When to use this prompt
When designing a complete lead generation strategy.
When aligning marketing and sales efforts around a funnel.
When needing actionable, stage-specific tactics.
When aiming to improve lead nurturing and conversion rates.
The prompt
Help me build a lead generation funnel for [insert business].
Requirements:
Break it down into funnel stages:
Awareness
Interest
Consideration
Conversion
Provide step-by-step strategies for each stage
Focus on nurturing leads effectively
Suggest tactics, channels, and content appropriate for each stage
Variables to replace:
Real-life example of how to use this prompt
To start, let’s assume I’m a growth strategist at HubSpot, helping a B2B SaaS company. The prompt in the context of HubSpot would look like:
As you can see, this example demonstrates how the prompt helps generate a structured, actionable lead generation funnel that guides prospects from initial awareness to final conversion, while providing detailed strategies for engaging and nurturing leads at each stage.
Example output from ChatGPT for this prompt
And here's the output:
1. Funnel overview (quick)
Awareness — get on the radar of target accounts/people.
Interest — convert awareness into captured leads (email, demo request, MQL).
Consideration — nurture and educate so leads move toward product fit.
Conversion — sales-qualified action (paid trial, purchase, contract).
Across all stages: track funnel conversion rates, time-in-stage, lead source, and LTV vs CAC.
2. Awareness — cast a wide, targeted net
Goal: reach ideal ICP (industry, company size, role) and create first touch.
Step-by-step strategy
Define ICP & messaging
2–3 ideal buyer personas (e.g., Head of Demand Gen at mid-market SaaS, RevOps at enterprise).
One primary pain statement per persona (e.g., “wasting ad budget without clear attribution”).
Top channels (use 2–3 to start)
LinkedIn ads & organic posts (target by job title/company).
Content marketing / SEO (pillar pages addressing ICP pain).
Account-based outreach for named accounts (display + email + LinkedIn).
Guest posts/webinars with industry partners.
Content & creative
Short educational posts, 1-page industry insight PDFs, data visualizations, short videos (60–90s) explaining the problem.
High-value gated asset idea: “SaaS Growth Ops Playbook: 7 metrics every RevOps should track.”
Tactics
Use lookalike audiences of highest-value customers.
Sponsored InMail for targeted invite to webinar/summary.
Run organic community engagement (LinkedIn groups, Reddit threads).
Metrics
Impressions, CTR, new website sessions from target ICP, CPA for lead capture.
3. Interest — capture leads & begin relationship
Goal: capture contact info and assign a lead status for nurturing.
Step-by-step strategy
Conversion points
Landing page for each major campaign/asset with single CTA.
Lightweight signup: get name, work email, company, role (no long forms).
Offer options: download, on-demand demo, free checklist.
Landing page best practices
Clear headline tied to ICP pain → benefit statement → 3 bullets → social proof (logos/quotes) → form → 1 secondary CTA (chat/demo).
Fast load, mobile-friendly, short form.
Lead capture tactics
Progressive profiling: ask minimal info first, collect more later.
Use chatbots to capture intent and route hot leads to sales/SDR.
Offer immediate deliverable (PDF/video) after form submission.
Immediate nurture (first 24–72 hours)
Automated “welcome” email with asset + 1 short CTA (book demo or view quick product tour).
Add to segmented email stream based on persona & intent (content downloaded).
Metrics
Landing page conversion rate, MQLs per channel, cost per MQL.
4. Consideration — educate, score, and qualify leads
Goal: demonstrate product fit & move leads toward a trial/demo while prioritizing highest-potential leads.
Step-by-step strategy
Segment & score
Build lead scoring combining firmographics (company size, industry), behavior (visited pricing, repeated demo page views), and engagement (opens/clicks).
Example scoring buckets: Cold (0–29), Warm (30–69), Hot (70+).
Nurture streams (examples)
Cold (awareness nurtures): 6-8 email sequence focused on industry insights, short case studies (1–2 min reads), and micro-webinars.
Warm (product education): guided product tours, on-demand demo videos, ROI calculators, comparison page vs competitors.
Hot (sales ready): personalized outreach (SDR call + tailored demo), free POC/trial offer, pricing conversation.
Content types by intent
Use cases & case studies (PDF + video), ROI calculators, interactive product demos, technical whitepapers for buyers evaluating integration.
Webinars that include customer Q&A.
Product comparison pages and “how it works” flows.
Multi-channel nurture
Email drip + retargeting ads showing product pages + personalized LinkedIn outreach for hot accounts.
SMS or In-app messages if they’re trialing.
Sales + marketing SLA
Define clear MQL → SQL criteria and SLA (e.g., sales must attempt contact within X hours for 70+ score leads). (You can adapt times based on capacity.)
Metrics
MQL → SQL conversion, avg time to SQL, engagement by nurture stream, lead scoring accuracy (win rate by score).
5. Conversion — close & onboard
Goal: convert SQLs into paying customers with minimal friction.
Step-by-step strategy
Conversion offers
Free trial with clear time-boxed objectives + onboarding checklist.
Paid pilot with defined success criteria for enterprise.
Discount or incentive for annual commitment (if it makes sense for CAC/LTV).
Sales playbook
Tailored demo scripts per persona & use case.
Objection handling templates (pricing, integration, security).
Contract templates, procurement checklist for enterprise buyers.
Onboarding & activation
Automated welcome sequence + 1:1 onboarding call for high-value accounts.
In-product guided tours, sample data, success checklist (Day 1, Week 1, Month 1).
Customer success kickoff to set KPIs and review first 30/90 days.
Reduce friction
Simplify purchase (online checkout for SMBs, streamlined procurement docs for enterprises).
Provide integrations, API docs, security/compliance info readily accessible.
Metrics
Conversion rate trial→paid, time-to-first-value (TTFV), churn at 30/90 days.
6. Nurturing tactics (deep dive — because you asked)
Practical, step-by-step nurture mechanics that keep leads warm and accelerate buying:
Lead scoring matrix (simple version)
+30: visiting pricing page
+25: requests demo / signs up for trial
+15: downloads case study / ROI calculator
+8: opens/clicks 3+ nurture emails in 14 days
+10: company size fits ICP
70 → SDR outreach + personalized demo
Email nurture sequence (example for a Warm lead — 6 emails)
Day 0: Welcome + asset + “Quick 10-minute product tour” CTA. (Subject: “Here’s your <asset> — plus a 10-min tour?”)
Day 2: Short case study + one concrete metric (Subject: “How X company cut CAC by 23%”)
Day 6: Product walkthrough (2-min video) + invite to live Q&A.
Day 12: ROI calculator + “Estimate your savings” CTA.
Day 18: Social proof + invite to book tailored demo.
Day 30: Last-chance offer for an onboarding discount / pilot.
Behavioral retargeting
Show different ad creative depending on site behavior: visited features → feature benefit ads; visited pricing → offer trial or free consult.
Sales handoff workflow
Automate a CRM task for SDRs once lead hits threshold. Include lead history, recent pages visited, and best contact times. Use call scripts tailored to the highest intent signals.
Personalization
Personalize email snippets with role-specific outcomes (“For RevOps, this reduces month-end reconciliation time by X hours”). Use dynamic content blocks in emails/landing pages.
7. Content & channel matrix (what to create, where to use it)
Top of funnel (Awareness): short LinkedIn posts, SEO blog posts, industry reports — channels: LinkedIn, organic search, paid display.
Middle (Interest/Consideration): whitepapers, case studies, webinars, ROI calculators, on-demand demos — channels: email, retargeting, partner webinars.
Bottom (Conversion): live demos, free trial, pricing pages, sales enablement docs — channels: direct sales, in-product messages, 1:1 meetings.
8. Quick implementation checklist (first 30 days)
Define ICP & 3 personas.
Create one high-value gated asset + landing page + 1 awareness ad set.
Build basic lead scoring and automation: welcome email + 3-email nurture.
Set up SDR/marketing SLA and CRM handoff automation.
Run A/B tests on landing page headline and CTA.
Instrument analytics: UTM naming, conversion events, MQL pipeline dashboard.
9. Measurement & optimization
Weekly: channel performance, MQL volume, landing page CR.
Monthly: MQL→SQL, SQL→Closed won, CAC by channel.
Quarterly: cohort analysis (trial→paid conversion, churn at 90 days), content ROI.
Key experiments: test one hypothesis per month (e.g., “adding a short case-study video to the landing page increases conversion”).
10. Starter templates (copy snippets)
Landing page headline: “Turn your marketing data into predictable pipeline — <X> minute setup.”
CTA: “Get the playbook” / “See a 10-minute demo”
First welcome email subject: “Here’s your <asset> + a 10-minute product tour”
SDR call opener: “Hi [Name], saw you downloaded our <asset>. Quick question — are you primarily focused on reducing CAC or improving attribution right now?”
Or to be more specific:
Pro tips
Tailor content and messaging to each funnel stage.
Include multi-channel strategies for broader reach.
Track and optimize based on engagement and conversion metrics.
Ensure follow-up and nurturing sequences are consistent and timely.
