April 21, 2022

How To Use The Different Lead Stages To Improve Your Conversion Rate

Conversion rates are key to running an effective marketing campaign. To improve your conversion rates, you need to know what your lead stages are and how to use them effectively. This article will provide you with the breakdown of a number of different lead stages that can help you increase conversions through different media channels.

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Lead stages are the different points in an email campaign or sales process where the person entering your marketing funnel has the opportunity to engage with your brand. 

From now on, you will have a better understanding of how to use lead stages and find tools that can improve your conversion rate and help you convert more visitors into customers.

 

What Are Lead Stages?

Lead stages are the different points in a leader's journey that you need to be aware of when making your marketing strategy.

 

1. The first stage is called 'awareness'. This is where someone becomes conscious about what they want and how it can be achieved. This could include researching their options, reading reviews or simply seeing an advert for a product online and clicking on it. 

At this stage, there isn't much action being taken by the user at all – just awareness has been created with regards to the purchase decision process (i.e., "I now know I want [product]"). 

As a marketer, you want to ensure that this awareness is converted into a commitment stage (i.e., "I now know I want [product] and will buy it if the price is right") as quickly as possible.

 

2. The second lead stage is called 'interest'. This occurs when someone first becomes aware of your product or service but doesn't necessarily have any intention of buying it at this point in time – they're simply curious about what's available on the market and why other people might be interested in purchasing them too. 

The way you can increase conversions here would be by providing more information about your product or service. You could show more pictures, provide testimonials from happy customers and even create a video using a video editor to demonstrate the benefits of using it.

 

3. The third lead stages is called 'consideration'. This occurs when someone has been exposed to your content but they still haven't made up their mind about whether they want to buy what you're offering. 

They may have read an article online that mentions something similar so are now considering giving it a go – this can be increased by providing them with some sort of incentive (i.e., "If you purchase [product] before the end of the month we'll give you a free [product]").

 

4. The fourth lead stage is called 'consideration converted”. This occurs when someone has been exposed to your content and made up their mind that they want to purchase it. 

You should be able to increase conversions here by providing them with some sort of incentive (i.e., "If you order now, we'll include a free gift worth £20") or even making an offer on something else in exchange for their purchase (i.e., "We can deliver this product next day at no extra cost – just let us know if you'd like to order this as well").

 

5. The fifth lead stage is called 'decision'. This occurs when someone has made up their mind that they want to purchase your product or service. 

You should be able to increase conversions here by providing them with some sort of incentive (i.e., "If you buy now, we'll include a free gift worth £20") – even if the offer isn't available for everyone it will still encourage those who have already decided on buying from you over other options out there. 

The final step in the sales funnel is called 'completion', which occurs when someone has purchased your product or service.

The sales funnel is a useful tool to help you determine where people are in their purchase journey and what they need to do at each stage so that they can make the right decision about whether or not it's worth purchasing from you. 

It will also give you an idea of how many leads/leads per month, on average, have made it all the way through this process – but remember that these figures are only reliable if your lead generation programs aren't being abused by fake accounts (i.e., those created for the sole purpose of generating leads in order to sell your products/services).

 

Picture from leadsquared

So, How Do You Use The Sales Funnel? 

Well, if you're selling a product or service online then it's pretty easy. You just need to put some sort of offer in place at each stage and see what happens – but this is not always possible so here are some ideas on how you can get creative with using it:

 

1. Use lead generation programs that allow people who have signed up for them (i.e., those which require an email address) to opt-in via a form filled out by visitors as they arrive at your website. 

This is a great way of increasing your conversion rate without having to invest in expensive advertising campaigns or pay for retargeting ads on other websites.

just make sure that you only include those who have opted-in and not the entire list, otherwise it could end up costing you money if people unsubscribe from these programs as soon as they've signed up (and then don't come back).

 

2. Use free content/offerings which encourage visitors to take action at each stage so that when someone has made it all the way through their purchase journey they're more likely to buy from you than someone who has not. 

This is where the sales funnel comes in handy as it provides you with a way of building trust and encouraging visitors to take action – so make sure that your free content/offerings are relevant, helpful and useful (i.e., don't just throw together something which doesn't add anything).

 

3. If someone hasn't taken any further action after completing their purchase then use a follow-up email or automated message asking them if they would like to receive more information about what they've purchased from you,

This will increase conversion rates over time by getting people back into contact with you.

 

4. If you have a lead magnet, free PDF or other offer which is useful for someone who has already bought from you then make sure that this isn't something which requires them to take further action (i.e., it shouldn't require any more information before they can use the product). 

This way if people do opt-in to receive more information about your product/service and subsequently don't buy again then at least they're not losing out on anything as opposed to opting in and receiving nothing else apart from an email asking them why they didn't purchase again – so consider offering additional value in this way.

What Are The Different Types Of Leads

There are a number of different types of leads which you can use to market your business and generate more sales:

 

1. Contact Us – This is the most common type of lead as it's what people generally reach out to businesses with when they want information or have some questions. 

You'll need at least one contact form on your website so that visitors know where they should be contacting you if they need any further assistance. The best way for them to do this is by using an email sign-up box (i.e., don't make them fill in their details manually).

2. Email Leads – This is a type of lead which you can use to market your business and generate more sales. 

These are generated by people who have opted-in to receive information about what you're offering or some other piece of content from you; they'll be sent an email with details on the product/service that they've purchased in order for them to complete their purchase.

 

3. Social Media Leads – If someone follows, likes or shares something related to your business then this could result in them becoming a potential customer (i.e., if someone liked one of your posts on Facebook then it's likely that they'll go on to purchase something from you). 

You can promote this by using the social media buttons in your email signature or footer (for example, if someone likes one of your posts then they could see a link which says "Click here to like my post" and direct them there.

 

4. Search Engine Leads – If people are searching for what you're offering online then it's likely that they might be looking at purchasing something from you as well; simply use search engine optimisation (SEO) techniques so that their searches will bring up links back to your website. 

This is a form of lead which you can use to market your business and generate more sales.

 

5. Display Leads – These are generated by people who see an ad on the internet (e.g., Google AdWords or Facebook Ads). 

You'll need to be sure that the adverts are relevant in order for them to convert into leads; if they're not then you won't get any sales from it so make sure that it's something which is likely going to work well with your target audience at all times.

 

Lead Generation Tools

There are many different tools out there which can help you generate leads; some of these include:  Social Media Marketing , SEO & PPC , Email Marketing , Blogging and Online Advertising.

 

Here's a list of some tools that you can use to generate leads:

 

1. Aweber This is an email marketing tool which allows you to send out emails on your own behalf. You'll need the appropriate software in order for it to work though; if not then there will be no way for people to opt-in (you could also consider using MailChimp instead). 

However, we'd recommend checking out ConvertKit as well because they're both very good at what they do.  They let you create multiple lists with different types of subscribers and have a number of different features which make it easier to run your business.

2. MailChimpThis is another email marketing tool, but one that's been around for longer than Aweber so you'll probably see more people using this as well (it also allows you to create multiple lists). 

It has some great features such as automation tools and pop-ups; however, we'd recommend checking out ConvertKit again because they're both very good at what they do.  

They let you create multiple lists with different types of subscribers and have a number of different features which make it easier to run your business.

 

3. Constant ContactThis is another email marketing tool that's been around for a while and has some great features such as the ability to create multiple lists, pop-ups and automation tools. 

It also allows you to send out emails on behalf of your clients (so if someone signs up for one of their mailing lists then they'll receive an email from them). 

You can even integrate with Facebook so you can target people who are in certain groups or pages; however, we'd recommend checking out ConvertKit again because they're both very good at what they do.

They let you create multiple lists with different types of subscribers and have a number of different features which make it easier to run your business.

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Himangi Lohar

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