5 Pitfalls Funnel Hackers Face When It Comes to Marketing Automation

The ability to put the tedious tasks of your sales funnel on autopilot is a huge help for first-time funnel hackers.

However, there’s a lot that can go wrong with your marketing automation if you don’t keep a keen eye on it.

We’ve outlined five of the most common mistakes beginners make when it comes to automation and how to overcome them.

Wouldn’t it be great to put the time-consuming aspects of your funnel on autopilot?

Following up with customers. Blasting new deals. Building a constant stream of leads.

What is it being more than just a pipe dream?

Thankfully, thanks to the new wave of marketing automation afforded to modern marketers, it is possible to get down to business without having to be a million different places at once.

Automation is more than just a buzzword: it’s an integral part of any effective funnel hacker’s arsenal.

Consider, for example, how email marketing has become the bread and butter of modern ecommerce: likewise, apps are popping up left and right to help us curate and share content via the social channels.

The benefits of marketing automation are well-documented, including the following:

• The most tedious and time-intensive tasks are off your plate: with a well-organized marketing strategy, you can say goodbye to the grind of constantly chasing leads and sharing content
• You get to focus on what matters most, such as building relationships and partnerships through networking and real-time marketing to ensure your funnel growths instead of stagnates
• Lead nurturing becomes a more passive process: while you can’t put your funnel completely on autopilot, you can make money and build your customer base in your sleep if you have the right automation tools on deck

If you’ve been sleeping on the idea of automating your marketing, now’s the time to wake up and get on board.

Perhaps one of the biggest misconceptions about marketing automaton is that you can switch “on” your marketing, walk away and the cash will start rolling in.

Think again.

For starters, newbies to marketing automation need to make sure they’re doing the following on a regular basis, without fail:

• Monitoring campaigns (think: email, social and content) to ensure that everything is going smoothly in terms of delivery and copy, with no glaring errors
• Understand the metrics surrounding your campaigns to ensure that everything is performing well (think: open rates and CTR on emails, shares and comments on social posts and blog posts)
• Monitor evolving trends in your industry to make sure your marketing makes sense for modern buyers: after all, you wouldn’t expect a campaign from ten years ago, to perform today, would you?

Paying close attention to your automated marketing campaigns isn’t the be-all, end-all of an effective strategy, either.

There are five classic pitfalls that funnel hackers and first-timers often fall prey to if they’re not careful.

Any combination of the following could potentially make or break your marketing automation: therefore, use these tips to plug up any potential holes in your existing or future campaigns

Failure to Follow Up

Just because you’ve automated some of your marketing doesn’t mean that it’s a “one and done” affair.

Far from it.

If you expect to simply blast a single email series to your list or content every now and then versus a consistent flow of messages, you’ve got another thing coming.

Why is it so important that you follow up consistently with your leads and prospects?

Consider the following:

• Your base needs to hear from you on a regular basis if you want to stand out in a crowded field where there are hundreds or thousands likewise fighting for their attention
• Not all your leads are online at the same time: you need to regularly switch up the timing of your marketing messages based on testing and make sure that nobody is getting left out
• Lifelong customers don’t happen from a single a sale: you’re more likely to create repeat business if you stay in touch, follow up and offer exclusive benefits for being on your list

For many funnel hackers, the reluctance to follow up regularly isn’t about the legwork involved, but rather that they don’t want to annoy their list.

This is completely understandable; however, bear in mind that you’re not interrupting or bothering your list if you’ve opted-in organically.

They want to hear from you.

On the flip side, you should be tactful in terms of how you follow up with your list.

Some common ways to avoid annoying your users include the following tactics:

Don’t repeat yourself – You should strive to include fresh content in any email or message rather than repeating yourself over and over. Your messages could be something as simple as a motivational quote or statistic, which is helpful for new funnel hackers who are a bit thin on content. If you’re providing something of value versus fluff, your list will appreciate it.

Present yourself as a resource – It’s been proven time and time again: you can’t just mindlessly blast deals and expect results. You can, however, include calls to action back to your product pages without coming off as a sales pitch.

Diversify your content – Beyond consistency, make sure that you messages are diverse: infographics and video messages, for example, could help grab your readers’ attention in a sea of spam.

Despite popular belief, automation does require a certain degree of upkeep and consistency to maintain.

While you don’t necessarily need to follow up daily, check out other email lists in your industry to see what your competition is doing in terms of timing and volume.

You can easily create follow-up emails with ClickFunnels’ email automation platform, Actionetics which you can send right away or schedule for a later date. Simply log in to your ClickFunnels account > Head over to Actionetics > Broadcasts > New Email Broadcasts > Create your email > Schedule when your follow-ups get sent > Save & Send Test. Simple, yeah?

Failure to Segment Your Audience

Taking a one-size-fits-all approach to segmenting your lists is a dangerous mistake.

For starters, the numbers don’t lie in regard to how much better segmented lists perform in regard to higher open rates, click-throughs and fewer unsubs.

Likewise, your ads and marketing language are going to differ from customer to customer based on their status within your funnel.

If you’re unsure as to how to segment your lists, start with the following three-pronged approach to keep your messages organized and highly targeted:

• Cold leads: users who are hearing from you for the first time and should therefore be provided an icebreaker email or introductory series
• First-time buyers: users who’ve bought from you before but still need a push to become repeat customers, ideal for limited-time offers and steep deals
• Dedicated customers: build your brand evangelists and warm your best leads through exclusive offers and marketing language that makes them feel part of your exclusive club

The task of creating killer autoresponders based on segmentation will ultimately pay off for you in the long-run.

Segmenting your marketing messages is necessary for marketing messages and ads alike.

Again, customization and personalization key to getting the attention of your customers.

Overly-Complicated Messages

Sometimes the motto of “keep it simple, stupid” (KISS) rings incredibly true.

In short, don’t expect to send walls of text or images that take ages to load and expect to get results.

Your automated marketing messages should be short, sweet and to the point.

Remember: you can always lead your traffic back to your landing pages if need be.

While the ideal length of an email may vary from industry to industry, follow the principles of copywriting and take a “less is more” approach to your messages.

If you have the right tone and call-to-action on deck, your leads will respond.

Lacking a Personal Touch

Just because your marketing is automated doesn’t give you license to act like a robot.

Personalization is absolutely key to making a connection to your list and standing apart from your competition.

You can’t hope to get anyone excited about what you’re selling if your art is making an emotional connection.

Thankfully, personalizing your messages is relatively easy and just requires some small tweaks to any given message.

For starters, strive to integrate your leads’ names throughout your marketing copy and subject lines in the case of emails (which will subsequently increase open rates).

Likewise, use tactics such as storytelling and refer to your leads in the second-person (as “you”) to make your messages seem like they’re coming from an actual human versus a faceless business.

Again, strive to make your message about them versus you.

Help your leads understand how your product can help their real-world problems (saving money, losing weight, etc.) versus screaming at them to “buy now!” with no real meat behind your message.

You should also try to open lines of communication with your audience by asking them questions.

Considering that questions get high responses via social and email alike, you can get helpful insights from your leads and make new marketing decisions based on their feedback.

If you want something from your leads, don’t be afraid to ask: if you’ve established a connection with your leads, they’ll gladly oblige.

Create insightful and personalised messages for your marketing content with the help of Funnel Scripts. Funnel Scripts’ generators take personalisation seriously and let you address their needs and problems and offer your solutions.

Starting Too Late

The best time to build your list?

Yesterday.

Building a list of leads is crucial to your marketing automation efforts.

After all, the goal of automated marketing is to stop scrambling for leads and instead nurture the ones that you already have.

Fear not: granted you have a killer product on deck and your funnel is flawless, the leads will come.

However, you should make automation a priority so you can nurture from the word “go.”

How Does Your Funnel Use Automation?

Automation represents an incredibly important component of any sales funnel looking to succeed.

How does your funnel use marketing automation to supercharge sales?

We’d love to know in the comments below.