

A healthy funnel means a healthy marketing effectiveness ratio. So start by figuring out where the customer is. Then look at the return on ad spend across all platforms at each stage of the funnel. Optimize spend on each platform at different stages of the funnel to ensure you are spending the right amount to increase overall ROAS, thereby increasing your MER. -Courtney Hiller, All Points Social

18. Assessment of the distribution of advertising expenditure by target groups

Start by breaking down ad spend by audience, customer acquisition, pre-purchase retargeting, and post-purchase retargeting. Knowing the state of your customer funnel will help you determine the cost of acquiring new and returning customers across all channels and understand which messages resonate with each group. – Justin Buckley, ATTN Organization

19. Make sure the customer has an attractive offer

The core of any customer conversion funnel is the offer itself. While funnel design and text optimizations can increase conversion rates, these changes do not automatically result in a weaker offer. Basically, a bad offer can derail the entire acquisition strategy. Details are important, but secondary to a convincing and attractive offer. -Laura Meyer, Envision Horizons

20. Turn the funnel over

My best advice to clients is to flip the funnel. Instead of starting with a bunch of unknown prospects at the top of the funnel, start with a deep understanding of the hearts, minds, and transactions of your most valuable customers. Analyze the attributes that drive profitability and loyalty to build predictive models that increase the quality of people you acquire. - Thomas Zawaki, Data Hub