No need to go for textbook definitions of ‘What is a lead funnel?’ or scholarly written articles of ‘lead generation funnel stages.’
In this post, I’ll try to explain the lead funnel in the simplest possible words and how to create a lead funnel, step by step.
If you’ve ever seriously looked into affiliate marketing at all, I can almost guarantee that you’ve heard a great lead funnel is the key to success, but what exactly is a lead funnel, and how can you create the perfect one.
A ‘lead’ means your potential customer and the funnel is ‘the step-by-step process where you guide these leads to the next part of the funnel until they convert from leads into customers.
To make it more simple to understand, let’s break down the parts of the funnel.
On the top of the funnel, there is the general public – people who are just strangers to you. At this part, you create powerful content in your niche (blog post, video, infographic, high-value social media posts) so they get attracted.
On the middle part of the funnel, you keep on providing them valuable content to convert them to frequent visitors to your channel. To these visitors, you offer your high-value product free of cost (a free ebook, or a free webinar, or a free course) in exchange for their email – so now they convert from anonymous visitors into lead.
At the bottom of the funnel, you pass these leads through a series of emails with goals of sharing knowledge, proving your authority in the niche, and gaining their trust. In these emails, once or twice a week, you also share with them your high-end product.
Watch Summary of Article Below
If everything is integrated and crafted well, they trust your advice and buy the product, and so converted from lead to customer. Look at this infographic, thanks to leadgenera.com
Lead Generation Funnel – Step by Step
Following is the breakdown of building the sales funnel into 5 steps.
Lead Funnel Step 1. Create Master Piece Content
Step one is to create and share detailed free content about a topic in your niche, that builds your authority in the eyes of readers.
This could be a case study within a blog post, a how-to YouTube video, or even a podcast. It’s really up to you, but the whole point of this content should be so powerful that it attracts potential customers and compel people to share it in their circles.
Having 4 or 5 such pieces of content are essential to lay down a solid foundation of your lead funnel.
While some people wouldn’t consider this to be a part of the funnel, it is how people are going to discover you, so you’re going to want to make this content as valuable as possible.
>> Editor’s Pick: Take this 30-Second Quiz (free) to assess that out of 100s available online, which side hustle is right for you?
Step 2. Create A Lead Magnet
Once you have a couple of solid pieces of value-packed content you’re ready for step number 2, which is to create a lead magnet.
This is just another value-packed piece of content that you are going to share along with the content you just created. So, for example, let’s say you were in the fitness niche and you created a YouTube video about how to do pull-ups, in the description of that video you would leave a link to a fitness program you made and this would serve as your lead magnet.
When the viewer clicks that link they will be redirected to your landing page where they can give you their email in exchange for free access to the program. That’s just one example, but there are plenty of things you can give away as a lead magnet.
You can give away an ebook, a cheat sheet, a mini-course, a pdf, and tons of other things, but the one thing you need to remember is that your lead magnet has to build off of your free content and into your one-time-offer. Everything needs to compliment each other.
Step 3. One Time Offer (OTO) – Mostly Ignored Step in Lead Generation Funnel
The third step is what most people, and even gurus and experts, are unaware of! This is so powerful that it can make or break your lead funnel strategy. The step is to send people to a one-time offer.
What is OTO?
This going to be a low-priced product that you offer after someone opts in for your lead magnet. If we go back to the fitness example we created a how-to-do pull-ups video, which lead to our fitness program lead magnet, so our one-time offer could be a $20 coaching call.
As with the lead magnets, there are a lot of things you could sell as a one time offer such as a short video course, a coaching call, a $1 trial, or even a small affiliate offer, just make sure your OTO (one-time-offer) is more valuable than your lead magnet!
You might be saying to yourself, man this is a lot of work, why can’t I just send them to a thank-you page like most affiliate marketers? Well, there are two big reasons.
First, it gives you a chance to recoup some ad spend and make some money on the front end. Let’s face it, not everyone that opts in for your lead magnet is going to buy your big offer, so this is your chance to at least make some money.
Second, it strengthens the relationship between you and your lead. This is now at least the third time you’ve provided them with highly valuable information for dirt cheap which means their level of trust is at an all-time high, and you’re ready for step #4.
Lead Funnel Step 4. Presenting High Ticket Offer
The fourth step to creating a perfect sales funnel is to introduce your high ticket offer. This offer will typically earn you over $100 and is the reason you’ve been giving away so much content for free.
These high ticket affiliate offers are usually an online course, a software program, or a high ticket physical product and are often sold on a webinar, in an automated email sequence, or with Facebook retargeting ads.
All three of these methods work extremely well so you can choose to use whichever method you are most comfortable with. However, if you’re brand new to affiliate marketing, I recommend picking one method and sticking with it until you have it mastered. Also, you need to consider these affiliate marketing tips for success.
Now right about now you’re probably thinking, but what if my prospects don’t sign up for the lead magnet, and what if the people who signed up for the lead magnet don’t take the OTO, and what if my leads see my core offer but don’t buy?! Well, that’s where step 5 of the perfect funnel comes.
Step 5. Remarketing
Remarketing, the final step to creating the perfect lead funnel.
This is the step where you going to convert all those leads that you thought you lost into sales! The remarketing process is going to be different depending on how far your lead made it through your funnel, so let’s start at the very beginning.
What do you do when someone visited your landing page but didn’t opt-in for your lead magnet. Simple, you place a Facebook pixel on your landing page and then retarget all the people who didn’t opt-in with an ad offering them your lead magnet again.
This is a whole other post in itself, but if it’s something you want to see let me know in the comments down below.
Next up when someone does opt-in for a lead magnet but doesn’t purchase your OTO, you can either leave them be, or you can send them an email offering them one last chance to get the offer before it goes up to its original price, or is just gone altogether.
And lastly, if someone sees your high ticket offer but doesn’t buy, you can convert them by sending them retargeting ads with an added incentive to buy, or you can send them to a sales webinar (if you didn’t already do that in step 4).
Lead Generation Tool I Use
I personally use (and recommend) Systeme.io – not only as a lead funnel but for almost all my online requirements.
Systeme.io is an all-in-one solution that includes all tools and software you need to run your business. With Systeme.io you can
- Build your lead funnels and entire sales funnels
- Launch your campaigns of email marketing
- Send unlimited emails
- Launch your blog or website
- Automate your entire online business
- Start your affiliate program
The amazing part of Systeme.io is its price. Look at the starting prices of other competitive funnel builders below.
Kartra $99/month (starting price)
Click Funnel $97/month
Convertri $99/month
Sam Cart $49/month
Lead Pages $37/month
Builder All $29/month
Systeme.io $27/month (you can even start for FREE, without submitting any card details!)
Not only Systeme.io is the most budget-friendly, but it is also very easy to use (having a single interface where you can manage everything) and also offers almost ALL the same services which Click Funnel or other funnel builders do.
Conclusion
If you follow these 5 steps literally, you’ll be on your way to success although it may take some learning and time.
Following are the parts to cater to creating a perfect lead generation funnel.
- well-researched and well-written articles,
- a great lead magnet,
- OTO,
- high ticket offer
Adding these parts to your lead funnel means you’ll have created a perfect lead funnel that will generate you a ton of leads and sales in no time!
