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Sell with a Sales Funnel Builder
STOP! Don’t build a website yet, why not use a sales funnel builder instead?
Trying to sell your products or services with a lame old website will work but is it the most effective way in 2024?
In today’s competitive online business landscape, a simple website is no longer sufficient enough to drive significant business online… Well, what’s the solution?
A multi-step sales funnel.
A quality sales funnel builder is becoming a key component in creating an ideal environment for converting prospects into loyal customers.
Using a sales funnel builder you can effectively guide potential customers through the buyer’s journey quickly and with ease.
A well-structured online sales funnel builder serves as an indispensable tool for achieving this goal, enabling businesses to strategically create conversion-focused stages to nurture leads and ultimately drive more conversions.
So in this post, we’re going to discuss what a sales funnel and sales funnel builder is, the differences between a sales funnel and a pipeline and help you identify the best sales funnel builder for your business.
With that, let’s get into it!
What is a Sales Funnel? (magical slide analogy)
Think of a sales funnel as a magical slide at an amusement park.
It’s designed to take people on a thrilling journey from the top, where they first discover your awesome products, all the way down to the bottom, where they become your life-long customers.
Below is an example below of a basic sales funnel (before the analogy).
Sales Funnel example (Sales Funnel Template)
- Traffic – Exposed to your brand/offer.
- Awareness – Getting to know your brand/offering.
- Interest – Considering your offer.
- Desire – Ready to buy.
- Action – Conversion like a purchase.
At the top of the slide (top of the sales funnel), visitors are just getting to know you and your offerings (through organic and paid educational content).
This is where you first grab their attention with eye-catching promotions, valuable information and/or fascinating content.
As they slide further down (through your sales funnel), they become more interested and start considering whether your products are right for them.
This is your chance to showcase why your products are amazing and how they can add value to their lives.
Nearing the end of the slide (towards the bottom of your sales funnel), they’re almost ready to buy.
You’ll want to give them a little nudge by offering irresistible deals, and discounts, or showcasing glowing customer testimonials.
Finally, they reach the bottom of the slide, and hooray! They love your products and are ready to buy (they have converted and become a customer)!
But the journey doesn’t end here.
You’ll want to keep them coming back for more by maintaining a strong relationship and offering them exciting new deals and products (Through email marketing and social media activities).
So, a sales funnel is like a fun and magical slide that helps guide your customers through the process of getting to know, love, and ultimately buy your products while keeping them coming back for more!
A sales funnel is built on providing the idea of providing value, value, value and more VALUE.
What is a Sales Funnel Builder?
A sales funnel builder is like a handy, all-in-one toolbox that helps you create and set up your very own magical sales slide (remember the sales funnel analogy we talked about?).
A ‘good’ sales funnel builder is packed with easy-to-use marketing tools, templates, and features that make building your sales funnel a breeze, even if you’re a complete beginner with zero experience in this stuff.
With a sales funnel builder, you can effortlessly create captivating sales funnel stages, set up email campaigns, and track your customers’ journey as they move through your sales funnel stages.
Here is an example below of a basic sales funnel.
Important: Each stage or page in your sales funnel has a specific function.
Sales Funnel Website Example (Sales Funnel Pages)
- Squeeze page – Landing page designed to capture email information.
- Sales page – Informative page about your offer.
- Order page – The order page for collecting payment details.
- Upsell page – Opportunity to sell additional products/services with a click of a button.
- Thank you page – The thank you page after the visitor has converted.
- Email automations – Providing ongoing value to your audience.
You can also customize your sales funnel stages to match your brand’s unique style, making it more attractive to your target audience.
In short, a ‘good’ sales funnel builder is a user-friendly platform that simplifies the process of creating, managing, and optimizing your sales funnel so that you can drive more conversions.
Sales Funnel vs Pipeline (Different?)
A sales funnel is the customer journey and the sales pipeline or sales process is what your team follows to support those customers moving through the sales funnel.
Picture a sales funnel as an adventurous journey that your potential customers embark on, while a sales pipeline is more like an organized behind-the-scenes roadmap that your sales team follows to guide those customers to their final destination.
A sales funnel focuses on the customer’s perspective, showing the different stages they go through from initially discovering your products to making a purchase.
It helps you understand and engage with your prospects, ensuring that they have a smooth and enjoyable experience as they move from being curious visitors to life-long customers.
On the other hand, a sales pipeline or process is all about your sales team’s workflow and the steps they take to guide prospects through the buying process.
It’s a structured approach to managing and tracking potential deals, outlining the specific actions your sales team needs to take at each stage in the sales process to successfully move a customer (deals) through the stages.
Here is an example of our basic sales process. We want to effectively move deals through the stages until they are won (converted into a customer).
Sales Pipeline Example
- Prospect.
- Qualified lead.
- Meeting.
- Proposal made.
- Proposal discussed.
- Contract sent.
- Closed – won.
- Closed – lost.
The sales pipeline helps you monitor progress, allocate resources, and forecast revenue.
Essentially, while the sales funnel focuses on creating an engaging and delightful journey for your customers, the sales pipeline is about streamlining and managing your sales team’s efforts to nurture leads and close deals.
Both concepts work parallel to help you optimize your sales process and drive more sales!
Best Sales Funnel Builder (Sales Funnel Software) 2024
There are many sales funnel builders on the marketplace that anyone can use to create a conversion-focused sales funnel.
Popular tools include ClickFunnels, Kajabi, Convertflow, Unbounce, GetResponse and others.
I don’t want to waste your time… let’s get straight to the point…
In my opinion and based on my personal experience there is one sales funnel builder that truly stands out. It’s called Systeme.io.
This is the best sales funnel builder for small businesses, service-based businesses, online courses and those that are just getting started with a sales funnel.
This platform will grow with you.
Systeme.io is a FREE sales funnel builder that also offers email marketing, memberships, online course hosting, websites and more, everything that you need to sell your products or services effectively online.
I typically recommend Systeme.io to my clients because often the free plan is more than sufficient enough for small businesses.
What I Like:
- A simple drag-and-drop visual builder that allows anyone to quickly create each stage in their sales funnel without having to worry about touching code.
- Set up email automations to continue engaging with your audience.
- Sell physical products, digital products, services or online courses directly through Systeme.io for free!
- Many templates that you can choose from for each stage in your sales funnel.
What I Dislike:
- The templates are great, however, when you are building each stage/page in your funnel, there are no consistent themes. Ideally, you want your pages to have the same theme/style/layout.
Prices:
Free – Completely free forever plan!
Startup – $27 USD per month.
Webinar – $47 USD per month.
Unlimited – $97 USD per month.
My Favourite Feature of Systeme.io:
- I love how Systeme.io offer literally all their features for free. The only time you need to pay is when your business naturally scales. There are only limits to the number of funnels, contacts etc that you can have.
Watch my Systeme.io tutorial if you want to learn how to build your own sales funnels.
The Best Sales Funnel for Service Businesses
The best sales funnel for service-based businesses is one with minimal stages. We have many local and international clients that have service-based businesses and are looking to drive more sales.
Instead of using a basic website, we walk our clients through the process of creating a sales funnel using Systeme.io.
A sales funnel for a service business looks like this.
- Squeeze page – A landing page that talks about the service.
- Sales page – Informative page about your service, its benefits, outcomes and testimonials.
- Order page – The order page for collecting payment details.
- Upsell page – Opportunity to sell add-on services with a click of a button (give your customer an unbelievable offer).
- Thank you page – The thank you page after the visitor has converted which explains the next action involving the delivery of the service.
The Best Sales Funnel For Online Courses
Do you want to start creating and selling online courses? Well, great news you can do this for free all within Systeme.io.
Rather than using a marketplace-based platform like Skillshare, Udemy or others (limited freedom over your course), you can create, upload and manage your own online courses with Systeme.io.
Not only this but you can then create a conversion-focused sales funnel to sell and grow your online course.
A sales funnel for selling online courses looks something like this.
- Squeeze page – A landing page that talks about your online course.
- Sales page – Informative page about your online course, its benefits, outcomes and testimonials.
- Order page – The order page for collecting payment details.
- Upsell page – Opportunity to sell add-on packages with a click of a button (give your customer an unbelievable offer).
- Thank you page – The thank you page after the visitor has converted and joined your online course.
- Set up email automations welcoming the student and how they can access the course.
Watch my online course tutorial here if you want to learn how to create your online course and build your own sales funnels.
The Best eCommerce Sales Funnel
If you’re looking for an alternative to an eCommerce website for selling your products then this section of this blog is for you.
Rather than using an eCommerce website for listing and selling your products, you should consider building a sales funnel for your products.
Again, as I mentioned in the previous subtitles you can do this for free with Systeme.io.
A website works, don’t get me wrong. But you’ll have higher conversion rates with a Sales funnel.
Although, in my opinion, if you’re selling many small-ticket items then a website will be your best option.
On the other hand, if you sell high-ticket goods, then a sales funnel is your best bet for driving conversions.
A sales funnel for selling products (digital or physical) looks something like this.
- Squeeze page – A landing page that talks about your product offer.
- Sales page – Informative page about your product, its benefits, outcomes and testimonials.
- Order page – The order page for collecting payment details.
- Upsell page – Opportunity to sell additional products with a click of a button (give your customer an unbelievable offer).
- Thank you page – The thank you page after the visitor has purchased your product or products.
- Set up email automations for providing ongoing value to your customers.
My Final Thoughts
There we have it!
That is my ultimate sales funnel guide for beginners.
I hope you now know exactly what a sales funnel and a sale funnel builder is, the difference between a sales funnel and a sales pipeline and how you can build your own sales funnel.
Let me know if you found this article helpful.
All the best with your online journey!
2 comments
Thank you for sharing and learning
Of course Devilyn, you are very welcome.