Sales funnels are awesome.

By following the right strategies and taking advantage of some automation tools – you can grow your business on autopilot (pretty much – it still takes work as you have to optimize and expand … but, I digress).

Building sales funnels takes time. You need to plan, write copy, setup automations, install tracking … you need to do a bunch of “stuff”.

Most businesses see the value in all of this; HOWEVER, most don't have the time or resources to do it all and they need “instant” results.

I get that.

Especially if they can use the revenue from these “instant” results to fund the development of the rest of their funnel *cough-cough* OR to invest in some training *wink-wink*

Alright, let's get into it!

1) Sell On The Thank You Page

One of the biggest mistakes I ever made was NOT selling on my thank you pages. (the page someone lands on after subscribing to an email list)

I used to say the usual, “Thanks for joining my email list! Check your email for the lead magnet!” … yeah, I literally told people to leave my site.

Dumb.

Then, one day, I saw someone was selling a low-end offer on their thank you page. I copied their idea and found, on average, between 3% to 10% of the people that land on my thank you page purchase the corresponding low-end offer (normally under $10).

Example

2) Modify Your Checkout Page

The checkout page is one of the most overlooked pages on a website – it's taken for granted.

One would assume that if someone winds up on the checkout page, they're there to checkout; however, this is not always the case.

There are several things you can quickly and easily do to increase conversions:

• Remove unnecessary fields. With more and more people purchasing via mobile devices, and the tediousness that comes with filling out a form while on a mobile device – you only want to ask for the essentials. Do you really need the person's birth date to complete the order? Unlikely. Ask for it later in a follow up email.
• Add testimonials. Instill one last lit bit of confidence; this can go a long way when it comes to your order form conversion rates.
• Remind people what they're ordering. Don't only mention the name of the product/service they're about to receive, but list some of the features and benefits to remind them of the greatness they're about to receive!
• Include your guarantee. Remind people that, should something go wrong, they're safe and have nothing to worry about.

As of posting this article, SamCart has a webinar that describes how modifying the checkout form can boost sales by up to 400%, it's worth checking out … at least the first 30 minutes or so.

Example

3) Add Up-Sells, Cross-Sells, Down-Sells, And Bonuses To Orders

“People who bought this also purchased this.”

“Don't Miss This Limited Time Offer!”

“Spend $3.37 more to qualify for free shipping.”

You've seen these lines used many times in many places. Why? Because they work … are you using them?

Depending on your business, how it's setup, and the platforms you use – the implementation method will change; however, it's certainly worth figuring out!

Fortunately, many shopping cart platforms have this functionality built in or have plugins that make this a piece of cake:

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• SamCart
• MemberMouse
• ClickFunnels
• ClickBank

Down-Sell Mega Tip!

It can be hard to sell a $200+ product online as not everyone has a few hundred bucks lying around.

So, after making the initial offer for the $200+ product, if it's turned down, offer a down-sell by offering a payment plan!

Example

The page itself looks similar to the thank you page example I showed you above (there's a video and write-up explaining the payment plan).

4) Cart Abandonment Email Series

According to the Baymard Institute, 67.19% of shopping carts are abandoned.

67.19%!!!!!

While there are a hundred reasons a person doesn't finish checking out … their credit card is upstairs and they're downstairs, they're at work and don't want to enter their credit card info on a work computer, etc … one thing remains true, you're missing out on sales.

After reading through about 15 case studies on cart abandonment recovery, it appears roughly 10% or more abandoned carts can be “won back” by simply sending a few reminder emails. A plugin can handle this automatically.

Like the up-sells, cross-sells, down-sells, and bonus options … the “how” will change depending on your system; however, being able to recover 10%+ of your lost sales makes it well worth figuring out!

• Shopify
• WooCommerce
• ClickFunnels

5) Collect Email Addresses

While collecting email addresses won't add to your revenue “instantly” – you can start collecting addresses in less than an hour.

Having a list of people that are interested in what you and your business do is indispensable.

Email remains the #1 way businesses keep in touch with their customers, and if you don't believe it, read this page: http://www.emailisnotdead.com/

Anyway, collecting email addresses doesn't have to be difficult, I mean … how long do you think it took me to setup this page? (it converts at over 50%)

Plus, there are a ton of tools that make adding an opt-in form to any website a piece of cake. Here are a few:

• Sumome
• Hello Bar
• MailMunch
• OptinMonster

Most of these offer a free version and even include options to store the email addresses within the tools themselves. You won't have to signup for an autoresponder service or anything like that. You could literally take the list of emails, plug them all into the BCC line of your email client and email your list straight from your personal email account.

It's literally that easy.

Final thoughts

Taking the time to setup and implement a full fledged sales funnel is certainly worth it. It will pay dividends for years to come. You can even boost revenue while you build your sales funnel with a few minor tweaks.

This Is Important!

Before charging head first into sales funnel creation, you need to take the time to map out your value ladder – your products and services mapped in ascending order of value and price.

The Value Ladder

General Concept

As people “ascend” your value ladder, they're offered more value; however, this value comes at a price ($).

Note: Value doesn't necessarily mean “more”. You can also provide greater value by saving people time.

Tiers

Your value ladder doesn't necessarily need 5 tiers as the diagram above shows, but offering multiple value tiers at various price points gives you more opportunity to give your customers exactly what they need.

Lead Magnet

The freebies you give away to grow your list and get people in the door.

• Price: Free
• Goals: Qualify & Capture Leads
• Examples: Checklist, Guide, Video, Free Sample, Trial, Coupon

Initial Offer

The low-end products you offer that ideally cover the cost of advertising and “prove” the lead has enough “pain” that they're willing to spend money to resolve it. Many times you'll see “Free plus Shipping” offers.

• Price: < $10
• Goals: Re-Capture Ad Spend & Qualify Customers
• Examples: Book, Course, Product

1st Tier

The low-mid range products and services you offer generate profit while simultaneously building trust with the customer as they receive more value from you and your business.

• Price: < $100
• Goals: Increase Profits & Build Trust
• Examples: Course, Productized Service, Product

2nd Tier

The high-mid range products and services you offer generate profit, ideally recurring revenue, from membership and continuity programs.

• Price: < $1,000
• Goals: Increase Profits & Recurring
• Examples: Course, Membership, Custom Service, Product

Top Tier

The biggest and best product/service you have!

• Price: > $1,000
• Goals: Increase Profits & Recurring
• Examples: Done For You Service, Masterminds

Product Based Businesses

I know what you're thinking, “A value ladder sounds nice, especially for digital and service based businesses, but I sell physical products … and things just aren't “fitting”.”

Don't worry, I've got you covered!

Incorporate The Hub And Spoke Model

The “hub” is the core product and the “spokes” are all the accessories and peripherals that “enhance” the core product.

Many times, businesses that sell physical products can't “ascend” customers the same way as digital and service-based businesses can.

For example, if you sell cars, you can develop and give away a lead magnet and you can likely come up with an initial offer for under $10 (ie. a car buying guide). However, after those first two steps … there's not much … you gotta sell a car!

You're not going to try and sell a motorized bicycle, then a scooter, then a motorcycle, then a car, then a nicer car, then an even nicer car (at least not in one sitting). It simply doesn't work that way; however, after the individual purchases a car they're going to need a lot more stuff – accessories, maintenance, insurance, credit, etc. for years to come.

The car is the “hub” and the additive products/services are the “spokes”.

Eventually, ideally, when the individual is ready for a new car, they'll ascend to the next level, get a new car (hub), and start buying more stuff (spokes).

Another Example (Retail)

A few years ago, when I first came across the value ladder concept, I tried to apply it to an ecommerce business that also had a brick & mortar location. This particular retailer sold women's clothing – dresses, to be exact.

They offered many different types of dresses from seasonal, to work, to formal, to wedding … what “appeared” to be a natural ladder … and it kinda was.

Many times, women would come in for a seasonal dress and leave with two or more dresses – for work and for play. However, there were many occasions where women would only need one type of dress for one specific occasion – ie. a formal occasion.

This was where the hub and spoke model came into play as there are a TON of accessories with formal wear – shoes, bags, jewelry, makeup, etc.

Let's stick with the woman that came in and purchased a formal dress. In this case, a wedding dress, even though it's “technically” the next step in the value ladder, doesn't have to be the next step … especially if she's not engaged and/or doesn't have a boyfriend (or girlfriend, whatever floats your boat – not the point).

The point is, there are likely many seasons and occasions for more dresses (hubs) and accessories (spokes) between now and then that can be capitalized upon, if done correctly.

If it makes sense to ascend people up your ladder, ascend them. If not, be sure to incorporate enough spokes!

Offer Continuity

Often, customers will not ascend your entire value ladder ever, much less in one sitting. For those that do ascend, it can take weeks, months, or even years to ascend to the next level.

This is where offering a continuity program or recurring offer comes into play because it'll help accelerate ascension while increasing capitalization.

For example:

• A car dealership can offer oil changes. Cars need oil changes, making this is a natural offer.
• A dress shop can offer a subscription service where every month or season they send out the appropriate style of sunglasses for maybe $10/mo. Not only will this sell more sunglasses, but it'll serve as a reminder to the customer that they need a new dress for the new season!
• Digital products businesses can offer a community and/or premium support as a recurring offer.
• Dentists offer 6 month check-ups.

Bundles & Down-sells

Bundles and down-sells come in handy, especially if you're stuck or are truly limited in what you have to offer.

Let's say you sell 10 different products, that all cost $30, and don't have any additional accessories, even ones you could offer as an affiliate. (unlikely, but this is a hypothetical!)

Could you create bundles of these products? Maybe a 3 pack, 5 pack, and 10 pack? There's your ladder!

For example:

• This concept can be applied to businesses that only offer one thing, for example, a soft serve ice cream shop. Beyond up-selling more ice cream, they can offer a punch card for $X that grants the holder 5 cups, 10 cups, 20 cups, etc. at various price breaks.
• Barber shops can also take advantage of the bundling concept. While many offer other services like shaves, dyeing, massages, etc., that can bundle into packages, they can also bundle visits onto punch cards in a similar fashion to the ice cream shops.
• Here at Crazy Eye Marketing, we offer courses and resources individually and as a bundle we call The Vault.

Down-Sell Mega Tip!

One of the best ways to help people ascend your value ladder quickly is to reduce the entry price to the next tier.

How?

Payment plans!

Let's say your 1st Tier product costs $97 and your 2nd Tier product costs $247, you can split your 2nd Tier product into 3 easy payments of $93.67!

Doing this makes the 2nd Tier product a no-brainer as it costs less than the 1st Tier product (at least for today – which is what the mind tends to focus on

I'm excited to share the results of our latest Facebook Ads case study because I believe the approach we used to decrease cost-per-lead can be applied to everyone's Facebook ad campaigns!

You may wonder how big a decrease of 88% is …. well, it allows you to acquire nearly 7 times the number of leads for the same price you were paying for a single lead.

Imagine, instead of spending $1 and getting 1 lead, you spend that same dollar and get 7 leads!

So … it's freakin' huge!

I'll walk you through the data first; I'll then discuss the changes we made so you can apply them to your Facebook ad campaigns.

• Related Course: How To Increase Leads & Sales On Facebook With The Triple Threat Strategy

The Data

Overall

Note: They switched from the Old to the New Facebook pixel which resulted in the “loss” of 10 leads. I added the true numbers in orange.

Above are the “overall” results for the Before and After campaigns.

We'll get into the ad sets of each campaign in just a second; however, I want to point out a few things first:

• Amount Spent: Each campaign has spent over $500; these results are consistent and accurate. It's not like we spent $5 and got lucky.
• Cost per Lead: $0.32 vs $2.67 = 88% decrease in cost per lead!
• Purchase: These “cheaper” leads were quality leads – they were still buyers. Finding “cheap” leads isn't hard; however, if they don't buy then there's no point in collecting their data … the point of a lead is to eventually turn that person into a paying customer.
• Cost per Purchase: $12.91 vs $72.69 = 82% decrease in cost per purchase (also insane!)

Note: The “Purchase” data needs to be taken with a grain of salt. These numbers reflect sales made directly off the Thank You page (front end sales) and do not reflect sales that resulted in the back end. So, technically, the number of purchases is higher, cost per purchase is lower, and purchase volume is higher.

Before

Note: They switched from the Old to the New Facebook pixel which resulted in the “loss” of 10 leads. I added the true numbers in orange.

The image above shows all of the ad sets in the “Before” campaign. Each ad set targeted a different audience and/or device/placement. They used the same ad (a boosted post) for all of their ad sets.

These ad sets were essentially a hodgepodge of various audiences and placements as opposed to a systematic setup – ie. testing desktop vs. mobile.

After

Note: If you notice a little difference in the numbers from the “Overall” pic above, it’s because several of these ad sets are still live and some stuff changed between screen captures!

The image above shows all of the ad sets in the “After” campaign. Each ad set targeted a different audience and/or device/placement. We used the same ad (a boosted post [however, it was different than the ad used in the “Before” Campaign]) for all of our ad sets.

As you can see, we have two Lookalike audiences running – one that looks like our customers (people that have paid money) and one that looks like our leads (people that have joined the email list). These two ad sets have the lowest cost per lead at $0.24 and $0.25; however, you'll notice the front end purchase conversions are not as good as the first ad set (Audience 1 [mobile]) which is targeting a specific audience we created.

Alas, the point of these campaigns is to generate leads because the bulk of the money is to be made on the back end. We're simply tracking front end sales to make sure some purchases are happening!

Finally, I also want to draw attention to the fact that not all of our ad sets performed well. Look at the last two (Audience 2), we were spending between $0.89 and $3.60 per lead … of course, those ad sets were eventually shut off. It just goes to show that an “ad” isn't everything, targeting and placement are huge factors as well!

3 Changes We Made To Decrease Cost Per Lead By 88%

Time to get into the good stuff – the changes we made to the ads, presented in a way that will help you make similar changes!

1. Changed The Offer

I believe this change had the single biggest impact on our advertising.

The original offer presented people the opportunity to receive a product for free, as long as they covered the cost of shipping and handling. For example, we'll ship you this book for free, but you pay the $7 shipping and handling.

Instead, we bundled several products together and offered people the opportunity to participate in a monthly drawing for the bundle of products valued at around $100.

Now, people can opt-in for “free-free” as opposed to an opt-in for a “free plus shipping & handling”.

Takeaway: Instead of offering your audience a coupon or something where they still have to spend money to receive the benefit – what can you offer for “free-free”? (a chance to win a gift card or a product?)

Mega Tip!

We moved the “free plus shipping & handling” offer to the Thank You page which allowed us to make money on the front end!

2. Systematized Audience Targeting

Before we began helping this business with their Facebook marketing, their audiences were a random hodgepodge of interests, age groups, placements, etc.

There wasn't a consistent strategy.

We systematized it …

• We kept the same demographic information (age, gender, religion, income, etc) across all ad sets.
• We tested one interest at a time.
• We tested that interest on mobile news feed and desktop news feed.
• We spent roughly $20 before deciding to “kill” or keep an ad set – our criteria was 20% better/worse. For example, if Audience 1 on mobile performed 20% better than Audience 1 on desktop – we'd “kill” the desktop ad set.

By following this systematized strategy, we've stuck with 3 ad sets that have a cost per lead between $0.24 and $0.31.

3. Used Lookalike Audiences

Facebook offers some pretty nifty tools in their ads platform. One of these tools is their custom audience feature. This enables marketers the opportunity to create audiences, based on what pages people have viewed, whether they've purchased a product or not, and more! [Learn more]

For example, we created two custom audiences – one that contained all of our Leads (if they landed on our Thank You page, they were automatically added to our Leads audience) and one that contained all of our paying customers (we uploaded a list of email addresses for people that had purchased products from the store).

We then used the “Lookalike” function to create audiences that “looked like” our Leads audience and our Customers audience (ie. they had similar demographics, interests, etc as the people who were “proven” to convert!). We then targeted those lookalike audiences with our ads!

As you can see above, these two audiences have the lowest cost per lead and you can likely use Lookalike audiences in a similar way!

Other Key Takeaways

Below are a few other key takeaways that I want to point out that … if you're not doing already … will help you tremendously.

Optimize For Conversions

You HAVE to optimize your ads for conversions.

Ok, technically, you don't have to; however, Facebook gives you the option to do so and they do an excellent job in getting you the “cheapest” conversions possible. It's to your benefit to allow Facebook to do its job!

For more info, checkout my Case Study called Facebook Ads: Optimize for Conversions or Clicks or Engagment.

If you don't know how to set up conversion tracking, check out my Facebook Ads course by clicking here!

Test Different Ads

While I did not test different ads in the case study above, I highly recommend doing so because the ad is a HUGE factor with regard to getting clicks and, therefore, conversions.

Why didn't I test different ads? The company I was running the tests for spent a good chunk of change to have a “pretty” graphic developed and they wanted to use it. Thankfully, it was a great image and yielded great results – normally, I'd test multiple ads.

Step-By-Step

Did you grasp the ideas and concepts delivered in this post, but need help with the “how”?

No problem! I've got you covered!

I have a course called How To Increase Leads & Sales On Facebook With The Triple Threat Strategy to walk you step-by-step through the exact process I used in the case study above!

All too often the phrase “sales funnel” is used interchangeably with “email marketing.”

I know I've done it … and it's wrong.

Email marketing is part of a sales funnel – it's not the sales funnel.

While email marketing tends to be the glue that holds the funnel together, there are many other pieces involved.

There's the audience you need to attract through advertising.

There are the products and services you offer.

There are landing pages, optin forms, lead magnets, relationship building materials (blog posts, videos, etc.), sales pages, and thank you pages.

Then there's all of the tracking, optimization, metrics, and split tests.

And yes, of course, all the emails, series, and sequences that “connect” everything together.

It's a lot.

It takes a combination of technical skills and marketing abilities to craft a top performing sales funnel.

I don't say all of this to overwhelm you.

I say all of this so you're aware of what you need to learn and master.

This post is to serve as a framework or guide through the pieces that make up a sales funnel.

The Sales Funnel Framework

I've spent the better part of 2 years focusing solely on sales funnel development and after lots of trial and error, I've realized that all successful sales funnels need to incorporate these 9 specific areas:

Any great sales funnel/system has to start with its Customers. Who are they? Where do they hangout? What do they look like? What are their goals, dreams, desires, fears, pains, and problems?

Your Business consists of the products and services you deliver to your customers that help them achieve their goals, dreams, and desires while avoiding fears, pains, and problems. The products and services should be positioned to offer an array of different price points, up-sells, down-sells, and cross-sells (a value ladder).

Your Delivery System is how you get your products and services into the hands of your customers. This can be accomplished through a website, ecommerce store, membership portal, or even via brick & mortar.

The “Meat” is the best phrase I could come up with to describe all the content within a sales funnel. All of the sales pages, squeeze pages, opt-in forms, emails, etc. are included here … and of course, require some copywriting skills.

A “Simple” Sales Funnel is the starting point. While it’s the simplest of all sales funnels, it can yield some incredible results and it’s the place you need to start before moving onto bigger, “better”, more advanced sales funnels.

There are two types of Lead Magnets: general and specific. Both are used to attract leads; however, one gauges interest and intent while the other is more for “everyone.” Knowing when and how to use each type is one of the keys to success.

An “Advanced” Sales Funnel can take a lead, figure out their specific interests, and distribute tailored content to those individuals … improving relationships and increasing sales with little effort.

You need Traffic in order to keep your sales funnel full. While there are many ways to drive traffic, the best way is to hangout where your ideal customers hangout.

Finally, in order to have continued growth, you’ll need to test, tweak and Optimize your entire system in order to achieve the best results possible.

Preface

• How Does A Sales Funnel Work?
• The Powerful Sales Funnel
• The True Cost Of Not Having A Sales Funnel

Customers

• Marketing Personas part I
• Marketing Personas part II

Business

• How To Create A Value Ladder For Your Sales Funnel
• How To Sell Products You Don't Even Have

Delivery

• 5 Ways To Increase Revenue In Less Than An Hour
• How To Build Your Own Landing Page Platform

The “Meat”

• How To Steal Other People's Copy
• 2 Sales Page Formulas From Michel Fortin
• What Is A Landing Page?
• Landing Page Myths & Experiments
• What Should I Send To My Email List?
• How To Write Action Driving Emails That Increase Conversions
• How To Insert Expiring Links Into Your Autoresponder
• 3 Email List Growing Tools That Are Free!
• The Tools We Use To Build Our Sales Funnels

“Simple” Sales Funnel

• The Straight Line Sales Funnel (micro)
• What Is An Autoresponder And How Does It Work?
• Email Autoresponder Sequence For Gauging Interest
• EMAIL MARKETING IS DEAD! … and it's going to be ok

Lead Magnets

• What Is A Lead Magnet? & 7 Examples
• What's The BEST Lead Magnet?
• 8 Opt-In Form Examples You Can Implement With Ease

“Advanced” Sales Funnels

• Interest Driven Sales Funnels (macro)
• The “Classic” Sales Funnel Model (micro)
• The Free Consultation / High End Sales Funnel (micro)
• The Amazon Seller's Sales Funnel [ClickFunnels] (micro)
• A Sales Funnel For Selling Digital Products [ClickFunnels] (micro)
• The Coaching/Consulting “Book” Sales Funnel [ClickFunnels] (micro)
• 5 Smart Ways To Increase Order Size
• How To Build A Sales Funnel In ClickFunnels
• How To Build A Sales Funnel With SamCart
• Next Level Sales Funnels

Traffic

• Why Your Website Gets No Traffic
• How To Drive Traffic To Your Sales Funnel
• How Does Retargeting Work?
• How Much Should I Spend Per Click?
• Facebook Ads: Optimize for Conversions or Clicks or Engagement?
• Case Study: 88% Decrease In Cost-Per-Lead (Facebook)

Optimization

• How To Approach Marketing Your Small Business
• Case Study: Why You Need To Segment Your Email List
• A $40,000 Marketing Education In 45 Minutes
• How To Optimize Your Sales Funnel
• Vanity Metrics vs. Actionable Metrics
• How To Use Chaos Theory To Optimize Your Sales Funnel
• How To Track Your Email Opt-in Rates With Google Analytics
• What's My Email List Worth? w/ Calculator
• Case Study: % or $? (the rule of 100)
• How To Track Desktop vs. Mobile vs. Tablet ClickBank Affiliate Links
• How To Split Test LeadPages Drag & Drop Page Builder

Misc.

• What Are High Leverage Activities?
• Just Freakin' Do It!
• The Ultimate Guide To Ecommerce Marketing Strategy
• The Ultimate Guide To Marketing Strategy For Coaches, Consultants, & Service-Based Businesses

Are you throwing money away again?!

If you're like most small businesses and entrepreneurs I work with … and are doing some form of paid advertising … you probably are.

Most folks do the “throw crap at the wall and see if anything sticks” approach to advertising.

Obviously, this isn't wise.

If you've ever “failed” at paid advertising, or thought to yourself that Facebook Ads or Adwords “doesn't work” … this post is for you.

• Related Course: How To Optimize Your Sales Funnel

How To Attain The Marketer's Mindset

In order to attain the marketer's mindset, you need to approach all marketing and advertising as an experiment.

You're essentially a scientist … a mad scientist, if you'd prefer.

It's your job to test hypotheses by conducting experiments, analyzing the data, and making decisions.

The best way to do this is by following the tried and true – Scientific Method.

Having said that, I cannot discredit marketers. Marketers spend time learning, understanding, and practicing things like psychology, human behavior, copywriting, design, user experience, etc. and are able to develop better hypotheses and experiments more effectively and efficiently than individuals that don't.

So, there's certainly a massive benefit to having someone that's an actual marketer do your marketing; however, if you understand the marketer's mindset and how they approach their marketing campaigns … you're going to be in a much better position to succeed than those who don't.

The Scientific Method

Image from Science Buddies.

Ask A Question

In business, the question is usually, “How do I generate more business?”

Do Background Research

Fortunately, you should already know a lot of the background information.

You'll obviously know the ins and outs of the products and services your business offers.

You should also know your customers. If you don't know them as well as you should, click here and here to learn how to develop marketing personas.

Construct A Hypothesis

A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things will work.

“If [I do this], then [this] will happen.”

• If I publish this ad for this audience, my conversion rate will increase.
• If I change the subject line of this email, my open rate and click through rate will increase.
• If I change the title of this sales page, my sales will increase.

Tip: Measure At Least 2 Levels Deep

At the end of the day, your advertising campaigns must generate sales or there's no point.

To help ensure what you're hypothesizing about actually matters, I recommend generating hypotheses that are at least 2 levels deep.

What does that mean?

For example, let's take a Facebook ad. We could hypothesize that “If I change the ad image to X, it will have a higher Click Through Rate (CTR).”

The ad's CTR is the 1st level.

Increasing the CTR is great, but – does it affect the bottom line? Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to tell unless you measure how it affects the bottom line.

The 2nd level would be a measure of the next action the person takes after the 1st level.

For example, level 2 could be to signup for your mailing list. (signup conversion rate)

So, a better hypothesis would be, “If I change the ad image to X, it will increase my signup conversion rate.”

Signup conversion rate is a better metric to measure than ad CTR because it's closer to the end goal of producing a sale.

Here's a table to better illustrate the concept of levels:

Common Things To Test

Here's a short list of possible things to test:

• The offer
• Ad image and ad copy
• Ad targeting
• Subject lines
• Titles
• Formatting
• Call-To-Action (CTA)

Test With An Experiment

Click the “Live” button, ie. launch your campaign, change your subject line, change your title, change your CTA, etc.

Now, don't touch anything!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is the point where most people mess up.

They'll launch their ad (experiment) and watch as money leaves without delivering the results they were hoping for.

I agree – it's hard to watch money leave your account without it generating results. It's really easy to freak out and either stop or change the experiment on the fly … but you can't do this.

Remember, it's just an experiment. You're simply testing a hypothesis and collecting data.

The more data you have, the more accurate it will be and the better decisions you'll be able to make.

You need this data in order to analyze it and make educated decisions, so your next experiment will hopefully deliver the results you're looking for.

Tip #1: Start Small

You don't have to spend thousands of dollars. Many times, $5 to $10 a day for a week is enough to test a hypothesis.

Tip #2: Set A Budget And Leave It

To help curb the urge to mess with an experiment, set a budget on your campaign and don't look at it until it's ended.

For example, set a campaign limit at $50 with a daily budget of $7 – after a week, login and view your results.

Procedure Working

Make sure everything is functioning correctly.

Make sure your ad is sending people to the correct landing page.

Ensure your signup form is synced to the correct email list.

Simple stuff; however, I've personally made both of those mistakes before … stuff happens, make sure you double check your setup especially if results seem way off.

Analyze Data and Draw Conclusions

Before analyzing data and drawing conclusions you need to make sure you have enough data.

Not having enough data is the second largest point of failure for an experiment!!!!!!!!!!!

How do you ensure you have enough data? Statistical significance. (click here to learn more)

When you don't have enough data, you're not able to confidently say whether the experiment proved your hypothesis right or wrong. Without high levels of confidence, you're likely to make some bad decisions.

Results Align With Hypothesis

Excellent! Your experiment becomes your control and you can run more experiments against it and/or you can scale up your advertising and develop hypotheses for other portions of your sales funnel (ie. different levels).

Results Align Partially Or Not At All With Hypothesis

Like Thomas Edison with the light bulb, you haven't failed, you've just found a way that doesn't work.

Take what you learned, go back to the drawing board, form another hypothesis and run another experiment.

You will fail, a lot.

Most of your campaigns will start out yielding negative results and you have to remember that this is OK.

Remind yourself that you're conducting experiments and gathering data in order to make better decisions and build a highly profitable marketing campaign.

Final Words Of Advice

Someone smarter than me once said, “Successful marketing campaigns are built, they're not discovered.”

… Or, something to that effect, unfortunately I can't find the source of that quote right now; however, the point is that it takes work, patience, and a method (ie. Scientific Method) to build a successful marketing campaign.

It's not something that magically “happens” … you can't keep throwing crap at the wall and hope something sticks.

• Related Course: How To Optimize Your Sales Funnel

The “Straight Line” Sales Funnel is where most people begin … actually, I take that back … it's where everyone begins.

It's Sales Funnels 101.

If you can't make emails trigger in a straight line, trying to trigger them based off of actions, events, interests, and intent will be impossible.

You have to start here and understand this concept or you can't move forward, it's that simple.

• Related Course: How To Build A Straight Line Sales Funnel

The “Straight Line” Sales Funnel

Lead Magnet

The Lead Magnet is the “free gift” you give someone in exchange for their email address – for example a coupon, free shipping, trial, webinar, etc.

If you've been on the Internet for longer than a day, you've seen opt-in or signup forms for Lead Magnets all over the place (you've probably seen a few on this site alone!)

You can learn more about Lead Magnets here.

Emails #1 Through Infinity

Pretty self explanatory. You send emails in an order that makes sense to transform a lead into a paying customer.

This is accomplished by sending emails that follow the 3Es:

1. Entertain: These emails are meant to entertain. Videos, pictures, stories, etc provide great entertainment.
2. Educate: Helpful emails that solve problems, answer questions, and provide guidance.
3. Earn: These emails drive sales by bringing customers back to your business.

Your email series could look something like this:

1. Thanks for joining, deliver lead magnet, here's what you can expect from us, here's a little about our business
2. Do you have any questions? (Try and start a conversation)
3. Introduce best selling product/service – describe features – link to sales page (educate/earn)
4. Best selling product/service – describe benefits – link to sales page (educate/earn)
5. Share an interesting user experience of your best selling product/service (entertain/educate/earn)
6. Best selling product/service – handle top 3 objections – link to sales page (educate/earn)
7. Send a cheat sheet for solving whatever problem your product/service solves so the customer can still solve their problem even if they don't chose your product (educate/earns trust)
8. Share a funny cat video, just because you thought it was funny (entertain)
9. Introduce 2nd best selling product/service – describe features – link to sales page (educate/earn)
10. On, and on, and on

A “Straight Line” Sales Funnel That's Working Right Now

I'm currently running a paid advertising campaign to a “Straight Line” Sales Funnel that's performing well and below you'll find the overall strategy for it.

For the sake of this example, let's pretend I'm selling cooking utensils.

1. Thanks for joining, deliver lead magnet, here's what you can expect from us, here's a little about our business
2. Entertaining story about how finding this soup spoon has greatly improved my life
3. Link to video on my site of a professional chef using the exact same soup spoon I'm selling. Of course, beneath the video I have a link to buy the soup spoon from me
4. Features and Benefits of the soup spoon, link to sales page
5. PDF containing 3 soup recipes that remind me of home. In the PDF I link to the soup spoon in my store
6. Entertaining story about how I've found this razor sharp knife has improved my life
7. On, and on, and on

It Has Its Strengths And Weaknesses

Strengths

• Easy to understand
• Easy to setup
• ALL email autoresponder services can do this, there aren't any special features required to make it work
• WAAYYY better than nothing
• It's a foundation for “bigger” things [see Interest Driven Sales Funnels]

Weaknesses

• May promote products and services to a person that has already purchased and therefore wastes time, effort, energy, resources, etc.
• The content may not pertain to the individual. For example, if you sell vehicles and your top selling product is a car, and your first 4 emails are about the car and the lead is only interested in trucks … the individual won't care about your emails.

In Closing…

If you do not have an email series or sales funnel in place currently or the one you have is lacking – focus on setting up a “Straight Line” Sales Funnel.

Once you grasp this core concept and the technical aspects involved, you'll be able to move on to bigger, better sales funnels.

• Related Course: How To Build A Straight Line Sales Funnel

How many emails do you ignore every day?

Why are you ignoring them?

Is it because you don't care about what they say?

Why don't you care?

I know I don't care because 9 times out of 10 … the content of the email doesn't pertain to me.

So, it gets ignored.

What if …

What if every email you received pertained to your particular interests, desires, and goals?

Wouldn't you be more inclined to read them … or at least click a link or two to see what they're all about?

I know if I had X problem and someone sent me a solution for dealing with X problem … I'd at least check it out.

Wouldn't you?

And it's proven …

And it's proven … tailored content converts better than non-tailored content.

Just checkout some of the results from MailChimp's most recent study on how segmentation affects opens, clicks, bounces, abuse reports, and unsubscribers:

• Opens: 14.96% higher than non-segmented campaigns
• Clicks: 72.37% higher than non-segmented campaigns (huge!)
• Abuse Reports: 20.39% lower than non-segmented campaigns
• Unsubscribes: 22.09% lower than non-segmented campaigns

The big number I want to point out here is “Clicks”  because you need people to click-through your emails to land on your sales pages and checkout pages … no one can purchase anything straight from an email … you need clicks.

By sending tailored content to individuals, the click-through-rate almost doubles (72.37% higher) … and that's insane.

Alas, most businesses don't …

Alas, most businesses don't segment their list and they don't send out tailored content.

Why not?

Most small businesses think it's beyond their capabilities to do something like this.

They're seeing massive corporations like Amazon do it … if you even think about a product on Amazon they'll start showing you ads everywhere you go for that same product and of course, they'll start sending you emails about that product.

But, most businesses can …

The good news is that most businesses can setup something that automatically segments their list and sends out tailored content to individual subscribers.

Thanks to advances in email marketing automation this type of system is very possible to setup for most small businesses … as I'm about to explain …

• Related Course: The ActiveCampaign & Interest Driven Sales Funnels Course

Segment Based On Interests

Earlier we talked about why we're personally ignoring most emails (because they don't pertain to us).

So, if we're ignoring emails because they don't pertain to us, we have to expect our subscribers to ignore our emails if the content doesn't pertain to them, right?

How do we make sure we're sending emails that pertain to the particular subscriber?

My suggestion is to segment based on interests … let the subscriber show you what they're interested in based on the links they're clicking, the pages they're viewing, and the stuff they're buying. Then, tailor emails to fit those interests.

For example:

If a subscriber shows they're interested in X, send them more content about X, and recommend products and services that help with X.

If they're interested in Y, send more content about Y, and recommend products and services that help with Y.

The Interest Driven Sales Funnel

You need to develop a sales funnel that's driven by each subscriber's particular interest(s).

Stop sending the same thing to everyone … it's neither effective nor efficient.

You've seen the results from MailChimp's study – tailored content gets nearly twice as many click-throughs as non-tailored content.

Instead of 100 click-throughs, you'd get 172 click-throughs … insane.

Interesting, eh?

Overall Concept (Macro Level)

Think of it like this – an Interest Driven Sales Funnel is your business, it encompasses everything … all of your products, services, offerings, etc.

An Interest Driven Sales Funnel is made up of many small or “micro” sales funnels.

Being made up of many micro sales funnels makes it modular in nature – which makes it easy to add to and remove from.

One of the micro sales funnels is a Straight Line Sales Funnel which we'll call your “Main Series”. The Main Series is your way to maintain a relationship with your leads while gauging interest (more on it later).

The other micro sales funnels are for your individual products, services, and offerings. Some products, especially those that are expensive and/or complicated, are likely to need more explanation than various one-off emails can provide, which is why they need their own sales funnel.

Straight Line Sales Funnel (Main Series)

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

It's responsible for building and maintaining the relationship with your subscribers, while simultaneously gauging interest.

This is accomplished through the sending of 3 E Emails:

• Entertain: These emails 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.

People enter your Main Series when they opt-in for a General Lead Magnet (one that doesn't show intent) or after an individual completes a Product/Service Sales Funnel.

You can learn more about Straight Lines Sales Funnels here.

Product/Service Sales Funnels (Micro Sales Funnels)

Product/Service Sales Funnels are your “money makers”.

Their sole purpose is to sell a product or service that your business offers.

These funnels have the ability to stand on their own (ie. you can send paid traffic to them) and can look very different based upon what you're trying to sell.

For example, they can have 1-100 emails, offer webinars, product launches, 3 video funnels, up-sells, down-sells, cross-sells … basically any “guru” funnel you want to follow can be plugged in here.

The ability to plug & play with these various type of Product/Service Sales Funnels is what makes the Interest Driven Sales Funnel so powerful!

You're not limited in what you can do and people will always come back to your Main Series where the relationship will be maintained, other interests gauged, and other Product/Service Sales Funnels triggered!

For Example …

The above is just a taste of a Product/Service Sales Funnel.

The Start

No matter what “guru” funnel you follow (or you can always do your own thing 😉 ) the start will most likely be based on 1 of 4 things:

• Click (Interest Shown) – Someone clicks a link in one of your emails showing they're interested in a certain topic, product, service, etc.
• Specific Lead Magnet – 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%” could lead to a Facebook Ads course.
• Page View – Similar to the “click” mentioned above; however, in this instance the individual may navigate to a particular page on their own without going through a link provided in an email.
• Points (CRM) – More “advanced”; however, if you're using a CRM tool you can use points to gauge interest and trigger Product/Service Sales Funnels based on points. For example, if someone looks at your sales page 5 times, you know they're highly interested … they may just need a tad more persuasion … exactly what a Product/Service Sales Funnel will provide.

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 – This is a series of emails that addresses the subscriber from different angles in order to try and “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. One email could be a story about someone who found success with your product. One email could be very benefits driven and explain the results one can expect.
• Upsell Series – This is a series of emails that triggers after an action (purchase) is taken 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 that's $97.

The Finish

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

If the individual entered into your Product/Service Sales Funnel from your Main Series – they'll re-enter the Main Series and pick up where they left off.

If the individual entered into your Product/Service Sales Funnel via another source, ie. Facebook Ad to a Specific Lead Magnet – they'll start the Main Series from the top.

Let's Piece It Together

This is what an Interest Driven Sales Funnel can, hypothetically, look like: (remember, an Interest Driven Sales Funnel is modular in nature. Interest(s) can be shown at any time which means Product/Service (Micro) Sales Funnels can be triggered at any time!)

Simple Explanation

When a new subscriber joins your list, they're “welcomed” to your list and your business via a Welcome Series.

From there, interest(s) is/are gauged based upon general emails that are entertaining, educational, and/or sell (earn) (3 E Emails).

For example, if I run a fitness center and I send out an email with a link to an article titled, “7 steps to lose 7 pounds in 7 days” and a subscriber clicks the link to that article, I can tell they're interested in weight loss.

Or, if I send out an email with a link to video called, “3 biceps exercises that'll add 3 inches to your biceps in 3 weeks” and a subscriber clicks the link to that video, I can tell they're interested in building muscle.

From there, I'll launch my “Action Series” that sends content pertaining to each specific interest and that also sells related products and services to help individuals reach their goals.

For example, if the individual shows they're interested in weight loss, I'll send more helpful content about weight loss in the form of articles and videos, as well as links to sales pages and offers for things like courses, diet books, exercise plans, supplements, etc.

And, I'll do something similar for the person interested in building muscle.

When the individual purchases a product or service from me, I'll recommend complementary products/services or even “bigger” products/services. (Upsell Series)

For example, the individual buys a $7 eBook that contains recipes for healthy meals to lose weight. I then know they're interested in eating healthy and can recommend various meal delivery services to them, for which I'll earn a referral commission.

And it goes on, and on from there …

Gauge interest, send relevant content, recommend relevant products and services, repeat.

Businesses That Need An Interest Driven Sales Funnel

Really, the only “requirement” is that you have the ability to cater to various interests – ie. you have multiple products/services. Of course, these don't need to be your own products/services – you can recommend partner products as an affiliate in order to best serve  your customers.

Digital Businesses

Businesses that sell digital products like courses, resources, guides, ebooks, etc can greatly benefit from implementing an Interest Driven Sales Funnel!

Since everything is performed online, you're able to “watch” everything your subscribers and customers do within your business – making it incredibly easy to gauge interest, setup and implement product/services (micro) sales funnels, and measure/test everything!

An Interest Driven Sales Funnel is what drives Crazy Eye Marketing!

Ecommerce Businesses

Ecommerce businesses can benefit tremendously from implementing an Interest Driven Sales Funnel!

In a similar fashion to the Digital Businesses I mentioned above, ecommerce businesses are able to track how individuals interact with their store, the products people are viewing, the products that are purchased (upsell series!), the words they're searching for, and even if products have been added to a shopping cart … but not purchased! (hint: send a cart abandonment series)

The options and possibilities are seemingly endless when it comes to ecommerce businesses!

Brick & Mortar Businesses

Believe it or not – brick & mortar businesses can also benefit from implementing an Interest Driven Sales Funnel!

Sure, the tracking won't be as precise as it'll be harder to track which part(s) of your sales funnel results in “actual” action – ie. a purchase; however, most everything else will be the same! You are still able to gauge interest based on clicks and pages viewed, you are able to send tailored content, and you still strive to drive action (a shopping trip to your business)!

Don't count yourself out of this goodness, just because you're not based primarily online!

Summary

Sending emails that contain content people care about will always convert better than generic emails.

The best way to figure out what someone cares about is to see what links they click on, pages they view, and products they buy.

From there you're able to send relevant content, products, and services and then rinse and repeat the process.

How To Get Started

I know this post was more high level strategy than actual tactics you can apply today.

But, don't worry! I've got something for ya … the The ActiveCampaign & Interest Driven Sales Funnels Course.

In the last post we talked about what you should send to your email list – emails that are entertaining/educational AND that help you segment your subscribers based on their interests.

But, what do you send once you know their interests?

That's what this post is all about!

What To Send

Once you know an individual's interest(s) you'll be able to send tailored content that caters to what they want to learn about.

For example, if I know someone is interested in sales funnel development – I'll start to send more information about sales funnels to help the lead become more educated on the topic.

I'll also begin to send action producing emails that drive the lead to my various sales funnel courses and services.

Between providing value and presenting solutions in the form of courses and services – I'll be able to convert more leads into customers.

• Related Product: 28+ Pre-Written Emails

The Problem: Driving Action/Sales

The concept is pretty simple – right? When someone is interested in something, you send them more information on that topic and then try to sell your related products and services.

Sending helpful emails is easy. These normally link to things like blog posts and videos that are educational/entertaining and people tend to enjoy receiving them.

Sending actionable emails is a little harder. These normally link to things like sales pages and order forms for products and services that are helpful BUT cost money.

So, you have to send actionable emails because the whole point of running a business and implementing a sales funnel is to sell things … but what's the best way?

The Solution: Marketing Formulas

Marketing or copywriting formulas are blueprints that help guide your email writing and structure.

These formulas help you approach your subscribers from different angles so you can better connect.

For example, some individuals may be more logical in their purchasing behaviors so they compare features. Others are driven by what the product or service will do for them – ie. benefits. Some want to make sure they're getting the best bang for their buck and they're looking at what your product can do compared to your competition – ie. advantages.

The example given above is the Features-Advantages-Benefits formula – and here are a few others you can use in  your email marketing campaigns …

Before-After-Bridge

• Before – What life is like before your product/service enters it
• After – How great life is after your product/service 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

More Formulas

The good news is there's a ton of information on these copywriting formulas … so, I don't need to cover them all here. Instead I'd rather show you how to implement the formulas into your emails.

By the way … here are a few more resources:

• Copywriting Formulas
• 27 Copywriting Formulas
• 21 Copywriting Formulas

• Related Product: 28+ Pre-Written Emails

How To Use The Formulas

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 while others want a short blurb with a link to more information.

Complex/expensive products tend to take more “convincing” than simple/cheaper products and may require more emails and therefore, more angles.

1 Email, Short

In this scenario you would include the entire marketing formula in one email … in as few sentences as possible.

The goal is to get people to click through in order to get 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 and they don't want to have to sit there 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 marketing formula in one email … but, it would be presented in several sentences/paragraphs – more like a sales page.

The goal is to really “sell” in the email. It can even link 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 to your subscriber in your own voice before sending them to someone else's sales page; this is a good method.

Email Series

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

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

For example, with the features-advantages-benefits formula, the first email could identify the features of the product, the second email the benefits, and the third the advantages … selling your product/service from three different angles.

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

Summary

At the end of the day, the point of your email list is to increase sales of your products and services. By following marketing/copywriting formulas, you're able to write and structure your emails in a way that motivates your leads to take action and buy your stuff!

• Related Product: 28+ Pre-Written Emails

Is what you're using the best lead magnet?

Probably not.

Most of my posts, courses, and tutorials recommend offering a discount or a coupon as a lead magnet.

Why?

A few reasons:

• It's easy to setup – you don't have to develop a checklist, write an eBook, or develop a course. All you have to do is send an email with a code.
• It drives sales – the only way to take advantage of a coupon is to use it.
• It works – people like to save money and will happily give away an email address in exchange for savings.

But is it the best?

Doubtful.

Why Coupons Suck As Lead Magnets

• They're easy to duplicate – just as they're “easy to setup” they're also easy to ripoff and duplicate. Nothing can really stop someone from using it multiple times.
• They cut into profit – that discount has to come from somewhere …
• And … the biggest reason …

They only apply to those that are about to buy.

Why is this a bad thing?

Don't we want people that are going to buy?

Yes. You want people that are going to buy and coupons help drive sales; however, in offering one as the lead magnet … anyone who is “just browsing” isn't going to care about a discount.

They're in the research phase, trying to learn more, and you're trying to “force” a sale.

Doing this will turn people off.

Instead … do this:

Give coupons to “warm” leads and helpful info to “cool” leads

• Warm leads – those that are already on your email list and know about your business and what it offers
• Cool leads – those that aren't on your email list and are learning about your business and what it offers

Makes sense … right?

What's The Best Lead Magnet?

The best lead magnet is one that moves the individual to the next step.

Sounds simple, but what does it mean?

Figure out the individual's problems and solve them.

The solution is then the lead magnet.

C'mon Nathan! You're not helping!

OK! Here are the steps:

Scenario: we sell tools.

1. Pretend like you're a visitor that just landed on your website. Why are you there? What are you looking for? What problems are you having that would cause you to find your site?
2. Write out the problem(s) – ie. I need to put a screw in my wall that will support a 20lb picture frame.
3. Solve that problem – ie. Checklist: 5 Essential Tools To Hang Heavy Pictures | Guide and/or Video: How To Properly Hang Heavy Pictures On Your Wall
4. The solution you provide involves a drill, a level, a stud finder, a measuring tape, and special picture frame screws that are exclusive to your business and are guaranteed to hold up to 100lbs each!

So … If I'm a guy that's trying to hang a big, heavy, picture on my wall that the in-laws gave my wife and this business was offering a “how to” video tutorial for hanging big, heavy, picture frames … I'd grab that up in a heartbeat! And, while watching the video, I'd learn that I need a stud finder and some special screws, and I'd purchase them.

Whereas, if I landed on that same site, but was only offered a 20% off coupon … I probably wouldn't grab it, because it wouldn't be helpful at that point in time … I'd still be trying to figure out how to solve my big, heavy, picture frame problem.

Make sense?

Test, Test, and Test!

The great part about all of this is that it's easily testable. You can offer multiple lead magnets various ways.

There's A/B testing where half the people that visit your site are offered one lead magnet, the other half is offered the other one, and you compare optin rates and sales (because this is what truly matters; however, it may be a little harder to track).

You can have different ads link to different optin forms that offer different lead magnets.

You can have different lead magnets for each blog post or page on your website, like Nick Loper does on SideHustleNation.com.

You have to test them all.

You do not simply “pick a lead magnet” on day 1 and that's it for years to come.

Try a coupon, a checklist, an eBook, a mini-course, a contest entry, etc. Try them all and on multiple topics … maybe the first checklist you create falls flat, it doesn't mean all checklists will … it simply means that first one did.

Try a coupon at 10% and one at 30%. Does it increase optin rates? Does it increase sales? You'd be surprised … more often than not, higher discounts don't result in more optins or sales and only result in smaller margins on the same number of orders.

Test!

Summary

Don't get me wrong. I still recommend offering coupons as lead magnets because, again … they're easy, they drive sales, and they work.

However, know that they're probably best served to “warm” leads who are on your email list already as opposed to “cooler” leads just learning about your business. These “cooler” folks are looking for more guidance and information, provide it in the form of a lead magnet that moves them to the next step.

At the end of the day … test, test, and test!