Do you want to consistently attract your target audience and turn them into paying customers? Then, you need an automated sales funnel, which is a system to collect their details and nurture them in a personalised way until they buy from you.
Since it consists of different stages and tools all working together like a well-oiled machine, where does a lead magnet come into play? Simple: it’s the very first part of your sales funnel.
So, it can either set it off to a good start or… kill it before it even begins. Let’s master the former!
7 steps to using a sales funnel and lead magnet together
Here’s how to plan your lead magnet and sales funnel so they work in synergy.
1. Attract your potential customers with a lead magnet
The first step is generating interest and compelling your target customers to engage with your brand. That’s your lead magnet’s job!
What is a lead magnet?
A lead magnet is a valuable free resource or incentive that you offer to your audience in exchange for their contact details, especially their email addresses.
It should be something your target customers are interested in, that positions your business as the logical next step and… that’s so good you almost feel bad giving it away for free!
There are all kinds of lead magnet ideas and formats, like eBooks, downloadable PDFs, webinars, free trials, discounts, and exclusive content. However, most of them are so overused they’ve become white noise. No wonder traditional lead magnets only convert at 3-10%.
So, to stand out, consider a quiz lead magnet. Because they’re personalised and dynamic, quizzes are so valuable that they convert at a whopping 30-50%!
For example, a marketing agency could create a “FREE Marketing Scorecard” with ScoreApp, automatically sending a personalised report to each participant.
Creating a landing page
Your lead magnet is free, but you still need to “sell it”. So, create a landing page with:
- Strong copy – Lead with how signing up for your lead magnet will benefit your target customers, offering them an unmissable call to action
- Compelling design – Impress them with on-brand visuals that complement your copy, and make your landing page mobile-friendly
For example, that agency could highlight how each participant will receive a personalised scorecard showing them what they’re already doing well and what they can improve. The landing page will also include videos, photos, social proof from clients, and a strong call to action.
2. Capture leads
This step is the main difference between a lead magnet and any other type of free content or incentive.
Using a lead capture form
Ask your audience to share their details to access the lead magnet, consenting to receive communication from you.
To do this, add a sign-up form to your landing page and strategic spots on your website (like exit-intent pop-ups that appear when someone is about to leave empty-handed).
With ScoreApp, you can easily create different lead capture forms, collecting your participants’ details before they start the quiz or before revealing their results.
Driving traffic to your quiz lead magnet
To capture more leads, you must reach new people. So, help them discover your lead magnet by:
- Promoting it everywhere on your website
- Driving organic traffic to it through SEO and content marketing
- Adding it to your social media bios, and creating valuable content around it
- Sharing it with your email list
- Running paid ads
- Using it as a call to action whenever and wherever you show up for your business
For example, instead of expecting strangers to book a chat with them, that marketing agency could use “Get your FREE Marketing Scorecard” as a call to action on their socials.
3. Automate the initial follow-up process
One of the best parts about automated sales funnels is that they keep working in the background for you, and this begins immediately.
Set up a welcome email sequence
As soon as someone signs up for your lead magnet, they’re added to your email list.
Don’t just send them the resource you promised them, though: start nurturing them with a strategic sequence (4-6 emails as a rule of thumb) that goes out over the course of a few days or weeks.
This could be a mixture of insightful and valuable emails to build trust, sales enablement content to prime them for that sale, and a personalised recommendation or call to action (more on that soon!).
For example, after their ScoreApp quiz, that marketing agency could nurture their new leads with:
- A welcome email with a thank you message and their scorecard results
- A helpful tip that offers a quick win
- An email to tackle this lead’s biggest misconception or concern
- An email to show them what’s possible if they focus on the marketing tactic they’re overlooking
- A case study on how this agency helped a client in a similar situation
- An invitation to book a call to discuss their quiz results
4. Segment your leads for personalised follow-ups
Basic funnels show the same steps and content to everyone. This can feel irrelevant and, consequently, won’t be too effective. Instead, personalisation leads to a 20% increase in sales.
So, by dividing your audience into groups and setting up different emails and touchpoints for each of them, you’ll keep them engaged and turn more of them into clients.
Ways to segment your leads
You can split them into groups based on:
- Behaviours – For example, someone who clicked a specific link or already bought from you will receive different emails
- Demographics and psychographics – This can involve objective characteristics, pain points, likes and dislikes, beliefs, and background. For example, after uncovering someone’s job role, offer a free trial of your SaaS to self-employed individuals and a demo to those managing a team
An advanced quiz funnel brings ALL of these together!
That marketing agency could send different email sequences to a department head whose biggest struggle is “Getting clients from social media marketing” as opposed to a self-employed service provider who can’t keep up with their blog.
5. Guide your leads to a conversion point
No matter how obvious you think it is, you must always tell your leads exactly what you want them to do next.
Use strong calls to action
- In your initial emails, your CTAs could involve hitting reply, watching a video, reading a blog post, and so on
- Once you’ve nurtured your lead, it’s time to ask for a sale: be specific, and lead with how buying from you will benefit them
With a ScoreApp quiz, you can make this even more engaging and relevant. How? Personalise your CTA based on each lead’s quiz results, like focusing on the best product for them or inviting them on a call with a tailored message.
For example, our marketing agency could say:
“Hi George,
I noticed you recently took our Marketing Scorecard. You scored 75% in the ‘social media’ section, which is fabulous. However, your score for ‘blogging’ was quite low. I’d love to help you improve this.
Would you be up for a quick call so I can share some custom advice?”
6. Retarget them with new campaigns
By now, some of your leads have become customers (whoop, whoop!). What about everyone else, though? It’s not game over yet!
Retarget them with paid ads or new content based on their previous interactions with your website and emails. You’ll stay top of mind, show them your offer again and encourage them to re-engage with it.
For example, after recommending a specific service to some quiz participants, that marketing agency could target them with social media ads linking to its sales page.
7. Analyse and optimise
Once you’ve set up and launched your lead magnet and sales funnel, that’s the bulk of the work done. You shouldn’t forget about them, though!
Instead of relying on guesswork, keep analysing your data to improve your funnel even further:
- A/B testing – Experiment with different versions of the same element (like your landing page, email subject lines or your CTAs) to see what resonates the most with your audience
- Review your analytics – Do this regularly to see exactly what’s working well and what isn’t. ScoreApp makes it a breeze because you’ll get in-depth tracking and reporting features that are also easy to understand
- Optimise your lead magnet and sales funnel accordingly – Keep using your new A/B testing and analytics data to implement the right changes. That way, your sales funnel will always work like the well-oiled machine it should be!
For example, that marketing agency might realise that 60% of their landing page visitors are signing up for their lead magnet (which is huge) but a lot of them drop off after the 12th question. This shows them the quiz itself is too long and not engaging enough for their audience. So, they can now edit it accordingly!
Example of an automated sales funnel using a quiz lead magnet
Here’s how a quiz lead magnet and sales funnel could work together for a fashion brand:
- Lead magnet offer – “FREE style guide to dress & feel like a main character”
- Landing page – It leads with how, after answering 12 quick questions, their audience will receive a personalised style guide, and it captures their email addresses before they can access it
- Automated email sequence
- Email 1 – It welcomes them into this brand’s world and includes a link to their quiz results
- Email 2 – Tips to help them figure out what they already own and what garments or accessories they still need to buy to match that vibe
- Email 3 – 10 outfit ideas for their new main character style
- Email 4 – Inspiring photos of relevant outfits, with customer reviews to build trust and get them even more excited
- Email 5 – Links to the best products for their style with an exclusive 20% discount that expires in 7 days
- Email 6 – Personalised discount reminder a day before it ends
- Retargeting ads – They show ads to those who received the guide but didn’t make a purchase, offering a 10% discount
- Analyse – They review their analytics to optimise their funnel even further
Use ScoreApp to make your sales funnel stronger with a dynamic quiz lead magnet
Since it’s the very first part of your funnel, your lead magnet can make all the difference.
With ScoreApp, you can take this to the next level: use a quiz lead magnet to personalise and inform your entire sales funnel!
You’ll attract more customers, collect tonnes of valuable data, and make each touchpoint relevant to your participants, selling more on repeat.
Get your sales funnel and lead magnet to work together successfully: create your ScoreApp quiz today and for FREE.
