Lead Funnel – The 5 stages you need to know about

What is a lead funnel?

Lead conversion is when a lead, from a lead funnel, is turned into a possible account. From here, the sales team will take the lead on and turn it into a paying account. The lead funnel is the journey from a prospect knowing about your product or service to paying for it.

You need to perfect this lead funnel because it can help you gain more paying clients. To perfect it, this will involve analysing your marketing to sales method. Then, you need to identify where in the funnel that your method is the most weak. It is possible that at this point you may be losing prospects due to your inadequate funnel.

To review your own funnel, you must know the five basic stages.

5 basic lead funnel stages

1. General Awareness

The first stage is where the consumer has identified a problem, which your product or service can solve. They will then go seek solutions to their problem. Google ads, search and social media are ways that they could have found your product or service. This would then have put them in the awareness stage of the lead funnel.

The top of your awareness stage funnel will also consist of prospects that have been identified as high interest but have not chosen to take action.

2. Interest

At this stage, lead generation begins. Here, your consumer looks to gain more info around your product or service. Companies deliver this info through platforms such as blogs and newsletters. This is because providing more info puts them in the position of a thought leader or expert, alleviating consumer doubts.

3. Consideration

At this stage, a consumer would be looking to engage more with your product. They will look for more product specific information. This step will help inform them of their final decision prior to purchase.

A free trial is a great way for getting consumers to experience your product or service before they commit to making a purchase. By giving your customers the opportunity to use your product or service firsthand, you are able to generate interest in what you have available and start building trust by demonstrating the high quality of your work. If free trials are not right for you, then consider offering discounts on some of your products during an introductory period instead as well as using infomercials, white papers and e-books that deliver information for either the consumer’s education or entertainment.

4. Evaluation

Your prospect will evaluate your product or service. At this point, it is best to get your sales team involved to answer any specific questions they have. Sales can also help deliver a personalised touch to this step and help to convert them into a paying client.

5. Decision

Prospect will decide if they are to become a paying client of your product or service. Continue engagement from here for opportunities to upsell.

What next?

You can start by using Triggr’s lead finder tool to help you come up with precise prospecting lists. Tools to manage your lead funnel include Hubspot.