The Missing Step in Most Sales Funnels: How To Turn More Leads Into Sales
There are three big reasons marketing funnels don’t work.
1–you aren’t getting enough leads in the door (either because you don’t get enough traffic or your onsite conversions need some help).
and 2–your offer isn’t strong enough (either because of a market/offer mismatch or your sales messaging is weak).
But there is one more BIG reason that funnels fail and, honestly, most people completely IGNORE it.
Which is shocking because it’s the one thing that makes people more likely to buy from you.
Most marketers spend all their time obsessing over how to get more leads at the top of their funnel, or how to close more sales at the bottom.
But plot twist, the money’s actually made in the MIDDLE.
Today, I’m breaking down the 3 stages of every marketing funnel and how you can maximize sales by giving a little extra love to this ONE often overlooked step in the marketing process.
Now, let’s get into it.
Digital Marketing Sales Funnel Stages
Now, of course, there are all kinds of marketing funnels – fancy, simple, automated. Funnels come in all shapes and sizes.
But they ALL exist for the same reason: to guide new leads through the buying process in 3 stages.
The top of the funnel – which is all about getting attention, creating AWARENESS & generating new leads.
The middle of the funnel – this where the lead is CONSIDERING their options, they’re getting to know you, and weighing their options. This is when you NURTURE them.
And then there’s the bottom of the funnel – this is where your lead will make the decision to either buy from you or walk away.
Now, most people get top-of-funnel strategies.
That’s your traffic, social strategy, lead magnets, webinars, free quotes, etc – all the things that bring people into your world or get eyeballs to your offer.
And most people also get the bottom-of-funnel strategies. That’s your offer itself and all the messaging pieces that work towards getting the sale, I’m talking sales emails, your sales page, your checkout page, your sales call – whatever you’re doing to close the sale.
Now, historically, those were the two most important parts of any marketing funnel. 1) getting them in the door and 2) converting them.
This is essentially the definition of “direct response marketing” — conduct marketing, and then get a direct sale.
The “middle” — where the nurture marketing happened — was often ignored.
And I get it — why focus on trying to win over the people who don’t buy right away right? Wrong.
Unfortunately, that old model doesn’t stand up today. Sure, some customers buy right away. We love those fast customers.
But MOST are taking way longer to make a purchasing decision.
Which means, your middle-of-funnel strategies just got way more important because this is where the majority of your potential customers are spending the majority of their time.
What are they doing while hanging out in the middle you might be wondering?
They are watching you, they are evaluating their options, and they are deciding whether or not to trust you with their hard earned money.
Yup, THIS is where trust is built, which, in my opinion, makes this the most important part of the entire funnel.
Think of it like dating. The top is getting someone’s number. The bottom is proposing marriage.
The middle is the dates, the late-night conversations, the slow building of trust & deeper connection.
If you skip that, surprise! – no one’s saying yes to your marriage proposal. Right?!
And that brings me to the comment that inspired this entire post.
Great question! THIS is the piece most people miss. Strong email marketing is the hallmark of an effective middle-funnel strategy. It’s how you nurture your audience, build trust and bring leads back to your offer.
Without email, your funnel is basically a leaky bucket. Leads fall right through before they ever reach your offer.
Email Funnel Strategy
Email marketing is not just important – it’s the most important part of your funnel. And here’s why.
Unlike social media or ads, email is where you can create a consistent, controlled, and compounding relationship with your audience.
There are four types of emails that keep your funnel alive:
- Welcome Sequences – where you build trust and introduce yourself.
- Autoresponders – where you sell evergreen offers on autopilot.
- Sales Campaigns – where you run real-time launches and promos.
- Content Emails – the glue that keeps your audience engaged between promotions.
Let’s break each down quickly.
Content Emails
I’m starting here because these regular ol’ not “selling” anything emails are the backbone of your entire email marketing strategy.
And they should NOT be ignored.
As my friend Amy Porterfield says:
“The success of any promotion is directly tied to what you do IN BETWEEN.”
You can have the best products, the coolest brand, and the biggest list.
But none of that really matters unless your audience is ENGAGING with your content.
These are the emails you send to your list when you are NOT actively promoting something – typically, they simply deliver value in the form of education, entertainment or inspiration.
Like this email where I’m linking to a free YouTube video.
Or this email where I give tips for writing a great hook and link to my free Social hooks swipe file.
Sending regular content emails is the KEY to keeping your list engaged and building that know, like and trust factor that is ESSENTIAL for the success of your funnel.
Welcome Sequence
The purpose of these emails is to build trust by providing valuable and relevant content.
So instead of hard-selling, your primary goal with these emails is to educate your prospects on how you can help them and WHY they should stick around.
Now I have a full tutorial dedicated to JUST breaking down my 3-step welcome sequence if you want to dive deeper into Welcome Sequences – I’ll link that for you below.
Autoresponders
An autoresponder is essentially any email campaign that you set up to go out to your community in an automated fashion based on some sort of user behavior.
So for example, when somebody signs up on your list for any sort of freebie, they should receive a sequence of automated emails that have been set up to welcome them to your list, deliver the free thing they signed up for and offer them to take the next step with you.
Like this email that automatically gets sent to anyone who signs up for my FREE guide on 5 free ways to build an email list.
Anytime you send an automated sales email to your list promoting something, this is called an “evergreen offer,” which means you’re basically selling on auto-pilot, anytime, all the time – and who doesn’t love that?!
Now let’s talk:
Sales Emails
Sales emails are exactly what they sound like – emails that present an offer to your list.
Obviously this offer should be presented as something your audience needs to help solve a problem they’re facing or help them to achieve a goal or desired result.
THESE are the emails everyone always talks about when discussing funnels. And while they absolutely ARE important, I STILL don’t think they are the most important emails.
Because the SUCCESS of your promotional emails really all comes down to one thing.
And we talked about it already.
Can you guess it?
YEP – What you do in the middle of your funnel to nurture and build trust with your audience.
So many people overlook the importance of sending content emails, but your content emails do SO MUCH MORE than *just* keep your list warm for the next time you want to sell something.
They’re also one of the easiest and most powerful ways to make money without even trying.
In fact, my content emails alone rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue for my business each year.
So to recap:
Top of Funnel (Lead Capture): Getting people in is just the start.
Middle (Nurture): THIS is where the magic happens.
Bottom (Conversion): Sales only happen if you’ve done the first two right.
So if your funnel isn’t converting.
Stop hyperfixating on ONLY your sales emails or your offer. And start paying more attention to the middle of your funnel.
Are you sending regular content emails that build trust, deliver value, position you as a person of authority and relate with your audience?
If you want to dive deeper into writing profitable email sequences, check out my 365-Day Inbox Income Mini-Course where I share my ENTIRE email marketing strategy.
I’ll help you plan your email marketing calendar – including content emails and 3 promotional campaigns.
From my 3 proven promotion frameworks.
To my 5x5x5 content multiplier strategy.
And my go-to CTA formulas for generating more clicks and conversions.
My list monetization playbook.
I’ll even help you come up with hundreds of ideas to solve everyone’s #1 biggest problem when it comes to writing emails.
“But what do I write about?!”
And ALL of that in a super short, easy to consume format that you could go through – start to finish – in just a couple of hours.
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Until next time, I’m Alex. Ciao for now!
