For an online business owner, a sales funnel is probably the most important marketing tool you have. And yet many entrepreneurs – both new and established – have no clear understanding of what a funnel is or how it works.

As you can imagine, failing to fully understand this critical part of your business means fewer sales, lower profits, fewer clients, and ultimately, an unstable business.

In this video, we go over easy sales funnels and the 3 pages every sales funnel must have and what should be included in each.

For an online business owner, a sales funnel is probably the most important marketing tool you have. And yet many entrepreneurs – both new and established – have no clear understanding of what a funnel is or how it works.

Here’s a quick visual representation showing an easy sales funnel…

The top of the funnel consists of free content, which typically requires nothing of your subscribers or leads. This can be blog posts, YouTube videos, Facebook content, podcasts, and other things that your leads can access at no cost. This is the “top” of your funnel.

Next, you’ll have an attractive offer that requires a very small “payment” of sorts – typically an email address. You’ve seen this type of offer on websites all over the internet, and probably even signed up for some. This is the free ebook or guide, quiz, video series, checklist, workbook, or other valuable content that is available in exchange for “opting in” to an email list.

Once on your mailing list, you’ll then present your readers with a series of low-cost offers. Perhaps you have a low-priced ebook or a trial membership or a one-time ask the expert session.

Customers who purchase your low-priced product move further down the funnel, and are presented with more, higher priced products such as group training, online courses, bespoke services, maybe a VIP day, or 1:1 coaching.

Confused about how exactly sales funnels work? You’re not alone. In fact, that’s the number one reason small business owners say they can’t get their funnels set up—they simply don’t know what to include where.

Here’s the easy answer: At the very least, your sales funnel needs three pages.

Sales Page

This one obviously comes first. You might call it a landing page, or in the case of a free opt-in, a squeeze page. It serves one purpose—to get the reader to take action. Whether that’s to buy a product or offer up their email address in exchange for a free gift, this is the gateway into your funnel. Everything that follows depends on this page, so you want to be sure you:

• Include a clear call to action—“Buy Now” or “Click here to download this report for free”
• Eliminate distractions—that means no links to other websites or even a navigation bar
• Address the readers’ pain points and how your offer provides the solution

Confirmation Page

Here’s where we ask the reader to confirm their intent. For a sales funnel, this confirmation page might actually be your checkout page. It’s where they enter their payment details. For a free offer, it’s simply the page your email management system directs them to next. It’s a holding page, if you will, while you wait for them to confirm their email address.

If you’re setting up a free funnel, this page has great power—and you don’t want to waste it! Here is where you can offer an upsell, remind people to follow you on social media, and give them a peek at your other products and services.

Remember, though, that they will only see this page once, so don’t put anything here that they will need to refer back to. That’s what the thank you page is for.

Thank You Page

This is where they actually collect their downloadable item or get information about how your product will be delivered.

Like the confirmation page, this is valuable real estate, so you want to be sure you use it wisely. In addition to the downloadable item your customer just purchased (or opted in for) you also want to showcase your other offers—especially those at a slightly higher price point. Here’s why: the person looking at this page is a hot prospect. He or she is in a buying mood. You want to be sure to take advantage of that by putting your most relevant offers on this page.

To encourage buying, consider including:

A limited-time offer—scarcity sells, so if you can legitimately limit sales to a few hours/days or number of units, then this is the place to do so.

A “no brainer” coupon offer—an insider’s only deal can be a powerful motivator, especially if it’s a fantastic price.

I have a Systems Sunday download for you you are going to really like – it’s a collection of my sample funnel pages with lots of extras like headlines, power words, closings, etc.

We will be talking about sales funnels this whole month, stay tuned for upcoming topics such as how to fix leaks in your funnel, how to put your sales funnel on autopilot, and top tools for building sales funnels. See you next week.

Catch up on other Easy Sales Funnels episodes:

• [Video] Why Sales Funnels Leak and How to Fix
• [Video] Put Your Sales on Autopilot With a Follow-Up Sequence
• [Video] Top Tools to Build Your Sales Funnel

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