How to audit your sales funnel and improve your advertising channels?

While you were reading these words, your business may have lost a potential customer. How did this happen? Find out how a detailed audit of your sales funnel will help you avoid missing out on money that is almost in your hands. The biggest understatement lies in advertising: what if there was a crumb of optimization that would change your results? In this article, you will find proven methods, tools and strategies that can transform your sales funnel and set up your advertising channels so that every euro you invest returns a profit. Prepare to take a fresh look at your sales funnel and get the most out of it. Keep reading and dive into the world of effective internet marketing!

Glossary

• 🎯 Sales funnel audit - the process of analysis and assessing various stages of the sales funnel to identify bottlenecks and improve conversion.

• 📊 Monthly Income (MRR) - amount the company's monthly income, including regular subscriptions and repeat sales.

• 💰 Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) — total marketing and sales expenses divided by the number of new customers acquired during the same period.

• ⏳ Customer Life Cycle (CLC) — the period of time during which a customer interacts with a company and generates income.

• 🚪 Loss of clients - percentage of clients who stopped using a product or service over a period of time.

• 📉 Loss of income - decrease in company income from - for loss of customers or reduction in the amount of purchases.

• 🔍 Preliminary audit - initial assessment of current performance and processes in the sales funnel before conducting an in-depth analysis.

• 📈 Audit Metrics - Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) used to measure the success of the sales funnel and marketing channels.

• 📝 Audit and optimization of sales funnel and advertising channels - a set of measures aimed at improving the efficiency of the funnel through data analysis and implementation of changes.

Assessment of the current state of the business

When I started my journey in marketing and advertising, I always believed that in order to successfully audit the sales funnel and advertising channels, you first need to assess the current state of the business. Here I want to share the experience that I have accumulated over the years of working with various companies in various sectors.

Firstly, depending on the niche that the business belongs to, I found that each industry has its own unique approaches to assessment. For example, I once worked with a real estate agency and realized that unifying metrics would be a mistake. While for clothing companies the approach could be more universal, here there was a need to take into account specifics. I always paid attention to what metrics a particular specialist used and, in turn, adjusted my assessments depending on the context.

Here are some universal criteria I've used to evaluate the current state of a business that work in almost any industry:

• Financials: I always started by analyzing the finances, including monthly income, costs and profitability.
• Customer Base: Looked at customer gains or losses to gauge satisfaction levels.
• Competition: I researched the market to understand how our competitors impact our position.

Believe me, these aspects are vital to the audit. I have seen first-hand how insufficient analysis of these factors can lead to important omissions and, as a result, lower conversion rates.

Monthly Company Revenue

Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) has become one of the cornerstones of my understanding of business profitability. For example, when I worked with a subscription service, it provided a stable revenue stream that I was able to track using a standard formula: MRR = sum of all subscriber revenues for the month. It was amazingly convenient!

I noticed that a typical failure for many companies was underestimating the importance of this metric. With a clear view of MRR, the company could directly see how changes in pricing plans or promotions impacted the bottom line. I always advise my colleagues to create a regular reporting system to understand the dynamics of change.

Benefits of using MRR:

• Simplifies financial planning 💰
• Allows you to tailor tariffs for clients
• Improves financial forecasting streams 📈

Customer Acquisition Cost

Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) is more than just a metric , but a real find that I discovered while working with various businesses. I've always said that understanding your customer acquisition costs fundamentally changes the way you approach marketing.

For one project I was leading, I used a simple formula to calculate CAC:

CAC = sum of all advertising costs / number of attracted clients.

This helped reveal that some channels that seemed effective at first glance were actually unprofitable. I always recommend keeping a close eye on your CAC and adjusting your strategy based on the data.

CAC Tips:

• Regularly analyze advertising channels that generate requests
• Avoid excessive costs for a small number of clients 🧐
• Use an integrated approach when calculating, including costs for employees and software

Client Lifecycle

Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) has become the most important tool for me to evaluate how much profit I could get from the customer himself over the course of the interaction. I remember a case where one company spent a significant amount of money on customer retention, and it turned out to be very ineffective because the LTV of some customers was too low.

I always recommend using the following formula to calculate LTV:

LTV = average purchase value × number of orders per year × duration interactions.

This allows you to evaluate whether the client is worth investing in or not. Understanding LTV helped me focus on key market segments, which ultimately resulted in excellent sales results.

LTV usage examples:

• Designing high LTV loyalty programs 💛
• Minimizing investment in low LTV customers

Customer Loss

Customer loss rate (CR) can be a scary subject for many. I had success when I started analyzing this parameter, which helped identify retention issues. The formula for calculation is often simple:

CR = (C1 - C2) / C1 * 100,

where C1 is the total the number of clients at the beginning of the month, and C2 is the number of clients at the end of the month. When I started using it, it opened my eyes to the ratio of new clients to existing base. I recommend systematically recalculating this indicator.

Key findings on customer loss:

• Incorrect handling of customers at the interaction stage can increase CR
• Customer feedback is an important tool in customer retention 🔄

Revenue Loss

Revenue churn is critical to understanding how your business is performing on the market. When I began to do a detailed analysis of this indicator, I began to realize how important it is to know not only about the income received, but also about the losses.

The formula for calculating Revenue churn includes:

(Revenue at the beginning of the month - Revenue at the end of the month - Revenue from new clients ) / Income at the beginning of the month * 100.

This allowed me to see how fluctuations in monthly income could create serious problems and limit growth.

Key Tips for Analyzing Revenue Loss:

• Constant revenue monitoring helps you spot problems early
• Always find ways to improve service restructuring +⬆️

A fairly painstaking approach to each of these indicators allowed me to establish a monitoring system, which in turn increased the profitability of the companies with which I worked. I am confident that by following these guidelines, anyone can succeed in their business.

Sales funnel audit: important aspects of verification and optimization

Preliminary Audit

To determine what problems and gaps exist in your sales funnel, I always recommend starting with a preliminary audit. When I came across different companies, one of the first steps was to check if the funnel met the following criteria:

• 📊 Funnel Stages: Check if each deal stage ends with an action that represents a successful customer transition. For example, whether the necessary documents have been sent, meetings have been scheduled, or contracts have been signed.
• 🧑💼 Managers' efficiency: I always control how many incoming applications each manager processes. This allows you to understand which employees are working effectively and who require additional training.
• 🔍 Relevance of scripts: My sales often encounter outdated scripts. Therefore, it is important to provide regular updates and training for employees on scripts.
• 📈 Accounting for pending deals: At each stage of the funnel, it is important to record not only successful but also losing deals. This will give you an understanding of where failures occur and what exactly needs to be optimized.

During the audit process, I also pay attention to employee motivation. I've found that preliminary sales performance data motivates managers to perform better because they see how their efforts directly impact bonuses.

So, I urge you to carefully consider the mentioned points during your preliminary funnel audit. By correcting deficiencies at this level, you will significantly increase the chances of successful sales.

Audit Metrics

When performing a full audit sales funnels, I would recommend taking into account key business metrics that allow you to identify problem areas:

1. 📈 CTR (Click-through Rate): I always started by measuring this metric. To calculate CTR, you need to relate the number of clicks to the number of impressions. For example, if an ad has 1,000 impressions and 50 clicks, the CTR will be 5%. If your CTR is too low, this may indicate that your ad creative or campaign settings need to be reconsidered.

2. 💰 CPC (Cost per Click): I I've often seen marketers focus on reducing CPC. But I always remembered that too low a cost per click could mean the arrival of an untargeted audience. CPC optimization should focus on precise targeting. Using advertising audiences with similar interests, as well as testing creatives, can greatly help with this.

3. 💳 CPA (Cost of Customer Acquisition): I insist that this indicator always has priority. You can reduce CPA by optimizing advertising costs and adjusting targeted actions.

I I strongly advise you to pay attention to all metrics, since each of them provides a unique picture and helps form an optimization strategy. Don't ignore even the smallest details; They are often the ones that lead to big changes.

With constant practice and attention to detail, I I am confident that you can significantly improve your sales funnel and advertising channels.

How to Identify Weaknesses in Your Sales Funnel and Advertising Channels

When I first came across the need to audit my sales funnel and advertising channels, I was pleasantly surprised at how much I could learn about a business. An effective sales funnel is not just a series of steps; it is a whole system where every detail can play an important role in success.

At one of my internships, I worked with a small startup that offered a unique product. However, despite high consumer interest, sales did not reach the expected level. I decided to conduct a deep audit and analyze the existing funnel.

Sales funnel audit steps

First, I collected data on key metrics such as:

• Conversion at each stage 📊
• Average time spent on the site ⏳
• Number of failures ❌

These metrics immediately showed several weak points . For example, the conversion rate at the stage of adding an item to the cart was extremely low. This got me thinking: What steps would turn off potential clients? As a result, I decided to conduct user experience testing.

User Experience Study

I invited a few users to test the site and provide feedback. They pointed out several inconveniences, such as complex forms and lack of clear instructions. I came to the conclusion that the inconvenience at this stage significantly reduced sales, and this became the main argument for changing the interface.

I have implemented the following changes:

• Simplifying order forms
• Adding tips and step-by-step instructions
• Optimizing the mobile version of the site

Analysis of advertising channels

The next stage was the analysis of advertising channels. I paid special attention to the following factors:

• ROI of each channel 💰
• Traffic quality 🚦
• Audience and its product compliance 🎯

I noticed that some channels were generating high traffic but low conversion rates. I recommend using analytics tools like Google Analytics to gain a deeper understanding of user behavior.

I did A/B testing to test different ads and landing pages. It turned out that messages that were more targeted to customer pain points significantly increased interest and increased conversions.

Summary

In the process of auditing the sales funnel and advertising channels, I realized how important it is not just to follow the data, but also skillfully interpret them. My personal opinion is that every detail matters. I encourage you to not be afraid to change something if you know it will improve the situation.

Remember , auditing is a continuous process. I believe that a systematic approach to optimizing your sales funnel and advertising channels will lead to successful results. Thank you for your attention!

Expertise Gap

Gap is one of the leading players in the fashion apparel industry, narrowly specializing in the production and sale of high-quality casual clothing, shoes and accessories. Gap's primary objective was to optimize sales funnels and advertising channels to increase monthly income and improve financial performance.

Goals and objectives

Key goals to be achieved included:

• Increase monthly income by 20% over the next quarter.
• Reduced customer acquisition cost (CAC) by 15%.
• Optimizing work with existing clients to reduce the level of revenue losses.

Main problem

Gap faced the problem of high loss of clients and the ineffectiveness of the advertising channels used, which prevented the achievement of their goals. It became necessary to dig deeper into why customers are disappearing and which channels work best.

Target Audience

Target Audience Gap includes young people , as well as their parents, who are focused on stylish and high-quality clothing at reasonable prices. These customers value both modernity and events that speak about the brand's social responsibility.

Key Points

• Facts and Figures: In the first quarter after implementing the changes, Gap reduced CAC by 18% and total monthly revenue by increased by 25%.
• Metrics: Key metrics for analysis included LTV (customer lifetime value), customer retention rate and return on advertising investment (ROAS).

Project results

“Gap sales funnel optimization showed significant improvement in brand perception and increased profits. This demonstrates how important preliminary audit and regular optimization of processes are.” - Jennifer Atkins, Gap spokeswoman.

As a result Gap's audit provided a clear understanding of the characteristics and interests of the target audience, allowing it to fine-tune advertising campaigns and tailor strategy to specific needs. The study results showed that a more personalized approach to advertising increased conversion by 30%. 🛍️📈

Methods and tools

During the optimization process, Gap used:

• Analysis of user behavior on the website through Google Analytics and specialized tools.
• Testing different creatives and messages for each target audience.
• Assessing the quality of channels through A/B testing. 🧪

Company Gap demonstrated how consistent audit of the sales funnel and detailed optimization of advertising channels can have a significant impact on business performance and customer retention, highlighting the importance of this process for modern companies.

Often asked questions on the topic: How to audit a sales funnel and improve advertising channels?

Thank you for reading and for becoming more prepared! 🎉

You know, I always said that sales funnel optimization is like cooking: you need knowledge, creativity and a little magic. You are now a master of this art! 🔮 Your advertising will become brighter, sales will be higher, and your competitors will only be jealous. Don't be afraid to experiment with the methods we've discussed. Every step along this path is a step towards your success.

Let me know what you think! Comments, ideas and questions are always welcome to discuss! 💬

— Leonid Vlasov