If you’re looking into sales funnel software, first of all, well done. You might be one step ahead of your competitors.
As any marketer knows, if you’re going to make it in the current climate, you’re going to need an intelligent digital marketing strategy, and sales funnels could very well help you with that.
As an advocate of inbound marketing, the idea of subtly guiding a user through a series of steps, offering rich content along the way, makes me think that sales funnels could be the perfect match for an inbound strategy. But I wanted to look into exactly how they work and how easy the software is to use before I made my mind up.
In this article, I’ll be sharing what I learned whilst reviewing a number of sales funnel software and pointing you towards the best tool for your needs.
It’s worth pointing out from the get-go that, though some tools market themselves as sales funnel builders, they might be missing the crucial features that you need. For example, email marketing or webinar hosting isn’t always included. You might also find that other more modest (and cheaper) software might be enough for you.
What is a Sales Funnel?
Before I go into the various sales funnel software providers, you might be wondering what a sales funnel is?
If you’ve worked in sales or marketing for long then you’ll know that leads can be at varying stages of the buyer process. In fact, depending on the complexity of your product or service, it might take months to nurture and convert this lead into a customer.
If done right, then setting up a sales funnel can greatly streamline this process and hopefully give the user a better all-round buyer experience that ultimately guides them to what they’re looking for, and violá, they make a purchase!…Or even better, become a loyal customer.
Your sales funnel will be made up of a series of steps that consist of various marketing assets, for example, social media campaigns, landing pages and email.
Sales funnel software can provide you with a holistic view of your sales and marketing efforts (and results) at a glance. (Though not all sales funnel software comes with a funnel view – more on that below.)
Sales Funnel Examples
Some of you might be thinking, ‘What does a typical sales funnel look like?’ and ‘How can I build an effective sales funnel?’ Though every business’s sales funnel will look different, there are certain elements that the vast majority will have, like a sign-up form and email communication.
A sales funnel for an entrepreneur offering online courses in marketing might look a bit like this:
- User sees an ad on Facebook offering SEO tips with a call-to-action that states: Download my complete guide to SEO
- User is directed to a landing page where she can download the guide and opt-in to receive the entrepreneur’s emails
- The next day she receives a newsletter that contains a link to the courses offered
- The user signs up for one of the courses
- She continues to receive newsletters with discounts on course fees and signs up again
All of these actions in the buyer’s journey will be tracked in the sales funnel software used by the entrepreneur, meaning that she can see clearly at exactly which point users are dropping off and where they’re converting.
Also, as sales funnel builders come with anything from landing page editors, email marketing services and even a platform to host courses and webinars, she has everything she needs under one roof, which is no doubt much more economical than setting all this up on various platforms.
I don’t know about you but I’m starting to see some real benefits to having all your marketing efforts in one place, especially if the sales funnel software has its own CRM. But is it really worth cancelling all your existing subscriptions in exchange for sales funnel software?
When to use Sales Funnel Software
If you are just starting out then using sales funnel software tools might be a great fit for you as your upfront costs can be kept to a minimum. You won’t need to worry about hiring a web developer or signing up to a dozen tools, however, you will want to be sure that the software you go for includes exactly what you need. For example, while some offer webinar hosting, others may not, and if this is a crucial part of your business, you’ll want to find a sales funnel builder software that caters to your needs.
If you’re already signed up to a number of tools, you’ll have to assess costs and if it’s worth taking out this service. While you can integrate the sales funnel software with other apps, this might impact on the user experience and be more hassle for you.
Take a look at the software I reviewed below to see which would be a good fit.
Best Sales Funnel Software 2022
- ClickFunnels – Easiest Tool to Design Funnels.
- Kajabi: A Complete Membership Solution.
- Kartra – Great for agencies
- Thrive Architect– A WordPress Theme to Design Funnels with Similar User Interface like Clickfunnels.
- Woo Funnels – A WordPress Plugin to Design Funnels.
Sales Funnel Software Features Compared Insert Table for Comparision.
Clickfunnels
Pricing Plan of ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels is the leading tool for building high-converting and revenue-driving websites and sales funnels. Should you, as a business owner, invest your time and money in this? Check out my in-depth ClickFunnels review to find out!
In fact, this marketing SaaS company has pioneered the use of the sales funnel as a rigorous digital marketing and email marketing tool. Building landing pages with this software is all the rage right now. But does it really help digital businesses?
TL;DR: ClickFunnels is a web page or landing page builder & designer that utilizes the concept of sales funnel to build websites for beginners. People with no coding knowledge can easily use this software to build an online presence. But it comes with a learning curve and is not affordable for small businesses.
What Is ClickFunnels?
ClickFunnels is a landing page builder. Because of their specialization to build sales funnels, the websites attract targeted prospects and turn them into buyers. As a result, the landing pages are more successful as business websites.
ClickFunnels was founded by Russel Brunson, who is known for his contributions to unique marketing software. Before working with the marketing funnel, Russel was known for his work in email marketing software.
The types of funnels you can build with ClickFunnels are unlimited:
- Lead generation funnels
- Sales funnels
- Content funnels
- Sales call booking funnels
- Discovery call funnels
- Onboarding funnels
- Review funnels
- Limited time offer sale funnels
- Webinar Funnels
- Shopping cart funnels
- Cancellation funnels
- Upsell/downsell funnels
- Membership funnels
- Squeeze page funnels
- Survey funnels
- Tripwire funnels
- Live demo funnels
- Lead magnet funnels
Pros and Cons
- Automatic mobile optimization
- Very intuitive and easy to use
- WordPress Plugin allows you to add ClickFunnels funnels to WordPress sites
- Lots of useful integrations to make running an online business easy
- Membership sites feature can let multiple users moderate your website
- A/B testing makes it easy to try out new changes and choose the best-performing one for funnels, advertisements, web pages, etc.
- Supports third party integrations and plugins for a complete website
- 14-day free trial before purchase
- Pricing plans are quite expensive – not affordable for small businesses
- Customer support could use some improvements
- Email marketing is clunky and not easy to use (you are better off using 3rd-party email integrations)
- You cannot customize too much since the software focuses on being simple
Kajabi
Pricing Plan of Kajabi
If you want to know whether Kajabi is the right platform for your knowledge business or not, then you’ll love this in-depth Kajabi review.
Kajabi is the most popular all-in-one online course platform in the market today. It’s completely different from a typical course builder, so many people find it difficult to make a decision.
I have helped hundreds of creators launch their courses and memberships on Kajabi, and I know the ins and outs of the platform.
In this Kajabi review, I’ll cover everything you need to know to make an informed decision. I’ll also share my experience of using the software along with what I like and what I don’t like about it.
What Is Kajabi?
Kajabi is one of the most popular platforms for building and running your online course or membership site business. And it is used by thousands of creators including some big names like Amy Porterfield and Brendan Burchard.
It allows you to host your online programs and deliver them to your students in a professional manner. Moreover, you can build a full-fledged website, run a blog, create marketing funnels, and even automate your email marketing.
On the other hand, if you were to use “typical” online course software, you’ll need tools like WordPress to run your blog, ClickFunnels to create funnels and landing pages, ConvertKit to manage your email marketing, etc.
The idea behind Kajabi is to let you build and run your entire online course business from a single platform so that you don’t need to hack together or learn to use several different plugins or services.
Here’s a highlight of the features that Kajabi has to offer a creator like you:
- Create an engaging online course with videos, pdfs, quizzes, etc.
- Deliver you content professionally through the course player.
- Create a community area for your students.
- Build a beautiful website including a blog for your brand.
- Charge a one-time fee, a recurring subscription, or even a payment plan.
- Build checkout pages and add upsells and order bumps.
- Create and manage your affiliate program.
- Build all types of sales funnels.
- Email marketing automation and CRM tools.
Pros of Kajabi
- All-in-one platform
- Offers 10+ course player themes
- Powerful engagement tools
- Website builder with blogging tool
- Inbuilt sales pipeline builder
- Email marketing tools
- Excellent (24X7) customer support
Cons of Kajabi
- No native support for certificates
- Lacks advanced quizzing tools
- Doesn’t handle sales taxes
- Too Expensive
Kartra
Pricing Plan of Kartra
Basically, Kartra is a one-stop solution and an all-in-one online marketing platform. Here this platform actually helps you to create, market and launch your online business without even using third-party tools or by hiring someone.
Kartra has everything in one place like email marketing, list building, web hosting, business management platform and many other important features as well. It’s a cloud-based software that means if you want to access it you do it by having an active internet connection and browser to login to the platform.
Kartra is an all-in-one platform that includes email marketing, list building, and other tools. Marketers can use it to manage their business and so can you.
- Storefront design tool- it provides standard templates with an easy to use tools setup customize templates to showcase store brands and optimize the user experience.
- Product visualization- it means that it has the ability to display and manage photos, 3D views and videos etc for each product.
- Promotions and discounts- it contains features that allow administrators to set up promotions on sites also provide a time-based discount and enter coupon codes.
- Shipping options- the shipping address can be selected only by checking the delivery time and the price. If not agreed with the shipping functionality then it may be transferred to a third party.
- Integration to add on the tool- it is easy to integrate to or has pre-packaged integration to a wide variety of leading add on tools or software
- Security- protection against fraud and malicious attacks is done by software with the appropriate tools and functions.
Features of Kartra
Pros of Kartra
- Lots of explanatory videos available
- Internal video hosting capability
- Best membership platform
- Behavioral Adaptive Marketing (BAM)
- Integrations & API
- Automatically tag your buyers
- Upsells, downsells and order bumps
Cons of Kartra
- Some beginners might feel expensive
- No evergreen webinar feature (unless via integrations)
- As there are no instructions on the page so it was difficult to know whether the users need to link step with a yellow arrow
- For creating a product several steps to be followed
Thrive Suits
Thrive Architect Page Builder
Thrive Suite is a pretty complete package. The suite provides you with all features for just $30 per month (paid quarterly) or $19 per month (paid annually).
Features
Opt-in forms and landing pages with A/B testing, conversion-focused WordPress themes, visual drag and drop website builder, widgets, headline optimizer, scarcity campaign builder, testimonials plugin, quiz builder and online course builder.
Plans and Pricing
Pros and Cons
+ Considering all that’s included, Thrive Suite is very affordable. It seems to be a solution more for agencies and developers (hence why you can use the features on such a large number of websites). If your business is online courses, this could be a good option.
– Missing email marketing and automation. Unfortunately, Thrive does not offer a free trial.
WOO Funnels
Woofunnel Pricing
What is WooFunnels?
The BuildWooFunnels suite is a collection of several WordPress plugins by XLPlugins that work in conjunction with the #1 WordPress-based shopping cart platform in the world, WooCommerce.
WooFunnels basically extends and improves the functionality of WooCommerce and allows you to set up fully functional, conversion and mobile optimized sales funnels right inside of WordPress.
You can easily set up upsells, downsells, order bumps, and more—all using easy templates and wizards.
The result is a professional shopping cart and funnel that converts!
Build WooCommerce sales funnels with ease
Of the funnel builders that my team and I have worked with, BuildWooFunnels is the most advanced and easiest to use—by a long shot.
Just a few short years ago, building a proper WooCommerce funnel required an expensive combination of plugins and custom coding.
But Woo Funnels basically gives you a funnel and checkout builder in a box and makes this previously complicated process incredibly simple.
Dashboard
Funnel Steps
Templates
Pros of WooFunnels
- With WooFunnels you can sell multiple order bumps, upsells, and downsells to increase your sales.
- With its aero checkout feature, you can replace the default WooCommerce checkout with its global checkout that is optimized for conversions.
- It supports split testing for funnels, email, and SMS broadcasts. This helps you maintain a healthy ROI on your marketing ad spent.
- You can add UTM parameters to links in emails and funnels to track traffic sources.
- Its Autonami has built-in SMS marketing (that typically has higher open rates). This is pretty unique and unheard of in WordPress.
- Integrates deeply with CRM, SMS marketing, and email marketing tools.
Cons of WooFunnels
- You can’t share the funnels with your team members.
- Unlike CartFlows, it lacks product highlight features for presenting the USPs of your products in a visually appealing way.
- It lacks a built-in affiliate program and membership features.
