Secrets to a Great Online Course Sales Funnel in 2023
When you've been downwind from any conversation about internet marketing, there's a high likelihood that you've heard the term "funnel." It's a lot more than just a few conversations about funnels, as well as more and more brands promising to help you build the best funnel.
The use of funnels is increasing to sell things like high-ticket training or memberships. It stands to reason that funnels could be ideal for the sale of the online courses. They can!
In this post, we'll discuss everything funnels. What it is that creates a successful funnel? What should you avoid? We'll provide you with three options for creating your own online course funnel.
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In this article...
What exactly is an online course sales funnel?
What is an online course sales funnel IS NOT
What makes the sales funnel for online courses function?
The truth about online course funnels
How do I make an online course sales funnel
How do you fill in your course's online funnel
How do you create an online course using
What is an online course sales funnel?
A sales funnel for online courses is a way of selling that starts by attracting the most number of possible customers and moves forward step-by-step towards the final, intended course purchase. Often the customer journey for an online course starts with a no-cost or low-cost deal, such as webinars, gifts (opt-in) or a community membership and qualified buyers proceed through the funnel to finally, they purchase the course!
The course funnel could include upsells at the other final stage, but often, course creators include things such as 1:1 coaching, a private community, a different course, or even a live-streamed event.
Throughout the process when the prospective customer is convinced (by spending a bit of money or time) that you're the right person to aid them and then they are mentally ready to purchase the program. And that's awesome!
The success of a funnel depends on the successful ratio of leads to sales and a recognition that not all buyers will purchase. That's okay. What's important to create a sustainable business model for online courses is to draw enough customers into your funnel so that enough of them get to the final step but it's crucial to modify your funnel in order to make it more efficient. Then we'll go over everything!
The value ladder and the universal marketing truth
Here at Mighty We really love the concept of a value ladder, for funnels. Since when your ideal student invest a little time or money (in exchange for something of value) and they begin to trust you. As they trust you will be more willing to spend more time or money for higher value.
And dang that's great math!
What an online course sales funnel IS NOT
- Sales tactics that are high-pressure. Since, let's face it that we've all experienced it. When you're not sure the product is right or the person can help youbut are urged to buy it - it's THE WORST!
- It should have a "Buy it now" button. The whole point of a funnel is nurturing and providing worth. A funnel needs to have at least a couple actions on the value-adding journey.
- A single deal. By definition the term funnel means multiple offers. This doesn't mean that it's all paid. In fact, your funnel may have 3 free things with a final invitation to purchase a program. However, there must be several options that offer worth.
- Universal. There's not a one-size funnel that fits all. There are certainly the best practices and ClickFunnels has built a great brand around the repeatable parts of funnels. A funnel that has worked in the past for someone else may not work for your audience. You need to experiment.
- The bait-and-switch. Do you want to create an effective funnel? Be sure to provide worth at every step. Anyone who requests their readers to download an unreliable, worthless PDF and then expects them to into a $ 215 course sale, needs to reconsider their approach.
What are the factors that make an online sales funnel work?
Trust
The strength of the funnel is trust. Feel it. Feel the power of the funnel. (IS that an original Yoda quote? This should be!).
The primary purpose behind the ladder's value is earning people's trust. You must trust them to:
- It's not a problem.
- The right person to help you solve this problem.
- Your worth is worth the money.
People work hard for cash. And most of us don't want to throw it away - particularly in the current economic climate.
How do you earn people's trust?
Simple to do. Value your words. Prior to asking cash. If you can give more value to your Ideal Student than the money it costs for them to acquire it, they'll stay.
And once they've spent some money or time on your items, and can see that it was worth it then they'll move on to the next stage!
The Ideal student
To get the online course funnel to be effective, you must have an ideal student. This is the focused avatar of the person who will pay for the course. They should have a problem they need help with... This is why you offer the course.
How can you identify your Ideal students?
First of all, get precise. "People who are dog lovers" is not an accurate description of an Ideal student. Seriously, who doesn't like dogs?
We need to reduce it to. "People who are trying to teach crate training to an infant puppy" could be an ideal candidate for the Ideal candidate.
As you design your course and course flow, you should talk to people you believe would make Ideal Students! Learn about their issues and challenges, and especially whether they're willing to spend money for a solution.
Then, you can develop what we refer to as an "Big" Purpose statement for your course. This is how it looks:
Offering Value
We sort of talked about worth above. However, once you've found an idea of your Ideal student then the next task is to present them with all the information they need - and give them value upfront. If you're planning a great high-end treat that will show you're the perfect person to help them, ask yourself what do they require to be aware of?
For people with a new puppy, it could be the PDF that has an outline of a dog's training program. Perhaps it's a webcast with some tips for training.
Value can only be provided once you know who you think the Ideal Student is. What's cool? If you provide value to your customers the people are more inclined to trust you. Amazing stuff.
Software
Okay, last but not least, most funnels need some software. What are you looking for? It will depend on the type of funnel you build. In general, however the case of an online course funnel, it needs software to collect leads, software to nurture leads and give the class.
That can get quite confusing and to be honest, an excellent online learning tool like does all of the above for users.
But here's the stuff you'll need software to handle:
Attracting New Customers |
Delivering Value |
Selling the Course |
|---|---|---|
|
Paid Ads |
Webinar Platform |
Point of sale |
|
|
PDF Downloader |
LMS, streaming platform or even a live stream |
|
Social Media |
Community platform |
Chat and messaging |
|
A site (SEO) |
Software for email |
Community |
|
A podcast |
Event platform |
Analytics |
The type of funnel you're designing will affect the program, but we'll get into that.
The truth about online course funnels
- Only a percentage of people are likely to buy your product - this is called the "conversion" rate. Nobody creating a funnel ever believes that 100% of customers are going to purchase the product. The range of potential buyers is anywhere from 1-5% max.
- Funnels need the time to test. You can be sure that the first funnel can lead you to success, but very unlikely. It's likely that you'll have to come up with a solution. Yet, as the founder of ClickFunnels Russel Brunson has said - you're just one funnel away!
- A good funnel will earn you thousands of dollars. Have an optimistic outlook, but be aware that many course creators take people through funnels again and again once they find one that works.
- Funnels must generate more revenue than what they are costing. In marketing, the cost of acquisition is a crucial number. If you are aware that every dollar you pay for Facebook ads you get $30 back in course sales, you might simply keep feeding the funnel!
How do I build an online sales funnel
There's not one single way to create a sales funnel for an online class. You must determine what is best for your personality and your audience. We'll show you some, and we'll even show you the one we've been secretly thinking is the best. But you can combine and match them.
Sequences for Email
This online course sales funnel has been around as long as the internet. It's happened to you before. It happened to you when you visited a site and they gave you an "Cool PDF" or "Free Training." You handed over your email address to begin receiving email from the company.
If it is successful, an email sequence builds more and more trust. Imagine your Ideal students eagerly awaiting your next email, being glued to every word that you say. In order that when the invitation to buy the online course comes around, they'll be saying "Gee Oh, my God, yeah!" !"
That's the best-case scenario.
However, it's true that you are aware of how email works. It's likely that you've been on 39 different list of email services and your wonderful messages end up in their junk-mail box once in a while.
You're now required to decide if an it's a good fit for you and your target audience. Also, it could definitely be a part of a bigger funnel. If you're on a smaller email list (e.g. 100 people), getting the 2% you need to purchase won't assist much. If you're dealing with 100,000 people and 2% of those buying is a lot of income!
Webinar
You know this one too. It's where you sign up to receive the "Free Training" - usually via ads in Facebook, Youtube, or LinkedIn. It's a way to watch a video, whether recorded live or pre-recorded. (Or the video is prerecorded, but they pretend it's live. Those sneaky sneakers. )
It is a movie that you watch, and they provide some value in the end, but afterward they offer you a limited-time offer to buy or redeem a coupon or an offer to bring you to buy.
The reason webinars are more effective than email is the fact that they can establish trust faster. The video format can make it extremely efficient. You can look the person in the eye, have a couple of questions asked (maybe), and figure out if they're the perfect match to meet your needs.
If you're willing to buy it, then you'll purchase!
Community Funnel
The best selling funnel to sell online classes
The final value ladder that we'll discuss is the concept of a community. Here at Mighty we are incredibly passionate about great communities.
In reality, a community can do everything a traditional sales funnel does and much more. The public can find out about your group. They can join (either for free or for the cost of a fixed amount). Joining is easy and lets users join in on the conversation already going on with you and your other members.
Your community is populated with engaging content, questions and answers and webinars. You also stream live, live events, or just about anything else you want. You deliver a ton of value at scale.
And, then, when the moment is to promote your online course You'll have an established crowd of customers who know, like, and trust you. They trust you as the person that can assist them and they'll pull out their wallets to pay for the course!
It's true that if you have the Ideal Students and the Big Goals right, it's simple to give value and build trust in a group. The best part is that you don't have to do it all yourself, other members will be able to contribute value courtesy of the network effect. This makes it the most effective online course funnel.
How to fill up the online course funnel
There are a variety of ways to get people into your funnel. Here are some ideas!
- Paid ads
- Social posts on media
- Posts on social media groups
- sharing with other friends
- Publishing on your website (SEO)
- Working off of an email list that is already in place
- Creating partnerships with like-minded creators (get to be in front of their fans)
- Podcast appearances
- Guest posting
How can you make an online course with
If you're looking to create your own online course funnel, read this a quick outline of how courses function within Mighty.
Are you ready to begin?
Did this guide get you motivated to design your custom funnel? There's no better way than an effective funnel that can make an online course sell. So if you've got something you want to impart now is the time to start creating that funnel!
For those who want to create an online community funnel (or webinars - and let's be real - you could do both) Try Mighty! It's a platform for cultural content which lets you connect courses, community content, as well as commerce. Flexible Spaces let you mix features like Live streaming, an LMS discussions forums Chat and messaging, members' profiles, Q&As and much more!
And it's really easy to sell your courses in one of 135 currencies or even monetized using token-gating. And your students can use the course via the best app available for each device.