Sales Funnel Optimization
UX Study
In this case study, I conducted a UX research study focused on 25–45-year-old female entrepreneurs who had launched their businesses within the past six months. These participants were ideal prospects for an online program designed to teach marketing and sales strategies to help them land their first clients. By recruiting users who had never seen the sales funnel before, we captured fresh, unbiased feedback on the introductory messaging, the video sales letter (VSL), and the overall flow. Their insights revealed key opportunities to improve clarity, build trust, and increase conversion potential, leading to targeted optimizations that made the funnel more intuitive and compelling for this early-stage audience.
The Challenge
The client wanted to better understand how early-stage female entrepreneurs experience a new sales funnel designed to promote a marketing and sales training program.
My goal was to uncover the specific pain points, motivations, and decision-making factors these women consider when evaluating whether an online program can help them attract and convert their first clients.
The Solution
Phase 1: Participant Recruitment
I recruited a group of 30 early-stage female entrepreneurs from across the country, all within 6 months of launching their businesses. These participants represented a range of industries: from coaching and consulting to e-commerce and creative services. The participants were carefully selected to reflect the target audience for the sales funnel and online program.
Phase 2: Virtual Data Collection
I developed an asynchronous, diary-style feedback protocol that served two key purposes: to better understand the mindset, motivations, and challenges of early-stage female entrepreneurs, and to capture their real-time, unfiltered reactions as they moved through each part of the sales funnel, from the intro messaging to the video sales letter and call-to-action.
Phase 3: Data Analysis and Reporting
Written feedback from all participants was analyzed and insights were shared with the program’s founder to inform strategic updates to the sales funnel, guiding improvements in messaging, content structure, and overall user experience to better resonate with early-stage female entrepreneurs.
The Results
We discovered that early-stage female entrepreneurs were eager for hands-on experience before committing to a program: they wanted a free trial or preview of the content to build trust and assess the value. Additionally, many participants expressed a desire for clearer differentiation between this program and other online offers in the market.
With these insights, the team reworked the funnel to highlight what made the program unique and introduced a free trial component, a major strategic shift. These updates made the offering more accessible and compelling to the target audience, resulting in stronger engagement and increased conversions across the board.