David Nadler
Can you walk me through the step-by-step process a new lead takes to become a customer IN YOUR BUSINESS? (Location 177)
Here’s the thing, in any given market, roughly 3% of that market is ready to buy whatever it is you’re selling right now. (These are your most motivated prospects). Another 27% are fairly interested and will likely buy later. They’re just not ready to buy right now. 30% of the market are mostly indifferent to you, and another 30% will never under any circumstances buy from you. (Location 183)
And what if, because we know the average customer who views a product on our website also prefers to go and search for reviews on independent blogs, we make it easy on them and link directly to some of those blogs directly in our product description? And what if, because for someone to go to a different blog and read a review requires them to leave our website, we then dedicate 1% - 10% of our advertising budget to retarget these prospects and show them a specific ad designed to get them to return to our website and complete their purchase? (Location 222)
I can create top of funnel content like this book which could cause entrepreneurs who are having problems scaling their revenue or launching a new product “raise their hand” by buying it. (Location 234)
You can think about the profitability of your business like a math equation: Cost of Traffic < Customer Value x Conversion Rate. As long as that equation remains true, your business will be able to profitably acquire customers. If the Cost of Traffic continues to go up, it means there are only two levers we can pull: Our conversion rate and our customer value. (Location 261)
And the number one most impactful way to improve the conversion rate of your marketing campaigns is to have a fully optimized, tested, and proven funnel: a perfect conversion funnel. (Location 270)
When an average customer sees your ad, that ad is not only competing for attention with Facebook, or Instagram, or pictures of your prospect’s cousin’s new baby…this prospect’s phone is also ringing. The dog is barking and wants to be let outside. The kids may be fighting in the background. Which means if your website does not make it extremely clear what the best next step for your prospect is...they are going to close out of your website and deal with something more urgent rather than try to figure it out. (Location 363)
Your prospect is literally drowning in information. Your prospect doesn’t want to have to do research and read seven different articles and THEN draw his own conclusion on whether or not he should purchase your product...your prospect wants to be led to the absolute, minimum-viable-quantity of information he needs to feel great about making a purchasing decision. (Location 384)
Now take a minute to scroll through your homepage with the eyes of your customer in mind (and remember - the phone is ringing, the dog is barking, and kids are screaming in the background). Does your homepage really help your customer make a buying decision...or are they more likely to click the red “X” button and go save their children from playing pin-the-tack-on-the-brother? (Location 388)
The one thing that ALL conversion funnels have in common though is a single Call to Action. (Location 407)
The rule is, to have a page designed to elicit action from a customer, the customer should be able to stand at the other side of the room and be able to tell, at a glance, what they’re supposed to do on that page. And the next time you go to Google.com, you’ll see this principle in action. On Google.com, you’ll see a single text box and a button that says “Search.” Is there any ambiguity as to what the developers of Google want you to do when you get there? (Location 414)
This is the power of optimizing for a single thing on your website. The practice of eliminating choices and optimizing design and copy to elicit a specific response from a prospect is known as Conversion Rate Optimization. Funnels work because they are optimized for a single thing. Conversions. (Location 425)
An offer is a specific promise of value given in exchange for a customer’s action, and it’s important you define this because your offer will become the cornerstone of your funnel. (Location 442)
For more complex products such as coaching or consulting services, the offer is often a specific, free piece of content designed to educate the prospect about the business and the problem that particular business solves before following up with a purchase ask at a later date. (Location 445)
The second element we need to understand before we develop our funnel is exactly where our market is in terms of level of awareness. (Location 463)
The five levels of awareness map where your customer is in the buying journey. As a result, where your customer is in their buying journey will determine how you sell to them (i.e. which funnel and offer you will want to use). The five levels of market awareness are: Unaware - these are prospects who don’t even realize they HAVE a problem. They don’t know a better way exists. Problem aware - these prospects know they have a problem, but they may not completely understand it. They’re unfamiliar with possible solutions. Solution Aware - solution aware prospects know about solutions like yours, but they don’t know your product specifically. Product Aware - prospects know your product and your competitors’ products, but they aren’t sure which one to choose. Most Aware - your best customers. Brand loyal, repeat customers. The lower the level of awareness your customer has, the longer your funnel will need to be and the more nurturing you’ll need to do to guide your customer from their level of awareness to the “Most Aware” / buying stage. (Location 467)
The LONGER and more COMPLEX your funnel is, the better job it will do of nurturing and ultimately converting your customers who complete the funnel. (Location 483)
The third variable you’ll need to keep in mind when creating your conversion funnel is your traffic source, and, specifically, the context of the consumer as one comes into your funnel. (Location 493)
For example, someone on YouTube is in a content consumption mindset. (Location 495)
Someone searching on Google, however, is in a completely different mindset. One searching on Google is in a “find me this answer now” mindset and is most likely looking to spend as little time as possible to get that answer. (Location 498)
A lead magnet is a bite sized piece of information that you offer someone in exchange for their email address. These types of funnels work best to solve a very specific problem in a short amount of time. A lead magnet can be presented in various forms. They often take the form of eBooks, case studies, checklists, toolkits, audio or video files. A good rule of thumb is that a prospect should be able to consume the lead magnet in ten minutes or less. (Location 513)
So what makes a good lead magnet? In order for this type of funnel to be successful, the lead magnet should offer the following: Instant Gratification - Prospects are looking for solutions to their problems, and they don’t want to wait to receive them. People will exchange their email address for your content if it fulfils their needs immediately. High Perceived Value - Prospects value benefits over features or functions so your lead magnet needs to provide massive benefits to your audience. By offering a lead magnet that has a high perceived value, you will end up with a higher conversion rate because people want what your brand is giving away. Demonstrates Your Unique Selling Proposition - When a prospect opts into your lead magnet and consumes the content, they should become interested in what your brand is selling and become more likely to buy from you than from your competitors. (Location 521)
It is important to note that a lead magnet funnel is a lead generation tool, not a sales device. The purpose of the funnel is not to make sales. This type of funnel is used for the beginning of the customer awareness journey rather than the end. (Location 535)
Fortunately, building a lead magnet funnel doesn’t require advanced technical skills. You can easily create your lead magnet content in a simple PDF or graphic using free online software live Canva. (Location 566)
Lead magnet funnels work best for paid and organic traffic Example For one client running a SaaS product for real estate professionals, we built out a lead magnet called “The 10 Commandments of Real Estate Investing.” We were driving ads to this lead magnet and getting decent opt-in costs, but we ALSO put a one time offer on the back side of the lead magnet and were able to liquidate the ENTIRE cost of advertising with a $297 product on the back side of the lead magnet. (Location 582)
The Mini Course Funnel (Location 593)
The Mini Course Funnel Map: (Location 608)
The mini course funnel is designed for lead generation. Any business that wants to generate leads will benefit from having this type of funnel in place. (Location 611)
Important to note: This type of funnel can also be combined with the lead magnet funnel. For example, a lead magnet might be a five page PDF with “9 Tips for Better Facebook Ads“. After your leads download the initial PDF, you can follow up with a mini course. You could deliver nine emails, one per day, breaking down the overall lead magnet into smaller pieces and delivering them independently. This funnel falls at the beginning of the customer awareness timeline. (Location 614)
Having a mini course funnel in place also makes it easy to collect feedback from your email contacts. You can ask people in the emails to click “reply” and have them let you know what they think. This creates a feedback loop so that you can constantly improve your email deliverability and overall marketing efforts. (Location 658)
Organic Traffic The mini course funnel works very well with organic traffic. Since users who visit your website are already interested in the type of content you are putting out, they will most likely be interested in opting in for a mini course to be delivered via email. (Location 667)
To best illustrate the power of a mini course funnel vs a regular lead magnet, we had a client with whom we tested switching from the mini course we’d been running to a lead magnet. Our thought process was, by delivering ALL of our content in one beautiful eight page PDF, we’d shorten our sales cycle. We launched ads to our PDF, and while our opt-in costs dropped by half...our sales fell through the floor. (Location 681)
The Assessment or Quiz Funnel (Location 785)
If your business has multiple avatars and you want to have the ability to communicate to all of them in a personalized way, an assessment is your ideal choice. Users interact with the assessment questions and generate their own unique results. Those results are placed in your database and give you the opportunity to segment and create different communications based on those results. (Location 799)
The Live Webinar Funnel (Location 960)
A good webinar funnel is carefully scripted, beginning with high level educational training that naturally builds desire for a product, and ending with a pitch for that product. (Location 965)
Email traffic is perfect for a live webinar. You can hit up your list and let them know about the upcoming event each time you decide to run one. This is a great way to add value to your subscribers as well as a way to sell. (Location 1037)
The On-Demand Webinar Funnel (Location 1054)
Paid Traffic On-demand webinar funnels tend to work very well for paid traffic because of the short sales cycle and the instant gratification the on-demand webinar offers. New leads who opt in to your webinar will quickly become indoctrinated to your brand and will likely either convert after watching the webinar or will be far more likely to convert in the future. (Location 1124)
What conversion funnels are you using in your business right now? Are you using one of the funnels outlined in this book? Two? Maybe all of them? Do an audit of your business’ marketing and sales processes and make a diagram for every stage of your buyer’s journey. Then identify the conversion funnel or funnels that your business is using, intentionally or not. (Location 1300)