SaaS marketing - How to build a lead generation funnel

Lead Generation Funnel5-step hack to acquire more leads and clients.

For high growing SaaS businesses

Content

■ Inverted funnel thinking

■ Core Product

■ Buyer Converter Product

■ Hook

■ Content Distribution

■ Marketing Automation

1. Inverted Funnel Thinking

Definition

Inverted funnel thinking is a method

that helps you build marketing funnels

that will convert more leads and clients.

Goal:

Create seamless funnels for your

prospects.

Explanation

In order to create a buyer journey that fits your

prospects’ needs, you have to start with just a small

commitment from the lead (hook). This type of

funnel will continuosly ask for higher commitments

(buyer converter) step-by-step. In the end of the day

your client becomes more loyal and you will have

less difficulties with retention (core product).

1. Think about your product and your buyer personas. What

are their pain points and what you solve?

2. Think about a feature that is standalone but part of your

product. What specific pain point does it solve?

3. Think about free contents that are connected to the specific

feature. How can you ease their pain for free? This solution

is not complete or not fast enough.

Steps to take

Takeaways■ Reverse-engineering helps you think

about your buyers’ journey.

■ It helps you build a funnel that seamlessly helps your leads go from one decision stage to an other.

■ It forces you to think about highly specific pain points of your prospects.

2. Core Product

DefinitionYour core product is your main service.

Explanation:

It gives a complete solution to the set of

pain points your clients have.

1. Think about your buyer personas: what are the pain points

they have?

2. Think about your core product: which features solve which

pain point?

3. Think about the features: which is the most used, most

valuable for your actual clients?

Steps to take

Takeaways

■ Keeping in mind your buyer personas’ pain points will always improve your business

■ Knowing your features from your customers’ point of view will help you understand te real value they see in it.

■ Prioritizing your existing feature according to their usage will give your marketing efforts super powers.

3. Buyer Converter Product

Definition

Your Buyer Converter Product is a

standalone feature or part of your Core

Product. Gives solution to a specific pain

point of a buyer persona. Usually a low-

ticket, irrecusable offer that opens your

buyers’ wallets (credit cards).

Explanation

You have to reduce the „complexity” of your service

by solving one serious pain point. Low complexity

means here that it’s easy to understand the benefit

of the service and easy to start it.

In addition, a cheap and irrecusable offer will make

more people impulse buy. And it opens their wallet.

If you manage to change the relationship from lead

to buyer (even with just a few dollars offer) you will

have higher conversion rates when it comes to real

money.

1. Think about your most used features: can you sell it as a

„separate”, standalone service?

2. If yes: can your pospects easily understand the benefits it provides

for them?

3. If yes: can your prospects easily start using it without investing

time and effort in it? (e.g. An ERP system implementation is

complex, because it requires high commitment from the prospects:

he needs to integrate it, learn to use it, etc.)

Steps to take

Takeaways

■ Keeping in mind your buyer personas’ pain points will always improve your business

■ Knowing your features from your customers’ point of view will help you understand te real value they see in it.

■ Prioritizing your existing feature according to their usage will give your marketing efforts super powers.

4. Hooks

Definition

Hooks are eBooks, case studies,

presentations, videos, etc. that solve

highly specific pain point of a prospect.

Usually are on landing pages where

visitors „pay” for the free content with

their contact information.

Explanation

You can create lots of free, gated contents that are

related to the Buyer Converter Product. This way you

can ask for your leads’ contact information. And you

also qualify those leads – because their interests

show that they have pain points in the area you

solve.

1. Think about the pain point your Buyer Converter Product solves:

what are the highly specific issues your prospects face?

2. If you have a list of these highly specific pain points, you can create

free contents that provide high ACTUAL and PERCIEVED value.

3. Always put these hooks on landing pages and ask for an email

address and a name (at least).

Steps to take

Takeaways

■ Hooks target highly specific pain points that are related to the Buyer Converter Product

■ Hooks are for „free”. But in fact your visitors pay with their contact information.

■ Put your hooks on landing pages and ask for the contact information of your leads in return.

5. Content distribution

Definition

Advertise your free hooks (landing

pages). Create banners, CTAs on your

blog pages, distribute these blog articles

in relevant communities and on social

media. In addition, advertise the landing

pages on adwords, social media.

ExplanationYou require only a small commitment from your

visitors (just by asking for contact information)

while providing high percieved value.

1. Write blog articles, insert your banners and CTAs linked to

your landing pages. Also add these to your existing articles.

2. Distribute your articles and landing pages’ links in relevant

communities and on social media.

3. Decide your ads budget and advertise on adwords and

social media.

Steps to take

Takeaways

■ Content distribution is the entry point of your funnel you built up from the inside.

■ Don’t sell, provide value with your organic and paid ads. Be relevant.

8. Marketing Automation

Your funnel looks like this now:

Attract visitors

Convert to leads

Convert to buyers

Convert to loyal clients

ProblemYour funnel is leaking:

Only a small percentage of people will start your

Buyer Converter Product or Core Product

immediately. You need to nurture them.

Solution

Automated email workflows will prepare those leads to buy who don’t convert on your landing pages right away. This is automated lead nurturing workflows.

Explanation

Automated email workflows will help you convert

much more leads:

”79% of marketing leads never convert into sales.

Lack of lead nurturing is the common cause of this

poor performance.”

(Source: MarketingSherpa)

25% of leads buy immediately

50% of leads would buy, just later

25% of leads never buy.

More Stats on lead nurturing

Takeaways

■ The funnel is great to meet rapid buyers’ needs but it is leaking because slower buyers don’t have the chance

■ Automated lead nurturing email workflows will convert much more clients and will create much more satisfied customers

Automizy: tool meets know-howAutomizy is a smart email automation software for SaaS companies with built-in know-how.It provides 38 pre-written emails and 8 pre-programmed and automated email lead nurturing workflows.

You have everything you need for your email communication with your leads and clients:

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- Drip campaigns (form trigger, unbounce integration, contact tagging and trigger, link click and open email condition and much more)

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