List Building: Promote Lower-Funnel Transaction Activities

You have a product/service. You have a website. You have your product/service on your website and you drive traffic to your website.

A job well done, right?

Not exactly. Just having people on your site isn’t the end-all because it rarely ends with a transaction. People are just too skeptical about visiting a new website to make some sort of purchase on their first visit. And, most people are too busy comparison shopping and comparing apples to apples between you and any number competitors out there.

Instead of going straight for the sale, it’s about micro-conversions and nurturing leads into transactions.

This is helped substantially by an email list. Your black book of contacts. Your digital rolodex for sales! Many successful marketers and businesses out there absolutely live by their list.

Take a look at the digital sales funnel:

Caution: Do not view the funnel in a negative light as less people convert then come, rather look at it as you are getting rid of the excess, and promoting the quality of the leads in your list.

How do you build a list and work on your funnel?
Let’s look at a hypothetical situation:

Prospect: “Hi Mr/Mrs. Business Owner, I’m really interested in your products but I’m still considering them. Could I give you my email so you could just reach out to me in a week to see if I’ve decided?”

Business Owner: “Would you give me a minute while I get something to write this down with?”

Prospect: “Sure, I have all of the time in the world.”

The above is a hypothetical situation because it would never happen. No one in the digital sphere has enough patience to sit back and wait that long! And, no one would willingly and proactively provide you their contact information. It just doesn’t happen. Let’s take a look at a few rules for building your list.

List Building Rule #1: You have to ask for it or you’ll never get it.
Without ever asking, you won’t receive their contact information. You have to ask for it and you have to be obvious.

List Building Rule #2: You have to give, to get.
List building is just like any other transaction. In a purchase, you give me money, I give you a product. In the transaction of list building, you give me your email and I give you something of value. The value can be anything from a free giveaway, discounts, information, or downloads. It can be anything, but it has to be worth it!

List Building Rule #3: Easy does it
When asking for an email, make sure that you make it convenient for them. Too many questions and they are likely to run away. Too personal, too bad. Keep it simple – name and email or just email is the best. Now a two or three-step form intake can allow you to get more data from the person, without scaring them from providing their email. Ask the email, then after they submit it, ask them more questions. If they answer those additional questions, great you can now pair that data with the email. If they don’t answer them, that’s fine too. You still have their email address.

List Building Rule #4: Nurture your customer relationship
It is important to grow the trust and level of comfort that each person has with your brand. This can take a while but it must start off broad and then funnel into more transactional style queries. This can happen through email automation, where you begin with introductory emails and then constantly provide more in-depth. I personally start with a down-to-Earth, personalized email. Nothing fancy, no imagery. Just a welcome email that adds a personal touch to it. Then provide mixed kinds of content and regular updates, leading up to asking for commitment.

List Building Rule #5: Update your customer information
Don’t use outdated list data. Constantly refresh it and keep it up-to-date. Don’t always ask someone for the sale if they’ve already purchased. Work on an upsale or a side offer. There are plenty of things that you can continue working on from your list. So, remember, even after the lead from the list converts, they are still leads going forward for future sales.

What if you could increase the amount of quality leads at the top of the funnel?
The better quality leads you put in the top, the less that gets filtered out and the higher your opportunity is to convert leads. This is what you want after all!

What if there was a system out there that could provide you these leads? What if we’d hand you the keys to brand new leads today? Click here to discover how to bolster your leads.

See How to Build Your List With The Lead Lightning Funnel