Sequence analysis explains why your sales sequences are and aren't working. Learn how to conduct one and follow up with best sequence optimization practices.
A lot of effort goes into creating high-quality sales sequences and making sure you target the right people. You research leads, create buyer personas, map out your touchpoints, craft eye-catching subject lines, develop high-value content, and so on. But f you aren't conducting regular sequence analysis, all of that can be a waste of time.
Making assumptions about what is and isn't working within your sequences is essentially the same as placing an invisible limit on how many deals you can close. Even the most seasoned sales reps and managers can get it wrong.
Regularly relying on metrics, particularly the ones that relate to your engagement and conversion rates, can help you hit your sales quotas consistently and even exceed them.
Before you can conduct a sequence analysis, you need a basic understanding of what it is and how it can improve your outcomes.
In case you aren't already familiar, a sales sequence is a series of actions you take to reach a lead and turn them into a customer. It can include emails, phone calls, social media messages, and any form of communication you have with a prospect. They typically follow a systematic framework that requires fairly precise timing for follow-ups.
Sequence analysis is the process of analyzing metrics and reports related to your sales sequences and looking for trends and patterns that help you determine how each of your touchpoints impact your outcomes. Do they lead to conversions, deals closed, and happy customers?
When you identify problems, you can take steps to fix them. When you identify your strengths, you can duplicate those as a part of your process moving forward. By using data to drive your decisions, you often raise your engagement and conversion rates, create more efficient sequences, and even enhance your customers' overall experience interacting with your organization.
Before you can conduct a sequence analysis, you need to know which metrics should be the focus of your process. Essentially, any data that indicates if and how prospects engaged with your outreach efforts can help. This might include:
Now that you know which metrics to pull, you can conduct a sequence analysis and begin making changes to improve your sales strategies. While the process might look a little different for everyone, you can start with these five basic steps.
The first step is collecting reports that contain any data or metrics that you might find relevant to the performance of your sequences. Your CRM software is an excellent place to start. You can also utilize tools like customer feedback, surveys, input from your sales reps, any spreadsheets or data your team keeps manually, and any product that offers a dashboard and sales report. We highly recommend using a sales engagement platform, like Salesloft or Outreach, because not only do they offer powerful real-time reporting options on your sales sequences, but they also integrate with your CRM and other apps to ensure your data is as complete as possible.
Engagement and conversion metrics may seem interchangeable to an outsider, but they're two totally different types of data. Both are invaluable for understanding how your sales sequences perform. Engagement metrics explain how often someone interacts with your content. Open rates are a good example because they tell you how many recipients actually opened your emails rather than deleting it or sending it to spam.
If your engagement rates are low, it could mean that you're not reaching out to the right people. Perhaps your email list needs cleaning up because too many of your emails are landing in spam folders or bouncing back to you. Maybe your subject lines aren't interesting enough to encourage recipients to see what's inside.
If your engagement rates are good, it's time to assess your conversion metrics. These are the numbers that tell you if the people who engaged with your outreach efforts took the next desired step, like clicking on a link to your website, signing up for your email list, or requesting more information.
Low conversion rates tell you that something you're offering just isn't compelling. It could be as minor as your email content — perhaps you're not addressing your prospects' pain points or maybe your CTA isn't strong enough. However, poor conversion rates could go beyond your sequences. Maybe a competitor offers the same product at a better price.
When you look at all of your reports, try to identify unusual patterns and trends, both positive and negative. You might notice that when you switched to using social media more frequently than email, your numbers dipped. You might notice that more people open your emails on Wednesdays than they do on Friday. Any type of change can usually point you to something that's going right or wrong within your strategy.
Once you've completed your analysis, it's time to strategize and implement changes. If prospects are more likely to open emails on Wednesday, start sending them on Wednesday and see if numbers improve. If they're opening emails with certain subject lines more than others, focus on the better subject lines. Just ensure that whatever you do is driven by data and not whims or intuition.
Optimizing your sales sequences can improve both your engagement and conversion rates and ultimately, lead to more sales.
Put yourself in your prospects' shoes. Are you going to engage with content that feels like it was created just for you more than you would a generic sales pitch that looks like it was sent out in bulk? Most likely. Personalization can go a long way in encouraging someone to engage with you.
This can be something as simple as using their name in an email or subject line. You can take it a step further by doing a little research and mentioning their interests or recent accomplishments. Addressing their pain points is another great way to grab attention.
One of the most important aspects of creating a sequence that works is timing. If you reach out too often, you might annoy your prospects and risk losing their attention. If you don't reach out enough, they're more likely to forget about you. The specific timeline you follow will depend on your product, industry, type of campaign, and your historical data. However, a few general tips to keep in mind include:
All the personalization and good timing in the world can't distract someone from poor messaging or weak content. Not only does it need to be compelling, but it needs to be relevant. Rather than offering a generic sales pitch, this is where you tell your prospects what your product or service can do for them. Send them educational materials, like how-to guides and videos that address their pain points. Film yourself offering a demo of your product. Share case studies and customer success stories that will resonate. Make sure whatever you send is valuable to your prospects.
Optimizing your sales sequences isn't a one-size-fits-all strategy. What appeals to one segment of buyers won't appeal to another. What works one year might not work the next. You must evolve with your prospects. The best way to do that is through testing and refining your sequences. Utilize tools like A/B testing. When you find something that works, take advantage of automation tools offered by platforms like Salesloft and Outreach to make your sequences even more effective. Create a schedule for conducting regular sequence analysis, whether it's weekly, monthly, or quarterly, to determine if your new strategies are working.
In today's data-driven world, it's nearly impossible to run a successful sales campaign without analyzing your metrics, and that extends to your sales sequences. Sequence analysis helps you identify both positive and negative trends in your engagement and conversion rates that can help you determine what is and isn't working. Once you have these insights, you can optimize your sequences so that they help you close more deals and earn more revenue.
