The recent episode of Digital Conversations featuring Jim Huffman is not one to miss! He breaks down a few companies’ funnels and shares 5 ways to improve your marketing and sales methods.

1. Include In-App Product Marketing

Jim breaks down the marketing funnel of a couple of companies in order to explain the best plays in funnel optimization.

He starts off by talking about Zoom, a video communications company that uses cloud based software to offer customers stress-free video conferencing.

We’ve all heard of Zoom by now. This company has been thriving especially since the pandemic has started. Families, universities, companies, etc. have all been using Zoom in order to stay connected and work remotely.

Let’s discuss some of their great marketing strategies.

The free version of Zoom has a 40-minute time limit for each allotted meeting. This means that if you aren’t paying for Zoom, your video calls will end after 40 minutes. And they’ve really found this sweet spot of 40 minutes where people will be inclined to switch from the free version to the paid version.

And that’s in-app marketing! It’s genius!

2. Make Check Out a Frictionless, Easy Experience

A lot of times the people that are using the product, such as Zoom, aren’t the ones who will be paying for it. So another thing that Zoom does is making check out a seamless process. Its easy to send over the check out information to whoever has the company card to pay for it.

When companies don’t have an easy check out process, the customers become frustrated and are more likely to drop out.

You need to review your check out process. Eliminate as many steps as you can. The simpler the check-out process, the better.

3. Choose the Perfect Length For the Free Trial

Which is better, a free trial or a freemium version?

What would make people want to buy the product or upgrade to the paid version?

It really depends on your product, your price point, and the level of difficulty to integrate with your other tools. So, you should do whichever works for your company, whether that’s a free version or a free trial.

Something to think about is that the free trial should be closer to the minimum amount of time people need to really experience why your product is so great. However, if your free trial is too short then they might not be able to see whether it actually alleviates pain points. You need to find that sweet spot.

You want the free trial to get them hooked and want to buy the product.

4. Create a Benefit Focused Headline

Jim also breaks down the strategies of a company called Curology. It’s a direct to consumer personalized skincare brand.

They start with a free trial and then push to convert with a subscription. They make everything personalized, which really draws in customers.

You want your headlines to reveal the benefits so customers know how your product can help them, right off the bat. 

Curology uses a quiz type of onboarding. They also provide customers with the number of their own dermatologist.

Curology captures emails early on in the process so even when customers drop out, they can retarget them in the future.

All of these plays work well because it targets the customers individually and makes them feel like the whole process is personalized.

5. Focus On a Specific Goal For Your Landing Pages

Jim’s advice to anyone looking to optimize and grow their business is to set goals for landing pages and stick to them.

What is the first conversion you want?

Is it a free trial? Or do you want them to book a demo? Buy on the spot? Get them on a call?

Whatever the goal is, make sure it’s very obvious on your landing page. You need to know your persona and what their intentions are so you can speak to them directly through your calls to action.

“The more you know your persona, the better you’re going to be at writing copy.”

When you really know what your customers want, then you’re going to know what kind of content will be beneficial for them.

Improve Your Marketing and Sales Funnels

Let’s quickly recap the 5 tips that Jim shared:

1. Include in-app marketing. It’s a great play because it’s best to market to your customers while they are already using your product.
2. Make it easy for customers to make purchases. “More than four in five internet users worldwide said a quick and easy checkout was the most valued aspect of the shopping experience.”
3. Get more customers to convert by discovering the perfect length for your free trial. Or see if a freemium version works better for you.
4. Never use teaser headlines. You should be using benefit focused headlines. Teaser headlines don’t provide any information. Headlines should let the customers know what benefits they can see with your product.
5. Make the goal of your landing pages very clear. When someone arrives on your landing page, the call to action should be obvious.

Whatever product your company is offering, you need to start implementing these tips that Jim has shared in order to improve your marketing and sales funnels.

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