Sales Funnels: Template, 5 Stages, 5 Steps & 10 Point Checklist

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Sales Funnels: Template, 5 Stages,

5 Steps & 10 Point Checklist to
Guide You
by Aaron Orendor�, January 13, 2020 Share
No matter what you sell, getting prospective customers to buy doesn’t happen in an
instant.
Instead, the sales process unfolds in stages: Warming up cold prospects to the idea of
spending their hard-earned cash on your products and priming them for purchases in the
future.
Unfortunately, in today’s climate of low trust and fierce competition … that’s no easy task.
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That pain is only intensified if you spend money on marketing

and advertising with little to no return on investment (ROI).
The antidote to this pain — and the secret to unlocking success — lies in creating a sales
funnel built around five stages. In other words, using a proven template that’s not just
easier and faster … but converts like wildfire.
Fair warning: This article is long. Of course, that’s only right with a topic as powerful as
sales funnels.
To help guide you, we’ve boiled it all down into a single template and 10 point
checklist you can grab right here — think of it as your fast-track cheat sheet …
Download the sales funnel template and 10 point checklist
Sales Funnel Definition

Answering the question, “What is a sales funnel?” is no easy take (that’s why we wrote an
entire article on the subject). By way of o�ering a simplified definition …
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smaller group of highly-targeted, high-value customers.
The final goal is not to make a sale, at least not a single sale.
Instead the goal is create returning customers with life-time
value.
Breaking the buyer’s journey down into smaller steps (i.e., stages) allows you to be more
precise about how and when you present o�ers.
For a small business owner, you may start with only one or two products. For a large B2B
company, you may have numerous o�ers fueling lead generation and nurturing new leads
through the sales cycle, sales pipeline, or sales team.
Suddenly, everything can feel complex. For the sake of simplicity …
Think about ordering at a McDonald’s. If you order a hamburger, you’re asked if you’d like
to add cheese. Order chicken nuggets and you’re asked if you want fries with that. Order a
combo meal and you’re given the chance to make it a large or “supersize.”
Then, think about McDonald’s new mobile app and its product-specific loyalty programs,
like McCafe Rewards:
Every o�er is actually a series of o�ers designed to increase purchase size as well as
drive subsequent purchases.
At the biggest of big picture, funnels are usually divided into three parts:
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Don’t let top of the funnel, middle of the funnel, and bottom of the funnel confuse you. Later on we’ll unpack
AIDA and then reveal the five stages that truly matter!
On some level, this funneling occurs even if you don’t have intentional sales funnel stages
in place. By taking a templated approach — especially if you’re growing an online business
— you’ll dramatically increase the number of customers you end up generating.
The key to an e�ective sales funnel: Engage with and provide

increasing value to your prospects throughout each stage.
No matter how simple or complex, the fact is sales funnels work when they’re built
according to certain universal principles. Case in point:
87% of consumers choose to do business with vendors who provide valuable content
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Nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases than non-nurtured prospects
In addition to top, middle, and bottom, sales funnels have traditionally been structured
around four stages known by the acronym …
AIDA: Awareness. Interest. Desire.

Action
The AIDA model was developed in the late 19th century by advertising and sales pioneer
Elias St. Elmo Lewis. And, it has become the backbone of almost every successful
advertising and marketing campaign since.
Why is it so successful?
AIDA takes potential customers through the emotional journey of making a purchase —
guiding the buying decision from initial attraction to taking action.
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1. Awareness
Sometimes referred to as “attention,” the first stage of the sales funnel is where a brand
catches the eye of new audience members via marketing content and/or a valuable
baseline o�er.
2. Interest
Here, the brand will begin to forge a deeper relationship with their prospects, becoming
more actively involved in learning about their goals and/or problems. In doing so, you can
begin providing preliminary solutions, allowing them to experience “quick wins” — and
become more engaged.
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Consumers who reach this third stage have become convinced that they do, in fact, have a
larger problem that needs solving. Moreover, they’re coming around to the idea of making
a purchase to solve said problem. At this point, the brand showcases how their premium
o�ering can be of service.
4. Action
The final stage of the sales funnel has prospects deciding to purchase (or not purchase)
the brand’s premium product or service. You’ll need to reinforce the value of your o�er —
as well as the downsides of not making a purchase.
These stages describe the general process all of us go through — as well as some general
action steps you should take to keep their prospects moving further in the funnel.
Depending on what you’re selling and who your target audience is, you’ll want to
tailor each stage of your sales funnel(s) accordingly.
(Yes, you absolutely can have more than one funnel in place at a given time. This will
become more clear in a bit.)
AIDA is a great starting point, but there’s a better way …
The 5 Stages of a Sales Funnel:

Defined and Explained
Though similar in appearance and structure, our approach — based on the work of Russel
Brunson — di�ers from the common AIDA model:
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The key di�erence involves getting prospects actively engaged

with you at every stage of the process.
Whereas AIDA has the company giving, giving, giving until a prospect converts, Brunson’s
funnel has both parties engaged in a process of give-and-take throughout. This version
elicits smaller conversions from the target consumer along their path to purchase.
It’s called the value ladder and its steps are a direct reflection of the funnel stages:
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We might even say that each stage of the sales funnel (bait, frontend, etc.) contains a “mini
funnel” within itself. Let’s take a look at how to make this happen.
Pre-Stage: Know Thy O�er(s)
First things first, you’ll want to define everything you’ll be o�ering your customers as
they move through your funnel, from bait to backend.
Before digging into each section, look at your overall sales funnel in its entirety with the
end goals in mind.
This pre-stage step is vital to success. If you don’t know what you’re o�ering your
customers at di�erent points they won’t exactly have good reason to keep going.
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Download this template of the five stages (along with the 10-step checklist)
You also want to determine how you’ll connect each subsequent o�er within your funnel.
The idea is to use your lower-tiered o�ers to prepare customers to get full use out of the
next product or service.
Think of it like: “Okay, you’ve experienced great success with Product A — now let’s
supercharge this success by implementing Product B into the mix.”
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While your customers will, of course, experience your overall sales funnel in stages, you
need to have a clear blueprint in place for how and why they’ll move through it on their
way to your most valuable o�ering.
Stage 1. Tra�ic
Not all tra�ic is created equal: Be laser-focused on how your target audience enters
your sales funnel.
This preliminary stage is a sort of “controlled awareness,” in that you want to be

intentional who you bring into your funnel — in turn allowing you to avoid attracting poor-
quality prospects.
This stage of the process, then, involves optimizing the ads, content, and a�iliate sources
you use to drive tra�ic to your funnel. Think about:
Where your high-value prospects “hang out” on the web

What social networks and/or content they interact with
What free or lower-cost o�ers get them to take initial steps with a new brand
Needless to say, if you aren’t sure how to get brand new customers interested in even your
lowest-tier o�ers, there’s no way you’ll be able to get them interested in your big-ticket
items or services.
But, by meeting your target audience where they are (and where they’re comfortable
engaging with your brand), you can get them to enter your funnel on their terms — and get
them on track toward where you want them to be.
Stage 2. Bait
A lead magnet o�ered either for free or at a very low cost to the prospect.
Some clarification here …
While “Bait” is a stage of the overall sales funnel, each “mini funnel” will require the use of
some kind of low-risk o�er to hook your prospects and get them to engage further.
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profit as they continue through your funnel — can be used to keep the customer engaged
and ready to move forward.
If you give something away for free now, you’ll have primed the recipient to make a more
valuable purchase at some point in the near future — which is where the real money is to
be made. You can even operate at a loss for bait o�ers, as long as the next stages in your
funnel are ready to step in to sell at a profit.
You’ll also be able to funnel out those who don’t take you up on your bait o�er. A�er all,
those who aren’t interested in your low-risk o�ers likely won’t be looking to purchase your
big-ticket items.
Stage 3. Front End O�er
A low-price and low-risk o�er that provides value to new customers, allowing them to
solve surface-level issues with minimal investment.
Once your prospective customers have taken you up on your bait o�er, you’ll want to send
them directly to a landing page or squeeze page showcasing your “leveled” premium o�er.
(You can also — and should — simultaneously follow up with email o�ers; a practice
known as “funnel stacking.”)
Here’s where the stakes get a bit higher for your business …
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this point.
That is, if you’re able to keep their attention and e�ectively communicate the true value of
your o�er. You can make this happen by optimizing the various elements of your squeeze
page …
Squeeze Page Copy

Copy — that is, the words themselves — needs to quickly communicate the value of your
o�er and prime your audience to take immediate action.
This can be done by adhering to the following checklist as you create your squeeze page
copy:
Let your brand personality come through (be a relatable character)

Tailor the message to your audience
Shorten sentences and paragraphs, but provide MORE depth
Write at or below a 6th grade reading level
Use bullet points or numbered lists
Include a subheader or image every 200-300 words
In short: Speak directly to your target audience — and don’t over-complicate your
message.
MIG Soap’s 14 Day Challenge shines on all these fronts:
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The easier it is for your audience to recognize the value of your o�er, the more likely they’ll
be to take you up on it.
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Words are the backbone of your squeeze page. But, content can take a variety of forms:
A backstory video showcasing what your brand is “all about”

A demonstration (or, explainer) video showing your product in action
An interview with a current or past client in which they discuss their positive
experiences with your product or service
The approach you go with depends heavily on the value ladder level you’re currently
targeting.
For example, if you’re aiming to get a new prospect to commit to a preliminary o�er, you’d
want to quickly introduce them to your brand, and discuss the “quick wins” they can
expect to experience.
Typically, this video content should be short and to-the-point — maximizing the chances
that your new prospects will watch it in its entirety. VideoMastery.com’s hero video is a
mere two minutes and fi�een seconds:
Its testimonial videos (i.e., mini case studies) — later on the same page — are even shorter.
All of them are under one minute:
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On the other hand, if you’re aiming to make a final sale on a higher-priced product, you
might decide to go the longform route with you video content.
Reason being, those who are on the cusp of making a more costly purchase will want as
much info as you can give them — and will be more willing to stick around long enough to
be convinced to do so.
Squeeze Page Social Proof

Social proof can — and should — be used to reinforce the claims you’ve made on your
squeeze page.
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and is specific to the use
LadyBoss Labs seeds a variety of social proof types throughout its squeeze page, opening
with brief testimonials and logos to show authority …
… and adding direct endorsements along with real social media posts from its customers
later on:
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Generalized social proof regarding your brand may work to engage new prospects.
However, you’ll need to use specific anecdotes from successful customers when looking to
make bigger sales further down the funnel.
Squeeze Page Call-to-Action

No matter what you’re o�ering on a given squeeze page, it needs to be crystal clear what
your audience needs to do to receive it.
Don’t beat around the bush here. Make sure your CTA stands out from all other elements
of your landing page — allowing interested customers to take the next step as soon as
they’re ready.
There’s no mistaking what action LadyBoss wants its website visitors to take …
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In some cases, you might even want to include CTAs at the top, bottom, and middle of
your page. The last thing you want is for your engaged audience to not engage further with
your brand simply because they aren’t sure how to do so.
Stage 4. Middle O�er
A progressively more valuable and intensive solution that helps customers solve a
more deep-seated problem — and better prepares them for your highest-price point
product or service.
Now we’re getting down to business.
At each stage of the value ladder, as your prospects reach the bottom of your “mini
funnel,” you’ll need to provide an irresistible o�er that allows them to accomplish a
certain task — and prepares them for the next tier of the ladder.
Going back to LadyBoss, its middle o�er is an invitation to “Join The CLUB”:
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If you’ve thought about middle o�ers before, the question is …
Upsell or Downsell?
An upsell is an o�er that costs more than your front end o�er; a downsell costs less.
Before or immediately a�er they confirm their order, provide an upsell o�er that will
increase the value of their initial order — and enhance their overall experience with your
brand.
(And, of course, allow you to increase your revenues, too.)
Typically, upsell o�ers come in the form of:
Sale prices on bulk orders

Customized version or a variation of the initial product or service
An o�er to increase subscription length at a discounted price
Supplemental products (cross-sells)
If they don’t end up taking the upsell, consider sending them a lower-risk o�er that meets
them where they are.
Examples of downsells include:
A payment plan for the otherwise expensive upsell

A smaller, lesser, cheaper version of the upsell o�er
A limited and discounted trial period for the upsell o�er
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Email Marketing
You’ll notice that in nearly all examples getting a visitor’s email address is emphasized.
That’s because email marketing is a critical part of the customer journey: Before,
during, and a�er buying.
We don’t want to get o� topic, especially because email is a detailed tactic. That’s why
we’ve written extensively about it all on its own:
How to Grow an Email List Starting from Scratch

How to Create Successful Email Marketing Campaigns
Stage 5. Backend O�er
Your most valuable, intensive, and costly product or service that customers can use
on a continual basis to solve an ever-present problem in their lives.
By now, we’ve made it pretty clear that your ultimate goal is to tie each of your “mini
funnels” together to create one overarching sales funnel.
The hope is to transform brand new customers into high-value patrons of your company.
As we’ve said, the vast majority of your target audience simply won’t be ready to engage
with your highest-value o�er …
Until they’ve gotten a taste via your lower-tiered products or services.
The thing is, there’s no guarantee that your customers will simply move onto the next
value level once they’ve experienced all you have to o�er at their current stage. In many
cases, your customers are more likely to stick to what they know, rather than risk jumping
up to your next tier of service.
(Or, they may churn completely a�er having received all you have to o�er at a certain
value level.)
The onus is on you to convince them that they stand to gain a ton of value from the
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Note that, at this point o
gotten near-full value from the previous stage of the ladder but aren’t quite ready to enter
the next “mini funnel” you have prepped for them.
So, instead of heavy-handedly pushing your more valuable o�er, you’ll want to simply
keep them engaged with your brand.
Basically, this involves doing whatever you can to continue providing value to them a�er
they’ve purchased a given product or service.
This could mean:
Providing personalized content, in their preferred format, that allows them to get the
absolute most out of the product or service they’re currently using
Delivering high-quality customer service and support — from onboarding to
troubleshooting to instructions for “power use” of your o�ering
Gradually touching on the added value provided by your higher-tiered service —
specific to the value sought by the individual customer
A community (Facebook group) they can live and grow within
It’s simple …
If you can prove that your main concern is on providing value to your customers — even
a�er they’ve already given you their money — they’ll be that much more likely to trust
your more costly o�ering will be worth the price of admission.
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Grab this template of the five stages (along with all 10 steps)!
How to Create Each Stage of Your

Sales Funnel: Don’t Start from
Scratch
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Many of your competitors have likely already built funnels, generating engagement and
sales from the exact type of customer you’re looking to attract with your own funnels.
We’re not advocating that you simply copy what your competitors are doing. But, you do
want to take note of how competing brands are working to nurture their audience toward
the “big sale” at the end of their funnel.
Which is where funnel hacking comes into play.
What Is Funnel Hacking?

“Funnel hacking is the process of strategically investigating the sales and marketing
process of your competitors, which you can use to model and test within your own sales
and marketing processes.”
In other words, you’ll actually participate in the various stages of your competitors’ sales
funnels, then reverse-engineer the process in order to determine how to go about creating
your own.
How to Funnel Hack Your

Competitors
1. List Your Competitors
Your main focus, of course, will be on your direct competition. Make a list of all known
companies that sell similar products or services to yours.
You also want to consider looking into your indirect competition, as well. Here, you’ll be
considering companies who don’t necessarily sell within your niche, but whose audience
overlaps with your own.
In doing so, you’ll be able to gain a better understanding of the sales tactics that get
your target audience to take action.
Stay broad as you start out. While you’ll eventually pare down your list to your most-
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2. Engage, Document, and Analyze

More than simply checking out your competitors’ websites, landing pages, and other
marketing content, you’ll want to take screenshots and create swipe files. As you do so, be
sure to categorize these artifacts accordingly.
We advise you create separate folders for Bait, Frontend, and Backend o�ers for each
competitor you analyze. You also may want to create a folder specifically for documenting
ad creatives — which you can further categorize based on the medium the creative is
presented on (e.g., Google, Facebook, etc.).
At this point, you don’t necessarily need to engage too far with your various competitors —
especially if doing so requires that you spend money on their products or services.
You do want to take as many preliminary steps as you can — such as signing up for mailing
lists, requesting additional information, and downloading free content.
Once you’ve amassed a robust collection of artifacts, you’ll then want to start
analyzing them from a number of di�erent vantage points.
This involves asking blue-print type questions:
What words (copywriting) are they using in their headlines?

What colors are they using throughout their content?
Are buttons located above the fold or below the fold?
Do they use videos and images, or just text?
Are they listing benefits or features?
Do they include social proof like testimonials?
Are there any pop-ups during exit intent?
Is the header section of the site fixed?
Is there a full sign up form or an opt in form?
Do action steps require more than one touchpoint?
Is price mentioned for their products (if so, what are their price points?)
How many words are there on the homepage?
The idea is to take note of as many di�erent aspects as possible — and to understand why
your competitors decided to take the approach they did.
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funnels.)
As you find the answers to these questions, make sure to document this information
within the folders you’ve created.
3. Assess Tracking Strategies

Throughout the above stage of the funnel hacking process, you’ve most likely only seen
about 20-30% of your competitors’ sales funnels.
That said, we want to know which tools your competitors use and determine whether or
not you should be using these same tools as well.
To figure this out, you’ll need to download two add-ons for Google Chrome:
First, check out Ghostery. This extension allows you to see the “invisible” web, detecting
trackers, web bugs, pixels and beacons placed on web pages by Facebook, Google, and
other platforms that gather information about your internet activity.
While this app is primarily designed to stay hidden from trackers, you can use it to identify
which trackers and programs are being used by competing businesses.
The second is BuiltWith Technology Profiler, which allows you to see the tool stack
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This will begin to answer tra�ic and conversion rate questions about your competitors’
strategies, such as:
Are they using remarketing (also known as retargeting)?

Are they using Google, Facebook, or other platforms?
Are they using any conversion rate tracking so�ware?
The list of questions you might ask (and find the answer to) is nearly inexhaustible.
What’s important is that you dig up the information that will matter most to your company
as you begin to build your own sales funnels. All of this should go right into the notes you
created during the previous step of the funnel hacking process.
4. Use Competitive Intelligence Tools

You also want to find out how your competitors are acquiring tra�ic in the first place. This
will tell you which sources to focus on when looking to uncover high-value prospects for
your own business.
To unearth these game-changers, enlist the help of the following competitive analysis
tools:
AdBeat or WhatRunsWhere
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particular ad to the crea
SEMRush
Focusing on the SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) side
of things, SEMRush gathers insight into how your competitors generate tra�ic.
This includes information related to search positions (and changes), ads, keywords they’re
targeting, the copy, video advertisements, backlinks, estimated tra�ic generated, keyword
research — and much, much more.
SimilarWeb
This tra�ic-focused tool allows you to check out a wide range of activity that’s going on
within the websites you’re profiling. With SimilarWeb, you can identify top referring sites,
as well as top destination sites as people flow to and from your competitor.
5. Purchase From Your Top Competitors

Once you’ve determined which of your competitors are worth taking a closer look at, your
next step will be to actually engage with them as if you were an interested customer.
(Note: While you might balk at the idea of giving money to your competitors, the insight
you’ll be able to glean — and subsequently implement into your own sales funnels — will
be well worth the price of admission.)
Here’s where you want to get ultra-meticulous in your documentation and analysis.
You don’t necessarily need to go through with a top-tier purchase — but you want to
act like you’re going to do so.
That is, once you’ve nearly reached the end of their sales funnel, you’ll want to hop on a
sales call with them — all the while taking note of everything they talk about throughout.
Since this is the “big” sale your competitors have been aiming to make from the get-go,
you can be sure they’ll leave everything out on the table, so to speak. This, in turn,
provides the perfect opportunity for you to uncover any information you may have
overlooked throughout your funnel hacking process.
(Again, while you don’t necessarily need to make this final purchase, doing so may provide
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analyze the strengths an
necessary improvements to your own o�ering.)
Ask yourself questions like …
What specific value or benefit is being provided by a given o�er?

What action do you have to take to receive the o�er?
What strategies do they use to keep you moving forward?
How does each subsequent o�er relate to the previous and next stage?
The answers to these questions will round out your understanding and allow you to
clearly see what you should be o�ering your customers throughout your own funnel.
1. Match Domain Name and URL to

Your O�er
This is pretty self-explanatory, but still worth mentioning …
The domain name and URL you use for your sales funnel must be representative of
your brand and your o�er.
A URL like “RobsCompany.com/salesfunnel1” comes o� not just as generic, but also as

overly-salesy. While your customers are smart enough to know when they’re being sold to,
there’s no reason for you to be blatant about it.
It sounds like a small detail, but matching your URL to your o�er will add to the customer-
facing nature of your brand — and will be one less thing to distract your audience from
taking the next step.
We’re disciplined about this at ClickFunnels. Not only for the SEO (search engine
optimization) benefits of matching URLs to content, but also for the clarity they bring.
Notice the straightforwardness of our own and a couple of the pages we looked at above
…
https://funnelstackingsecrets.com/start
https://funnelhackerscookbook.com/funnel-recipes
https://go.migsoap.com/14-day-beauty
https://ladyboss.com/labs
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Relationally: WWWH
Speaking of being customer-facing with your sales funnel content, it’s vital that anything
your prospective clients see speaks to them on a personal and individual level.
This means using WWWH …
Who is your ideal customer,who do they trust, and who should you put on the page to
embody that (current customers)?
What do they want out of your product or service? What are they trying to escape
from or find a solution to?
Why do they want it? What are the deeper emotional needs and pains they’re
currently experiencing? Why is the cost less than the benefit?
How can your images, words, and calls-to-action bring it to life?
Remember: Your customers don’t want to be sold to; they want to receive value.
And they don’t want to put all that much e�ort into solving their problem either; they
want you to make it easy for them.
3. Address the “Catch”

If you’ve done the above, your prospective customers will likely be le� saying to
themselves:
“Well, this sounds way too good to be true.”
Your goal is to clarify to them that your o�er is the real deal. But, that doesn’t
necessarily mean that your o�er will always be on the table.
Maybe you’re o�ering a time-sensitive sale or a one-time o�er. Or, maybe you’re planning
on discontinuing a product or service a�er a certain period of time.
Whatever the case may be, addressing the “catch” to your current o�er can instill a sense
of urgency — making them more likely to take immediate action.
Since your customers will likely be looking for a “catch” anyway, you might as well give
them one that puts the ball in their court. That way, they’ll understand that the only thing
standing between them and the o�er is … themselves.
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In furthering the customer-facing and “too good to be true” nature of your sales funnel,
you also want to minimize the amount of risk your prospects will have to take when going
through with a purchase.
In fact, you can even take this a step further and explain that it’s you who will be taking a
risk by doing business with your customers. Known as risk-reversal, the idea is to make
your potential customers feel like they have no reason not to take advantage of the o�er at
hand.
Whether you’re o�ering money-back guarantees, double-your-money-back guarantees, or

any other kind of risk-free assurance, you’ll inherently bring your prospects to trust your
brand in two key ways …
First, they simply have nothing (or very little) to lose, and a ton of value to gain. Second,
confidence in your ability to follow through with your promise will shine — building trust
when it matters most.
5. Recap
If a prospect or customer is close to the point-of-purchase at any level of your value
ladder, two things are all but certain:
You’ve provided them with some sort of value in your relationship thus far
They’ve grown in some way since they’ve first engaged with your brand
As you begin to close in on a sale, it’s imperative that you make these two points clear
to your potential customer.
The goal is reinforcement. On some level, the customer knows these things — but may not
be consciously thinking about them when you actually make your o�er.
But, with a little gentle nudging on your end, they’ll be reminded of how far they’ve come
— and how much further they’ll be able to go.
Notice how MIG Soap’s 14 Day Challenge order page summarizes all the elements in short-
form immediately next to the two-stage order form:
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6. Sequence the Right Pages

The key to successfully nurturing consumers through your sales funnel is to get them to
take action at every touchpoint.
You even want to go as far as to create touchpoints for your prospects to engage with
throughout your sales funnel. This is where techniques such as the two-step tripwire come
into play.
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As the name suggests, a two-step tripwire has consumers taking two steps to complete the
overall task at hand. Most o�en, this two-step process is as follows:
1. The prospect fills out a contact info form on the first page of your funnel (typically in
exchange for a freebie o�er)
2. On the second page, the prospect is shown a small-ticket, frontend o�er. If they
choose to make a purchase, only then will they be asked to provide payment info.
This allows you to implement the “foot-in-door” technique, as you’ll be gradually asking
the prospect for more information a�er they commit to providing some surface-level info.
Then, you can hit them with the more valuable o�er a�er they’ve become a bit more
invested in your brand.
Even if a prospect decides not to go through with the follow-up purchase, you’ll still have
collected their contact info — and can then send them more applicable o�ers in the future.
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It’s vital to know exactly how each of your “mini funnels” connect with one another to
create an overarching sales funnel that encompasses all levels of your value ladder.
Within each “mini funnel,” this means o�ering content and freebies that prepare the
customer to get the most out of your main o�ering at that level. Within your overall sales
funnel, it means ensuring those who have gone through one “mini funnel” are fully
prepared to enter the next.
Basically, you want your customers to feel like they’ve “graduated” to the next step of your
value ladder once they’ve reached a certain point with your lower-tiered products.
If a subsequent o�er has little to nothing to do with the previous product or service you’ve
o�ered, your audience will likely be rather hesitant to take the next step with your brand.
8. Connect Bundles, Bumps,

Upsells, and Downsells
Once a prospect has gotten to the point where you believe they’re ready to make a
purchase, you need to be sure the o�er you present them is highly-relevant to their
specific circumstances.
Of course, the ideal scenario is that your prospects simply take advantage of your main
o�ering as is.
When your “typical” o�er isn’t exactly what a customer is looking for … you’ll need
to have subsequent o�ers at the ready to keep them on track toward converting.
If a prospect doesn’t feel ready to purchase your mid- or top-tier service, you’ll want to
have a related, yet lower-value service to o�er them. It’s important to tailor these
downsells to the prospect’s specific needs (as opposed to providing a more generalized
downsell to all prospects who decline your main o�er).
On the other hand, if a customer does accept your main o�er, you also want to provide an
upsell that’s relevant to their needs. They’ll be much more likely to accept this subsequent
o�er if it provides the specific value they’re looking to get from your brand.
9. Include Social Proof

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By sprinkling social proof throughout your sales funnel, you’ll give your prospects
the evidence they need to feel confident.
For one thing, the modern consumer places more trust in their peers than the brands they
do business with. Providing various types of social proof can allow prospective customers
to truly understand what they have to gain by engaging further with your brand.
Social proof can take lots of di�erent forms:
Short endorsements
Long-form testimonials
Written case studies
Video testimonials
User-generated content
Pictures and videos posted to social
Logos or “trust seals”
Before and a�er images
Numerical reviews and ratings
10. Remember Exit Intent O�ers

As you probably know, most people who click-through to your landing page will end up
leaving without taking even the smallest step forward.
While this is to be expected, you shouldn’t just accept it without putting up a fight.
Rather, you’ll want to take action to keep them on your landing page — and, ideally, giving
your o�er a second thought.
Include exit intent o�ers on each of your landing pages. This means adding popups,
overlays, and other such “extras” to be presented to your site’s visitors once it becomes
clear they’re ready to head elsewhere.
Within these overlays, you can include one-time o�ers for freebies, downsells, or other
lower-value o�ers that your more hesitant prospects may be interested in receiving.
This way, you can make a last-ditch e�ort to keep these individuals engaged before they
navigate away from your site for good.
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Did you download the checklist? No? Well, good news, you still can!
Posted in Funnel Strategy, General, Make Money Online, Sales Funnels
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Pingback: How To Build A Proper Sales Funnel And Recover Vanishing Profits - ReadWrite
zena says:
January 6, 2019 at 11:26 pm
hey this article informative and helpful too im gonna share this ..thanks
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Simran Jamal says:
January 29, 2019 at 7:18 am
Hi,
Great article. The Information you shared is quite appreciable. It helped me a lot.
Will love to follow you from now.
Thanks
Reply
Mity says:
February 25, 2019 at 8:01 am
the article is informative and informative. I will share with my friends. thank you
Reply
This Is My South Bay says:

April 11, 2019 at 2:33 pm
I think a component that many marketers forget is finding the leak in the funnel. I’m
glad to see you you addressed that here �
Reply
Roswitha Herman says:

January 17, 2020 at 2:19 pm
Wow! Solid guide Aaron. I'd have loved to see more examples in terms of FUNNELS:
how are they structured, tagging and if/else structures. I'll bookmark this for future
use �
Reply
More Articles in Funnel Strategy
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GENERAL 7 min read
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You want to make more sales and increase the conversion rate of your website. You already know you have an
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Sales Funnels: Template, 5 Stages, 5 Steps &amp; 10 Point Checklist

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Sales Funnels: Template, 5 Stages, 5 Steps & 10 ... https://www.clickfunnels.

Sales Funnels: Template, 5 Stages,

by Aaron Orendor�, January 13, 2020 Share

That pain is only intensified if you spend money on marketing

Download the sales funnel template and 10 point checklist

Sales Funnel Definition

Suddenly, everything can feel complex. For the sake of simplicity …

The key to an e�ective sales funnel: Engage with and provide

AIDA: Awareness. Interest. Desire.

AIDA is a great starting point, but there’s a better way …

The 5 Stages of a Sales Funnel:

The key di�erence involves getting prospects actively engaged

Pre-Stage: Know Thy O�er(s)

This preliminary stage is a sort of “controlled awareness,” in that you want to be

Where your high-value prospects “hang out” on the web

Some clarification here …

Stage 3. Front End O�er

Squeeze Page Copy

Let your brand personality come through (be a relatable character)

MIG Soap’s 14 Day Challenge shines on all these fronts:

A backstory video showcasing what your brand is “all about”

Squeeze Page Social Proof

Squeeze Page Call-to-Action

Stage 4. Middle O�er

Now we’re getting down to business.

If you’ve thought about middle o�ers before, the question is …

(And, of course, allow you to increase your revenues, too.)

Typically, upsell o�ers come in the form of:

Sale prices on bulk orders

Examples of downsells include:

A payment plan for the otherwise expensive upsell

How to Grow an Email List Starting from Scratch

Stage 5. Backend O�er

Until they’ve gotten a taste via your lower-tiered products or services.

This could mean:

How to Create Each Stage of Your

Which is where funnel hacking comes into play.

What Is Funnel Hacking?

How to Funnel Hack Your

2. Engage, Document, and Analyze

This involves asking blue-print type questions:

What words (copywriting) are they using in their headlines?

3. Assess Tracking Strategies

Are they using remarketing (also known as retargeting)?

4. Use Competitive Intelligence Tools

5. Purchase From Your Top Competitors

Ask yourself questions like …

What specific value or benefit is being provided by a given o�er?

1. Match Domain Name and URL to

A URL like “RobsCompany.com/salesfunnel1” comes o� not just as generic, but also as

This means using WWWH …

3. Address the “Catch”

“Well, this sounds way too good to be true.”

Whether you’re o�ering money-back guarantees, double-your-money-back guarantees, or

6. Sequence the Right Pages

8. Connect Bundles, Bumps,

9. Include Social Proof

Social proof can take lots of di�erent forms:

10. Remember Exit Intent O�ers

Posted in Funnel Strategy, General, Make Money Online, Sales Funnels

Name* Email* Website (optional)

This Is My South Bay says:

Roswitha Herman says:

More Articles in Funnel Strategy

Sales Funnels: Template, 5 Stages, 5 Steps & 10 Point Checklist

Sales Funnels: Template, 5 Stages, 5 Steps & 10 Point Checklist