Welcome to this ultimate
ClickFunnels can put you on the fast track for lead generation and sales.
I wrote this review and guide to help you understand how
At the end, you’ll have a chance to leave your own opinion of what you think of
This is an extensive, in-depth
You’ll find the table of contents below for easy navigation to the parts that you’re most interested in.
Let’s get started!
What Is ClickFunnels ?
Co-Founders Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson started
What led to
Incredible marketing strategies!
The same tactics that Brunson and Dickerson used to growth hack their company are what they sell with
Check out Brunson’s book, DotCom Secrets: The Underground Playbook for Growing Your Company Online to learn more about his marketing strategies.
And he’s also the author of Expert Secrets, which is one of my recent favorite marketing and business books where you discover how to create a mass movement and actually get people to pay for your advice.
Here’s a video where Russell explains more about why
ClickFunnels has one MAJOR advantage over the competition:
Ready-to-go, battle-tested, conversion-optimized marketing funnels with high-converting page designs.
This is the core of
Sure, the page builder is relatively intuitive and easy to use, but it’s central attribute is helping you get your revenue up.
What’s Included Inside ClickFunnels ?
As with everything in life, you get what you pay for. The old adage applies to
You have two packages with
- ClickFunnels Platinum Plan – formerly called the Etison Suite Plan ($297/month OR 6-12 months at a special price – special discount)
It’s a pretty big price jump between the two! That’s why I’m here to help you decide which is best for you.
Let’s break’em down.
Standard Plan
There are a two main differences between
- ClickFunnels Standard is limited in the number of funnels, pages, domains, and monthly visitors you can have.
- ClickFunnels Basic does not include several advanced features.
What You Get With
What You Don’t Get:
Backpack (affiliate program management)
Actionetics (email marketing and automation platform)
Platinum Plan (formerly Etison Suite Plan)
When you upgrade to Platinum Plan, you go from having a limited number of funnels and pages to unlimited and some other awesome benefits.
That’s right, you get to build marketing funnels to your heart’s content!
With Etison Suite you get:
To top it all off, you get access to 2 powerful features:
Backpack (affiliate program management)
Actionetics (email marketing and automation platform)
Here’s the comparison chart between the Basic plan and Etison Suite side by side.
I review many of these features later on in the article along with
Is ClickFunnels Right For Me?
Do you have a product to sell or a launch to promote?
If the answer’s yes, then
So who is
In this section I’ll get into that quickly before we get dive deeper into this
ClickFunnels Is Right For You If:
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You just have to be sure that a sales funnel fits into your business model.
Even if you’re just starting your business, you can still benefit from the efficiency and ease of use of
Most users start out with the ClickFunnels Basic and then upgrade to Etison Suite once they exceed the monthly visitor, page and funnel limits of Basic.
ClickFunnels Is NOT Right For You If:
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Funnels can be setup in as little as 10 minutes if you’re tech savvy, but everyone’s learning curve is different.
If you’re a complete novice, plan to set aside at least two to three days to figure out how to get the most out of
ClickFunnels Review: An In-Depth Look Inside
ClickFunnels increase their customers’ revenue by designing sales funnels based around basic human psychology.
They take the guesswork out of what works.
This
My Personal Favorite ClickFunnels Features
When it comes to SaaS products, I ask two main questions:
1. Will it save me time and energy?
AND
2. Can it make me more money, faster?
ClickFunnels checks both of these boxes for several reasons:
There are so many useful features as well, and I know they are constantly improving the platform as well.
That being said, let’s dive into a more in-depth
ClickFunnels comes with preset funnels for lead generation, sales and event promotion that are designed to increase engagement and conversions.
Not interested in spending time tweaking page designs?
No problem.
ClickFunnels pages are good-to-go out of the box.
Best of all, they’re easy to implement.
ClickFunnels connects customers with your membership area immediately after they subscribe a product so that they have instant access to all of your content, tutorials and upsells.
Before we dive into the different funnels that
How ClickFunnels Work: When Pages Become Funnels
Every legendary funnel consists of a series of pages. When you arrange these pages strategically, they become a powerful sales funnels.
Can I get a squeeze please?
Many of the funnels in
The squeeze page has one purpose: to collect a single piece of info about the customer so that you can retarget them. In most cases, this is an email or Facebook messenger info.
Reverse Squeeze Page
A reverse squeeze page is the first page in the funnel (if it’s used at all).
It’s job is to get the customer warmed up for engagement and hyped about the value of the product before sending them onto an actual squeeze page to collect their contact info.
Sales Letter Page
A sales letter page is sometimes used at the beginning of a funnel. It promotes the value of the product through a video or letter at the top of the page.
Below is a place for the customer to submit their credit card info and make the purchase.
Application Page
An application page collects detailed contact information about the customer, such as phone number, address and other valuable tidbits.
Upsell / OTO Page
An OTO (one-time-offer) page is an upsell page that offers an instant upsell to the customer after they’ve just made a smaller purchase.
It allows them to commit to the upsell with one click using the credit card from the previous transaction.
Offer Wall Page / Thank You Page
An offer wall page thanks the customer for subscribing/purchasing and displays a list of other top-selling products that they may be interested in.
Customizing Your Pages
Now let’s see these funnels in action!
Funnel Builder
The most part of
ClickFunnel has two options when it comes to setting up your funnel:
- The Cookbook Builder Process (guided)
- Classic Funnel Builder (DIY)
The Cookbook Builder
The Cookbook Builder is a relatively recent addition to the
You get to sort between the following industries…
From their you get to choose between your type of funnel:
Classic Funnel Builder
The Classic Builder is more straightforward but result in you having to make more design decisions further down the line.
You simply choose between…
Here’s how these different types of funnels work..
Types Of Funnels You Can Create With ClickFunnels
What are you hoping to accomplish with your funnel?
Do you want to build your list of leads for retargeting?
Maybe you want to push a sale and then immediately go for the upsell?
Either way,
Clickfunnels has three main types of funnel designs:
- Lead funnels
- Sales funnels
- Event funnels
Funnel Type #1: Lead Funnels
Want to generate leads?
ClickFunnels has a funnel for that.
If you’re hunting for leads, you have two unique funnels to choose from depending on your acquisition goals:
- Email/messenger
- Full-on application
1. Basic Email/Messenger Leads
Basic email or messenger lead funnels are as simple as they come. They consist of a squeeze page followed by a thank you page.
They’re the smash and grab of the sales funnel world.
The goal is to build a list of leads so that you can retarget them and sell to them later.
Wham, bam, thank you man!
2. Application Funnels
Application funnels are for when you want to gather a little bit more than just a single piece of contact info. Because you’re asking the customer to spend more time filling out a longer form, you need to warm them up first.
That’s where application funnels are at their best.
Page #1
Application funnels warm the customer up by using a “reverse squeeze page” to get them excited about the product.
Page #2
Then comes the squeeze page to collect their email or FB messenger info. That way, if they bail here, at least you’ve got the contact info out of it.
Page #3
Next is the application page. The application page collects the entire delicious platter of data — everything from phone numbers to addresses.
Page #4
The funnel ends with a nice thank you page.
Funnel Type #2: Sales Funnels
Ready to sell? When the time’s right, you’ll want to pull a sales funnel out of your bag of tricks.
1. Two-Step “Tripwire” or “Unboxing” Funnel
Tripwire, or unboxing funnels, as they’re called, are the golden unicorn of marketing funnels.
They capitalize on the buying momentum of customers who just made a purchase.
A two-step tripwire funnel uses a lower-priced product to warm customers up for the upsell.
Some
That’s okay.
It’s sole purpose is to warm the customer up for the upsell on the next page.
Here’s how it works:
Page #1
The funnel starts with a sales page for a cheap product like an ebook, or whatever introductory product you choose.
Page #2
The second page is the OTO page, or upsell page. The customer has already entered their billing info when they bought the first product. They only have to make one click on the OTO page and their card will automatically be charged.
PRO TIP: Boost your conversions on the OTO page by saying that the upsell product is only available at a discounted price if they buyright now.
Page #3
Offer Wall Page: This third and final page displays a list of additional products that the customer might be interested in.
2. Sales Letter or Video Sales Funnel
Sales letter, or video sales funnels, are for more expensive products or ones that need more convincing.
Here’s how they work…
Page #1
This funnel starts with a sales letter page featuring a video or letter that promotes the offer. Below is a place to submit credit card info and make the purchase.
Page #2
OTO page with upsell offer.
Page #3
Offer wall page to promote other products.
3. Product Launch Funnel
Got a killer product that’s ready for liftoff?
Product launch funnels are engineered to get people pumped for your product release.
The guys who do the JumpCut YouTube channel course executed this strategy perfectly for the launch of their JumpCut 2.0 program.
They used a squeeze page to collect an email, a pop-up to request collect info about the customer’s business goals, and then delivered a series of videos to keep them stoked about the product launch.
Here’s how it works…
Page #1
Squeeze page collects the customer’s email and commits them to the video series.
Page #2
Pop-up asks for more info about what they’re trying to accomplish with your product. This allows you to segment them into a specific video series if you have a different series for different types of customers.
Page #3
The four-part video series is delivered directly into the customer’s inbox one at a time between now and the launch date. The videos educate the customer about your product and keep them excited up until the day your product goes live.
Funnel Type #3: Event Funnels
Hosting a virtual summit is one of the most powerful ways to rapidly build an email list, network with industry experts, and increase revenue.
Some of our Virtual Summit Mastery students use
Russell Brunson walks you through how to create powerful event funnels in the video below (mostly focused on live and automated webinars… it would look quite a bit different for a well executed virtual summit funnel).
1. Webinar Funnel
Use this funnel for the entire sign-up process of your live event.
Here’s how the funnel works:
Page #1
The webinar registration page gets them signed up and automatically adds them to the third-party software where you’re hosting the live event.
Page #2
The confirmation page is where the customer signs up for a specific time slot for your virtual summit or webinar.
Then comes the retargeting pages…
Indoctrination Page Series
The indoctrination page series is usually a series of three emails that keeps them hyped about the upcoming webinar.
Webinar Replay Page
This page gets sent to the inboxes of people who signed up for the event but failed to show up. It provides them with a link to where they can watch a replay of the event.
2. Automated, On-demand, Evergreen Webinar Funnel
This funnel is the exact same as the “Live Webinar Funnel” except that the recorded webinar can be hosted within
Drag ‘n Drop Page Builder
The pages in your funnel are your opportunity to introduce your brand to new customers.
ClickFunnels drag ‘n drop page builder allows you to do this by giving you the freedom to change the page design, all without needing to know how to code.
Each page is organized into sections. Within each section you can edit the rows and columns.
Insert elements with the drag and click of a mouse.
Once you’re familiar with the interface, you can dramatically change the look and feel of the page, although the customizations are more limited compared to similar SaaS products.
Modify elements using the pop-out sidebar, and edit text elements directly on the page.
Membership Sites Feature
Create a “membership” page where all of your training material or subscription content is available in one location.
Here’s how:
OR
Order Forms
OR
Affiliate Program Management
You can manage your affiliate programs within
Capturing Leads
Once you’ve gathered your customer contact info, it’s time to retarget.
There are a couple of snazzy ways to do this within
Method #1: The Automation Tab
Method #2: Actionetics Follow-Up Funnels
Boost conversions with targeted campaigns!
Actionetics Features:
1. SMART Lists
SMART lists allow you to data-mine your subscribers so that you can target them with a specific email series tailored just for them.
Target people who…
You can even target people who have a certain number of followers on Facebook!
2. ACTIONETICS: Soooo Many Ways to Retarget
With Actionetics, your retargeting isn’t just limited to email campaigns.
Retarget with:
If someone doesn’t respond to Messenger ads, hit them up with SMS messages or desktop notifications.
Not everyone engages with all types of content, so it helps to have multiple angles to work.
3. Trackability: Actionetics “Action Score”
Actionetics assigns an “action score” to each contact or lead bases on four factors:
- Recency: how fresh the lead is
- Frequency: how often the lead interacts with your funnel
- Monetary Value: how much they spend relative to your other leads
- Social: Ranks leads according to how active they are on social media
Leads with a higher overall action score should be more likely to interact with your brand.
Integrating Products Into Your Funnels
Success! You’ve made a sale. The customer’s done their part, now you just have to do yours and deliver the goods.
ClickFunnels makes the delivery of your products and services a breeze.
Instant Access to Membership Site and Digital Products
When customers buy your digital products,
Customers can immediately browse your other digital products.
This is ideal if you sell multiple products and services that you promote with training content and teasers.
You can also opt to send the customer directly to a thank you page where they can download their digital product right away.
Physical Products
If you sell physical products, you can add the ShipStation feature to your funnels.
ShipStation allows you to connect to over 100 different drop shipping and ecommerce sites.
Split Testing
The subtlest of page design changes can 2X or 3X your conversions.
ClickFunnels allows you to conduct A/B testing for…
…and literally anything you can think of.
ClickFunnels Support & Documentation
When the “ish” hits the fan and you have problems to solve, is
ClickFunnels Support
The truth is,
While they don’t have 24-hour chat support, their support team is usually pretty helpful when you can get ahold of them.
It can take several hours sometimes before you hear back from chat support, even during working hours.
Some customers have complained that
The good news is that reports such as these are much less common than the positive feedback they get.
Overall, the
ClickFunnels Documentation
ClickFunnels’ help center could use a more substantial catalogue of educational materials and articles for troubleshooting.
They also regularly hosts Q&A sessions to dive deeper into specific topics and answer questions from the community.
Luckily,
ClickFunnels Facebook group is over 180,000 strong Funnel Hackers, so you can always shoot your question their way if it comes down to it.
ClickFunnels Pros and Cons
There’s a lot of hype around
ClickFunnels’ drag-and-drop page builder is easy to use (once you get the hang of it), and integrates with email services and ecommerce services galore. You get to connect your funnels directly to membership sites and other elements of your sales funnel.
Is it perfect? NO!
But it sure is a convenient way to generate leads, increase revenue, and promote upcoming events like virtual summits.
Pros
Cons
Nothing’s perfect,
Welcome to the darkside of
ClickFunnels Alternatives And Comparison Vs Other Tools
ClickFunnels isn’t the only kid on the block with mad marketing skills.
In this section of the review we’ll take a look at some
Other similar SaaS companies in the marketing game include:
While
Let’s take a closer look closer look at how the other guys stack up against
1. ClickFunnels Vs LeadPages
When
LeadPages had taken marketing page creation to a whole new level with visually-appealing, high-converting pages.
Here’s a list of the pros and cons of the original ruler of the online marketing kingdom.
LeadPages Pros
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LeadPages Cons
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Which Is Better For You, ClickFunnels or LeadPages?
When choosing between
Keep in mind that it will be harder to optimize your funnel due to LeadPages’ lack of serious split testing features.
If you’re selling a product or promoting a service,
If I would make a decision between
2. ClickFunnels Vs Thrive Themes
Comparing
Thrive Themes is an entire suite of plugins for your Wordpress site, many of which are designed to help you generate leads and drive sales.
Thrive Architect is like
Although Thrive Themes isn’t marketed as a sales funnel product, it certainly has the same full range of capabilities, you just need to be a lot more tech savvy to build the funnels.
Thrive Themes Pros
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Thrive Themes Cons
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Which Is Better For You, ClickFunnels or Thrive Themes?
It depends. Do you want a Wordpress website with the option to build funnels on top of it, or do you want the highest-converting funnels possible and then integrate them with the website you already have?
Thrive Themes is a much more affordable option, but it’s harder to split test and optimize your funnels.
If you’re already familiar with building Wordpress sites and understand how to do DIY split testing, then Thrive Themes could end up working out just fine.
3. ClickFunnels Vs Infusionsoft
Keap (formerly Infusionsoft) can be a great match for large B2B or B2C companies with large email lists and multiple segments.
It’s designed to be an all-in-one marketing tool similar to
Infusionsoft Pros
Infusionsoft Cons
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Which Is Better For You, ClickFunnels or Infusionsoft?
Infusionsoft is designed with large-scale email automation as its core purpose.
If you’re a medium to large size business that’s looking to take email campaigns to the next level, then Infusionsoft may be for you. You will most likely need a marketing automation team help you with Infusionsoft which can cost $1,000’s a month.
Personally, I wouldn’t recommend Infusionsoft to most people as there are better options out there when it comes to email marketing, shopping cart and funnel builders.
And keep in mind that you can integrate
4. ClickFunnels Vs Unbounce
Unbounce is a design-forward page builder. It has one of the most intuitive page builders around and comes with gorgeous templates.
Unbounce Pros
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Unbounce Cons
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Which Is Better For You, ClickFunnels or Unbounce?
Unbounce is the better option if your focus is building beautiful landing pages. Their templates are incredibly pleasing to the eye.
If you want to turn them into funnels, so be it, but funnels aren’t Unbounce’s strong suit. If you want to build sales funnels easily,
5. ClickFunnels Vs Kartra
Like
Kartra Pros
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Kartra Cons
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Which Is Better For You, ClickFunnels or Kartra?
Out of all the other products in this review, Kartra is the most similar to
However, it lacks many of
Kartra does allow for more creative page design, but you have to ask yourself if it’s worth the having lower-converting pages and funnels.
ClickFunnels is the better option for you if you’re comparing it against Kartra.
6. ClickFunnels Vs Instapage
Is Instapage better than
Instapage may have the ideal balance of functionality, crisp, clean design and useful integrations.
Due to its intuitive landing page software, it’s been referred to by some as the “Apple” of the page builder world.
Instapage Pros
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Instapage Cons
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Which Is Better For You, ClickFunnels or Instapage?
Instapage is a better option if you want to move away from pages designs that have a salesy feel (although you can design and customize
If you want to scale and optimize your pages with sophisticated split testing, you’ll need to level up to their Enterprise plan. You can tailor the Enterprise plan package to your specific needs and the price fluctuates at around $179/month.
Instapage doesn’t come with the pre-built funnels that
I’d say
ClickFunnels Pricing Plans
ClickFunnels isn’t the cheapest funnel/page builder out there, but is does pack a lot of value into one package deal.
ClickFunnels is available at two price points:
- ClickFunnels Etison Suite ($297/month – Free Trial or Half Price For 6 Months)
Standard Plan Is Right For You If:
With
You’ll also need to have your own affiliate management system, since
If you ever decide that it’s time to upgrade to Etison Suite, you can save 50% by committing to a 6-month subscription.
Platinum Plan Is Right For You If:
I already showed you the comparison chart between the Basic plan and Etison suite earlier in this in-depth
ClickFunnels Discount & Free Trial
Still not sure if
No problem.
ClickFunnels offers a 14-day free trial for both their Basic and Etison Suite plan.
Keep in mind that two weeks in nowhere near long enough to test run all the features that come with Etison Suite.
Unfortunately,
If you’re willing to commit to a 6-month subscription, then
For the people who are ready to go all-out with their
ClickFunnels FAQ
Here’s a few frequently asked questions (FAQ) people tend to have before signing up for
So let’s tackle a few of these questions now.
ClickFunnels Customer Reviews
What experiences do other marketers and online entrepreneurs have with
Not everyone is as stoked about
Then again, some people are.
I’m personally not the biggest fanboy ever to grace the face of the Earth, but I do think it’s a great product for the right business… and I’m a paying CF user for many years.
Here are a few
ClickFunnels Review Summary: Is It Worth It?
Thank you for taking the time to read this in-depth ClickFunnels Review and demo.
I hope you learned something about what
It isn’t a good match for every entrepreneur or business, but for the right candidate, it can be a powerful revenue-generating tool.
With their 14-day free trial, it’s a zero-risk opportunity to answer this question for yourself. So long as you have a product or service to promote, give
The
You can even use
So what do you think of this
Let me know in the comments below… I’d love to hear from you!
ClickFunnels is a popular all-in-one sales funnel and marketing platform. It gives you everything you need to market, sell, and deliver your products and services online – without having to hire or rely on a tech team.
Want to learn more?
Hi Navid, fantastic review! I was wondering, what software do you use to create the boxes and structure in the post. Thanks