Kristen Doyle [00:00:00]:
If there is one word in the online business world that intimidates more people than any other, it probably is the word funnels. I know they might sound intimidating, but they really don’t have to be that scary. Before you start picturing complex diagrams with endlessly long email sequences, take a breath. Funnels are just a way to guide your customers through your business from getting acquainted with you to making a purchase.
Today, I’m gonna show you how simple funnels can be and share a few examples that are perfect if you sell digital products.
Are you a digital product or course creator selling on platforms like Teachers Pay Teachers, Etsy, or your own website? Ready to grow your business, but not into the kind of constant hustle that leads straight to burnout? Then you’re in the right place. Welcome to the Savvy Seller. I’m Kristen Doyle, and I’m here to give you no fluff tools and strategies that move the needle for your business without burning you out in the process.
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So what exactly is a funnel? In really simple terms, a funnel is just a path that your customers follow from the minute that they discover you or from the moment they take a certain action until they make a purchase, or maybe even beyond that, depending on how you set it up.
You can think of a funnel as a map that helps your audience get from point a, where they first hear about you and your products, to point b, where they hit the buy button and make that purchase. Now I know you have probably seen or heard about really complex sales funnels, but keep in mind that you get to decide how straightforward or how detailed that roadmap, that funnel needs to be.
For most of us who are selling digital products or even courses, a funnel can be as simple as a few emails or a special offer sent out at the right moment to the right people. The key thing to keep in mind here is that funnels don’t have to be overwhelming or complicated. They are just a series of steps to help you turn browsers into customers.
[00:02:33]:
If you’re not already running funnels, then it might sound like just one more thing to add to your plate. And you might be wondering, why should I bother with this? Well, let’s be honest. Running an online business means you are always juggling a million things. Right? But funnels can help you automate some of that work. Instead of personally emailing people with offers, answering lots of questions about them, or just hoping that someone will discover your product and purchase it, a funnel does a lot of that work for you.
Good funnels with well written emails also help you build stronger relationships with your audience. When you lead them through this well thought out journey, you’re not just selling to them. You’re showing that you understand their needs, that you can provide real value, that you have content to help solve their problems.
[00:03:28]:
And this helps to build trust, and trust leads to more sales. Some of the emails in your funnels won’t be about selling at all. They’ll be about serving the people who are on your list, who are in that funnel. Those are really important. Even a simple funnel can make a big impact on your business whether you’re talking about getting an unseen product in front of potential buyers so that they know it exists and they make that purchase.
Or maybe showing people how great a product is in a way that you can’t do in just the sales page. Funnels can be your friend because they are very good at helping you work smarter, not harder. And I am all about that in my business.
[00:04:13]:
Now that we’ve covered the basics, let’s get into some specific types of funnels that are perfect for digital product sellers like you. These are all straightforward and easy to set up without too much scary tech involved.The first one is a lead magnet funnel. This is where your relationship with that new person starts. You start by offering a freebie, something like a checklist or a template or an ebook or an activity in exchange for the person’s email address.
When they join your email list, the first thing you’re going to do is send them the freebie. But you’re also going to follow-up with a series of emails that welcome them to your list that let them know who you are, who you help, and how you can help them. And a little further into that series, you’ll also introduce some of your best selling products.
[00:05:04]:
This is a great way to build your list and to start out your relationship on the right foot, always keeping in mind that you want to serve before you sell.Now the next type of funnel that you might consider is called a tripwire funnel. Tripwire funnels are probably the most technically complicated type of funnel that I’ll talk to you about today. But essentially what happens is once someone grabs your freebie, you can offer them a highly discounted product or just a low cost product that isn’t discounted immediately after they opt in.
This is called a trip wire because it’s this tiny little irresistible offer that helps turn new subscribers into paying customers right away. You can do this by putting that offer right on the thank you page when they opt in to your email.And you can also include that tripwire offer in that follow-up sequence that you’re going to send them as you’re welcoming them to your list. Now the next type of funnel is one I love because everyone loves a good deal.
[00:06:10]:
You can run a flash sale funnel. This is a limited time sale on specific products. Maybe it’s one product or a collection of products, and you would use a series of emails or social media posts to create some urgency and encourage people to purchase while this is on sale. This is really great for when you need to clear out older products. Maybe you’re getting ready to retire a digital product and you wanna get a few last minute sales of it or giving a boost in income in slow sales periods.
I like to send out a flash sale once a month to certain people on my list with different products that are related to what I’ve been emailing them about all month long. Now in order to run a flash sale, you will need to be selling your digital products on your own website, and you’ll need to use a page builder that has a countdown timer in it so that that countdown on the flash sale can expire. And then they would get taken to the regular price for that product after the flash sale has ended.
[00:07:14]:
Another great funnel to offer is a bundle offer funnel. If you’ve got some related products and they aren’t already packaged into a bundle at a discount, package them into that discounted bundle, and then promote that through your email list, making sure you point out the value of getting all of these things at the discounted price.Bundles are a win win because your customers get more value and you increase your sales. Now I know a lot of us have bundles available in our stores already, but a lot of times buyers may not find those bundles. So every now and then, make sure you’re sending those bundles out to your list and you’re making sure that people are noticing the value of the discount that they’re getting by purchasing that bundle.
The 5th type of funnel that you might wanna create is a product upsell funnel. So this would go out after a customer has bought a low cost product where you put them into an email sequence where you offer them an upsell to a higher priced product that goes along with the lower cost product that they purchased. This could be a more comprehensive version of what they just bought, a year long bundle of activities if you are in the teaching space, or a related resource that kind of moves them to the next level in whatever they bought in the 1st place.
[00:08:41]:
Product upsells work really well because the person who has already bought that low cost product has told you 2 things. First, they have indicated that they’re willing to make a purchase from you. And secondly, they are telling you that they are interested in this particular topic.So it’s really important that that upsell is closely related to the original product that they purchased, but that it’s not the exact same thing. Now, last but not least, and I would say if you do not have any funnel set up and you sell on your own website, this is your must have. This is the one you need to set up right now this week. And it is called an abandoned cart funnel. An abandoned cart funnel sets up some emails that trigger when someone leaves products in their cart without completing the purchase.
[00:09:32]:
We have probably all seen them. I know I got one just last week where I had put something in my cart on a website and I didn’t check out right away. And within an hour or 2, I was getting that email that said, hey. Do you still want this? Those emails remind them of what they left behind, and you can even sweeten the deal with a little discount or a bonus that you’re gonna throw in. You would be surprised how many sales you can recover with a simple abandoned cart email that goes out to remind people that they didn’t finish checking out for that thing that they wanted. If you are on WordPress and your store is in WooCommerce, then there is a plugin I absolutely love that makes it really easy to set up those abandoned cart funnels. It is called WooCommerce Cart Abandonment Recovery. And we’ll put a link in the show notes to that plugin.
[00:10:22]:
It is completely free, and it is super easy to set up. It will automatically email people when they have abandoned cart in your WooCommerce store. So there you have it. Funnels do not have to be scary or complicated. In fact, these 6 funnels are pretty easy to implement and they can have a really big impact on your business. Whether you are just getting started with funnels or you’re looking to optimize what you already have going, there is a funnel in here that can work for you. So your action step for this week is to pick one of these funnels and try setting it up in your business. If you don’t have any funnel set up in your business at all yet, and you do sell on your own website, then definitely make your first funnel the abandoned cart funnel.
[00:11:06]:
Today’s episode is just the beginning of a series on creating funnels on your website and for your email list. So make sure that you tune back in next week to hear the next episode in our funnel series. I’ll talk to you then.
