In a business context, AI is no longer just a buzzword. A 2023 McKinsey study found that more than 60% of organizations now use AI in at least one of their business functions, a number that should surpass 70% before the end of this year. Marketing and sales are especially popular areas of implementation. But of course, simply jumping on the AI train is not enough to guarantee success. As businesses increasingly adopt artificial intelligence into their sales processes, understanding where it fits into the sales funnel—and where it can be used most effectively to drive actual business results—becomes a crucial question.
The true answer, of course, is that there is no single ‘best spot’ for AI in your sales funnel. Instead, regardless of industry, different iterations of the underlying technology can become beneficial at every point in the customer journey, from first learning about the brand to getting ready to close the deal. How and where the technology fits into the process can help create a better, more comprehensive strategy designed to drive more reliable business success.
AI at the Top of the Sales Funnel: Awareness and Information
At the top of the sales funnel, audiences first become aware of the brand they’re researching as a potential problem and are looking for more information. Most prospects at this stage prioritize speed and convenience and, as a result, don’t mind interacting with AI for quick answers or basic information.
Through AI-enabled digital assistants, leveraged through digital channels like the organization’s website or texting, AI can efficiently engage these leads to provide fast and relevant answers. As an added bonus, digital assistants capture user information of anyone interacting with them, recording the interest to move prospects down the funnel.
Other use cases of AI at the awareness stage are beneficial to discuss, as well. For example, smart and predictive analytics enables marketers and sales teams to more quickly and accurately analyze large swaths of data concerning their prospects, creating better definitions of target audiences and identifying potentially high-value prospects who haven’t proactively reached out.
Finally, AI can help in the awareness stage through content creation efforts on blogs, social media, and other channels. Through similar means as the database for AI-enabled chatbots, the right tools can even make the content more dynamic, adjusting it as needed depending on what type of audience member appears unexpectedly.
AI in the Middle of the Funnel: Interest and Consideration
As prospects become more serious about their research and finding solutions for their problem, they begin to become less interested in talking to machines. Here, human interaction becomes more valuable, answering more customized and potentially sensitive questions.
However, AI does not need to phase out at this point in the process. Instead, it can still build efficiencies and move prospects and leads along on the back end.
At this stage, AI moves into a supportive role. It helps sales teams schedule automatic meetings, manage tasks, and handle follow-ups with prospects and audience members who still need basic information. Put differently, it ensures that nothing falls through the cracks and prospects maximize their chances of conversion.
Some content-based generative AI efforts, of course, can still be valuable. For example, AI can recommend personalized content to leads based on their past website behaviors or collected interests. Similar content-based efforts are possible via email, SMS texting, and other efforts.
Here, advanced analytics can also play a crucial role. AI-driven analytics on social media and CRM data enable the right platform to understand patterns of engagement, optimize content strategies, and personalize outreach in the process. AI analytics tools can even predict customer behavior to better focus marketing and messaging strategies.
AI at the Bottom of the Funnel: Intent and Purchase
In the final stage of their journey, your future customers do the final research they need to ensure that they make the right decision—and then actually take steps to make it. The AI usability trend continues: while information from individuals, like your sales or admissions team, will be most trusted, AI can still play a core support role.
For example, AI can make product recommendations that meet the individual needs of potential customers based on their previous interactions. It can also help to power dynamic pricing models, like running an analysis for scholarship and grant funds that thread the needle between enrollment likelihood and positive revenue flow or housing prices based on current market conditions.
More advanced uses of artificial intelligence can come into play at this stage, as well. For example, the technology has recently become more usable in detecting potential fraud among new and existing customers, ensuring that every transaction is above board.
And of course, the customer support piece of this stage in the sales funnel can continue to benefit from AI implementations. AI-enabled chatbots can answer last-minute questions or concerns before the customer makes the commitment, even helping during the checkout stage to ensure a confident decision-making process.
From Control to Support: The Evolving Role of AI Across the Sales Funnel
Analyzing the role of AI across the sales funnel begins to reveal a key trend: while its benefits are largely customer-facing at the top of the funnel, they expand into more comprehensive, support-based abilities as leads progress through the consideration and decision phase. Here, it becomes an invaluable assistant to sales teams and customers alike.
As its role evolves, the technology becomes a crucial part of building relationships with potential customers. Especially for industries with long sales cycles, like higher education, home building, or vacation home management, this relationship building can help your audience choose your organization over potential competitors.
And of course, the role of the technology continues to evolve and expand on an ongoing basis. As AI continues to enter the mainstream of innovating business management processes, its benefits will expand to help empower sales teams and increase their chances of closing deals, regardless of industry.
Building an AI-Enabled Strategy to Drive More Leads and Sales
At the same time, and as with any technology, the benefits of AI across your sales funnel are anything but automatic. Instead, they rely on strategic and careful implementation in the areas that are most relevant to your organization’s specific environment and situation.
That includes finding the right opportunities, integrating those opportunities across the funnel, and identifying the platform (or platforms) designed to optimize that integration.
1. Find the AI Opportunities in Your Funnel
First, and most importantly, the possibilities of AI only matter insofar as they can improve existing processes. That means the first step has to revolve around finding the areas in your sales funnel where AI could make a massive difference.
For example, you might already have a strong analytics system set up but lack the personnel to provide outstanding customer service at scale. In that case, AI-enabled digital assistants at the top of the funnel may be most effective in helping you reach your goals. On the other hand, if your funnel relies largely on more personalized interactions at the bottom of the funnel, solutions designed to improve efficiency on the backend may make more sense.
It’s about a comprehensive, honest gap analysis that covers all your bases. Once you know where your current sales funnel falls short or can be improved, you can better focus your efforts on finding an AI platform that helps fill those gaps.
2. Create an Integrated Strategy That Includes AI
With a better understanding of where AI can help, it’s time to step back. Take a close look at exactly how, in an ideal scenario, everything would fit together—including your AI solutions, non-AI technology, and human efforts. Remember that ultimately, even the best artificial intelligence can take you only as far as its integration with all the other pieces.
This level of integration also matters because, at its core, no company can rely solely on AI and still be successful. Even with the most advanced technology in place, there will still be areas in which personal outreach and interactions matter in the sales funnel. Considering where those are, and how the two areas integrate, helps you find solutions that don’t overreach or overtake those core areas.
3. Identify the Platform(s) Designed to Fit Your Strategy
Finally, it’s time to explore the specific platforms and providers that help you implement AI in the most efficient ways possible. This is the last step because focusing on strategy first enables you to find potential partners that truly help you optimize your sales funnel.
Once you know, for example, that AI chatbots are a potentially significant improvement opportunity, you can look to providers like AtlasRTX to find out how chatbot data can improve the rest of your operations. It’s how you ensure that no matter where in the funnel you implement the technology, it will work specifically toward accomplishing your business goals.
