How to create an automated sales funnel

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Tired of constantly chasing leads? It’s time to use AI and create an automated sales funnel.

You see, the sales process often consumes plenty of time and money and still fails to bring enough leads. Many businesses burn money on ads, but the leads slip through the cracks, and the revenue suffers.

If this is the case with you, an automated sales funnel system is all you need.

This sales funnel works for you around the clock, attracting potential customers and nurturing them toward a sale – even when you are sleeping.

This not only boosts business productivity and revenue but also strengthens your relationship with your customers. In fact, a recent study found that marketing automation drives up to a 14.5% increase in sales productivity and a 12.2% reduction in marketing overhead.

In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the step-by-step process of creating an automated sales funnel for your business. So, let’s start with the basics.‍

What is an automated sales funnel?

A sales funnel is a marketing model that shows the journey of a potential customer, from learning about your company for the first time to finally purchasing your product.

The funnel helps you identify the key steps your audience takes throughout the buyer’s journey. The AIDA model is a great way to understand those steps:

  • Attention: You grab the prospect’s attention through mediums like content or ads.
  • Interest: Your prospects become interested in what you offer and want to learn more.
  • Desire: They develop a strong desire to try your product or service.
  • Action: They make the decision to purchase your product or service.

For example, a SaaS company’s sales funnel may start with Google ads, bringing traffic to the landing page. This page promotes the company’s software, sharing the product benefits, social proof, and offers in a compelling way. The audience becomes interested and signs up for a free trial to see if the software solves their problem. After experiencing the benefits, they may want to upgrade to a paid plan and become a buyer.

Now coming to our topic, an automated sales funnel is simply a sales funnel that uses automation tools to be more efficient. The rise of AI has given us some incredible tools that can handle stuff like lead generation, booking meetings, recommending products, sending emails, etc.

We will discuss such AI tools for automation in the next section. So, let’s move on to how you can actually create an automated sales funnel for real.‍

How to create an automated sales funnel: 5 simple steps

There’s no one perfect sales funnel. Every business is unique, so the ideal funnel will vary depending on your industry, target audience, offerings, etc. Use the following steps as a framework, and feel free to refine them to make the funnel better align with your business goals.‍

1. Know your audience inside out

People often miss this step. You have to study your audience and understand the problems they face and the frustrations that keep them up at night. Try to understand their dreams, beliefs, likes, dislikes, and worldviews.

Here are some ways to know your audience:

  • Find trends through website analytics, social media insights, and social listening.
  • Engage with them directly through interviews, surveys, questionnaires, or webinars.
  • Study customer feedback collected through online reviews or customer service interactions.

This will help you better target your message and speak directly to your audience’s pain points.

You will also be able to position your offers more effectively, highlighting exactly how your product addresses their needs and helps them achieve their dreams. This is important because 68% of consumers expect personalized experiences from companies.

Pro tip: Using an AI sales chatbot on your website can allow you to analyze raw conversations between the chatbot and your website visitors, helping you understand your audience better and create a powerful automated sales funnel.‍

2. Grab their attention

Time to tell your target audience that you exist. For this, you need to bring traffic to your website and increase awareness about your offering. Here are some powerful ways to do that:

  • Product page SEO: Make your product pages SEO-friendly so that they rank higher on search engines for high-intent keywords related to your products or services. Write compelling copy that explains how your product can solve your audience’s problems.
  • Blogging: Blogging attracts organic traffic through search engines. You can optimize your posts for relevant keywords and make sure they offer genuine value. HubSpot says that companies with active blogs generate 67% more leads per month than those who don’t.
  • Social media: Choose platforms where your ideal customers hang out and create valuable, engaging content. This will help you bring social traffic to your website.
  • Pay-per-click ads: PPC ads on Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn let you target the people who have expressed interest in similar products or services.
  • Collaborations: Partner with influencers or businesses with overlapping audiences. You can collaborate on webinars and social media campaigns to expand your reach and promote your products.

Remember, you’ve to target the right audience, the ones facing problems that your product solves and willing to embrace the change that your product brings.

Now, not all visitors will convert right away. Some visitors will make the purchase. Others might not be ready yet. So, your goal here is to support and nurture them. And this brings us to the next step of the AI sales funnel.

3. Engage visitors with an AI sales agent

You’ve got people on your landing page – fantastic! Now, they’re eager to learn more about your product, and they’ll likely have questions. If these questions go unanswered, they may get frustrated and leave your website.

This is where you need smart, automated sales funnel software like Expertise's AI sales agent. This tool can work for you 24/7 on automation. It engages with every visitor, gives personalized responses, and helps them find information instantly.

The AI sales assistant can also help visitors navigate your website and find what they need. If a visitor is looking for case studies, the assistant will share the link. Or if a visitor wants to book a meeting with your team, the assistant will let them see your calendar.

According to a Salesforce report, 84% of customers say the experience a company provides is as important as its products or services. So, an AI sales assistant creates a positive experience that encourages visitors to take the next step in the automated sales funnel.

Expertise's AI sales agent engages with website visitors 24/7.

‍4. Collect their contact details

Capturing visitors’ contact information, like their email addresses, is a key step in the automated sales funnel. This is where a lead becomes a prospect with whom you can directly communicate and nudge them toward a purchase.

Here are two smart ways to collect contact details:

  • AI sales assistant: This tool can engage with your website visitors, understand their needs, and ask lead qualification questions to collect contact details. The AI assistant can also ask the visitor to fill out a contact form while conversing with them.
  • Lead magnets: You can offer something valuable in exchange for an email address. This could be a free trial of your product, a free eBook, or a discount code. Make sure your lead magnet aligns directly with your target audience’s pain points and interests.

Visitors’ email allows you to connect with them directly and stay top-of-mind. You can send valuable content and personalized offers depending on where they are on the buyer’s journey. And this brings us to the next step:

The AI sales agent is a pro at generating leads.

5. Send automated emails

You’ll get the most conversions in this step of the sales funnel automation.

Email is a great way to nurture leads, gain trust, and create the desire for your product. It provides an opportunity to clear doubts, offer more information, or address specific concerns that may be holding them back. No wonder the average email marketing conversion rate can be 15.22%.

You can automate email by using tools like ActiveCampaign, Mailchimp, or HubSpot. Just create a series of emails that provide value, answer common questions, address objections, and ultimately present your offer in a compelling way.

Here’s an example of an automated email sequence with five emails:

Email #1: Share a fun personal story or client story, relate to your product, and ask your subscribers to visit your product page to learn more in the PS line.

Email #2: Promote your product using sales copywriting, tell how your product can change their lives, and use a clear CTA (“click here” or “learn more”) to drive traffic to your product page.

Email #3, 4: Share more information about your product, link to a blog post or YouTube video to educate, and ask them to visit your product page.

Email #5: This is another sales pitch where you make your offer compelling through discounts or risk reversal.

Some of your subscribers will convert. The others may not be interested in your product. So, you can start a new email sequence and introduce them to your other products. Eventually, they may find something that fits their needs and make a purchase.

A study by PwC found that 73% of consumers point to customer experience as an important factor in their purchasing decisions. So, try not to come across as pushy or desperate in your emails.

Focus on providing value and building a genuine connection with your potential customers. This is how you can increase customer lifetime value and stay competitive in the long run.

Example of an automated sales funnel

Dan is a professional video editor who recently launched a video editing course to help beginners and aspiring editors improve their editing skills. To sell his course, he creates an automated sales funnel using his website and email. Here’s what it looks like:

1. Driving traffic to his website

Dan knows that to sell his course, he needs to build awareness and gain trust. So, he starts writing high-quality blog posts about video editing tips, software tutorials, and industry trends.

He optimizes the blog posts for the right keywords. When people search “best video editing tips” or “how to edit videos like a pro,” Dan’s blog posts show up on Google, driving traffic to his site.

He also shares these posts on social media and runs a few Google search ads targeting people interested in video editing. The goal is to get as many relevant visitors as possible to his website.

2. Engaging visitors with an AI sales agent

When visitors land on Dan’s website, they’re greeted by an AI sales agent. The AI agent is designed to help visitors find what they’re looking for and answer basic questions about video editing or the course.

The AI agent engages visitors in conversations and offers them a free “Beginner’s Guide to Video Editing” ebook in exchange for their email address. This guide is a valuable resource, which makes visitors more willing to provide their email.

With the help of the AI sales agent, Dan collects hundreds of email addresses from people interested in learning more about video editing.

3. Building trust and selling the course with email

Now Dan starts an automated email sequence to nurture leads, build trust, and promote his course. Here’s how the email sequence looks:

  • Email #1: Dan shares his story of how he struggled with video editing and relates it to his course in the PS with a link to his course page.
  • Email #2: The next day, Dan sends a sales email to promote his course. He includes a compelling subject line, benefits, testimonials, and an offer.
  • Emails #3 and #4: These emails highlight the benefits of mastering video editing—whether it’s to land freelance gigs or improve YouTube content. He shares relevant content from his website and links to his course page.
  • Email #5: Dan gives a time-limited discount to encourage action. He invites readers to check out the course page and consider enrolling. Some subscribers purchase Dan’s course.

Now Dan starts a new email sequence where he continues to offer valuable content and introduces his subscribers to another product, like a more advanced course or a one-on-one coaching session.

By automating his sales funnel, Dan works less and earns more while providing solid value to his students.

The AI sales agent that powers your automated sales funnel

Your business needs a smart AI tool like Expertise's AI sales agent to automate the funnel.

This AI sales agent lives on your website and engages with every visitor 24/7. It qualifies leads, collects their contact details, books meetings, and even helps you follow up immediately.

Expertise's AI sales agent has the empathy of an experienced salesperson. It can provide human-like answers and personalized recommendations that delight your website visitors.

The agent can speak 175+ languages so you can reach a global audience effortlessly. The agent also supports integration with CRM platforms like HubSpot to help you automatically save lead information.

If you want to create a powerful sales funnel automation system, visit this page to learn more about Expertise's AI sales agent.