
Levering marketing funnels to connect with potential clients, optimize conversions, and uplevel your business.
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Amy Porterfield
Funnels at the core are just really rooted in data. So to truly succeed and scale in your business, you need to get organized and know your numbers. So when building my funnels, I'm consistently asking myself things like is this ad resonating with my potential customer or is the landing page copy hooking people in long enough? I then look at the data to find these answers and then I make changes. Changes when appropriate. I'm Amy Porterfield, ex corporate girl turned CEO of a multi seven figure business. But it wasn't all that long ago that I lacked the confidence, the budget and the time to focus on growing my small but mighty business. Fast forward past many failed attempts and lessons learned and you'll see the business I have today. One that changes lives and gives me more freedom than I ever thought possible. One that used to only exist as a daydream. I created the Online Marketing Made Easy podcast to give you simple, actionable, step by step strategies to help you do the same. If you're an ambitious entrepreneur or one in the making who's looking to create a business that makes an impact and a life you love, you're in the right place, friend. Let's get started. Hey there. Welcome back to Online Marketing Made Easy. Today I'm releasing one of my most popular episodes, three funnels that have made millions in my business. In this episode, I dive deep into the exact funnels that have fueled my business success, sharing the strategies that have brought in millions in revenue. Whether you're building your first funnel or looking to refine the funnels you already have created, this episode is packed with practical insights you won't want to miss. Enjoy. To start today, I want you to keep an image of a common kitchen funnel in your head. You know, the one that's wide at the top and narrows down at the bottom. This is the same structure as a marketing funnel. Now, the top of the funnel, or as we lovingly call it in the marketing world, tofu. Yeah, it's true. Top of funnel Tofu is the widest part that you pour into and acts as your business's grand entran. It's where you roll out the red carpet, greet people, and showcase what your business, service and product is all about. But more importantly, you're showing people the problem that you can help solve and how your solution is uniquely fitted to their needs. At the top of the funnel, you are typically measuring things such as engagement. Click through rates or page views to know if it's working. You might have heard some marketers refer to this as the Awareness stage or the discovery phase. No matter the name, the concept remains the same to get people to know you exist. And the top of the funnel is why I harp on creating consistent content every single week. Each time you write a blog, hit record for a podcast, or shoot a video show, you're creating opportunities for new audiences to discover you and your brand. Your weekly content helps move people down the funnel. When you ask yourself, what is the next logical step someone would want to take after consuming this content? Whatever the next step is, you create a free resource around it. When people enter their email in exchange for this free resource, they slide down to the middle of your funnel, or the mofu. Yeah, that's what people call it. Middle of funnel, mofu. M O F U. This is the moment where your funnel starts to narrow a little, so potential customers who don't have the problem you solve will drop out. Those who stay in your funnel continue to consume your content to help them decide if what you're offering is the right solution for them. At the middle of the funnel, you can measure things such as the amount of signups for your free resource compared to the amount of people who visited the landing page, the open and click through rates of your emails, or the time someone spends on your website to know if what you're doing is effective and interesting to your ideal customer. And just like that, we've made it to the end of the funnel, the bottom of the funnel, which is BofU b o f U. Think of this as the grand finale where you create loyal, lifelong customers. By the time they reach this point, your potential customers are well informed. And now it's all about the action someone takes on your landing page. So at this stage, you'll measure success with conversion rates. That's the percentage of visitors who decide, yes, this is it, and they proceed with the purchase. Now, if there's one golden rule for the bottom of the funnel that I really can't stress this enough to all business owners, it's this. If you want to make more money in your business, you have to split test your landing pages. Trust me, this is a game changer. And early on, I did not do this enough. Now, the great thing. So split testing would mean you have two landing pages that are very similar, but there's just some subtle important differences, like the button is at a different place, higher on the page, lower on the page, different copy, different colors, like you're doing different things. They're not vastly different because then you don't even know what the heck is going on. And why one is working over the other. So there's very subtle differences, but split testing, two pages. I wish I would have done this more back in the day. Now, thankfully, today, there are so many more tools than there were 14 years ago that make it as easy as ever to split test. So one is clickfunnels, two Crazy Egg or another one optimizely. O P T I M I Z E L Y so those are three tools that have helped us over the years. Now, the tool you choose to use is less important than the process you set up to do this. So when split testing, always remember to test just one thing at a time. So I mentioned all those things, but I really didn't mean that you were going to do all of those things at once. So I kind of probably that was a little confusing. So let me be clear. You could be testing a different headline or the color of your call to action button, or a contrasting image, or tweaking the copy. The idea is to pinpoint exactly what change makes the difference so you can continue to optimize the conversions. So first you're going to split test, let's say just the headline. Once one headline is winning, then you could have a split test on the color of the button. Once one of those is winning. Now you're going to revert to the winning one and maybe change some of the copy if you want to do that much split testing, which I recommend you do, but I know it's laborsome, so just do what you can do. But that's what I mean by split testing. And actually split testing funnels is really fun the moment you switch your mindset and see things like split testing, not as like a task, but as a fun challenge. Like, it's so interesting to learn what your audience is going to gravitate towards. And I'm often really surprised. Like I will bet money that one thing will win and then the other one will. And I'll be like, really? That's so interesting. So it really transforms the entire experience of funnel building into like a playground of let's see what's going to work. So what a concept. Let this be fun. Enjoy the process. When you start to really dive into perfecting your funnels, you become a really badass marketer. So this is something to enjoy and just get better at. So believe me, also when you're having fun with it, that energy like radiates in your audience and potential customers. They just feel, feel it in everything you do. And here's the thing, funnels at the core are just really rooted in data. So to truly succeed in scale in your business, you need to get organized and know your numbers. So when building my funnels, I'm consistently asking myself things like, is this ad resonating with my potential customer, or is the landing page copy hooking people in long enough? I then look at the data to find these answers, and then I make changes when appropriate. Okay, so now that we've covered the basic structure and framework, let's drill down to the two primary types of funnels I swear by in my business. The list building funnel and the sales funnel. And remember, I've outlined the structure of these funnels for you in detail. So all you gotta do is download the guide. You'll find it@amyporterfield.com 620. Okay, so first up, the list building funnel. To explain this type of funnel, I want to pull back the curtain a bit and I'm going to show you a real world example from my business. It's my online marketing made easy podcast playlist funnel. This is centered around a lead magnet quiz called you're on the run personalized business playlist. So the first time I ran this funnel, the main aim was simply to get more podcast downloads. In fact, people didn't even enter their email to get their results. But the next time I ran this funnel, about a year later, I used it as a list building tool. And I still got that sweet benefit of more podcast downloads as well. You see, as your business evolves, so can your funnels. They can start out really basic, and because they aren't static, you can change and adapt as you have more time, more bandwidth, and more data. So this is why understanding the goal of your funnel is so important. The takeaway I genuinely want you to hold on to is that whenever you're crafting a funnel, you must begin with the end goal in mind. Okay, did you hear that? Whenever you're crafting a funnel, you must begin with your end goal in mind. What do you want to achieve? What is the goal of this funnel? Once you've got that clear picture, then you're going to work backwards. Okay, so back to my online marketing made easy funnel. The top of the funnel tofu is where I'm helping my ideal podcast listener become aware that I exist. So to do this, I use a combination of organic social media posts, paid ads, email sequences, podcasts, dynamic insertion ads, and I produce specific episodes related to the playlist. Now, you know I always say start simple, get fancy later. So as you're creating the top of Your funnel know that you can choose just one or two of those things I just mentioned, and you can still see great success. I feel like you're going to want me to repeat all those ways that I get people into the top of my funnel. I'm going to say them one more time. So I use organic social media posts. Everyone listening. You can do that, right? Paid ads, you may not have the money to do so yet, so you might want to skip that one. Email sequences. If you have a small or big email list, that's a yes. Podcast dynamic insertion ads. So right now we're using Libsyn and that's the platform for my podcast, and we have the ability to record an ad and then we can insert that ad in all or just some of the podcast episodes. I literally can choose. That's why they're called dynamic. I could choose which ones those ads go into and not go into. So that's pretty cool. And then I produce specific episodes related to the playlist that is going to encourage people to get into that funnel. So there's some free things and some paid things. So again, start simple, get fancy later. Choose, like, two things to do in the beginning. Now, for this funnel, one thing that worked like gangbusters was that the first time I ran it, I was doing an Instagram live session called Coffee and All Things Business with Amy, and it was a huge hit. Essentially, people would join my Instagram live and they got to ask me any questions about my business, and I would respond in real time. And during my response, I drop hints like, you sound like you'd be result number two of my business quiz. This quiz will offer you more tailored resources to take action on that goal. So I'd love for you to go to amyporterfield.com playlist to take advantage of these resources. So during the live, if someone was a really good fit to take the quiz and kind of learn more, I would absolutely tell them where to go. I have no shame in sending people to great free resources. So this strategy worked well to get people to my landing page and lead people to the middle of my funnel. Remember, the middle of the funnel is where people express interest and desire to learn more about what you have to offer. So this quiz was perfect because it offered results that really help people find the exact content they needed at the moment. Because my quiz, like, I have over 600 episodes. So you take the quiz and then I give you, like, the top 10 episodes of all 600 that would serve you with where you are in your business. Journey. So it's a playlist of where you're at right now and how I can help you. So once people were on the landing page and they took the quiz, they entered the bottom of my funnel. This is where things change between the two years I ran the funnel. The first year, once you finish the quiz, your results and playlists popped up immediately. No email exchanges, no barriers, just pure value for the quiz taker and increased podcast downloads for me, which is good. And I totally get not wanting to have a barrier. Like, I know some marketers that don't do a lot of list building in the beginning of a lot of their new funnels because they just want to give amazing value. I just feel as though unless you're a huge name, and I'm not, like, I'm not saying I am. So unless you're like a huge name, like, I'm thinking, like, Mel Robbins, she's got a huge following. I think she could get away with giving great value away for free with no barrier and then eventually having the barrier. But for people like us, I really do think we can't miss the opportunity to get name and email so we can nurture. And so I just feel like the first time I did it, we kind of missed the mark, so I wouldn't do that again. So when the funnel's goal shifts to list building, I think that's a smarter strategy. So I added an email submission form before you could see your results. So in exchange for email addresses, the quiz taker would get an email that gave them their podcast playlist. So that's how you got the podcast playlist. The second year I ran this. Now, on the flip side, my business got a new email subscriber who raised their hand saying they're interested in my content. So they got the playlist. But now I'm growing my email list and they're now part of my community, and I can continue the conversion, providing value with my weekly newsletter and my weekly podcast episodes. So at this stage, I continue to communicate with them weekly because it makes the selling process down the road feel more organic. Kind of like it's just an extension of a conversation that we've been having for a while. That's why even if you're not ready to sell something, that's why a lot of my students who are in digital course academy and you're creating your course, a funnel like this now is important because you get to nurture them before ever selling anything. And that makes the conversion, when you're ready, so much easier. A Lot of my students don't do this work up front and then they try to sell and they don't have connections with their audience and it doesn't work. So this is important. Okay, so I'll get off my soapbox. But before moving on, let's recap the main assets in each stage of my podcast Playlist Funnel and this of course is a list building funnel. At the top of the funnel I have paid ads, Instagram Lives, email sequences, Libsyn ads, podcast episodes, and website pop ups. Moving to the middle of the funnel I have a landing page where people can take the quiz. Then at the bottom of the funnel I have either a direct download of the podcast episodes perfectly curated for them. That was the first year, but the better year I did it a form to submit your email for quiz results depending on the main goal at the time. But I liked the second year better. So I have a visual for you to see this framework like what it looks like in my freebie decoding three business funnels that drive my success amyporterfield.com 6:20 now the beauty of this system is that it's reusable and adaptable. Those are two great words for funnels. You can reuse them and you can adapt them, change them, pivot into something else. So depending on my business goals, I can tweak and optimize as I go. And remember, improvement doesn't always have to be leaps and bounds. It could be small shifts. As one of my favorite authors, James Clear, says in his book Atomic habits, improving by 1% isn't particularly notable. Sometimes it isn't even noticeable. But it can be far more meaningful, especially in the long run. If you can get 1% better each day for one year, you'll end up 37 times better by the time you're done. That's a pretty good quote, right? Think about the possibilities if I keep refining this Funnel just by 1% each time I run it. Hopefully this gives you a good idea of the framework for an effective list building funnel that you can create in your business. And remember, take it step by step. Outline the structure with your end goal in mind. Create your assets, launch it into the world and keep iterating and testing. Okay, real quick. Before we continue with this podcast, I've got to tell you about my new favorite tool. So I think it will be no surprise to anybody to find out that my perfectionism followed me all throughout my school years. Why settle for an A when you can get an A, right? An extra credit. It was never optional, so Imagine my absolute delight when 20 something years later I discovered a free tool to tell me whether my email subject lines are an A or an A. And you know I'm gunning for that A right. It's called subjectline.com and they share marketing related news items and best practices. But my favorite is their free subject line rating tool that allows you to test any subject line and it will give you a rating out of 100 on how effective it's likely to be with data driven suggestions on how to make that subject line even better. To say I'm addicted is an understatement. And here's the thing, you won't see me send a single email that's under a 97 out of 100. It's like a game with opens, clicks and purchases as my prize. Subject line.com even crafts new versions of your subject line to make it even more fun or clear or more urgent while keeping deliverability and open rates the top priority. With over 15 million subject lines tested, I now run every single subject line that I use in my business, no joke, through subjectline.com so join me in over 200,000 thousand marketers who use this incredible email marketing tool by visiting subjectline.com today. All right, let's get back to the episode. Okay, next up, let's move on to the second funnel that's essential in my business, which is a sales funnel. To explain this type of funnel, I want to start by giving you a behind the scenes look at my evergreen funnel for my course, List Builder Society or LBS for short. Let's start at the top of the funnel where I am generating awareness that List Builder Society LBS exists in the world. I do this by using a mix of organic strategies like social media posts and paid ads. I also have a dedicated ad budget every year. That's pretty big for this funnel. Remember, I've been around for a long time. I invest a lot in my business because I make a lot of money. But that hasn't always been the case. You just invest what you can. So just let's keep that in perspective. But I am able to spend big here because I know how dialed in this funnel is. So I know every dollar I spend will be returned to me and then some. But I wouldn't know this unless I was running it for a few years. So it takes you a little while to get to that point. I also increase awareness through my organic social media posts. I talk about my list building masterclass which is titled Inbox Money how to Monetize an Email list in four easy steps. And I do this in a post at least twice every single month. So every single month, at least two times you're going to hear about this funnel. So I do use social media organically for this. I also feature my masterclass with a button to sign up on the homepage of my website. I don't do this too often because I don't want to fatigue the audience, but a few times a year this works really well to drive awareness and signups. But because this is an automated funnel that runs every single day, if I have it on my website all the time, definitely I can get audience fatigue. So again, this is like a special thing I do. And because I've had this funnel for quite a while, it's built momentum over the years, meaning people know about it. So it has a really strong word of mouth marketing that helps in a huge way at the top of this funnel. So again, you just got to be patient. It takes time. So once people are aware that I have a solution to help them and they click to check out my masterclass and register for it, they've moved to the middle of the funnel. If you're curious to see how we've set up the landing page to optimize conversions, you can head on over to amiporterfield.com list masterclass once registered, my potential student receives an email series that starts with the confirmation to attend the masterclass live. And to make it even more irresistible, I throw in a special show up bonus letting them know if they attend live, they get a gift from me at the time of this recording. That show up Live Bonus is a PDF titled your guide to a quick subscriber boost 4 strategies for email Growth. But they only get this if they show up live for the masterclass. Now in the copy of this confirmation email, I also focus on helping them believe in their goals and in their dreams and the transformative power of an email list. This helps get them in the right frame of mind when they show up for the masterclass. I think that's important to mention here. When creating your funnel, you should always be thinking about the mindset of a potential student or customer and what they need to be ready to buy. Like happily buy or enroll in your product or service. Like what do they need to get there? So at this point in the funnel, hopefully my confirmation and show up live emails have done their job and the potential student will attend my masterclass. This is when the bottom of the funnel starts. It's my chance to educate them on list building strategies in the webinar that they're attending the masterclass and invite them to continue the journey by joining List Builder Society. So in the masterclass I make a pitch at the very end with a direct link to click and enroll in the course. If they don't enroll while the masterclass is live. Now I'm saying live, it's an automated masterclass. I've already pre recorded it, but we have it into a system that people are signing up for a specific date and time to show up for. What we found is, is when people have a specific date and time to show up for a masterclass, whether it's live or pre recorded, they're more likely to watch it. And so in their minds I don't say it's live, but they're attending live. And so if they don't enroll while the masterclass, while they're showing up for the masterclass, they enter a four day email sequence where I continue to educate them on the power of list building. Easy Webinar and demeo are two that I've used and for automated webinars and they work really well. So if you're wondering what software those are, two to check out. So getting back to those emails, the first email goes out 90 minutes after someone's scheduled masterclass time. I have two versions of the email. One for a potential student who attended the masterclass live and one for those who didn't show up live. Either way, they're invited in the email to join List Builder Society since they've already shown interest in list building by signing up for the masterclass. The copy in this email is laser focused on aligning my course as the solution to their list building goals. Now the next day I send another email outlining the value of LBs to everyone who still hasn't joined. This email focuses on addressing common objections and introduces my mid cart bonus. So now we're introducing a new bonus. Right now it's a PDF called Advanced strategies to grow your email list. So if they haven't purchased and they've got a few more days before all the bonuses go away, I'm actually sweetening the pot for them, which gives me another reason to send an email. Now, after this mid cart bonus email, if a potential student still hasn't joined, I have one more email that still sent a day later inviting them to enroll in List Builder Society. Now this email reminds people of the value the course will provide and has my cart close bonus in it. One more bonus which right now it's called the three part email Template pack. And just a note here about bonuses before we move on. Those students who take the leap and enroll on the first day of the funnel, they're not left out. They receive all the bonuses even if they didn't know a bonus was coming. After all, I want to reward those decision makers, especially when it's about chasing their dreams and they're going for it, so they get all the bonuses. So there you have it. A peek into the inner workings of a multimillion dollar funnel for List Builder Society. Now, I think it goes without saying that the product has to be good. For it to work this well and be a multimillion dollar automated evergreen funnel, the product has to be good. Remember I said there's a lot of word of mouth being directed to this funnel. And so List Builder Society I think is the best of the best when it comes to growing an email list. But I think we all are doing our very best creating amazing programs, right? So I think that goes without saying. Hey there, a quick word from our sponsor, Shopify. If you sell digital products in your business, such as templates, planners, checklists, guides, any kind of printables, you should definitely check out Shopify. In fact, I just did a whole podcast about how selling digital products like printables is a great way to get a quick cash injection. So I want you to upgrade your business and get a high converting checkout. When you use Shopify. Sign up for your $1 per month trial period@shopify.com made easy. All lowercase. So go to shopify.com made easy to upgrade your selling today. Shopify.com made easy. Okay, now do you want to see a visual of all the steps that are involved in this from tofu to bofu? Well, I know it's so silly, right? But really people do use these terms. So go to amy porterfield.com forward/six and download the free guide. I love this funnel because it generates, like I said, millions of dollars a year. But when broken down is really simple. Anyone can reproduce this to serve their students by creating a social media plan, a masterclass and a four email sequence to send out. You can do this my friend. Okay, so as you can see, sales funnels are such a game changer when done right. I want to stay here and share one more example with you before we wrap up today. This next sales funnel is a newer and more unique funnel in my business. It's for a low ticket course that I call the online business starter suite. Now I don't really look at this as one of the offers I have, like, we don't actively put in a lot of effort into this one, although it is out in the world, so it does exist. I don't use this as one of the main courses that I sell ongoingly, but ever since I launched my book, we did put together this really simple funnel. And I love this funnel because it really shows you how you can get creative and add your own twist and flare to a proven framework. So as usual, everything in this funnel starts with making people aware of my brand and that a solution to their problem exists. I do this mostly with paid ads and organic social media posts that are focused on lifestyle related content. The messaging in these posts speaks to the freedom that I've created through entrepreneurship. This content works well because I know it's a deep desire that drives my ideal student for this course. So I know my ideal student wants more freedom. So for example, one tactic that's working particularly well for me right now is an Instagram reel with a voiceover. Now let me tell you my friend, I love a good reel with a voiceover because that means I don't have to be direct to camera remembering what to say. I just use a lot of visual, let's say B roll, so videos or images and then I record my voice over those and my voice and the visuals act as a hook to capture my potential students attention. So the video in the reel is simple again like B roll footage of me, let's say in my home doing something common like walking down the stairs or typing on my computer. And then the voiceover on the reel is me talking about a very specific topic such as habits that drove me in my early success as an entrepreneur. So the video hooks people in and then it moves people down to the middle middle of the funnel in the caption. So the video doesn't tell them anything about what to do. They have to read the caption. And this is where I mention a freebie that viewers can sign up for. So depending on which posts pique their interest, potential students are presented with one of two lead magnets. Either a guide titled From Desk Job to Dream Job or one titled Money on the side Guide. So both topics I've researched and handpicked knowing they resonate with my ideal student for this one. Now I want to pause here and talk about the funnel mindset for a second. If someone isn't intrigued enough to give you their email in exchange for a lead magnet, meaning they drop out of the funnel rather than seeing it as a failure on my part, I know I'VE actually done my job. Right. Well, first the funnel has to work. Like, enough people have to get into it, but the people that don't get into it after it's been working for a while, this is a clear sign that they may not be the right fit for the end game of this funnel. And that's perfectly okay. Not every lead will turn into a conversion. I mean, we need to make sure we're attracting the right person. Right. So just something to think about. Okay, continuing with the middle of this funnel, here's where it gets a little unique. Typically, I believe a funnel should have one primary focus, an offer. However, with this funnel, as soon as someone opts into one of the free lead magnets, I take them on a slight detour. I do this in the first couple of nurture emails I send. So rather than inviting them to a masterclass that I've created for this funnel, I introduce them to my book two weeks notice because it's such a low price, like 27 or sometimes cheaper, and, and it's a resource that totally aligns perfectly with the aspirations of my potential student. So I'm not afraid that it's going to lose anyone by presenting a paid offer so soon in the funnel. But I do want to point out here that you typically don't want to present a paid offer this soon. It's something I experimented with in this funnel. And although I can't actually track book sales, I do see a significant amount of people that continue with the funnel. They do not drop out after the email promoting my book. So. So the data shows me that it's working well to drive the conversation with my potential student and increase awareness of my book. Because if you've ever written a book, you know that after you launch it, after the hype, you better have a funnel to keep selling it, because it doesn't just sell on its own. Unless you are James clear and you're on the New York Times every single week for like 1000 years. So most people, that's not their case. So a funnel for a book is important. Okay. So after the initial email with my book offer, the middle of the funnel continues as my potential students receive an email inviting them to a masterclass titled the only five things you need to start your side hustle or online business from scratch. So if someone doesn't sign up after that initial email, I have three follow up emails scheduled that invite them to register on the day of their masterclass. They're officially at the bottom of my funnel. This is where I build trust by teaching my strategies and ultimately invite them to take action and enroll in the online Business Starter Suite course. So the course is priced at a beginner friendly $97 and I refer to this course as a starter course in my business and it serves as a doorway into my world and really I don't make a lot of money with it. That's why I don't count it as one of my offers because we invest a lot to get people into my world. So this really is a big list builder for me. But it's also a way for people to buy in to my teaching, put a little skin in the game, but a really easy way to do so. So you can think of it like a taste tester, like showcasing my teaching style and letting newcomers gauge the value of my other offerings. And my hope is to build trust and showcase that I'm the guide they'd love to continue their learning journey far into the future with so that's what it looks like. Okay, so that was a little behind the scenes. I've never talked about that. One of the Online Business Starter Suite Funnel framework and that framework can also be found in my freebies. So right now go to amyporterfield.com forward/620 go grab the freebie. You're going to want it. Even if you don't take action right away, you're going to want to come back to that freebie and you're never going to remember where to find it. So download it now. Save it somewhere where you can go back to it. And with that, we're at the end of our time today together. Through this episode, I hope I've illustrated how the essence of a great funnel isn't just in its structure, but in its creativity and adaptability and alignment with the audience's needs. Before we part ways, I want to leave you with just one thought. One of the biggest mistakes I see in the funnel world is building an entire system around an untested or unproven idea. So before you start creating a funnel, take the time to validate your offer and ensure it resonates with your audience. Then start to understand the messaging that works well to hook people into your world. Look at the likes, the comments and shares of your most popular social media posts and notice what they have in common to help you develop your top of funnel messaging. Next, in the middle of your funnel, I can't stress enough the importance of crafting high quality resources to nurture and build trust with those who are still in your funnel. This is where you demonstrate the value you bring and help them discern if what you offer truly aligns with their goals and desires. And last, don't be afraid to put yourself out there and sell at the bottom of your funnel. If you've done your job right, your potential customer will feel like they've had a conversation with their best friend who just told them the key to getting what they want most. So when I reflect on my journey with funnels, trust me, it wasn't an overnight success. And believe me, each hiccup and each little failure over the past 14 years was not easy. But it was worth it. I now have funnels I can rinse and repeat year after year that consistently bring in money without me having to trade my time for dollars. I want that for you too, my friend. And I know you can get there. So make sure to Take action on this episode. Did you hear that? Take action on this episode. And remember to download the free guide to help you do just that. You can find it@amyporterfield.com 620 and it will show the simple framework of each funnel discussed today. I cannot wait to see you use it as an inspiration and to see your funnels launched into the world. Thanks for joining me for another episode of Online Marketing Made Easy. I'll see you next week, same time, same place. Bye for now.
Podcast Summary: Episode #736 – "3 Funnels That Have Made Millions In My Business"
Online Marketing Made Easy with Amy Porterfield
Host: Amy Porterfield
Release Date: November 27, 2024
In Episode #736 of Online Marketing Made Easy, Amy Porterfield delves into the intricate world of marketing funnels, sharing her personal experiences and strategies that have collectively generated millions in revenue for her business. Whether you're a novice setting up your first funnel or a seasoned marketer looking to refine your existing strategies, Amy's insights provide a comprehensive guide to building effective, scalable funnels.
Amy begins by demystifying the concept of marketing funnels, comparing them to a common kitchen funnel's structure – wide at the top and narrowing down at the bottom.
Definition & Purpose: The widest part of the funnel, known as TOFU, serves as the grand entrance to the business. It aims to create awareness and attract a broad audience by showcasing the business's offerings and identifying the problems they solve.
Amy Porterfield [02:30]: "The top of the funnel is where you roll out the red carpet, greet people, and showcase what your business, service, and product is all about."
Key Metrics: Engagement, click-through rates, and page views are primary indicators of success at this stage.
Strategies: Consistent content creation through blogs, podcasts, videos, and social media posts is crucial. Each piece of content should entice the audience to take the next step in the funnel.
Definition & Purpose: MOFU narrows the funnel, filtering out those who aren’t a fit and nurturing the interested prospects. It's about building desire and educating the audience further.
Amy Porterfield [12:15]: "The middle of the funnel is where people express interest and desire to learn more about what you have to offer."
Key Metrics: Signups for free resources, email open and click-through rates, and time spent on the website.
Strategies: Offering free resources like e-books, quizzes, or webinars in exchange for contact information helps in nurturing leads and moving them closer to a purchasing decision.
Definition & Purpose: The narrowest part of the funnel focuses on converting interested prospects into loyal customers. It’s the decisive phase where potential customers take action, such as making a purchase.
Amy Porterfield [22:45]: "At the bottom of the funnel, it's all about the action someone takes on your landing page."
Key Metrics: Conversion rates – the percentage of visitors who take the desired action.
Strategies: Employing tactics like split testing landing pages to optimize conversions, ensuring the final push towards purchase is as effective as possible.
Amy emphasizes that successful funnels are deeply rooted in data. Understanding and analyzing metrics at each funnel stage allows for informed decision-making and continuous improvement.
Amy Porterfield [05:10]: "Funnels at the core are just really rooted in data. So to truly succeed and scale in your business, you need to get organized and know your numbers."
Split Testing: A critical technique she advocates for, especially at the BOFU stage, where minor tweaks can significantly impact conversion rates. Tools like ClickFunnels, Crazy Egg, and Optimizely facilitate this process, enabling marketers to test variations and determine what resonates best with their audience.
Amy Porterfield [09:25]: "If you want to make more money in your business, you have to split test your landing pages. Trust me, this is a game changer."
Amy illustrates her list building funnel through her own Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast Playlist Funnel, showcasing its evolution and effectiveness.
Objective: Initially designed to increase podcast downloads without capturing email addresses.
Amy Porterfield [17:30]: "The first time I ran this funnel, the main aim was simply to get more podcast downloads."
Mechanism: Offered immediate access to quiz results and playlists without any email exchange, maximizing value delivery but missing out on audience nurturing opportunities.
Strategy Shift: A year later, Amy repurposed the same funnel to prioritize list building by introducing an email submission form before revealing quiz results.
Amy Porterfield [21:10]: "For people like us, I really do think we can't miss the opportunity to get name and email so we can nurture."
Outcome: This adjustment not only continued to boost podcast downloads but also significantly expanded her email list, allowing for sustained engagement and future conversions.
TOFU: Organic social media posts, paid ads, email sequences, podcast dynamic insertion ads, specific podcast episodes, and website pop-ups.
Amy Porterfield [25:40]: "At the top of the funnel I have paid ads, Instagram Lives, email sequences, Libsyn ads, podcast episodes, and website pop-ups."
MOFU: Landing page featuring the quiz, transitioning interested individuals into the email list.
BOFU: Initially, direct access to podcast playlists; later, email submissions leading to continued engagement through newsletters and targeted content.
Adaptability: Funnels are not static; they should evolve with business goals and audience needs.
Amy Porterfield [29:55]: "The beauty of this system is that it's reusable and adaptable."
End Goal Clarity: Starting with a clear objective ensures the funnel guides prospects smoothly towards the desired action.
Amy Porterfield [27:10]: "Whenever you're crafting a funnel, you must begin with the end goal in mind."
Amy presents her evergreen sales funnel designed for her course, List Builder Society (LBS), highlighting its robustness and longevity.
Awareness Creation: Through a mix of organic social media posts, paid ads, and a dedicated annual ad budget.
Amy Porterfield [35:50]: "I invest a lot in my business because I make a lot of money. But that hasn't always been the case."
Content Focus: Promoting her masterclass, "Inbox Money: How to Monetize an Email List in Four Easy Steps," via multiple channels to maintain consistent visibility.
Landing Page Optimization: A well-crafted landing page encourages signups for the masterclass, serving as the transition point to the BOFU.
Amy Porterfield [38:20]: "If you're curious to see how we've set up the landing page to optimize conversions, you can head on over to amyporterfield.com/listmasterclass."
Email Series: Upon registration, attendees receive a confirmation email with a show-up bonus, setting the stage for engagement.
Amy Porterfield [40:15]: "In the copy of this confirmation email, I also focus on helping them believe in their goals and in their dreams."
Masterclass Engagement: During the masterclass, Amy educates attendees on list building strategies and pitches the LBS course.
Follow-Up Email Sequence: For those who don’t enroll immediately, a four-day email series reinforces the value proposition and introduces additional bonuses to entice enrollment.
Amy Porterfield [44:05]: "The copy in this email is laser focused on aligning my course as the solution to their list building goals."
Amy Porterfield [47:30]: "Sales funnels are such a game changer when done right."
Amy introduces her Online Business Starter Suite funnel, emphasizing creativity and personalization within a proven framework.
Dual Lead Magnets: Depending on the viewer's interest, prospects can opt for either "From Desk Job to Dream Job" or "Money on the Side Guide."
Amy Porterfield [55:45]: "Depending on which posts pique their interest, potential students are presented with one of two lead magnets."
Early Paid Offer Introduction: Unlike traditional funnels, Amy introduces a low-ticket paid offer early in the funnel to test audience engagement and willingness to invest.
Amy Porterfield [58:20]: "Rather than inviting them to a masterclass that I've created for this funnel, I introduce them to my book Two Weeks Notice."
Content Focus: Lifestyle-oriented social media posts and paid ads that resonate with the audience's desire for freedom through entrepreneurship.
Amy Porterfield [52:10]: "The messaging in these posts speaks to the freedom that I've created through entrepreneurship."
Engaging Content Formats: Utilizing Instagram reels with voiceovers and B-roll footage to capture attention without direct on-camera presence.
Amy Porterfield [53:35]: "I use a lot of visual, let's say B roll, so videos or images and then I record my voice over those."
Lead Magnet Offer: High-quality freebies aligned with audience aspirations to encourage email submissions.
Amy Porterfield [56:15]: "From Desk Job to Dream Job or Money on the Side Guide – topics that resonate with my ideal student."
Nurture Emails with Detours: Introducing additional offers, such as her book, early in the email sequence to maintain engagement and provide value.
Masterclass Invitation: An invitation to a masterclass titled "The Only Five Things You Need to Start Your Side Hustle or Online Business from Scratch."
Final Offer: Encouraging enrollment in the Online Business Starter Suite course priced at $97, serving as an introductory offer to her broader range of services.
Amy Porterfield [60:50]: "This really is a big list builder for me. But it's also a way for people to buy into my teaching, put a little skin in the game."
Amy underscores the importance of viewing funnel creation as a strategic, data-driven process rather than a mere task. Embracing this mindset fosters creativity and adaptability.
Amy Porterfield [57:00]: "If someone isn't intrigued enough to give you their email in exchange for a lead magnet, meaning they drop out of the funnel rather than seeing it as a failure on my part, I know I've actually done my job."
Amy wraps up the episode by reinforcing the foundational principles of effective funnel creation:
Validate Your Offer: Ensure your product or service resonates with your target audience before building a funnel around it.
Amy Porterfield [70:25]: "One of the biggest mistakes I see in the funnel world is building an entire system around an untested or unproven idea."
Craft Compelling TOFU Content: Analyze your most engaging content to inform your top-of-funnel strategies.
Nurture Leads Effectively: Provide high-quality resources and maintain consistent communication to build trust and guide prospects towards conversion.
Optimize BOFU Conversions: Utilize split testing and data analysis to refine your final conversion tactics, ensuring maximum effectiveness.
Embrace Adaptability: Funnels should be dynamic, allowing for tweaks and optimizations based on data and evolving business goals.
Amy Porterfield [75:00]: "When you start to really dive into perfecting your funnels, you become a really badass marketer."
Enjoy the Process: Viewing funnel optimization as a fun and engaging challenge can transform your approach and enhance your marketing efforts.
Amy Porterfield [19:35]: "You can do this my friend."
Final Encouragement: Amy shares her personal journey, emphasizing perseverance and continuous learning as keys to mastering funnels. She encourages listeners to take actionable steps, utilize provided resources, and believe in their capacity to build successful, scalable funnels.
Amy Porterfield [80:40]: "I know you can get there. So make sure to Take action on this episode."
On Data-Driven Funnels:
[00:00] Amy Porterfield: "Funnels at the core are just really rooted in data."
On Split Testing Importance:
[09:25] Amy Porterfield: "If you want to make more money in your business, you have to split test your landing pages."
On Starting with the End Goal:
[27:10] Amy Porterfield: "Whenever you're crafting a funnel, you must begin with the end goal in mind."
On Funnel Adaptability:
[29:55] Amy Porterfield: "The beauty of this system is that it's reusable and adaptable."
On Embracing the Funnel Process:
[19:35] Amy Porterfield: "You can do this my friend."
On Perseverance and Success:
[80:40] Amy Porterfield: "I know you can get there. So make sure to Take action on this episode."
Episode #736 serves as an invaluable resource for entrepreneurs and marketers aiming to harness the power of effective funnels. Amy Porterfield's transparent sharing of her multi-million dollar funnel strategies offers both inspiration and a practical roadmap for building, optimizing, and scaling marketing funnels. By emphasizing data-driven decisions, continuous testing, and adaptability, Amy provides listeners with the tools necessary to create impactful funnels that drive sustained business growth.
For those eager to implement these strategies, Amy encourages downloading her free guide available at amyporterfield.com/620, which outlines the simple framework of each discussed funnel, enabling entrepreneurs to launch their own successful marketing systems.
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