For subscription tech companies experiencing growth, your messaging isn’t just about what you say – it’s about saying the right thing at the right time.
As customers move through your sales funnel, their needs, questions, and decision-making factors evolve dramatically. Your communication must evolve with them.
Below is a checklist designed to improve sticking points within your sales pipeline. It is based entirely on how to use your messaging to improve conversations.
I use the following principles to help scale ups improve conversion rates for specific sticking points in their sales pipeline. The method is tried and tested and I hope it helps you too.
At the top of your funnel, potential customers aren’t looking for your solution—they’re experiencing problems.
Pain points are your focus for the top of your funnel. This means any marketing that creates an initial interest from the prospect. Your customer pain points should be projected in your outreach communications such as social media, emails, adverts, and promotions to generate an emotive reaction.
If you want to improve the conversion from awareness to interest in your product, check your outbound marketing messaging against the below principles:
Does your message focus on the pain points your ideal customers experience daily?
Example transformation: Instead of “Our AI-powered analytics dashboard features real-time data visualisation,” try “Stop making decisions in the dark. Know exactly how your team is performing at any moment.”
As prospects begin exploring potential solutions they need to understand not just what your product does, but the tangible results it delivers.
If there is are high levels of awareness of your product but you are not triggering further interest from prospective customers, this is your sticking point. You can identify this sticking point with low levels of engagement in your website or interactive elements of your sales pipeline such as contact forms.
You can improve levels of interest through your second stage messaging, such as landing pages and re-advertising. This also happens through your automated messaging.
If you are losing people at the point of product discovery, check that your messaging reflects the following:
Example transformation: Instead of “Our platform integrates with 50+ tools,” try “Eliminate data silos without changing your existing workflow—seamlessly connect with all the tools your team already loves.”
At this stage, prospects are comparing options. They have engaged with a landing page, or watched a video and they are actively seeking more information about your product and your company.
This is where the online journey you have created through your website and other communication streams must clearly articulate your unique value proposition and why it matters.
If you want to increase the conversion from website engagement to being on the list of potential customers, check the messaging in your website and sales pitches against the below:
Example transformation: Instead of “We offer the most comprehensive solution,” try “While competitors focus on tracking performance, our customers gain the predictive insights that have helped them reduce churn by an average of 32%.”
As decision-makers weigh options, they need to justify the investment internally.
This is where your demos, proposals and sales pitches are the difference between them deciding to pitch your product internally or not. Check the messaging in your sales pitches against the following principles:
Example transformation: Instead of “Enterprise-grade implementation,” try “Be up and running in 14 days with dedicated onboarding specialists who have guided 200+ companies like yours to first value in under a month.”
At the moment of decision your messaging must overcome final hesitations and create urgency.
This is where your bids and sales proposals are the difference between them buying from you and buying from a competitor. If you want to improve your conversion in the final part of the sales pipeline, check your sales messaging against the following principles:
Example transformation: Instead of “Sign up today,” try “Join 5,000+ corporations who’ve simplified their operations—with our 60-day money back guarantee, you can implement with confidence.”
Your best customers are your loyal ones. Once a customer has been onboarded your messaging objective shifts to utilisation, expansion, and advocacy.
Never assume that your customers remember how much you have helped them or the unique benefits of your product. All your follow up communications with current customers should have this in mind.
To increase loyalty and customer value, check your regular customer communications against the following principles:
Example transformation: Instead of “Check out our new feature,” try “You asked, we delivered: the workflow automation you requested is now live—saving our average customer 7 hours per week.”
By aligning your messaging strategy with where prospects are in their journey, you create resonance that accelerates movement through your funnel and builds the foundation for lasting customer relationships.
Growth Marketing Specialist
Commercial Growth Specialist
