Thanks to ClickFunnels, just about anyone can build a sales funnel with potential to drive traffic and build a revenue stream.

However, how do you make the jump from “newbie” status and get your funnel playing in the big leagues?

Funnel consultants know the drill when it comes to beefing up their funnels: consider this three-pronged strategy as your starting point.

Truth be told, a sales funnel can be built in a matter of minutes.

However, a sales funnel that sells takes some serious legwork.

That being said, the elements of a successful funnel aren’t a secret: however, the money-making potential of your funnel does depend on a few key factors:

#1 – Your Niche

Whether you’re working in the real estate market or want to build a funnel for a doctor’s office, deciding on a niche within your industry is absolutely crucial to the success of your funnel.

Rather than looking at the big picture, start by dominating markets and keywords with little competition and then scale your efforts.

#2 – Your Homework

Funnel builders tend to shoot themselves in the foot when they build their funnels and then try to figure out their market.

You should know your audience like the back of your hand; likewise, you should know exactly what’s working and what’s not regarding how to market your funnel based on your previous advertising efforts and A/B testing.

#3 – Your Sales Strategy

Passive income is the ultimate dream of modern marketers; however, building and scaling your funnel is an active process.

You can’t hope to scale your funnel without a foolproof marketing and outreach strategy in place.

Overwhelmed? Don’t be.

Fortunately, all three of these factors are in the palm of your hand.

You have complete control over which niche you target, how you research the in’s and out of appealing to your audience and how to eventually scale your efforts.

Certified funnel consultants have the ability to tackle just about any niche and craft a killer funnel around it.

Real estate, dentistry, self-help, you name it. It doesn’t matter if you own a construction company in Boise or a tech company in Toronto: if there’s a niche, there’s potential for a funnel to dominate that niche.

But how?

How do we take our sales funnels to the next level?

How can we hope to overtake our niche and outsell our competitors?

It’s time to take your funnel out of the minor leagues and into the majors.

Ever wonder how funnel consultants take seemingly unknown sites and turn them into funnels which practically print money?

First, Crunch the Numbers

Due diligence and research is obviously important to any business, and funnel-building is no exception. For starters, funnel builders need to understand…

• What appeals to potential visitors regarding content and marketing
• How visitors behave once they’ve landed on the site housing the funnel
• Best practices within their niche regarding offers, deals, and marketing message

Crunching the numbers for your sales funnel to determine its potential comes down to two elements: expectations and goals.

In other words, don’t get too ahead of yourself. If you’re looking to figure out where your funnel is going, you’re going to need to understand where your site has been regarding traffic, advertising and user behavior.

By doing your homework and managing your expectations, you’ll be able to craft a realistic blueprint regarding what your funnel is capable of.

So, what expectations are we talking about? What numbers are essential to building your funnel?

Traffic

First and foremost, you need to figure out how much traffic your site is pulling in before launching your funnel.

Furthermore, you should also understand what percentage of your visitors represent quality traffic versus junk traffic.

By having a solid understanding of your site’s typical visitor count and behavior (think: bounce-rate and landing page optimization, where visitors typically click, how they exit the site and so on), you can realistically consider the financial potential of your funnel.

For example, if you predict 20,000 unique visitors per month, you can begin calculating “what-if” revenue based on various conversion rates (it’s better to low-ball your estimations with a 2% rate, for instance) and manage your expectations accordingly.

Advertising – Consider your existing advertising campaigns, whether they be on Facebook or native ads, and determine what’s worked in the past and what hasn’t.

If you have a killer ad on Facebook that’s converting like crazy, for example, you can integrate the elements of that ad (headlines, copy, design) into your new funnel.

Reach – While you should start small regarding your expectations, you should also keep the future of your funnel in the back of your mind.

Keep in mind the potential reach of your funnel regarding traffic and audience, including your ability to scale once your funnel has taken off.

For example, consider candidates for expert outreach or potential partners for a JV down the road.

Marketing – Look into your competition and the kind of numbers they’re seeing from their funnels.

Ideally, you’ll be able to use the best practices within your industry to create a funnel that’s at least strong as your neighbors’.

What seems to be working in your space?

What marketing have you A/B tested in the past?

How can you take what the competition is doing and do it better?

By understanding what to expect based on what you already know about your site, industry and target audience, you can realistically set goals for you funnel upon launch.

As an aside, bear in mind that it never hurts to be conservative regarding your conversion and click-through rate estimations.

In short, make sure that decisions for your funnel are driven by data rather than your gut and plan accordingly.

Make Your Design Count

Granted you’ve done your homework, the back-end of your funnel should be solid; however, what about the face of your funnel?

It’s no secret that design can either make or break your sales funnel.

How can we figure out if our funnels look as good as it converts?

Consider first and foremost that weak funnels…

Take Forever to Load – Considering that 40% of visitors will bounce from a site that takes more than three seconds to load, you can’t afford to boast a bulky funnel.

Lack Congruence – It’s essential that your funnel’s message, copy, and design are consistent with your existing branding.

If a user enters your funnel via Facebook and feels like they’ve stumbled on the wrong site because of an inconsistent color scheme or marketing message, their confusion will ultimately lead them to bounce.

Don’t Pop – Your funnel shouldn’t look like it came straight out of 1999.

To catch the attention of your visitors, you’re going to need to turn up the sexy in your sales funnel. For starters, consider HD images, bold fonts and eye-popping colors (in line with your own branding).

It never hurts to consult a designer or copywriter if you’re concerned about whether or not your funnel is up to snuff.

When in doubt, keep in mind what’s worked in the past.

It’s better to have a funnel that’s loud regarding design rather than something dull and drab.

Scale (and Scale, and Scale Some More)

While sales funnels can’t simply be copy-and-pasted from niche to niche, a successful funnel can be scaled across multiple markets with the proper tweaks.

Once your funnel has proven its worth and becomes profitable, it’s time to consider scaling.

However, where do we start when it comes to unlocking a funnel’s full potential?

Ask Yourself: Which Traffic Networks Would Work? – To properly scale your funnel, consider traffic that you aren’t currently targeting which has the potential to convert.

Consider related niches or similar markets regarding demographics and reach.

For example, a successful funnel in the dentistry niche could potentially work across other medical fields such as cosmetic surgery and so on.

Bump Up Your Budget – If your funnel is stable regarding revenue, consider ramping up your budget as means of scaling.

Instead of spending wildly at first, start with a small injection of cash and see if your funnel’s revenue responds accordingly.

Find a Partner in Crime – The benefits of JVs are obvious, especially when it comes to scaling your funnel.

From uncovering new traffic sources and affiliates to giving your funnel additional exposure, JVs represent the ultimately means of getting your funnel in front of new customers.

Regardless of who you decide to partner with, ensure that it’s someone you trust and that you have something to offer their traffic in return.

Has Your Funnel Reached the Big Leagues?

Scaling up and cashing out is the dream of every funnel builder; however, the steps to get to that point require some intense research and strategy.

Much of a funnel’s potential can be determined pre-launch as you study your traffic, determine your design and work to dominate your niche.

Regardless of your industry, make sure that your decisions are driven by data rather than instinct to ensure that you’ll never be disappointed by your funnel’s performance.
What do you think is the ultimate step to reaching the big leagues with your funnel? If yours isn’t quite there, what’s holding you back?

Thanks for reading 3 Weird Steps Certified Consultants Take To Boost Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Increasingly, brands are turning to the broad reach of the Internet to sell their physical products, marrying the digital and material into one experience for customers.

In our tech-fueled world, entire online marketplaces now exist for buying and selling products of almost every kind.

As a matter of fact, you may have noticed… Amazon and Etsy have become household names, and these sites are empowering small startups and titans of industry in taking their product from creation to delivery.

Today, no matter what size business you run, you can have your brand on the doorsteps of customers anywhere in the world.

And with all the many online tools, you have the chance to hook into this powerful reach yourself to get your physical product into your customer’s hands quickly.

So what’s most important to harnessing these options, building a sales funnel for your physical product, and creating an experience your customers are sure to love?

Great question! Let these 6 points become your mantra as you launch your funnel, and you’ll be on the path to an award-winning sales process in no time.

Reviewing the Entire Fulfilment Process

Physical products need to get from Point A to Point B, but on the way, there’re several steps to consider.

Take refunds for example.

Did you know, on average, up to one in three online sales is returned, and this trend is increasing? (Don’t let that number scare you, though; they can be lower depending on your industry).

Shipping and handling, updating customer billing, costs related to returns… you get the idea.

As you build your funnel, keep the fulfilment process (and its necessary components in mind).

This will give you the chance to keep track of associated expenses, but there’s another amazing benefit.

You’ll also be able to catch any part of the process that might need tweaking to make sure that your physical product isn’t tied up on its way to the customer or worse, never even gets out the front door of your business.

This part of the customer experience is just as much a part of your sales funnel as anything else.

Protip: for a real nitty-gritty look at your fulfillment process and how it factors into your sales funnel, map out each piece as the steps in a flow chart. You’ll have a visual perspective that will let you know where you can trim steps and costs or consider alternatives.

Borrowing the Competition’s Playbook

Depending on your industry, your competitors might inspire a range of emotions in you. And the competition today seems like it’s never been greater.

Data presented by Edward Lowe even shows that, in many industries, 80% of revenues go to 20% of the brands.

Why not take a play from the competition, especially if they’re part of that 20%?

By putting together an analysis on your competitors, you’ll be getting insight on where and how to modify your funnel.

(Check out sneaky tools like these to start getting an idea of their online strategies).

You can also use this snapshot of the competition to simplify your sales funnel and focus on what works.

Less complex funnels, especially for physical products, have less moving pieces, and so, are less prone to hiccups and holdups.

That’s good for your sales and your customers.

Protip: Stay on top of your market. A yearly update of your competitor analysis will allow you to get a look at the evolving landscape of your industry and get ahead of trends.

Providing More to Your Customers… and Increasing Sales

Let’s circle back around and take a look at one of the largest and most successful brands delivering physical products to customers… Amazon.

Even though Amazon is a marketplace that you can use for your physical products, it also provides good lessons in increasing sales potential.

One way that Amazon does this is through cross-selling, presenting related products to capture more average cart value.

When you present your customers with items related to their current purchase, you’re taking advantage of the valuable information you’ve learned about their preferences.

In fact, 35% of Amazon’s entire revenue comes from using cross-selling.

Think of all that sales potential for your funnel!

You’ve probably also heard of upselling, but it’s not some out-dated sales technique.

Research also has shown that it remains a good tactic for increasing average cart sizes.

And like with cross-selling, you have the chance to take advantage of your fulfillment process to deliver more and enhance your customer’s experience.

Protip: Drill down on the reasoning for your upsells and cross-sales. Presenting a lamp to a customer who just bought a book doesn’t make as much sense as giving them the option also to purchase a magazine related to their interests.

Entrusting Your Staff with Your Brand

Factoring in support service for your sales funnel is a certain way to strengthen the funnel for your physical product.

Customers often have questions about warranties or product materials.

They also might have to deal with a lost or stolen package, and they’ll want to turn to someone they can trust.

In that sense, you’ll be entrusting your brand, and your sales funnel to your staff.

And when you choose the right staff, you’ll be boosting customer retention by 5% and profits beyond 25%.

Hire support staff who are knowledgeable about your industry and can learn everything about your product there is to learn.

By having a strong hiring process, you’ll have staff that can best serve your customers by knowing what they’re talking about.

And because it costs, on average, $3,500 to replace even minimum wage employees, your funnel will benefit in more ways than one by having a loyal, well-chosen team.

Protip: Skip micromanaging your support team. When interacting with customers, they’re sure to face many unique situations requiring them to make independent decisions. Be confident in your hiring process and follow up with them on any issues you see.

Engineering the Logistical Side of Delivery

Another factor to remember when building your funnel is how much of the fulfilment process you’ll do yourself.

Major fulfillment houses are popping up left and right, and this industry is expected to have big growth in the coming years.

These companies specialize in warehousing items and packing them for delivery.

There’re a few factors to consider here. It might be easier and more cost-effective for you to go to a fulfillment house, but it also might mean better service for your customers.

For example, with 50% of retailers now offering free return shipping to customers, a fulfilment house that can help you make this a reality for your business can greatly improve your customer’s experience.

(Amazon’s same-day delivery through company-owned fulfillment centres have improved their funnel conversions up to 25%).

These logistical benefits are worth thinking about if you have the option to outsource your fulfilment.

Protip: Working with a fulfilment house shouldn’t just be a grab and go affair. Take time to learn as much as you can about the company, including its ability to handle issues and meet targets.

Finding Opportunities for Future Products

Once you’ve built your funnel, there’s still work to be done.

For physical products, you’ll also want to use your email sequence to expose your customers further to your brand.

Once you’ve captured their information like their name and email, you can combine this with their existing purchase preferences to provide interesting followup emails.

Picture it for a second: if you’re in the fashion industry, three weeks after purchasing a brand new, hip t-shirt, your customer gets a follow-up email.

And in that email, you share some fun clothing trends you’ve seen taking hold across the country.

Before you close out your email, you remind your customer that you’re about to release a new pair of jeans to your site that will surely sell out fast.

By connecting with your customers on this more personal level, you’re also creating space to showcase future products and keep them in your funnel.

Protip: Check out our step-by-step guide to creating an autoresponder that your customers will love to incorporate well-written emails into your sales funnel.

Taking Your Funnel to the Next Level

Selling a physical product comes with its set of unique challenges and hurdles.

But in reality, designing your funnel can be as creative a process as designing the funnel for any product or service.

There’s so many avenues and resources available today, and within the limit, be willing to take a chance with an innovative idea for your sales funnel.

And Josh Felber gave some great examples of doing exactly that for his physical product over at our podcast on re-targeting secrets.

A free, but limited ebook can lead to a webinar session, which can then lead to a chance to purchase your physical product.

Or a flash sale on Instagram can have your customers emailing you for an exclusive coupon before heading to your site.

The possibilities are endless, but the core idea remains the same: your sales funnel is yours to unleash for the benefit of your brand. Remember our points here, and get creative with it!

What would you say are the biggest challenges when creating a sales funnel for a physical product?

Thanks for reading Building A Sales Funnel For Physical Products which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Many of us crowd around the television during the Olympics, in awe as we think “Man, I wish I could be that good at, well, just about anything!”

Why not take the motivation and drive of elite athletes and apply that passion to your marketing strategy?

With enough focus and intensity, you can make your next sales funnel worthy of a gold medal.

The Olympics represent the pinnacle of spectacle and athletic performance, with millions around the world tuning in to see the best of the best compete for the glory and the gold.

The blood, sweat, and tears that go into the training regimen of the most Olympic athletes is difficult for the average person to wrap their head around.

From training for six hours a day, six days a week year-round to insanely strict diets that we could never stomach ourselves, the dedication and intensity of those competing in the Olympics are absolutely staggering.

Okay, so what the heck does this have to do with building a sales funnel?

More than you might think.

While comparing your sales funnel to pole-vaulting or the 200-meter dash may seem like apples and oranges, consider the struggles that marketers face:

• Some days it just feels like we’re going nowhere, essentially spinning our wheels trying to support an underperforming sales funnel.
• Throwing in the towel can be incredibly tempting when we’re not seeing an ROI for our hard work and research.
• Overcoming that final financial hurdle into profitability can be like staring up at a giant, seemingly impossible to overcome.

Likewise, athletes face similar challenges in the midst physical and mental roadblocks as they spend four years preparing for events that could last mere seconds.

But do they give up?

No.

And neither should you.

It’s time to take your funnel out of the kiddie pool and get on Michael Phelps’ level.

How?

Practice Makes Perfect

Olympic athletes aren’t simply born: they’re made as a result of their years of fierce training and focus.

Likewise, killer sales funnels don’t fall from the sky: they’re created as a result of intense research and a fool-proof sales strategy.

If your first funnel falls flat, does that mean you should give up altogether?

Of course not. Instead, learn from the mistakes of your first funnel and understand what not to do the next time around.

Some common pitfalls that even seasoned funnel-builders make include:

• Ignoring the elements of conversion focused design, ultimately resulting in a funnel that fails to convert.
• Relying on a cheap or inexperienced team as a means of cutting corners which therefore cuts sales.
• Focusing too much on the front-end instead of implementing a back-end that grows the profit.

Think of fine-tuning your funnel as simply part of the process, much like athletes have to train for hours on end to recreate their best performances.

The more time you spend building and launching new funnels, the more opportunities you have to grow as a successful funnel-hacker.

Split Test Strategies

Dozens of world records have already been broken at the Rio Olympics.

In fact, it seems like records are constantly being broken the Olympics, year after year.

Why?

Athletes evolve. As researchers and trainers uncover new ways to train, athletes adapt accordingly to raise their own standards to match their competition.

On a similar note, you should constantly work to evolve your marketing and funnel-building to meet the expectations and best practices of your niche.

Funnel-builders should always be split testing to optimize the potential of their marketing strategy.

From the color scheme to copywriting, there are always tweaks that can be made to make your funnel smarter and stronger.

Sure, you can let your funnel sit in autopilot mode; however, that’s no way to grow your network for future funnels and stand toe-to-toe with your competition.

If you hope for your funnel to stay competitive, you can’t afford to test.

Play the Long-Game

It can take some athletes years of rigorous training before they make it to the Olympics: earning a medal requires extreme patience and perseverance.

You can’t always expect your funnels to kill it from the word “go.”

Remember: funnel-hacking represents a marathon and not a sprint.

Think about how long-distance runners kick it into high gear at the end of the race: they fact that were ever “behind” becomes irrelevant as long as they cross the finish line first.

For example, it’s okay to sacrifice some conversions on the front-end to create life-long customers on the back-end.

Many funnel-hackers get laser-focused on their launches that they ignore essential elements of their back-end such as retargeting and segmenting their lists.

In reality, ensuring that you build a base of customers and employ a strategy to turn them into life-long advocates of your business represents the difference between a killer and average funnel.

By focusing on the back-end of your funnel, you play the long-game to ensure more revenue for your business with less legwork.

There are No Shortcuts

Building.

Writing.

Testing.

Funnels represent a lot of hard work, and there are no shortcuts.

Similarly, Olympians train their entire lives to relish a few moments of glory; however, such glory can easily be stripped away from those caught cheating or attempting to undermine the integrity of the games.

On a similar note, funnel-builders attempting to rely on black-hat techniques can lose their funnels and organic search presence at little more than a moment’s notice.

Google is more than happy to punish any business looking to game their system, whether through duplicate content or black-hat link building.

Sure, it may take a while to get caught; however, punishment is usually always swift, sudden and severe.

When it comes to funnel-building, you’re on a relatively even playing field. In other words, there’s no need to “cheat.”

Therefore, use the best tools in your toolbox to outdo your competition rather than looking for the easy way out.

The risk simply isn’t worth it: plus, the energy spent digging for a shortcut could be spent optimizing your next funnel.

Knowing the in’s and out’s of your competition can take you much further than trying to undermine them.

Remain Consistent

Many Olympians live by the mantra of “never give up.”

You should treat your funnels the same way.

If you’re persistent, your funnel has nowhere to go but “up” over time.

Perhaps the biggest mistake a funnel-builder could make is dropping what they’re doing and simply giving up when the going gets tough.

Yes, it can be frustrating to see our traffic drop.

Yes, it sucks when we don’t see the conversion we want.

But that doesn’t mean you should let your funnel fail out of frustration.

Don’t expect your sales funnel to start turning a profit overnight.

Sure, we’re always hoping to become the next big success story; however, realistic expectations will keep you grounded and focused.

Keep going and keep testing. If something’s broken, figure out why and do what you can to fix it.

There’s No Single “Key” to Success

From optimal training and immaculate diet, there are many variables to an Olympian’s success one the day of an event.

There are so many pieces to what makes a successful sales funnel. For starters, let’s think about:

1. The design of your sales funnels, professional in appearance and pleasing to the eye.
2. The copywriting and marketing message of your funnel, designed to encourage visitors to click through rather than bounce.
3. The management of your various traffic streams, from paid ads to organic search and beyond, and how you continue to bring new visitors into your funnel.
4. The performance of your affiliates and referrals optimized to help you build new leads.
5. The strength of your back-end, including your email autoresponders that will help bring back any users who may have fallen out of your funnel.

Here’s a not-so-secret secret:

The success of your funnel doesn’t lie within one single element.

It’s the elements combined that determine the potential of your funnel.

Unfortunately, one weakness can hinder your funnel’s potential.

Similarly, many Olympic athletes train their entire lives for an event just to slip in a split-second of weakness and essentially lose their shot at glory.

Fortunately, you always have the opportunity to bounce back.

Stay organized. Stay diligent. Stay hungry.

Your efforts will pay off.

What Separates a Golden Funnel from the Rest of the Pack?

While funnel-hacking isn’t exactly an Olympic sport (yet), there are some parallels between the struggles of star athletes and the challenges faced by modern marketers.

The marketing world moves fast and is difficult to maneuver in the wake of evolving technologies, new faces and the promise of “the next big thing.”

Much like Olympians, funnel-builders should consider patience, focus and consistency as key virtues to help ensure their success.

So, what do you think separates a star funnel from the rest of the pack?

Thanks for reading Launching A High Converting Sales Funnel Out Of The Box which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If there’s no demand for your product or service, you can have the best sales funnel in the world and you will still struggle to make money.

Unfortunately, we often see entrepreneurs spend months or even years working on business ideas that were doomed from the start.

That’s why today we want to share our step-by-step guide to determining whether your business idea has potential:

Step #1: Sell a Product or Service That has a Proven Demand

Entrepreneurship has come to be associated with innovation in our culture.

Perhaps that shouldn’t be surprising considering that the most iconic entrepreneurs of our times are the tech billionaires of Silicon Valley.

However, if you want to start a business, you don’t need to have an innovative idea. In fact, pursuing one would decrease your likelihood of success. How so?

Well, if you go with a product or service that has proven demand, you’ll know for sure that people want it, you won’t have to waste time explaining to everyone what it is and you will be able to learn from the mistakes of your competitors.

Meanwhile, if you attempt to do something that has never been done before, you will be starting from absolute zero, without even knowing if anyone is interested in your product or service to begin with.

And sure, if you already have an innovative idea that you believe has incredible potential, then it might make sense to pursue it. Who are we to say that you shouldn’t?

However, if all you want is to create a better life for yourself and your loved ones by building a sustainable business, then going with something tried-and-true is a much better bet!

Step #2: Do Competitive Research

Competition is a good sign. Why?

Because if there already are a bunch of companies selling the same products or services that you intend to sell, it means that there’s money to be made doing that.

However, if you want to carve out a market share for yourself as a newcomer, you need to first learn everything you can about the main players in your niche:

• Purchase their products and services yourself to see what their entire buyer’s journey looks like from the customer’s perspective. Screenshot and save everything so that you can use it for reference later. We call this “funnel hacking”.
• Make sure to actually try the products and services that you bought. Do your competitors deliver what they promised or is the experience disappointing? Think about how you could do what they do but do it cheaper, faster, and better.
• Read customer reviews on your competitors’ websites, various third-party platforms, and online forums like Reddit.
• Watch YouTube reviews and read the comments. Just keep in mind that if it’s a sponsored review then it’s unlikely to be objective.
• Use text analytics software to uncover more insights. For example, you could use it to analyze all tweets that mention one of your competitors, which may not be possible to do manually.

Your aim here should be to get a good understanding of the general landscape of your niche and then look for a market gap that you can capitalize on.

Generally speaking, as businesses grow, they tend to expand the scope of their products, which typically leads to them gaining a broader appeal but becoming less suited for any particular use case.

This is something that you can exploit as a newcomer: instead of competing against the big players in your niche directly, you can steal a slice of their market share by creating a product that only has one use case but is perfect for it.

Keep in mind that there are plenty of people out there who have made their first million with a single eBook, online course, WordPress plugin, Shopify theme, e-commerce product, etc. so it is possible to become a millionaire by solving one problem exceptionally well!

Step #3: Create a Minimum Viable Version of Your Offer

The concept of the “Minimum Viable Product” (MVP) was popularized by Eric Ries, the author of the classic book “The Lean Startup”.

An MVP is an early, bare-bones version of the product that only has the core functionality required to solve the main problem that it aims to address.

We recommend creating a lead magnet – a freebie that you will offer to potential customers in exchange for their email addresses – that you can use as your MVP.

As our friend Alex Hormozi puts it, a lead magnet should provide a complete solution to a narrowly defined problem:

So think about what you can give away for free that would solve a narrowly defined problem related to the problem that your core product or service addresses.

Here are some ideas:

• Thinking about writing a non-fiction book? Write the introduction and the first chapter and use them as your lead magnet.
• Thinking about writing a novel? Write a short story or a novella in the same genre, ideally one that is a prequel for the novel, and use it as your lead magnet.
• Have an idea for a computer game? Create a 30-60 minute demo and use it as your lead magnet.
• Want to sell services? Offer the setup service for free as your lead magnet.
• Want to sell an online course? Create one lesson and use it as your lead magnet.
• Want to sell software? Create a free app that only has one feature and use it as your lead magnet.

Of course, this approach only works if the product or service already has proven demand.

If you have an innovative business idea, you should only consider it validated once you get enough people to pay you.

In that case, we recommend reading “The Lean Startup” and going with that strategy instead!

Step #4: Build a Simple Squeeze Page Funnel for Your Offer

The squeeze page funnel has two pages:

1. A squeeze page where you explain what your free offer is all about and encourage the potential customer to take advantage of it.
2.  A thank you page where you thank the potential customer and tell them what they need to do to redeem the free offer.

Our software, ClickFunnels, includes a proven squeeze page funnel template that has been optimized for conversions!

Step #5: Start Driving Traffic to Your Squeeze Page Funnel With Paid Ads

It doesn’t really matter which platform you advertise on, what’s important is that you put your free offer in front of your dream customers.

If you don’t have any previous experience with paid advertising, we recommend picking up a Facebook Ads course on Udemy and going through it to learn the basics.

Then, set up an ad campaign, start running it with a small daily budget, and see what happens. Are people giving you their email addresses?

If your free offer is related to something that has a proven demand, you should be able to get leads provided that your targeting, your ads, and your squeeze page copy are all on point.

If you aren’t able to get leads no matter what you do, it’s possible that your free offer isn’t appealing enough, in which case you need to either find a way to make it more valuable or come up with something new.

Ideally, you want to optimize everything to the point where your cost-per-lead is $2 or less.

We would say that if you can build an email list of 1,000 subscribers at that cost-per-lead, your business idea is probably worth pursuing!

Okay, But What if You Can’t Afford to Spend Money on Ads?

There are other ways to drive traffic to your squeeze page funnel such as building a following on social media and promoting your free offer there.

However, getting to that 1,000 subscriber milestone will probably take you at least a year with this approach.

If you want to reach it faster, it might make sense to simply pick up a part-time job so that you would have money to spend on ads.

That would also help you learn paid advertising, which is a skill that will likely prove to be extremely valuable in your entrepreneurial career.

Finally, if you want to sell a service that has a proven demand, you can always start with cold outreach and get some money coming in that way, then build a proper sales funnel later.

Want to Learn How to Build Sales Funnels That CONVERT?

Our co-founder Russell Brunson used sales funnels to take ClickFunnels from zero to $100M+ in annual revenue in less than a decade.

He is now widely considered to be one of the top sales funnel experts in the world. Want to learn from him?

His best-selling book “DotCom Secrets” is the best place to start because it covers everything you need to know in order to build sales funnels that convert.

This book is available on Amazon where it has over 2,500 global ratings and a 4.7-star overall rating.

But you can also get it directly from us for free…

All we ask is that you pay for shipping!

So what are you waiting for? 🧐

Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!

Thanks for reading How To Validate A Market For Your Next Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

It’s always a thrill when we make our first dollar from a fresh funnel; however, how do we turn that dollar into more serious cash flow?

By following this six-step scheme, you can finally take the training wheels off and supercharge your new and existing sales funnels.

Making money online is pretty easy, right?

I mean, anyone with a blog and some time on their hands can pick up a niche, slap some affiliate content on a WordPress site and play the waiting game.

But that’s dollars and cents.

Making serious money online is another story.

Serious money requires a sales funnel and a serious one at that.

Again, building a sales funnel is relatively easy (especially with the functionalities provided by ClickFunnels).

However, the legwork that goes into a truly effective funnel is nothing to scoff at. Consider, for example…

• Crafting the perfect copy, language and pitch to pique the interest of your audience (and keeping that message uniform throughout your funnel)
• The time and resources involved in competitive analysis and understanding what the neighbors are up to (including what sort of deals they’re pushing to users)
• Designing a sleek site that attracts the attention of users and drives traffic through proper SEO

And that’s just for starters.

If you’ve gotten your funnel off the ground but want to build a serious revenue stream, you’re going to need to put in the hours to make it work.

However, building a powerful funnel is about working smarter and not necessarily harder.

Take a good, long look at your funnel. Then, ask yourself the following:

• Who’s helping you push users through your funnel? Is the answer “nobody?”
• What’s incentivizing users to go through your funnel? Be honest: are you offering a sweeter deal than your competitor?
• Where are your visitors coming from? Are you reaching your targets or simply bouncing random traffic through your funnel?

Don’t shrug your shoulders and let potential business pass you by. Instead, consider it time to get down to business.

Rome wasn’t built in a day; likewise, killer funnels aren’t built overnight or by accident.

If you’re looking to build a funnel that goes beyond the ordinary and builds a truly impressive revenue stream, consider the following six steps as part of your sales strategy.

This mixture of marketing and networking represents the recipe for conversions rather than just clicks.

Network, Network and Network Some More

It’s natural for entrepreneurs to want to go the “lone-wolf” route.

However, when you consider the benefits of a joint venture, it’s hard to deny that a little bit of outreach can go a long way.

Networking is the name of the game when it comes to your funnel.

In short, the more traffic you drive, the more potential you have to drive revenue and further optimize your funnel.

That being said, what sorts of outreach can ultimately benefit your business?

Schmooze with Influencers – Today’s users want to build relationships with the brands they buy from; therefore trust and authenticity are key when it comes to sealing the deal. By associating yourself with influencers within your space (think: must-read bloggers, social media big-wigs and so on), you can get your product in front of eager buyers who are more likely to convert. Offering incentivization such as a free trial or guest post to such influencers may help deal the deal.

Partner Up with JV’s – Simply put, two heads are often better than one when it comes to your sales funnel. By having a partner in crime, you poise yourself to get more eyes on your funnel and additional resources to market it in the future. Likewise, building up a network of JV’s can open up opportunities for your business and get your product in front of some fresh faces.

Bring on Affiliates – There’s plenty of power (and billions of dollars) in affiliate marketing; likewise, there’s perhaps no better way of working smarter than by having someone else market your product for you. If you’ve tested your funnel and feel that it has potential to scale, consider affiliates as a means of doing so.

Give Them a Push

Let’s be frank: some sales funnels just plain stink.

If you aren’t incentivizing your visitors with some sort of push, you’re letting your traffic go to waste.

The question remains: what sort of incentives and bonuses are proven to drive users to convert?

What do users want?

Whether it be a software, e-book or video series, providing users with something of value for nothing is one of the oldest tricks in the marketing playbook; however, it works.

By offering free tools or education to your users, you’re perceived as a helping hand rather than a salesman.

Likewise, users in your funnel should feel as if you’re the go-to resource for whatever they’re looking for.

By building up your offers with exclusivity (first-hand, cutting-edge information or a product marketed at truly unlike any other), users go through your funnel with a sense of accomplishment.

Score with Scarcity

On a similar note, scarcity is an incredibly powerful sales tool.

However, building a sense of scarcity and the need for users to act now versus later is completely based on the set-up of your funnel. For example, scarcity can be achieved by…

• A countdown clock at the beginning of your sales funnels (implying that time is running out)
• Advertising a limited stock of your product due to demand (implying that supply is running low)
• Marketing your product as a one-time deal, establishing a sense of exclusivity (implying that it’s now or never for the product)

Regardless of your product or service, scarcity should most definitely be center stage at some point in your funnel.

Note: ClickFunnels offers multiple means of establishing a sense of scarcity within your funnel.

Congruency Matters

Often overlooked, the elements of design can make or break your sales funnel.

It’s incredibly important to maintain consistency across your funnel from beginning to end (this includes email marketing efforts and affiliate programs).

Consistent design includes…

• Marketing language, copy, headlines and deals (ex: you wouldn’t advertise a 25% discount which clicks through to a 10% off deal)
• Color scheme, design, and logo (switching between colors and branding can potentially confuse visitors and cause them to bounce)

While the design may be a rather subtle component of the sales process, it’s something that’s completely under your control and should be consistent.

Forget the Junk Traffic

Don’t kid yourself: not all traffic is created equal.

It may feel great to get tens of thousands of visitors per day; however, what does it mean if only a dozen of those users convert?

Either your funnel’s conversion potential is abysmal, or your traffic is trash.

In order to make the most of your marketing efforts, you should target quality traffic.

What qualifies as quality traffic? For starters…

• Organic traffic is driven by targeted keywords, perhaps readers of your blog who tend to spend the most time on your site
• Social traffic from highly-targeted Facebook ads, which you’ve hopefully optimized through A/B testing
• Affiliate traffic from users who are truly interested in what you have to say (and sell)

Traffic means very little for your funnel if it isn’t actually converting.

Instead of focusing on the numbers game, work to build traffic streams that will actually buy your product when push comes to shove.

The 80/20 Principle

The 80/20 principle states that for many events (including marketing), 80% of your outcomes result in 20% of your total effort.

While there are tons of moving pieces to your sales funnel, from marketing to design, consider how one or two missteps within your funnel can diminish your efforts.

So, where does the 20% come from within your funnel?

From most marketers, it comes at the beginning in the end (think: the first 10% of your funnel and the last 10%).

In other words, if there’s anywhere you need to strengthen, make sure you have a strong pitch as it represents the visitor’s first impression and arguably the most critical aspect of the funnel itself.

Likewise, you need a strong closer if you’re looking to seal the deal, especially with funnels selling higher ticket products.

Naturally, all parts of your funnel matter; however, starting and ending strongly is crucial if you’re in search of more conversions.

Putting it All Together

At the end of the day, the successful funnel is built.

Not bought. Not stolen. Not copied.

Built.

The building isn’t always easy; however, your decision to set your funnel apart from the crowd and fix its weaknesses will ultimately decide whether or not you cash in on your efforts.

Making money online isn’t rocket science.

Building a successful sales funnel doesn’t have to be, either.

If you had to name the most common mistake you see funnel builders making today, what would it be?

Thanks for reading How To Take The Training Wheels Off Your Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

In most industries, there’s always a list of resources, whether they’re books or articles, that are upheld as masterpieces.

These works have stood the test of time and have really added to the conversation.

And of course, marketing has its own canon of works, resources that are recognized as having contributed greatly to progress in the industry.

But the key takeaway is that, most importantly, they remain relevant in the age of mobile advertising and global marketing.

If we could get our hands on a list like this one, could we then skip the long process of getting a marketing degree and jump right in?

Certainly, we’d be on our way to building an unshakable marketing foundation that would keep us a step ahead of our competitors.

Well, you’re in luck. Here at ClickFunnels, we’re sharing just such a list with you.

With these books, all classics that are a must-read, you’ll find clarification on almost every aspect of marketing.

Before, you may have wondered what concepts like marketing mix or customization were really all about.

Sure, the internet is stuffed with information on the latest and greatest, but these books will let you get beyond fleeting, general ideas and give you a chance to get down to brass tacks.

In no time flat, through these, you’ll have a dependable marketing foundation for your brand.

And in most cases, the authors make the information easy to understand and deploy.

This way, we’ll gain perspective and insight, all while increasing our marketing skills.

Now, you’ll be a complete marketing titan.

Let’s dive right in and get started!

Breakthrough Advertising – Eugene Schwartz, 1966

Eugene Schwartz was a diehard aficionado of a well-crafted message in any medium.

When he died in 1995, he had made quite a name for himself.

In addition to amassing one of America’s greatest contemporary art collections, he also had two hit books on marketing to his name.

When it came to making a message that worked, he knew his stuff inside and out.

For us, his book Breakthrough Advertising is an absolutely excellent starting point.

You’ll even love the subtitle: How to Write Ads that Shatter Traditions and Sales Records.

This book is the perfect rundown for getting real clarity into the world of copywriting.

Schwartz’s many years as a copywriter and copy chief shine through to guide you through this skill in an organized, straightforward way.

It also puts a spotlight on all the strategies marketers have continued to use throughout the decades.

If you’re looking for ways to improve your copy, tested ways that didn’t just earn Schwartz countless dollars, but have built entire ad companies, this is the one for you.

Protip: Don’t get sticker shock when you go to get this book.

Check your local library for a copy first.

The Robert Collier Letter Book – Robert Collier, 1931

This book is such a legend of marketing that you’ll often find it in the most unlikely of places, even at Staples or Office Depot.

To give you an idea of who Collier was, not only was he related to the man who created the once-famous magazine Collier’s Weekly, he even founded his own publishing company.

And in his time-honored book on advertising, human psychology is truly on display.

The best part is that much of the blueprint he lays out is still applicable to direct mailing, email marketing, and website content creation.

Even if you’re seasoned in writing, Collier’s book will walk you through motives and impulses in an insightful way.

Don’t be put off by the examples he gives, which come from a different era.

For the savvy pro, this book is a wealth of information from a master copywriter and salesman.

Protip: There’s a few free copies of this book floating around the Internet (and the true copyright of the book remains a little controversial), but we recommend picking up a hard copy. This way, you can take plenty of notes in the book!

The Boron Letters – Gary Halbert

If Collier was king of the market in the early 1900s, Gary Halbert is the modern day equivalent.

Once a coveted marketing secret that you could only get through an exclusive subscription, his Boron Letters are an uncontestable essential read.

The book, lauded by marketers and advertisers for immeasurable years, brings together a set of letters written by a father to his son.

But instead of sappy, silly platitudes, the book is chock-full of instruction, preparation, and counsel.

But don’t be fooled… these letters reveal a method of convincing and selling that goes beyond simple rules or gimmicks.

You’ll emerge with a stronger repartee than you could ever imagine.

It’s also worth noting that, because the book is written as a series of letters, it’s especially accessible for those of us who can only grab a short reading session here or there.

Read a letter, drink in the lesson, reflect and grab another in a day or two.

Protip: Halbert was also famous among marketers for his Gary Halbert Challenge. Give it a read, and you’ll see just what we mean about this sage of the advertising universe.

Kick-Ass Copywriting Secrets of a Marketing Rebel – John Carlton

Do you ever feel like some resources seem to be taking you on a long detour before finally revealing a tip or two?

Well, John Carlton is not that sort of person.

With a ton of experience and a never-say-die spirit, he is the go-to name for actionable techniques that penetrate through the fluff.

From product pitches to sales secrets and personal branding to trigger words, this resource is the real deal.

At the same time, this resource is more of a class than anything else, but it is most certainly a manual on effective, money-making marketing.

Yet, there’s probably an even bigger reason for taking a look at this one.

It is the ultimate combination of actual examples taken from the real world and results.

Pair that fact with the tips and guidance it provides throughout, and you’re on your way to extending your marketing skills and your profit margin.

Protip: While we’re on the subject of profit-making, personal preferences aside, give our article Reverse Engineering a Billionaire’s Presidential Marketing Campaign a read for some current insights.

80/20 Sales and Marketing – Perry Marshall

Praised by sources like Entrepreneur Magazine, Perry Marshall is an unlikely up-and-comer in the field of marketing.

And he didn’t even get a degree in advertising!

Armed with a degree in electrical engineering and a desire to slice away the nonsense, Marshall is published a myriad of books directed at maximizing your online efforts and increasing your business’ strength.

And his book 80/20 Sales and Marketing is a force to be reckoned with.

With this resource, you’ll learn how to identify the 20% of… well, anything, really, that will most magnify your time and energy.

Once you’ve given it a read, you’ll be honestly astonished how many businesses are engaging in poor tactics that are bleeding away money.

(Just glance at how wrong-headed communication can cost companies in even the most unforeseen ways).

80/20 Sales and Marketing will revolutionize how you see your brand and your business.

Protip: For those of you on the go, there’s a good audio book available for this one. It’s not too long, and it’s great for taking stock of where your branding stands.

Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion – Robert Cialdini, 1984

For your brand, if you could ask a distinguished, well-decorated professional of Psychology and Marketing any question, what would it be?

By reading this book, you’ll basically have the next best thing to directly asking those questions.

Cialdini ranks up there on many award lists for business and marketing.

Through his book Influence, you’ll get an insider’s perspective on a very interesting experiment that Cialdini ran.

For several years, this teacher embedded himself on various sales teams, from used cars to telemarketing.

What did he learn?

Plenty.

What makes this book such necessary reading is that Cialdini’s writing goes further than some arm-chair commentary from another would-be salesman.

Instead, his careful, astute reading of the situations and their context allows him to bring you some serious observations about examples that he lived.

In his approach, you’ll find clear criteria and fundamentals that are worth a fortune.

Protip: For extra credit, narrow in on his 6 principles of influence. This set of tools will offer you some crucial approaches for positioning your marketing campaigns.

Obvious Adams – Robert R. Updegraff, 1916

Despite some fantastic authors listed above, Obvious Adams probably take the cake.

Since Updegraff was such a talented person, his skills were astonishingly sought-after.

In his life, he could count many major brands among his clients, including General Foods, Kellogg, and much, much more.

In his much-praised book, he outlines why many marketers are seduced by ideas (and campaigns) that sound cunning and witty, yet at the expense of being accessible to your customers.

In essence, marketers like to impress themselves and each other… while too often leaving their customers behind.

It sounds so simple, it almost seems unbelievable.

And yet, many pros still fall into this trap. Still, the book goes on to provide pragmatic ways of identifying better ideas with more appeal and get away from this issue that plagues other brands.

And in the cutthroat world of marketing, the advice is definitely worth its weight in gold.

Protip: Fun fact… US advertisers were set to spend as much as $171 billion in marketing in recent years. You can bet that much of it was based on the resources outlined above. When you read through these books, remember to keep your own budget in mind to make the most out of each idea you discover.

If you could share just one book or website with a promising entrepreneur or marketer, which one would it be and why?

Thanks for reading 7 Classic Marketing Books You Must Read Before Funnel Hacking which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

If there’s one marketing factor that’s become dominant in the age of the Internet, it could quite possibly be social proof.

And almost everywhere you turn, you’re being exposed to it through the efforts of many different companies.

In fact, customers the world over now expect to see some level of social proof for your brand.

Now, you might be asking what social proof really is.

And that’s a very good question with a pretty straightforward answer.

Social proof is the way your audience discovers your brand’s trustability.

In essence, it’s the clues that customers use to assess just how socially connected your company is to other people like them (and trust me, they are assessing your brand!).

Today, this marketing strategy can take the form of share buttons, follower counters, and a whole host of other methods.

Every time you click that Facebook Share Button… that’s social proof.

Or when you write an online review about a product… that’s social proof too.

And the numbers truly show how powerful this avenue of your marketing is.

88% of all consumers report that they trust online reviews as much as family and friends.

Also, more than 1 million websites have added some level of Facebook integration directly to their site.

See what we’re talking about here?

Proving your brand’s social worth isn’t just another chore; it’s a major component of your marketing strategy.

At the same time, we want to go beyond a simple share button or two.

In fact, we want to own this marketing strategy, creating a magnetic experience for our audience.

Just like with any of your other marketing tools, there’s fair, good, and even better.

And we want the best for our brands.

With these more sophisticated tactics, you’ll have exactly that level of influence.

Stick with Using Positive Social Proof

Have you ever noticed that positive people tend to attract other people to them?

For content creation, social proof sort of works under the same theory.

The way you frame your marketing matters, significantly.

To see negative social proof in action, look no further than the donation marketing for nonprofit, and Internet superstar Wikipedia.

Here is just part of the content for that campaign:

Dear readers,

We’ll get right to it: This week we ask you to help Wikipedia. To protect our independence, we’ll never run ads. We’re sustained by donations averaging about £10. Only a tiny portion of our readers give.

Notice anything troubling?

By adding the line about only a small number of people giving, the brand is inadvertently broadcasting negative social proof.

It might seem odd to think about, but the most popular encyclopedia in the world is basically saying no one is interested in sustaining their brand.

Seeing that fact, who would want to donate now?

Instead, with positive proof comes the desire for more people to participate and join in.

Showing that your brand is socially desired has a compounding effect, much like a snowball rolling down a hill.

And when people feel positively connected to other people, they’re more likely to stick around.

With this in mind, stay positive and highlight the ways your audience is becoming part of a community or lifestyle by opting for your brand.

Also, position your marketing to show off the positive experience involved for them.

Protip: Even juggernauts like Facebook have used the theory behind positive social proof to create sticky experiences and huge communities. For maximum effect, keep in mind the psychological factors that bind together your targeted audience.

Add Pictures to All Your Content

Whether it’s a Facebook Message, a post to our ClickFunnels Group, or your own status update, including images is a must.

Browsing the statistics shows that if you aren’t including them at least some of the time, you’re missing out on vital engagement.

Recent research has shown that images can boost engagement by 94%.

Clearly, taking the time to find an image for your posts can be a complete game changer.

If you’ve thought about adding images, but struggle to find new ones to include, here’s some awesome ideas to get you rolling:

Infographics – well-made graphics that easily explain data, processes, or other information.

These are very popular across the Internet.

If you’re feeling ambitious, you can also create your own or virtually hire someone to make one.

• Memes – This category probably doesn’t need much explanation, but it’s an often overlooked one for quick, easy
• Stock Photos – While stock photos aren’t the very best choice when it comes to boosting your social proof, it can at least add something interesting.
• Presentation Slides – A slide that pertains to your niche can be a great way to highlight your authority (and therefore, your social proof) to your audience.
• Screenshots – You can even include screenshots of your content! Doing so might help clarify something or demonstrate an idea.
• Photos You’ve Taken – This is probably one of the best forms of social proof. Branded photos that are you take are unique and that you own are an excellent form of visual social proof.

Protip: Make sure that your image is also relevant to your content. Otherwise, you may be confusing your audience.

Use Familiar Faces for a Serious Boost

Okay, this one is the real deal when it comes to seeing higher conversions.

Because social proof relies on our own innate psychology, it also means that personality is important.

There’s research that shows that customer action is reduced by nearly a quarter when an image doesn’t include a face.

And big brands are starting to take note of this fact and use it on a regular basis.

So when you’re looking to prompt an action, especially if it’s related to moving a customer to the next phase of your sales funnel, consider how this step might fit.

But don’t just post a face once and call it a day.

Continue using that face throughout your efforts and make it a familiar face to your audience.

This is a little-known trick in the marketing world that has yet to catch on, but there’re a few reasons it works so well when it comes to social proof.

• You’re Creating a Personality – when you continue to see someone over the course of time, you assume that personal has an individual personality. This implies that they have values, goals, and beliefs. And in a way, you’re then associating those with your brand.
• There’s an Ongoing Relationship – It’s equally true that through that personality, you’re showing a person that your audience can have a relationship with. This continues to build trust and rapport, even if they never talk to that particular person.
• Humans are Hardwired to Recognize Familiar People – It’s totally incredible how much we simply love familiar people. We’re so predisposed to it that within mere hours of birth, we’re making it a hallmark of our lives.

Protip: Consider how the familiar faces you post are expressing themselves to best convey the emotions and ideas you’re going for.

Tell a Really Good Story

Almost everybody loves a good story, and after all, isn’t there a great story behind almost every brand?

It doesn’t take a genius to figure out why brands have relied on characters throughout the ages to tell their story.

On that note, stories are engaging, interesting, and most importantly, we truly enjoy applying them to our lives.

And you know what else?

Authentic people tell stories.

For brands, we can commandeer this fact to our social proof benefit.

Whenever we use our brand to tell a story, we’re highlighting that our company isn’t just a company.

In a way, we’re saying that our brand is a real living, breathing person with something to say.

Here’re a few tips to get you off the ground:

• Borrow from Other Storytellers – Our first stop is to look to other amazing storytellers. They can be your favorite novelist, vlogger, or even a family friend. Look for the thread that unites their stories to make the tale more intriguing. And see how you can apply them to your own storytelling.
• Think About How Your Story Evolves – Storytelling isn’t about static marketing. In reality, it’s about taking your audience on a journey from point A to point B. Use that trip to evoke a range of emotions that solidify the relationship to your brand.
• Consider Brand Characters – We saw how brand characters have played an important part in marketing history. But they aren’t played out yet. Even insurance companies are still using them successfully.

Protip: for some master storytelling insider tips, check out our Secrets to “Story Selling” podcast episode.

Retargeting with Video Testimonials

Fact: testimonials from other customers have the highest rating for effectiveness in all of the content marketing.

What if we combined them with two other award-winning strategies that we have?

Let’s say that, since we saw above how much people trust testimonials, we add in the influence that retargeting has with the engagement of testimonials.

Then we’ll have created an unquestionably strong conversion strategy that can truly make waves.

Social proof is about relating to people like ourselves. And testimonials present exactly that.

Between more companies using them, however, and some recent scandals associated with online reviews, basic written testimonials might not be enough anymore.

That’s why turning to video is a perfect idea.

This way, we’ll be able to show real-life customers with a real love for our brand.

Now that will put us a step ahead of our competitor for sure!

And through retargeting, we can guarantee that we’ve already established a friendly connection with our audience.

Win-win-win.

Protip: We’ve all seen those infomercials where people seem to have been paid to perform in them. To produce a better video, simply ask your best customers if they’d like to help. You’ll find that many of them are happy to get their 15 minutes of fame.

Why do you think social proof has become such an effective form of marketing in recent years?

Thanks for reading Marketer’s Guide to Including Social Proof in Sales Funnel which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Email is a great way to engage your audience. You can use it to learn more about your customers and find out what they expect from you. You can also utilize it to get more clicks and sales. Whatever your purpose, you have to do emails right.

Email marketing is more than just getting your audience to open your email.That is a huge part of it though. First having signups (using a great funnel) and then getting 10k inboxed and clicked on are both huge accomplishments. The focus on this article is to get the customer to click.

It’s about getting them to click your content and take advantage of your offers. How do you make sure that you’re getting engagement and conversions from your emails? Learn these five ways to make sure your email campaigns are on the money.

Build a Solid Email Marketing Strategy

To start, you need to decide on the purpose of your email. Each email should fall under one of these five stages:

• indoctrinate, where you tell them about you

• engage, where you convince them to buy

• ascend, where you get them to buy more

• segment, where you find out what they will buy next
• reengage, where you make them come back.

These stages are co-dependent. When your email is done right, you can be sure that your customers will move from one stage to the next. You have to make each stage’s purpose apparent in every email.

At stage 1, show them what makes you stand out and what they can expect from you. Show them what to do next.

At stage 2, make an offer. Give them something valuable.

At stage 3, entice them with more offers that they won’t be able to resist. Help them make the decision to buy…

At stage 4, show them what they missed from the previous two stages. Get them to buy if they haven’t.

Finally, at stage 5, bring them back to the engagement stage. Make a time-limited offer they will be tempted to take advantage of.

Using these five types of emails in your campaign will give you a leverage over your competitors. Building a solid strategy that prioritizes each of these stages will not only give you conversions. They will also turn your audience into returning customers.

Write Emails That Lead to Conversions

After understanding the five stages of email campaigns, you have to craft messages that are in line with the purpose of each stage. Emails have three main elements: the subject line, the body copy, and the landing page. Each of them has a unique role in getting traffic and conversions for your business. Check out this awesome guide on email etiquette for some useful tips!

The subject line is what will encourage your customers to open your email to begin with. You can either use a blind subject line to pique their interest, or use a direct subject line to show them what’s in store. You can personalize these subject lines to address each customer in your database by their first name. This will allow your email to stand out and lead to a higher open rate.

The body copy is what you will use to get your consumers to click on your offers or products. To do this, you can also choose between blind or direct copy. Typically, since this is the email itself, both are used. Throw in the links that you want them to open based on your purpose.

Your reasons for writing the copy throughout the email will change, depending on what you want your customers to click. It’s good to mix these up when writing so that you’ll see which works and which earns the highest click-through rates.

Lastly, the landing page is what you will use to get your customers to sell your opt-in or your product. Technically, the landing page is no longer part of the email. It has a unique job of its own. This is where conversion happens, so the copy should flow harmoniously from your subject line and body copy to your landing page copy.

You should maintain the message that your subject line and body copy carry. If you applied a direct, benefit-driven subject line and body copy, your landing page should do the same. If you choose to use curiosity-driven content, carry it over to your landing page as well.

Employ Triggers to Persuade Customers

You need to make sure your emails get the clicks. How do you do that? You get your customers to respond by using psychological triggers. These will influence them subconsciously and will help them do what you want them to do, which is to click on your links.

You can persuade your customers by pressing their gain buttons. To use this, you have to show your customer what kind of benefit they will attain when they click on your link. You can also encourage them by using logic. Present practical information, facts, statistics, and opinions that will help them justify their purchase or subscription.

Another way to persuade your customers is to create urgency by using scarcity as a trigger. Increase your click-through rates by giving them the sense that your offer is time-limited and that they must take advantage of it as soon as possible. Fear is another trigger that you can use, but you have to be careful about crafting a good message. With the right motivations and promises, you can get clicks through this mechanism.

Make It Mobile-Optimized

Did you know that 70% of emails are opened on smartphones? You have to make sure your emails are responsive on mobile. Otherwise, you run the risk of losing customers and profit. Email marketing platforms will allow you to see how your campaigns will look like on mobile, so take advantage of it.

Consider the length of your email. Long text will definitely not translate well on mobile. You have to keep your body copy clear and concise. Focus on the benefits you offer and craft your message around it. Keeping your emails brief can be challenging, but it will keep your customers’ attention for a longer period. You can also get higher open rates in future emails.

Make sure that your links can be easily seen and clicked as well. Some emails can have very small text that readers have a hard time clicking on the call-to-action button. Allow your customers to follow through and give you higher click-through rates by making links visible and accessible.

Lastly, ensure that your images are sorted out. This can be the easiest way for your campaign to go awry. Check that your images are uploaded in the right dimensions. Make sure they load properly. Format them accordingly so that the text won’t get jumbled up or scattered around it.

Split Test Your Campaigns

There’s no better way to find out what works for your customers than split testing. If you’re not familiar with it, it’s about time to start. Split testing is when you segment your audience and send them different versions of your email campaign. This is how you find out which is the best performing email for your audience.

To do this, you should only change one element at a time. This will become the variable that will determine the cause of your campaign’s high or low performance. Choose any variable, depending on what you want to troubleshoot. Test subject lines, headlines, and even offers. Use these insights to craft the best emails for your campaigns.

Thanks for reading How to Create Successful Email Marketing Campaigns which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Who likes sales phone calls?

I’m pretty sure most of time, you find answering the phone bothersome especially if all you get are cookie-cutter sales messages or canned responses and spiels. If you’re on the end making the calls, the responsibility falls on you to engage the prospect and talk them into availing of your offer and closing the sale

To help you on your way into being a salesperson extraordinaire, we’ve collected 5 tips you have to take note of when calling your prospects and closing that sale!

Evoke A Sense Of Urgency And Give A Deadline For The Offer

Having a sense of urgency and providing a deadline to your offers and promotions is a good way to compel your prospects into seriously considering your offer. By giving your prospects a deadline, they will be given a clear-cut notion that your offer is only for a limited time and that only those who act fast will have the privilege to avail of your promotion.

A good tip is to let them know that the deadline is close and ask them if they need more time to think before the deadline so you can call them again at a given date. Another tip is to remind them that an offer (oftentimes, in the form of a discount) is nearing its expiration and that your prospect should act fast before it reverts back to its original price.

Another way you can do this is to evoke a sense of scarcity in the event you get a “no”. For example, you can inform your prospect that sales are going fast and you only have X amount of slots before your offer runs out.

Clarity Is Important

Now, you might think that this will put off your prospects, but on the contrary!

You may find this tip too straightforward, but it’s also important to let your customer know that the goal of your call is to close the sale. You can go ahead and ask them if they’re ready to buy or when you can send them the terms and conditions and when they would like to avail of your service.

Providing clarity from the get-go will allow your customer to focus more on the points you will discuss. Having a sense of clarity, will provoke interest in your customers to allow you to further discuss the next steps needed to close the sale.

Whether it’s scheduling or setting up another call, your price packages, available promotions and offers, payment options, or your terms and conditions, having a clear understanding of all these will enable you a to close your sale in more efficiently.

TIP: As much as possible, you have to avoid small talk. Clarity, remember?

Know The Price Points And Offers Of Your Competitors And Point Out The Advantage Of Availing Your Offer

If you’re already a seasoned veteran in sales, you’ll know that knowing everything there is to know about your product. services, offers and promotions is not enough. This is especially true when you’re trying to close your sales funnels leads on the phone.

Aside from knowing everything on your end, it is also important to know about the price points and offers of your competitors. Most of the time, you’re customers will say “no” because they find a certain offer from your competitor far more rewarding as compared to your offer. This is where you will have to lay out how your offer differs and why it is to your customer’s advantage to consider buying from you instead.

For example, if they say “no” because a certain offer from your competitor costs less than your offer, you can point out the difference in value-added features and the actual cost of these features which they will be getting at a minimal cost.

Get Your Prospects To Talk

Getting your prospects to do the talking (most of time, if possible) will mean that you are in the right track. By asking the right questions, you will get to know what they need, their challenges, their problems, their goals and what they expect from the service you are offering.

Most sales phone calls always end up with the salesperson doing most of the talking, and a lot of times, that will not get you anywhere. The goal here is to create a connection with your prospect. You have to know what they need and what they want from your services. This is a clear indication of their interest in availing of your service.

Get The Decision Maker To Listen To You

Now, this may be the trickiest of all. Once you get the decision maker to listen to your pitch, the chances to close a sale is a step closer. The most important thing to remember here is to observe courtesy. Remember, you’ll be speaking to the decision maker. The key here is to give them the impression that you respect them and you value their importance.

In the event that the decision maker doesn’t have the time to thoroughly discuss, give them a brief overview and ask them if they could find the time for a more comprehensive discussion. If, however, they think it is of their interest to hear your pitch, remember to pitch in your offer in such a way that it answers most of the frequently asked question asked during a sales call. Get them to really consider your pitch by pointing out every detail of your offer without having to make the call lengthy. You should also consider that most decision makers are busy and that they may have already received pitches closely similar to yours.

Key Takeway

Remember that your goal here is to actually engage with your prospect. You have to form a connection and undestand your prospect to align their needs, goals, problems, challenges to your sales talk messages. You have to know how your service and your offers provide solutions to their needs and present all of this in such a way that your prospect never has the chance to say “no”.

What are your strategies to successfully close a sale on the phone?

Comment your tips below!

Thanks for reading 5 Ways To Close Sales Funnel Leads On The Phone which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

We already know that optimisation should be a continuous process. We should never rest on our laurels, after all. In this day and age when marketers get creative in order to stand out among competition, what works for your now may be a thing of the past tomorrow.

This is why updating and optimising your funnels is always the right thing to do.

And what better way for optimisation than to research on your competitors? Analysing your competitors to gather insights on what works for them and what you can implement in your own funnels and make those strategies tailored to your marketing needs is a great process in optimising your sales funnel.

Here’s are some quick tips should you want to personally do a competitor analysis and “spy” on your competition’s funnels.

Use Tools

One of the many things you can do, and quite useful at that, is to research your competitor’s organic keywords and keywords from paid search.

Tools such as SemRush, SensorTower or AdBeat are good examples of tools to use if you want to run a search for your competitor’s top organic and paid keywords, for example. Most of these tools are paid services so it’s always best to choose the one which fits your needs.

Most research tools can be used for site audit, competitor keyword (organic and paid) research, backlinks research, ad campaigns, and more. Not only can you use them on your competitors, but you can also use such tools to audit and analyse your own website and marketing efforts. This is a great way for you to set up a chart and create comparisons especially if you are doing poorly on a particular element and would like to see what your competitor is doing right.

Screenshot Ads and Visit Websites to Be Retargeted

Most of the time, if you do a search on search engines with the specific names of your competitor, the search results would include their ads. If that doesn’t happen, you’ll need the help of website research tools like the ones mentioned earlier.

What you do is to take screenshots of these ads for documentation and clicking these ads to visit the landing pages so you can also study the structure and layout of every ad campaign’s landing page (if there are more than one ad campaigns). Also, visit your competitors’ websites especially the product and services pages to be retargeted. Properly document retargeting ads you get through social, email and throughout the web.

Buy Their Product and Go Through Their Sales Funnel

There’s nothing as direct as going through your competition’s sales funnel and buy their product. Take note of how they present their pricing strategy, their pop-ups (if available), their payment gateway, their forms and the number of fields in the form, their email campaign strategy and so on. That way, you’ll be given a first hand experience of what a user goes through as they move along your competition’s sales funnel.

This is also a good chance for you to take note of their layout and design in terms of user experience. Determine if going through their sales funnel is a lot easier than yours and what you can glean from this experience to improve your sales funnel’s UX (user experience).

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is their sales copy compelling?
• Are their marketing messages aligned to their sales goals?
• Did you have an easy time going through their funnel?
• How about the buying process? Were you able to complete transaction without a hitch?
• How is their after-sales service? Do they check up on their customers for feedback?

From the answers above, see how your sales funnel compares.

Document Their Price Points, Upsells, Downsells, Etc.

While you’re going through your competitor’s sales funnel, do take note of their price points and analyse them. Ask yourself the following questions:

• What makes their price packages effective?
• What added value is apparent as the package tier goes up?
• Do the upsells and downsells add more value to their existing pricing points?

Aside from the questions above, it would be best to document all of these to enable you to study it thoroughly. You’ll have to take note of the similarities in your price points, upsells, etc. and determine if how they present all of these is effective, engaging and effective in converting their visitors into buyers.

What’s Next?

Researching your competitors and knowing what works for them is no easy feat. After all, you’ll have to analyse your findings and device an optimisation strategy from the insights gathered from your research. But daunting a task this may be, you’ll find that it is also rewarding in the long run.

Be careful of implementing strategies that work for your competitors from the get-go because they may not work for you. Always remember that it is important to improve on it and optimise it for your brand. Aligning your sales, marketing and branding and making the strategy your own is always important. It’s not about knowing what works for your competitors and copying their strategies.

The point here is to know what your competition is doing and plan to be a step ahead of them.

Another thing to take note, when implementing your sales funnel optimisation strategies, is to always test the steps in your sales funnels, especially if you have different variation for every step (i.e. landing page, sales page, order page, etc.) It always pays to test and determine which of the variation is the best choice to implement.

Because ClickFunnels is all about letting marketers experience a seamless marketing setup process. It lets you test your sales funnel step with ease. All you have to do is to Login to your ClickFunnels account > Choose the sales funnel you want to test > Choose the sales funnel step you want to test the variations of > Click Create Variation. Easy, right? You can test with up to 2 variations aside from the original.

What strategies do you have in place to “spy” on your competitors?

Share us some of your insights by commenting below!

Thanks for reading How To Spy On Your Competition’s Funnels which appeared first on ClickFunnels.

Ah, popups. You can love them or hate them, but one this is for sure…they still have the potency to compel action. And that reality is not lost to marketers.

Afterall, popups can come off strongly to your visitors especially when you’re going for a hard sell. They may also come off as spammy, in some cases. But don’t take popups too lightly! They do have their benefits if you stop and analyse them clearly.

There are various kinds of popups, all with different uses. Here are some of the most used popup types:

1. Exit-intent popup – This kind of popup shows when a visitor is leaving a particular page or a website.
2. Content-based popup – This kind of popup only shows on specific pages of the website or on specific steps of a funnel.
3. Time-based popup – This kind of popup only shows during a specified amount of time.
4. Scroll-based popup – This kind of popup is intended to appear when a user scrolls through a specific percentage of a page.

While it’s true that almost nobody likes popups, I’m pretty sure that is effectiveness is something we can’t miss. Sure, most users may find them annoying, but when executed properly, you’ll find that even annoying popups can turn into powerful mediums to deliver your message and close that lead and convert it into a sale.

Benefits of Popups

1. It Commands Attention

This makes popups especially useful if you want to make your point across your visitor, in case they missed it. Having a popup literally forces your visitor to pay attention to the popup before they can carry on and read through your page, exit your page or do any other action on your page.

2. They are Great for Lead Generation

As stated above, they are great for getting attention. This is probably why lead generation activities are particularly effective when done through popups.

3. They are Great for Saving a Sale

Another great thing about popups is their ability to save a sale. By offering discounts and other promotions or by laying out the features of your products, you give your visitors a chance to review everything again before they decide to finally exit your sales funnel.

While popups are incredibly effective, do take note that it comes in large parts to how you execute your popups and the message you want to relay to your visitors. To help create a winning popup setup in your sales funnel, we’ve laid down 5 key elements to effective sales funnel popups you have to remember.

5 Secrets to Effective Sales Funnel Popups

1. A Compelling Copy

A good popup is nothing without a compelling copy. After all, a popup doesn’t do anything if you don’t actually tell your visitors what you want them to take action for. This means that conversion-driven copies are wonderful for popups and it would do you good to remember leveraging them.

Not sure about your writing prowess? Hiring copywriters isn’t included in your budget? No worries! Funnel Scripts is a great tool for generating powerful marketing and sales copies you can use to create your compelling copies. It’s also a great tool to help you develop your copywriting skills along the way. Click here if you haven’t register for a copy yet!

TIP: Add a sense of urgency and scarcity to your popup copy! By doing so, you’re giving the customer the impression that there isn’t much time before the stocks run out or the time runs out before the offer ends! Numbers can be pretty persuasive, always remember that!

ClickFunnels lets you add countdown timers that give popups that sense of urgency. All you need to do is to Login to your ClickFunnels account > Go to your funnel > Choose the page where your particular popup is > Add New Row > Add New Element > Select from the choices of countdown timers available > Click and drag in place > Save.

2. Clarity and Relevancy

A good popup is not cluttered with too much information. Cluttering your popup with too much information will only confuse your visitor and may end deterring them from converting instead which is far from the popup’s goal. With that said, clarity and relevancy of information is important. Be clear with your offer and make sure that the information stated is relevant to the popup’s headline.

3. Test Your Popups

This should go without saying, especially if you want to test out how different layouts, CTA button formats, etc. affect your popups effectivity. If you have more than 1 popup specification in mind, testing them out and using the one with the ideal performance is key.

Did you know that you can test up to 3 variants of your page? If you have more than 1 variant of popup in your particular funnel step, you can test them with ClickFunnels.

Here are some of the most important elements of your popups to test:

1. Headline

2. Imagery

3. Call-to-action button design

4. Body Copy

5. CTA Copy

4. Social Proof

It’s probably one of the most overused element, but it’s still effective. Social proof is still an effective element to engage your visitors and compel them into taking whatever action your popup is telling them to do. Social proof such as testimonials, social shares, and feedbacks ensure your visitors that you are serious about your offer and you have proof.

TIP: While this element is something that makes a good popup, remember to keep it short.

5. Design

Design is one of the elements that can make or break your popup. Elements such as branding graphics, logo, fonts, button design, image of your product or your service, image that depicts your popup headline are some of the things you should consider.

Now that you know the secret elements that make a good popup, it’s now time to plan and map out your winning popup that converts!

Do you have working strategies to ensure the success of popups in your funnel?

Do you have any tips you want to share?

Comment below and share with us!

Try ClickFunnels FREE Today!

Thanks for reading 5 Secrets To Effective Sales Funnel Popups which appeared first on ClickFunnels.