Introduction
In this article, we will talk about a popular online marketing solution called ClickFunnels. By the time you finish reading this piece, you will learn what sales funnels are, why you must incorporate them into your marketing strategy, and why ClickFunnels is an excellent solution to do that. Read on!
What Are Sales Funnels?
A sales funnel is a conversion pathway that leads the visitors of your site into becoming your customers.
A funnel is broad and open at one and, so everything can fit in, but narrow and targeted at the other end, getting the liquid inside exactly where you want it.
Sales funnels work similarly. People end up on your site either through searching on Google (if you have good SEO), by clicking a link someone shared, by stumbling upon your ad, and through many other different ways.
Some of them end up there randomly, but most are there for a reason—they have a problem they want to solve, and your service might help them.
Sales funnels are there to convince people that your company (or you) is (are) the right solution for them. Funnels lead them, step-by-step, through the sales process, often subconsciously.
There are various types of sale funnels, depending on what you try to achieve.
Although they all aim to sell, webinars need a different funnel from physical products, which again need something different from membership sites, etc. So, how do you cover all that? With ClickFunnels.
What Is ClickFunnels?
ClickFunnels makes creating sales funnels a breeze. You can create landing pages, upsells, downsells, calls to action, anything your marketing campaign requires.
What makes ClickFunnels stand out from the competition is the ease of use combined with an incredible amount of flexibility.
This is a drag & drop tool, which means it is 100% beginner-friendly. You can create excellent looking pages without ever entering a single line of code.
There are plenty of drag & drop solutions nowadays, as it is becoming the go-to method in the industry of page builders. But, ClickFunnels separates itself as it is here for a while, with 4+ years of service. It has helped in building thousands of pages. When trying to make money online, there is no room for error, and choosing proven products is your best bet.
ClickFunnels is exactly that.
How Does It Work?
As noted, this is a drag & drop builder, inclined towards people who are not that tech savvy, allowing them full control.
ClickFunnels has a wide variety of templates for different purposes. We suggest you start there, mainly if you’ve never built a customer journey funnel before.
But don’t be lazy! Don’t just pick a template, and only change the information. Be creative. Use those pre-built funnels as guides, as a skeleton you build on top of.
A step-by-step guide will lead you through the process of creating your desired pages, completely simplifying it, without taking away the customization options.
But, if you want complete freedom, you can choose the DIY option, which will allow you to build the funnel your way.
ClickFunnels offers an abundance of options, and you can customize the whole experience to the finest detail, even without coding. For a drag & drop solution, from text to video, buttons to forms, countdown timers to pop ups, and so much more, ClickFunnels really puts a lot of power into the user’s hands.
ClickFunnels Features
This is a complete marketing tool. You can use the drag & drop builder to create every step of the funnel process, in detail. Essentially, it will replace a bunch of other tools, creating an all-in-one marketing experience.
With ClickFunnels you can generate leads, generate sales, but also run events (it is ideal for webinars).
- As for generating leads, you have the old-school email, or messenger leads. Or you can go for longer form application leads, where you get more info about your visitors (such as the full name, phone, address).
- When it comes to sales, ClickFunnels offers plenty of options. You can create tripwire or unboxing funnels for your cheapest products. For better ones you can send out (video) sales letters, convincing the audience in detail. The last option (launch funnels) is excellent for those of you who are looking to create hype, before releasing your product or service.
- Looking to create online events? ClickFunnels has you covered. You can host live webinars (CF supports Zoom, gotowebinar and similar), or you can create one that has already stored presentation, re-selling it again and again.
Click funnels allows you to split-test different options, helping you choose what’s best. Also, it fully integrates with other popular services such as Stripe, PayPal, Clickbank, Authorize, Infusionsoft, and more.
But, what makes it super awesome are the apps that go with it, which we will explain in detail in the section below. To get them, you will have to buy their Etison Suite, which we will discuss later, in the pricing section.
Actionetics
ClickFunnels Actionetics will give you a tone of options for collecting emails and converting them through newsletters. But, this tool will also replace your autoresponders, social media bots, desktop push notifications, and other marketing automation tools.
Through creating the “second funnel,” you will be able to recycle customers and sell more of your services. The follow-up funnels are a gem and using them will unlock you an entirely new business sphere.
Actionetics collects all the information, allowing you to create “smart lists” of visitors. There, you can tag them, and reorganize the list.
It will show you more detail about the visitor/customer, telling them who they are, but also how they ended up on the list, and additional info about their behavior. This is all super-valuable information that will lead to more sales.
You can use the information gathered through Actionetics to target follow-up funnels towards the handpicked visitors, which will incredibly increase conversions. You can do this via mail, desktop notifications, Facebook messenger (retargeting), desktop or mobile notifications.
Actionetics is a very simple, but incredibly efficient tool, truly amazing.
Backpack
Backpack is for people who are into affiliate marketing. It gives you a backpack of options (yes, we actually used this joke!) to create one of most the valuable forms of marketing.
Through affiliate marketing, you get real people to do the marketing for you, recommending your service to their audience. The best thing is that it is entirely free, up until you catch the sale, making it very cost efficient — no risks on your side.
Backpack is unique because it offers your affiliates incentives through their system of “sticky cookies.” They will get commission not only for the initial sale but also for any other products the customer purchases from you.
That gives them a huge motivation boost to do their best, creating a triple win situation—the customer, affiliate, and you are all happy!
Backpack is very easy to use and guides you through the creation process step-by-step. You first need to make a commission plan, add affiliate types, and commissions for each of those. You can also create a two-tier affiliate program, giving commissions for affiliates of affiliates, creating even more incentive, which is fantastic. Backpack allows you to add affiliate programs to any funnel you make, or you’ve already made before.
Coming Soon: Pypeline and Wasabi
Because these apps are not released yet, we won’t go in too much detail:
- Pypeline – this is a CRM system developed to allow you to guide your visitors through the whole process, converting them to customers. It simplifies the process, as most other CRMs are overly complicated.
- Wasabi – everyone knows about the membership sites, the holy grail of making money online. Wasabi allows you to create them, without any coding skills. It will have a bunch of templates you can choose from, which you can edit with your own content, getting the site ready in minutes.
ClickFunnels Pricing
Guys, there’s no easy saying this, ClickFunnels is an expensive service, especially for those just entering the online business world. Yes, it is awesome, and it will skyrocket your conversions. But you will have to pay a fair chunk, so make sure it is worth it. There are two plans:
- Only ClickFunnels – $97/mo – 20 funnels, 100 pages, 20 000 visitors.
- Etison Suite – $297/mo, ClickFunnels, Actionetics, Backpack, Pypeline, Wasabi – and everything unlimited.
The good news is that you don’t need to have a website if you want to use this service, so no wasting time with hosting providers, domain registrars and similar. ClickFunnels is all-inclusive, which is to be expected when you look at the price.
ClickFunnels also offers a free trial. You will have full 14-days to decide if this is a good option for you, making it risk-free. We suggest you use the trial period to the fullest, as this is a comprehensive tool with a lot of features to test. One thing to watch out for with the trial is when it runs out, they automatically put you on the Etison Suite plan, so make sure you downgrade before the trial expires if you want to continue with the cheaper plan.
If you have a bit more money to spend up front, you can get ClickFunnels free for 6 or 12 months along with a load of other bonuses by going for the Funnel Hacks System. It also gives you access to Actionetics and Backpack, which the 14-day trial doesn’t. There’s a 30-day money back guarantee too, so you can treat it like a 30-day trial.
Promoting ClickFunnels
One way you can bring your costs right down is by signing up for ClickFunnels’ affiliate program. They offer fantastic rates of 40% recurring commissions. This means that if you refer someone who signs up to ClickFunnels via your affiliate link, you’ll earn 40% every month as long as they stick with it. That means if you refer just three customers, you’ll cover your payments for the basic plan. Definitely something we recommend getting into!
Conclusion
As you can see, ClickFunnels really delivers. This tool will skyrocket your campaign, boosting conversions like never before. It is expensive, but if you set it up right, it will definitely return the investment in no time at all. Still, make sure that you have a business that really does need this advanced marketing suite before you dive into anything. If it does, then go for it, you won’t regret the decision.