How ClickFunnels Grew Into A $100-Million Business In Just 5 Years (And The 5 Funnels That Made It Possible)

In 2014, Russell Brunson had a dream. He wanted to help entrepreneurs launch and scale their businesses using sales funnels, without forcing those same entrepreneurs to pay developers huge fees in order to get high-converting funnels built and launched.

Thus ClickFunnels was born.

In October 2014, Russell launched ClickFunnels with a small team and no venture capital funding. By 2019, ClickFunnels was one of the fastest-growing, privately-owned SaaS companies in North America with over $100 million in annual sales and over 100,000 paying customers.

By 2023 ClickFunnels surpassed $265 million in annual revenue and 150,000 customers. 

So you might be wondering, how did Russell and the ClickFunnels team achieve all of this?

In this post, I am going to show you how Russell and the ClickFunnels team (as well as his partner, Todd Dickerson) have used five key sales funnel models to launch and grow ClickFunnels. 

Let’s dive in!

1. The Webinar Funnel

As with all good stories, it started with some serious challenges.

On launch day, Russell and the team expected they’d easily pull in 5,000 customers, maybe 10,000… who knew. The sky was the limit in their minds.

But when they showed the world their new software, no one wanted to buy it. They watched in disbelief as ad campaigns failed and conversion rates plummeted. 

(Been there?)

Then, as a last-ditch effort to find ClickFunnels’ first customers, Russell put together a presentation, delivered it on stage… and received a staggering 30% close rate!

It was clear that they’d stumbled upon something special. Something that would radically change the future of marketing.

They turned Russell’s effective presentation into the first-ever “webinar”. 

The strategy was simple…

On the webinar training, Russell revealed a simple funnel model he was using and then gave prospects access to the very same funnel templates inside of ClickFunnels and invited prospects to sign up for a two-week trial.

Anyone who is familiar with ClickFunnels, you know that the “webinar funnel” has become a key pillar of their marketing strategy. 

And they are still creating amazing webinars today… 

Eventually, they hit their goal of 10,000 paying customers.

But they still had a long way to go. The next question was, how could Russell and the ClickFunnels team consistently acquire new ClickFunnels customers predictably and profitably day in and day out, without having to raise millions in venture capital funding?

Russell and the ClickFunnels team quickly realized that selling ClickFunnels subscriptions to cold audiences was very difficult, so they had to come up with a multi-step strategy in order to acquire new ClickFunnels customers.

The strategy that they came up with was this: give away their knowledge and information for free through books, reports, and challenges… and then upsell those customers to a Clickfunnels membership.

This is still the strategy they’re using today! 

Let’s take a look at 4 other sales funnels that Russell and the ClickFunnels team have used to acquire customers and grow ClickFunnels into the massive business that it is today.

2. The Free Book Funnel

The free book funnel is one of ClickFunnels’ key sales funnel models that is used to acquire new customers every day. 

Russell and the ClickFunnels team use the free book funnel to sell his books, Dotcom Secrets, Expert Secrets, and Traffic Secrets.

The strategy used here is to give the book away for free with a small shipping fee applied to cover shipping costs. 

There is also an upsell in the funnel to cover the cost of ads. 

Once a new customer is acquired, many of them become a customer of ClickFunnels because they have a great experience reading one of Russell’s books. 

However, this is just one of the funnels ClickFunnels uses to acquire new customers and ultimately upgrade them into ClickFunnels users.

The next funnel that they use is one of the key strategies for quickly acquiring new ClickFunnels customers…

3. The Challenge Funnel

Challenge funnels are one of the most effective ways to get people motivated to buy a product or service. 

The strategy is simple…

Walk people through your system — your process for getting results with your product or service — and make your software a fundamental part of the challenge. 

This was easy with ClickFunnels because their challenges revolved around building sales funnels… and that’s exactly what their software helped you do as well. 

Russell and the ClickFunnels team launched their most successful challenge funnel to date, The One Funnel Away Challenge. 

Participants got 30 days of expert sales funnel coaching to plan and launch a new funnel using — you guessed it — ClickFunnels. So not only do they get the key knowledge they need to become successful at building funnels, they also become a paying ClickFunnels customer.

Genius, right?

People pay $100 to join the One Funnel Away Challenge. This allows them to cover their ad costs for acquiring new customers. It also allows them to pay out affiliate commissions to influencers who promote the challenge.

The sales funnels we’ve looked at so far focus on acquiring new customers straight away with a low-ticket product. But Russell also wanted to use free training, reports, and email to acquire more customers at scale. 

The next funnel is one of the most effective sales funnel models they use to grow their email list and get people using ClickFunnels.

4. The eBook Funnel

Email marketing remains one of ClickFunnels most profitable marketing activities and they strive to grow their email list every month. 

One of the most effective ways that they have grown their email list is with their legendary Marketing Secrets Black Book. 

This simple free black book has generated hundreds of thousands of new leads for ClickFunnels and thousands of new customers.

Email marketing definitely isn’t dead, it is very much alive and kicking!

5. The Free Trial Funnel

You’ve probably seen this funnel before on a lot of different software products. And there’s a reason for that… because it’s super effective! 

The ‘free trial funnel’ is something that ClickFunnels has used for a long time, and probably will continue to use well into the future. 

Even though they use multiple funnels and products to acquire new customers, ultimately, all marketing roads will lead to a 14-day free trial. 

Generally, they only send people to their homepage who already know about ClickFunnels and are warm prospects and just want to know what they get when they join ClickFunnels.

They also have lots of other educational pages and a blog attached to this page for people who want more information about ClickFunnels and how it works. 

6. Funnel Hacking Live

When it comes to building authentic relationships with your customers, there’s nothing quite as powerful as in-person events. 

The first Funnel Hacking Live took place in 2015 in Las Vegas, Nevada, attracting around 600 attendees. It was a modest yet significant gathering, attracting passionate entrepreneurs and marketers eager to learn from Russell and other industry leaders. 

Over the years, Funnel Hacking Live has grown exponentially in both size and influence. By 2018, the event saw over 3,000 attendees. The 2020 event, held in Nashville, Tennessee, drew nearly 5,000 attendees. 

The event includes live funnel-building sessions, awards ceremonies, and numerous opportunities for networking and collaboration. The sense of community and shared purpose among attendees is palpable, fostering a supportive environment where individuals can learn from each other and celebrate their successes together.

With each passing year, Funnel Hacking Live cements its reputation as a must-attend event for anyone serious about mastering the art of sales funnels and achieving success in the digital age.

7. Two Comma Club Award

One of the most brilliant things the ClickFunnels team did was create the “Two Comma Club” award for entrepreneurs who made at least 1,000,000 through their ClickFunnels sales funnel. 

This has become an online marketing phenomenon. 

You’ve likely seen lots of Facebook profile pictures of entrepreneurs posing with their Two Comma Club award — it’s quite an achievement in the online marketing world. 

And this award has created a culture of camaraderie and achievement for those committed to building million-dollar funnels. 

It also allowed for the creation of this funnel… 

This documentary is free and it lets you in on the secrets of success behind all these Two Comma Club award winners — what they do differently than everyone else. 

And naturally, it urges you to join the ClickFunnels ecosystem and write your own story! 

8. AI Funnel Builder

We’re now well into the AI era — and it’s not going anywhere. 

One of the newest funnels that the CF team has created is powered by AI. It’s called Smart Funnels… and it allows you to build a sales funnel in as little as 10 minutes just by answering a few simple questions. 

This is an absolute game-changer. And it’s proof that ClickFunnels (as always) is staying on the bleeding edge of tech and serving their customers in the best possible ways. 

Now I just have one question… 

Want to Use These Funnels to Grow Your Business?

You’ve seen how effective sales funnels can be for your business — they’ve grown ClickFunnels business to $265 million in revenue per year. 

Maybe you wonder…

What could they do for your business?

By signing up for a ClickFunnels free trial, you try any or all of these sales funnels.

For two weeks, you can collect leads and sales with our service totally for free. Just choose from our sales funnel templates, use our drag-and-drop editor to customize each page, and then hit the “Publish” button. 

(Or use our new AI builder!)

If our sales funnels do even one-tenth as well for you as they have for us, you’ll be well on your way to building a successful business… and getting your Two Comma Club Award. 

Click below to sign up! 

Try ClickFunnels FREE Today!