What are click funnels in marketing?

What are click funnels?

Click funnels are a series of web pages and marketing materials that guide visitors from different sources, such as ads or social media, toward a conversion event, such as a sign-up. These funnels provide tailored experiences and gradually reduce the number of clickable options to direct visitors to complete the desired action.

The click funnel aims to further potential customers’ interest in your brand and lead them to the sales funnel with increasingly specific and action-oriented messaging.

How do click funnels work?

A click funnel starts once a person clicks on a link from your email, paid ad, or social media post, which takes them to a page on your website.

This page lets visitors learn more about your brand, products, or services. They may then click on other pages to explore how you can solve their problems and what makes you stand out from the competition.

The bottom of the funnel boils down to the final call to action (CTA) that confirms their decision and marks a conversion. The visitor takes the action you’ve been directing them to, such as signing up on your website.

Once you’ve engaged the visitor with a click funnel, they enter the sales funnel, leading them toward a purchase. Aside from bringing in new customers, you can use a click funnel to upsell existing customers and offer add-ons.

Click funnels vs. sales funnels

Sales funnels are broader and more complex than click funnels and aim to generate sales. While click funnels focus on the initial engagement, sales funnels encompass the entire customer journey, from initial interest to making a purchase.

In a sales funnel, potential customers go through four key stages:

Awareness: They realize they have a problem or need and discover your brand.
Interest: They are now interested in exploring your brand while evaluating other options.
Decision: They’re almost ready to buy and need a final nudge to finalize the decision.
Action: They are actively taking steps to buy from you.

Use different channels to attract potential customers and lead them down the sales funnel. A click funnel is especially useful for connecting with visitors in the awareness stage and can be an effective segue into the sales funnel.

How to build and optimize your click funnel

Creating a click funnel requires careful research, analysis, and deliberation. Here’s what it takes:

1. Get to know your audience

Use analytics and surveys to get familiar with your audience. Learn about their:

Go-to communication channels
Pain points
Interests
Preferences

If you’re in ecommerce, map out the customer journey to see how customers interact with your brand and what drives them to it.

These insights will be valuable for building your click funnel and targeting and reaching your audience effectively.

2. Set the goal

Click funnels can look different depending on the goal you’re trying to achieve. Setting a clear goal in line with your business strategy should be one of your first decisions. It’ll also help you determine the conversion event to strive for, such as:

Sign-up or subscription
App or item download
Event or course registration

3. Build the funnel

Consider your goal, conversion event, and customer insights to design your funnel.

Decide if you want your funnel to be short or long. Shorter funnels are more common and effective, but longer ones can be a great way to capture additional information about visitors.

A short funnel can be a single page or a form embedded on your website. To build a more complex funnel, start with a rough outline. First, define the touchpoints and channels you’ll use to connect with visitors. Then, work out the details, such as the messaging and gated content.

4. Create your digital assets

The page you’re driving visitors to should be your top priority and get extra attention, especially if it’s the only component of your click funnel. It needs to be clean and concise, effectively presenting the value of engaging with your brand without overwhelming the visitor.

Next, create all the other assets, such as social media posts and emails, that you’ll use to engage with your audience. Write compelling copy, design the assets to reflect your brand, and tailor the messaging to your audience.

5. Track and nurture potential customers

Gather behavioral data on individuals who enter your click funnel. This data will help you form engagement-level segments, deploy assets at the right time, and personalize the messaging to direct them toward a conversion.

6. Collect feedback and make changes

While researching your audience is a necessary first step, nothing beats firsthand feedback. Run A/B tests on visitor samples and try out different versions of your assets to refine them.

To optimize your funnel, track performance metrics like the conversion rate or opt-in rate. It’s also advisable to monitor the responses to individual assets as they can reveal areas in your funnel that need improvement.

Keep fine-tuning the funnel to get optimal results and achieve your goals. Customers’ preferences can also change, so data is necessary to keep your strategy relevant and effective.

How to engage with your audience easily using Klaviyo

Klaviyo is a powerful marketing automation platform that uses AI and Customer-First Data to help you understand your audience and create high-yielding click funnels. Here’s how it achieves that:

Predictive analytics: Use Klaviyo AI to identify behavior patterns in existing customers and forecast the behavior of future ones to build an effective click funnel.
Funnel analysis: Visualize how customers and different segments interact with your marketing funnel, identify points of friction, and refine funnel elements to increase conversions.
A/B testing: Conduct A/B tests on different versions of your click funnel or different elements to find out what resonates with your audience.
Segmentation: Group your audience based on demographics, preferences, or other factors, and create personalized funnels that cater to each segment to increase engagement. Klaviyo AI can create segments for you based on a short description.
Email templates: Use one of Klaviyo’s many email templates and have the AI assistant craft engaging copy to save time and ensure effective outreach.
Integrated reporting: Integrate your tech stack with Klaviyo, house omnichannel data in one place, and get automatic and clean reports on the performance of your click funnel and individual assets.