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What Kind Of Sales Funnel Should I Build?

I get a lot of questions.

Some are very specific, like – “What button should I click?”

While others are more general, such as…

  • Do I need a sales funnel?
  • Will a sales funnel work for my business?
  • What sales funnel should I build?

This post is designed to help answer those more general questions.

First, What Is A Sales Funnel?

I'm not going to go into too much detail here because I write about this extensively on this site. However, I  wanted to lay some groundwork to ensure we're all on the same page.

Simply put, a sales funnel is the path through which you take your ideal customer:

  • Introduce yourself
  • Build a relationship
  • Convince them to buy something from you
  • Keep them happy and convince them to buy more from you

That's it.

For those who like pretty pictures, here's an illustration of what I've outlined above…

Of course, there are many strategies for doing this…

The one I use is called The Interest Driven Sales Funnel Strategy.

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel Strategy works by breaking the sales funnel into two levels:

  • Macro
  • Micro

At the Macro level, we're reaching out to our audience, trying to figure out what they're interested in, and once we have an idea of what they like… we try to sell them something.

For selling, we use Micro Sales Funnels. These are sales funnels designed to sell a specific product or service.

That's as deep as I'm going to go into Macro vs. Micro sales funnels in this post…

Just remember…

  • Macro = bring people in and gauge interest
  • Micro = sell products/services the person has shown interest in

Don't Forget The Big Picture… The Macro Level Is Important!

The rest of this post is going to be about Micro Sales Funnels.

Micro sales funnels are cool! You can make pretty diagrams of them and there are a bunch of tools for building them…

However, I brought up the Macro level because it's very important and the key to success.

How you bring people into your business, establish your relationship with them, and gauge their interests is critically important.

Please don't forget the Macro level when building your Micro Sales Funnels because if you do, your Micro sales funnels will suffer!

Capiche?

What Micro Sales Funnel Should I Build?

#1 Goal Of This Exercise

Here's the deal…

The #1 goal of this exercise is to ultimately build one successful funnel.

Do not go out and build 10 mediocre or terrible funnels simply because you have 10 products.

You build one funnel and get that thing working.

What do I mean by “working”?

It breaks even. Ie, your net profit is greater than or equal to $0. (Revenue – Ad Spend – Cost Of Goods – Fulfillment/Shipping – Time – Credit Card Fees – Every Other Expense To Get The Sale >= $0)

If you can get a new customer for $0… everything else you sell them is icing on the cake.

The easiest way to do this? Sell a product or service you already know sells well.

Unless you have a bunch of working funnels already, it's not the time to build funnels to launch random, unproven products.

So please, get that one working funnel FIRST; then, you can build another, and another, and another…

The Sales Funnel Flowchart

I love a good flowchart.

Answer a few simple questions and BOOM, you have your answer to a complex question!

Here's a flowchart to help you figure out what type of Micro Sales Funnel you should build:

This flowchart should be pretty self-explanatory, but if you have any questions, please leave a comment below.

Now, I want to quickly hit on the starting point…

Pick 1 CORE Offer

Just ONE!

What is the one thing you want to sell or have someone do? Don't sit there and envision your entire funnel already, or decided you want a “webinar” funnel…

Pick 1 offer:

  • I want to sell my $197 course on underwater basket weaving
  • I want to sell my $9.95 flashlight
  • I want to sell this $47 affiliate product
  • I want someone to buy my $3,000 web design package
  • I want someone to visit my business to claim their free teeth cleaning

Got your 1 core offer?

Great!

Now, run it through the flowchart.

Show Content And Retarget

Oftentimes, people simply don't know enough about you, your offer, their pain/problem, etc.

In this case, you need to show them more content like blog posts and videos via ads, emails, social media posts, etc.

Note: The content you show them should link to your Micro Sales Funnel so the individual can easily move on to the next step.

Finally, you will want to retarget these individuals in order to bring them to your Micro Sales Funnel.

2 Step / Lead Gen Funnel

There are times when you might not be trying to sell anything right away…

Like, when you're just getting started… you just want somebody to find your website/business/content.

You want people to know you exist.

A great funnel for this is a 2 Step or Lead Gen funnel.

It works by sending individuals to an opt-in or squeeze page where you capture their contact information in exchange for a Lead Magnet.

A Lead Magnet can be an ebook, checklist, trial, flowchart, mp3, video, voucher, etc… something of value that an individual will happily provide their contact information in order to receive what you're offering.

The “Welcome” page is a page that usually contains a video or brief message that welcomes the individual to your business, tells them to check their email for the Lead Magnet they just requested, and explains how to use the Lead Magnet and/or what the next steps are.

Of course, after the individual gives you their contact information, you will follow up with them through various types of engagements like email, text messages, phone calls, direct mail, Facebook Messenger, and retargeting.

These 2 Step funnels are also great for brick & mortar businesses. You have the individual opt-in for a voucher or discount and then follow up with them to get them into your business to use the voucher/discount they received at opt-in.

Sales Page

97% of online transactions look just like the diagram above…

An individual lands on a sales page and they either buy the product or they don't.

Take a look at Amazon… you find the product you want (sales page), add it to your cart, checkout, and receive your order confirmation. That's it.

There are no fancy OTOs, One-Click-Upsells, Downsells, Order Bumps, etc.

This is perfectly fine!

You don't “need” all that fancy stuff.

Setup a sales page, present your offer, and move on to sending traffic to it!

Merge 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel With Sales Page

One very popular approach is to merge the 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel with a Sales Page.

In doing this, you're collecting their contact information prior to trying to sell them a product/service. This allows you to better follow up with them, build rapport, and subsequently increase the conversion rate on the sales page.

If possible, employ this tactic and watch your conversion rates skyrocket!

Front End Funnel

The Front End Funnel goes by many names: Classic Sales Funnel, Trip Wire Funnel, Self Liquidating Funnel, etc. and it's probably the most popular Micro Sales Funnel model.

It can look different from what's illustrated above, depending on what you have/need/etc. For example, maybe you only have one OTO (One-Time-Offer), or maybe you don't want to offer a Downsell, or you don't want to have an Opt-in and Welcome page… that's fine.

The main concept behind this funnel is that you offer something at a very low price (< $10) in order to get the individual to open their wallet. Then, when “the buyer is in heat”, they'll buy until you anger them or stop offering things to buy. (that's the theory, anyway)

So, let's break down the pages:

  • Sales Page: Where you offer the very low priced product (< $10)
  • OTO 1: This is where you present your Core Offer (the product you really want to sell and why you built the funnel in the first place).
    • Downsell: The page an individual views when they turn down OTO 1. Usually, you try to sell your Core Offer again; however, this time incentivize it by including some bonuses, a discount, or a payment plan.
  • OTO 2: Whether the individual purchases OTO 1 (your Core Offer) or not, you can show them another offer they might be interested. Often, this is a more expensive product commonly referred to as a “Profit Maximizer”. However, it doesn't have to be more expensive. Use whatever makes sense for your business, customer, and funnel.

Then, throughout the entire funnel, you will continue to “pull” people through by following up via engagements like emails, text messages, phone calls, direct mail, Facebook Messenger, and retargeting.

Webinar Funnel

Webinar funnels are quite popular these days because they are often very effective for selling products and services in the $300-$2,500 range.

The particular diagram above illustrates a webinar funnel that has a webinar a few days after someone registers…

How it works – an individual registers for the webinar and then they're dripped a few key pieces of content to get them excited about what's to come. We call this the “Pre-Webinar Training”.

Then, there's the webinar where you teach and then sell…

Then, a replay room for those that miss the webinar or only watch a piece of it…

Then, the Sales Page where you make your last ditch effort to sell your product/service.

Of course, you're following up with emails and retargeting ads (at the very least), and possibly including some text messages, phone calls, direct mail, and/or Facebook Messages (depending on your plan).

One of the best webinar scripts comes from Russell Brunson and his “Perfect Webinar” which can be found here.

Evergreen Webinar Funnel

Another way to execute a webinar is via an Evergreen Webinar Funnel.

Ideally, you'll do your webinar live a bunch of times and really nail it down… record it, then turn it evergreen… but, you don't necessarily have to.

The evergreen webinar funnel doesn't usually include the pre-webinar “stuff” and instead goes straight into the presentation.

If you have a webinar already, maybe it's time to turn it evergreen!

  • Note: I give you my Evergreen Webinar funnel when you attend my Evergreen Webinar here.

Product Launch Funnel

The Product Launch Funnel or “Horizontal Sales Page” has been made popular by Jeff Walker and his “Product Launch Formula.”

It works by having an individual opt-in for training in the form of videos, blog posts, PDFs, etc.

The training is broken down into 4 parts and dripped via email, retargeting, text, etc. to the student over the course of a few days.

In the last training, an offer is pitched to the student for a product/service to take what they learned to the next level.

If you're selling a more expensive product/service, you should pick up the “Launch” book by Jeff Walker because he does a great job outlining the whole concept.

Consultation / Application Funnel

If you're selling a product/service over $2,500, it's typically a good idea to chat with your customer beforehand to ensure they're a good fit.

To do this, you can either offer a “Free Consultation” or make them “Apply” for your offer.

Typically, people you send to this funnel will know who you are and already be intertwined with your business. You probably won't need to have an initial opt-in page for these folks; however, I included it in the illustration above because you may want one in order to capture interest.

On your Welcome & Pre-sell page you will want to include a wall of text and/or video testimonials of individuals that have had success with your offering. Interspersed throughout that page, include links and CTAs to your application form and/or call schedule form.

Finally, on the Success Page, let them know you'll be in touch soon.

The rest of the funnel is “off line” in that you contact them, chat with them, etc. You probably don't need/want to automate this part.

Bridge Funnel

Bridge funnels are used to introduce YOUR audience to someone else's offer.

Often, you can't control the other offer's sales page. It says whatever it says and you can't change it.

Now, in order to keep the message congruent so YOUR audience understands what's happening, you will want to use a bridge funnel to “bridge” the gap by connecting YOU to that other offer.

You can also use a bridge funnel to “spruce up” the other offer by incentivizing it with bonuses and other benefits.

Bridge funnels are often used to sell affiliate products or MLM opportunities.

Affiliate Products Funnel

There are times when you might not have your own product or service.

Or, maybe you just want to offer someone else's product for sale because you know it will help your customers.

Whatever the reasoning, there's a funnel for it!

It starts similarly to the other funnels and the Opt-in page isn't “mandatory”, you can direct people straight to the Sales Page w/ Special Offer if you want.

The Sales Page w/ Special Offer promotes the affiliate product you're trying to sell and then offers a bunch of bonuses if they purchase via your link. These bonuses are delivered via a Membership Portal you give the person access to after they purchase the affiliate product.

In the Membership Portal, provide a collection of helpful content like videos, PDFs, etc.

MLM Funnel

Most MLM (Multi-Level Marketing) networks are BIG on digital “stuff”.

When you join, they'll hook you up with squeeze pages, landing pages, full websites, etc. and tell you to post messages on Facebook to get everyone you know to those pages they setup for you.

Sending people to the MLM's squeeze pages can work fine; however, you can take it one step further by creating a special Bridge Funnel to “bridge” the gap between you, your audience, and the MLM network. You can use a Bridge Funnel to share your story, share your downlines' and/or upline's stories.

This will allow you to better connect and sell the MLM opportunity.

The actual design of a MLM Funnel can look like the diagram above where you have people opt-in to see your Welcome & Pre-sell page, or you can remove the opt-in page and just send people straight to the Welcome & Pre-sell page.

You could even make a funnel similar to the Affiliate Product Funnel and incentivize the joining of the MLM network.

There are many ways you can do it. Just remember, the point is to bridge the gap between YOUR audience and the MLM network!

Merging Sales Funnels

All of the funnel illustrations above are just examples…

Depending on your needs, wants, and desires… your funnel make look different…

And, that's A OK!

My point in this post is to get you started in the right direction.

With that said, you can certainly “merge” funnels together much like the 2 Step/Lead Gen Funnel being merged with the Sales Page up above…

And, if you didn't notice… the “Sales Page” is the start of the Front End funnel too… it's just the next page is different.

So, you may combine a Webinar or Product Launch funnel with a Front End/Classic sales funnel:

Sure, in the above example, the Initial Offer isn't some cheap product; however, you could still offer an OTO or two like advanced training, coaching, and/or consulting.

Your “funnel” doesn't have to be “literal”. (hopefully that make some sense! All I'm saying is, do what makes sense! This stuff is flexible!!!)

Stacking Funnels

If you followed the flowchart at the very top, I mentioned “Funnel Stacking”.

Basically, that is simply…

Taking people through a natural progression… ie. your Value Ladder.

Who buys your ultra-premium product/service?

Brand new people who just came in off the street? Or, people that purchased a few lower to mid-range products/services first?

My guess is, it's usually people that have purchased some of your other offerings first.

People need to get a “feel” for who you are and what you offer before they whip out their credit card to buy your $10,000 package.

Makes sense, right?

It's a natural progression.

One of my clients is an anti-aging specialist…

I built a “Front End Funnel” for him that sells his book and some of his digital training resources…

We break even on the front end. (his ad spend is covered)

On the back end, his schedule is booked solid the next 3 months for EXPENSIVE services.

So, he's getting people to know who he is for “free” and then, once they're “in”, he sells them on his other services…

That's how it's done!

Remember the Macro Sales Funnel I spoke about at the very beginning? “Bring people in and see what they're interested in” … that's the strategy!

Launch your Lead Gen funnel or Front End Funnel, then guide people to your Webinar or Product Launch funnel, and then guide them up to your Consultation or Application Funnel!

Note: These funnels aren't back-to-back-to-back like when you merge funnels. There may be months or even years in-between purchases.

Will A Sales Funnel Work For My Business?

If you made it this far, you can probably answer this question already.

Basically, if you have something to offer to an individual, whether it's a product, service, or opportunity…

Whether it's digital, physical, or something in-between…

Having a funnel in place will help your business.

After all, it's just a few pages and some engagements… it's nothing super special, mysterious, or magical.

It's you, engaging with your prospective customer and trying to get them to like you and/or your offer enough to buy it.

That's it.

So, hopefully that answers that question!

Final Thoughts

This post primarily covered Micro Sales Funnels, but I don't want you to forget the big picture and the Macro level sales funnel that contains these Micro sales funnels.

Without understanding the big, Macro picture… your Micro sales funnels will suffer.

I also want to point out that Micro sales funnels are just a couple of pages and engagements (emails, retargeting ads, text messages, etc.)… that's it. It's not some crazy hack or tactic. It's like any other website on the Internet, it's just done with strategy, purpose, and intent with the goal to sell your offer.

Finally, if you want to learn more, I recommend you check out the Sales Funnel Training Vault!

What Kind Of Sales Funnel Should I Build?2018-05-25T21:40:36+00:00

WTF #5: How To Fill Your Sales Funnel

The general rule for where to add new subscribers to your Interest Driven Sales Funnel:

  • If you don’t know the new subscriber’s interest(s) – start them with the Main Series
  • If you do know their interest(s) – start them in a Micro Sales Funnel

(wondering what an Interest Driven Sales Funnel, Main Series, and Micro Sales Funnel is? Read WTF #1, WTF #2, WTF #3, and WTF #4 first!)

Why wouldn’t you know someone’s interest upon sign-up? If your Lead Magnet is general. For example, a 15% off coupon to your entire store would be very general because you cannot easily tell what they’re looking to buy.

However, a 15% off coupon for a cordless drill would be specific enough to know the person is looking at purchasing a cordless drill. They would then enter into a Micro Sales Funnel geared toward selling cordless drills.

Which brings me to my point, there are two types of Lead Magnets: General and Specific.

General Lead Magnets are great for capturing organic traffic (search, social, “free”, etc.) because you may not really know what these people are interested in other than they landed on your website.

You typically offer these General Lead Magnets via an opt-in form like a lightbox, landing mat, side bar, ribbon, etc. across all pages on your site.

A Specific Lead Magnet, on the other hand, solves a specific problem, shows interest, qualifies the lead, and ultimately results in the sale of a product. They’re very intentional.

You typically offer these Specific Lead Magnets via a landing page or squeeze page. A page with the sole purpose of capturing that individual’s contact information in exchange for the Lead Magnet.

Because these Specific Lead Magnets are very intentional, they can serve as a great start to a Micro Sales Funnel and are perfect for paid traffic.

Using Paid Traffic

Using paid traffic is one of the best ways to fill your sales funnel. The goal, after all, is for you to be able to put $1 in and get $1+ back out. If you can consistently do that, why wouldn’t you run copious amounts of paid traffic through your sales funnel?

But, here’s the deal with paid traffic …

NEVER DO THIS… Run ads to your homepage or any other random page with the hopes someone will randomly opt-in or buy something! Every dollar you spend on paid traffic needs to be methodical and calculated! It needs to have a specific goal and metric to measure by. And, finally, unless you’re doing some advanced retargeting techniques – it must be supported by a Micro Sales Funnel!

Have you ever tried paid advertising and been shocked by how “expensive” it is? Sometimes you can spend upwards of $10 per click! This may be fine if you’re offering a $3,000 service. However, if you’re trying to sell something for only $100, you’re not going to make it, unless you have a Micro Sales Funnel in place that will increase the customer’s value.

The Paid Traffic Oath

To affirm your commitment to always having a Micro Sales Funnel in place when running paid traffic, please raise your right hand and repeat:

“I solemnly swear that I will always have a Micro Sales Funnel in place when running paid traffic.”

Good!

Now I can get off my soap box – I’ve worked with too many small businesses and entrepreneurs who are blowing money on ads with no objectives. I don’t want it to happen to you.

To Squeeze Page

Here’s the blueprint for running paid advertising campaigns:

I want you to pay particularly close attention to the segment in gray because it’s the start of any paid traffic campaign.

The portion not in gray is simply a Micro Sales Funnel and can look radically different depending on which one you’re using. Just for reference, the one in this example is a modified version of the “Classic” Sales Funnel.

  • Traffic Source: Where your traffic is coming from whether it’s Facebook Ads, Google Adwords, Bing, or any other direct source like a banner ad.
  • Squeeze Page: This is where you present your Specific Lead Magnet the ad was advertising and have an opt-in form so visitors can enter their contact information to receive the Lead Magnet.
  • Thank You Page & Initial Offer: Immediately after entering their contact information, the lead should be thanked and told how to receive the Lead Magnet they just requested. Also, this is where you’ll make the Initial Offer (ie. the thank you page is also a sales page).
  • Core Offer, Profit Maximizer, Action Series: These three parts are simply the Micro Sales Funnel I’m using in this example. Yours may look radically different.
  • Start Main Series: Since these fresh leads are new to your list – after they go through this initial Micro Sales Funnel, they join your Main Series where you begin gauging other interests and triggering other Micro Sales Funnels.

So, that covers if everything goes perfectly – the individual clicks your ad, opts-in for your Specific Lead Magnet (becomes a lead), and enters your Micro Sales Funnel where they’ll hopefully become a customer.

But, what if they click your ad, land on your squeeze page, and don’t opt-in?

  • Exit Intent w/ Redirect To Other Offer: If someone lands on your squeeze page and doesn’t opt-in, when they go to exit you’ll have an exit-intent opt-in form appear that presents a different offer than what the squeeze page presents.
    • For example: Let’s say the squeeze page presents a Specific Lead Magnet for Facebook Ads. Unfortunately, the visitor realizes they don’t want it so they decide to leave the page. As soon as their cursor leaves the browser window, we can trigger an opt-in for a different Specific Lead Magnet, one on Google Adwords. Maybe they’re interested in that topic and will opt-in. If they opt-in they will …
  • Enter A Different Funnel: Since they opted-in for the other Specific Lead Magnet, they’ve shown interest, and they are sent through that particular Micro Sales Funnel (ie. the sales funnel that sells our Google Adwords training).
  • Retargeting: Sadly, sometimes people still don’t opt-in to the exit-intent opt-in form. If they’re on a mobile device, they won’t see the opt-in form because exit-intent technology doesn’t exist for mobile devices (at least not at the time of this writing). No matter the reason, the person didn’t opt-in.
    • But, we’re not done with them yet; we still have other offers to make! These individuals are also warmer now; they’ve seen our brand, have an idea of what we do, and we know they’re at least semi-interested in what we offer. We don’t want to let them get away!
    • We can run retargeting ads to the warmer leads presenting more offers until they enter one of our Micro Sales Funnels and their journey with us begins!

Just to clarify, retargeting, sometimes called remarketing, occurs when you target people with your ads based on their previous actions – ie. if they land on your squeeze page and don’t opt-in vs. if they land on your squeeze page and do opt-in.

To Sales Page

Another strategy for filling your sales funnel is to remove the squeeze page and take individuals straight to your Initial Offer.

This strategy works especially well with Free + Shipping offers – you give away something for free, like a book or a cheap product, and the customer just pays for shipping.

Other than omitting the squeeze page, the flow is the same as the previous example. I definitely recommend split-testing these two models. The results may really surprise you!

That's It!

I really hope you enjoyed this blog series!

If you haven't already, I highly recommend going back and checking out the previous WTFs:

Finally, if you want more, I highly recommend you check out The Sales Funnel Training Vault!

WTF #5: How To Fill Your Sales Funnel2017-07-26T12:13:15+00:00

WTF #4: How To Get Content For Your Sales Funnels

As you can tell by now, there’s a lot of writing and content creation going into these sales funnels.

(if you haven't read WTF #1, WTF #2, or WTF #3 yet… please do that now because it will setup the rest of this post)

Content creation includes all the emails or engagements, the sales pages, video sales letters, product launch videos, webinars, ads, blog posts, YouTube videos, and beyond.

Even though you’re not going to sit down and create all of this in one day and your Interest Driven Sales Funnel will grow over time, it’s still a lot of work.

The good news is there’s a methodology for all this content creation that will help guide your success.

I’m referring to copywriting.

If you’re unfamiliar with the concept, you can find one of the best and most fun definitions for copywriting here: http://kopywritingkourse.com/what-is-copywriting/

For our sake, copywriting is the art and science of creating content, whether text, video, images, etc. that gets people to take the action we desire – clicking, buying, calling, subscribing, etc.

Copywriting doesn’t mean creating pushy, salesy, high pressure content. It’s about connecting with your customer and framing your content in a way that drives the action you desire.

By knowing copywriting is a “thing” and by having a basic understanding of how it works, you’re going to look at all the content you create in a new light.

You will start creating more engaging content that leads people down a path, where by the end, they’ll be excited to take whatever action you request.

While this is by no means an inclusive post on copywriting – there are people much smarter than I that have written books on the topic – I still wanted to take a few minutes to get you pointed in the right direction.

Having even the simplest understanding will help you tremendously.

Copywriting Formulas

Everyone loves formulas, right? All you need to do is follow them and boom! You’re rich!

Ok, obviously it’s not that easy, but formulas get you moving in the right direction.

Fortunately, there are hundreds of copywriting formulas to suit your every need. There are the “tried and true” formulas, some for long form copy like sales pages, others for one sentence ads, and everything in between.

These copywriting formulas work so well because they are deeply rooted in psychology. By following them, you’re able to hit on certain psychological cues, or angles, that really connect with your leads and customers.

The formulas help you cover all of your bases, and ensure you don’t leave anything out.

Google will be your friend here; simply Google “copywriting formulas” and start looking for one that resonates with you and the product or service you’re trying to sell. Some of these formulas have massive write-ups with tons of examples, you should never feel “stuck”.

A Few Popular Copywriting Formulas

Here are a few, very popular, copywriting formulas you may find helpful:

Before-After-Bridge

  • Before – What life is like before your product/service enters it
  • After – How great life is after your product/service is in your subscriber’s life
  • Bridge – Your product/service … aka … How to get to the “after”

Problem-Agitate-Solve

  • Problem – Identify the problem in your subscriber’s life
  • Agitate – Make the subscriber “angrier” about their problem
  • Solve – Present your product/service as the solution to this aggravating problem

Attention-Interest-Desire-Action (AIDA)

  • Attention – Grab your subscriber’s attention by being bold
  • Interest – Give your subscriber interesting information on the problem your product/service solves
  • Desire – Present the benefits of the product/service and provide proof it does what you say
  • Action – Ask them to buy

How To Use The Formulas With Your Emails (Action Series)

As I alluded to earlier, these copywriting formulas can be used in a variety of places. You can use them to help structure your sales pages, your ads, your blog posts, and of course – your emails.

You will typically use these formulas when you write your Action Series emails. Remember, copywriting is all about getting people to take action – which is exactly what we want from our Action Series. You’re no longer trying to gauge interest, you’ve done that via the Main Series, Specific Lead Magnet, click, pageview, etc. Now it’s time to get the individual to buy something from you.

How you’ll apply these formulas to your email marketing campaigns will depend on your audience and what you’re trying to sell.

Some audiences enjoy receiving long, thorough emails; others want a short blurb with a link to more information.

Complex or expensive products and services tend to take more “convincing” than simple or cheaper products and may require more emails to ensure you cover all the angles.

Here are a few ways to use these powerful copywriting formulas to structure your emails:

1 Email, Short

In this scenario, include the entire copywriting formula in one email … in as few sentences as possible.

The goal is to get people to click through in order to receive more information.

This scenario comes in handy when your audience doesn’t read long emails and/or mainly checks their email on a mobile device. They don’t have the time to sit and scroll through a long winded email.

For example (AIDA): Missing out? 99% of small businesses don’t have a sales funnel. Stop leaving money on the table! Click Here to learn more!

1 Email, Long

In this scenario, you would include the entire copywriting formula in one email, but it would be presented in several sentences and paragraphs – more like a sales page.

The goal is to really “sell” in the email. It can even link directly to the order form as opposed to a sales page.

This scenario comes in handy when you want to try a different angle than the normal sales page or if you’re trying to sell an affiliate product. (When you don’t control the sales page, but want to provide as much information as possible in your own voice before sending your subscriber to someone else’s sales page, this is a good method.)

Email Series

In this scenario, you break up the copywriting formula across several emails.

The goal is to introduce different angles to the subscriber to drive them to either your sales page or order form (if it makes sense to do so).

For example, with the problem-agitate-solve formula, the first email could talk solely about the problem your subscriber is facing. The second email would agitate the problem by relating it to emotion or what they’re missing out on by having this problem. The third email lays out the solution, ie. your product or service.

This scenario comes in handy when you’re trying to sell something complicated and/or expensive and you need more time.

Here are two pre-written Action Series that follow proven copywriting formulas. These will help you better understand this concept and get you moving in the right direction!

Conclusion

Sales funnels require heaps of content. Whether digital or physical; written, video or imagery; sales pages, ads or emails – no matter the medium, it’s a lot.

The good news is, if you follow the Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept, you don’t need to create all the content in one day. The system you develop is modular, meaning you can add a few pieces of content to your Main Series, then work on a Micro Sales Funnel for one of your products, then add a few more pieces of content to your Main Series, and so on.

Don’t let the sheer amount of content creation scare you. Let proven copywriting formulas guide your content creation. All you need to do is follow them, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel each time.

Finally, it’s always better to create your own content; however, you can certainly use the works of others for inspiration and guidance!

Continue Onward!

Having tons of amazing content doesn't mean much if no one is there to see it!

Click here to learn How To Fill Your Sales Funnel!

WTF #4: How To Get Content For Your Sales Funnels2017-07-26T12:11:50+00:00

WTF #3: Micro Sales Funnels That Make You Rich!

We’ve made it to the part you’re probably most excited about – the Micro Sales Funnels!

(If you haven't already, please read WTF #1 & WTF #2 before getting into this article!)

These are the “typical” sales funnels you probably envision when you think of and read about sales funnels.

They’re the up-sell funnels, webinar funnels, product launch funnels, book funnels, call back funnels, and any other type of funnel you can think of.

Of course, every “guru” has their own take and twist on how these things can, and should, function; however, their goal remains the same – to sell something.

Now, let’s talk about these awesome funnels and how to use them!

Quick Overview

Above is an example of what a Micro Sales Funnel can look like.

No matter what the middle section contains, the Start and End will look the same.

The Start

The Start occurs when an individual shows interest.

But, what exactly does that mean?

Interest can be shown in a variety of ways:

  • Click – Someone clicks a link in one of your emails or on one of your ads, showing they’re interested in a certain topic, product, service, etc.
  • Pageview – When someone looks at a specific page on your website, it shows they’re interested in a certain topic, product, service, etc.
  • Purchase – When an individual purchases a product or service from you, it’s a dead giveaway they’re interested in a certain topic, product, service, etc.
  • Specific Lead Magnet – When someone opts-in to receive a Lead magnet for something related to what you want to sell. For example, a mini-guide called “5 ways we decreased Facebook Ad spending by 89%” – we know they’re interested in Facebook Ads.
    • Note: In WTF #5 you will find a Specific Lead Magnet plan that will blow your mind!
  • Phone Call / Reply – If someone calls or replies to one of your emails, depending on the reasoning behind it, it could certainly show interest in a particular product, service, topic, etc.
  • Survey – Similar to a phone call or reply in that someone is explicitly telling you what they’re interested in.
  • Points (CRM) – More “advanced”; however, if you’re using a CRM tool you can use points to gauge interest and trigger Micro Sales Funnels based on points. For example, if someone looks at your sales page 5 times, you know they’re highly interested and may just need a tad more persuasion – exactly what a Micro Sales Funnel will provide.

As you can see, there are many ways an individual can enter one of your Micro Sales Funnels.

After The Start (The Funnel Part)

After the Start, you have the “funnel part.” Again, this can look like pretty much anything; however, in the example above we use an Action Series and an Upsell Series.

  • Action Series – An email series that addresses the subscriber from different angles in order to try to “connect” with them and drive them to take action (make a purchase). For example, one email could be very logical and explain, by-the-numbers, why your deal is great. The next email could be a story about someone who found success with your product. Another email could be benefits driven and explain the results one can expect.
  • Upsell Series – A series of emails triggered by an action (purchase) and attempts to move them to the next logical step. For example, they purchase a $7 guide to solve a problem and the upsell is a step-by-step video course for $97.

NOTICE! WARING! READ ME!

As I've stated in the previous WTF articles, email doesn't necessarily mean “email” – it means engagement – ie. email, retargeting ads, phone calls, Facebook messages, direct mail, etc. And, you can do more than one at a time!!!

  • Send an email, use retargeting ads, send Facebook messages, and hell… if it's important enough… call them and/or send them direct mail! Got it?!
  • I say “email” because it's easy to understand; however, there are many, many ways to interact with your audience so, please keep that in mind!
  • Recommended Read: Email Marketing Is Dead! … and it's going to be ok

The End

Just like the Start, the End will be the same no matter what the “funnel part” looks like.

If the individual entered into your Micro Sales Funnel from your Main Series – they will re-enter the Main Series and pick up right where they left.

If the individual entered into your Micro Sales Funnel via another source, ie. Facebook Ad to a Specific Lead Magnet or they made a direct purchase, they’ll start the Main Series from the top.

The “Simplest” Sales Funnel

This first Micro Sales Funnel model is even more basic than the example I outlined above; however, don’t let its simplicity fool you – there’s beauty in simplicity.

As with all Micro Sales Funnels, the Start is when interest is shown.

After an interest is shown, an Action Series is triggered. While I’ll go into greater detail on Action Series later in this article series, for the time being – an Action Series is a series of emails (engagements) that try and motivate the audience member to take action (ie. buy something).

Whether the individual performs the action we want them to or not, the funnel will end just like any other Micro Sales Funnel. The individual will either be returned to their previous location within the Main Series or, in the instance of a new subscriber, they will start at the beginning of the Main Series.

If the idea of adding any of the next few Micro Sales Funnel models sounds too daunting, try adding a few of the “Simplest” Sales Funnels and you’ll start to see some amazing things happen!

For example, one of my students added seven of these funnels to his pre-established Main Series and here are his results:

The average open rate for his Main Series was 15.26%, Click-Through-Rate (CTR) was 3.58%, and Earnings-Per-Click (EPC) was $0.01.

While the open rate is a little low and he probably needs to address his subject lines, his emails have an above average CTR. This shows he’s able to gauge interest based on what links people are clicking.

Also, the EPC for his Main Series was only $0.01, which is perfectly fine. Remember, the intent of the Main Series is to gauge interest while continuing to build and maintain relationships.

The AS # represents the individual Action Series. In this case, each Action Series was triggered after an individual looked at one of his products’ sales pages. Each Action Series contained only three emails and most of the content was third party product reviews with a call-to-action (CTA) to visit the sales page and buy the product now!

Very simple.

However, as you can see, every Action Series outperformed the Main Series in open rate, CTR, and EPC by a landslide!

Again, all he did was add the “Simplest” Sales Funnels (Action Series).

He didn’t incorporate any up-sells or cross-sales. He kept everything really simple; however, his results have been tremendous!

Conclusion

The “Simplest” Sales Funnel is the starting point. This should be your first journey into the wild and crazy world of Micro Sales Funnels.

The good news is while they’re really easy to setup, they can make a massive impact to your bottom line!

The “Classic” Sales Funnel

The next Micro Sales Funnel is certainly the most popular and infamous; McDonalds built their empire based on it.

“Would you like fries with that?”

Yes, I’m talking about the “Classic” up-sell funnel.

This type of funnel is the true money maker because it directly increases customer order size, and thus, lifetime value.

Understand This…

I’m about to throw several different diagrams at you all named “Classic” Sales Funnels.

It may be overwhelming, especially if you’ve not seen something like this before.

Ultimately, I want you to understand the premise of the “Classic” Sales Funnel. If someone buys something, you try to sell them more. If they don’t buy it, you offer a down-sell or follow up and attempt to make the sale later.

No matter which of the fancy “Classic” Sales Funnel diagrams you’re looking at, remember – if your customer purchases something, sell more. If not, down-sell or follow up to sell later.

How To View This Type Of Funnel

Before getting into the fancy diagrams, I need to clarify how to view these “Classic” Sales Funnels as they can quickly become complex.

There are two perspectives to take into consideration when designing your “Classic” Sales Funnels:

  • Long-term: Emails or engagements between offers
  • Instant: Order flow (at checkout)

Due to these two different perspectives, these funnels can look very different depending on your business model, what you’re trying to accomplish, and your platform.

It doesn’t always make sense to include emails or other engagements between offers.

Maybe what you really want to sell is after the individual goes through this funnel.

For example, coaches will frequently use a “Classic” Sales Funnel to sell digital courses and training, in order to get people in the door. But, what they really want to sell is private coaching. Instead of really focusing on getting people through the “Classic” Sales Funnel, they just keep it really simple and place all their focus on a Product Launch Funnel, Webinar Funnel, or Call / Application Funnel.

Finally, in other instances, you may be limited by your particular platform and want to consider adding a 3rd party tool like ClickFunnels.

The “Classic” Sales Funnel Models

I call this first one the “Mega Classic” Sales Funnel because it’s about as complex as “Classic” Sales Funnels can get.

Basically, the big idea is this:

If someone buys something, you make another offer right away (at checkout). If they buy it, you make another offer; however, if they don’t buy it, you either down-sell or send emails (engagements).

9 times out of 10, your funnels will not be this complex. There are a lot of moving parts, which means it can break easily. A broken funnel isn’t going to do you any good.

However, I wanted to open your eyes to what is possible.

Conversely, this is also a “Classic” Sales Funnel:

Very simple.

This version would likely occur at checkout and can be considered an “order flow”.

Basically, the big idea is this:

Regardless of whether someone buys the previous product, you’re going to make more offers. There won’t be any down-sells or follow up on previous offers – it’s either a yes or no on the spot, and that’s it.

This is essentially the McDonald’s funnel – the funnel starts when you purchase a burger, then they offer fries, then a drink, then to supersize it, then a sundae, and finally to opportunity to donate to a charity. Before you know it, you’ve spent $20 on a $1 burger!

More often than not, you’ll use a version between the “Mega Classic” and the simple funnel above.

One version that’s really popular in the Internet marketing world is the “Trip Wire Funnel”.

The theory behind this funnel is that as soon as you get someone to open their wallet and spend some money with you, they’re much more likely to continue spending.

It starts with offering a low priced product that’s too good to pass up called a “trip wire”. People buy this product like it’s going out of style and “trip” into your funnel where you sell your “Core Product” (what you really want to sell) and your “Profit Maximizer” (a high-end product or service that really rings the cash register).

A frequently seen trip wire is a free + shipping offer for a book. This works incredibly well because a physical book has a relatively high perceived value and opens the door to sell courses and coaching.

If you have a great complementary offer for the front-end, the “Classic” Sales Funnel model below may work well for you:

Basically, you work hard to sell your front-end offer (Offer #1) so they see Offer #2. Offer #2 is a complementary product to Offer #1, meaning it’s only really helpful if they’ve purchased Offer #1. Offer #3 is generally a stand-alone offer, meaning you don’t need Offer #1 or Offer #2 for it to be great, and it’s usually higher priced.

If they don’t purchase Offer #3 right away, they’ll be offered a down-sell and finally an Action Series in a last-ditch effort to make the sale.

Conclusion

The “Classic” Sales Funnel is the most popular Micro Sales Funnel because it works very well and can make a dramatic impact on the bottom line.

While the “Classic” Sales Funnel can look very different depending upon your unique setup, its purpose remains the same – to sell more. This, of course, can be accomplished across a wide timeframe through emails and other engagements and/or instantaneously at checkout.

The Product Launch Funnel

The Product Launch Funnel is wildly popular for more expensive products, like digital courses.

It’s typically three content based videos, that entertain and educate, and concludes with a fourth video that makes the offer.

The general flow is this:

Someone shows interest in your upcoming product launch by opting-in, clicking a link, viewing a page, etc. – all the normal “interest gauging” triggers.

From there, they receive a few emails (engagements, ie. retargeting ads, text messages, Facebook messages, etc.) directing them to video 1. After they watch the first video, they receive emails about video 2. They watch it, and then receive emails about video 3. They watch it and then receive emails to video 4, which is typically a Video Sales Letter (VSL).

The power behind this funnel comes from two key aspects:

First, this funnel provides insane value in videos 1-3 by giving away your “best stuff”. If you do these videos right, it will make your offer a no-brainer. People will think, “If his free stuff is this amazing … I can’t imagine how absolutely incredible his paid stuff is!”

The second source of this funnel’s power comes from the Launch / Cart Open phase.

During this phase scarcity is introduced because the cart will close.

There are a few ways to close the cart. The way you do it depends on whether your Product Launch Funnel is a true, one-time event or if it’s evergreen (always available).

If it’s a true, one-time event, then it’s easy to introduce scarcity because you’re going to take the offer off the table at a certain date and time. If the individual misses it, too bad.

If it’s an evergreen launch, you need to introduce scarcity in another manner because you won’t be removing the offer. You can do this by removing bonuses or by increasing the price, if they don’t purchase by a certain date.

The Video Pattern

Before I go any further, I want to address something – I keep saying “video”; however, you don’t necessarily need videos. You could use other resources like blog posts or PDFs to develop a product launch series.

Videos are often used because digital video courses are typically sold during a product launch funnel. It makes sense to keep everything in the same medium.

With that being said, you should follow a pattern or strategy for delivering the first three videos. There’s some psychology and positioning at play.

There’s a proven science behind this content and there are folks that make millions regularly from these product launch funnels.

While I’ll give you my particular formula in a moment, I want to share two other guys’ formulas … or at least where to get them. (It wouldn’t be ethical, and it’s probably illegal, to just paste their formulas here; however, you can get them straight from the books I’m about to recommend. Each book is less than $10, but contains invaluable information.)

My Formula: Teach, To-Do, & Tease

While I typically follow the aforementioned formulas because they know what they’re doing, I sometimes find them hard to follow. They require certain information to be presented, like success stories.

Success stories are important, and you need to have people find success with your product; however, there’s a chicken and egg situation here. You can’t really have success stories (besides your own) before your product exists, right?

While you can do a limited pre-launch to get feedback and success stories, doing so takes time and requires an audience.

If you’re short on time and/or lack an audience, what I’m about to explain may work very well for you!

I call it the “Teach, To-Do, & Tease” formula. In each video, you teach something, give the individual a simple task, and tease what’s to come.

I’ll explain this formula through an example.

Let’s pretend I’m selling an expensive course titled, “How to Become a World-Class Facebook Ads Guru”.

Across the Product Launch Funnel, I would teach a segment of the course.

Which segment? Either the “coolest” part or the beginning. Sometimes you can’t teach the “coolest” part because your course is progressive and you can’t do the “cool” stuff without having completed steps 1-5 first.

You also want to ensure the segment you teach provides a clear deliverable.

Think of it like a mini-course with a beginning, middle, and end.

Basically, whether or not they purchase the full course, I want them to receive at least one clear result from my training.

You never want to leave anyone feeling like they’ve been duped … like you’ve just dragged them along so you could sell them your product.

You want them to accomplish something, and if they want more – there’s a full course on the topic.

Back to the example, regarding Facebook Ads, I can’t start with the “cool” stuff because without having the proper groundwork in place, the “cool” stuff can’t happen.

The segment taught is the beginning and it’s titled, “How to build custom audiences that know, like, and trust you with Facebook’s advertising platform.”

In video 1, I’ll teach people how to install the Facebook tracking pixel on their website, tell them to go do it, and tease the conversion tracking training coming in video 2.

In video 2, I’ll teach them how to track conversions and create custom conversions which will help them create specific audiences … which is what is covered in video 3.

In video 3, I’ll teach them how to create custom audiences based on pages viewed, conversions made, and how to use this to create lookalike audiences of similar people that will know, like, and trust you!

Finally, in video 4, I’ll pitch the full course by explaining how what they just learned will help them tremendously moving forward; however, it’s only a small segment of becoming a World-Class Facebook Ads Guru!

See how it’s all a natural flow into selling the full product? It doesn’t require having testimonials and success stories because you’re helping them find success!

If you help someone solve a problem for free, they’re more likely to reciprocate when you’re trying to solve a bigger problem for money.

Conclusion

The Product Launch Funnel works great when selling high priced products, like digital courses, because it gives you the opportunity to “prove” yourself before asking for the sale.

You also want to follow a proven pattern for your videos because there is psychology and reasoning behind the content of each one.

Finally, you need to open and close the cart and make it a big deal by introducing some form of scarcity.

The Webinar Funnel

In the good ol’ days, people and businesses used to host seminars, but now they can get in front of more people faster and more easily via webinars.

These types of sales funnels have become wildly popular recently due to the fact they convert like gangbusters!

Here’s a common Webinar Sales Funnel:

Similar to the Product Launch Funnel, the Webinar Funnel is typically used for higher-priced products and services because you have people with you for 60+ minutes. This gives you enough time to convey your message fully, give the pitch, and answer questions.

While you can automate your webinar to make it evergreen, the live aspect gives these presentations their power.

When it’s live, everything comes across as fresh, new, and when you give your call-to-action, there’s an inherent sense of urgency. You’re ending the presentation at X time, and once it’s over, the deal is gone.

The general flow is this:

Someone shows interest in your webinar by opting-in via a webinar registration page. They’re then enrolled in your pre-webinar autoresponder series where you send a few videos and resources to prime and excite the individual for the upcoming webinar. Then, you host your webinar.

Ideally, the individual attends your webinar, sees your offer, purchases it, and ends the Micro Sales Funnel.

But, if they don’t attend your webinar, you can send a “replay autoresponder series” which consists of a few emails that present the individual the opportunity to watch a replay of the webinar.

Hopefully they watch the replay, see your offer, purchase it, and end the Micro Sales Funnel.

If they don’t watch the webinar or the replay, they won’t see the offer, so this particular Micro Sales Funnel is ended.

If the individual sees the offer, either during the live webinar or the replay, but doesn’t purchase it, you can follow up with an Action Series. The Action Series tries to sell them on it by answering more questions, handling objections, sharing more success stories, or even offering a discount in a last-ditch effort to make the sale.

Turning It Evergreen

While the great power of webinars comes from being live, you can still create the same live feel and automate the entire process.

By turning your webinar into an evergreen presentation, you’re able to give presentations 24/7/365!

There are a million different tools to help you do this; however, there are two elements a tool can’t provide that you must take into account before going the evergreen route.

First, the webinar you turn evergreen needs to be a recorded live webinar.

This means you can’t sit in your office, record yourself talking about some slides, editing the clip to cut out the “uhs”, and then launch your evergreen webinar.

Remember, the power of webinars comes from being live. People can tell in a heartbeat if something was scripted and performed alone or held live.

If someone attends your webinar and they’re presented with a scripted presentation, it will come across as unauthentic.

Don’t get me wrong, scripted, pre-recorded, and edited presentations are fine; however, call it a presentation or training – don’t call it a webinar.

A webinar has the connotation of being live and if you don’t fulfil that, people aren’t going to be as happy and excited.

Plus, there are benefits of performing live. You see what does and doesn’t work, what questions people have, etc. – it really helps to refine your presentation.

The strategy, then, is to hold a handful of live webinars, get some real time feedback, adjust your presentation, then record one and use it as your evergreen webinar.

The second element you need to provide is a way to contact you, the presenter. This can be something as simple as a chat box below the webinar.

As much as humanly possible, no matter if the webinar itself is pre-recorded, you want to be live in the chat room to field any questions.

Some people are ready to buy; however, they will have the simplest question stopping them from whipping out their credit card. If you’re able to answer their question immediately – you’ll get yourself a new customer!

Live chat may not always be possible, especially if you’re running webinars 24/7/365, so the second best option is to follow up via email; however, you lose the “in the moment” momentum, which may result in lost sales.

Either way, you need to make yourself present as much as possible, even if the webinar itself is recorded.

Other Webinar Blueprints

Just like with the “Classic” Sales Funnel, there are a bunch of ways to layout a Webinar Sales Funnel depending on your needs.

There are arguments for and against offering replays and follow up emails that pitch the offer.

Some webinars are live, four hour long events and only during those four hours can you purchase the offer.

While others are heavy on getting individuals to watch the replay and follow up intensely on the offer.

No one way works better than the other all the time, just figure out what works best for you!

Self-Liquidating Offer

This blueprint looks similar to the original with one exception, immediately after registering for the webinar, the individual is met with a Self-Liquidating Offer or SLO.

A SLO is similar to a Trip Wire, in fact, their names are often used interchangeably. It’s typically priced under $10 and is too good to refuse; however, a SLO doesn’t necessarily “trip” someone into the other offers.

Instead, its sole purpose is to recoup ad spend to acquire leads.

Offer Up!

This blueprint is similar to the SLO example above in that the subscriber is immediately greeted with an offer upon registering for the webinar; however, in this instance they’re met with the main offer.

There are a couple reasons you may want to try this:

In some instances, people will buy your offer right away without going through the entire webinar process. They get what they want faster and you don’t have to work as hard!

Another theory is that by seeing the offer first, they’re primed for when you make your official pitch. They say it takes 6-8 touches before you’ll make the sale, this is a simple way to add another touch.

No Pre-Webinar

In many instances, especially if your webinar is evergreen, you won’t have enough time to go through an entire pre-webinar series … and you don’t have to!

No Pre-Webinar, No Replay

If you don’t want to offer a replay, don’t!

The Webinar Presentation

Just like with the Product Launch Funnel, there’s an art and science behind the content you present in your webinar.

Before you launch your own webinar, make sure you attend a bunch of webinars – especially those in the same niche as you that you know are successful.

Since launching a webinar is a piece of cake, every small business on the planet has one. Unfortunately, not all are successful and you don’t want to emulate those.

Attend the successful ones. Take notes on how they open, present their content, and pitch their offer.

Understand how they engage with their audience and handle objections.

Pay attention and really study what they do. It’s going to help you tremendously.

Finally, I recommend grabbing Russel Brunson’s Perfect Webinar training from https://perfectwebinarsecrets.com/.

It costs less than $5 and contains about three hours of training. He outlines, step-by-step, how to structure your webinar presentation for maximum effectiveness.

Conclusion

The Webinar Sales Funnel is an effective way to sell higher end products and services. They give you enough time to go into detail on your offer plus the live aspect makes them really engaging.

Having the ability to answer questions and squash objections on the spot makes them incredibly powerful.

There’s also the opportunity to make them evergreen so they’re working for your 24/7/365. But, when you turn a webinar evergreen, make sure it’s a recorded live version and you make yourself available to answer questions.

Finally, before launching your own webinar, make sure you study other successful webinars to really get a good grasp on how to present yours.

The Call / Application Sales Funnel

While Product Launch and Webinar Funnels are great for selling many types of high-ticket products and services, sometimes you really need to talk to the individual before they feel comfortable making the purchase.

Other times, you need to feel comfortable selling them the product or service. You may want to qualify them before moving forward on a deal.

Naturally, these situations typically entail talking to the potential customer/client, which is why we have the Call / Application Sales Funnel:

The general flow is this:

An individual starts the funnel by clicking a “contact” or “application” link in an email or on your site. Or, they may opt-in to contact you (2-step, more on it later).

From there, the individual either schedules a call with you or fills out your application. Or they don’t.

Assuming they do, they receive the “Homework Or Pre-call Follow-up” autoresponder series.

  • Homework: Works as both a qualifier and as a chance to sell yourself more. The homework is typically something simple, like watching a few videos so they are prepared for the upcoming call.

If they do the homework, great! You know they’re highly interested. If not, then maybe they’re not the right customer for you.

  • Pre-call Follow-up: This follow-up series can be used similarly to the “Homework” setup outlined above in that you give some material to consume. It also serves to remind the individual they have an upcoming call with you.

People will forget they’ve scheduled a call with you. Fortunately, most scheduling tools have built-in functionality for sending reminder emails. You can set it up to send a call reminder 24 hours, 4 hours, and 20 minutes out.

Hopefully, the individual does the homework and/or you speak to them and they become a customer of yours. Now all you have to do is serve them!

If they don’t become a customer, they end this Micro Sales Funnel and either enter or resume the Main Series so you can begin gauging more interests.

Let’s go back to the beginning of this Micro Sales Funnel – “Did Individual Schedule Call Or Fill Out Application?”

A lot of people will land on your call scheduling and/or application forms without actually filling them out.

You don’t want to ignore these people because they’ve shown interest in your offer.

In this case, follow up via an Action Series with the CTA being to schedule the call or fill out the application.

Hopefully, they do what you want and will flow through the rest of the Micro Sales Funnel; however, if they don’t, they either enter or resume the Main Series.

The 2-Step Approach

While you’re able to easily track people’s actions and gauge their interests when they’re already on your list – you don’t want to miss out on people that aren’t on your list.

To capture these new people, I recommend the 2-Step Approach.

It works like this – before an individual even lands on your call scheduling or application form, they enter their email address.

For example:

An individual clicks on the “Schedule A Call” button in the top navigation menu:

Clicking that button pops up a lightbox opt-in form that requests their email address:

It makes perfect sense these steps would be required to schedule a call – ie. “Step 1: Enter Your Email Below” and “Continue To Step 2”.

Step 2 is simply the scheduling or application form:

Again, hopefully they go straight through the process; however, if they don’t – you collected their email address in “Step 1”, and are able to follow up with an Action Series that motivates them to finish the process.

Conclusion

The Call / Application Funnel is perfect for when you need to talk to someone or need them to fill out an application to prove they are a good fit.

If you offer personalized services, this funnel might be one to check out and implement!

Other Funnels

As I stated at the beginning of this section, every sales funnel “guru” has their own sales funnel model(s) they teach.

This is great! More people to learn from and more models to follow and implement.

Even greater, they all work with the Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept – they’re all [typically] Micro Sales Funnels.

You still incorporate your interest gauging Main Series and when an interest in a product or service is shown, instead of launching one of the Micro Sales Funnels outlined above, you simply launch that particular “guru’s” funnel.

After the individual has gone through that funnel, they hop back into the Main Series and continue their journey until they show interest in something else.

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept is very plug & play friendly. I want you to try other Micro Sales Funnels. If you come across one that sounds interesting, try it. If it doesn’t work, you can always cut that Micro Sales Funnel off and add in a new one for the same product or service.

Here are a few funnel “gurus” that you may find insightful:

  • Russell Brunson – Founder of ClickFunnels. Has written several books on sales funnels. Has dozens of Micro Sales Funnel models, plus talks about stacking (combining) them for maximum effectiveness. He has too many products and resources to list and all of them are great, just Google him.
  • Aaron Fletcher – Has the “Fletcher Method” and the “One Page Marketing Funnel”. The Fletcher Method is an ideology behind structuring your business and creating great offers. If you’re struggling with figuring out what to offer, I recommend checking out his method. His One Page Marketing Funnel is essentially a Product Launch Funnel; however, he incorporates retargeting, phone calls, and even snail mail which make it more effective. Learn more at http://fletchermethod.com/
  • Ryan Deiss – Owns more companies than I can count and all are powered by very solid sales funnels. Like Russell Brunson, he has a lot of stuff to offer and is worth a Google search; however, what’s likely most interesting to you is his Follow Up Machine. It’s a similar concept to the Interest Driven Sales Funnel I teach in that it incorporates your entire business, gauges interest, etc., but he, of course, has his own spin on it. Learn more at http://followupmachine.com/backdoor
  • Todd Brown – Another sales funnel “guru” worth checking out. He has a bunch of different Micro Sales Funnel models that he teaches, all with his unique spin. Learn more about Todd and his funnels at http://marketingfunnelautomation.com/
  • Traffic and Funnels – A heavy focus on developing client acquisition systems, similar to the “Call / Application Funnel” I outlined above. If you offer higher end products or services that require conversation, you may find their training to be incredibly helpful. Learn more at http://trafficandfunnels.com/

Those are just some of the people I follow with regard to sales funnels. Of course, there are many others out there and if you find someone that really resonates with you, follow them!

Combining Funnels

As if the possibilities for Micro Sales Funnels weren’t already endless, in this final section, we’ll briefly discuss combining them to make them even more effective!

In general, the “Classic” Sales Funnel is the perfect addition to most Product Launch and Webinar Funnels because it makes perfect sense to combine the two:

Product Launch => The “Classic”

Webinar => The “Classic”

Makes sense, right? You’re already making an offer and if they buy it, you simply offer more.

The “Classic” => Call / Application Funnel

The Call / Application Funnel also fits nicely on the backend of most other funnels, especially when you’re trying to get someone on the phone and/or to qualify themselves for your higher end products and services.

At the end of the day, combine funnels in ways that makes sense for what you offer. Never lose sight of your customer, their needs, and the natural path they should take through your Micro Sales Funnels.

Detailed Micro Sales Funnel Strategies

I have a few complementary articles that go into great detail concerning several Micro Sales Funnel models and I wanted to share them with you here:

Ready For The Next Steps?

That was a lot of great info – wasn't it?!

You'll probably want to read through that section again; however, if you're ready to move on to the next steps…

Click here to go to WTF #4 where you'll learn about creating all the content that goes into sales funnels!

WTF #3: Micro Sales Funnels That Make You Rich!2017-07-26T12:12:39+00:00

WTF #2: The “Main Series” Segmentation Strategy

The Main Series is the backbone of your Interest Driven Sales Funnel.

(please read WTF #1 if you haven't already)

It’s responsible for building and maintaining the relationship with your audience while simultaneously gauging interest.

Again, the engagements in the Main Series don’t necessarily mean emails. Engagements are any form of communication with your audience. (retargeting ads, text messages, direct mail, phone calls, Facebook messages, etc.)

Please read that again. Engagements in the Main Series don't necessarily mean emails.

You’re simply sending content to see if anyone requests more information.

If someone requests more information (shows interest), they’ll enter into a designated Micro Sales Funnel that sells a related product or service, plus the corresponding up-sells, down-sells, and cross-sells.

Pauses, Skips, and Stops

While the Main Series diagram above follows a linear path, it may not be exactly one engagement after the other.

For example, if an individual is going through the Main Series and shows interest in a particular product, we may decide to pause the Main Series while they’re actively engaged in a Micro Sales Funnel.

In another example, if the individual enters a Micro Sales Funnel and purchases the product or service you’re trying to sell, it may make sense to skip down a few engagements to where you’re talking about a different product, service, or topic.

Remember, the ultimate goal of the Main Series is to gauge interest. If interest is shown in a particular product, service, or topic – we don’t need to get them to show interest in it again and again … they’ve already requested more information.

As such, we can pause, skip, and even stop the Main Series, if the audience member has done what we’ve wanted them to do.

How Many Main Series?

You may be wondering how many Main Series you need for your business.

99% of the time, for a small business, you only need one Main Series.

The only reason you’d ever want more than one Main Series is if you offer products and services to wildly different audiences and you have enough offerings to support multiple Main Series.

For example, let’s say you own a sports nutrition company that sells supplements and other related goods.

You have two wildly different audiences: bodybuilders and people trying to lose weight.

In this instance, you may want two Main Series because a bodybuilder won’t be interested in some crazy diet pill or need motivation to go to the gym. The overweight person won’t be interested in the newest bodybuilding supplements or routines.

In this case, by having two Main Series, you won’t waste time trying to gauge interest for something they’ll never be interested in.

Which Main Series?

Now, if you have more than one Main Series, you may be wondering when, and how, you should assign the individual to a particular one.

You should assign them at the very beginning by asking them.

For example, you can offer a 10% off coupon, have a question that asks, “What’s your goal: Build Muscle or Lose Weight?”, collect their contact information, and add them to the appropriate Main Series.

Another example, I’ve seen people buy lists of individuals who have previously purchased a diet pill. In this case, it would be fairly safe to assume they’re interested in weight loss and can be added to the weight loss Main Series.

Or, You Can Do This …

Creating, developing, and maintaining multiple Main Series is a lot of work.

Unless you have a large enough audience with enough different offerings, it’s unlikely viable to have more than one.

Instead, address both audiences in the same email.

For example, you can send an email with the first half talking about bodybuilder stuff and the second half talking about weight loss stuff.

Be sure to make the sections obvious so the subscriber can easily tell what pertains to them.

Now, you’re killing two birds with one stone!

What About Other Segmentation?

As you probably know, there are a million ways you can dissect your audience based on demographic information, occupation, interests, location, etc.

Continuing with the sports nutrition company example, males and females will likely have very different requirements, as will young vs old.

As such, it can be very beneficial to know this type of information; however, it’s not needed for the Main Series.

The Main Series is intended to be general enough to simply gauge interest in a product, service, or topic.

You don’t really need to connect on a deeper level at this point.

However, during a Micro Sales Funnel, knowing gender and age may be very beneficial. You can give examples of someone similar to your audience member finding success with a specific product or service.

Main Series Patterns

While you can theoretically “wing” the content and structure of your Main Series because each email (engagement) can stand on its own, it’s probably not the best strategy.

It’s generally best to follow a pattern or plan for a few reasons:

  • It’s more logical for your subscribers and they’ll know what to expect
  • It gives your subscribers more chances to show interest in a particular product, service, or topic. Not everyone will act on the first email (engagement) you send and by presenting your message several times, in several different ways, you give your subscribers more opportunities to act
  • It’s easier for you to create content because you know what the content of your next email (engagement) should be

In this section I’ll give you several patterns to help you structure your Main Series.

Just remember, the main goal of the Main Series is to gauge interest! This way you are able to send more relevant information to your subscribers and sell more via your Micro Sales Funnels.

The 3 Es

Don’t be mad, I know I just made a few points on why you should follow a pattern, but this first “pattern” isn’t really a pattern at all.

Instead, it’s more a way to think about the emails you send.

Each email you send should have one of these Es as its primary goal:

  • Entertain: These emails (engagements) are meant to entertain. Videos, pictures, stories, etc. provide great entertainment.
  • Educate: Helpful emails that solve problems, answer questions, and provide guidance. How-to tutorials, white papers, case studies, etc. provide great educational material.
  • Earn: These emails drive sales by bringing customers back to your business. Coupons, discounts, bonuses, etc. provide extra incentive to shop.

While each of these emails should have one clear goal or objective (Entertain, Educate, Earn), they don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

For example, if you send a how-to video, it should definitely be educational, but why not make it entertaining and offer a CTA to buy something at the end?

When To Use

You may want to use the 3 E emails if you offer TONS of products and services in an incredibly wide variety of categories.

Basically, you should follow this “pattern” when you offer so much “stuff” for a wide variety of interests and you have no idea what the subscriber may be interested in.

For example, if you run a massive ecommerce store (250+ products with 10+ unique product categories) and you have 10 top selling products you really want a new subscriber to see, you may not want to spend a full week promoting each one. It would take 10 weeks for them to see everything you offer.

Instead, you send a daily, 3 E email for 10 consecutive days. This way, the new subscriber will see what you offer much sooner and hopefully show interest in a product or two which will launch them into a Micro Sales Funnel.

How To Use

These emails are very versatile and can stand on their own (the subscriber doesn’t need to read the previous email or blog post to understand the email). Each email is its own entity.

If you’re sending this type of email, you want to send an email 3-7 times a week.

The frequency depends on a few factors. The first one being the longevity of the subscriber. For example, a newer subscriber may need more emails initially, especially if you’re trying to introduce them to your top 10 selling products.

You also want to take into account how long a typical subscriber stays on your list.

Is the average subscriber on your list for years? Months? Weeks?

How long do you want the average subscriber to be on your list?

Are you trying to “churn and burn” them where you’re sending an “Earn” email every day for weeks until they unsubscribe? In this case, you can send an email every day for those few weeks.

Or, are you trying to build and maintain a relationship for years to come? In this case, start the first week off with daily emails, but then ease back to maybe 3-4 emails a week. You also want a healthy mix of the 3 Es so you’re not just hitting them up for money every day.

The frequency of emails also depends on how you’ve set expectations. If, when they registered, you said you’d be sending daily emails, then they should receive daily emails. If you said you’d send emails a few times a week, do that.

Closing

Again, these 3 E emails aren’t so much a pattern as they are a way to think about what you’re sending.

Remember, while each email should have a main objective (entertain, educate, earn), it doesn’t mean one email can’t do all three!

Weekly “Pushes”

I call this pattern “Weekly Pushes” because every week you’re trying to sell (push) a different product or service to your list.

Instead of making random offers and sending random emails depending on your mood, you spend an entire week on the same topic.

This gives people more opportunity to see what you’re offering and act, while not being overbearing and “burning” them out.

The Weekly “Pushes” Framework

The goal of this framework is to get the person on the sales page. If the individual views the sales page, we know they’re interested in what we have to offer.

Step 1: Pick a widget to sell.

Step 2: Follow the pattern below for that single widget.

  • Pattern: 3 and 2 (M, T, W, F, S)

Send 4 to 5 emails on the same topic, for the same widget, during each “push”. In general, it’s good to break up these emails to give people a little time to react, rather than bombarding them every day. For this reason, I recommend sending 3 daily emails, take a day off, send 2 more daily emails, take a day off, and then repeat with a new “push”.

  • Email 1: Fun/personal story
    • Relate to widget
    • PS goes to sales page

People connect with stories. People enjoy stories. We want people to both connect with us and enjoy hearing from us, which is why we must share a story! Now, it doesn’t necessarily have to be a personal story; you can share a success story from a client or customer or even a well known individual, like a celebrity, just shared in a different light.

At the end of the story, close out (soft sell) with a simple PS line that takes them to the sales page where they can learn more, if they wish.

  • Email 2: Promotion of widget
    • Use a marketing formula: Problem-Agitate-Solve, Feature-Benefits-Advantages, Before-After-Bridge
    • CTA goes directly to the sales page – “Click Here To Buy”

While stories are great and help us connect, sometimes a good old fashioned sales letter converts best … especially when they have the story from the previous email rolling around in their head! In this 2nd email, pitch your widget. You can use a marketing formula to help structure your message or do whatever you think is best.

The call-to-action should be straight forward and to the point with no mystery behind it, “If you’re interested in this widget, click here”. (How much more “interest gauging” can you get?! If the person clicks that link, we know they’re interested in our offer and they’ll enter one of our Micro Sales Funnels.)

  • Emails 3-4: Content on topic of widget
    • Link to a blog post that’s entertaining and/or educational
    • Include CTAs in both the PS line of the email and within the article itself which link to your widget’s sales page

After sharing a story and a “hard” pitch, it’s time to ease back a little bit and just share some more information with them. Send links to articles, videos, and other resources they’ll find helpful, interesting, and entertaining on the same topic as the widget you’re trying to sell.

Include links to your widget’s sales page in your email PS line and throughout the particular article so they can easily navigate to the sales page, if they’re interested in learning more.

  • Email 5: Content OR Promotion (discount)

Email 5 is optional. If the individual hasn’t visited your sales page after 4 emails on the same topic for the same widget … they may simply not be interested in that offer. So, use some discretion here. If you feel like this 5th email is “too much”, don’t use it.

If you do use Email 5, you can send another piece of content like emails 3 & 4 OR you can make a last-ditch effort to sell your widget by sending another “hard” sales email and/or by offering a bonus or discount.

That completes the Weekly “Pushes” framework! Rinse and repeat with a new product the following week!

Story-Based Series

Story-Based Series are similar to the Weekly “Pushes” in that you’re sending more than one email on the same product/service/topic. However, they’re different in that all of the emails you send are “connected”.

What do I mean by “connected”?

Think about a TV series like Game of Thrones, Orange is the New Black, The Walking Dead, The Sopranos, Breaking Bad … hopefully you’ve watched a TV series before.

The point is, what do all of these series have in common?

You need to watch all the episodes, in order, to truly enjoy it … but, once you’re “in”, you’re in and likely end up binge watching the whole series!

How do they suck you in and keep you watching?

Cliffhangers.

Or, as us marketers call them, opening and closing loops.

As you’re watching a TV series, they introduce five different story lines in one episode, but they don’t finish any of them in that episode. Instead, they make you wait until the next episode to see what happens; then, they close two of the previously established story lines … and start four more!

It’s never ending. As soon as one story line ends, two more start – keeping you hooked.

The idea of opening and closing loops is the core concept behind a Story-Based Series.

How To Use It

As I previously stated, send several emails on the same product/service/topic – anywhere from 2 to 10, depending on what you have to share.

As people get sucked into your story and start clicking on links and visiting pages, their actions trigger different Micro Sales Funnels.

Here are a few simple phrases that can be used to open loops:

  • More on that later
  • You’ll find out tomorrow
  • In the next email you’ll receive X, so be on the lookout for it!

Finally, my last remaining tip is to write all these emails at once. Pick your story, map it out, where are you going to take people, what do you want them to click, how are you going to carry the story across several days. Then, write all 2-10 emails in one go.

These emails can be a rough draft at first, you simply want to make sure you’re opening and closing loops in a way that sucks people in.

If you break up when you write your emails, you’ll forget which loops you opened and closed and it won’t work.

Autoresponder Madness

A fellow by the name of Andre Chaperon is the grandfather of Story-Based Series (he calls them Soap Opera Sequences).

He put together a course called Autoresponder Madness that teaches how to write these Story-Based Series.

It’s a solid course and I highly recommend it, if this concept sounds interesting to you!

The course sales page: http://autorespondermadness.com

“Long” Course

The “Long” Course is the pattern I’ve been using with Crazy Eye Marketing for about a year.

Think of it as if you’re teaching your subscriber something long and complex. Consider every email (engagement) you send a lesson.

In my case, I teach the sales funnel concept by taking people through the sections they need to focus on, based on their order of importance and significance.

Of course, along the way, I dribble in different products and services I offer that make sales funnel development easier for my subscribers.

When To Use It

The “Long” Course model won’t fit every type of business; however, it works very well for businesses that offer courses/training/coaching and other services. You teach through this series and it makes a natural transition into selling a course, training, or coaching.

You also want to be able to provide a “linear” path for success – there’s a Point A and a Point B with clear steps to successfully get from Point A to Point B.

Back to my sales funnel “Long” Course example, the path for all sales funnels is the same: customers, business, delivery, the “meat”, emails, traffic, etc.

It’s a logical path to get from Point A to Point B.

Another example, weight loss: mindset ==> diets (simple to complex) ==> exercising (walk, run, first 5k) ==> supplements, etc.

This is another linear path from Point A to Point B. Of course, many people who are trying to lose weight jump straight to supplements and diet pills; however, the right way is to follow the “Long” course described above.

Example

I think the best way to describe the “Long” Course pattern is by providing an example. Picture it like this:

  • “Long” Course Name: You should give it a name!
  • Steps: How to get from Point A to Point B
  • Lessons (emails/engagements): The particular blog posts, videos, podcasts, etc. you will send to your subscribers to teach them something about the particular step they’re on
  • Products/Services: The corresponding products/service you offer as they relate to each step and/or lesson

As you can see, the “Long” Course is simply your content (blog posts, videos, white papers, reports, etc.) presented in an order that takes an individual from Point A to Point B.

Again, if you offer courses, training, coaching, or services – this pattern can be very effective!

Combining Patterns

I briefly want to address the fact the aforementioned Main Series patterns can certainly be combined.

For example, the majority of my Main Series for Crazy Eye Marketing is a long course. It works very well for what I offer and the market I serve. However, there are segments of it that are more 3 E styled and other segments that are Weekly “Pushes”.

Remember, the point of the Main Series is to gauge interest while building and maintaining a relationship.

You know your audience better than anyone else, if you think one pattern will work for one product and another pattern for another – mix it up! Or, better yet, split test to see which pattern performs better!

Continue Onward!

Click here to continue to WTF #3: Micro Sales Funnels That Make You Rich!

WTF #2: The “Main Series” Segmentation Strategy2017-07-13T21:07:06+00:00

WTF Is A Sales Funnel & The Interest Driven Strategy

A sales funnel is the visual representation of how businesses acquire leads, convert them into customers, and increase customer lifetime value.

As you’re well aware, these three areas are complex.

There are a million ways to acquire leads.

A million ways to convert leads into customers.

And a million ways to increase customer lifetime value.

Thus, a sales funnel is an incredibly complex system.

This blog series is my best attempt to provide you with a strategic framework to reference when building your sales funnels.

How I “See” A Sales Funnel

The phrase “sales funnel” gets thrown around a lot.

Everyone calls everything a sales funnel.

There’s a funnel for this and a funnel for that.

There are pre-built funnels and tools to help you build funnels in less than 10 minutes.

This is all fine and dandy.

I find myself calling everything a funnel as well because every time you’re doing these three things …

  • Capturing leads
  • Converting leads into customers
  • Increasing customer lifetime value

… you’re essentially making a sales funnel.

However, on a macro level …

I see a sales funnel AS your business.

It’s not some random “thing” you have sitting over there in the corner.

It’s not something you just kinda “do” when you feel like it.

It’s not just sending emails.

It’s not just editing the order flow.

It encompasses all your products and services and how they’re connected so you can increase customer lifetime value via up-sells, down-sells, and cross-sells.

It encompasses all your ads, pages, emails, direct mailings, text messages, videos, content, etc.

It’s a lot.

I don’t say all this to scare you or make you feel overwhelmed (that would be bad if I scared you away in the first couple sentences!).

I say this to give you a frame of reference.

I want you to “see” the sales funnel from a 30,000-foot view.

I want you to think bigger than simply setting up a “book funnel” that sells your book, a course, and coaching.

Or a webinar funnel that sells your high-end coaching service with a down-sell of a self-guided course.

Think bigger.

Think about everything you offer.

Think about what you can offer to fill any gaps.

Think about how it’s all connected.

What’s a good up-sell? Down-sell? Cross-sell?

How do you, and can you, deliver more value to your audience?

Speaking of your audience, think about them … all of them … they’re all different.

They all have different motivators, personalities, hobbies, and interests.

Now, how are you going to connect everything you offer to the specific interests and requirements of your audience?

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel.

Macro vs. Micro Sales Funnels

Before I get into the Interest Driven Sales Funnel strategy, I want to explain something real quick…

There are two levels of sales funnels:

  1. Macro Sales Funnels
  2. Micro Sales Funnels

Let's start with the Macro level…

Sales Funnel Diagram

^^ This is a Macro level sales funnel ^^

It essentially represents your whole business…

You've gotta attract leads and prospects…

You've gotta build some sort of relationship with them to convert them into paying customers…

Then, you have to maintain that relationship in order to increase customer lifetime value.

Macro sales funnels are held together with marketing automation and retargeting. (the glue)

Inside the Macro sales funnel are Micro sales funnels.

Micro sales funnels are specifically designed to sell your stuff.

Micro sales funnels can look very different depending on what you're trying to sell and we'll get into them throughout this blog series.

So, just keep this in the back of your mind…

There are two levels of sales funnels…

  1. A Macro sales funnel IS your business and…
  2. Micro sales funnels SELL your stuff!

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel is a Macro level sales funnel concept – ie. It IS your business.

General Concept

You’re going to engage your audience many times, from many angles, with many offers; this is the general concept of the Interest Driven Sales Funnel.

This is represented on the left hand side of the diagram by the Straight Line Sales Funnel or “Main Series”.

Whenever one of our engagements resonates with an audience member (an interest is shown), we move them into one of our Micro Sales Funnels or Product/Service Sales Funnels.

The Micro Sales Funnels are what you likely think of when you hear the phrase “sales funnel”.

The Micro Sales Funnels are the up-sell funnels, book funnels, webinar funnels, product launch funnels, etc. you always hear about.

The goal of the Micro Sales Funnel is to sell a product or service the individual has shown interest in.

We’ll delve into much greater detail of these funnels later in this blog series, but first I want to give you a few examples.

Huge Benefits

The first benefit of the Interest Driven Sales Funnel is that it allows your audience to self-segment.

You don’t have to place individuals into different segments you “think” are right. Instead, you know what segments people need to be in because they put themselves in the appropriate segment(s) based on their actions.

Picture it “adapting” to each individual subscriber. It automatically figures out what they like and proceeds to only show them what they want to see.

The second massive benefit of the Interest Driven Sales Funnel is that it’s modular (plug & play).

This means each Micro Sales Funnel can be plugged in wherever, whenever.

For example, let’s say you’re launching a new product and you want to build out a Product Launch Micro Sales Funnel. You simply build that funnel, run your audience through it, and end it by returning them to the Main Series where more interests can be identified and more products sold.

This also means it will grow with your business. As you add new products and services to your line with their corresponding Micro Sales Funnels, they plug right into your existing Interest Driven Sales Funnel.

It will grow and expand as you grow and expand.

Ultimately, this makes it incredibly flexible and doesn’t bind you in any way.

Timeless Engagement

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept is timeless. Meaning, it’s not dependent upon a certain piece of technology working a certain way.

I’m doing my best to make the majority of this blog series timeless so whether you're reading it in 2016, when it’s written, or 2026, you’ll still glean a tremendous amount of value.

Having said that, in most of the later examples, I’ll primarily reference email marketing and automation.

While email marketing is far from dying, it will someday.

The good news is, there will always be a way to reach out and engage your audience:

  • Email
  • Direct Mail
  • Text
  • Phone
  • Ads & Retargeting
  • Visits
  • Commercials
  • Facebook Messenger
  • Whatever method the future holds!

The strategy and concepts you’re learning in this guidebook will ring true far into the future.

Entering The Interest Driven Sales Funnel (The Start)

There are many ways an individual can enter an Interest Driven Sales Funnel and a lot is dependent upon how you’re engaging your audience.

For example, if you’re primarily engaging through email, the person can subscribe to your email list in exchange for a Lead Magnet or after they make a purchase.

Depending on the type of Lead Magnet and/or the product or service they purchased, you may want the individual to go straight into a Micro Sales Funnel where you’ll try and sell more.

In other instances, you may want to subscribe the individual directly to the Main Series. For example, if they sign up for a Lead Magnet called, “How To Start A Blog” – you know they’re interested in blogging; however, it’s a very complex topic.

Maybe they’re only struggling with the technical aspects, or maybe they’re not sure how to write content, or they’re trying to monetize their blog.

In this instance, use the Main Series to figure out where they’re struggling and when they show interest in a particular topic, move them into a Micro Sales Funnel that sells a product or service specific to that issue.

If you’re primarily engaging your audience through Facebook Ads, you may run six different ads on six different topics to the same audience. People in your audience will click on the ads that interest them and will then be moved into a Micro Sales Funnel.

Examples

To illustrate the Interest Driven Sales Funnel, here are a couple timeless examples.

Old Folks

Let’s pretend we sell products that improve the quality of life for old folks.

I’m talking about 75+ years old, living in assisted living communities, where anything that makes their life a tad easier is greatly appreciated.

We can’t really email, text, or run ads to these folks because this demographic doesn’t typically use computers or cell phones.

So, we’ll settle with direct mail and phone calls.

We acquire a list of 10,000 old folks’ addresses and begin our “Main Series” (the left hand, interest gauging side of the diagram above) by sending a postcard about our $100 chair riser (Engagement 1) with the call-to-action (CTA) to give us a call if they want one.

If someone calls, great! They enter into the Micro Sales Funnel that presents several cross-sells.

Our sales rep takes the order for the chair riser, then recommends a $20 E-Z Reacher, a $30 chair attachment to help them stand, and a $150 heated massage pad to ease pain.

After these offers, the customer jumps down to Engagement 4 where we offer our next product.

If the individual doesn’t call from Engagement 1, we send a letter with a customer’s success story (Engagement 2). It talks about their life before and after the chair riser: how much easier it is to get out of their chair and how their knees feel much better.

The CTA of the letter will again be to give us a call. Of course, our sales rep will take the order and offer the cross-sells of our Micro Sales Funnel.

If the individual doesn’t call from Engagement 2, we send a postcard to receive free chair riser blocks (Engagement 3). These free chair riser blocks are nowhere near as good as our $100 chair riser; however, they pique interest and get the individual on the phone, where we can up-sell our nice riser plus all the cross-sells.

If all three engagements for our chair riser fall short, it’s no problem. Maybe that person doesn’t have trouble getting out of their chair.

They’re not interested.

Engagement 4 will recommend another product that solves a completely different problem and so on.

Makes sense, right?

Do you see how it’s all pre-planned and thought out?

We send 3 pieces of direct mail about one product that solves a particular problem. If the person calls (shows interest), our sales rep takes them through a pre-established cross-sell series of complementary products we know sell well.

Whether they buy our product or not, they move down to our next offer that solves an entirely different problem, and has its own Micro Sales Funnel with up-sells, down-sells, and cross-sells.

McDonalds

McDonalds does a lot of advertising (engaging); however, for this example, I’m only talking about TV ads.

Let’s say, for their Main Series, every three months they launch a TV commercial featuring a new product.

The first new product they launch is an ice cream sundae. You don’t really like ice cream, so you ignore it. (no interest)

The next product they launch is the McRib!

“Woo!” You say to yourself, “I’m going to McDonalds!” (interest shown)

You show up at the register, ask for a McRib when they hit you with, “Would you like fries with that?”

Of course you do and a drink to wash it down.

You might as well get the large size, you don’t want to be hungry in a few hours.

And, even though you don’t really like ice cream, they do have that new sundae; since you’re already there, you might as well add it to your order.

Finally, you donate your change to charity.

Before you realize it, instead of spending $4 on a sandwich, you’ve spent $20 on a meal.

You go back home, feeling nauseous because you shouldn’t eat that much McDonalds ever, and wait until another engagement resonates with you.

Closing

Do you now understand why I see a sales funnel AS your business?

You have different products and services that solve different problems.

You have an audience that consists of many different people with many different interests and many different problems.

The goal, then, is to sync your offerings with your audience in the most efficient and effective way humanly possible.

The best way I know how to do this is with the timeless, but true, Interest Driven Sales Funnel.

Continue to WTF #2!

Click here to continue to WTF #2: The “Main Series” Segmentation Strategy!

WTF Is A Sales Funnel & The Interest Driven Strategy2017-07-05T13:22:35+00:00

(part 6) How To Use Micro Sales Funnels To Convert More Leads Into Customers While Increasing CLV

This post is the sixth in a series of posts entitled, “Digital Marketing Strategy For Startups, Small Businesses, and Entrepreneurs“.

This series of posts started with you understanding the fact you're to act as a direct response marketer. (read the Intro here)

Since you're a small business, you need to make sure every bit of marketing you do has a specific & measurable goal.

You have neither the time nor the money to waste on stuff that doesn't work.

Ya gotta make it count!

One of the best ways to make your marketing count is by having a strategy and system to sell your stuff.

We call these systems Micro Sales Funnels.

Use Micro Sales Funnels To Sell EVERYTHING!

Micro Sales Funnels are sometimes called Product/Service Sales Funnels because they're strategically designed to help you sell specific product(s) and/or service(s).

Micro Sales Funnels are used to sell both physical and digital products, services, coaching, consulting, SaaS, and even to drive foot traffic to brick & mortar businesses.

Micro Sales Funnels can, and should, be used to sell everything.

So, what do these magical, all powerful, systems look like?

It depends on what you're trying to sell, but here are a few different Micros Sales Funnel blueprints!

The Opt-in Funnel

The Opt-in Funnel is the simplest Micro Sales Funnel; however, it's perfect for growing your email list and is typically the start of most other Micro Sales Funnel models.

You've seen a few examples of this funnel model in part 2 where we discussed using Squeeze Pages to convert paid traffic into email subscribers.

The Classic Sales Funnel (POS Funnel)

The Classic Sales Funnel is a Point Of Sale (POS) funnel because its purpose is to increase Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) at the POS by offering additional products/services as the customer goes through the checkout process.

This is accomplished through the implementation of various tactics like Order Bumps and 1-Click Up-sells or One-Time-Offers (OTO) & Down-sells. (yup, we talked about these in part 5)

The structure of the Classic Sales Funnel can vary based upon what you're offering via up-sells (OTOs) and down-sells … there's no “defined” structure; however, below are a few common Classic Sales Funnels.

The Physical Products Sales Funnel

This Classic Sales Funnel model is ideal for small businesses and entrepreneurs that sell physical products.

For a full breakdown of this funnel and the strategy behind it, please click here.

The Digital Products Sales Funnel

This Classic Sales Funnel model is ideal for small businesses and entrepreneurs that sell offer digital/info products.

For a full breakdown of this funnel and the strategy behind it, please click here.

The “Book” Sales Funnel

This Classic Sales Funnel model is ideal for service based businesses, coaches, and consultants that have a book to offer as their front-end and services, coaching, and/or consulting to offer on the back-end.

For a full breakdown of this funnel and the strategy behind it, please click here.

The High-End “Call/Application” Sales Funnel

This simple, yet effective sales funnel is ideal for getting people on the phone and/or to fill out an application for high-end services, coaching, consulting, and mastermind groups.

The power of this funnel comes from offering visitors two ways to get in touch with you – they can call now or schedule a call for later.

If they choose to schedule a call for later, but don't go through with it, reminder emails are triggered to bring them back. (You'll be amazed by how well this simple series works!)

The High-End Sales Funnel

The Product Launch Sales Funnel

The Product Launch Sales Funnel is designed to sell high value courses and training packages.

It combines emails with video content “dripped” out over a few days that pre-sell the course you're going to offer and culminates with the “launching” of your product.

The Autowebinar Sales Funnel

Webinars are virtual seminars where you're able to sell high priced products and services.

They're great because you're able to have people's attention for about 90 minutes which gives you ample time to gain their trust and present your offer.

An autowebinar, frequently called an “evergreen webinar”, is a webinar that runs automatically 24 hours a day, constantly selling for you.

The Autowebinar Sales Funnel

Other Micro Sales Funnels

The Micro Sales Funnel blueprints shared above are a small sample of the various Micro Sales Funnels you can create … you're by no means limited by what's above. They're presented here to give you ideas and inspiration about directions you can head.

Also, if you don't quite understand what the heck you're looking at, it's perfectly OK right now.

The key thing I want you to remember is that the sole purpose of a Micro Sales Funnel is to help you sell specific product(s) and/or service(s).

Ways To Enter A Micro Sales Funnel

Hopefully you've read the previous parts of this series and you already know how to get people into your Micro Sales Funnels; however, if not – here's a recap!

Organic Traffic

Individuals can enter your Micro Sales Funnels by opt-ing in through an opt-in form on your site. (part 2)

This is accomplished by offering a Lead Magnet on topic X, which leads them into a Micro Sales Funnel that tries to sell a product/service people interested in topic X would want to buy.

Paid Traffic

If you're paying for traffic, you better have a Micro Sales Funnel in place! (part 2)

If you don't have a way to quickly recoup your ad spend, you're going to hurt your business.

After all, you're a direct response marketer … right?

Everything you do needs to have specific and measurable purpose.

The point of your marketing is to make you more money.

Marketing Automation

In part 3 we discussed using marketing automation to gauge our subscribers' interests.

I showed you this diagram:

To recap, the left hand side is a Straight Line Sales Funnel or “Main Series”.

Its purpose is to build and maintain a relationship with your subscribers by sending great content while simultaneously segmenting them based on their interests.

When a subscriber shows interest in a particular topic (ie. they click a link), they're automatically entered into a Micro Sales Funnel that attempts to sell a product or service they will likely buy.

Retargeting

Retargeting is another great way to get individuals into your Micro Sales Funnels. (part 4)

You can also use retargeting to “guide” individuals through your Micro Sales Funnels because not everyone is going to read every email you send them. However, if you send an email AND retarget them with relevant ads … they won't be able to avoid your message!

Summary

You NEED to use Micro Sales Funnels.

There is no better way to convert leads into paying customers while simultaneously increasing their Customer Lifetime Value.

There are many Micro Sales Funnel blueprints to choose from; however, the design you choose will depend on what you're trying to sell … not all Micro Sales Funnels are designed to sell the same stuff.

Some are better at selling more expensive training, courses, and services while others are excellent at selling low priced (<$100) products.

Finally, getting people to enter your Micro Sales Funnels is as simple as sending traffic to it!

Where To Go From Here

If the marketing strategy described in this series of blog posts sounds logical and interesting to you …

It's the same exact strategy taught in The Sales Funnel Training Vault … it's just, in there, we go into a lot more detail and cover all the technical steps as well.

Click here to learn more about The Sales Funnel Training Vault!

(part 6) How To Use Micro Sales Funnels To Convert More Leads Into Customers While Increasing CLV2017-02-03T12:10:50+00:00

(part 5) How To Optimize Your Point Of Sale To Instantly Increase Revenue

This post is the fifth in a series of posts entitled, “Digital Marketing Strategy For Startups, Small Businesses, and Entrepreneurs“.

You're at the grocery store, about to checkout, when a Snickers bar catches your eye …

You throw it on the belt without giving it a second thought.

Then you think, “Hmm, I need something to wash it down!”, so you place a Red Bull on the belt as well.

The grocery store just increased your Customer Lifetime Value (CLV).

Most physical stores are very, very good at positioning tantalizing products at the Point Of Sale (POS).

Products that get us to spend just a few more dollars with the business and increase our CLV.

So, physical stores are very good at this, but what happens when you're selling products and services online and you don't have your typical checkout with a register, clerk, and tantalizing products surrounding it?

You need to use some basic strategy and thoughtfulness + the right tools and you can increase CLV at the POS with ease!

This isn't just for Ecommerce!

Before moving on, I want to point out that this isn't just for Ecommerce!

All businesses, to include physical & digital products, services, coaches, consultants, and SaaS, should focus on optimizing their POS.

Consider things like warranties, additional support, bundling packages and offerings, or even partnering with other businesses for referrals and commissions.

There's no better time to increase CLV than when a customer already has his credit card out and is actively buying! 

POS Optimization Strategies

Before getting into the strategies, I recommend reading the article on Value Ladders because it will help you structure your offerings in ways to make POS optimization a breeze!

1) Pricing Tiers, Packages, & Bundles

Pricing tiers, packages, and bundles are great ways to increase a customers' order size.

By using a bit of pricing psychology, you're able to present offers in a way that appear “too good to be true” while simultaneously increasing the amount of money a customer is about to hand you.

Take a look at this example from a2Hosting:

Pricing Tiers Example

The “Swift” package is a no-brainer … for less than a $1/mo more you get unlimited everything.

Why would anyone turn that down? No one would.

How about the “Turbo” package? It's nearly twice as much as the “Swift” package; however, it offers 20X faster speeds and the A2 Site Accelerator!

We all know speed is important and it's still less than $10/mo … so, I might as well swing it, right?

Here's an example of a bundle of physical products:

Bundle Picture

If you're doing laundry, you typically need detergent, dryer sheets, and maybe a little fabric softener every now and then!

Plus, if you purchased these items individually, it would cost roughly 30% more which makes the bundle a no-brainer!

2) 1-Click Up-Sells

A 1-click up-sell is an offer presented immediately AFTER the customer has purchased something.

This makes the 1-click up-sell incredibly powerful because the individual has already inserted their payment information and all it takes is “1 click” to add another product/service to their order.

1-click up-sells are a key ingredient in the Classic Sales Funnel models discussed in part 6!

Here's an example:

1-Click Up-Sell Example

This is the page and offer an individual is presented with immediately after purchasing a survival folding knife.

The individual is already in the mindset of “I need survival gear” and has already purchased one item, so when they're presented with another item that's discounted no-less, it's a no-brainer!

3) Order Bump

The infamous “order bump” has risen in popularity over the last year or so due to the fact it works!

It's so simple too, which makes it another no-brainer to implement.

Here's an example of an order bump:

Order Bump Example

It's simply an additional, complementary offer made at checkout.

That's it!

The customer only has to tick a little box to add the product or service to their order.

It's actually quite similar to the 1-click up-sell; however, it's made right before the purchase as opposed to immediately after … but, they're both 1-click!

The Order Bump is typically easier to implement than the 1-click up-sell. If you're having a hard time figuring out a way to do the 1-click up-sell, try searching for a way to add an order bump to your checkout process!

4) Subscriptions

If you offer a product or service that needs to be replenished – offering a subscription can be a great way to increase order size because it will automatically keep the customer coming back for more!

Here's an example of a subscription from the Youpreneur membership site:

Youpreneur Subscription

In order to stay a member of the community, you're charged $59/mo or $599/yr (a bundle!).

Also note the yearly subscription is incentivized by offering the equivalent of 3 months free, a free t-shirt, and discounted rates to live events!

Here's another subscription example:

Subscription Example

Each container of the supplement contains 30 servings, which makes the “Repeat Delivery Every 30 Days” option incredibly tempting because I won't have to remember to go order more and by offering an extra 5% off, it becomes a no-brainer.

5) Order Bonuses & Rewards

Have you ever seen a message like this while shopping online:

“Spend just $5.91 more and get free shipping!”

Or …

Cart Bonus Example

These are order bonuses/rewards used to entice customers to increase their order size in order to receive the incentive!

These are typically super simple to implement and freakin' work!

How To Implement

Implementing these various tweaks is not as hard as you might think.

For example, offering a package/bundle is as simple as bundling products/services you already offer.

Other options, like the 1-click up-sell, will depend on your platform. A quick Google search will likely yield some answers.

Conduct searches like …

  • [platform name] + 1-click up-sell or [platform name] + order bonuses. For example, shopify 1-click up-sell.

9 times out of 10, there is a plugin or add-on that will make whatever you're trying to accomplish possible.

Finally, there are various shopping carts like SamCart, ThriveCart, and ClickFunnels that integrate with many other platforms to make these tweaks possible.

Summary

Optimizing your Point Of Sale (POS) process is one of the most impactful areas to focus on because when a buyer is “in heat” they will keep buying until their needs are met or they run out of stuff to buy.

You never want the reason they stop buying to be that they've run out of stuff to buy. You need a plan and process in place to capitalize on the situation.

There are several strategies for optimizing your POS to include creating bundles, 1-click up-sells, order bumps, subscriptions, and bonuses/rewards.

Finding the right tool to make this happen can be as simple as installing a plugin or add-on or integrating with another shopping cart platform.

Click here to go to Part 6: How To Use Micro Sales Funnels To Convert More Leads Into Customers While Increasing CLV

(part 5) How To Optimize Your Point Of Sale To Instantly Increase Revenue2017-08-01T11:22:49+00:00

(part 4) How To Use Retargeting To Generate Sales

This post is the fourth in a series of posts entitled, “Digital Marketing Strategy For Startups, Small Businesses, and Entrepreneurs“.

Have you ever looked at a product on Amazon and then seen ads for that same product on Facebook, CNN, and other unrelated sites as you browsed the web?

If so, you've experienced retargeting! (sometimes referred to as remarketing)

Retargeting is a powerful tool that, when combined with marketing automation (see part 3), creates an unstoppable marketing force!

How Retargeting Works

Retargeting gives you the ability to show ads to people on your audience lists. (side note: if you haven't read the previous parts yet, I highly recommend doing so now.)

As a reminder, these audience lists are lists of people that are built within the advertising platform you've chosen to master, ie. Facebook or Adwords.

You're able to add people to your audience lists in a variety of ways such as:

  • Website activity: pages viewed or pages not viewed
  • Customer files: upload a list of email addresses and/or other contact information and the ad platform will sync that information with users in their database, allowing you to retarget people already on your email list, customer list, phone list, etc.
  • Engagement (applies to Facebook): how much of your video(s) they've consumed, if they've interacted with your Facebook Page, or if they've clicked on a Lead Ad or opened a Canvas

You're also able to define how long an individual will stay on your audience list before they “fall off”. Ie. if you only want to target people who have visited your site in the last 7 days and didn't buy anything, you can do that. That way you're only advertising to people who recently ran across your business.

Lookalike/Similar Audiences

One of the best parts about creating an audience list is that both Facebook and Adwords allow you to create Lookalike or Similar Audiences.

What does this mean?

Say, for example, you have a list of 3,000 customers' email addresses. You can upload that list to Facebook or Adwords and they'll sync those email addresses with individuals on their platform.

Then, if you create a Lookalike/Similar Audience, the ad platform will “blend” all 3,000 of those individuals' likes, dislikes, habits, demographics, behaviors, etc. and create what is essentially a customer avatar. They'll figure out the characteristics of your average customer.

Then, they'll take that customer avatar and find a percentage of people that most closely resembles that avatar. For example, if you're on Facebook and you create a Lookalike Audience targeting 1% of the US population, you'll end up with a Lookalike Audience of roughly 2 million people that look most like your customer avatar.

Doing this helps you find people most likely to connect with your business!

Super powerful and something you need to study and understand!

Combine Marketing Automation (Email) With Retargeting

As you're aware, the effectiveness of email has declined in the last few years because it's easy to do and everyone is doing it. Since everyone is doing it, people are bombarded with emails, and they've learned to ignore the “noise” in their inbox.

This is all OK.

You still need to focus on building your email list because it's an asset (see part 2).

When you have something you really want your audience to see, simply combine email marketing with retargeting.

How? I'll show you because I'm doing this exact thing right now….

Step 1: Export your list of email subscribers that you want to see your message

Step 2: Create a custom audience in your ad platform by uploading the list of email subscribers you just exported

Step 3: Launch your ad targeting that audience list

Step 4: Send your email

BOOM!

Now, I have my message greeting people in two separate places: their inbox and as they browse Facebook.

There's no escaping my important message.

Do you see how I'm combining the two? I hope so and I hope you see how powerful that is!

Retargeting Strategies

Thanks to the flexibility and power of audience lists and retargeting, there are a million and one different strategies you can employ.

I already let you in on one strategy, retarget your list of email subscribers with the same message you sent via email to ensure they see it, whether in their inbox or while browsing Facebook.

While I can't cover all of the many strategies here, I'll share a few popular concepts to help you “think” in the right direction.

Visited Site, But Didn't Opt-in

One of the most popular retargeting strategies is to retarget individuals that have visited your website, but didn't join your email list.

Maybe they didn't see your opt-in form or maybe they weren't interested in the Lead Magnet you offered (see part 2).

Whatever the reason, they left your site without opting-in. However, they did visit your site which means they were interested in what you have to offer and they now know who you are … so, if you show them any ads, they'll be more familiar with your business.

The strategy is to retarget these people with other Lead Magnets. Maybe they didn't like the first one you showed them. No problem, show them one on a completely different topic or one that's in a different format (ie. a coupon vs. a checklist vs. a video course).

You keep trying to bring them back until they're on your email list!

Pro-tip! Clicks & Video Views

To “boost” the number of visitors that land on your site, one strategy is to launch an ad with the goal of getting people to visit your site. For example, you write an amazing blog article that you want people in your niche to see. So, you create an ad that “boosts” that blog post in front of your ideal customers, they see the ad, read the article (visit your site), then you retarget them with ads that offer different Lead Magnets.

This works well is because getting “clicks” to a website is typically cheaper than other advertising goals like conversions.

Another way you can do this is by running a video ad with the goal of “video views”. Like “clicks”, “video views” tend to be cheaper than the other advertising goals available which allow your ad spend to go further.

So, the strategy is to push your video ad in front of as many ideal customers as possible and retarget those that watch 50%+ of your video. Kind of like reading a blog article, if they watch more than half of your video, they've become familiar with your business and your offer; now, it's time to retarget them with Lead Magnets until they're on your email list!

Looked At Product, But Didn't Buy

This one is self-explanatory … if someone looks at your product/service, but doesn't purchase it, retarget them with ads to bring them back to your offer.

You could also include a coupon with your retargeting ad to really incentivize them to take action!

Bought This, But Not That

Also, self-explanatory. If someone buys one product from you, but doesn't take the upsell or any of the complementary products, you retarget them with ads promoting the products they're likely interested in.

For example, if someone buys a set of kitchen knives, a complementary product would be a knife sharpener. So, a good retargeting ad would offer that person a discount on knife sharpeners.

Pull'em Through The Funnel

You're able to pull people through your sales funnel with audience lists and retargeting ads.

I'll illustrate this with an example.

Let's say you want to sell a $97 course on Facebook Ads (Core Offer), so you setup a Micro Sales Funnel (part 6) to attract people, educate them, and ultimately sell your course.

You decided to write a “Super Awesome Blog Post On Facebook Advertising” and you're sending as much traffic to that post as possible via Facebook Ads.

Every person that lands on your article is then “pixeled” and added to an audience list you've created.

You then promote ads to that audience list with offers for 3 different Lead Magnets. They all have to do with Facebook advertising; however, one is a checklist, one is video training, and one is a framework for people to follow.

Individuals will then opt-in to your email list when they request a Lead Magnet, so you can follow up with them via email in addition to retargeting.

The first product you offer after they opt-in is a $7 product, sometimes called a Trip Wire because it's priced so low, people can't help but grab it and “trip” into your Core Offer.

If they don't buy your Trip Wire right away, retarget them with ads that bring them back to your sales page.

If they do buy your Trip Wire, offer them your Core Offer (the $97 Facebook Course). If they buy it, great! They did what you wanted; however, if they don't, you can retarget them with ads bringing them straight back to your Core Offer sales page.

Obviously, as they progress through the funnel, you stop showing them the previous ads. For example, as soon as they've seen your “Super Awesome Blog Post”, stop showing the ads that promote your blog post and instead show ads that promote your Lead Magnets. Once they grab one of your Lead Magnets, stop showing them those ads and only show ads that promote your Trip Wire. And so on.

As you can see, there's a lot you can do here and many things to try … retargeting can make or break your campaigns!

What About Other Retargeting Platforms?

There are several 3rd party retargeting platforms out there like AdRoll, Perfect Audience, and Criteo …

BUT! You're not going to pay them any attention!

You're going to stay focused on the 1 paid advertising source you selected way back during part 1!

There are so many features and options in both Facebook Ads Manager or Google Adwords that you have absolutely ZERO reason to dabble with a 3rd party tool.

Master your ONE platform first. Once you've really, truly, nailed it down … ie. it's generating profit … THEN, you can work on the other platform. Once you've mastered BOTH Facebook and Adwords (will take you years), then … sure, dabble with some 3rd party tools.

Ok?

Summary

Retargeting is a very powerful advertising method where you show ads to individuals that are on various audience lists … lists that are created based on website activity, customer files, and engagement.

With these audience lists, you're able to create Lookalike or Similar Audiences to help expand your reach.

Combining retargeting with marketing automation (ie. emails) is a very powerful force.

There are a bunch of strategies you can employ with retargeting. Just use your head, look for “holes” in your marketing campaigns and “plug” them with retargeting ads.

Finally, don't mess with 3rd party retargeting tools until you've mastered BOTH Facebook and Google Adwords.

Click here to go to Part 5: How To Optimize Your Point-Of-Sale To Instantly Increase Revenue

(part 4) How To Use Retargeting To Generate Sales2017-08-01T11:21:57+00:00

(part 3) How To Use Marketing Automation To Generate Sales

This post is the third in a series of posts entitled, “Digital Marketing Strategy For Startups, Small Businesses, and Entrepreneurs“.

I love the era we live in.

The technology that's available can save us so much time by helping us automate portions of our business.

For example, you can automate emails, text messages, direct mail, and ringless voicemails.

Not to mention the fact you can automate your entire social media presence or outsource tasks to virtual assistants, freeing you to focus on “bigger” things.

There's so much opportunity to automate portions of your business, that if you're not … you're not only wasting time and money, but you're missing out on growth.

This article is all about using marketing automation to help generate sales.

Transactional Communication

Transactional communications (email/text/direct mail/ringless voicemail) are the easiest and most logical communications to implement and automate.

If someone requests a Lead Magnet (see part 2), you send them what they requested.

If someone purchases a product or service, you send them a receipt and/or more information.

If someone abandons their cart, you remind them about it.

This makes sense, right? Nothing revolutionary here.

But, you still gotta do it. The money is made by following the basics.

#1 Goal Of Transactional Communication

The #1 goal of transactional communication is to present your next offer. (now is a great time to ensure you have a Value Ladder!)

Examples:

  • An individual requests a Lead Magnet, you present the product/service that complements the Lead Magnet
  • An individual purchases a product or service, you present complementary products/services
  • An individual abandons their cart, you remind them about the products in their cart and possibly include a discount or bonus to drive them back to complete the checkout process

Again, this is no-brainer stuff right here, but it's overlooked so often I have to bring it up.

Relationship Building

In part 2 we discussed capturing people's contact information so you can follow up with them later.

Beyond sending transactional communications, you can send more “generalized” communications that build and maintain relationships, promote your products and services, and gauge interest (more on that later).

What does it mean to send “relationship building” communications?

It means that you're sending valuable content. For example, blog posts, videos, audios, infographics, stories, Q&A, support, etc.

Now, just because you're sending valuable content, it doesn't mean that it can't link to your products/services sales pages or that you can't use it to “mold” your leads and customers to conform to your way of thinking!

It's kind of like propaganda without the whole “misleading” part. You will never, ever mislead people on purpose. Right? But, you can teach them your ways if you believe them to be better than what's out there.

Before you know it, you'll become the authority and they'll follow you anywhere. (that's the goal at least!)

How To Build A Relationship

Too many small business owners and entrepreneurs overthink the sending of communications.

They worry about sending too many emails and annoying their leads and customers.

Or, they're not sure what to send.

I'm telling you right here, right now … it's not rocket science.

Talk to your audience like you normally would. Share what you would normally share.

You don't have to use fancy pants tactics and copywriting hacks to send an email.

Be a human being talking to other human beings. Really. That's it. That's the secret.

Now, there are some general rules of thumb if you're completely lost…

General Rules Of Thumb

  1. Email 3-4 times a week. Any less and they'll forget about you. Any more and you may become a nuisance.
  2. 1 promotional “sales” email every 2 weeks. ie. share more valuable content than promotional content.
    1. Remember, that's not to say your valuable content can't have links to your promotional/sales material!

A Pattern

I know some folks are like, “I really, really, really, really need a formula or pattern to follow! Just give me the freakin' formula!!!”

Ok, here's an email pattern to follow.

You Gotta Gauge Interest!

We've just talked about transactional communications, where if someone performs an action, you send them something.

And, we also talked about relationship building communications, where you're sharing valuable content in order to get people to know, like, and trust you and your business.

Now, it's time to merge the two!

Introducing the Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept!

On the left hand side we have our “Straight Line Sales Funnel” or “Main Series”.

The “Main Series” contains all of our relationship building communications or engagements, ie. emails, ads, etc.

When an individual engages with a piece of valuable content we send, they're automatically placed in a “Micro Sales Funnel” or “Product/Service Sales Funnel”.

The “Micro Sales Funnel's” purpose is to drive the individual to take action, ie. buy something, register for something, etc. This is accomplished by sending more, relevant content to the individual in an effort to persuade them to buy a particular product/service.

A quick example: Let's pretend I run an ecommerce store that sells kitchenware. I offer three categories of products: flatware, pots & pans, and cutlery. I send out a piece of communications with a link to an article called, “The Best Way To Clean A Kitchen Knife”. If an individual clicks that link, I know they're interested in kitchen knives and they're automatically entered into my Micro Sales Funnel with the sole purpose to get them to purchase my self-cleaning, state of the art, kitchen knife!

It's much easier to sell someone something when they've already shown interest in it.

Micro Sales Funnels can range in complexity from very simple, like sending a few emails on a topic the person showed interest in, to full blown funnels featuring 1-click upsells, downsells, and everything in between.

We'll be going into greater detail on Micro Sales Funnels in part 6 of this series.

That's the Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept in a nutshell … figure out what someone is interested in and then try to sell them a product/service based on that interest.

For the full Interest Driven Sales Funnel concept, please check out The Sales Funnel Book. (It's free, just pay for shipping!)

The Tools

In our opinion, the best marketing automation tool on the market today is ActiveCampaign.

It lets you send emails and text messages PLUS it connects to Zapier which connects to over 750 other apps that do anything and everything from sending direct mail, to ringless voicemails, and beyond!

ActiveCampaign allows you to create automations for transactional and relationship building communications, while helping you gauge interest(s) via tagging that can trigger Micro Sales Funnel automations.

ActiveCampaign is a very solid marketing automation tool and one we highly recommend.

Summary

You need to take advantage of marketing automation. It will save you time and money while simultaneously helping you grow your business by converting more leads into paying customers.

Marketing automation really shines when it comes to sending transactional and relationship building communications. Plus, you can merge the two concepts into an Interest Driven Sales Funnel!

Finally, there are a lot of tools on the market to help you with marketing automation; however, the best tool we've found is ActiveCampaign.

Click here to go to Part 4: How To Use Retargeting To Generate Sales

(part 3) How To Use Marketing Automation To Generate Sales2017-08-01T11:20:38+00:00