4 Essential Elements to Make Your Funnel a Money-Making Machine!
by Gerek Allen ~ Last Updated: Feb 20, 2023 ~ 6 Min Read
by Gerek Allen
~Â Last Updated: Feb 20, 2023Â ~
~ 6 Min Read ~
Are you trying to make a profitable funnel for your digital product or online course? Or are you wondering what makes a great sales funnel? If so, this article will be a cheat sheet for your business.
Sales funnels are here to stay… and with AI tools coming on fast, they’re only going to get better.
When you factor in increased competition and skyrocketing ad costs, you can make the argument having a proven sales funnel can make or break your business.
With that being said, if you don’t know the foundational elements of a sales funnel… including the why, then you’re already behind the eight ball.
In this article, you’ll learn the 4 key elements your sales funnel must have in order to grow your business now… and in the future.
Let’s dive in.
What Is A Sales Funnel?
First, let’s make sure you understand what a sales funnel is.Â
In simple terms, a sales funnel takes you through a pre-defined path where you either take a desired action… or not.
To look at it another way, let’s say you have an appointment at the DMV.Â
You show up there for one of many reasons… like renewing your registration, getting a new license… whatever.
A sales funnel is no different.Â
People enter the sales funnel through a variety of ‘reasons’... aka marketing channels… like YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, blog posts, etc.
Once you’re in the DMV… and you get tired of staring endlessly waiting for your number to be called… you start your journey going from desk to desk… which is a pre-defined path.Â
Why you go from desk to desk is another story that frankly no one knows the real answers to… but it’s to illustrate a point.Â
At the end of your multi-hour journey at the DMV, you end up at the same place everyone else does… leaving as fast as humanly possible out the door.Â
The DMV is a sales funnel… albeit a very bad one… but hopefully you get the point.
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Why Are Funnels Important?
Sales funnels are important because your business needs to maximize every opportunity it has to generate revenue… and have some sort of predictability.
For instance, on a regular shopping website… like one built on Shopify… you have a product for sale and the normal action is to ‘add to cart’.
Simple, right?
The problem is to add more to the cart, the customer has to take action on their own, going to other pages on the website… and the data proves they don’t do this.Â
The average conversion rate on a traditional site like this is barely over 1%. Yes… 99 out of 100 people don’t buy… and if they do, they only buy 1 thing.
A sales funnel is the opposite.Â
Because a customer is forced to go down a certain path, they have no choice but to see what you put in front of them.
Furthermore, they can’t continue without making a choice… either to buy or not.
This concept is so much more powerful when you really understand it.Â
Using a sales funnel… with the proper elements… will make your business a money-making machine.
Your average cart value will be higher than a traditional website.Â
You’ll have better, and more predictable data. Your business will know how much money it will earn for every 100 people sent through the funnel.
With more money being generated, your business can compete with rising ad costs… and remain profitable on the front end.
Not many businesses can go negative on the front end… meaning they lose money on every sale… and stay in business.
So what elements make up a good sales funnel? Let’s find out.
The 4 Essential Elements Of A Successful Sales Funnel
LEAD MAGNET
Many successful online businesses say repeatedly… ‘the money is in your list’. They are right.
If you have an email list of 100 people… and have a new product or service to offer… how good are you going to do.
What if your list was 100,000… or 500,000?
(Side note: the size of your list isn’t as important as the quality of your list… but you want both quality and quantity)
The way to grow your list is with a lead magnet, using a simple 2-page funnel.
A lead magnet is a fancy name for giving away something of extreme value… usually for FREE… in exchange for their name and email address.
The more valuable the content is… the faster your list will grow… assuming all else is equal.
Once you have them on your list, you can email them whenever you want to with a CRM, like Active Campaign for example.
Every business should have a lead magnet as a list growing strategy.
The sales funnel is simple. It’s a landing page and a thank you page. That’s it.
CORE OFFER
The most obvious sales funnel will sell your core offer… whether it’s a product or a service.
At some point, every potential customer needs to go through your core offer funnel.
The mistake many businesses make with their core offer funnel is not offering options for their product or service.
For instance, if you’re selling physical products, there should be options for single items and multi-units at discounted prices… like a 1-pack, 3-pack, and 6-pack.
If services are being offered, give options with higher price points with more features, more services, whatever.
Yes, every business is different and what was explained was very simple in nature… but don’t be afraid to offer MORE and charge MORE for it.Â
The sales funnel for your core offer is still simple in nature.
You have a sales page and a checkout page… where sometimes the checkout form is on the sales page.Â
We recommend using 2 different pages so you can capture name and email on the sales page… putting them into your CRM for abandoned cart purposes… then completing the sale on the checkout page.
ORDER BUMPS
Order bumps increase cart value so much, you should NEVER use a sales funnel without one.
The idea of an order bump is simple… offer something that doesn’t need to be explained and makes perfect sense.
For example, if you’re selling a physical book, the order bump can be the audio version of the same book.
Or if you’re selling dog food, the order bump can be dog treats.
Once again… it should be simple and require no explanation as to what it is.
The power of an order bump is all the customer needs to do is check a box BEFORE they enter their credit card information.
A good order bump can be added to a sale up to 40% of the time.
UPSELLS / DOWNSELLS
After the checkout page, any good sales funnel should have at least 1 upsell… and we recommend no more than 2… otherwise it becomes annoying.
The upsell should be more expensive than the core offer… but that’s not a rule set in stone.
If you’re selling digital products, your upsell price should be like $97 if the sales page offer was less than that. The 2nd upsell offer could be in the $297 range.
If you’re selling physical products, a smart strategy that works well is to sell 1 more unit of the main product at a significant discount.
If 1 unit costs $30, maybe sell the extra unit for $15-$20… if the numbers make sense.
These are just examples, but this is how you increase cart value to be more profitable on the front end and stay in business.
A downsell is a tactic to sell a less expensive product or service, only if the upsell is declined.Â
Let’s say the upsell is $97. If they decline, maybe you have a ‘leaner’ version you can sell for $47 instead… OR maybe break up the $97 into 3 payments… or whatever.
Now that you know what the four key elements are to a sales funnel, let’s take it one step further… how to build a sales funnel.
How To Build A Sales Funnel
A funnel-building software is the best tool to use, to do this right.Â
We use… and recommend to all of our clients… DropFunnels for a variety of reasons.Â
For a more detailed breakdown of DropFunnels, check out our article here.
In a nutshell, any good sales funnel software will have templates to at least get you started.
The concept is to find a template you like, drop it in, customize it to your business, and launch it.
There will be templates for lead magnets, webinars, core offers… virtually anything you can think of.
DropFunnels has a complete set of templates here.
If you want something more customized to your business, or have questions about what kind of sales funnel is right for your business, book a call and we’ll be happy to talk to you.
Btw, if you’re a go-getter and you're ready to play BIG now, get started with DropFunnels here. (yes, we are an affiliate so we would get compensated for you becoming a paying customer)
In Conclusion
Now you have an understanding of the 4 key elements you need to make your sales funnel a money-making machine.
While they may seem simple in nature… many businesses don’t use these elements in the right way.
It’s all about the basics.
Master the basics and your business will thrive.
To your dreams….
Gerek Allen
Co-Owner iTech Valet
Entrepreneur, patriot, CrossFit junkie, IPA enthusiast, loves to travel to tropical destinations, and knows way too many movie quotes.
About iTech Valet
iTech Valet specializes in web design and content marketing for online entrepreneurs who want to share their expertise.
Services Include:
- Web Design
- Graphic Design
- Sales Copy
- Funnel Building
- Authority Sites
- Membership Sites
- Course Creation
- Email Systems
- Content Marketing
- Competitive Analysis
- Tech Integrations
- Strategic Planning
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