Sales Funnels Explained: Which One to Build and Why
Quick answer
types of sales funnels
Pick your funnel by price and traffic temperature: low-priced offers suit a direct sales page, mid-priced offers suit a webinar or challenge funnel, and high-priced offers suit an application funnel that qualifies people before a call.
10 min read
A funnel is just the ordered set of steps someone takes from stranger to buyer. The mistake is picking a funnel because it is popular rather than because it matches the price of the offer and how well the audience already knows you. Match those two things and the funnel stops feeling like a hack.
Price decides the shape of the funnel
Cheap offers can be sold on a page, because the decision is small. Expensive offers need more contact, more proof and usually a conversation, because the decision is large. Every funnel type is really just a different amount of persuasion delivered before the ask.
- Under about $100: direct sales page, order bump, one upsell.
- $100-$2,000: webinar, challenge or evergreen funnel that earns the decision before the price appears.
- $2,000 and up: application funnel that qualifies, then a call.
- Free entry point: lead magnet into a nurture sequence, then one of the above.
Traffic temperature decides how much you have to explain
Cold traffic has never heard of you, so the funnel has to frame the problem before it names the offer. Warm traffic already knows you, so an extra explanation stage just adds a step to drop off at.
Running cold traffic into a funnel built for warm traffic is the single most common reason a funnel that once worked suddenly stops.
The steps every funnel actually needs
Regardless of type, the same jobs have to happen somewhere: attract attention, capture contact details, build belief, present the offer, remove risk, take payment, and follow up with the people who did not buy.
When a funnel underperforms, find the job that is missing. Nine times out of ten it is belief-building or follow-up, not the checkout page.
Measure four numbers, not forty
Opt-in rate tells you whether the promise on the landing page is strong. Sales conversion rate tells you whether the offer and pitch land. Cost per acquisition tells you what a buyer costs. Return on ad spend tells you whether to scale or stop.
If cost per acquisition is below what a customer is worth over their lifetime, the funnel works and the job becomes volume. If not, no amount of extra traffic fixes it.
Fix the funnel in the right order
Work backwards from money. Checkout and offer first, then the belief stage, then the opt-in, then traffic. Optimising the top of a funnel that cannot convert at the bottom simply spends more money faster.
Frequently asked questions
- What are the main types of sales funnels?
- The common ones are the direct sales page funnel, the lead magnet and nurture funnel, the webinar funnel, the evergreen webinar funnel, the challenge funnel and the application funnel. Each delivers a different amount of persuasion before the ask.
- How many steps should a funnel have?
- As few as the price allows. Every extra step loses people, so a step must earn its place by adding belief, qualification or order value.
- Do I need paid ads to run a funnel?
- No. Email lists, organic content, partnerships and referrals all feed funnels. Paid traffic simply makes the same funnel run faster, including in the wrong direction if the offer is weak.
- Which funnel is best for a high-ticket offer?
- An application funnel. A short qualifying form before the calendar keeps unsuitable people off your calls and raises close rate on the conversations you do take.
Run the numbers
- Webinar Revenue Calculator
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- Funnel Math Calculator
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Key terms in this guide
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