Improve Your Sales Pipeline, Part 2: Customer Insights
There are three keys to improving your sales pipeline: Sales management, online customer insights, and customer service. In part 1 of our series, we covered how to improve your sales pipeline using your CRM to enhance sales management. In part 2, we’ll explore how customer insights can be used to fill your prospect funnel.
Online Customer Tracking
For many companies, their website is a primary source of top of the funnel prospects. There are a number of ways you can gather and incorporate data on online customer behavior into your CRM:
- Website optimization: With A/B testing, you can experiment with website layout, element placement and formatting, and determine which changes improve your ability to convert visitors to contacts. Using historical analysis, A/B test results can be forecasted, giving you the ability to quickly make changes.
- Heatmaps: Online funnel analysis starts with the first page your visitor comes to and follows them through the site, giving you the ability to see exactly where people drop out. Heatmaps show click and scroll patterns, pointing you toward changes you can make to improve visitor statistics.
- Segmentation: Don’t forget about the value of segmentation to your business as you build and evaluate and manage your website. Target your A/B testing to specific demographics or niche audiences.
Email Marketing Use and Tracking
Email marketing is typically another key source of prospects. Your CRM should offer a vast array of tools, reports and analysis to help you fully leverage your email marketing capabilities:
- Automation saves time: As new people come into your database, you can segment them based on lead source and other demographics. Auto-responders should be configured to send automatically, and then, based on source and level of interest, you can either send a follow-up email campaign or forward the prospect on to your sales team.
- Test, test, A/B test: Improve conversion success by testing follow up to different segments and lead sources. Reports offer every detail of each effort’s performance, including unique opens, clicks, shares, and more. Continuously refine your email marketing based upon these results. Layered systems will allow actions taken by a prospect to trigger a new email campaign or follow up by sales staff.
- Personalization: The more personalized your communication, the more receptive prospects will be to your message. Gather data incrementally and improve your ability to speak to your audience members – and know when it is time to close the deal.
What Pipeline Stones Have You Left Unturned?
Your CRM offers many opportunities to increase the number of prospects going into the top of your funnel – and allows you to effectively move them through your pipeline to close the deal with paying customers. Have you taken steps to incorporate your online visitor information into your CRM? Are you proactively using your CRM’s email marketing and auto-responders along with A/B testing to maximize your pipeline?
AspenTech CRM understands the importance of using every piece of customer data to determine when a prospect is ready to take action. Contact us today (866-880-4228 or here) and let’s turn your CRM into a powerful sales pipeline.
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