I'll be the first to tell you that I am not a “professional” Amazon seller…

I have never really used Seller Central, nor do I know much about Amazon PPC or how to best optimize a listing…

But, I am partners with a few people that sell products on Amazon and occasionally we run campaigns, like what I'm about to show you in order to boost search rank and organic sales.

This strategy can work incredibly well for boosting your sales rank. You then show up near the top of the search results, which should lead to more organic sales, which leads to better rank, and the cycle continues.

The Strategy Behind This Tactic

The strategy behind this tactic is quite simple…

1. Offer a massive discount
2. Have the person search for a specific keyword in order to find and buy your product

That's it!

Enlightening, right?! ha.

A Few Key Notes

• Your discount will have to be significant. You're asking the customer to jump through hoops… go to Amazon, search for your product, scroll through a few pages of similar products, find your product, buy your product, etc. You need to make it worth their time.
• You will likely need to go after long tail keywords, where your product shows up on page 2 or 3 max. Don't make someone scroll through 10 pages trying to find your product… they're not going to do it and it will be a waste of both yours and their time.
  • What's a “long tail keyword”? Typically, a 2-4 word phrase that is specific to what you're selling. For example, “bike” would be considered short and “blue children's bike” would be long.

The Funnel

The funnel is a simple 2-step funnel where you capture the individual's contact information so you can send them your coupon code.

I recommend sending an email or two as well with the coupon code and instructions.

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

Step 1: Squeeze Page

Click Here to view a live version of this page

The copy should be pretty self-explanatory; however, here's a brief breakdown:

• Headline and Sub-Headline that contains the name of the product and the offer
• Image of the product (should match your Facebook ad image for congruency)
• A few feature/benefit bullets (the bullets in the example are a bit long, try and keep them under 10 words each)
• Explain why you're giving such a massive discount
• Tell them what to expect and how to get their coupon (use screenshots)
  • Include several CTA (calls to action/buttons) so they can request the coupon
• Close out with a simple scarcity timer

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

Step 2: Thank You Page

Click Here To View A Live Version Of This Page

On the Thank You page, simply give them their coupon code, reiterate the instructions, and link to Amazon.com.

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

The Email

It's a simple little email, so feel free to spruce it up with your logo, an image of the product, etc.

The point of the email is to “double-tap” the leads to ensure they get a chance to use the coupon code they requested.

Click Here to get this funnel for FREE!

The Ads

As often as is possible, I split test 2 ads and 2 tactics – so, 4 tests running at once.

I let the ad reach get to 2,000 prior to making any decisions. (spend $5-$10 per day, per ad when testing. If it works, spend more)

If the ad hasn't made any sales, kill it.

For the ads that have made sales, I let them run until there is statistical significance between which ad is best.

Image vs. Video

Sometimes, images outperform videos and vice-versa… so, I try both when possible.

If I don't have a video, I do two images – one of just the product on a white background, the other with the product in use.

Funnel vs. Direct

I also split test sending people to the funnel we built vs. directly to Amazon.

I optimize my funnel ads for Leads and my direct ads for Clicks.

This first one is what my typical “funnel” ads looks like. Note: I will have two of them… same copy, different image/video.

This second one is what my typical “direct” ads look like. And, like the funnel ads, I'll split test a different image/video too.

* Note: That Amazon link is an affiliate link with the appropriate tag and it links to Amazon.com's homepage. This way, people have to search for your product. 

Targeting

I target broad – basically, anyone that might have some kind of interest in my product, but…

I layer interests to include Amazon.com:

Simply click the “Narrow Further” option and add “Amazon.com”.

Tracking

Unfortunately, Amazon likes their data and tends not to share it… so, we have to work within some constraints, but this is how I track my results.

Track Sales Via Amazon Associates

Amazon Associates is Amazon's affiliate program and it allows you to create unique tags to apply to your affiliate links.

You're then able to run reports for individual tags to see which tags are performing best.

So, for each ad you will want to apply a different tag to your affiliate link. (make sure you write down what tag goes with what ad)

Example:

• Ad 1 = tag1-20
• Ad 2 = tag2-20
• Ad 3 = tag3-20
• Ad 4 = tag4-20

Now, when you login to your Amazon Associates account and run your reports, you'll be able to see which tags have made sales – and, as such, which ads have made sales.

Track Sales Rank With DataHawk (or any other ASIN/keyword tracker)

The next metric you should track is your sales rank… this way you can judge if your efforts are working.

There are a million tools on the market that can do this; however, the one I use is DataHawk. They have a free tier and their paid plans are very reasonable.

Give It 3-5 Days

I'll close out with this… give this strategy 3-5 days to take hold.

The tracking tools only update once or twice a day, so your data will almost always be delayed.

Plus, it can take a little bit of time for Amazon's algorithm to “see” the movement on your listing.

So, I urge you to just set it up and then don't look at anything for the first 3 days!

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.

• Related Article: How To Use Retargeting To Generate Sales

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.

• Related Article: What Is A Lead Mangnet & 10 Examples
• Related Article: The 2-Step Lead Gen Funnel For Local Businesses

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.

• Related Article: The AliExpress Sales Funnel
• Related Article: The Amazon Seller's Sales Funnel
• Related Article: The Coaching/Consulting “Book” Sales Funnel
• Related Article: [Case Study] Our Free + Shipping Book Sales Funnel Launch
• Related Article: A Sales Funnel For Selling Digital Products

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.

• Related Article: The “Get Clients NOW!” Funnel

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.

• Related Article: The Affiliate Marketing Funnel

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!

I have a problem…

Maybe you have it too…

I don't like Actionetics.

Trust me, I want to like it… I love ClickFunnels, I like Russell Brunson, and I'm paying for Actionetics; however, it just doesn't “work” for me…

I mean, it technically functions; however, it doesn't “work” the same way my mind and strategy work…

Fortunately, ActiveCampaign does!

However, there's another problem…

ClickFunnels doesn't really want you to use a 3rd party tool…

So, they make 3rd party integrations “suck”…

Yeah, the ClickFunnels to ActiveCampaign integration sucks.

All you can do is add a person to a list, that's it.

So, how do we get around it?

This post explains how I do it!

UPDATE!!! Here's How To Connect ClickFunnels To ActiveCampaign…

I'm not exactly sure when ClickFunnels began to allow us to pass tags from ClickFunnels into ActiveCampaign; however, it's now possible which makes making the connection super simple!

This new video pretty much replaces the other 3 videos, so you don't have to watch them unless you want to see the “old” way to make the connection.

Otherwise, enjoy this new, simple method!

Just A Squeeze Page / Lead Gen

If all you want to do is capture leads, then the process of connecting ClickFunnels to ActiveCampaign is pretty simple:

• Create a form in ActiveCampaign
  • Make sure the “On Submit” option links to your “Thank You” page
  • Turn off double opt-in (if you want)
• Take the full embed code from your form and copy & paste it into a text document
• Copy from the open <form> tag through the closing </form> tag
• Edit your squeeze page in ClickFunnels and go to Settings -> Integrations
  • Select an HTML integration
    • If you don't have that option, watch this video
    • If you have multiples, just select one, it doesn't matter which one you select
  • Paste in your code and hit the “Parse & Save Web Form” button
  • Sync your fields
• Save everything and test it before you set it live!

Video Walkthrough

ClickFunnels 2-Step Order Form To ActiveCampaign

The ClickFunnels 2-step order form is awesome because even if the individual doesn't go through with the purchase, you can still capture their contact information!

This information can then be used for cart abandonment and other follow-ups you may have.

Note, you will need a 3rd party tool called Zapier to make this connection happen. It's free up to a certain level, and then it starts at $20/mo.

Here's how to connect the 2-step order form to ActiveCampaign:

• Submit a test order, Zapier needs it
• Go to Zapier and “Make A Zap”
  • Select ClickFunnels as the “Trigger” app and watch for “New Contact Activity”
    • Select the correct funnel and funnel step with the 2-step order form
  • Select ActiveCampaign as the “Action” app and select “Create/Update Contact”
    • Map the ClickFunnels data to the fields you want updated in ActiveCampaign
    • You probably want to assign a tag
  • Turn on your Zap
• Test everything before going live!

Video Walkthrough

Send ClickFunnels Customer Purchase Information To ActiveCampaign

It's imperative that you track what your customers have purchased from you…

Unfortunately, ClickFunnels doesn't naturally send this information to 3rd party platforms like ActiveCampaign…

So, you need to have a workaround…

This is that workaround!

Note, you will need Zapier to make this happen.

• Submit a test order, Zapier needs it
• Go to Zapier and “Make A Zap”
  • Select ClickFunnels as the “Trigger” app and watch for “New Purchase”
    • Select the correct funnel to watch for purchases
    • Select “All Funnel Steps”
  • Select ActiveCampaign as the “Action” app and select “Create/Update Contact”
    • Map the ClickFunnels fields to the ActiveCampaign fields
      • I always select the fields that start with “Contact Contact” (yes, contact twice). I don't know what the differences are in the fields; however, I know “Contact Contact” fields work, so why try something else?!
    • You will use Tags to track what people purchase, so you need to assign a dynamic tag (one that changes) based on what the individual purchases
      • There are a few ways to do this; however, the way I do it is via the “Products Statement Descriptor” field. This value is assigned when you create a product in ClickFunnels.
  • Turn on your Zap
• Test everything before going live!

Video Walkthrough

Questions?

Hopefully these video tutorials are helpful!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I'll get to you ASAP!

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:

• WTF #1: WTF Is A Sales Funnel & The Interest Driven Strategy
• WTF #2: The “Main Series” Segmentation Strategy
• WTF #3: Micro Sales Funnels That Make You Rich!
• WTF #4: How To Get Content For Your Sales Funnels

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

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!

• Word Document
• PDF

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!

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!

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…

^^ 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!