What Is A Digital Sales Funnel?

Brian Basilico

Jogging With A Walkman

One of the coolest tools that I ever had in my audio arsenal was the ability to record phonograph records and put them on audio cassette to take them with me in my car. Then along came the Walkman. Now I had the ability to run and jog while holding a brick in my hand that allowed me to listen to my phonograph records. Next up was the portable CD player. Jogging with the CD player was a challenge though, because the disks would constantly skip. Then came the MP3 player. Who remembers the Rio? This was one of the first truly digital music players.

Then the iPod, with a little hard disk in it, was introduced. It held a lot of songs, but if you dropped it, the disc would get damaged. Today, we have the iPhone and the latest generation iPod Touch, which are both 100 percent flash memory. These are incredibly solid music players that hold a ton of songs, podcasts, videos, and so much more. We’ve come a long way from the record players in a car.

Digital Sales Funnels

Technology has also changed the way we sell products and services online today. Before the internet and websites, selling was all done by meeting customers face-to-face, but how times have changed!

I spoke about sales funnels in previous blogs and podcasts, but today we’re going talk about a digital sales funnel. It’s kind of the same thing, but not quite. The concept of bringing people into your funnel and accelerating them to the sale is still the same thing, but the methodology and purposes are different.

If you’re selling digital products online, then a digital sales funnel is for you. You could be selling training products or packages, and even masterminds or coaching. All you need is a website, an email program with auto responder software and, of course, a plan!

How A Digital Sales Funnel Works

A digital sales funnel is set up to lead people through the process of buying things to get to your ultimate end result, the big ticket or high-income product or service. A basic funnel works like this…

1. First you need to get them on your email list by offering a Freemium, the report, case study or e-book, that has value enough for them to want to trade their contact information for what you have to offer. If nothing else, you’ve earned the opportunity to communicate with them in the future about your products and services.
   
2. The second step is to take them to a page that’s not just a thank you page; it’s a page that offers them a low-priced, paid product such as an audio, video, or additional information on the Freemium they had just received. Oftentimes, it’s actually part of the larger, more profitable product or service that you’re trying to sell.
   
3. Finally, you take them to another thank you page that offers them the full course or service that you’re trying to sell. This is the ultimate piece of this puzzle. It may contain the part of the product you just sold them, plus much, much more information. This is the real goal of the sales funnel, but if they only take advantage of your Freemium or low-level product now, you still have the ability to contact them via email at a later time to present them with all of your offers again.

Niching Out

In order to maximize your reach, you have to make sure that you’re talking to the right potential customers. You might want to go back and read the blog or listen to the podcast about finding your ideal customer. It’s all about finding the right niche for the product and service that you’re selling. That may mean you have to create different funnels for different audiences. Each funnel has to start with a problem and slowly guide potential customers to the ultimate solution.

Not Just For Online Marketers

You may be saying to yourself, “I’m not selling anything digital online, so why do I need a digital sales funnel?” There are a few ways that anyone can use a digital sales funnel to grow their business.

1. Let’s say you’re a dentist. Your Freemium could be a special report on how teeth whitening not only builds confidence, but can help a person advance in the workplace. Then, after they download the Freemium, you take them to the thank you page that offers them a coupon for a teeth cleaning special. Once they purchase that offer, you can offer them a discount on teeth whitening, that now sells them the product that you are trying to get them to purchase.
   
2. Let’s say you’re an auto repair shop. You could create a special report on the top 10 things that can be done to get a car to 250,000 miles on a budget. Once they download that, take them to a thank you page that offers them a very discounted oil change. Finally, you take them to another thank you page that offers them a discounted complete tune-up on their car to get them to 100,00 miles and beyond.
   
3. Let’s say you are a coach (business, life, sports…it doesn’t matter). Offer a special report on the top five things you can do to move beyond your barriers. Next, you can offer them a free or even very low-cost 30-minute one-on-one coaching session. Then, you can invite them to join a mastermind or group coaching, or you can promote one of your high level one-on-one coaching programs.

Final Thoughts

As you can see, having a digital sales funnel helps you promote all kinds of the things you have to offer, while at least gathering people’s contact information for future promotions through email auto responders. People who are interested enough to get your free report or e-book are more likely than not to be interested in your emails from that point forward, because you’ve already built up a level of trust.

I’m not saying that building a sales funnel is incredibly easy, however if you have a website you can do it. There are other tools out there like Lead Pages or ClickFunnels that can actually help you be more automated. Chances are you will need a little help. Don’t be afraid to ask for it, because the rewards definitely outweigh the risks.

I would love to hear some examples of how you have used these techniques to help you grow your business online. It’s a common sales method of up-selling, but most of us don’t even think about it, because we’re so busy trying to just make the initial sale. So, please comment away with your thoughts and what works for you.

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