Automated Sales Funnel: Step-By-Step Guide for Marketers

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The smoother and more frictionless a brand’s sales funnel, the easier it is to drive conversions and generate revenue — and that’s where automation can help. An automated sales funnel can accelerate the customer journey and reduce the need to manually oversee key tasks like lead nurturing and following. 

The following guide will tell you everything you need to know about sales funnel automation so you can leverage the strategy to fuel your business growth. 

What Is an Automated Sales Funnel?

An automated sales funnel streamlines the process of moving people from the awareness stage to making a purchase. Its goal is to eliminate the need for constant manual intervention and ensure more timely deliveries of follow-up messages. 

With the help of tools like automated email sequences and customer relationship management (CRM) systems, you can build a funnel that nurtures leads and drives conversions on autopilot. 

Benefits of an Automated Sales Funnel

Strategic automation can provide the following sales funnel benefits: 

1. Increased Efficiency

The biggest perk of automation is that it will save you a considerable amount of time. You can set up and manage campaigns with lightning-fast efficiency, which will allow you and your team to focus on high-level strategy and creative efforts instead of tedious administrative tasks. 

2. Consistent Lead Nurturing

With a manual funnel, it’s easy to lose track of leads. Forgetting to follow up with someone in the awareness or interest stage can lead to missed opportunities. Automation closes those gaps and ensures that every lead receives the right communication at the ideal time in their journey.  

3. Enhanced Customer Segmentation

Sales funnel automation makes it easy to segment your audience based on their behavior and interests. You can serve up personalized content that speaks to each person’s pain points and product preferences. 

4. Scalable Marketing Efforts

As your business grows, managing a larger funnel can get more and more difficult. Automation, in contrast, allows you to scale your efforts without cutting corners or sacrificing quality. 

5. Improved Conversion Rates

Automation also makes it easier to personalize ads at scale, which can improve your ads’ performance and, ultimately, your conversion rates. 

Stages of Sales Funnels

Before you can automate your funnel, you need to identify its key stages. These sales funnel stages represent the journey a prospect takes from awareness to purchase:

Stage 1: Awareness

Potential customers must first learn about your brand or product in the upper funnel. You’ll want to capture their attention through product marketing, social media, and ads. 

Stage 2: Interest and Evaluation

Once someone becomes acquainted with your brand, it’s time to generate intrigue in the middle of the funnel. Showcase the kinds of products that may be of interest to them and position your company as the entity that can solve their pain points. 

These prospects will probably start comparing your product to the competition and reading reviews from past customers. Here, your role is to make product information accessible while nurturing their interest. 

Stage 3: Desire

By now, prospects are close to making a purchase, but they still need a little push. They may be looking for incentives like discounts or personalized offers. Give them that nudge and help them identify your product as the right answer to their problems. 

Stage 4: Action

The lower funnel is where the prospect finally converts into a paying customer. Your role here is to ensure the purchasing process is smooth and straightforward. Remove any obstacles that could cause last-minute cart abandonment and keep customers in the loop about their order status.  

Stage 5: Loyalty and Re-Engagement

After someone makes a purchase, it’s time to shift gears. Focus on building loyalty and encouraging repeat purchases. Follow-up emails and loyalty programs can help keep people engaged with your brand. 

So, how do you build an automated sales funnel? Creating one consists of these eight easy steps: 

Step 1: Identify Your Ideal Audience

Ask yourself the following questions: Who are your ideal customers? What problems are they trying to solve? What motivates them to buy? Clearly defining your audience will help you tailor your messaging and content to their specific needs. 

Step 2: Outline the Customer Journey

Next, map out the customer journey from awareness to purchase — and beyond. Understand what questions or concerns your customers have at each stage and what kind of content will be most effective at moving them through the funnel. This will help you design a seamless experience that addresses their needs every step of the way. 

Step 3: Develop High-Quality Content

Content is the backbone of your sales funnel. Blog posts, videos, email sequences, and whitepapers each form a piece of the puzzle. Create cohesive content that complements one another and delivers consistent on-brand messaging.  

Step 4: Deploy Lead Generation Tactics

Now, it’s time to start driving traffic to your funnel. Use tactics like social media ads, Connected TV ads, SEO, and paid search to fill your funnel with high-quality prospects. Cast a wider net at the awareness stage and begin segmenting audiences  as they enter the funnel. That will allow you to nurture their interests with personalized offers and customized content. 

Step 5: Implement Automated Email Campaigns

Email marketing is a crucial part of any automated sales funnel. Set up email sequences that automatically nurture leads at each stage of the funnel. For example, when someone signs up for your newsletter, they should receive a welcome email followed by a series of related but unique messages (educational, thematic, etc.) designed to move them toward a purchase. 

Step 6: Leverage Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Software

A CRM system helps you track and manage your leads, ensuring that they’re receiving the right communication at the right time. Whichever one you choose, it should be able to handle everything from logging customer interactions to following up when someone takes a specific action. 

Step 7: Track and Evaluate Funnel Metrics

Keep a close eye on relevant funnel metrics, such as conversion rates, email open rates, and customer engagement. Regularly review them and identify any bottlenecks or opportunities for improvement. 

Step 8: Enhance and Fine-Tune Your Funnel  

Your new funnel won’t be perfect from the jump. That’s why you need to adopt a continuous improvement mindset. Use the data you collect to keep enhancing and optimizing your sales funnel. Perform A/B tests on different emails, landing pages, and lead magnets to see what resonates best with your audience. 

Automated Sales Funnel Examples

The funnel you create will need to solve the unique challenges facing your business. Say, for instance, that an online clothing store has been experiencing a high cart abandonment rate. The company could send the person an email with a discount code to encourage them to complete the purchase. 

Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies can also benefit from sales funnel automation. A software company might offer a free trial as part of its funnel, followed by a series of emails that highlight the benefits of the paid version. They could even incorporate a limited-time offer or discount code to encourage trial users to upgrade. 

• See more practical sales funnel examples.

Performance TV: A Full-Funnel Solution

If you’re looking for a way to further automate and enhance your sales funnel, MNTN Performance TV offers a powerful solution that automates many of the manual processes involved in CTV advertising. You can create custom audiences using our proprietary, keyword-based audience builder, MNTN Matched, and then proceed to set up your campaign objectives, upload your creatives, and set a budget.

MNTN can handle your campaign from there. Our dynamic full-funnel marketing solution will identify optimal ad placements based on your product category, goals, and budget so you can get the most bang for your marketing buck. It also gathers detailed feedback about your campaigns and provides insights to help you succeed in the world of performance TV advertising.

Check out MNTN today. Request a demo to get started.

Automated Sales Funnel: Final Thoughts 

Building an automated sales funnel is a smart move for marketers looking to increase efficiency and nurture leads consistently. Use the tips outlined above to more effectively connect with and convert potential customers.