Understanding Click Funnels vs. Sales Funnels

Creating an effective sales strategy requires you to know your customer journey inside and out. Using models like sales funnels and click funnels can help you build the path you want your customers to take on their way from prospect to buyer. In this post, we will highlight the differences between click funnels vs sales funnels.

What is a Click Funnel?

A click funnel is a series of pages that lead to a conversion event. Prospects often enter a click funnel through a link on a social media post, a paid search ad or an email. That link takes the prospect to a landing page specific to a product or service your business sells.

From the landing page, leads may click through several more pages of add-ons and upsells before finally converting. A conversion at the end of a click funnel does not necessarily mean a purchase. Some other conversion types include downloading a whitepaper or signing up for a webinar.

Click funnels can be short or long. Short click funnels are the most common tend to have higher conversion rates, because the prospect is able to get to the point quicker. Longer click funnels allow you to collect more data on your prospects, but they can also drive prospects away if they are too lengthy.

For prospects that request more information or subscribe to your mailing list, there is a great opportunity to upsell a prospect from free content to a paid purchase. Click funnels are also particularly good tools for businesses that offer add-on or tiered products.

What is a Sales Funnel?

The difference between click funnels vs. sales funnels is that sales funnels depict the customer journey starting from a cold prospect and ending with becoming a paying customer. Mapping your sales funnel is an important step to completing the sales cycle.

A sales funnel starts with top of funnel efforts, like email and social media marketing. The main purpose of these efforts is to acquaint your target audience with your brand and help nurture the prospects into the middle of the funnel, where the sales process truly begins.

In the middle of the sales funnel, leads already know your brand and have shown interest in purchasing. The leads may have even connected with your brand’s content through downloading a whitepaper or participating in a webinar. Push these leads to your sales-focused pages, like product, upsell and order pages.

Finally, the lead reaches the bottom of the sales funnel when they complete a conversion. In a sales funnel, unlike in a click funnel, a conversion refers to a purchase. These conversions can be online or offline events.

Click Funnels vs. Sales Funnels

Click Funnels	Sales Funnels
Start with a social media post, a paid search ad, an email or another link placement from the top of funnel marketing efforts	Connect with target audience at the top of the funnel, typically through marketing efforts
Continue through one or more upsell and add on pages	Continue to middle of the funnel tactics, like sales calls
Convert by downloading free content, purchasing a product or service or other events	Convert by purchasing a product or service

 

Now that you understand the differences between click funnels vs. sales funnels, you will be better able to make use of each in your digital marketing strategy.

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