After learning that sales funnels help businesses drive conversions and boost sales, you may be excited to create your first funnel. However, there are different types of funnels, and each one works differently. It’s smart to learn about the different types before you move forward.
The most commonly used sales funnels include the lead magnet plus email sales funnel, the automated webinar funnel, tripwire funnel, affiliate funnel, video-based sales letter funnel, the upsell funnel, and more. These funnels will help you to convert your leads into paying customers.
In this post, we will discuss some of the most popular/effective types of the sales funnel and how they work to help your business generate more sales. Let’s get started!
9 Types of Sales Funnels That Convert Really Well
Not all sales funnels are created equally. Each one works differently for different products and audiences to boost conversions.
Understanding the types of sales funnels will help you choose the right funnel for your business.
Below, we will explore 9 highly successful funnel types you should know about.
1. The Lead Magnet + Email Sales Funnel
This is one of the easiest sales funnels to create. As a result, it’s popular and widely used.
This sales funnel is based on the concept of getting people to exchange their email addresses for some sort of freebie (usually referred to as a lead magnet).
This is a win-win situation for the business and the would-be clients.
Examples of lead magnets include templates, reports, newsletters, case studies, email courses, cheatsheets, whitepapers, etc.
As leads opt-in to your sales funnel, you can start nurturing them by sending a series of emails.
These emails are geared toward building relationships and promoting your paid products.
To make this type of sales funnel work, you need to offer a high-quality lead magnet. However, just because it is free doesn’t mean you should skimp on quality.
If the lead magnet doesn’t fill a need, the visitor will not download it, and you will not capture their contact info for future engagements.
Here is what the customer journey in this sales funnel looks like:
Lead magnet opt-in page> nurturing through a series of emails> sale of your product
Below, we have an example of a lead magnet + email sales funnel from Hubspot. For its lead magnet, it offers free content marketing planning templates.
Upon clicking on the download button, visitors are redirected to fill out an opt-in form that captures their email addresses.
2. The Automated Webinar Funnel
This sales funnel aims to get your audience to sign up and attend your webinar.
Because webinars give you a priceless opportunity to interact with your audience for up to one hour, you can easily build trust and convince your leads.
Subsequently, the more time you spend with your leads, the easier it will be to sell your premium-priced products to them.
You can also showcase your knowledge and expertise. For instance, you might use a webinar to teach your leads how to bake and decorate a cake!
After the training, your leads will be eager to try your methods. This is your golden opportunity to present your cake baking and decoration products.
To create an auto webinar, you will need to pre-record a message with a lot of value. Then, toward the end of your video, pitch your product.
Once that’s all done, use enticing headlines and copy on your landing page to direct the attention of your audience toward your next webinar.
After they register for your webinar, send the visitors to a confirmation page or the webinar preview page.
As the webinar date approaches, send them a reminder and the webinar page link.
If the leads do not buy anything after attending your webinar, you can use the emails collected to follow up with them.
To make an effective automated webinar, consider starting with live sessions. These sessions will help you figure out what works and what doesn’t.
Once you do, use the strategy as your template for automation.
Similarly, transcribing your videos will help increase the engagement levels of your audience with your content.
Translating your content is also a great way to reach a wider audience across different languages.
The following is a webinar funnel example from Gartner.
3. The Tripwire Sales Funnel
The core aim of a tripwire sales funnel is to help increase sales, although you can also use it to generate leads.
This is because it collects email addresses before prospects proceed to buy your tripwire offer.
A tripwire is usually an attractive, low-cost offer that prospects find difficult to resist.
Although the tripwire is a low ticket offer, it doesn’t mean you will necessarily lose money.
The offer helps you break even on ad spending by convincing people to buy your high ticket product.
After purchasing your tripwire offers, customers are more likely to commit to your high-cost upsell since they now trust you and your offers.
Once they buy the premium product, you can compensate for the money lost on the low-cost offer.
To create a converting tripwire funnel, you need three simple pages.
The first page will offer a low-ticket product. It will include the product description in the form of videos, images, or written copy to promote the product.
It will also need an order form for processing purchases.
After opting into the funnel and purchasing your offer, direct your customers to the second page, where you will present another awesome offer.
To make this offer hard to resist, make it high-quality and relate it to the first order.
Additionally, make it clear that it is a limited offer to persuade your leads to take action.
Finally, if the prospects take you up on your second offer, direct them to the confirmation and thank you page.
Include a simple order form to help them complete their purchase. You could add a few more offers at the bottom of the page if you so choose.
Here is how it works:
Lead magnet> tripwire offer> core offer> order and payment> thank you page
4. The Affiliate Sales Funnel
The affiliate sales funnel is designed to help online entrepreneurs market other people’s products and services.
The affiliate funnel can take several forms, but the simplest one is the two-step affiliate bridge page.
It helps affiliates to capture leads and promote their affiliate product. On the first page, the affiliate offers a lead magnet in exchange for visitors’ email addresses.
The lead magnet could be anything valuable to the audience, such as a checklist, free template, or ebook.
Remember, the lead magnet should help your audience to solve their problems. Otherwise, they won’t want to sign up for it!
Once a prospect signs up, they receive the lead magnet and are simultaneously directed to a bridge page.
This page thanks them for joining your email list and also covers the gap between them and your affiliate product.
You could use a pre-recorded video to let your visitors know about the affiliate product to cover the gap.
Additionally, include your affiliate link to enable the prospects to make their purchase. If they buy, you will earn a commission.
If they do not buy, engage them via the email addresses collected on the first page.
Send them a few emails on a regular basis to nurture them and build relationships.
Once you get them to trust you, it will be easier for your audience to buy via your affiliate link.
5. The Free Plus Shipping Sales Funnel
Like the lead magnet sales funnel, the free plus shipping sales funnel helps marketers to capture leads and build their email lists.
It also helps to build relationships and trust through free items and samples.
For this kind of sales funnel to work, you need to offer a physical product for free so you can ship it to the prospects’ address.
The best part about this sales funnel is that the product offered is not entirely free since the customer pays for handling and shipping expenses.
After the prospect has accepted your free offer, you can redirect them to another page with an upsell.
On your upsell page, promote a high-cost product that is relevant to your freebie.
If they accept, you will make a sale. If they don’t, redirect them to the next page with a down-sell offer.
On your downsell page, offer a cheaper product compared to the upsell. Also, ensure the down-sell is relevant to the freebie.
That way, if the price was the problem, you would have solved it. If not, you still stand a chance for continued nurturing and pitching via email.
Here are some of the reasons that make the free plus shipping sales funnel worthwhile
- Helps generate leads.
- Helps would-be clients to sample your product.
- The free samples build trust among customers.
- Provides valuable client information such as physical address and phone contact numbers.
6. The Video-Based Sales Letter Funnel
A video-based sales letter funnel effectively converts visitors into customers because videos are a more engaging type of content.
Videos are also easy to remember, and they help generate more traffic and clicks.
As a result, entrepreneurs are now successfully selling products through the sales letter funnel.
One of the aspects that makes this kind of funnel effective is its ability to demonstrate how a product/service works.
However, for a video to be compelling, it should be engaging, valuable, and of high quality.
If a video is visually unappealing and boring, no one will watch it to the end.
The video sales letter funnel is made up of three pages: the sales letter page, the one-time offer page, and the thank you page.
Visitors will enter your sales funnel through the first page, which is in video format.
On the first page, the video introduces your offer, begins to build a relationship with your audience, and convinces them to purchase.
After the video ends, visitors are redirected to the second page that contains the one-time offer presented through a video.
This offer is your chance to sell an extra item to your clients. You need to make it irresistible! Additionally, you need to portray an aspect of scarcity.
Tell your prospects that if they miss their offer, it will not be available again soon. If the prospects take you up on your one-time offer, you will successfully make a sale.
Afterward, the client is directed to a thank you page that thanks them for their purchase.
You don’t have to include a video on this page since some simple text will do just fine.
7. The High-End Clients Sales Funnel
High-end products need high-end clients. However, it’s tough to reach people through random sales funnels because your audience is limited.
Also, odds are you’ve spent lots of time and resources to develop the high-end product.
As such, you want to ensure you target the right audience and don’t waste any money.
This kind of funnel helps you focus on high-end leads who are more likely to buy.
If this funnel is constructed properly, it will sift qualified from unqualified leads.
As a result, you will be able to save time and resources you would have spent marketing to people who won’t convert.
For this funnel to be effective, you need to pay special attention to your leads.
One way to give them undivided attention is by offering them one-on-one calls.
By talking to a real person, leads will get the confidence to buy your high ticket product. Here is how a high-end client’s sales funnel works.
First, leads enter your funnel through a services page. Next, they are guided onto a page where they fill out a questionnaire used to pre-qualify them.
Prequalification helps to eliminate the non-converting leads.
Once you have a list of qualified leads, engage them in a one-on-one call, pitch your product and convince them why they should sign up.
If you convince them, proceed to the last step, which involves signing them up.
8. The Upsell Funnel
The upsell funnel helps you to sell additional products in the same funnel. This means you need little to no extra effort to promote the additional product.
On the first page of your upsell funnel, you will offer your front-end offer and then convince your prospects to make a purchase.
Once they do, they will enter their card details. Afterward, you will send the client to another landing page instead of the thank you page.
Once they reach the second landing page, offer another more expensive product that complements the front-end offer.
Ensure the upsell offer has more value than the front-end offer to convince clients to opt-in. If they commit, you will make an additional sale from the same customer.
9. The Cancellation Sales Funnel
At some point, clients may need to cancel due to reasons such as refunds, returns, and service cancellation.
Leads may also cancel an order when they don’t understand how the whole procedure works. The cancellation funnel helps you to lower cancellation rates and refunds.
To use the cancellation funnel, create a survey to discover why people are dropping off.
By understanding the reasons for their cancellation, you get a chance to fix the leakage point and save the sale.
Final Thoughts
Choosing the right kind of sales funnel for your business can help you reach your goals faster.
Some funnel types to build include the tripwire funnel, lead generation funnel, free plus shipping sales funnel, affiliate funnel, upsell funnel, and the cancellation funnel.
Understanding a wide variety of various sales funnels will equip you with the knowledge you need to combine different sales funnel types.
Subsequently, the right funnel combination will give you the competitive edge your business needs to thrive.
Before embarking on building your sales funnel, consider your target and your product nature, then pick a suitable type.