NOTICE: I've come to realize most people are just here to checkout the $632 in bonuses they'll receive when they signup for ClickFunnels through my link… so, click here to see what ya get!

What Is ClickFunnels?

If you ask 10 different people what a “sales funnel” is, you'll get 10 different answers.

For our purposes, a sales funnel is a series of web pages, engagements (emails, text messages, ringless voicemails, etc.), and advertisements that convince an individual to buy something from your business.

There are many sales funnel models and the one you choose will depend on what you're trying to sell and who you're trying to sell it to.

For example, if you're trying to sell a $10 flashlight, your sales funnel would probably look like this…

Compared to a $1,997 digital course…

Compared to a $10,000 service…

The point of ClickFunnels is to provide an all-in-one solution to help you build these various sales funnels.

Also, here's the official “what is ClickFunnels” video if you'd like to watch it:

The BIG ClickFunnels Lie

ClickFunnels gets positioned as something “magical” that's just going to make you tons of cash…

This is NOT true.

ClickFunnels isn't going to make you any money.

It's a tool. That's it.

A hammer is also a tool and you probably don't expect it to “magically” start building stuff for you, right?

Don't expect ClickFunnels to be the magic pill.

You still need the business fundamentals. You still need to have a great offer and you need to get that offer in front of the right audience.

Now, ClickFunnels can certainly make doing that much easier; however, it's not going to do it for you.

Clear?

#1 Question: Is ClickFunnels Easy To Use?

“Ease” is relative.

Is it easier than hand coding everything? Yes.

Will you have a fully functional funnel up and running in 10 minutes? No, not even if you're a seasoned pro.

Will you have a fully functional funnel up and running in 1 day? No, not if you're new to the platform.

Will you have a fully functional funnel up and running in 7 days? Maybe.

How about 14 days? Yes, probably! (hence, the 14 day free trial)

There is a steep learning curve with ClickFunnels and it's going to take 7-14 days to become comfortable with it.

You need to ask yourself… Am I willing to spend 7-14 days to master a tool that can potentially provide a massive upside to my business?

Of course, once you master the tool, you'll be able to build full funnels within a day and the world will be your oyster; however, the first 2 weeks will be rough.

Pros and Cons of ClickFunnels

In no particular order, here's a breakdown of the pros and cons of ClickFunnels…

Pros

• It does A LOT. You can build pages, funnels (1-click upsell/downsell), membership sites, automations, affiliate portals, and more. It's a very powerful tool.
• Intuitive page builder. You can become a “master” of the page builder in about 30 minutes. Once you understand Sections, Rows, Columns, and Elements – you'll be able to design beautiful pages in no time!
• Hundreds of pre-built templates & funnels. Create professional looking pages in minutes!
• No Coding. You don't have to be technically savvy to master ClickFunnels, ie. you don't need a background in code and web development to build amazing sales funnels. All you need to do is spend the 7-14 days learning the system.
• Shared/Import Funnels. You can share funnels with friends and clients. Alternatively, you can import other people's funnels into your account which can save you a tremendous amount of time! (note, if you join CF through my link, you're going to get access to 11 shared funnels!)
• Split Tests. It's very easy to split test your pages. Basically, click a button, make your changes, and click save.
• Has a lot of integrations. ClickFunnels makes it easy to integrate with autoresponder tools like ActiveCampaign, Aweber, Constant Contact, Drip, etc. As well as other tools like GoToWebinar, Kajabi, PushCrew, Twilio, ShipStation, Sly Broadcast, and more!
• Has several payment gateways. ClickFunnels integrates with Stripe, PayPal, BlueSnap, ClickBank, JVZoo, NMI, and more! No matter where you're located, there will be a way to integrate ClickFunnels with a payment gateway.
• Zapier Integration. ClickFunnels integrates both-ways with Zapier, ie. you can push info from ClickFunnels to another platform or from another platform directly into ClickFunnels! Therefore, the total number of integrations is 900+!
• Evergreen Webinar Funnels. You're able to host evergeen webinars inside of ClickFunnels which can easily save you $400/year.
• Desktop & Mobile Modes. The page builder allows you to build desktop and mobile versions so you're confident your funnel looks great no matter the device.
• Massive network of users. I believe ClickFunnels has over 60,000 users.  They have a massive Facebook group and 3rd party businesses dedicated to supporting the tool.
• Incredibly passionate founders. Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson are tremendously passionate about marketing and building/programming tools. They're not in it just to make money, they're in it because they love it.

Cons

• It does a lot. Since it does so much, it can be very overwhelming and takes 7-14 days to actually learn how to use it.
• Some basic integrations. Some of their integrations are so basic, they do more harm than good. For instance, the Shopify integration is completely pointless because it doesn't combine all products into one order and it doesn't handle quantities.
• Doesn't easily support variants. If you offer products with several variants, think clothing with different colors and sizes, ClickFunnels does not support this well. You'll have to “hack” things together with a 3rd party tool called CF Pro Tools to make it work.
• Sometimes buggy. Being that it's a massive tool with a lot of moving parts, you can expect some bugs every now and again. It is what it is.
• 3mb limit on file storage. If you have large files you're trying to deliver to your customers, you're going to have to store them elsewhere as ClickFunnels only lets you upload files that are 3mb or less.
• No undo button. There's been at least 10 time when I've unintentionally deleted an entire section of my page. An undo button would prevent a lot of headaches!

Neutral

• Decent support. Support typically replies in about 4-12 hours and they're usually quit helpful. However, I have had instances where there's a bug/glitch and it does not get fixed… ever.
• It's “expensive”. The basic package, which only includes the page/funnel builder and 20 funnels, costs $97/mo. If you want to take advantage of Actionetics (marketing automation), Backpack (affiliate platform), and more funnels, you'll need the $297/mo package. Of course, the word “expensive” is relative. In theory, you should be using ClickFunnels to save you money (they host most everything, so you can ditch other services) and/or to help you make more money (funnels)… so, it should more than pay for itself. It's up to you to ensure ClickFunnels is an asset instead of a liability.

ClickFunnels Tour

Will ClickFunnels Work For My Business?

After everything you've read and seen above, you may still be wondering if ClickFunnels will actually work for your business…

Fortunately, ClickFunnels has put together a bunch of industry specific case studies that show you how different businesses are using ClickFunnels to find massive success…

• Agency/Freelancer
• Info Products
• Ecommerce
• Affiliate Marketing
• Blogger
• Coaching/Consulting
• Network Marketing
• Local Business
• B2B
• Non Profit

If you have a few minutes, I recommend checking them out!

Do I Recommend ClickFunnels?

I believe that ClickFunnels is THE BEST sales funnel building tool on the market today!

If you're wanting to build sales funnels for your business, then I HIGHLY recommend it… assuming you understand it's just a tool and it's going to take 7-14 days to master.

Finally, right now I'm offering $632 in bonuses when you join ClickFunnels via my link! 

Real quick – you're going to get…

• The Ultimate ClickFunnels Training Course + 7 Premium Funnels ($197 value)
• The AliExpress Sales Funnel Course ($97 value)
• The Shopify Sales Funnel Course ($97 value)
• The Get Clients Now Funnel & Training Course ($97 value)
• The 2-Step Lead Gen Funnel Course ($97 value)
• 28 Fill-In-The-Blank Email Templates ($47 value)
• Premium Support – Ask questions on the lessons or in the Private Facebook Group

To claim the bonuses:

1. Register for ClickFunnels by clicking here. (either plan is fine)
2. Forward your welcome email to support@crazyeyemarketing.com and let us know you want all of the bonuses!
3. We'll verify your order in the system and grant you access to everything within 24 hours!

As you may, or may not know… I have courses on both ClickFunnels and Kartra, plus I use both platforms across an array of businesses… so, I'm intimately familiar with both.

Which is why, on a nearly daily basis, I'm asked, “Should I use ClickFunnels or Kartra?”

It's an important question.

It's like asking, “Where should I live?”

You don't want to mess this up because it can impact your livelihood!

This post will give you my perspective on the two tools and which one is better.

Disclaimer

Let me clear the air real quick, while I'm an affiliate for both tools, I am not an employee nor do I have any undisclosed reason to choose one tool over the other.

I believe in using the least amount of tools possible in order to multiply your business with marketing automation.

Basically, I don't personally care what tool you decide to use. It makes zero difference to me and my life….

Which is why, this comparison will be truly unbiased.

I am tool agnostic.

Let's get into it.

ClickFunnels vs. Kartra

Bottom line up front:

• Both tools are very good. Compare either tool to any other way to build a funnel, and these tools make life sooo much easier.
• Both tools have their own quirks. Neither is perfect.
• Both tools have a fairly steep learning curve. Expect to spend a couple weeks mastering the tool before you have a functional funnel.

Differences

I'm not going to include a full breakdown of all the features as you can go to the different products' sales pages and see what they have, but I will try and point out all of the differences.

There's no real organization here because what's important to one person might not be important to another:

• Kartra is all-inclusive from the start. You get funnels, marketing automation, an affiliate platform, etc. with even the most basic plan ($89/mo). With ClickFunnels, you need their more expensive plan if you want all of the features ($297/mo).
• ClickFunnels integrates with other autoresponders. You can integrate with ActiveCampaign, MailChimp, Aweber, Infusionsoft, etc. without using Zapier. With Kartra, you're “stuck” using their automation software or making connections with Zapier.
• ClickFunnels lets you run multiple businesses out of one account. If you have a bunch of different domains and business ideas, ClickFunnels will support you. Kartra, on the other hand, only wants one business per account.
• Kartra's page builder has pre-built sections. Instead of selecting whole page templates (which Kartra also offers), Kartra's page builder comes stacked with dozens, if not hundreds of pre-built sections that you can drag and drop onto  your page. This can help you create beautiful, custom pages in minutes.
• Kartra offers “dynamic” OTOs. You can take people to different pages/offers based off their purchases whereas with ClickFunnels, they will see all of your OTOs no matter what they previously purchased.
• Kartra offers Behavioral Marketing. You can show different elements to different people based on previous actions, ie. purchases. ClickFunnels doesn't offer anything like this.
• Kartra hosts your videos and files. You get a certain amount of bandwidth with each plan, and if you go over that amount, you will pay for it. It looks to be about $0.19 per gig compared to Amazon S3, which starts at $0.09 per gig. So, it is kind of expensive, but nice to have everything in one place. With ClickFunnels, you'll need to host your videos and files elsewhere.
• ClickFunnels offers evergreen webinar functionality. While it's not “the best” evergreen webinar technology, it's often “good enough” especially if you already have ClickFunnels and you want to run an evergreen webinar. Kartra does not have evergreen webinar functionality.
• ClickFunnels has been around longer. They've been around since 2014 and have developed an extensive support network. There's a massive Facebook group and even entire companies that support ClickFunnels. Kartra is very new and lacks a lot of this 3rd party support.
• Kartra has a help desk feature. No need to integrate with Zendesk or anything like that, Kartra has you covered. ClickFunnels doesn't offer anything like this.
• Kartra's timers are better. If you like running evergreen promotions, Kartra's timer system is much better since it's connected to people's account and can be tracked more closely. ClickFunnels' timers are only tracked with cookies.

While it's not necessarily an all-inclusive list, those are some of the big differences between the two platforms.

Which Tool Is Right For Me?

The million dollar question, “Which tool is right for me?”

Again, both tools are very good. I'm a fan of both and have successful funnels running on both platforms, so there's no definitive answer here… instead, it depends on what YOU need/want to do.

There are only a few instances I would recommend one tool over the other:

• Ecommerce: ClickFunnels
  • It offers more flexibility around your products and variations, especially when using CF Pro Tools.
  • It natively integrates with ShipStation.
  • There are 3rd party integrations like AppTrends and Orderlytics which integrate with Shopify and even AliExpress.
• Lead Gen: ClickFunnels
  • You can have multiple domains in your account which you need when you're generating leads for different businesses.
  • It integrates with 3rd party autoresponder tools more easily than Kartra.
• Evergreen Webinars: ClickFunnels
  • While it's not the best evergreen webinar platform available, it's often good enough and Kartra doesn't have this function.

If the above scenarios aren't relevant, it may come down to budget. Kartra's all-inclusive starter plan is only $89/mo, which is cheaper than ClickFunnels' starter plan which doesn't include marketing automation or an affiliate platform. If your budget is tight Kartra may be the better option for you.

Finally, beyond the reasons above, it really comes down to personal preference. Both tools offer trials. ClickFunnels' trial is free and Kartra's is only $1. Try both and see which feels better to you!

What Is Your Situation?

I know I did not cover every single situation or all the differences between the two platforms. If you have any specific questions for your particular needs, please post them in the comments below!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

This isn't just for Ecommerce!

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

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

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

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

POS Optimization Strategies

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

1) Pricing Tiers, Packages, & Bundles

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

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

Take a look at this example from a2Hosting:

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

Why would anyone turn that down? No one would.

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

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

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

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

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

2) 1-Click Up-Sells

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

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

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

Here's an example:

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

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

3) Order Bump

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

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

Here's an example of an order bump:

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

That's it!

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

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

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

4) Subscriptions

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

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

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

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

Here's another subscription example:

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

5) Order Bonuses & Rewards

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

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

Or …

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

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

How To Implement

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

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

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

Conduct searches like …

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

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

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

Summary

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

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

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

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

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

I'm going to cut to the chase because this post is long enough without a fancy pants intro …

A few weeks ago we launched The Sales Funnel Book as a Free + Shipping funnel.

This post is a breakdown of the funnel, how it worked, what we want to test, and where we're going from here.

Note: This funnel was aimed towards individuals on our list, ie. “warm” traffic. But, with a few tweaks, we will be launching a similar funnel to “cold” traffic via Facebook.

“The Sales Funnel Book” Sales Funnel

Here's the structure of the sales funnel:

Interest Gauging Series

The Interest Gauging Series was a series of 3 emails I sent to my list to … you guessed it … gauge interest in the book offer.

We determined if someone was interested by if they clicked the link in one of the emails.

If a link was clicked, they landed on the Confirmation & Sales Page (will cover in a sec), the Interest Gauging Series was immediately stopped because interest was shown, and the individual was automatically added to the Action Series (will cover in 2 secs).

If no links were clicked, they returned to the Main Series (general autoresponder follow up sequence).

Email 1

In Email 1, I offered the opportunity to download 19 Sales Funnel Blueprints – all of the blueprints covered in The Sales Funnel Book.

The thought was, if they were interested in sales funnel blueprints, they'd be interested in the book that explained them all.

Stats:

• Open Rate: 31.01%
• CTR: 13.04%
• Unsubscribes: 0.14%

Email 2

Email 2 made the same offer as Email 1 – to download 19 sales funnel blueprints.

Remember, if they clicked the link in Email 1, they would not receive Email 2. Essentially, this was sent to everyone that didn't click the link in Email 1.

Stats:

• Open Rate: 16.72%
• CTR: 4.55%
• Unsubscribes: 0.00%

Email 3

Email 3 was a direct offer to order The Sales Funnel Book and brought people directly to the sales page (the 19 sales funnel blueprints were not delivered if they clicked the link in this email and they were not added to the Action Series).

This was a last-ditch effort to sell the book.

Stats:

• Open Rate: 21.17%
• CTR: 2.58%
• Unsubscribes: 0.34%

Confirmation & Sales Page

The Confirmation & Sales Page was presented to individuals that clicked the link to receive the 19 sales funnel blueprints in either Email 1 or Email 2 within the Interest Gauging Series.

This is what it looked like:

As you can see, the top portion confirms their request for the 19 sales funnel blueprints, then it rolls straight into the sales page for the book.

Also note, the individual was simultaneously placed into the Action Series … which we're getting into now…

The Action Series

The Action Series was a series of 4 emails with the objective to sell The Sales Funnel Book.

As you'll notice, the engagement with these emails was over 4.3X that of the Interest Gauging Series.

Why?

Because this group of people expressed interest in sales funnel blueprints. So when we sent more emails about sales funnels, they were excited to open the emails and learn more.

Common sense, right? Show people what they want and they'll be more engaged.

Note: If an individual purchased the book at any time, the Action Series automation was stopped; they did not receive any more emails pitching the book.

Email 1

Email 1 was sent out immediately after the individual clicked the link in Interest Gauging Series Email 1 or Email 2 requesting the 19 sales funnel blueprints.

As you see, all Action Series Email 1 did was directly link to download the 19 Sales Funnel Blueprints PDF, which started and ended with this page:

Of course, beyond giving our subscribers something of value, the intent of this document was to bring people back to The Sales Funnel Book sales page and sell the freakin' book.

By sandwiching the 19 funnel blueprints between pages like the one above, people knew where they could get more information.

Stats:

• Open Rate: 78.26%
• CTR: 62.61%
• Unsubscribes: 0.00%

Email 2

Email 2 was a link to download a PDF of The Sales Funnel Book‘s introduction section.

I copied and pasted this particular section into a Word Document, added a header and footer that read “TheSalesFunnelBook.com” and linked it to the sales page. I closed out the document with the following statement: Want more? Get The Sales Funnel Book from TheSalesFunnelBook.com!

I felt that sharing content from the book was a great way for individuals to get a feel for how it was written, its quality, and to draw them in to wanting to read more.

Stats:

• Open Rate: 52.34%
• CTR: 23.36%
• Unsubscribes: 1.87%

Email 3

Email 3 included the next section of The Sales Funnel Book.

Like Email 2 above, it was a simple PDF that included links back to the sales page.

Stats:

• Open Rate: 48.08%
• CTR: 13.46%
• Unsubscribes: 0.00%

Email 4

Yup, Action Series Email 4 is the same exact email as Interest Gauging Series Email 3 – a last-ditch effort to sell the book.

Stats:

• Open Rate: 38.83%
• CTR: 10.68%
• Unsubscribes: 0.00%

The Sales Page

Here's the sales page I used to sell The Sales Funnel Book:

It may look different now than it did during this initial launch, but if you want to check it out, click here … if it's different, you can watch the old video here.

As you can see, the page consists of video, text, and images. Also, it's not super long, nor really short – it's of moderate length, I'd say! (side note: the video was 4 minutes and 46 seconds long)

I'd also like to point out that we also included instant access to the digital version of the book, so they could begin reading it while they waited for the physical version to arrive.

Stats:

With regard to stats … they're a little screwed up because I botched Google Analytics… more on that in a minute.

With as much accuracy as possible, the CTR from Sales Page to Order Form was exactly 50.0%.

Order Form w/ Order Bump

We processed orders for The Sales Funnel Book through a new shopping cart platform called ThriveCart.

This was the order form page:

It's pretty self-explanatory; however, I'd like to point out the Order Bump which is the portion in the red-dashed box above the “Ship My Book Now!” button.

That little offer saved us because we lost money on the book.

Yes, we should have broken even on the sale of the book; however, due to some bad estimation with international shipping costs, we lost money. It wasn't much, but the campaign was in the red.

Fortunately, the order bump, which were digital assets to accompany the book, converted very well and brought the campaign into the black.

Stats:

• Order Form Conversion Rate: 18.52%
• Bump Conversion Rate: 50.0% (yes, half the people that purchased the book also grabbed the bump!)

One-Time-Offer

After purchasing the book, the individual was presented with a one-time-offer (OTO) to join The Sales Funnel Training Vault.

The offer was presented as a Video Sales Letter (VSL) that was 6 minutes and 31 seconds long. [watch the video here]

The page itself is self-explanatory – watch the video and click the green button if you want to join.

Stats:

• Conversion Rate: 10.0%

Order Confirmation Page

Whether the individual accepted the OTO or not, they were greeted with the Order Confirmation Page:

And that completes the content within our sales funnel!

Some Numbers & Thoughts…

Ok, so – I screwed up the tracking a little bit.

I switched shopping cart platforms 2 days before going live and apparently didn't test the Google Analytics setup as well as I should have.

The data transfer between CrazyEyeMarketing.com and ThriveCart.com didn't work properly. The user's data wasn't transmitted, making it appear as though everyone that landed on the checkout page landed directly on it. Obviously this was not the case because they came through the sales page.

This “gap” messed up the ability to properly track user flow across the funnel.

Lesson learned – test your tracking.

Anyway, all is not lost because at the end of the day, if you put $X in and get $X+ back out, you're on the right track; however, it is nice to be able to break down the entire funnel, bit by bit, to see what works and what doesn't.

Here are the numbers I have:

The percentages above represent the conversion rate or CTR. (It's the percentage of people that moved on to the next step.)

The green and orange percentages have been discussed previously and they're accurate.

The red 🙁 represents the point where user tracking was lost. The silver lining here is I know how many people were on the Confirmation & Sales Page, how many people were on the Sales Page, and how many people were on the Order Form page, so I was able to compare all those numbers to come up with the 50%. Essentially, 50% of the people that saw the offer, clicked through to the order form.

The black 🙁 is data I did not track. Why not? The first 3 Action Series emails contained direct links to PDF files and then those files linked to the sales page. I should have used Google's UTM parameters to track the click-throughs, but, for some reason or another, I did not. Moving forward the links inside of the PDFs will have tracking.

Let's Run Some Scenarios

Even though some of the tracking was messed up, at the end of the day, the funnel “works” if I get back more than I put into it.

So, let's run a few scenarios!

This first one is the 1,000 person test without making any changes to the funnel:

For every 1,000 people I send through the funnel from my email list, I should expect to receive $539.96. Of course, I have to subtract the price of the book from that, so we're looking at around $410 net.

But, here's the deal – the OTO is 6 payments of $67 which is $402. Let's plug that in:

Doing that doubles the total … pretty cool!

But, when it comes to planning, I'm a hopeful realist. I hope people that purchase the OTO pay the 6 payments, but I plan for them to only pay the first one.

So, let's bump that $402 back down to $67 and play with some of the rates:

In the above scenario, let's say I was able to increase the Interest Gauging Series CTR from 17.59% to 20%. Let's pretend I did that by adding a 4th email to that series … simple and reasonable enough, right?

Then, let's say I was able to increase the Purchase Conversion Rate from 18.52% to 20%. Let's pretend I did that by adding a few testimonials to the checkout page.

Those small, simple, realistic tweaks bumped the total from $539.96 to $663.00! (an extra $123.04 per 1,000 people)

Of course, I could sit here and play with this calculator all day running different scenarios, but in the interest of keeping you interested in this post … I'll stop.

The point is, once you have a funnel and some numbers you can run various scenarios to find your weakest links to determine where you should run split tests, what optimizations you should make, etc.

Where It's Going From Here

I'm making a few changes to the funnel:

• Fixing the tracking issues
• Adding a 4th email to the Interest Gauging Series
• Adding testimonials to the Checkout Page
• Increasing the Bump price from $37 to $47

And, we'll see what happens!

Paid Facebook Traffic

The funnel is currently setup to approach my subscribers; however, with a few simple tweaks I'll be able to run cold traffic through it as well.

I will do this with Facebook ads for a chance to download 19 sales funnel blueprints. This will essentially place them right into the current setup and I'll see what happens with that and adjust accordingly.

One thing I'm looking forward to is that all individuals that request the 19 sales funnel blueprints will be interested … I'll essentially bypass the whole Interest Gauging Series because the ad itself will gauge the interest.

I'll also implement retargeting campaigns to continuously stay fresh in their mind!

Conclusion

The Sales Funnel Book‘s Free + Shipping sales funnel worked very well on the first go! Since it was “free” list traffic, and after covering the cost of producing and shipping the book, it was pure profit!

I did learn a few things along the way:

• Test, test, test your tracking code setup
• Be sure to take into account international shipping costs because you never know when a bunch of people from the Netherlands are going to buy your book and it costs $12 to ship to them!
• Have an order bump. Without this, we likely would have lost money.

All that's left to do now is make the changes, re-launch, and go live with paid Facebook traffic!

For You

I put together a plug & play book funnel using ClickFunnels: Click here to learn more about it!

If you've ever wanted to construct a sales funnel to launch a book, there's no better time than now!

Selling on Amazon has some MASSIVE benefits …

• They give you traffic
• High conversion rates
• They handle the logistics

But, it has some MASSIVE downsides as well …

• You don't “own” your customers
• Insane competition
• And, what if they ban you? You're screwed.

Of course, you already know this – these are the reasons you're here, reading this article.

What you've probably done thus far is setup a half-hearted ecommerce store on Shopify “in case” Amazon changes something that disrupts your business.

While your intentions are good, really … ask yourself … “How screwed would I be if Amazon shut me down today?”

If your answer is anything other than, “I wouldn't even notice it” – you're in the right place!

I'm about to give you a FREE Sales Funnel with the full blown strategy, specifically designed for people like you!

• [thrive_2step id='7377′]Click here for the free funnel![/thrive_2step]

An Ecommerce Store vs A Sales Funnel

An ecommerce store probably sounds like the right solution to you.

You sell on Amazon which is an ecommerce store, so it seems to make sense that if you make something similar, it should work.

I'm here to tell you, you're wrong.

Try it, you'll see.

Running an ecommerce store is hard.

Beyond the technical aspects of building it, automating it, and maintaining it (that's actually the easy part) …

The BIGGEST challenge you're going to have is to CONVINCE someone to buy off your store when there's Amazon.

You will have to build trust.

Building trust takes time and/or money.

You'll probably have to …

• write great, compelling, trust building copy
• develop a social media presence
• start a blog
• post videos on YouTube
• run paid ads
• handle customer inquiries
• and manage it all

Building trust is hard when you're competing against Amazon.

They already have the trust and you inherit it when you sell on their platform.

But, if you're off their platform … you're on your own.

You Need To Do Something Different

While an ecommerce store may sound like the logical solution, it's not.

It's too hard to compete with Amazon.

You need to do something different.

But, what?

Imagine having a system …

Imagine having a system where you could put a dollar in and receive at least a dollar in return.

How many dollars would you put into it?

That's the sole purpose of a sales funnel – you put money in, it spits more money back out.

Yeah, you're kind of doing it on Amazon already … it's generating more money than you're putting into it.

But, try running a Facebook ad to your ecommerce store … let me know how that works out for ya.

Unless you really know what you're doing and have your ducks in a row, I'd be willing to bet big money you will not even break even on paid traffic to your ecommerce store.

It's the nature of the beast.

You need a sales funnel

A Sales Funnel is your answer to the ecommerce store “problem”.

With a few working funnels you won't have to worry about Amazon anymore.

The good news is, you already have the products. You already know who your customers are. You already know what sells. You can even use Amazon's Fulfillment Centers.

You already have everything you need. Now, you just need to “funnel-ize” it!

The Amazon Seller's Sales Funnel

>> [thrive_2step id='7377′]CLICK HERE TO GET THIS SALES FUNNEL[/thrive_2step] <<

Free + Shipping [see page]

Grow Your List With Buyers

The first page in this sales funnel is a Free + Shipping offer.

What does that mean? It means you give something away for free, all they have to do is pay shipping & handling!

This is a great way to get BUYERS on your list – people that have proven they'll spend money with you.

There's no reason you can't create a Free + Shipping offer for your business. There must be a product you can acquire for under $2 that your audience will love (if you don't have one already).

Tip: incorporate the cost of the product in the shipping & handling price.

Cart Abandonment

Another cool feature of the Free + Shipping page is the 2-step form.

If someone inputs their contact info and goes to Step #2 (billing info), but doesn't pay, you will still capture their contact information. You can then re-engage them via email, phone, and/or snail mail. Think of it like a cart abandonment feature. (Really powerful!)

Order Bumps

Finally, on Step #2, right before the individual clicks the “Complete Order” button, there's an option to add a bonus to their order.

This bonus option is called an “Order Bump; it's a fantastic way to increase order size.

What you want to offer here is a product that complements the free one they're ordering and is usually incentivized with a discount.

For example, with my Crazy Mug, I could include some Crazy Coffee Beans for 30% off.

Another option that works really well is to ask if the individual would like to double or even triple their order!

I'm about to run some numbers; if you hate numbers – skip to the next section.

Let's say my Crazy Mug costs me $1.50 to get in the Amazon warehouse. Amazon charges me $5.95 to ship it. However, to ship a second one, they only charge $1.20. So, to give away 2 mugs, it costs me $10.15 ($3 for 2 mugs + shipping & handling). If I charge $5.99 shipping & handling per mug, that brings in $11.98 and I'm able to net $1.83. Yes, not much in this particular example; however, what if my product cost was closer to $0.50? What if people were tripling their orders? There are lots of things to try!

OTO #1 (One-Time-Offer) [see page]

Obviously, you'll go out of business if you only give away free stuff.

You're going to have to make money somewhere in this funnel, and the first place to really make it is with OTO #1!

OTO stands for One-Time-Offer and it's essentially a special offer presented to an individual, only one time, which is right now! If they don't act now, they miss out on this exclusive offer forever. This added element of scarcity increases conversions.

Typically, OTO #1 should be around $50; however, depending on your market, it could be more. It's typically less than OTO #2. (This is just what's “typical” – heck, try selling some really expensive stuff in OTO #1 and see what happens!)

While there are several strategies and tactics for OTOs – the main objective of your OTO in this sales funnel is to sell something that has an incredibly high margin. This will allow you to recoup ad spend and turn a profit.

Hopefully you already have some incredibly high margin products in your inventory that even when paired with an irresistible discount, you're still able to reap a nice profit.

However, what if you don't have an incredibly high margin product to offer? Here are some ideas that work well:

• Create a bundle – combine a few products so the OTO, as a whole, has a higher value
• Add digital assets – courses, training, documents, membership
  • Video Training: How to build a membership portal in ClickFunnels
• Introduce continuity (recurring) – membership, community
• Add a subscription (recurring) – consumable products typically need to be replaced, can you offer a subscription service?

The Video

The video included in the funnel is just a placeholder. You need to shoot your own video or you can make a text based offer if you'd rather; however, video typically converts better.

The video should only be 3-5 minutes in length and hit on a few key points:

• Tell them the free product they just grabbed is freakin' awesome and will be on its way to them shortly. Reiterate a key benefit or two.
• Introduce the OTO as a special offer that's going to make that free product even better.
  • Also, hit on the fact that this offer is not for everyone. It's only for individuals that have grabbed the free product.
• Tell them what the OTO is and how it will benefit them.
• Tell them to click the “orange” button below to accept the offer.
• If you offer a guarantee, mention it.
• Share a review or two. Or at least snippets with the key points.
• Tell them to again click the “orange” button below to accept the offer.

If you hit on all of those points, you'll easily fill the 3-5 minutes!

What An OTO Is Not

An OTO should not be an upgrade of the free product they just grabbed.

For example, if I'm giving away coffee mugs, my OTO should not be a really expensive coffee mug because they already requested a mug … why would they need another one?

Instead, what you offer needs to complement what they just purchased, not replace it.

Downsell [see page]

Unfortunately, not everyone is going to accept your OTO #1, no matter how awesome it is.

For the people that say “no” to OTO #1, offer them a downsell.

There are a few ways to handle this:

1. Offer a discount on the OTO #1 – Like in the funnel I'm giving away, the downsell is a discount on OTO #1. This option can work incredibly well; however, bear in mind your margins as well as how you want to be perceived. Are you sure you want to “reward” people for saying “no”? However, if it's more of a “churn and burn” play as opposed to brand building – this option may work well for you.
2. Add a bonus – Add another product to OTO #1, physical or digital to sweeten the deal. Note: similar to providing a discount, this option may inadvertently “train” people to say “no” so they can see what bonuses they'll receive.
3. Break up OTO #1 – If your OTO #1 is a bundle, break it up and allow people to purchase pieces of it individually. This works well because your customer may not want all of the items included in the bundle; however, if offered a discount on one of the products, they'll take it.
4. Offer a payment plan – Instead of one payment of $47, can you make it 2 payments of $23.50? This may entice your customer to make the purchase, but make sure you're not going to lose money if they only pay one payment. (Tip: include a “just charge me the onetime payment of $47” option in addition to the payment plan option.).
5. “Are you sure?” – Offer the exact same OTO #1 again. Reiterate the fact that it really is a one-time offer and they won't see it again.

OTO #2 [see page]

Whether or not your new customer purchases OTO #1 or the Downsell, they are presented with OTO #2.

OTO #2 is usually one of three things:

1. A higher-end, more expensive product – While OTO #1 is typically cheaper at around $50, and more “reasonable” to purchase, OTO #2 is typically one of your more expensive products. One where you're celebrating if it sells (as long as it's in line with everything else you're selling in your funnel).
2. Another product that complements the Free + Shipping product – If you don't have any expensive products to offer, that's OK. You can still recommend another complementary product that helps your customer while simultaneously increasing order size.
3. A continuity offer (if not included with OTO #1) – A membership or subscription that provides recurring revenue is the holy grail. It provides consistency and predictability to your business. If you can fit one in somewhere, do it.

Like OTO #1, you want to use a 3-5 minute video to sell it. You can follow a similar script as the one outlined above.

Order Confirmation [see page]

The Order Confirmation page is simply that, a page that confirms the individual's order.

It simply thanks them for their order, breaks it down for them, and tells them how to get in touch, what to expect, and what to do next.

Offer Wall

An Offer Wall is what it sounds like, a wall of offers. Essentially, you'll display 3-6 products with links to them and possibly some exclusive discounts. If your new customer wants to buy more from you, they know where to look!

I didn't include one of these with the sales funnel I'm giving away. However, it's relatively simple to add and something you may want to consider doing!

ClickFunnels to Amazon FBA

Since you're already selling on Amazon, I'm sure you're taking advantage of their fulfillment centers.

This is the best way I know how to do it:

Take Action!

Now is the time for you to make a decision.

Are you going to stay dependent on Amazon while running a half-hearted ecommerce store or are you going to take control, build a few funnels, and dominate?!

In this post, [thrive_2step id='7377′]I've given you a sales funnel for free[/thrive_2step] and outlined the entire strategy for it.

All you need to do is execute.

For more training on execution, check out The Sales Funnel Training Vault!

SamCart is a shopping cart platform that has built-in 1-click up-sell and down-sell functionality. This functionality makes it a great tool for building Micro Sales Funnels.

Now, typically, I don't recommend SamCart because I think it's overpriced for what it offers; however, if you know nothing about technology and want something simple, SamCart may be a good fit for you.

If you think SamCart may be a good fit for you and your business – that's great! They offer a lot of resources to help you get started at http://support.samcart.com/.

Although most of the training they provide is great, they don't really teach you how to setup a sales funnel with their platform.

But, it's OK! That's why I created this step-by-step video tutorial to show you how to build a sales funnel with SamCart:

>> Try SamCart, FREE For 30 Days! <<

General Outline:

1. Setup your products
2. Create up-sells by assigning products as up-sells
3. Structure your funnel
4. Assign your funnel to your initial offer
   1. Assign the order bump as well (if applicable)
5. Test your funnel
6. Set it live!

Being that I spend all day, every day, building sales funnels … I'm always checking out new tools to make my life easier.

I first heard about SamCart over a year ago; however, within the last few months they've done some massive promotions and I decided to give it a shot.

After playing around with it for a few weeks, I've come to the following conclusion:

I wouldn't recommend SamCart in its current form and price point of $99/mo for most people. (I would pay $20/mo in its current form)