How to Choose the Right Forecasting Technique [+ Expert Insight and Data]
Forecasting can feel like a dark art — part science, part intuition, and a dash of hoping for the best. But as businesses face increasing pressure to predict everything from sales targets to inventory needs, relying on gut feelings just doesn’t cut it anymore. I’ve […]
Sales
AI for Entrepreneurs: 5 Ways AI is Transforming Business
Like most people, my first real experience with AI was when ChatGPT was launched in 2022. At first, I was simply amazed by the wealth of knowledge it could provide. However, I soon realized that the true power of AI for entrepreneurs wasn’t in accessing […]
Sales
How AI Is Transforming Cash Flow Forecasting: A Guide for Business Owners
As a business owner I know there’s one thing that can make or break my business: cash flow. If you start a brick and mortar store with employees you may be aware of how crucial it is to know when cash is going in and […]
Sales
Lead form best practices for capturing high-quality prospects
When I was first setting up my freelance business website, I read tons of articles and social media posts about how to find and attract quality leads. Because none of that advice said much about designing the actual form for capturing those leads, I didn’t […]
MarketingWhen I was first setting up my freelance business website, I read tons of articles and social media posts about how to find and attract quality leads. Because none of that advice said much about designing the actual form for capturing those leads, I didn’t put much thought into whether lead form best practices even existed.
After all, if your offer is strong enough, it doesn’t matter what kind of form you use to collect people’s information, right? Well, not exactly.
It turns out that some forms are more effective than others at capturing not just more leads, but higher-quality leads. So, in this guide, I’ve compiled the most up-to-date expert advice on lead generation form best practices. (And if you want to take a step back and think through your strategy first, this free lead generation starter guide can help.)
What is a lead generation form?
Lead forms, or lead generation forms, gather information from potential customers in exchange for an offer or a piece of content such as an ebook, case study, research report, or webinar.
Often, these forms are delivered through a landing page, but you might embed them directly into your website content as well.
Personally, I’ve seen greater success from lead forms that were directly embedded into my web pages than from those that required an extra click to access the landing page. But this can depend on your audience and on your offer. When in doubt, try testing both to see which placement performs better for you.
In any case, once a website visitor fills out the lead form with their information, they are able to access your offering. The key is to ensure prospects see a clear value in the resources you offer so they will be compelled to trade their personal information for access.
This means you need to offer something your prospects will value, but it also means you need to clearly communicate that value to them.
That’s where lead form best practices come in.
An effective lead generation form communicates your value proposition in a way that entices prospects to sign up.
7 Lead Generation Form Best Practices
As with most marketing strategies, finding just the right structure for your lead forms will take some trial and error to get the results you want. But these six lead generation form best practices will give you a solid foundation to build on.
1. Choose the right placement.
Before I get into what to include in your lead generation form, let’s talk about where to place the form itself.
Generally, you’ll want to keep your form above the fold. This means placing it at the top of the page so it’s prevalent and easy to spot without scrolling. However, this isn’t the only position to consider for your lead form placement.
Here are four potential placements for you to test.
Beside the Landing Page Offer
Placing your lead generation form above the fold doesn’t necessarily mean it has to be the only thing visitors see when they first land on the page. Instead, try placing the form and copy introducing your offer side-by-side.
For example, take a look at the landing page below. The lead form is above the fold, but it’s not the most eye-catching element on the page — the content is.
Putting the form beside the landing page copy reminds users of the valuable resource they’ll receive if they submit their basic information.
Throughout the Landing Page or Website Content
If you have a lengthy landing page or are embedding your lead form into website content such as a blog post, you’ll want to include the lead form in at least three positions — or after every 350 words — throughout the page.
Take this report for example. It contains over 1,000 words of content, with the lead form in five different locations as you scroll down the page.
This accomplishes several purposes:
- It prevents the prospect from forgetting about your offer as they digest the content.
- It makes it easy for the prospect to fill out the form, since they don’t need to scroll back up and find it again after reading.
- It repeatedly prompts the prospect to fill out the form so they can access your offer, giving them more chances to say yes.
Regardless of how long your landing page is, make sure to include the lead form one final time at the bottom of the page. This position allows your content to take center stage so visitors have one more chance to determine if it’s worth downloading.
For a more streamlined look, you could even replace some of the embedded lead forms with buttons that automatically scroll down to that final lead form at the bottom of the page.
In a Chatbot
Besides using chatbots to automate responses and communicate with your visitors, you can use them to share your lead generation form. For instance, when you click “Get full report” on the landing page below, the form pops up, requesting your email to “Download the Full Report.”
Using a chatbot to share your form is an unobtrusive way to keep your offer in visitors’ line of sight no matter how far down the page they scroll.
2. Determine the right length for your lead form.
The next — and probably biggest — concern when designing your forms is the length. In other words, how much information should you ask for?
I asked this question of several marketing experts, and their consensus was: it depends.
While ideally, you want to keep your lead forms as simple as possible, the exact number of form fields you should include will vary based on whether you’re aiming for quantity or quality of leads — and what sort of resource you’re offering in exchange for their information.
Shorter forms are great for generating more leads since people can fill them out quickly.
Longer forms, on the other hand, require prospects to provide more details about themselves and their needs, meaning they show a better purchasing intent. So you may get fewer leads, but they’ll be of better quality.
Arham Khan, founder and CEO of Pixated, recommends tailoring your lead forms to the stages of the buyer’s journey:
- For prospects in the early awareness stage, only ask for their name and email so you can keep in contact.
- For serious buyers considering their options, add specific qualifying questions to help filter out lower-quality leads.
- Likewise, for high-ticket deals, add a few more strategic qualifying questions to filter out all but the most qualified leads.
“For a B2B software client,” Khan says as an example, “we added a simple ‘Company Size’ drop-down. Lead volume decreased by 22%, but qualified prospects jumped 37%. Their sales team celebrated the change.”
That said, even high-intent prospects may click away if they see a long, complicated lead generation form. To avoid this, many of the experts I spoke with advised using a progressive lead form that includes steps and a progress bar like the one pictured below.
This gives visitors an idea of how quickly they can complete the form and download the resource.
3. Personalize the form.
A great way to qualify the leads from your lead generation form is to personalize the form fields to your target audience using dynamic form fields.
Dynamic form fields use dependencies to show visitors different questions based on their previous answers. For example, if you work with clients in different industries, you might first have them select their industry from a drop-down list. Then, the form would ask for industry-specific information to help you determine which services they need.
Some dynamic forms can also change depending on the visitor’s previous interactions with your website. For example, it might automatically populate certain fields with information the user has entered on other pages of the site or ask specific questions related to information on pages they’ve previously viewed.
Callum Gracie has used this tactic on the website for his digital marketing agency, Otto Media.
“If someone visits a client’s pricing page multiple times but hasn’t signed up, our form doesn’t just ask for their email, it includes a question like, ‘What’s stopping you from signing up?’ with multiple-choice options,” he explains.
“If they select ‘Need more details on ROI,’ we send them a case study instead of a generic sales email. When we applied this tactic to an e-learning client, conversions increased by 39% because leads felt like we were addressing their specific concerns, not just pushing them into a sales funnel.”
4. Offer low-commitment options.
Not everyone who views your form will fill it out. But that doesn’t mean you have to let potential leads slip away just because they aren’t quite ready to give you all of their information. Many of the experts I consulted recommended adding a few low-commitment actions that interested visitors can take.
- Follow up on incomplete forms. If visitors provide their email but abandon the form midway through, send a quick follow-up email to ask if they’re still interested in your offer and link them back to the form.
- Let them save it for later. Sometimes, people can’t fill out the form in one sitting. Using a form that saves their information and prefills it on their next visit can help encourage them to come back and finish later. Likewise, letting visitors email the form to themselves can help reduce the chances of them forgetting about it.
- Use buttons instead of free-text fields. When possible, replace free-text fields in your form with buttons or drop-down selections. Not only does this reduce friction for visitors to complete your form, but it will also make it easier for you to categorize your leads based on their responses.
- Offer an alternative. If your form is targeted at serious buyers, visitors who aren’t ready to buy will end up leaving the page. However, you can still capture some of those top-of-funnel leads with an alternative offer. Create an exit intent popup with a simple offer — like a free download or newsletter content — in exchange for just their name and email.
5. Include your privacy policy.
More than 80 countries, including the United States, Canada, Australia, Argentina, and members of the European Union, have privacy and data collection laws. Often, these laws require you to include a privacy policy when collecting personally identifiable information (PII).
PII covers both sensitive information, like a visitor’s full name and email address, and non-sensitive information, like their zip code, race, date of birth, etc.
Irrespective of a form’s location on your website, you should place your privacy policy where it’s easily noticeable. This puts prospects at ease if they are skeptical about sharing their information.
For example, our lead forms show a privacy policy preview right above the download button. Visitors who want to know more about how their information may be used or stored can click the link to read the full privacy policy before signing up.
Finally, consider placing client testimonials, authority endorsements, third-party security certifications, or a guarantee seal beside your privacy policy. These can help alleviate any remaining concerns for visitors who may hesitate to fill out your form.
6. Change the submission text and button appearance.
The submission button is a major component of your lead form, so how it looks should never be an afterthought. If you’re using the default text “submit” for this button, you may be losing out on leads.
Overwhelmingly, the majority of experts I spoke to reported a jump in conversion rates after changing the submission text to something more conversational and relevant to the offer or brand.
For example, Kate Ross, a marketing professional for beauty brand Irresistible Me, has seen great success with on-brand, friendly language like “Hey, want first dibs on new styles?” instead of the generic “Submit your info.”
Depending on your offer, other alternatives to “Submit” could include “Download now,” “Get the free guide,” or even “Sign me up!”
But the text isn’t the only component of the submission button you should consider changing. Ross tested two color options for her lead form’s buttons — red and teal, in her case — and found that teal outperformed red by as much as 15%.
Since such a small change can make a huge difference in conversion rates, I recommend running A/B tests to determine which designs and wording perform best for you.
However, when testing your form, only test one element at a time.
For instance, if you’re testing the color, shape, or size of the submission button, don’t simultaneously test the form length. That way, when one variation of the form brings in more leads, you’ll know exactly which element made the difference.
7. Bonus: Don’t forget the success message.
Whether people are applying for a role in a company, downloading a free resource, or contacting you about your services, they want a response once they hit your submit button. Otherwise, they’re left wondering if the submission succeeded.
This is where autoresponders come in handy. Many form builders have this functionality, so take advantage of it. Besides providing an excellent experience, having an autoresponder in place helps you begin your relationship with prospects on the right foot.
Additionally, I’ve found it helpful to change the form submission success message so that it prompts users to check their email inbox and spam folder for the confirmation email. After all, the last thing you want is someone thinking you failed to deliver the promised resource just because it landed in spam.
Building Better Lead Forms
As my own experience creating lead generation forms has taught me, how a lead form looks and where it’s located matter just as much as the value you’re offering in exchange for prospects’ information.
But my biggest takeaway from the above best practices is that there is no perfect formula for an effective lead form.
Instead, when building your form, start with who you’re targeting and what kind of incentive you’re providing them. Tailor the form’s design and fields accordingly, and then test and tweak it until you achieve your desired results.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in November 2011 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
5 Qualities Effective Sales Leaders Need to Have, According to Experts
Some sales managers hit their targets. Others build teams that consistently outperform, year after year. What makes the difference? To find out, I spoke with top sales leaders, combed through expert interviews, and listened to hours of podcasts on leadership and performance. The best sales […]
SalesSome sales managers hit their targets. Others build teams that consistently outperform, year after year. What makes the difference?
To find out, I spoke with top sales leaders, combed through expert interviews, and listened to hours of podcasts on leadership and performance. The best sales managers don’t just focus on hitting numbers — they build engaged, motivated, and constantly improving teams. They know how to develop talent, navigate challenges, and create a culture where people want to win.
In this piece, I’ll break down the key traits that separate good sales managers from truly exceptional leaders. These insights come straight from the experts, and they might just change the way you think about leading a team.
Table of Contents
- 5 Essential Sales Personality Traits
- How to Improve Your Sales Skills
- Tips for Selling Authentically
- Measure Leadership Impact Beyond Sales Numbers
5 Essential Sales Personality Traits
When I conducted my research and spoke to experts, I noticed something curious: the most successful leaders shared specific traits that had nothing to do with sales techniques. These five characteristics showed up repeatedly in how they handled problems, developed their people, and approached everyday decisions.
1. Coaching Mindset and Developmental Focus
This mindset prioritizes genuine development over basic metrics tracking.
According to Forrester’s Winter Sales Survey (2022), 62% of sales professionals in B2B organizations report that feedback and coaching from their first-line managers is effective and improves performance.
When coaching is done right — by focusing on skill development rather than just number monitoring — it directly impacts sales success. Instead of merely reviewing KPIs, high-performing managers take the time to guide reps through challenging objections, role-play difficult conversations, and offer constructive, real-time feedback.
If coaching isn’t translating into measurable improvement, it may not be coaching at all — it may just be oversight.
In a recent sales podcast, sales leadership expert Shane Gibson highlighted a common misconception. Many managers believe they‘re coaching when they’re actually just monitoring numbers.
“My goal is to really get out from behind the dashboard,” he said.
“Too many sales leaders say, ‘Are you coaching people on your team?’ ‘Oh, yeah, I am.’ Then, I sit on one of their coaching sessions, and they‘re just reviewing metrics. That’s not coaching, that’s compliance,” explains Gibson.
The distinction matters because reviewing metrics alone doesn’t make reps better. Real coaching pinpoints exact skill gaps — like weak objection handling — shows stronger approaches, and reinforces them with hands-on practice.
Later, in the same podcast discussion about building high-performance sales teams, Gibson elaborated on what good coaching entails:
“You need to add generative coaching, skills development, and deal-specific development to the mix if you’re really going to improve and grow the bench strength of your sales team.”
This requires blocking dedicated time for role-playing difficult calls, reviewing call recordings together, and creating personalized development plans for each team member.
2. Authentic Leadership and Vulnerability
Your team won’t follow who you pretend to be. They follow who you really are.
Too many sales managers try to project unshakable confidence, thinking it’s the key to leadership. But real leadership isn’t about having all the answers — it’s about being honest, adaptable, and showing up as your true self.
Our 2024 Sales Trends Report shows that 24% of high-performing sales teams highly rank the importance of building a culture of trust among reps, compared to only 13% of underperforming teams.
Top-performing teams actively cultivate an environment where authenticity, transparency, and trust are prioritized.
“Authentic leadership is the antithesis of imposter syndrome, in my opinion and experience,” says leadership coach Markus Neukom in the Sales Gravy podcast. “I help my clients empower themselves, and once they’re empowered, guess what? They can start empowering their people.”
This self-assurance allows leaders to show vulnerability rather than projecting false perfection. But how do you actually practice that?
Start by leading with transparency. In your next team meeting, openly share a challenge you’re facing and how you’re approaching it. When a deal falls through, instead of deflecting, break down what could have been done differently.
Neukom reinforces this: “You have to dare to be vulnerable. That’s what I basically said to that management team. You have to learn that vulnerability is the key.”
Vulnerability isn’t weakness — it’s a way to build trust. When leaders admit mistakes and limitations, team members feel safe doing the same.
3. Emotional Intelligence and Active Listening
Most sales leaders think they listen. Few actually do.
In tough coaching conversations, it‘s easy to start creating a response before the other person has even finished speaking. That’s not listening — that’s waiting for your turn to talk. “Observe, ask questions, learn to listen,” says Neukom. “When you get those two people in a room, and you ask questions, and you let them speak, half of the solution is already there.”
But active listening is more than nodding along. It means paying attention to tone, hesitation, and what isn‘t being said. “Really listening is an art of emotional intelligence,” Neukom explains. “It’s literally being open, focused on the other person, and here with all five senses.”
According to Jacob Wickett, Founder of Live Digital, a SaaS recruitment agency, “The strongest closers don’t just talk well; they listen well. They pick up on subtle buying signals and tailor their pitch accordingly.”
As a sales leader, this isn‘t just a skill to practice personally — it’s a cornerstone capability to develop in your team.
Try this in your next 1:1: After a rep shares a challenge, pause for three full seconds before responding. If they don’t add anything, ask, “And what else?” This forces you to stay present — and gives them space to share what they were really thinking.
4. Adaptability and Willingness to Change
New hires bring different expectations, industries shift, and buyers approach decisions differently than they did even a few years ago. A leadership style that worked in the past can quickly become outdated.
Markus Neukom has seen this firsthand.
“The question is not if. The question is when you have to adapt your leadership style,” he says. “In this room of 24 management team members, you already have 1/3 of Generation Y, and they ask you, ‘Why?’”
Leaders who struggle with adaptability often see change as a disruption. But those who embrace it recognize it as an advantage. When a team starts questioning the why behind decisions, that‘s not resistance — that’s engagement. Instead of shutting it down, turn it into a conversation.
This evolution extends beyond team management to the entire sales landscape.
“The industry is going through rapid changes, both when it comes to AI, prospect habits, and geopolitical factors that influence the market,” explains Mia Falls, Sales Development Representative from proposal platform Qwilr.
“It’s important to stay up to date and adapt to this month’s needs instead of relying on a yearly plan. In the past, sales has been like the misinterpretation of ‘survival of the fittest’. Those with the thickest skin and biggest bite got ahead. Nowadays, the actual meaning of Darwin’s phrase is true — those who are the most adaptable win.”
If you‘re leading the same way you did five years ago, it’s time to rethink your approach. Instead of giving instructions, ask your reps how they‘d solve a problem. Their response may point out hidden strengths, fresh perspectives, or gaps you didn’t know existed.
5. Strategic Vision and Effective Communication
A sales leader without a clear vision is like a team running plays with no strategy — disorganized, reactive, and unlikely to win. A strong vision shows up in daily decisions, team goals, and how leaders communicate priorities.
“90% of achieving any goals is knowing why, and 90% of getting your salespeople to shift their behaviors or implement new disciplines is often about effectively communicating the why,” says Shane Gibson in his sales podcast.
Telling your team what to do isn’t enough. If they don’t understand why it matters, they’ll resist, disengage, or go through the motions without real commitment. People don’t buy into change unless they see how it benefits them.
Gibson emphasizes this: “Are you inspired by it? If you‘re going to communicate your organizational sales vision or a major initiative, you’re the first person who has to buy into it, and have you connected it to their individual needs?”
Before your next team meeting, ask yourself: Would I be excited to hear this? If not, sharpen your message. Show them how the vision fuels their success — how it impacts their targets, growth, and daily work. If they see the value, they’ll own it.
How to Improve Your Sales Skills
Identifying what makes great sales leaders is just the first step — you need practical ways to build those capabilities in yourself and your team. The approaches below have helped sales professionals at every level sharpen their skills and deliver better results.
Each focuses on specific actions you can take this week, not vague suggestions that sound good but rarely translate to real improvement.
Implement regular self-assessment practices.
Day-to-day targets pile up, and it’s easy to assume experience alone drives improvement. Without regular self-reflection, small mistakes turn into bad habits, missed opportunities compound, and performance flatlines.
Self-assessment practices like structured reflection, peer feedback, and skill tracking help you improve your weaknesses and hone your strengths.
Our research found that 17% of high-performing sales teams highly rank the importance of making performance data available, compared to only 11% of underperforming teams. The ability to measure, track, and analyze performance transparently makes it easier to identify trends, correct weaknesses, and double down on successful strategies.
“Great leaders are great students. They’re highly coachable. They have coaches themselves. They seek mentors for growth in many aspects of their lives, and people want to follow people who are moving somewhere,” says Gibson.
Mia Falls recommends extending this practice across the team:
“Listening to the recordings of successful AE calls every week really helps you understand the product and customers on a deeper level. I’d also recommend finding a tracking system for positive prospect interactions that feels intuitive and works for you. Then, consult it frequently and learn from it. This helps me approach every month with new insights.”
By making these review sessions a regular part of your team’s schedule, you normalize the critical self-assessment process.
A structured approach helps here. Gibson suggests using a framework to measure progress:
“I’ve got a downloadable PDF that’s free. You can rate your sales coaching skills and your sales coaching process as an organization to see where you need to improve.”
Set a monthly habit: review recent calls, assess deal wins and losses, and get outside feedback.
Growth starts with awareness. Take 15 minutes this week to reflect: What’s one area where you struggled? What feedback have you been avoiding? Write it down, and set a small, specific goal to improve.
Build strategic relationship networks.
Strategic relationship building goes beyond random networking events. It’s about intentionally creating a web of relationships that generate opportunities, insights, and support when you need it most.
Think of your network as a living portfolio. Like any good investment strategy, diversification matters. You need connections across different industries, organizational levels, and functional areas. This diversity brings perspective you’d miss in an echo chamber of similar contacts.
For sales leaders, It’s not just about strong external ones, though. Internal ones matter just as much. It’s often down to how well you encourage collaboration within your organization.
“I’ve never had as supportive and motivating of a team as I had in Qwilr and it’s completely unleveled my sales game,” shares Falls. “Knowing that you can always ask a quick question, get some additional insight, and share feedback makes such a difference.”
But here’s where most sales leaders get it wrong: they focus on quantity over depth. Five authentic relationships with decision-makers who trust you enough to take your call will outperform 500 LinkedIn connections who barely remember your name.
Start by mapping your current network. Identify gaps where strategic relationships could open doors to new markets or opportunities. Then, develop a deliberate plan to nurture existing relationships and cultivate new ones by:
- Creating value before asking for anything.
- Following up consistently with personalized outreach.
- Connecting people within your network who might benefit each other.
- Sharing industry insights that address your contacts’ specific challenges.
When you genuinely invest in others‘ success, your network becomes not just a sales tool, but a competitive advantage that can’t be replicated.
Establish gold standards for key activities.
Creating gold standards forces you as a sales leader to sharpen your own skills first. You can’t define excellence without mastering it yourself.
In his podcast, Founder at Cerebral Selling, David Priemer discovered this developmental benefit:
“We told them what to do but never showed them a good version of what that narrative sounded like.”
When Priemer decided to fix this, he had to critically evaluate his own approach: “I had our VP of enterprise sales record what a good version—the gold standard—of that conversation with a customer sounded like.”
Identifying, recording, and analyzing perfect examples compels you to refine your sales techniques. You’ll spot gaps in your messaging, discover better transitions, and develop more compelling value propositions.
As Priemer notes, this self-improvement spans multiple skills: “If you have expectations of them — next steps, forecasting, objection handles — show them what good looks like, so you can hold them accountable.”
By clearly stating your standards, you’ll identify areas for growth and keep improving your sales skills.
Tips for Selling Authentically
Authentic sales leadership creates environments where teams can sell honestly and ethically without resorting to high-pressure tactics. As a leader, your job is to show your team how to match products with genuine customer needs rather than pushing whatever makes the biggest commission.
The approaches below help you build a culture where sales conversations focus on solving real problems instead of delivering slick pitches.
Connect personal values with organizational goals.
Don’t assume targets and commissions are enough to drive peak performance. Numbers alone rarely inspire sustainable excellence, and you need to connect company objectives with their team members’ personal values and aspirations.
Shane Gibson puts it bluntly: “If I’m communicating my vision in a way that’s top-down, not connecting to their values or explaining the overall why for them or their team, I’m already missing the boat. I’m not going to get buy-in from the team.”
This alignment process starts with curiosity: What drives each individual on your team?
For some, it might be financial security to support their family. For others, it could be professional growth, recognition, or making a difference for customers.
The reward for this effort is extraordinary: team members who see their success as connected to company goals approach their work with fresh energy. They solve problems more creatively, push through challenges, and become ambassadors for your vision.
Try these approaches to strengthen this connection:
- Hold one-on-ones focused solely on understanding personal motivations and career aspirations
- Reframe company initiatives in terms of how they support team members’ individual goals
- Create personalized development plans that serve both organizational needs and personal growth
- Celebrate wins in ways that recognize not just results but alignment with core values
When people see how their personal journey connects to the bigger picture, selling becomes less about transactions and more about shared purpose.
Embrace transparency and direct feedback.
Sales teams need clear talk, not careful phrasing.
Gibson champions this approach through specific frameworks: “Radical Candor is a great book on how to give direct and effective feedback. It’s important for not just the leader to read it, but their team to agree that we’re going to be candid and empathetic with one another in a way that creates trust and transparency.”
According to Dewey Thompson, Senior Account Executive at email platform Omnisend,
“I think that sales is, above all, about showing up every day. If something doesn’t work out, be persistent, but also learn to learn from your past mistakes. Ultimately, work on not taking rejection personally.”
As a sales leader, embracing resilience creates an environment where honest feedback feels helpful rather than threatening. When your team understands that feedback is meant to help, not criticize, they’ll be more open to direct guidance.
The real payoff comes when this becomes team culture, not just leadership style.
Gibson notes the real-world results: “If we can do this as a team, people are no longer going to be walking on eggshells or holding things back, but actually comfortable and confident to be vulnerable, but also direct.”
This balance — being both honest and human — creates psychological safety where innovation flourishes, problems surface early, and people grow faster.
Share your perspective on difficult topics.
Sales leaders who hide their true thoughts on tough issues undermine their credibility. When you dodge questions about compensation changes, territory shifts, or challenging quotas, your team senses the avoidance.
Priemer notes: “Your team does want to know what you think, and if they don’t feel you’re being honest, it becomes very difficult to lead them.” He suggests being transparent about your own feelings on topics like compensation changes.
This doesn’t mean complaining about company decisions. Rather, it means acknowledging realities while providing context.
When facing a compensation restructure that might disappoint some reps, skilled leaders might say: “I understand this change feels concerning. I had questions about it, too. Here’s my perspective on why it could benefit high performers like you…”
This honesty builds trust. Your team won‘t always agree with your viewpoint, but they’ll respect your sharing it openly. This transparency also improves your communication skills by forcing you to articulate complex positions clearly and consider potential objections before they arise.
Thoughtfully sharing your perspective on complex topics strengthens your ability to have challenging conversations throughout your career. This crucial skill distinguishes exceptional sales leaders from merely competent ones.
Measure Leadership Impact Beyond Sales Numbers
Great sales leaders build people who stick around and grow. When you coach your team well, speak plainly, and treat customers fairly, you’ll see it in more than revenue.
Look at who stays on your team, what new skills they‘ve mastered, and how customers talk about them. Years from now, your real success won’t be the deals you closed but the sales managers you shaped who still use what you taught them.
I Took a Deep Dive Into AI Sales Agents — Here’s What the Landscape Looks Like Today
Every sales professional has the same experience: The end of the quarter looms, and you’re still waiting for leads to convert into paying customers. As a business owner, I’ve been there too — juggling multiple clients, pitching new writing projects, and managing endless follow-ups. But, […]
SalesEvery sales professional has the same experience: The end of the quarter looms, and you’re still waiting for leads to convert into paying customers. As a business owner, I’ve been there too — juggling multiple clients, pitching new writing projects, and managing endless follow-ups.
But, the days of manually managing business may be over. AI sales agents are reshaping the landscape, automating the sales process, and guaranteeing that no lead goes cold. These agents can even do your homework for you, finding prospects who match your ideal customer persona.
With lofty promises, I wanted to see what AI sales agents can actually accomplish today. Below I’ll talk about how AI sales agents work, their use cases, and how they can level up the sales process.
![Download Now: The State of AI in Sales [2024 Report]](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/6f674af4-3116-43b0-8a54-4a64f926afb6.png)
Table of Contents
- What is an AI Sales Agent?
- How AI Sales Agents Work
- Benefits of AI Sales Agents
- Types of AI Sales Agents
- Sales AI Agent Usecases
- The Best AI Sales Agents
- Optimize with AI Sales Agent
What is an AI Sales Agent?
A typical sales lifecycle requires an entire team to move through multiple stages — prospecting leads, qualifying customers, answering inquiries, and closing deals. Working through that process manually takes a significant amount of time. An AI sales agent is designed to automate and streamline this workflow, eliminating repetitive tasks and boosting productivity.
By leveraging machine learning (ML), natural language processing (NLP), and predictive analytics, AI sales agents can operate autonomously. This digital agency can engage with prospects, qualify leads, and even close sales with little to no human intervention.
Now, how is this different from workflow automation? Well, AI’s ability to learn from past interactions allows it to perform its functions independently. A human sales rep just needs to write a kickoff prompt (and offer optional additional guidance to refine the process). From there, AI can start research and do outreach without a human babysitter, a less cumbersome process for the human reps.
How AI Sales Agents Work
AI sales agents gather and centralize customer data from CRMs, website activity, and other digital touchpoints. The agent can then create a 360-degree profile of each prospect.
AI then uses natural language processing to interpret messages, detect buyer intent, and engage in meaningful conversations. With this data, machine learning models predict lead behavior, assigning scores based on engagement history and prioritizing high-potential prospects.
Once a lead is identified, the AI agent automates outreach, scheduling, and follow-ups to ensure continuous engagement. Throughout the process, the AI analyzes sales interactions in real time, providing insights and recommendations to optimize messaging. With multiple selling reps under its belt, an AI agent learns, refining their lead qualification and engagement strategies.
Benefits of AI Sales Agents
1. AI never sleeps.
Potential buyers can visit your site at any time of the day — their needs don’t stop after business hours. However, you may not have reps available 24/7. That’s where AI sales agents can help.
Your AI reps never “clock out.” They’re able to carry out the designated task (whether it’s to respond to inquiries or follow up with prospects) at any time of the day.
I have seen businesses lose potential deals simply because they did not follow up fast enough. Remember, most customers consider speed as important as price and are even willing to pay extra for “immediate service.” Any form of delay can make the difference between your offering and a competitor. AI sales agents can help you maintain that vigilance.
2. Human reps can spend more time on strategic tasks.
George Gallantree, director at Sterling Recruitment, notes that sales teams often need to choose between accurate reporting and high sales activity. That’s especially true when many reps hate burning hours on admin.
“Would you prefer your BDM to be 120% to target YTD or have Salesforce 100% accurate and up to date? You’re probably thinking, ‘I want both,’ but more often than not, you need to make a choice because that is reality,” Gallantree writes on LinkedIn.
AI sales rep can help teams get the best of both world. Agentic AI can take over repetitive, admoinistrative tasks so that human reps can focus on complex negotiations, relationship building and actually closing high-value deals.
The sales professionals we surveyed for our 2024 State of AI in Business and Sales agree. They reported that AI tools allow them to spend more time doing the one thing they were hired for — selling.
3. Customers leave happier.
As I mentioned earlier, today’s customers expect immediate, personalized service. Anything less can cost businesses valuable sales. Therefore, a smooth, tailored sales experience isn’t just a bonus. It’s a necessity for customer satisfaction.
According to Salesforce, 73% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs, and AI sales agents make this possible at scale. Agents can analyze customer preferences, anticipate questions, and provide instant, relevant responses. These tools can also research prospects and use that information to customize outreach.
This level of personalization makes interactions more engaging and builds trust. Goodwill ultimately leads to higher conversion rates and stronger customer loyalty.
Types of AI Sales Agents
AI sales agents come in different forms, each designed to automate specific parts of the sales process. Here are the three most popular agents used by reps today.
1. AI Chatbots
AI chatbots are already everywhere. Every time I shop online, I see a popup that asks me if I need any additonal assitance. I’ve also noticed new AI chatbots available on social media, so I can talk to a robot if I ever get lonely. I’m already primed for chatbot interactions, just like every other digital consumer today.
AI chatbots are designed to engage with potential customers in real time. They can answer basic product questions and even book meetings for a demo. Some of these conversational chatbots are also designed to qualify leads and transfer high-potential prospects to human reps to seal the deal.
Best for: If your business receives high volumes of inquiries, an AI chatbot would guarantee that your prospects receive instant responses. You can then set up workflows that transfer qualified leads to your human sales teams.
2. AI Voice Assistants
Even if you dread the phone, cold calling is still an important part of sales today. AI can help make the process more informed and efficient. In fact, 73% of salespeople who use AI/automation to assist with cold and warm calling say it somewhat to significantly improves conversation quality.
Most of the reps we surveyed use AI to help with research and outreach. However, AI agents can go even further. In fact, some agents can actually make the calls. Built on speech synthesis, Automatic Speech Recognition (ASR), and Natural Language Generation (NLU) technology, these agents can handle inbound and outbound calls using natural-sounding speech.
There’s still an adoption curve here. Robocalling and spam calls have left me and others unwilling to pick up the phone. If I received an AI call, I would be equally impressed and freaked out. So, use voice technology sparing.
AI voice assistants work best for impersonal or transactional calls, such as appointment reminders, order confirmations, or simple inquiries. For relationship-driven sales, I strongly believe it is crucial to maintain human touchpoints to build trust and rapport.
If your team uses this type of AI tech, make sure you communicate that the receiver is speaking with a voice assistant, as Josh Braun advocates in the image below. This transparency helps manage expectations and builds trust with the customer.
Best for: Companies that rely heavily on phone-based sales and appointment scheduling, which are often transactional and repetitive.
2. AI Assistants
This crop of AI sales agents helps their human agents perform very specific tasks. They act as smart digital assistants rather than standalone agents, working behind the scenes to support reps with daily sales activities. That can include personalizing email campaigns, generating sales insights, streamlining the onboarding process, and much more.
I’ve found that AI assistants help the most with research. I can load my ideal customer persona into a chatbot like Google Gemini and ask the system to find me companies that match that description. From there, I can have AI help me find human decision-makers on those teams and craft a compelling message that catches their attention.
Best for: Sales teams looking to reduce administrative workload, improve lead prioritization, and gain AI-powered insights to enhance their selling strategy.
Sales AI Agent Usecases
1. Lead Qualification and Nurturing
With predictive analytics, AI sales agents can reduce the people-hours spent on sorting through unqualified leads. In our 2024 AI in B2B Sales report, we discovered that this was the second most popular AI use case in B2B sales.
“It used to be the case that dedicating an agent to an individual customer at each point of their sales journey was cost-prohibitive. But with the latest developments in gen AI agents, now you can do it,” stated Jorge Amar, senior partner at McKinsey, in an interview with the firm.
Now, businesses can integrate different types of AI sales agents across different levels of the customer’s journey. Additionally, AI-driven lead-scoring models, such as those offered in HubSpot’s Sales Hub, can analyze various inputs to determine the likelihood of the prospect becoming a customer.
2. Automating Follow-ups and Reminders
I can’t count how many times I’ve told myself, “I’ll follow up later,” only to realize days later that I completely forgot. It happens to the best of us — humans are forgetful.
But AI? It never forgets. It’s like having the most reliable assistant who always remembers when to send that follow-up email or text. And follow-ups matter.
Research shows that 93% of converted leads are reached by the sixth call attempt, yet 50% of leads are never contacted a second time. While the reasons may vary, I’d bet that forgetfulness — and just plain busyness — are big culprits.
This is where AI sales agents shine. They can send timely follow-ups and appointment reminders via email, text, or even voice calls to make sure no lead falls through the cracks.
With unlimited time and access to the right data, AI sales agents can catch intent signals that human reps may miss. Businesses can even set up AI-driven workflows that trigger automated follow-ups based on customer behavior — like when a prospect downloads a whitepaper or abandons a shopping cart.
2. Sales Analytics
AI-powered sales analytics tools analyze past sales data, market trends, and customer interactions to predict future revenue and recommend sales strategies. According to our report, data analysis is the second most popular task salespeople use AI for.
For example, let’s say an AI sales agent analyzes a CRM. The agent finds that teams who make the most of the CRM’s generative AI content creator have higher customer satisfaction and a lower attrition rate. Your team can then spotlight this feature in product demos and run a campaign to increase utilization.
AI sales agents will need access to the right data in order to make these real-time insights. CRMs like HubSpot offer these integrations to empower data-conscious decisions.
The Best AI Sales Agents
1. Breeze Prospecting Agent
AI sales agents aren’t ready out of the box. They need access to data to understand your team’s approach to selling. That’s why I love Breeze. If you already use HubSpot, your prospecting agent already has access to your CRM’s valuable data — no complex setup or training required. Breeze learns from your successful sales patterns and automatically adapts to those insights.
I demoed Breeze so I can show you how it works. I can select which account I want to research in my CRM. Breeze then pulls information about their interactions with my business from my CRM, as well as information from the prospect’s websites and recent news.
I can then open up the account and see an AI generated overview synthesizing that information. When I’m ready to reach out, an AI email writer can take the intelligence and write a first draft that I can send or tweak. AI-powered prospecting helps sales teams work smarter, not harder.
2. Roomie AI by Common Room
Roomie AI is designed to streamline prospect engagement by automating account planning, lead prioritization, and personalized outreach. It detects buying trends and fills in missing details to accelerate account planning.
With AI-powered personalization, Roomie crafts outreach messages based on real-time signals and enhances prospecting by surfacing high-converting contacts from its 200+ million database.
My favorite thing about this tool is its signal hunting feature. Rather than manually piecing together information on a company — who the decision-makers are, what their challenges are, and how to approach them — Roomie AI builds account plans 100x faster by pulling in the most relevant data.
Roomie AI also actively looks for signs that a prospect is ready to buy and then engages them autonomously.
Watch the 5-minute demo of Roomie AI below.
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3. Salesforce Einstein
In August 2024, Salesforce announced the launch of two autonomous AI sales agents called Einstein Sales Development Rep (SDR) Agent and Einstein Sales Coach Agent.
While the Einstein SDR Agent nurtures inbound prospects around the clock with minimal human intervention, the Einstein Sales Coach Agent helps sales teams refine their skills by facilitating role-play sessions tailored to specific deals. These simulations allow reps to practice pitching, handle objections, and sharpen their negotiation tactics before engaging with real customers.
I loved that Einstein Sales Coach Agent can adapt its training style to the learner. There’s no one-size-fits-all coaching method. Instead, the AI provides customized and contextual coaching that adapts to real deals, real objections, and real customer interactions.
4. Artisan
Artisan’s Ava is designed to act as a fully autonomous AI sales agent, handling everything from lead qualification to personalized outreach. Unlike other assistive AI sales agents, Ava operates independently without human intervention.
Ava mines data on the prospects, crafts personalized messages, runs email campaigns, and delivers qualified leads straight to your inbox.
My favorite part? The Artisan Sales platform already provides a built-in database of over 300 million verified B2B contacts. It also provides a simple LinkedIn automation that allows Ava to send connection requests and messages on your team’s behalf.
5. Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales
Embedded within Microsoft 365, Copilot is a role-based sales agent that simplifies tasks, personalizes interactions, and streamlines workflows. It can generate content, note insights during calls, and update records.
My biggest issue with this tool? Copilot for Sales feels too embedded within the Microsoft ecosystem. That may limit flexibility especially if a sales team relies on other CRMs like HubSpot. If you rely on data from multiple sources, you may need extra workarounds to get the platform’s full benefits.
Optimize with AI Sales Agent
Yes, even with advancements in AI, you still need human sales reps. However, AI sales agents can help those reps achieve extraordinary results. They can research faster, customize their messaging based on a prospect’s business, and leverage data from your CRM.
Teams that know how to partner with AI agents will have an incredible advantage, that’s especially true as adoption increases. Start working with AI as a partner today to stay ahead of the curve.
Sales Pipelines: A Comprehensive Guide for Sales Leaders and Reps
Ever since I stepped into the B2B SaaS world back in 2021, I’ve wondered why some companies with great products crash and burn while others thrive. I kept hearing the term “sales pipeline” thrown around, but I didn’t really understand just how important it was […]
SalesEver since I stepped into the B2B SaaS world back in 2021, I’ve wondered why some companies with great products crash and burn while others thrive. I kept hearing the term “sales pipeline” thrown around, but I didn’t really understand just how important it was until I started seeing patterns.
I’ve seen companies with incredible tech and millions in funding shut down within a year. Not because the product sucked. Not because the market wasn’t there. But because they had no clue how to track their sales process.
In this guide, I’ll break down everything you need to know about sales pipelines — what they are, why they matter, and a step-by-step process to build and manage one that actually drives results.
Let’s dive in.
Table of Contents
- What is a sales pipeline?
- How to Build a Sales Pipeline
- How to Run a Sales Pipeline Review
- How to Clean Up Your Sales Pipeline
- Sales Pipeline Analysis: Key Sales Pipeline Metrics to Track
- An Easy Sales Pipeline Template
- Ready for Sales Pipeline Management?
Every company has its own flavor of a sales process. Even within the same company, pipelines can look different depending on the product or service you’re selling. That’s why there’s no one-size-fits-all setup.
Your sales pipeline should reflect the buyer’s journey in your specific business context. Otherwise, you’re just plugging leads into a system that doesn’t match how they actually buy.
I remember one time a rep on a sales team I worked with got an inbound message from someone who had already talked to three of our customers, secured budget approval, and wanted a demo that week. Instead of walking through the usual qualification steps, we jumped straight to decision-making and pricing.
Some prospects move fast — others stall. Some show up ready to buy, already sold on your product after doing their homework. Others need more nurturing. And that’s the beauty of a sales pipeline: it allows you to adjust your sales approach based on where someone is and how fast they’re moving.
A well-built sales pipeline also gives you visibility into your revenue. Sales managers can forecast more accurately by looking at where each deal sits in the pipeline, how long it’s been there, and how likely it is to close. It’s a simple tool, but when used right, it becomes a powerful engine for growth.
Typical Sales Pipeline Stages
While the specific stages can vary depending on your industry and sales process, a typical sales pipeline includes the following stages:
Prospecting
This is the first step, where you actively search for potential customers who might benefit from your product or service. If you’re selling software, that might mean identifying companies in a certain industry or size range that struggle with the problem your solution solves.
Lead Qualification
Once you’ve identified some leads, the next step is figuring out if they’re a good fit. You assess things like their needs, budget, buying timeline, and whether you’re speaking to someone with decision-making power.
Pro tip: I like to use a “reverse qualification” approach, where you actively look for reasons to disqualify leads. This saves time and helps your team focus on prospects who are actually worth pursuing.
Initial Contact
Here, you reach out to qualified leads via email, phone, or social channels. The goal is to start a conversation, learn more about their pain points, and provide enough value upfront to keep the door open for deeper engagement. This stage is about listening, not pitching.
Proposal
If the lead is engaged and there’s clear interest, you move to presenting a formal proposal. This should be tailored to their specific needs and include pricing, features, and key benefits. The proposal isn’t just a document — it’s your chance to make a strong case for why your solution is the right one.
Negotiation/Commitment
At this stage, both sides work through the final terms, such as pricing, contract details, implementation timelines, and any lingering concerns. Strong negotiation skills help remove roadblocks and move the deal toward a close without stalling momentum.
Closing (or Lost)
This is where the deal is either won or lost. If you close successfully, you move forward with onboarding or implementation. If not, you need to log why the deal didn’t go through. Those insights can help refine your messaging, improve your sales process, and increase your win rate over time.
Pro tip: I like to use this sales conversion and close rate calculator!
Sales Pipeline vs. Sales Forecast vs. Sales Funnel
Sales Pipeline vs. Sales Forecast
People often confuse “sales pipelines” with “sales forecasts,” but they are completely different.
A sales pipeline is a visual representation of where prospects are in the sales process. It tracks potential customers from initial contact through various stages until the deal is closed or lost.
On the other hand, a sales forecast estimates the future sales revenue for a specific time period, usually based on historical data, market trends, and current pipeline information.
For example, if a sales forecast anticipates missing your quota, you should double down on selling activities. But if it estimates a 150% growth compared to the last month, you’d want to scale back your efforts and start laying the groundwork for an equally successful next month.
While sales pipelines and forecasts are distinct, they are closely related. An accurate and well-managed pipeline is crucial for creating reliable sales forecasts. Once you’ve started tracking your sales pipeline, that data can allow you to create a forecast using sales forecasting software like Sales Hub.
Sales Pipeline vs. Sales Funnel
People also often use “sales pipeline” and “sales funnel” interchangeably.
However, a sales funnel suggests that the number of prospects you’re working with will drop consistently as the sales process continues.
This leads to a false belief that you need three times as many prospects at the top of your funnel as at the bottom. For instance, a sales manager following this philosophy would ask his rep to connect with 300 buyers to close 100 deals.
Sales educator and expert Jeff Hoffman clears this misconception by calling a sales pipeline a wide-mouthed cocktail glass instead of an evenly shaped funnel.
You may have a ton of prospects entering your pipeline, but the vast majority drop off after the qualification stage. After prospects have passed the critical point, most should become customers.
How to Build a Sales Pipeline
Building a sales pipeline is one of the smartest moves you can make if you want to grow your business. I’ve seen companies take different approaches to it, but the payoff is always worth it.
How long will it take to build your own sales pipeline? That depends on your product, audience, and team.
However, here are the key steps to get you started.
1. Define the stages of your sales pipeline.
While copying a template might be the quickest way to define your sales pipeline stages, taking the time to develop your own will pay off in the long run. Your pipeline should reflect your buyer’s journey, helping you track progress and accurately forecast revenue.
While every customer’s path is unique, they generally follow a similar process:
- Awareness. The buyer realizes they have a problem or opportunity and begins looking for a solution.
- Consideration. The buyer further defines the issue, establishes criteria for evaluation, and starts researching potential solutions.
- Decision. The buyer has narrowed down their options and compares vendors or solutions before making a final choice.
To illustrate, check out this hypothetical buyer’s journey:
Translating that journey into your sales pipeline stages might look like this:
- Connect. This is when a lead first interacts with your brand. It could be through an email from a salesperson, a webinar, or content they’ve engaged with on your site. The goal here is to make the initial touchpoint meaningful and relevant.
- Appointment Set. Once the lead shows interest, you schedule a meeting to dive deeper into their needs and how you can provide a solution.
- Appointment Completed. After the meeting, you have a clearer picture of their needs, and they’ve heard your pitch. This stage is about confirming the next steps and keeping the momentum going.
- Solution Proposed. At this point, the buyer is interested in using your product to address their pain point or capitalize on an opportunity. You propose how your solution fits into their strategy, highlighting key benefits and value.
- Proposal Sent. This is the stage where the buyer reviews your proposal or contract. They’re now evaluating the specifics of your offering, like pricing, terms, and implementation.
Note: These stages can vary based on your product complexity. A simple product might have fewer sales pipeline stages, whereas a more complex one will require more detailed touchpoints and longer sales cycles. As your product becomes more sophisticated, your pipeline stages should evolve to meet the needs of your buyers.
2. Identify how many opportunities continue through each stage.
You should know how long prospects spend in each stage, both across the board and for closed/won deals. For example, the average prospect may spend two weeks in the demo stage, while those who eventually buy spend three weeks.
You should also know the percentage of opportunities that advance to the next stage.
And it’s critical to establish yield probability (or conversion rate) per stage. Perhaps prospects are 75% likely to buy in the demo stage and 90% likely to buy in the negotiation stage. Once you’ve assigned these percentages to each stage, you can develop monthly or quarterly revenue estimates.
Knowing these benchmarks will help your reps and sales managers predict which opportunities will likely close.
3. Calculate the opportunities you need to hit your goals.
Now you can work backward to determine how many opportunities you need in each pipeline stage. Start with your target monthly or quarterly revenue divided by your average deal size, so you know how many deals you need to win.
Next, divide your target deal number by your yield probability per stage. If you need to win 135 deals, and your reps typically close 90% of deals in the negotiation stage, 150 opportunities must reach that stage in a month.
Repeat this process for every stage. Once you have total milestones, you can divide these goals by salesperson.
Here’s an example from Bob Marsh, CEO of LevelEleven. Assume you need 2,000 deals per year to hit your target bookings.
- 2,000 deals/year = 167 deals per month
- 8,000 proposals/year = 667 proposals per month
- 32,000 meetings/year = 640 meetings per week
- 64,000 calls/year = 256 calls per day
If you have a 100-person team, that translates to:
- 167 deals per month/100 reps = 2 deals per month
- 667 proposals per month/100 reps = 7 proposals per month
- 640 meetings per week/100 reps = 7 meetings per week
- 256 conversations per day/100 reps = 3 calls per day
Salespeople can use these benchmarks to measure their progress against the targets.
Keep in mind that every rep‘s conversion rates will vary by stage. For example, if one of your salespeople struggles to prospect but has an excellent demo-to-close rate, they’ll need fewer initial meetings than their peers to meet the quota.
4. Understand the commonalities between opportunities that convert.
Next, pinpoint the common characteristics of opportunities that convert for every stage. This means looking for patterns in both the actions of your sales reps and the responses of your prospects.
For example, you may notice that leads who respond positively to follow-up emails within 48 hours are more likely to move forward. Or maybe prospects who ask detailed questions during your demo tend to close at a higher rate. These patterns give you valuable insight into which actions and interactions drive conversions.
You might also discover trends in the types of prospects who convert. Perhaps companies in a specific industry are more responsive, or leads from certain marketing channels (e.g., referral-based or inbound leads from high-value content) have a higher chance of success.
Recognizing these trends helps you not only refine your targeting and lead generation efforts but also streamline the sales process itself.
5. Create or adapt your sales process around this data.
Once you’ve identified the key actions and behaviors that drive successful conversions, shape your sales process around these insights. If you don’t have a defined sales process yet, this is the perfect opportunity to create one; if you do, it’s time to update it based on what the data is telling you.
For example, if you’ve found that follow-up emails within 48 hours increase conversion, build that timing into your process. Or if you know that leads who engage with specific content are more likely to convert, create actions in your process that prompt reps to share this content at key stages.
By adapting your sales process around these insights, you set your team up for more success and ensure that prospects move smoothly toward a close.
6. Continuously add leads to your pipeline.
Establishing a sales process isn’t enough, though. As many reps aren‘t too big on prospecting, it’s easy to end up with a dry sales pipeline once you build one.
Since many sales teams focus more on closing deals, they tend to forget prospecting for the upcoming month, and when the next month comes, they’re way behind their schedule.
In an ideal sales pipeline, you should always have more opportunities in the prospecting part than in the closing part. That’s because the number of prospects in each stage progressively decreases while the probability of closing progressively increases.
Even if you have enough leads for a month, it’s good to have a diversified prospecting strategy, so you keep adding new leads for upcoming months.
It shouldn’t always include traditional methods like cold calling; you can encourage reps to try multiple strategies. For example, HubSpot research shows that 72% of sales reps use social media to find qualified leads.
Lead generation and prospecting tools can also help by aggregating potential leads and tracking their status. That way, you always know how many leads you‘ve got and what stage they’re in.
7. Maintain the health of your pipeline.
Of prospects, 60% say no four times before saying yes. Still, nearly half of salespeople never follow up. This indicates that you‘ll definitely lose leads if you don’t establish a five (or more) step follow-up process throughout your sales pipeline.
Give your team a system for following up with leads, including timing, cadence, and contact method. Set clear expectations like:
- Every inbound lead is contacted within six hours or less.
- Every lead receives 10-12 touches spread out over one month.
- Every lead receives various email, phone, and social media touches.
- Every touch includes new information or resources.
If there are any relevant digital assets your organization manages for this purpose, they should be easily accessible to the sales team. Making these resources readily available can streamline follow-up efforts and ensure consistency in communication.
A uniform follow-up strategy helps your reps maintain clean pipelines by telling them when to disqualify prospects. If a prospect hasn’t responded by the last touch, you can remove them from the pipeline.
Pro tip: If you mainly follow up with leads via email, check out our free email template builder to streamline the process of creating follow-up emails.
8. Clean your sales pipeline regularly.
Cleaning up your sales pipeline is essential if you want accurate sales forecasts. Most forecasts rely on the stage each opportunity is in to estimate how likely it is to close. However, this doesn’t always tell the full story.
Say, you sent a proposal for a $2,000 deal to a prospect a month ago, but since then, they haven’t responded to any of your calls or emails. Despite being in the “negotiation” stage, this deal is clearly losing momentum.
If your sales forecast still counts it as a high-probability opportunity, you might overestimate your expected revenue for the next month. In reality, this deal may be a lost cause, and your forecast could be off by thousands of dollars.
The longer stale deals remain in your pipeline, the wider the gap between expectation and reality grows. This is why regularly cleaning your pipeline is so important. Take time to remove opportunities that are no longer viable and re-qualify the ones that are still active. This keeps your sales forecast aligned with what’s actually happening, allowing for more realistic planning.
Another crucial step is keeping your communication organized. Your email inbox is a key part of your sales process, so it should reflect the current status of your deals. By maintaining an organized inbox (using an inbox zero approach, for instance), you can quickly identify stale conversations or opportunities that need a follow-up.
You can automate this process with tools like Clean Email, which helps declutter your inbox and ensures you’re not missing any follow-ups that could push a deal over the line.
How to Run a Sales Pipeline Review
Just like a regular health check-up helps catch potential issues early, reviewing your sales pipeline regularly helps spot bottlenecks and inactive leads before they derail your efforts.
Here’s how you can run an effective sales pipeline review to keep things on track.
1. Gather relevant data.
First things first — gather all the essential data from your CRM and sales tools. This should include information on your current leads, conversion rates, deal sizes, and how long prospects are spending in each stage of your pipeline.
In my experience, the best sales teams always have accurate, up-to-date data. Detailed reports and analytics give you a clear view of your pipeline’s health and allow you to pinpoint areas that need attention. If your data isn’t up to date, the review process won’t give you a true picture of what’s really going on, which can lead to missed opportunities or wasted efforts.
2. Prepare a clear agenda and structure.
Before the review, I suggest creating a structured agenda that outlines specific topics to cover. I recommend using a framework like the Create-Advance-Close model to organize the discussion.
For example, if I were a salesperson, I would allocate time to discuss new deals entering the pipeline (Create), deals progressing through stages (Advance), and deals nearing closure (Close). I would also ensure that clear time limits are set for each section to maintain focus. Without this, reps can easily go off on a tangent and turn the review session into extended coaching sessions.
This structure helps ensure the meeting stays on track and covers all crucial aspects of the pipeline, from lead generation to deal closure.
3. Review key pipeline metrics.
I recommend kicking off your pipeline review meeting by focusing on key pipeline metrics that offer actionable insights. Look at metrics like the number of qualified leads, MQL to SQL conversion rates, win rate, average deal size, and the length of your sales cycle. These metrics give you a snapshot of your pipeline’s overall health and performance.
I also suggest discussing any significant shifts or trends in these metrics compared to previous periods. For example, if you notice a dip in your win rate or a slowdown in the sales cycle, this could signal areas that need attention. A data-driven approach like this helps ensure that the conversation remains objective and focused on what truly matters.
When discussing these trends, dive deeper into any metrics that show concerning patterns or unexpected changes. This helps uncover the root causes and allows your team to adjust strategies accordingly.
4. Analyze deal movement and stagnation.
One of the most critical steps in a sales pipeline review is identifying where deals are stalling or getting stuck. These bottlenecks can significantly impact your ability to close deals and forecast revenue accurately.
Start by looking at where deals are stagnating in the pipeline. Are leads stuck in the “proposal” stage for weeks without progress? Are opportunities in the “negotiation” stage going quiet with no responses? Understanding why this is happening is key to fixing the problem.
There are a number of reasons why deals stall:
- Inadequate follow-up. If your sales reps aren’t following up consistently or at the right times, prospects might lose interest or simply forget about the deal. According to LeanData, 38% of reps take more than two weeks to follow up on newly assigned leads. You’ll want to look for patterns where opportunities might be slipping through the cracks and ensure there’s a clear follow-up strategy in place.
- Poor lead quality. Sometimes deals stall because the initial leads weren’t well-qualified. Maybe the leads don’t have the real need for your solution or lack the authority to make a purchasing decision. It’s essential to evaluate whether your lead qualification process is strong enough or if certain types of leads should be filtered out earlier in the pipeline.
- Issues with the sales pitch. If leads are dropping off after a pitch or demo, the issue might lie in how the value of your solution is being communicated. Perhaps your pitch isn‘t addressing the key pain points of the prospect, or you’re not showing them the full ROI of the product. In this case, adjusting your approach and providing your sales team with better tools or training can help move deals forward.
Pointing out these obstacles helps the team take targeted actions to resolve them, ensuring smoother transitions through each pipeline stage.
5. Update and adjust strategies.
Based on the insights you’ve gathered, update and refine your sales strategies. Successful teams regularly adjust their approach — whether it’s revising lead qualification criteria, refining sales pitches, or adopting new tools to streamline processes.
For example, if you’re bringing in too many low-quality leads, it’s time to tighten your criteria. If your sales team struggles to close deals, maybe your pitch needs to better address objections or highlight key benefits.
Implementing new tools can also help, such as CRM systems or email automation, to improve efficiency and keep follow-ups on track.
Clear communication of these changes is key. Make sure your team understands why the adjustments are being made and offer training to ensure everyone is aligned. Regular strategy updates keep your pipeline dynamic and help you stay competitive in a changing market.
6. Create an accountability mechanism for reps and managers.
One major pitfall in pipeline reviews is the lack of accountability for both you and your team. To avoid this, make sure you establish clear action items for everyone involved before concluding the review. These should be specific, measurable, and time-bound.
I’ve noticed that business-savvy teams assign ownership for each action item and set deadlines. Additionally, they agree on how progress will be tracked and when these items will be reviewed next.
This step ensures that the insights gained during the review translate into concrete actions that move deals forward.
Sales Pipeline Reviews vs. Sales Forecast Reviews
While both sales pipeline reviews and sales forecast reviews are essential for your team’s success, it’s important to keep them separate.
A sales forecast review focuses specifically on deals that are likely to close within a given timeframe. The goal here is to help you and your team predict whether you’ll hit your quota. This review looks at the deals already in the pipeline and assesses their likelihood of closing, based on factors like the stage they’re in and historical conversion rates. It’s a forward-looking meeting that gives managers a clear picture of whether they’re on track to meet their sales targets.
On the other hand, a sales pipeline review is all about moving deals through the sales process more efficiently. This meeting should center around fresh sales opportunities — the leads that are still early in the pipeline. It’s a strategic look at where prospects are getting stuck or stalled, and how to help them move forward. The focus is on optimizing the pipeline, not just forecasting future outcomes.
I’ve noticed sales managers make the mistake of jumping in to help during the later stages of the sales process, often when it’s too late to make a meaningful impact. At this point, the deal is already in motion, and the outcome is harder to influence.
To truly make a difference, managers should be involved earlier on, during the initial stages of the opportunity, where their guidance can shape the strategy, address potential obstacles, and prevent issues from developing down the line.
How to Clean Up Your Sales Pipeline
I’ve always believed that a clean, well-organized sales pipeline is the key to maximizing efficiency and closing more deals. Firms with structured pipelines achieved a 16% higher win rate, indicating that a clear and organized pipeline directly contributes to closing more deals.
Over the years, I‘ve seen systematic approaches keep pipelines neat and tidy, and I’m excited to share these tips with you.
1. Review and remove stagnant leads.
Identify leads that have been in the same stage for too long. These stagnant leads are unlikely to convert and only clutter your pipeline.
Use your CRM to filter out these leads based on inactivity. Once identified, either remove them or move them to a nurture campaign if there’s potential for future engagement. Research shows that 80% of new leads never translate into sales due to a lack of lead nurturing. This means that if you nurture them, they might convert into a sale.
Regularly clearing out these leads keeps your pipeline dynamic and focused on active prospects.
2. Requalify existing leads.
Over time, some leads in your pipeline may not have been fully qualified, or their circumstances may have changed. For example, a lead who seemed interested in your product a few months ago might now be dealing with budget cuts or a shift in company priorities.
It’s important to regularly requalify leads to ensure you’re focusing your energy on the right prospects. This process involves reassessing your leads based on updated criteria such as budget, authority, need, and timeline (BANT).
Requalifying your leads isn’t just about weeding out the unqualified ones; it’s also an opportunity to gather fresh information. During this process, you can update outdated contact details, refresh notes on the prospect’s pain points, or confirm any new decision-makers.
This ensures your pipeline is populated with the most relevant and up-to-date information, which in turn strengthens your sales strategy.
3. Update contact information.
Many deals are lost when decision-makers change within an organization. As a sales rep, it’s vital to stay informed about any personnel changes in your prospect’s company. If a key decision-maker leaves, you may need to move the deal back to the qualification stage to identify the new point of contact and rebuild the relationship.
It’s also important to verify close dates and make sure they align with the reality of the deal. If the close date is too optimistic, adjust it to reflect the true timeline; if it’s too far out, you may miss the chance to push the deal forward sooner.
Don’t forget to double-check the opportunity dollar values as well. If they’re set too high, your sales forecast might be overly optimistic, while too low a value could make you think you’re farther from your goal than you actually are. Keeping these numbers accurate helps you stay grounded and better manage expectations.
4. Follow up with cold leads.
Leads can sometimes go cold if they haven’t been contacted recently. Implement a follow-up strategy to re-engage these leads. Send personalized emails or make follow-up calls to check in and revive interest.
If a lead remains unresponsive after several attempts, consider removing them from your active pipeline. This ensures you focus on leads that are more likely to convert.
Pro tip: I recommend using automation tools to handle routine tasks like follow-up emails and data entry. Automation reduces the chances of human error and frees up your time for more strategic activities. Set up automated workflows in your CRM to ensure consistent follow-up and lead nurturing. This keeps your pipeline moving smoothly and ensures no lead falls through the cracks.
5. Streamline your pipeline stages.
Over time, sales pipelines can become bloated with too many stages or overly complex processes that slow down progress and create confusion. To ensure that your pipeline remains effective and manageable, regularly evaluate and streamline your sales pipeline stages.
Start by checking if any stage is redundant or no longer aligns with how prospects move through the buying journey. Are there too many steps between qualification and closing? Are certain stages causing unnecessary friction or delays? For instance, if you have a “follow-up” stage after every meeting, but it’s not adding value or leading to more sales, consider eliminating it.
By simplifying your pipeline, you make it easier for sales reps to manage leads, ensure consistent follow-ups, and avoid confusion. A streamlined pipeline also helps reduce the risk of deals getting lost or stuck in overly complicated processes, allowing your team to focus on what really matters — closing deals and driving revenue.
Sales Pipeline Analysis: Key Sales Pipeline Metrics to Track
When reviewing your pipeline, you should know some baseline metrics to help determine whether your pipeline is healthy. Use these metrics to gauge the health of your sales pipeline — and, from there, the health of your team, department, and business.
While there are many sales pipeline analysis metrics to consider, I’ve narrowed it down to six key indicators that provide the most valuable insights for optimizing sales performance and forecasting.
1. Number of Qualified Leads
Tracking the number of qualified leads entering your pipeline each month is crucial. This metric shows if your lead generation efforts are effective. For example, if you receive 200 leads in a month and qualify 50 of them, your qualification rate is 25%.
This metric will help you understand the quality of your leads and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly.
Use this metric to gauge the workload and identify if you have enough opportunities to meet your sales targets.
Pro tip: Ensure the deals are evenly distributed across different stages to prevent bottlenecks.
2. MQL to SQL Conversion Rates
MQL to SQL conversion rate measures the percentage of marketing-qualified leads that become sales-qualified leads. It’s a reliable way to assess lead quality and indicates the success of your lead generation campaigns.
The average MQL to SQL conversion rate across popular industries is about 16%. This means that for every 100 MQLs, a marketing campaign should aim to convert at least 16 into SQLs.
To calculate, divide the number of leads that advance by the total number of leads at the initial stage and multiply by 100.
You can use this metric to identify strengths and weaknesses in your sales process and to optimize each stage for better conversion.
3. Win Rate
Win rate measures the percentage of closed deals out of the total opportunities. It helps gauge the effectiveness of your sales process and team performance.
The win rate percentage is calculated by dividing the number of closed deals by the number of leads, opportunities, or meetings. This can also be done for each stage of the sales process.
For example, if you had 50 opportunities and closed 10 deals, your win rate is 20%. This metric indicates your overall sales effectiveness.
4. Average Deal Size
Average deal size indicates the typical value of closed deals.
Formula: Total revenue from all deals / Number of deals. For example, if you have $500,000 in total revenue from 50 deals, the average deal size is $500,000 / 50 = $10,000.
Knowing your average deal size helps you set realistic sales targets and forecasts and can guide your focus toward higher-value opportunities. To increase it, focus on increasing this metric by upselling and cross-selling.
5. Sales Cycle Length
Sales cycle length measures the average time it takes to close a deal from the initial contact to closing.
Formula: Total number of days to close all deals / Number of deals. If it takes 1,000 days to close 50 deals, the average sales cycle length is 1,000 / 50 = 20 days.
This metric helps identify inefficiencies in your sales process and areas for improvement, aiming to shorten the cycle and close deals faster.
6. Sales Pipeline Velocity
Pipeline velocity is one of the key sales pipeline analysis metrics, and it measures the speed at which leads move through your sales pipeline.
Calculate it using the formula: (Number of Opportunities x Win Rate x Average Deal Size) / Sales Cycle Length.
For instance, suppose you have 50 opportunities in your sales pipeline. Your average win rate is 40%, and your average deal size is $10,000. The sales process usually takes 70 days, from the initial contact to the signed proposal.
Your pipeline velocity = 50 x .4 x 10,000 / 70, or $2,587.14.
That means approximately $2,587.14 is moving through your sales pipeline every day. Obviously, the higher your velocity, the better.
So, how can you increase the pipeline velocity?
You can pull four main levers, and unsurprisingly, they correlate to the four factors of the equation.
- The number of total opportunities. Increase your prospecting efforts to get more opportunities.
- Win rate. One-on-one weekly coaching helps sales reps deliver high performance. You can improve this metric by investing in sales training and enablement.
- Deal size. Help your reps sell bigger deals by teaching them how to upsell, cross-sell, or target larger customers.
- Sales cycle. Have a well-defined sales process and ensure reps follow it. Leave room to test new strategies like the growth of AI or buyers’ preference for virtual shopping, and adapt accordingly to reduce your sales cycle.
An Easy Sales Pipeline Template
A sales pipeline template lets you set up your pipeline in a spreadsheet. Simply plug in each deal, its expected value, and the probability of closing, and you’ll get the weighted average for that deal.
This sales pipeline template also has columns for the assigned salesperson, the prospect’s contact information, and the next steps.
Download HubSpot’s Free Sales Pipeline Template
While you can manage your sales pipeline in an Excel spreadsheet, using a CRM is much easier. The HubSpot CRM gives you an up-to-date view of your sales pipeline, multiple ways to sort your deals, automatic activity tracking (so you don’t need to log calls or emails manually), and detailed contact records for every lead.
Sales Pipeline Report
The next step in managing your sales pipeline is creating reports. Using reports, you can predict when opportunities will close and get a clearer picture of the pipeline’s health. But what should you include in your sales pipeline report?
- The number of opportunities in the pipeline. This is an excellent indicator of whether a pipeline has enough opportunities to meet revenue goals and quotas.
- Opportunity sizes. If an opportunity closes, how much value will it provide to the sales team?
- Close date for each opportunity. This tells you when an opportunity might close. It also allows salespeople and managers to forecast expected revenue.
- An overview of the pipeline over time. Is your pipeline growing? Zooming out and looking at the pipeline history will show you the answer.
Ready for Sales Pipeline Management?
Mastering your sales pipeline means mastering your results. The sales pipeline benefits the entire organization, not just the sales team. When everyone aligns around revenue goals, every team succeeds.
A well-managed pipeline is dynamic, requiring constant attention, regular reviews, and adaptability to market changes and customer behaviors. Successful sales leaders and reps view their pipeline as a strategic asset, not just a reporting tool.
Whether your business faces disruption from new competitors, major opportunities, industry shifts, or internal changes, use these tips and the sales pipeline template to forecast your deals and manage your sales pipeline effectively.
The future of SEO: How people will get their questions answered in 2+ years
I’m optimistic about the future of SEO, and I want everyone who reads this to feel the same. Of course, I can’t deny that things are changing, and I’m preparing for many major shifts over the next few years regarding AI and the future of […]
MarketingI’m optimistic about the future of SEO, and I want everyone who reads this to feel the same. Of course, I can’t deny that things are changing, and I’m preparing for many major shifts over the next few years regarding AI and the future of SEO.
Advancements like Google’s integration of generative AI into search are already changing the digital search landscape, and yes, we can’t deny it: people are using LLMs to solve problems and even buy products. But, to what degree is this new type of search taking over, and how do we prepare?
![Download Now: The Annual State of Artificial Intelligence in 2024 [Free Report]](https://no-cache.hubspot.com/cta/default/53/b72f2b25-8cc9-4642-9a1b-1e675d3d273b.png)
Many web analysts, SEO strategists, and writers are learning how to leverage AI to create stronger websites and more effective content. This will greatly alter how your competitors approach content creation — and it should alter how you approach it, too.
To shed light on the future of SEO, we’ve reached out to SEO experts at Semrush, Search Engine Journal, and HubSpot. Keep reading to learn how you should prepare your SEO strategy for 2025 and beyond. And if you want to learn more about the latest in marketing, check out our latest State of Marketing Report.
Predictions on the Future of SEO, and How You Should Prepare [Data + Expert Insights]
There’s no doubt that with the rise of AI, the future of SEO can feel uncertain, but after working in this industry for over ten years, I can honestly say I’m not worried. SEO has always been uncertain and ever-changing; that’s what makes it so exciting, challenging, and, yes, admittedly, a bit stressful at times.
I was very careful with the predictions I included in this article. I desperately wanted to balance the narrative about AI and the future of SEO. Please read all the predictions and remember to consider that two things can be true at once:
- AI is great and impactful.
- AI has its limitations.
1. The LLM hype will peak.
I’m going to start with this prediction because I think it instantly adds balance to this discussion.
I know I’m not alone in thinking that AI, generative content, and marketing shortcuts are not always what they seem. The problem is that the hype around AI, the promise of faster, better, and cheaper, is muddying the water. Online, it feels like the benefits of AI are shared far more than the consequences of over-reliance.
With the overly optimistic outlook about AI’s role in the future of SEO, even I can feel under pressure and challenged by clients who, unbeknownst to them, are asking for a sub-par process using AI because someone on LinkedIn shared their AI miracle.
Let me tell you: I was relieved when experienced and respected SEO Mark Williams-Cook shared his thoughts on LLMs and a prediction that we’re near the peak of where we’re going to be with LLMs.
Williams-Cook is the director of Candour and founder of AlsoAsked. I’ve been following Williams-Cook for years on LinkedIn and have always appreciated his contribution to SEO, which includes his unsolicited SEO tips and well-rounded, well-researched, and sophisticated take on the SEO landscape.
With twenty years of experience in SEO, he stays close to what’s happening in the industry and keeps us all updated in his newsletter, Core Updates. Williams-Cook also shares unmissable SEO insights on the Search with Candour podcast.
It’s fair to say that he’s learned a lot about how the SEO landscape changes, and importantly for this article, how people respond to new and exciting developments like AI.
Williams-Cook says, “In terms of the hype cycle, I feel we’re near the peak of where we are going to be with LLMs now. There are a couple of realities that are starting to hit home.”
Williams-Cook notes that the big one is the unsolved problem of hallucinations.
“Many tasks require a series of objectively correct answers, but the very technological nature and, in fact, the ‘magic’ of LLMs, means hallucinations are unavoidable in the base models,” Williams-Cook says.
For those who don’t know, ‘hallucination’ refers to irrelevant, false, and/or inconsistent content generated from LLMs. Naturally, it reduces trust and, if unnoticed, could be catastrophic for businesses.
Below is one of the less serious but completely useless examples of hallucination. AI overviews provide the exact same phone number for a number of businesses.
Williams-Cook brings some data about hallucination rates.
“OpenAI’s technical card for ChatGPT 4.5 stated a 19% hallucination rate on a test designed to catch them; however, it scored a 37% hallucination rate on SimpleQA, a standardized test that asks for facts about known entities published on websites that rank,” he says.
Williams-Cook shares that there are attempts at “grounding’ this output. Arguably, Google is best placed to do so with its extensive web index and scoring metrics. However, Williams-Cook points out that attempts to do so reliably seem to be failing to scale, with Google returning hallucinated information.
Williams-Cook continues, “While LLMs can be useful, the danger is that the public at large has no idea how these tools are working, and we’ve been trained at large to ‘trust’ Google and others as a brand for many years. When we hear ‘AI’, a lot of people will automatically think it is something ‘intelligent’, rather than a very fancy but spicy predictive text.”
According to Williams-Cook, the byproduct of generating likely text so confidently is that it sounds so believable. Studies have shown that not only are LLMs wrong a staggering amount of the time, but they are confidently wrong.
Williams-Cook told me a story where a client used AI for a scientific piece. The AI cited studies, including titles, researcher names, and even the year a study took place.
The client’s in-house expert reviewed the content. The verdict? Well, the study was a complete hallucination. It was entirely false. Because of how the AI wrote the content (with conviction), the study looked completely legitimate to the average reader.
It would be very easy to publish falsities using AI. So, marketers (and everyone) must review every word of AI. Luckily for the client, they work with educated industry experts who spotted the incorrect study. Anyone less qualified could easily have missed it. I would’ve.
Williams-Cook believes that we’ll see an erosion in public trust in these tools as this becomes clearer. He points to an “agentic” future, in which AI agents can perform research and multi-step tasks completely independently. Williams-Cook speculates that this will likely end up being an entirely separate technology to LLMs, but it will still need a source of truth.
“Whichever scenario plays out, many of the principles of what we are currently doing will hold true, as they are fundamentally user-centric,” he says. Both outcomes lead to an erosion in public trust.
I believe marketers have a greater understanding of how LLMs work. In fact, for many marketers, the limitations of AI are not news. In HubSpot’s latest survey on the State of AI Marketing, marketers expressed that barriers to using AI tools included:
- Data privacy concerns. Almost half (42.67%) of people surveyed were concerned about data privacy.
- Role security concerns. Over one-quarter (25.16%) of people surveyed were concerned with security.
- Ethical or legal compliance concerns were shared by 22.05% of those surveyed.
Why I liked this prediction: As above, it brought balance. Additionally, I can absolutely see the narrative change as everyone understands the limitations of AI. I believe this will reduce the over-reliance on AI and increase the AI user’s understanding of the value of SOPs when using AI. No business should risk its brand integrity.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI and SEO?
Well, it means we have to be careful when we use AI. I often use AI as a tool. Sometimes, I generate a bit of content, and I love writing. I don’t deny it can be very useful, but a human edit is critical.
2. Conversion from LLMs will increase.
There’s certainty that conversions from LLMs will increase. The facts are, a year or two ago, we didn’t get any conversions from LLMs because they didn’t exist, so the only way is up.
Before I get into this section, it’s vital you remember that we’re still dealing with small datasets when discussing conversions from LLMs. The vast majority of search is still happening on Google. An article by Danny Goodwin in Search Engine Land rounds up a few studies and reports:
- Even if every single one of ChatGPT’s one billion daily prompts were search-related, it would still account for under 1% of global search activity.
- Only about 30% of prompts resemble traditional search behavior.
- Google handled more than 5 trillion searches in 2024 — roughly 14 billion per day — holding onto a dominant 93.57% share of the global search market.
- By comparison, ChatGPT handled around 37.5 million search-style queries each day — a tiny 0.25% slice of the pie.
- ChatGPT’s search share is less than Bing (4.10%), Yahoo (1.35%), and DuckDuckGo (0.73%).
All this said, I don’t think we can ignore the role of AI, the future of SEO, and how it impacts user behavior when considering a product or service.
I was “chatting” with ChatGPT last week about a purchase. I was torn between two brands at very different price points, and it was a conversation with ChatGPT that helped me decide which product to choose.
Nate Tower, president at Perrill, has some interesting data and insights about conversions in LLMs.
In a LinkedIn post, Tower boldly stated that “traffic from ChatGPT and Perplexity is converting at higher rates than any other channel right now.”
Tower believes that ChatGPT and other AI-driven search engines generate higher conversions because users view them and ‘talk’ to them “more like colleagues and friends.”
While the conversion rates are higher, Tower admits that “volume is really low compared to other channels, but there is a potential goldmine of high-quality users waiting for you on ChatGPT.”
I was curious about Tower’s statements and wanted to know if he had the data to support what he was saying, and he did.
Tower shared four data sets from four industries:
- B2B services.
- B2B manufacturing.
- B2B healthcare.
- SaaS.
Some of the findings from this data include:
- Across each industry, conversions from LLMs were higher.
- In the most extreme instance, LLMs converted at 7.75% for the SaaS company compared with a sitewide conversion of 0.47%.
- In many cases, LLM conversion rates were two to three times the sitewide conversion rate.
- Conversion rates have been as high as sixteen times the sitewide conversion rate.
- There are a few cases, particularly in ecommerce, where conversion rates from LLMs are not performing as high as other channels.
Tower predicts that AI search provides a huge opportunity for smaller brands to make their mark in generative engines. Tower says, “Prompts on ChatGPT and other tools are hyper-specific to the user’s needs, giving smaller brands more opportunity to appear as the top recommended option.”
Tower gives an example where a Google user might search “best CRM” or “best CRM for a manufacturing company.”
“On ChatGPT, that same user is providing a very specific prompt like ‘Please recommend a CRM for a $100M metal fabrication company with six sales reps spread out over six territories in multiple countries…’ And often the prompt is more specific than that,” Tower says.
I strongly agree with what Tower is saying here. AI search does provide an opportunity for smaller brands to reach their prospects by showcasing how they can meet their specific needs and differentiate themselves.
However, as AI search develops, I predict there will be barriers to getting visibility in the search, as we see on Google. At the moment, my experience is that the AI search, such as ChatGPT, only shows sites that are performing well in Google, meaning you need a site that can reach the top spots in Google before you’ll get visibility in AI search, and we all know that is no easy feat. Equally, as SEOs know, the algorithm is always trying to provide the best results, and often this isn’t in favor of small businesses.
Top tips:
- You can start tracking your visibility in AI search now. Take a look at Kyle Rushton McGregor’s Looker Studio AI traffic tracker.
- You can also view conversions from people who landed on a page from an AI tool and converted. The screenshot below shows the landing page report with sales made, showing the page the user landed on, the session source, and total revenue.
- You can use HubSpot’s AI Search Grader to understand how LLMs view your brand. It’s easy to use.
With HubSpot’s AI Search Grader, you’ll find your:
- Brand sentiment.
- Share of voice.
- Overview of how your brand is perceived (positive, negative, or neutral).
- General analysis.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI and SEO?
AI search is currently playing a small role in the buyer journey. Although small, early data suggests that AI search and LLMs could be quite a significant part of the decision process. We can also see that Google is by far the most used search engine, and SEOs should be mindful of this while gently pivoting strategies to increase visibility in LLMs.
So far, good SEO that takes a consumer-first approach is what helps brands secure ranks on Google and visibility in AI.
3. Audiences will still want answers from real people.
“AI will change how search works,” says Andy Crestodina of Orbit Media Studios. “You may already find it at the top of many search results.”
However, Crestodina says your audience will still look to your company for answers.
“Your audience needs your help and expertise. As subject matter experts in our niches, we can still publish helpful, useful articles and that content can still be discovered, in search results, in AI overviews, or in prompt responses in the AI apps,” he explains.
Crestodina says we are still subject matter experts in our niches and that our brands can become the most helpful resource to prospective customers. Marketers just have to adapt.
“Likely, the brand with the biggest digital footprint will win,” he says.
And Crestodina believes a brand can win by:
- Writing for many websites beyond their own blog.
- Collaborating with influencers, especially those who create content.
- Appearing on lists, directories, and podcasts.
- Conducting original research and making their site the primary source for new data.
- Doubling down on social media and email marketing.
- Recording videos and making sure the transcript includes the elevator pitch for the brand.
- Publishing true thought leadership because strong opinion is the fastest way to differentiate human-made content from AI-generated content.
In other words, show off your industry expertise while leveraging as many channels as you can to get your brand in front of your audience and in their ears.
“With a few changes to your content strategy, you may be well suited to win in the new era of content discovery, where you optimize for search, but also optimize the AI, training it to recommend your company and your content,” Crestodina says.
Top tip: If you‘re unsure how to get started on updating your content strategy in the age of AI, HubSpot’s AI Search Grader will come in handy.
It’s a first-of-its-kind, free app that quickly analyzes your brand based on what your prospects & customers are seeing across AI search engines — then gives you actionable recommendations on how to improve.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI and SEO?
Human-written content is far from over, writers, especially industry experts, are still very much in need; they are critical to a content strategy that continues to move the needle for businesses.
4. Human-written content will continue to form the basis of AI responses.
As a follow-up to the prediction above, Yannick Van Noy has some thoughts on the role human-written content plays and will continue to play in the future of SEO and AI search.
Yannick Van Noy is the founder and CEO of Alpha Strategy & Marketing. I happen to know that Van Noy’s SEO knowledge is excellent because he recently audited my work. I found his understanding of SEO to be vast, considered, in-depth, balanced, and sophisticated. We had many discussions about SEO, and one particular story stands out.
First, Van Noy’s predictions for the future of SEO and AI. He says, “In the next two to three years, I believe we’ll see a more nuanced approach to how people use search engines versus AI tools.”
Van Noy echoes Nate Tower’s point about the importance of nuance, explaining that AI shines in situations where users are dealing with complex or layered problems.
“AI is incredibly useful for tackling highly complex or nuanced problems — situations where users need a personalized solution, are debugging a technical issue, or are navigating something that doesn’t have a straightforward answer,” he says.
In these cases, AI can offer faster, more synthesized responses than traditional search, which often requires digging through dozens of links. However, Van Noy draws a clear distinction between those scenarios and more straightforward queries.
“For more conventional searches — such as finding a restaurant, shopping for products, looking up tutorials, or following instructions — Google and other search engines will remain the go-to,” he explains.
Existing search tools are already optimized for these tasks through blog posts, forums, and reviews, and AI isn’t expected to replace that. “Just like calculators didn’t replace basic arithmetic in our heads, AI won’t replace simple search habits — it’ll just fill the gaps where traditional search struggles.”
He adds that the content we create for search today — blogs, news articles, how-to guides — will continue to matter in the age of AI.
“If anything, they’ll remain a foundation for AI responses. The future will be about knowing which tool fits the job: AI for context-heavy, layered questions, and search engines for everything that’s already been well-documented and indexed,” he explained.
Van Noy has a great story to illustrate the importance of human-written content in a digital world that may move toward AI search in some instances. Van Noy and his team had an article to edit. The article was already ranking on page one, rank one, but they wanted to keep the article updated.
The team turned to AI to research the topic, but of course, with their article ranking page one, rank one, all the AI could do was regurgitate his own article back at them. The AI didn’t have new data to add anything insightful. The topic was already covered in full, so new insights needed to be added by a human.
According to HubSpot’s data from the State of Marketing, 64% of marketers surveyed are using generative AI for text-based content creation such as blogs, ebooks, marketing email copy, press releases, product descriptions, text-based social posts.
A study by Originality.ai shows that content ranking on Google that includes AI is rapidly increasing. I can see that this may continue for a while; however, we should, in theory, hit a point where human-written content is absolutely critical, and the hype around this will increase.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI and SEO?
It is absolutely essential that you don’t abandon human-written and human-reviewed content. Although things look great for AI now, we know AI is limited in what it can share. While using AI, your content can only be as good as others have input. If your brand has any unique insights or pioneering thoughts, AI simply won’t be good enough.
5. SEO evolves to include LLMs.
Although Google is the go-to for online search, we can’t deny that SEO is evolving, and visibility in LLMs matters.
Daniel Foley Carter is a highly respected SEO expert with over 26 years of experience across all areas of the industry. He’s currently the director at the digital agency Assertive, as well as the director of SEO Audits, known for its in-depth audits that go beyond SEO to include metrics like user engagement. He also leads SEO Stack, a tool designed to enhance the power of Google Search Console.
I’ve followed Foley Carter for years on LinkedIn and always appreciate his direct and informed perspectives on SEO. To help conceptualize his dedication to SEO, I can tell you that he recently shared a six-hour webinar on technical SEO.
When asked about the future of SEO and AI, Foley Carter says, “With the advent of machine learning and AI, we’re seeing faster and more impactful progression in the SEO space.”
Foley Carter explains that, given Google’s stranglehold on the search market and the fact that it has the largest index of documents on the planet, it’s primed to lead progress in search. We know that competing engines such as ChatGPT and BING have pushed forward Google’s integration of AI into search.
As search becomes more conversational, Foley Carter notes, the way people interact with information is already starting to shift — something we’re seeing with tools like Google’s AI Overviews (AIOs) and emerging conversational search features.
According to Foley Carter, “conventional SEO is most definitely going to be phased out as Google isn’t reliant on the things it used to be.”
With both technology and user behavior evolving, the strategies behind search optimization will need to adapt as well. Foley Carter predicts that SEO as a skill will see a shifting need to optimize for LLMs. That includes strengthening the selection of citation sources.
In other words, it’s no longer just about ranking well in traditional search — it’s about showing up in AI-generated results and being seen as a credible, high-quality source.
“With LLMs growing, we’re going to see a paradigm shift in a lot of industries, but, fundamentally, end users’ needs need to be met with good quality results, whether they are AIOs or traditional search results,” Folly Carter says. “Subsequently, being present in both is going to be crucial to maintain traffic and to drive conversions/revenue.”
While this may sound like a steep change, he ensures that SEO will continue to incorporate the fundamentals for crawlers, addressing things such as rendering, DOM output, good technical practice, and structured data. However, the field will also rely more heavily on trust signals as well as content types that are more likely to be used in AIO generation or citing.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI and SEO?
I wanted to bring Foley Carter’s insights after the prediction above (that human-written content will continue to form the basis of search) because the two are very linked.
Foley Carter says that SEO will optimize for LLMs to strengthen the selection of citation sources; ultimately, without human-written content and excellent SEO (which is also what gets brands into LLMs), there won’t be new content in the LLMs. SEO is the ticket to visibility in AI search.
6. The type of content that performs best will change tremendously over the next year.
HubSpot’s Senior Director of SEO Global Growth Aja Frost told me that Google is prioritizing “first-person, credible, personality-driven content.” This is a response to the exponential increase in the amount of AI-written, low-value content.
The shift to personality-driven content makes sense. If Google’s consumers are flooded with low-value AI content, Google knows:
- The content isn’t going to resonate with their audience, and
- Their AI models won’t have enough new information to keep learning and adapting.
So, what does this mean for the future of SEO?
For Frost and her SEO team at HubSpot, it means drastically increasing their investments in authoritative, human-first perspectives.
And, it means reimagining HubSpot’s existing strategy, with a greater emphasis on perspective-driven content and emerging channels.
7. Human-first perspectives will win over more traditional, educational posts.
Over the next few years, expect to see branded content that is written from the perspective and experience of the content’s creator.
“For years, most companies I wrote for required me to write in their brand‘s voice,” HubSpot Blogger Erica Santiago recalls. “I never had to dive into my own experiences or pepper in my own sense of humor. It was all very clinical, detached. And that was the tone of most branded listicles and articles I’d find in my own search results as well.”
But she says she’s already seeing and experiencing a shift as AI gains more traction in SERPs.
“I wrote an article recently for HubSpot about email marketing trends, and I ended up citing marketing emails in my own personal inbox to ensure I was writing perspective-driven content that AI couldn’t emulate,” she says.
Santiago explains, “Now, when I read branded content, I notice writers are citing their own unique experiences and injecting their personality as well.”
Frost told me that she no longer distinguishes between SEO and editorial. For a post to rank, it needs to meet certain criteria for both.
She says, “That means looking at every piece of content and asking, ‘How do we make this a really unique, compelling piece of content that you can’t find anywhere else on the web?’ And ‘how can we ensure it‘s written by someone who has unique expertise on the topic?’”
8. Brands will have to optimize their content for voice search.
AI is used in voice search to improve language recognition, personalization, and accuracy. As AI becomes more integrated in search engines like Google, users will likely see more improvements in tools like voice search.
It’s also worth noting that voice search is being used more and more when searching for information online.
According to DataReportal, 30% of internet users aged 16-64 worldwide use voice assistants each week. What’s more, 45% of Americans report using voice search on their smartphones.
So, what does this mean for the future of SEO?
Well, it simply means brands will need to optimize their content for voice search results. Marketers can do this by:
- Leveraging featured snippets.
- Optimize your website for mobile users.
- Use long-tail keywords and words like “how,” “what,” and “where” when possible.
9. Web analysts predict trustworthiness will become the most important ranking factor in the SERPs.
When it comes to Google’s E-E-A-T, web analysts say that trustworthiness will become the most important factor in ranking highly on SERPs, followed by expertise, experience, and authoritativeness.
It makes sense that trustworthiness will continue to matter most in the coming years since trustworthiness is essentially the sum total of the other three rating factors.
In other words, your website’s rating for expertise, experience, and authoritativeness helps Google dictate how trustworthy your website is overall.
I spoke with Katie Morton, Search Engine Journal’s senior managing growth editor, to learn her tips for increasing trustworthiness.
She told me, “Since Experience, Expertise, and Authoritativeness support Trust, it’s best to look at the whole of the E-E-A-T concept rather than focusing on any single aspect of the acronym.”
That said, Morton points out that Google’s Search Quality Rater Guidelines specifically call out the following three points to increase Trust:
- E-commerce sites with secure online payment systems and reliable customer service.
- Honest product reviews meant to inform rather than solely to drive purchases.
- Accurate content about Your Money or Your Life (YMYL) topics to prevent harm.
For companies looking to increase trustworthiness, again, it’s important to address all aspects of E-E-A-T. Here are her suggestions:
Expert Authors
Source content from authors with direct experience, a depth of knowledge, and expertise in the topic they are writing about. Anyone could Google a subject and write an article about it, but if the writer isn’t a subject matter expert, this doesn’t establish E-E-A-T.
Having recognized experts and authorities in your industry as authors on your site can boost the credibility of your website and brand. On your website, provide bios of your authors and content creators that include their expertise, experience, and credentials.
Accurate Content from Trusted Sources
Publish truthful and well-researched content that cites credible sources. Support claims via the experience and expertise of the author’s first-hand knowledge, with research and statistics from trustworthy sources, or both.
Originality and Value
Ensure that your content is original, substantial, comprehensive, and provides valuable insights. Content that provides value to users is more likely to be shared. When a piece of content gets positive attention through shares and backlinks, it can lend a sense of authority when your content is cited as a trusted source.
Morton adds, “It takes a lot of effort to create content that establishes E-E-A-T, but the results are well worth it. If you follow these suggestions, you will also create Helpful Content, which Google strongly encourages.”
This can help serve both your business and your audience while establishing a positive brand reputation.
10. Marketers will leverage social search and other platforms.
Search engines are still dominant, but social search is growing in popularity, especially among Gen Z, Millennials, and Gen X.
In fact, 31% of consumers use social search when looking for answers to questions online, and 1 in 4 consumers aged 18-54 actually prefer social search over search engines.
This could have a major impact on the future of SEO by shifting your focus from Google to Instagram, TikTok, and other social platforms.
HubSpot’s Santiago has first-hand experience with this shift.
“I‘m leading a quick-hit video initiative with other HubSpot bloggers so we can add more value to our posts for readers as well as get more eyes on our content,” she explains. “This means we’re making videos for platforms like Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube Shorts and then embedding these videos into our posts.”
Santiago says with more people using the above platforms as search engines, it‘s important marketers create content for these channels that leverage back to the brand’s website.
“I don‘t Google things nearly as much as even just a year ago,” she says. “Just the other day, I looked up ’Best platform sandals for the summer‘ on TikTok and found so many new brands I ended up following. I even bought a pair directly from one brand’s Instagram. A year or two ago, I would have Googled that query and bought from the brand’s website.”
Marketers who optimize their accounts for social search have three top strategies:
- Include relevant keywords and hashtags in your social posts.
- Include relevant keywords and hashtags in your bio.
- Make sure that your username is easy to search for.
I’ve seen the power of social search first-hand. When I hear about a new brand, I don’t Google them anymore — I search for their Instagram account. And oftentimes, their social media page is the determining factor in whether I end up purchasing one of their products.
While it’s early days, social media might someday take the lead in product discovery. Many users prefer visuals over text, so it makes sense that they might not want to read a lengthy webpage about a product:
They just want to see it in action.
Additionally, SEO experts are leaning more heavily into multimedia content to expand beyond search regarding opportunities for reaching audiences.
This makes sense: During volatile times, it’s critical that your business becomes adaptable, and you learn how to find new avenues to obtain traffic and leads.
As Frost told me, “At HubSpot, we are dramatically increasing our investment in other types of media, like video, podcasts, newsletters, and types of media that will be far less affected by the changes in search happening on Google.”
11. AI will change how SEOs and content creators do their jobs …
And finally, for the least surprising prediction in this list: AI will change how SEOs and creators do their work.
In fact, more than half of blog writers already use AI, and 74% of web analysts say it improves their content’s performance and ranking on the SERPs.
Over 50% of web analysts have already incorporated AI tools into their workflow.
Some of these analysts are gradually testing it and comparing results to performance without AI, while other analysts are building entirely new teams to leverage AI.
In particular, these web analysts are using AI for specific tasks, including keyword research, automating tedious tasks, optimizing their websites, and idea generation.
Nick LeRoy is an SEO consultant who has worked in the SEO industry for over fifteen years. He is the author of the SEOForLunch newsletter, where he brings updates, articles, SEO interview tips, the latest jobs, and more to the industry.
LeRoy has some thoughts on how the future of SEO will impact how SEOs are tracking data. LeRoy warns that “If you’re still measuring SEO success only by rankings and organic traffic, you’re missing the bigger picture.”
Instead, LeRoy says, SEOs should be shifting their tracking to:
- How does our SEO work impact email, social, and referral traffic?
- What’s the total “halo effect” of our content investments?
- What efficiencies or scale are we providing to our paid media counterparts?
- Are we building a brand that Google cannot ignore?
I agree that conversion tracking and the way we talk and think about SEO have to change. I stand strong with the notion that impressions, clicks, and clickthrough rate still matter, but it’s critical that SEOs think about the wider marketing landscape and how SEO fits into it.
So, what does this mean for the future of AI and SEO?
When used correctly, AI can drastically improve an SEO team‘s strategy. That’s why it’s critical to work with AI, not against it, as you consider how you might shift your strategy to meet these new challenges.
12. … And it will greatly improve marketers’ web optimization strategies.
Kyle Byers, director of organic search at Semrush, told me there are innumerable ways marketers can leverage AI.
As he puts it, “AI is incredibly powerful and flexible in what it can help marketers accomplish — from purpose-built tools like our own ContentShake (AI content generator app) and SEO Writing Assistant to general chat-based interfaces like ChatGPT, Bing Chat, and Google’s Gemini.”
AI can also help marketers optimize their websites.
Here are some of the ways Byers suggests marketers leverage AI for web optimization:
- Conversion copywriting. (“Act as a tech-savvy small business owner who is shopping for accounting software. Grade the following landing page headlines on a scale of 1 to 10 based on how likely they are to make you want to try or purchase my product, then draft five new headline ideas that would be more compelling.”)
- Rephrasing content. For example, simplifying a long paragraph or sentence to meet an 8th-grade reading level. Or rewriting content to make it more unique, to strike a different tone, or to follow your brand’s style guide.
- Getting “unstuck” with content writing. (“Help me finish the following paragraph.”)
- Brainstorming additional angles to add to your content. (“Act as a sales manager who wants to develop an internal training program to improve your team’s sales skills. What important subtopics or angles are missing from the following content, which you would want to learn more about?”)
- Quickly drafting a list of 10 possible title tags and meta descriptions for a given webpage.
- Generating Schema markup. (“Generate FAQPage Schema markup for the following FAQs.”)
- Generating tags for different languages/locations.
- Translating content from one language to another.
- Generating regular expressions (for example, using Google Search Console or Google Analytics).
- Generating new robots.txt rules will also help understand existing robots.txt rules.
He adds, “AI tools can be amazingly powerful if used correctly. Just keep in mind that they’re just that: tools. Use them to leverage your expertise — not to replace it.”
(Interested in trying Semrush for yourself? Click here for an exclusive extended 14-day PRO free trial for HubSpot readers.)
The Next Evolution of SEO
From speaking with experts, I can see that AI is here to stay, and with it comes a new dawn of SEO.
After having discussed the future of SEO and AI with experts, the reality is that this shift may not be as scary as it can seem. Good SEO is what’s keeping LLMs updated, and people are still using Google significantly more than anything else.
As a content creator long-trained in the art of writing for SEO, I’m personally thrilled about this evolution.
It will require businesses to recalibrate and continue putting innovative, novel, human-first perspectives ahead of rote, cut-and-dry content.
As a marketer, nothing could make me happier.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in January 2023 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
How AI will impact advertising, according to top marketing executives [new data]
AI is gaining traction in every industry and advertising is no different. So, I surveyed 247 advertisers to ask about their AI usage – everything from the tools they use to their 2025 investment plans. They also shared the key challenges keeping them from investing […]
MarketingAI is gaining traction in every industry and advertising is no different.
So, I surveyed 247 advertisers to ask about their AI usage – everything from the tools they use to their 2025 investment plans.
They also shared the key challenges keeping them from investing in it more.
Ready to dive in? Let’s go.
How Advertising Professionals Use AI
Adoption
When it comes to AI adoption, it’s pretty recent for most advertisers I surveyed, with 70% of respondents saying they’ve only been using AI tools for advertising in the last 12 months.
This explains why 55% of respondents report that their organization’s AI adoption level is intermediate, meaning they regularly use it for specific tasks while 22% report only beginning to experiment with basic AI applications.
![19% of advertisers surveyed say they let al lead while their creative teams take a backseat.]](https://web-stil.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ai-advertising-1-20250424-5330427.webp)
How is it going so far? 67% of respondents say using AI has had a positive impact on the effectiveness of their advertising strategy. In addition, 22% report that AI implementation has led to a significant advantage against competitors.
Most respondents (36%) see AI as assistive technology in which humans lead. Roughly another third (32%) of respondents believe in an equal, co-creation effort between advertisers and AI.
There’s another 19% who say their creative teams let AI lead with human oversight.
Given these data points, why isn’t adoption higher? Here are the top three reasons respondents cite for not adopting AI further:
- Data quality or accessibility issues
- Integration with existing systems
- Budget constraints
![36% predict data analysis will be most transformed by al in the next five years.]](https://web-stil.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ai-advertising-2-20250424-255384.webp)
The survey suggests that the higher the org’s AI adoption level, the more likely they are to struggle with integrating it with their current systems.
That’s because when you’re just starting out, you’re typically using simple software, like AI chatbots, which don’t require complex system integration. But as you start to incorporate AI into your workflows and operations, integration becomes necessary and can be a bottleneck.
Tools and Usage
To start things off, there are two companies most advertisers I surveyed go to for their AI needs: OpenAI – saw that one coming – and Google.
![top al tools advertisers use]](https://web-stil.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ai-advertising-3-20250424-7411085.webp)
The third most popular company is Meta, though only a third of respondents report using it.
So, what are they using it for? Content creation for the most part. It’s also the process 29% of respondents report seeing the most improvement in since using AI.
Forty-four (44%) of advertisers surveyed use AI for audience targeting and segmentation and 36% for performance prediction and analytics.
The four percent (4%) who report using AI expertly see even improvement across these 3 categories. This suggests that increased AI adoption drives greater returns.
Less than five percent of respondents use it for sentiment analysis, trend prediction, A/B testing, or budget allocation.
![top use cases for al in advertising]](https://web-stil.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ai-advertising-4-20250424-6912084.webp)
When I asked respondents to predict which areas will be most transformed by AI in the next five years, most (36% of respondents) said data analysis.
Creative development and content production are tied for the next areas that’ll be most impacted by AI.
Switching to the human side of things, most advertisers believe strategic thinking and data interpretation are the most valuable skills in this AI era.
![11% of advertisers surveyed believe ethical judgement has become more valuable in this al era.]](https://web-stil.info/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/ai-advertising-5-20250424-77277.webp)
By far, the challenge respondents report most when implementing AI in their work is the inaccuracies that come up. They also cite training and AI literacy and copyright concerns.
That said, only 11% of respondents believe ethical judgement has become more valuable.
How do advertisers plan to invest in AI? More on that next.
Investment
Most advertisers surveyed (36%) plan to invest between five and 20 percent of their ad budget on AI while twenty-five percent will invest 21 to 40% of their budget on AI.
Fifteen percent of respondents plan to invest less than 5% of their budget in AI while only 6% will invest more than half of their budget.
Of those 6% of advertisers, 40% report that performance prediction and data analytics have been most improved by AI.
Key Takeaways
If you’re just starting to explore AI, you’re not alone and you haven’t missed the train. Most marketing professionals have only recently gotten aboard – within the last year to be more specific.
And they’re not going full speed either – they’re starting with the more simple content generation and slowly graduating to more complex tasks.
Lastly, we know that when advertisers start using AI, their business is in a better position against competitors.
So while initial investments may be conservative, the gradual adoption signifies a shift toward AI implementation.
Social media marketing campaigns: What I’d do to stand out on every platform [new data]
You and I both know it: there’s no secret to a successful social media campaign. Instead, there’s just strategy; nowadays, posting won’t cut it — and social media marketers are feeling the pressure more than ever. Tons of moving parts constitute a high-performing, truly modern […]
MarketingYou and I both know it: there’s no secret to a successful social media campaign. Instead, there’s just strategy; nowadays, posting won’t cut it — and social media marketers are feeling the pressure more than ever.
Tons of moving parts constitute a high-performing, truly modern social strategy. According to HubSpot’s 2025 Social Media Trends Report, some of them include building online communities, planning channel-specific content strategies, prioritizing expert voices, and optimizing content for on-platform search.
In short, there’s so much more to consider if you want to create a robust social media marketing campaign that’s as impactful as it is effective.
Luckily, I’m not here to tell you how to run a social media campaign. I’m here to tell you what you should lean on — from tools to tactics — to make your next one a standout sensation. Keep reading to get everything you need (and then some) for your next social media glow-up.
Table of Contents:
- What is a social media marketing campaign?
- What makes a social media campaign successful?
- How to Plan a Social Media Campaign
- How to Run a Social Media Marketing Campaign
- Social Media Campaign Examples
Although a successful social media marketing campaign can be defined by one sentence, I would argue that its contents can’t be.
In the next section, I’ll explain in depth what scroll-stopping social media marketing campaigns entail and provide some eye-opening stats that will hopefully inform how you approach your social media marketing moving forward.
What makes a social media campaign successful?
As I mentioned, the social media landscape has completely changed over recent years.
Over the last year, between algorithm updates, new platform launches, and shifting audience expectations, it’s clear that social media folks need to not only pivot but — and don’t come for me — also consider potentially deconstructing what content planning looks like.
Before I jump into how these shifts could directly impact your brand, I’d like to elaborate on what I mean by all this. Here’s a short breakdown:
- Social media marketing is becoming increasingly reliant on multi-platform strategy and multi-content execution. Brands and their social media marketers should no longer post one type of content, nor should they post on one particular platform. Audiences want to see a variety of content across all the platforms they engage with, even if those platforms and content types aren’t your brand’s bread and butter.
- If a brand wants to drive true ROI, its identity and motivations must be crystal clear through social media marketing. Consumers are done searching high and low to assess whether a brand is really what it says it is. These days, just by glancing at your social media profiles, they expect to get the big picture about a brand’s commitment to social issues, specific demographics of folks, and core values.
- A brand’s social media marketing needs to incorporate AI support wherever possible. If your brand isn’t utilizing AI, it’s missing out on major opportunities to streamline content, improve social listening, and make brand storytelling accessible to more audiences.
Now, I’m sure a couple of those truths were probably difficult to swallow, especially all at once, but they’re necessary … if growth is the goal.
If you want to know what it’ll take to adapt your social media campaigns and strategy for where the future of social is headed, take a look at the list of recommendations I put together below:
1. Investing in Video
Social media marketing is becoming more and more video-centric; now that video’s rise has arrived, it’s not going anywhere.
HubSpot’s 2025 State of Social Media Trends Report revealed that YouTube adoption has grown 65% in the last year. And, according to more data from the report, 83% of marketers feel comfortable posting on YouTube.
However, video strategy doesn’t start and end with YouTube. Check out how B2C and B2B marketers (and their dollars) are showing up across various video platforms:
- 34% of B2C marketers plan to invest more in TikTok this year, 31% in Instagram, and 29% in YouTube.
- 26% of B2B marketers plan to allocate more budget to TikTok in 2025, only 24% plan to expand efforts into Instagram22% will prioritize investments in YouTube.
2. Channel-specific Strategies
Social media marketing campaigns in 2025 are all about getting granular. As social media audiences develop preferences for how they want to engage with and receive content across different platforms, brands must shift and accommodate where their viewership and consumership will be and how to capture folks’ attention.
That said, as you develop a social campaign strategy, consider tailoring your approach for these top social media channels:
- YouTube (ranking at no. 1)
- Instagram (ranking at no. 2)
- TikTok (ranking at no. 3)
Now, although YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok take the top three slots for where brands are showing up, keep in mind that there are niche audiences on other channels. LinkedIn, Substack, Threads, Bluesky, even Facebook, are close runner-ups, so don’t write them — or what they can do for your social strategy — off completely.
3. Long-term Audience Building
If you want your social media marketing campaign to thrive and survive any algorithm, you must grow an audience that believes in every piece of content you create. This starts with slowly cultivating a real community.
Don’t believe me? Peep the stats from State of Social Trends below:
- 64% of companies have dedicated community managers
- 85% of marketers agree that building an active online community is crucial to a successful social media strategy
- 93% of marketers are maintaining or increasing their investment in community in 2025
Ultimately, audience building goes a long way in establishing trust and long-term loyalty. If you’re not invested in the people who make your brand successful, they won’t be invested in what it offers.
4. Leaning on Social Search
Search isn’t dead, it’s just gotten more social.
When you embark on the research phase of building out a social media marketing strategy (more on this later), you should consider two things: 1) how your brand is showing up in social media search results and 2) how you can leverage social search to get the answers you need, to make your social media marketing campaigns stronger.
State of Social Trends uncovered that 89% of marketers agree that optimizing content for on-platform search is important to their social strategy. Plus, 84% of marketers agree that consumers will search for brands on social media this year.
If anything, these numbers should reinforce that social search isn’t just an alternative to traditional search engines; it’s just an essential element to understanding how folks perceive your brand’s offerings and how they rank against others.
5. Having a Diverse Content Mix
I hate to break this to you, but … your next social media campaign strategy cannot prioritize only one content type. No more image-only feeds or motivational posts with curated cursive copy. Ditch ‘em.
Here’s the data from HubSpot’s 2025 State of Marketing Report to underscore my strongly written plea for content variety:
- 30% of B2C companies are leveraging short-form video, 22% are amplifying live-streamed video content, while 21% are leveraging user-generated content (UGC) and 20% are leveraging blog posts,
- 23% of marketers plan to invest in relatable content in 2025.
- 23% of marketers also plan to invest in funny content this year.
- 18% of marketers plan to invest in authentic content in 2025, too.
Clearly, audiences are asking for personalized content and to see a brand’s true colors. Therefore, brands and social media marketers should give them what they want. Otherwise, they risk getting left behind (and losing some crazy ROI).
6. Leveraging AI
Lastly, if you’re not leveraging AI in your social media strategy, you’re seriously missing out on ways to scale and streamline your social marketing campaign efforts. HubSpot’s State of Social Trends Report shared the following stats about how marketers are bringing in AI to enhance content creation and performance:
- 1 in 5 marketers plan to explore using AI agents to automate marketing initiatives from end-to-end strategy to execution.
- 75% of marketers agree that using AI helps them be more creative when making social media content.
- 71% of marketers actively use AI tools in social media marketing.
- 77% of marketers agree that AI will make it easier for them to connect with their audience on social media.
How to Plan a Social Media Campaign
There are so many ways to create a successful social media marketing campaign. Of course, your plans will vary based on industry, social media platform, and campaign type. Still, no matter how niche your brand is or what audiences you’re hoping to convert, never underestimate the power of taking it back to the basics.
That said, here are a few foundational tips I suggest keeping in your back pocket to guide the creation of your next social media marketing campaign:
1. Start with researching what’s working (or not).
In the planning stages of your social media marketing campaign, you have to consider your competition. It’s non-negotiable.
When it comes to outshining your competitors on social, I follow one philosophy: what you’re doing is no better than what they’re doing until you do some deep diving to understand what’s oversaturated and what’s actually resonating.
Start with completing a SWOT analysis, then do some lurking on social (Reddit and TikTok will likely have the honest perceptions you’re looking for), then, finally ask yourself the following questions:
- Which companies are similar to yours and already have successful social media accounts?
- Which companies have campaigns that you know did well?
- Do the companies you review typically conduct giveaways, contests, or live videos?
- What is engagement like on their social posts?
By taking a step back and asking yourself these questions, you can determine how to make your campaign unique. But don’t stop there. Look for inspiration elsewhere, too.
If your competition isn’t on social media, you’re not a fan of their previous campaign style, or you have an exceptionally special business, look for other campaigns that inspire you and determine how you can apply elements such as a similar style, level of engagement, aesthetic, or a specific message to your campaign.
2. Craft a strategy that’s informed by multi-channel insights.
Next, you’ll want to craft your campaign strategy. To determine your campaign strategy goals, you should work with data … not just any data, though. The data you’ll want to use should come from the following steps:
Find your target audience (across every platform you post on).
Think about these questions:
- Who are you trying to reach?
- How would you classify your target audience?
- What do you hope this campaign will achieve for your company and audience?
- How can you create continued engagement with your followers throughout your campaign?
Ensuring your content and messaging appeal to your target audience should always be your top priority. In fact, it’s a vital rule while developing your social media marketing campaign.
Never forget who you are trying to connect with and why. If you miss the mark, your audience won’t just notice, they’ll scroll right by your social posts and lose interest in your campaign altogether.
Here are some ways to appeal to your target audience on social media:
- Consider the trends that are resonating with audience across platforms. Ask yourself: What do people want to view these days? What have you seen doing well on other timelines? Think about what you see (and love to interact with) on your own timeline and adapt it to suit your brand’s voice on social.
- Create compelling visual content that feels authentic and engaging. Whether it’s a video on TikTok or a carousel on Instagram, make sure your visual content is compelling and interactive. Give your audience something they haven’t seen before, or add your own spin to something that’s doing well on folks’ timelines.
- Make your audience feel seen. If your followers leave questions, comments, or concerns on your posts, you should respond (‘cause duh). By doing so, you’ll form a personal bond with your audience, making them more loyal to you and your brand.
Choose your content types and format.
Remember what I said earlier about social media marketing becoming increasingly reliant on multi-content execution? At this stage of cultivating your social media marketing campaign, you should start zeroing in on the types of content you’ll need to create.
To determine your content types, you have to first consider the why behind your campaign creation. Here are some traditional instances in which your brand and/or company might create a social media marketing campaign:
- Holidays
- Special occasions or milestones
- Partnerships with other businesses
- User-generated content (UGC) promotions
- Contests or giveaways
Then, consider which content type should be used on what platform. For example, if your campaign uses a lot of still photography, Instagram might be the platform for you. If your campaign requires live streaming and want to share longer videos, TikTok might be a good option. And if you want to release shorter bursts of information, Threads or Bluesky could be a good fit. Think about what each platform is best for and go from there.
Pro tip: One of the best use cases for AI is repurposing your existing content into other formats while keeping a cohesive voice and message.
Personally, I think HubSpot’s Campaign Assistant is great for reusing and recycling content. It allows you to input your key messaging and CTA, then creates coordinating Instagram, Facebook, and Google ad copy without the heavy lifting (aka rewriting the same thing over and over across platforms).
Manage the results of your campaign strategy.
No matter why you’re creating your campaign, you’ll probably be interested in knowing your campaign’s level of success. But to make any conclusions about your success, you’ll need metrics to measure and monitor throughout your campaign.
A popular way to do this is through a metric tracker such as Google Analytics or HubSpot’s social monitoring and metric tracking tool. This type of concrete data will provide you with information like:
- Overall campaign traffic.
- How many new followers you’ve attracted (as well as how many followers you lost).
- Levels of engagement.
- Changes in website traffic.
- Changes in sales.
3. Don’t just post your content — promote it.
Now it’s time to start sharing your campaign and promoting your content. Check out some of the following techniques for promoting and sharing your content (I included some examples, too):
Promote one message throughout your campaign.
You should start by promoting one message on multiple platforms using content that fits the chosen platform. By consistently sharing the same message across your campaign, your followers will hear the same information repeatedly, allowing them to retain your message.
Marketing campaigns have proven that messages are most effective when repeated. Repetition results in familiarity, which fosters trust between your audience and your message, brand, and product. Redundant messages stick.
Balance your promotional and non-promotional content.
Your followers will notice if you’re constantly pushing promotional content on them. By balancing promotional and non-promotional content, your followers will perceive you as helpful and want to engage with you more.
In short, this is about your followers not feeling pressured or pushed into becoming a customer (because no one wants to be pressured into a sale, y’all). You will be most effective if you provide your followers with promotional content balanced with content they find enjoyable, like funny or light-hearted UGC.
Ensure your content is unique to your business.
Create an aesthetic for your campaign that matches your brand. Now, you want this to be unique. Anyone who lands on your page should know it’s yours without reading your profile handle.
When I think about aesthetic done right, I immediately picture Rhode Skin, Hailey Bieber’s “clean girl” skincare and makeup brand.
Rhode does visually-pleasing content exceptionally well. From curated color palettes to soft, dreamy concepts, Rhode creates Pinterest girly-inspired content with a twist. 99% of the time, that “twist” is always a surprise.
Sometimes, the twist is food marketing; other times, it’s a contemporary 80s glam revival. Audiences never know what’ll come next, and that’s the fun part. Scroll through the screenshots below to see what I mean:
My point is this: being unique and authentic helps you stand out. It also gives people a reason to want to follow you over your competitors. Regardless of how you choose to stylize your content, it needs to feel cohesive, fun, and connected back to your brand’s offerings.
Engage with your audience regularly.
Say it with me now: No matter how many followers your brand may have, you should always set aside time to nurture your online audience. This means:
- Answering direct messages (DMs).
- “Liking” comments.
- Responding to feedback (even if it’s unkind).
Engaging with your followers, even in small ways, signals that you care about them beyond vanity metrics; that they’re not another number. Moreover, you cultivate relationships and experiences that keep followers invested in your brand by showing up for them consistently.
Create a unique hashtag for your campaign.
All major social media campaigns should have a hashtag that should be the same across social platforms; here’s why:
- Hashtags allow your team members to keep track of interactions.
- Hashtags make it easy for your followers to engage with your campaign.
- Hashtags are unique and memorable.
For example, Black-owned and Gen Z consumer-focused skincare and beauty brand, Topicals, has a newly-launched (but already buzzworthy) social media campaign called Faded Fortune. Faded Fortune may have been born through social, but its success is connected to IRL, one-night-only brand experiences, thus its impact extends beyond the digital space.
Additionally, Topicals’ campaign hashtag for Faded Fortune is, fittingly, “#FadedFortune.” It’s straightforward, simple to remember, and deeply connected to the brand’s in-person activations — as well as the guaranteed high-energy fun that consumers can expect from attending.
Additionally, Faded — a skincare serum and facial cleansing bar designed to brighten acne scarring — is one of Topicals’ core product offerings, so this campaign directly links the concept back to what they sell, grounding consumers in their brand narrative and a niche product-focused experience.
Automate your content with scheduling software.
Although creating engaging content and interacting with your followers may be time-consuming, there is a way to schedule your campaign posts ahead of time. (And, if I’m being totally honest, every social media marketing person is doing some form of pre-scheduling anyway. It’s part of the workflow.)
Tools such as Hootsuite, Sprout Social, and CoSchedule allow marketers to schedule posts with text, photos, videos, hashtags, and more. Plus, some of these scheduling tools — like HubSpot’s Social Media Management Software — contain analytics features to help users determine which scheduled posts are doing well and which posts need to be modified.
Use live streaming to your advantage.
HubSpot’s 2025 State of Marketing Report highlighted that 21% of B2C brands are leveraging live streaming as a part of their content strategy. With live streaming, audience members can watch content in real-time from anywhere around the world, which creates a golden opportunity for brands to expand their reach to new countries, demographics, and customer segments.
TikTok Live is one of the most popular ways to stream live content, followed by other platforms such as Instagram and YouTube. You can use live streaming to demo products for your followers, conduct giveaways and contests, interview guests and influencers, or simply make customers feel personally connected to your brand.
Ultimately, the way you promote your content is your decision, but don’t forget to test and analyze your results. By keeping a close eye on your performance, you’ll know if any immediate changes can or should be modified while the stream is still live. Additionally, you can also apply your findings to future campaigns.
How to Run a Social Media Marketing Campaign
Here’s the thing: there’s no “right” or “wrong” way to run a social media marketing campaign. And I’m not here to convince you otherwise. Every brand’s goals are different, so every campaign will inevitably look a little different, too.
However, when you are running one, there’s a few standard building blocks that you have to prioritize from the very beginning; not all of them aren’t even explicitly responsible for strengthening your social media presence either. Instead, they exist in the backdrop of your overall digital strategy.
To provide more context and help you get a better grasp on these social media marketing campaign do’s, take a look at the list of foundation tips I put together below:
1. Improve brand awareness.
Although your social media marketing campaign may be focused on other KPIs, improving brand awareness should always be a core pillar of your social strategy. In fact, HubSpot’s 2025 State of Marketing Report noted that 13% of marketers plan to invest in brand awareness for the first time in 2025, so there’s no better time to lean into authenticity and purpose-driven messaging than right now. It’s never too late.
Your brand can improve brand awareness through social media in a variety of ways, such as:
- Posting your campaigns on a variety of platforms (hello cross-posting!).
- Using specific hashtags.
- Providing followers with incentives for sharing your content and tagging their friends (i.e., choosing a lucky follower to receive a goodie box of products).
- Posting a customer’s UGC on your feed or story.
Improving your brand awareness through social media doesn’t need to take a lot of time either. Once you have a plan for your campaign, you will be able to map out exactly where and when it should be posted to keep things efficient. It’s that simple.
2. Connect with your audience.
Connecting with your audience is important in all types of marketing, especially in social media marketing.
In a world with growing distractions and diminishing patience, effective marketing tactics matter more important than ever. The good news, though? Social media has made it easier to connect with potential customers anywhere around the world.
When working on a social media marketing campaign, you want to connect with your audience in two ways: 1) on a surface level — through a reshare, repost, comment, or a “like” — and 2) on a deeper level — through a relatable post that gets them feeling a certain way about your brand or products.
Once you make customers feel seen, they’ll keep coming back.
3. Increase website traffic.
You probably already know this, but social media marketing is a great way to boost website traffic.
On social, customers have little patience and lose interest quickly. By including a URL to your brand’s website (and other social channels) in your bio, you:
- Guide curious scrollers right to your most valuable digital touch points.
- Increase the likelihood that potential customers engage with your product or service in ways that feel most accessible for them.
- Reinforce brand credibility by making it easy for users to find consistent, up-to-date information about your brand.
Here’s some other quick-win suggestions for increasing website traffic and visibility through your social media marketing strategy:
- Your campaign team can respond to followers on social with URLs to specific landing pages on your website. Whether it’s a product page, blog post, or FAQ, providing relevant URLs in conversation shows you’re listening — and it’s a subtle yet powerful way to guide users toward conversion.
- Add a website or landing page URL to your actual post on social media. Don’t just rely on your bio link. Including a clickable link in your actual post (where platforms allow) helps followers take immediate action. A well-placed URL removes friction and directs people exactly where you want them to go.
- Include a strong call-to-action (CTA) in your captions that encourages followers to click through to your website. A strong call-to-action, like “Learn more on our site,” “Shop the collection,” or “Get the full story,” can increase click-through rates while making your post feel purposeful and actionable.
Now that I’ve have reviewed some of the most successful ways to make your social media marketing campaign stronger, let’s dive into some of the best and brightest social media marketing campaign examples.
Social Media Campaign Examples
1. Rhode Skin: Peptide Lip Shape Liner
Dynamic poses. Life-size products. Heels with socks. If Rhode Skin knows how to do one thing right, it’s curating a vibe through social media marketing.
I know I briefly mentioned Rhode Skin, but I’d like to mention it again, especially if I’m going to talk about a masterful social media campaign. Rhode Skin’s peptide lip shape campaign, without a doubt, was one of the most talked about beauty campaigns of 2025.
Starring the brand’s founder, Hailey Bieber, and recently-dubbed pop girl sensation Tate Mcrae, along with several other Rhode dreamgirls, the peptide lip shape campaign hit timelines in late January 2025 and left both Rhode evangelists and folks who were new to the brand pretty floored.
The result? Absolute fanfare takeover for the campaign across Rhode’s hero platforms — TikTok and Instagram — plus tons of UGC, some good, some bad, some neutral.
It’s important that I note that the response to Rhode’s peptide lip shape collection wasn’t all peaches and cream. A chunk of consumers — primarily women of color — had a lot to say about how the product was meant to be used; some felt confused by its longevity and wear.
Nevertheless, people showed up for Rhode. Here are what I think folks can take away from Rhode’s social media marketing campaign:
- Don’t be afraid to get literal with your social media marketing strategy. Rhode’s fitness-themed campaign aligns perfectly with the “shape” part of its collection name — Peptide Lip Shape. From gym-inspired visuals to cool girl athleisure aesthetics, they leaned into the theme and had fun with it. Literal doesn’t have to mean boring — it can actually create a clever, memorable through-line that audiences instantly connect with.
- If you can, put your founder front and center. One thing that Rhode’s customers always anticipate is that Hailey Bieber, its founder, will be at the front and center of its promotional campaigns. By establishing Hailey as a recognizable and consistent brand figurehead, Rhode strengthens brand familiarity and trust. Her presence adds star power, but more importantly, it humanizes the brand and gives audiences someone to follow, not just something to buy.
- Show your audience that you not only have range, but that you listen and don’t judge. After receiving backlash for not being diverse enough in its inaugural blush collection launch, Rhode was intentional about showcasing women with different skin tones — from fair to deep — in the rollout for this campaign. This visual inclusivity showed that Rhode was not only listening but also evolving. It made the brand feel more thoughtful, expansive, and aligned with a broader audience — a smart move that resonated across social channels.
2. On Shoes: Zendaya x ZoneDreamers
In April 2025, On, the Swiss-engineered shoewear and athleisure brand, launched a star-led, space-themed campaign and short film with Zendaya at the forefront of its promotional efforts.
The campaign was designed to spotlight its new Spring/Summer 2025 Movement collection along with its recently-released low-profile sneaker, Cloudzone.
The social media marketing campaign was anchored by two hashtags: “#DreamOn” and “#ZoneDreamers.” Plus, along with the social media marketing campaign rollout, On also released a Zendaya “edit” featuring items from the brand, all hand-picked by Zendaya.
This was On’s first attempt at getting creative and totally out-of-the-box for a collection launch. Although perceptions about the campaign are relatively fresh, On’s consumers have already demonstrated excitement about Zendaya’s association with the brand, shopping her picks, and, of course, watching her in a completely new project (especially post-Challengers).
Here are my takeaways from On’s social media marketing methodology, if you care to take a few notes:
- If you can, get thematic. By world-building and choosing a specific theme to build their newest collection around, On created an immersive experience that extended beyond product alone. The space-meets-sport aesthetic gave the campaign a clear creative direction, made the visuals instantly eye-catching, and offered audiences something more imaginative than a traditional product launch.
- Don’t be afraid of ancillary marketing. On’s decision to place Zendaya not only at the helm of its social media campaign but its sister-short film helped stretch the campaign’s reach across multiple formats and audiences. The cinematic approach blurred the lines between fashion and storytelling — giving people more reasons to engage, share, and talk about the campaign outside of product-focused moments.
- Lean on high-production quality whenever you can. From casual short-form video edits to a longer-form short film, On didn’t cut corners on visual storytelling. This level of polish elevated the campaign and made it feel aspirational, yet still approachable. High-quality creative builds brand trust and makes content feel timeless — something that can be repurposed long after launch week.
3. Redken: Sabrina Carpenter x Acidic Bonding Concentrate Collection
In October 2024, Sabrina Carpenter, pop’s newest diamond of the season, joined Redken as its first-ever global ambassador.
Sabrina’s first assignment? Promote Redken’s Acidic Bonding Concentrate (ABC) collection, aka the source for her healthy, glowing goldilocks.
While on tour, at press events, and through her own social media, Sabrina executed her half of the deal flawlessly. Meanwhile, on socials (particularly Instagram and TikTok), Redken had a Sabrina-style takeover, highlighting UGC content inspired by Sabrina’s go-to look, pictures of Sabrina’s best hair looks, and imagery inspired by her hit single, “Espresso.”
And although Sabrina’s Short ‘n’ Sweet era has been in motion for a while now, the brand is still committed to amplifying their ambassador whenever possible, even as her eras come and go.
In turn, folks and faithful Sabrina fans have adopted Sabrina’s haircare routine through buying the full Redken collection and following her step-by-step process for achieving her signature blonde hair.
Here’s what I think social media marketing folks can take away from Redken’s ABC campaign and partnership with Sabrina:
- Make a long-term investment. By partnering with Sabrina Carpenter as a global ambassador, Redken played the long game. Instead of a one-off collab or limited-time sponsorship, they committed to building a relationship that could evolve with her career — and her fans. That kind of consistency builds trust, awareness, and brand loyalty over time.
- Choose a name and a face that’s easy to remember. Because Sabrina is memorable, Redken’s ABC collection sticks with people. Their partnership with her not only taps into her musical notoriety but also nods to her playful, old Hollywood beauty aesthetic. Combined with a high-profile name like hers, the campaign became instantly recognizable — and even easier to search, reshare, and talk about.
- Match your feed to your brand’s energy. From the start, Redken’s campaign visuals echoed Sabrina’s vibe: fun, polished, confident, and feminine. Their social presence didn’t just sell haircare — it sold a recognizable aesthetic that aligned with their ambassador’s personal brand. That kind of creative cohesion goes a long way in building a social campaign that feels intentional, not just promotional.
Your Social Glow-Up Starts Now
I’ll keep it real — building a social media campaign that actually lands ain’t easy, but it is doable.
Strategy, consistency, creativity, and real-time audience awareness? That’s stuff you’ll need to see results. Whether you’re testing a new format, riding the wave of a trending audio, or deep-diving into platform analytics, what matters most is that you’re showing up with intention.
You’ve got the insights. You’ve got the inspo. Now go out there and post like you mean it. And when it clicks? Trust me — your audience will notice.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in October 2018 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Global Expansion Misfires and Triumphs: Lessons from Liquid Death & 7-Eleven
The story of 7-Eleven’s remarkable transformation in Japan offers a masterclass in global expansion done right. Despite being an American brand, 7-Eleven has become a beloved institution in Japan with twice as many stores, and 8x higher profit margins than in its home country. But […]
MarketingThe story of 7-Eleven’s remarkable transformation in Japan offers a masterclass in global expansion done right. Despite being an American brand, 7-Eleven has become a beloved institution in Japan with twice as many stores, and 8x higher profit margins than in its home country.
But not every brand’s international journey ends in success. When Liquid Death, the edgy water brand that conquered American social media, announced its retreat from the UK market, it joined the ranks of companies that couldn’t replicate their domestic success overseas.
What separates global winners from losers? According to behavioral science expert Phil Agnew, the contrast between these two stories reveals universal truths about global expansion that extend far beyond convenience stores and canned water.
The Liquid Death Paradox: Great Marketing, Wrong Context
Liquid Death’s UK exit wasn’t about poor marketing — it was about misunderstanding local market dynamics. Here’s why the edgy water brand struggled in Britain (read our full analysis here):
- Product-Market Misalignment: The UK’s high-quality tap water and naturally cold climate eliminated two key bottled water selling points: quality and refreshment.
- Channel-Behavior Mismatch: While Liquid Death excelled at social media marketing, Brits predominantly buy water in physical stores during routine shopping. “There’s something slightly perverse in trying to sell it online when the sale point is actually in person,” Agnew said.
- Lack of Social Proof: Despite memorable marketing, Agnew himself hasn’t seen “a single person drinking Liquid Death” in England. Without visible consumption by others, the brand couldn’t leverage social proof—a critical factor in adoption.
- Flawed Geographic Strategy: Instead of concentrated saturation in key areas (like Joe & The Juice placing 15 stores in West London), Liquid Death spread too thin across the UK, diluting its impact.
The 7-Eleven Reversal: American Brand, Japanese Triumph
The Liquid Death story becomes even more instructive when compared with 7-Eleven—an American brand that achieved extraordinary success overseas, particularly in Japan.
Despite originating in the US, 7-Eleven has twice as many stores in Japan (21,500) as in America (9,224), despite Japan being much smaller in geography and population. Even more strikingly, 7-Eleven in Japan boasts an operating margin of 27% compared to an average of 3.5% in other countries.
How did an American convenience store chain become a beloved cultural institution abroad while struggling in its home country? The operational differences tell the story:
1. Supply Chain Innovation
In 1979, 7-Eleven Japan created the Nihon Delica Foods Association (NDF), a conglomerate of food production companies dedicated to keeping meals fresh from factory to store. By 2024, they operated 172 factories around Japan, ensuring consistent quality across all locations.
This stands in stark contrast to American 7-Elevens, which rely on shared distribution centers that also supply Walmart, Taco Bell, KFC, and others—creating inconsistent quality and freshness.
2. Inventory Management Excellence
7-Eleven Japan employs a management approach called “Tanpin Kanri”—constantly analyzing what customers are buying, what they’re not, what products to order more of, and what to discontinue. This item-by-item analysis creates a feedback loop that continuously improves product selection.
3. Community Integration Strategy
Perhaps the most profound difference isn’t just quality—it’s how deeply the brand integrates into local community life. In Japan, 7-Eleven functions as:
- A banking center with ATMs and financial services
- A package delivery point
- A bill payment location
- A place to access government services
Japanese 7-Elevens position themselves as neighborhood hubs that people need to visit regularly, whereas American 7-Elevens are viewed as places you stop only when necessary and leave as quickly as possible.
The Global Expansion Blueprint
For brands considering international expansion, here’s a comprehensive approach based on lessons from both stories:
1. Research Beyond Demographics
- Conduct behavioral analysis: Understand how locals actually shop, consume, and make decisions about products in your category. Liquid Death missed that Brits rarely purchase water online.
- Map the competitive landscape: What seems like an innovative product in one market might be redundant in another.
- Identify true market needs: Question your assumptions about product benefits. Liquid Death’s “cold refreshment” benefit was redundant in the UK’s climate.
2. Adapt Your Operations, Not Just Your Marketing
- Localize your supply chain: 7-Eleven Japan created a dedicated network of 172 food production facilities, while American 7-Elevens rely on shared distribution.
- Rethink your distribution strategy: Consider Joe & The Juice’s approach of clustering multiple locations in premium neighborhoods before expanding widely.
- Modify your inventory systems: 7-Eleven Japan’s Tanpin Kanri system created a responsive inventory management approach that matched products to local demand.
3. Build Community Integration
- Identify essential services: 7-Eleven Japan succeeded by becoming a hub for banking, package delivery, and government services.
- Target tastemakers in your specific niche: Agnew suggests that Liquid Death could have sponsored Wimbledon to reach young professionals with disposable income.
- Start with focused saturation: Rather than spreading thinly across an entire country, saturate a specific neighborhood or city first, as Joe & The Juice did. This creates the visibility and social proof needed for broader expansion.
The Value of Operational Excellence
The $47B takeover bid for 7-Eleven’s parent company by Canadian retail giant Couche-Tard suggests that solving these operational and market challenges, even in a seemingly simple business like a convenience store, can create massive value.
As both the Liquid Death and 7-Eleven stories demonstrate, success doesn’t just come from great marketing or a compelling product. It comes from understanding local contexts, adapting operations accordingly, and building systems that create lasting competitive advantages.
The Best AI Search Engines to Try
I’ve fallen down countless rabbit holes while doing seemingly simple searches: “How to make a latte?” turns into “Latte vs. americano?” which turns into “How bad is caffeine for you?” and ends with “Coffee alternatives.” AI-powered search engines can save you time and give you […]
MarketingI’ve fallen down countless rabbit holes while doing seemingly simple searches: “How to make a latte?” turns into “Latte vs. americano?” which turns into “How bad is caffeine for you?” and ends with “Coffee alternatives.” AI-powered search engines can save you time and give you better results — if you know how to use them.
I tested nearly a dozen search engines and narrowed the list to these nine options, which include the best for mobile, the best for users new to AI search, and lots more. Take a sip of your coffee (or coffee alternative), and let’s go.
Table of Contents
What are AI search engines?
AI search engines use some combination of web crawlers, innate artificial intelligence, and user data to improve users’ search experiences and provide more relevant information. Ironically, these machine-powered engines are some of the most intuitive, and ranking among the overall top search engines.
Since AI search engines are built to better understand human intent, they can save you time guessing the combination of keywords that will return your desired results. And search engine results pages (SERPs) will often include AI-generated summaries with cited sources, so you don’t have to click through several URLs to check their relevance.
Want to improve your company’s performance in today’s search landscape? Our new AI Search Grader takes your site and summarizes how your company will perform in AI search. The tool then recommends how you can perform your performance.
How I Tested AI Search Engines
I tested each search engine on Chrome by asking the same question: What are the latest content marketing trends for SaaS companies in 2025? I used incognito mode and cleared the cache between each new search. I stayed logged out except where I’ve noted otherwise (a few require free logins).
All the search engines touched on the same core trends, so my rankings focus on comprehensiveness, readability, overall user experience, citations, and whether a particular search engine is better for certain users.
A note on pricing: Many of these search engines have slightly complicated pricing structures, but most offer a free and at least one paid option. The paid options usually have additional features like extended access to the most recent AI models, but whether you need those models will depend on how you use AI.
9 Best AI Search Engines
1. Best Overall: Perplexity
Perplexity came out on top for its familiar and easy-to-use UX, comprehensive and skimmable results, and depth of resources.
It has a very similar interface to ChatGPT since it uses OpenAI’s language models, so it will feel familiar to a lot of users:
Perplexity’s results include a “Sources” tab at the top, so you can easily toggle to see the list of citations. It’s a great way to skim and make sure its sources are reputable and high-quality.
Unique among all the search engines I tested, Perplexity includes a summary table in its results, which I found immensely helpful — sometimes my eyes cross when I see all that information scroll down my screen, so I appreciated the skimmable summary.
Perplexity cited 20 sources, nearly twice as many as any other AI search engine I tested. It was one of only two that pulled results from YouTube, and it was the only one that also included Reddit (which can be a goldmine if you find the right subreddit).
Perplexity provides a detailed breakdown of trends, plenty of citations, and a summary table. That makes it the best option for experienced marketers, who may need to do deeper research — but also the best for less-experienced marketers who may want to start with the summary.
What I Like
- Visually well organized, with high readability for both new and experienced marketers.
- The summary table is a standout feature.
- Extensive citations and the best search diversity by far, listing 20 sources, including YouTube and Reddit.
What Needs Improvement
- Perplexity was the only AI search engine that didn’t have obvious areas for improvement.
Pricing
Perplexity has a two-tier pricing plan, plus Perplexity Enterprise accounts.
- Free forever: Includes unlimited free searches and three Pro searches a day.
- Professional: $20/month. Includes 300+ Pro searches a day.
2. Best for Visual Learners (and Second-Best Overall): Komo
Komo’s search results begin with a nifty color-coded “Perspective Pulse” — the clearest and cleanest summary of any search engine I tested.
Komo has two other features that make it stand out in a crowd: You can select both a search corpus (e.g., the web, academic sources, socials, news, video, blogs) and one of 10 pre-defined personas.
Personas let you choose how you want the information organized — options include gathering quotes, providing an explainer or a TL;DR, or gathering data. I didn’t test personas for this article, as they require a paid subscription.
Komo also lets you choose which AI model to use for your search. The options include various models from Gemini, Claude, and OpenAI. This is great for experienced AI searchers who have a handle on the pros and cons of all the options out there.
What I Like
- The sources are noted immediately next to the relevant text. But unlike other search engines, which use footnotes or dropdown menus, Komo uses a button with the website’s favicon that breaks up the wall of text. I found it much nicer to look at than other SERPs.
- Decent search diversity, with 10 sources listed.
What Needs Improvement
- There are so many options — AI models! Personas! Search corpora! — that it may overwhelm users who are brand new to AI search.
- Komo needs more search diversity to compete with the likes of Perplexity — but it’s still a close second place for me.
Pricing
- Free plan: $0
- Basic plan: $15/month
- Premium plan: $30/month
- Business plan: $200/month
3. Best for Mobile: Arc Search
I tested Arc Search on an iPhone 14 Pro using the free Arc app for iOS; it’s also available for Android.
Arc is easy to use and easy to read on mobile, and its results were similar in quality to the web-based browsers I tested. Plus, its voice search worked seamlessly, easily working out what “SaaS” was (I pronounced it “sass”).
It also makes it easy to see all the sources at a glance, and Arc and Perplexity were the only AI-powered search engines I tested that pulled results from YouTube videos. Arc cited 11 different sources, which is on par with other AI search engines.
What I Like
- No third-party ads.
- It auto-archives old tabs — between my mobile Chrome and Safari apps, I currently have 216 open tabs, and that’s a record low. So if you’re like me, Arc will be a lot lighter.
- You can switch seamlessly between Arc and Google search, which is particularly useful on mobile.
What Needs Improvement
- I found the UX a bit too cute, and a bit cluttered.
- It took me a moment to realize that “Browse for me” meant searching with AI.
- One of the questions in Arc’s FAQ is how it makes money if it’s both free and ad-free. Problem is, it doesn’t answer it — and that leaves me with more questions.
Pricing
- Free.
4. Best for Google Users: Gemini
If you’re already fully integrated into the Google ecosystem, Gemini is an easy choice for AI-powered search. Formerly known as Bard, the AI chatbot may be attractive to those who have grown accustomed to Google’s many products.
Gabrielle Herrera, a senior marketing manager of community growth at HubSpot, sums it up: “I really enjoy Gemini because it’s integrated with the Google Ecosystem — which was my preferred search engine to begin with.
Gemini is separate from Google’s AI Overviews, which appear at the top of some Google search results (and which I’m not covering here, since it’s not a separate search engine).
Gemini’s results were some of the most comprehensive of the bunch, and it included more information about AI’s role in content marketing trends, including Google’s E-E-A-T search quality rater guidelines.
What I Like
- Good search diversity, with 13 sources cited.
- It has a “Double-check response” feature, which uses Google to run a secondary search of your question to ensure accuracy.
What Needs Improvement
- Gemini includes sources for each bullet point, but you have to click on a down arrow to find them. I’d like to see a comprehensive list of all sources included in the initial results.
Pricing
Gemini has three plan tiers, including one that provides Gemini Advanced free to U.S. college students.
- Gemini is free, but it places some limits on access to its most advanced model.
- Gemini Advanced is $20/month and increases the limits on its “most capable experimental model, 2.5 Pro.”
5. Best for the Privacy-Concerned: Brave Search
Brave Search is the AI-powered engine of choice if privacy is your top concern. It doesn’t track users or their queries, meaning it can’t share or sell personal data — because it never collected it in the first place.
Its AI-powered search engine promises it’s “the only large real-time answer engine that puts privacy first and does not rely on Big Tech search engines.” It wasn’t the best or most powerful search engine I tested, but the quality of information is on par with the rest.
Brave Search also looks a lot like Google, so it’s a great place for AI beginners to start.
What I Like
- Brave has tabs for Images, News, and Videos, just like Google. This stood out among the search engines I tested, which largely provide text-based results.
- Brave is known for its commitment to privacy and security, making it an essential option in the AI-powered search landscape.
What Needs Improvement
- Poor search diversity, citing only four sources.
- I searched normally and with the “Answer with AI” feature for both questions and received identical search results in both modes — so it’s unclear what advantages Brave is bringing to AI-powered search.
Pricing
Brave offers a number of products like a VPN, a proprietary browser, Brave Search API, and lots more.
- Brave Search is free to use.
- Brave Search Premium is $3/month or $29.99/year, and is ad-free. Unlike its competitors, there aren’t any additional features, but Brave touts Premium as a way to support private, independent search.
6. – 7. Best for People Who Hate Search Engines: Claude and ChatGPT
In an informal HubSpot Slack survey on favorite AI search engines, Claude and ChatGPT — despite not actually being search engines — were the top two responses. And if they look like search engines and quack like search engines, I decided they’d pass the duck test.
HubSpot motion designer Oscar Estrada said, “I like that ChatGPT is able to search through both text and voice modes. Also, its deep research functionality is pretty useful.”
ChatGPT is great for newbies — it summarizes each point in just a sentence or two, so I wasn’t overwhelmed with information. It’s also familiar to a lot of folks, since it was one of the first AI chatbots on the scene.
Since HubSpot has an Enterprise Claude account, I signed in and used 3.7 Sonnet. The free version uses a less powerful model.
What I Like
- Claude’s friendly, conversational tone stands out among all the search engines.
- ChatGPT has a “Sources” button that opens a right sidebar — I liked being able to see the list of sources on the same page as the results.
What Needs Improvement
- ChatGPT and Claude have poor search diversity, each listing only five sources for my query.
Pricing
- Both Claude and ChatGPT have perfectly serviceable free versions.
- Claude’s Pro version is $17/month, and ChatGPT Plus is $20/month.
8. Best for Outlook Users: Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is an AI companion tool that pairs with Microsoft 365 apps, such as Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Copilot integrates into Microsoft 365 apps to help with the most appropriate tasks, from writing thought-starters in Word to design help in PowerPoint to email inbox efficiency in Outlook.
Copilot also has a web version that functions similarly to other AI search engines. You enter a question, and it curates a response by scouring the web for references. For this article, I tested the web-based version.
What I Like
- Copilot is built for Microsoft, so if you’re an Outlook user, this may be your search engine of choice.
What Needs Improvement
- Copilot only listed two sources — far fewer than any other search engine.
- Copilot isn’t a search engine first and foremost, and that shows in both the overall UX and the SERPs, which were lacking compared to the others I tested.
Pricing
- Free plan limits access to certain models during peak usage times.
- Microsoft Copilot Pro is $20/month and includes “preferred access to the most advanced models during peak times.”
9. Best for Academic Research: EXA’s Websets
EXA is a bit of a wild card in this experiment, and a word of warning: it’s not for most people.
But for those doing deep academic research or marketers who want an exhaustive list of resources to use for their own research, EXA’s Websets can be a fantastic complement to other search engines.
Instead of summarizing results like most other AI-powered search engines, EXA’s Websets finds blog posts, scholarly articles, and other news related to your query and search criteria. If you prefer to do your own research, this is a great tool for identifying the best and most relevant resources with just one query.
What I Like
- Searches both scholarly journals and articles/blog posts.
- Clearly labels which of your criteria each article “meets” and “misses” — a unique and useful tool for research deep dives.
What Needs Improvement
- The spreadsheet-like interface isn’t nearly as intuitive as others on this list.
- The credits-based free plan starts at 750, and after one search, I was down to 420.
Pricing
EXA’s target audience is AI companies — and as such, it’s the most expensive on this list by a long shot.
- You can try EXA’s Websets for free using a credit-based system.
- The starter plan is $200/month and includes 20k credits; Pro is $800/month and includes 80k credits.
Where There’s A Will, There’s A(I) Way
Before testing AI search engines for this article, I was already an occasional Perplexity user, but I was pleasantly surprised by several others on this list. Whether you’re new to AI or a seasoned pro, try out a few of these search engines and see which ones meet your needs.
Editor’s note: This post was originally published in July 2024 and has been updated for comprehensiveness.
Email Marketing Plan: Craft & Track Your Email Campaign [Free Template]
If you’ve ever tried to put together an email marketing plan, you might have wanted to pull your hair out at least once or twice. Maybe you didn’t have enough time to properly segment your lists, so you knew your clickthrough rate was gonna totally […]
MarketingIf you’ve ever tried to put together an email marketing plan, you might have wanted to pull your hair out at least once or twice. Maybe you didn’t have enough time to properly segment your lists, so you knew your clickthrough rate was gonna totally suck.
Or you were planning several email campaigns at once, so keeping track of all the details for each was kind of like trying to juggle while skateboarding while accomplishing your 50-squats-a-day goal.
Email marketing requires a lot of attention to detail, which is why we put together an email planning template that removes the guesswork and helps set your email campaign up for success. In this blog post, I’ll walk you through how it works.
Table of Contents
Organizing Your Email Marketing Campaign Strategy
The best way to prevent mediocre email marketing is to get organized.
When you’re having difficulty managing all the moving parts of your email campaigns, it’s hard to be proactive and strategic about what you send, which ultimately means your campaigns will be far less fruitful in terms of generating opens, clicks, and qualified leads.
The problem gets worse the more email campaigns you need to plan and send.
To get organized here at HubSpot, our email marketers came up with what we think is a pretty neat email marketing planning template that helps us (and hopefully you, too) keep track of:
- Which emails you’re sending to whom
- The various A/B tests you’re conducting
- The high-level results of each email you’ve sent
We use it as an all-in-one checklist, a calendar, and a communication tool.
Let’s explore how it works, shall we?
How to Plan Your Email Campaigns & Track Results
We realize that not every company sends emails the same way. We encourage you to customize the template according to your individual needs and your organization’s goals.
Since frequency, timing, messaging, content, design, and other elements of email marketing will all vary, feel free to adjust the template by hiding certain columns if you don‘t need them or by adding in new ones we didn’t account for.
Without further ado, let’s get started.
Step 1: Download the template.
You’ll want to download your own copy of the template so you can follow along as we explain how it can help you be more strategic about what you send.
Step 2: Open the Email Planning Template in Excel or Google Sheets.
Once you’ve downloaded and opened your Email Marketing Planning Template in Excel or Google Sheets, you’ll notice it contains two tabs. The template itself, which we’ll explore in this post, resides in the “Email Planning Template” tab.
Download the Template
You’ll quickly discover that the Email Planning Template tab is divided into three sections:
- Email Planning (green cells)
- Email Results Tracking (yellow cells)
- A/B Testing Planning & Results (red cells)
Each of the three sections contains columns for the 18 details you should plan for or keep track of in the planning, testing, and results stages of email marketing, which I’ll list in a second.
The planning template will help you think through the 18 details below to ensure you‘ve dotted all your i’s and crossed all your t’s before pressing that irreversible “send” button.
Step 3: Fill out the template‘s ’Email Planning’ section.
This is where you‘ll record the logistics of each email, like when it’s being sent out and who‘s sending it. Here’s what you will record in this section:
1. Email Send Date: When does this email need to land in your prospects’ inboxes? In the template, Column A contains the date of your email send.
Pro tip: If you’re not sure when the best time to send an email for your campaign is, check out these stats we’ve gathered to find the right time.
2. Email Topic: What is your email about? Ex: New Ebook or Monthly Email Newsletter.
3. Owner: Who on your team is crafting this email?
4. Status: Ex: Not Started, In Progress, Ready to Test, Scheduled, Sent.
5. Subject Line: What subject line will you use to entice recipients to open your email?
Pro tip: If you’re struggling to create excellent copy for your emails—be it subject lines or body—consider tools like Campaign Assistant, which can craft high-quality copy quickly with AI.
6. Email Draft Link: Copy and paste the link to your email draft here from your email software for you to keep track of or your team to review. Once the email is live, you can replace the draft link with a link to the live email
7. Send List: Name of your email list, such as “Corporate Executives Interested in Social Media Topics.”
8. Suppression List(s): Names of lists you want to exclude from your send. Ex: “Unengaged Leads and/or Corporate Executives from SMBs.”
Step 4: Fill out the template‘s ’Email Results Tracking’ section.
How did your email do? You’ll record the results in this section.
1. Total Emails Sent: How many email addresses did you send your email to?
2. Total Emails Delivered: Of the email addresses you sent your email to, how many successfully landed in an inbox?
3. Total Emails Opened: Of the email addresses you sent your email to, how many were opened?
4. Total Clicks: How many unique individuals clicked a link in your email?
5. Deliverability: Automatically calculates Total Emails Delivered / Total Emails Sent. Above 95% is ideal, but hard to achieve if your list(s) are purchased. (And you shouldn’t be purchasing lists in the first place.)
6. Open Rate: This automatically calculates the Total number of Emails Opened/delivered. An open rate of 20% would mean that out of every 10 emails delivered, 2 were actually opened.
7. Clickthrough Rate: This automatically calculates the percentage of recipients who clicked a link in your email out of the total emails opened.
8. Leads Generated: How many new potential business contacts did you get from email recipients filing out the form on your landing page?
Pro tip: Get better results by regularly cleaning your email contact list. You can do this by segmenting your contacts.
Step 5: Fill out the ‘A/B Testing Planning & Results’ section.
There are numerous ways to A/B test your emails. You can test your subject lines, image, call-to-action layout, placement of social sharing links and buttons, and pretty much any element you want. Here, you’ll record the A/B test(s) you did on each email.
1. A/B Test Description – Describe any A/B test you‘re conducting with this email send and which metrics you’ll be using to gauge success.
2. Summary of A/B Test Results – What were the results? Which variation won?
And Voilà!
With great planning and organization, you won’t overlook major details, your team will be kept in the loop, you can better track your results, and—because you’ve thought through all you need to when planning campaigns—your emails perform better, too.
Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in August 2014 and has been updated and for freshness, accuracy, and comprehensiveness.
