What is a conversion sequence?

A conversion sequence is a combination of tools that turn website visitors into leads.

The six elements of a conversion sequence

A conversion sequence contains six elements that turn website visitors into leads, and helps them to move through the buyer's journey.

Those elements are:

1. Call-to-action (CTA)
2. Landing page
3. Thank you page
4. Follow-up email
5. Content offer
6. Landing page for the next step offer

What is a call-to-action?

A call-to-action (CTA) is a button, link or image on your site that encourages the visitor to click through to the next step in your conversion sequence.

Here are some examples of CTAs used by ESM Inbound's customers:

What is a landing page?

A landing page is a page of your website with the single goal of turning visitors into leads. The page will promote the benefits of the content offer and invite users to fill in a form to provide their contact details. Once the form is filled in, they will be redirected to the thank you page.

Here is an example of a landing page used by one of ESM Inbound's customers:

What is a thank you page?

The thank you page is shown to the visitor once they complete the form on the landing page. This page has two purposes:

1. Provide the visitor with access to the content offer (as promised on the landing page)
2. Highlight an offer that sits in the next stage of the buyer's journey

Here is a wireframe for a thank you page:

What is a follow-up email?

A follow-up email (FUE) is automatically sent to the visitor when they fill in the landing page form. It serves three purposes:

1. Provide the visitor with access to the content offer (as promised on the landing page)
2. Highlight an offer that sits in the next stage of the buyer's journey
3. Validating that the visitor provided a genuine email address

What is a content offer?

A content offer is the central asset of your conversion sequence. It is a piece of content that's sufficiently valuable for the visitor to provide their contact details to receive. Common content offers include:

• an ebook (a downloadable PDF)
• an interactive resource
• a spreadsheet that the user can use in their business

Why is there a landing page for a next-step offer?

The follow-up landing page acts as a litmus test to see if your contact is ready to move to the next stage in the buyer's journey. If a contact has downloaded your case study, for example, then you may provide a follow-up offer of booking a free consultation call.

Creating your conversion sequence

At ESM Inbound, we recommend creating your conversion sequence in reverse order. In other words, create your:

1. Content offer (write a valuable content piece that you host as a PDF or pillar page, upload this to your HubSpot File Manager)
2. Follow-up email (use the email tool and save it for automation)
3. Thank you page (use the landing page tool - your HubSpot portal will include a few templates that you can use)
4. Landing page (use the landing page tool - ESM Inbound will have designed and developed a custom landing page template for you)
5. Call-to-action (use the CTA tool)

Your homework

If you're reading this as part of your HubSpot onboarding with ESM Inbound, then you have some homework to do!

1. Create your conversion sequence

You can choose to outsource this task to ESM Inbound for a cost of 0.5 points.