There are several ways to earn more money from your online store, but the best way is to use eCommerce sales funnels. Creating a good funnel for your store can be difficult if you are new to the sales funnel concept. Understanding the principles behind the best funnels will make it easier to get started.
The best sales funnels for eCommerce include the free plus shipping funnel, tripwire sales funnel, cross-sell funnel, product launch funnel, and upsell funnel. These sales funnel examples are excellent at converting leads whether you are dealing with physical or digital products.
This post will cover the best sales funnels you can apply to your online store. More importantly, we’ll discuss some real-life examples you can model your own funnel after.
Best Ecommerce Sales Funnel Examples
You can learn a lot by observing and emulating successful eCommerce funnels.
In this section, we will dive into some of the most popular eCommerce funnels, paired with real-life examples. Let’s dig in!
1. The Free Plus Shipping Ecommerce Funnel
Free plus shipping is a popular and effective eCommerce trick that gets consumers to take action.
Although the product is advertised as free, it isn’t entirely cost-free because the buyer has to pay for the shipping cost.
At a glance, it may look like the free plus shipping funnel does not have much to offer.
However, rest assured that it has the potential to boost your profits up to 10x.
Although your free offer will not rake in huge profits, it is an avenue to sell your premium products through upsells and cross-sells.
Ultimately, the goal of the free offer is to get potential customers to enter your sales cycle and stay there.
A seemingly free product is tempting for customers, and they’re usually willing to take a chance on the offer.
Once they take you up on your free offer, you can introduce your upsell. The steps below show the stages of the funnel.
- Start by directing traffic to your free offer landing page
- Next, the interested customers complete the checkout and leave their email addresses
- At the same time, you present your upsell offer
- You then use the collected email addresses to make follow-ups with leads.
Due to the effectiveness of the free plus shipping funnel, several eCommerce businesses use it to boost their profits.
Below is a detailed example of a free plus shipping funnel by Dean Graziosi.
Dean Graziosi’s Free Plus Shipping Sales Funnel
Leads enter this funnel by entering their first name and email address on the landing page.
Next, they are redirected to an order page where they enter their shipping information.
After filling in the shipping details, Dean introduces his upsell offers which are closely related to the first offer.
At this point, he makes enormous profits if the customer buys the upsell.
So, the free book caters to the advertising costs, and it does an excellent job at convincing people to join the funnel.
In addition to Dean, several other entrepreneurs have used the free plus shipping funnel to grow their eCommerce stores.
SkinnyMeTea’s sales funnel is another excellent example of a free shipping funnel in action.
SkinnyMe Tea( SMT) Sales Funnel
SkinnyMe is a popular multi-million dollar Australian eCommerce store run by Gretta Van Riel. The business specializes in tea tox products.
This brand leverages social proof and free shipping to attract and convert leads.
Gretta has grown four other multi-million dollar brands using a similar funnel approach.
Prospects first become aware of the SkinnyMe brand through ads on Facebook, Instagram, and coupon sites (among others).
For instance, they have a 20% off promotion this month plus free shipping.
If a prospect clicks on the ad, they are redirected to an attractive sales page that’s filled with lots of evidence backing the effectiveness of their detox products.
The evidence consists of several reviews alongside before and after photos. These testimonials have been left by real customers who have experienced actual results.
SMT makes it easier for shoppers to shop right away by adding “shop now’ buttons to the products in the middle of the landing page.
Then, once they’re on the order page, a shopper is shown more reviews that will help them take action.
Lastly, when a shopper adds a product to the cart, they are presented with additional offers and sometimes free ones!
Clearly, the SMT funnel is not a typical conversion funnel.
Instead, this eCommerce store has leveraged the power of social proof, reviews, images, and user-generated content to compel customers to take action.
Besides, the brand uses a unique approach to collect email addresses. It uses promo code discounts on first purchases in exchange for email addresses.
As a result, their email opt-in rate grew by over 758%.
2. The Tripwire Sales Funnel
The tripwire funnel is an excellent choice if you are selling specific products.
Used by gurus and smaller brands alike, tripwire funnels work well because they help build trust and confidence in your brand.
Because it provides a free or heavily discounted offer, a tripwire encourages new leads to try your product with minimal risks.
If they take you up on your low-cost offer and enjoy it, they are more likely to purchase your higher-cost products.
There are several ways you can create a tripwire. Some of the most commonly used methods in e-commerce include bundling, free trials, and low-cost offers.
Below are some successful tripwire product sales funnel examples. The example set by these eCommerce stores can inspire your own funnel.
The Yoga Body Tripwire Sales Funnel
Yoga Body bundles their tripwire with a more expensive product (a Yoga trapeze), for which they offer an additional discount.
The tripwire is a free video series and a pose chart that costs $18.95. In addition, the buyer receives a step-by-step instruction manual and two daisy chain straps.
In addition to the initial offer of $30 off the purchase, the client gets free shipping.
To convince people to take action, Yoga Body makes the discount available for a limited time, thus triggering the fear of missing out.
They use a countdown timer which makes clients act quickly before the offer expires.
SnackCrate’s Tripwire Sales Funnel- Offering A Free Sample
Using product samples also works great as a tripwire offer.
Let’s take a look at it in action. SnackCrate is a multi-million dollar subscription-based food service based in Pensacola.
It offers a monthly snacking box that allows customers to enjoy snacks from all around the world.
SnackCrate offers a free monthly starter subscription box as a tripwire to attract more customers.
The price of the tripwire keeps changing, and currently, it is free. In the image above, you can see that the snack box is free and comes with up to 20 full-sized snacks.
As a result, customers get to try different delicacies for free for the first month, making this a highly persuasive offer.
In addition, SnackCrate displays user reviews on their landing page to foster confidence and encourage new leads to subscribe.
Better yet, by creatively collecting delicacies from all over the world which they rotate monthly, they keep their customers interested and looking forward to exploring new treats.
Finally, the subscriptions are risk-free, and members can unsubscribe at any time.
3. The Cross-Sell Sales Funnel
The cross-sell funnel is another highly effective funnel for eCommerce.
The cross-selling technique can help you to avoid the constant struggle of trying to generate new leads. Instead, it enables you to make more sales to your existing customers.
When done correctly, the cross-selling technique has a massive impact on your eCommerce store sales.
In fact, Amazon, a successful eCommerce store, makes more than 35% of its sales from cross-selling.
When cross-selling, you offer other products that complement what the customer has in their cart.
You may do this by suggesting what other customers also viewed and bought.
This strategy works because it saves customers the hassle of finding complementary products.
Let’s look at some examples of the cross-sell funnel in real life.
The Lush Cross-Sell Funnel
Lush is a popular cosmetics seller that specializes in fresh handmade cosmetics. Among their best-selling products is the “ Honey I Washed My Hair” shampoo bar.
Below the product image, Lush provides user reviews provided by previous customers.
This is followed up by how to use and store the shampoo bar, a short story on shampoo bars, and eventually, the ingredients of the shampoo bar.
Finally, toward the bottom of the page, Lush provides a ‘you might also like’ section. It contains several other hair-related products that a user might be interested in.
Once a user views the related products, they can learn more about the products in a single quick click and can easily add the new products to the cart.
The result? Happy customers who have a hassle-free shopping experience.
This cross-sell funnel example section would be incomplete without mentioning Amazon.
The Amazon Cross Sell Funnel
Amazon is a multi-billion dollar eCommerce store that deals with products across several categories, including electronics, clothes, kitchenware, and toys.
This store effectively uses the cross-sell funnel to boost its revenue. Let’s take a look at the electric griddle below.
If a customer is looking for an electric griddle, they can add this one to the cart and buy it alone.
However, immediately after the presentation of this product, Amazon cleverly introduces a ‘Buy It With” section, as shown below.
If someone is interested in a griddle, chances are, they will also buy a silicone pancake turner and a nylon turner.
So, the ‘buy it with’ section makes it easy for customers to add everything they need to the cart with a single click.
This also means they are saved from frustration once they have the griddle and realize they need something else.
Amazon does not stop there. They offer another section that allows you to discover similar products.
This section contains a collection of similar items from different manufacturers and other criteria such as color, special features, and price.
This allows shoppers to easily find items within their budget that meet their tastes and preferences.
4. The Product Launch Sales Funnel
The product launch sales funnel is an excellent choice when your e-commerce store is new or when you are introducing a new line of products.
To make this funnel convert more people, you can use the cross-selling technique to advertise multiple products instead of focusing on a single product.
It’s a great idea to use paid advertising to direct traffic to your opt-in page.
This funnel is also perfect for generating potential leads for your product long before it hits the market.
So the key to keeping your followers interested is by instilling curiosity and building anticipation.
This means giving a glimpse of your product without giving away too many details.
It also means you should keep your audience entertained as they await the product. Below is a product sales funnel example from Kickstarter.
The Kickstarter’s Product Launch Sales Funnel
Kickstarter is a social funding website that uses product launch sales funnels to fund projects. The image above is for a fidget cube that needs funding.
Even before launching it, the project had gathered the loyalty of over 100,000 people. People also pledged over 4 million dollars to support this project.
This product was successful because the Kickstarter user incorporated a mix of emails and free giveaways to convince people to fund the project.
The product is also described using appealing language that makes potential customers look forward to the launch.
5. The Upsell Sales Funnel
For brick-and-mortar stores, it is relatively easy for salespeople to convince customers to buy a more expensive product in addition to the earlier purchase.
But for eCommerce stores, this is rarely the case since the client does not visit your store physically. This is where upsell funnels come in handy.
The best part about upsells is that you can pair them with downsells to maximize your chances of selling more. The following is a practical upsell funnel from Frank Kern.
Frank Kern’s Upsell Book Funnel
The funnel starts with a low-cost, $5 book offer. This front-end offer is then followed by a pop-up offering an upsell offer of the video ‘Reframe’ for just $297.
Notice how meticulously the upsell is crafted and positioned. First, the upsell complements the initial offer perfectly since it is a video with a much bolder promise.
Next, Frank offers a downsell in case the client declines the upsell offer.
The downsell offer is perfect for interested customers who were unable to buy the upsell. You can offer another downsell if the clients decline the first downsell.
Wrapping up
The best way to create successful funnels is by learning from successful marketers who have done it.
The above funnels with real examples are a great source of inspiration. However, you will not get any real results if you do not implement any of the insights you get.
Choose a funnel you like, learn from it, and then create your own. If you model the techniques and practices above, you’ll soon start earning more from your eCommerce store.