Click Funnels: How They Work & How To Create One

Each page that a customer clicks through takes them onto a different step of the buyer's journey, from initial awareness to the final conversion.

In this way, a click funnel literally guides potential customers toward a purchase or some other conversion event, like signing up for a newsletter or upgrading a service.

Click funnels are essential because they optimise the customer journey. By zeroing in on what happens with a customer at each step, you can make alterations that ultimately increase conversion rates and enhance the overall customer experience.

By understanding and intelligently implementing click funnels on your websites and apps, you can improve your conversion rate from casual visitors to paying customers, which increases sales and drives business growth.

A funnel begins broad at the top and narrows toward the bottom, reflecting the sales process.

Sales teams want to bring as many potential customers, or leads, into the funnel as possible through many different channels. It’s the broad end of the journey. That’s because they know that not all customers will convert, but getting more into the funnel to begin with gives them a greater chance.

Sales teams create many ways to enter the funnel. Yet, there’s only one way they want a customer to exit — with a purchase.

However, sales funnels as a concept are quite broad and abstract. Click funnels are a little more easy to understand thanks to their narrow focus.

As a type of sales funnel, click funnels work specifically to move a customer through an online journey to make a conversion.

So, that might look something like this:

• A website homepage might have 30 items to choose from.
• After clicking on a category page, there may now be 20 options.
• Then, the product page has 10 options.
• Next, the product selection page might have 7 clickable items.
• Finally, the checkout pages will narrow the options down to "CONFIRM PURCHASE."

A well-designed click funnel makes this journey nice and smooth, with a sprinkle of persuasive elements at every step. But what exactly are the steps a customer must take toward a purchasing choice.

Here’s a typical breakdown of a click funnel:

1. Awareness (top of the funnel): The customer becomes aware of your product or service through channels like social media posts, blog posts, or paid search ads.
2. Interest: They visit your website or landing page. The engaging content they encounter piques their interest. In other words, there is enough on your site to make them stick around a little longer; they feel you will be able to provide a solution to their problem.
3. Desire: Through compelling offers or value propositions, such as free trials or informative resources, you build a desire for your product or service.
4. Action (bottom of the funnel): The customer takes a specific action, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, or signing up for a webinar.
5. Retention: You engage the customer through follow-ups, upsells, or membership programs post-purchase to encourage repeat business.

You’ll find plenty of visual representations of these standard click funnel stages. It looks something like this:

This makes the click funnel seem neat and tidy, as if marketers everywhere can implement a proven structure in their click funnels as an exact science.

The truth is that this is an idealised framework — a loose scaffold that helps you shape the customer journey toward your desired outcome.

You’ll also see other variations with added steps, such as evaluation or retention, reflecting the imperfect, versatile structure.

You’ll have to populate this structure with several specific components that steer the customer toward action.

There’s no perfect recipe or one-size-fits-all solution, but successful click funnels feature some combination of the following:

• Landing pages: This is your customer’s entry point, where they arrive after clicking on a link or an ad. The purpose of these pages is to be appealing, to capture attention, and to encourage further action.
• Sales pages/category pages: These are more detailed, informative pages that provide information about your product or services. They should highlight a mix of features and benefits, building interest and making a case for desire.
• Opt-in forms: These are forms where visitors can get something valuable, like an informative ebook or access to discounts. The form will ask them to enter information in exchange, including their email address.
• Call-to-action (CTA) buttons: These prominent buttons guide users to take the next step toward a potential conversion.
• Upsells and downsells: These are additional offers presented after the initial purchase to increase the transaction value, offering customers opportune add-ons.
• Thank you pages: These are confirmation pages that acknowledge the visitor's action and thank them for choosing you as a product or service provider. These small acts build relationships with customers and may also offer further engagement opportunities.
• Email sequences: Away from the website, email sequences can also be part of your click funnel. These automated emails nurture leads, provide added value to prospective customers and encourage conversions.

A click funnel is a digital manifestation of a sales funnel. Let’s explore both funnels in more detail.

A sales funnel refers to the broader concept encompassing the entire customer journey from awareness to purchase. It refers to both online and offline interactions with your business/brand.

A click funnel is a specific type of sales funnel that focuses on guiding customers through a series of web pages online, emphasising the literal clicks through these digital touchpoints.

Implementing click funnels as part of your marketing strategy offers numerous advantages that can significantly impact your business growth. Let’s explore:

The focused approach and careful curation of each step of the online customer journey minimise distractions and encourage visitors to take specific actions. When done well, businesses see a marked increase in conversion rates overall.

Part of your click funnel might include capturing visitor information through elements like opt-in forms. This helps generate high-quality leads, which your marketing team can then nurture and target through other marketing campaigns.

In this example, the online fashion retailer The Iconic encourages visitors to subscribe to their newsletter. Visitors get exclusive discounts in return. This strategy generates leads for the business but also lets The Iconic’s marketing team keep customers engaged with regular updates and promotions.

Well-designed click funnels allow you to present relevant information and offer at each stage of the customer journey. Timely messages empower you to improve engagement and build stronger relationships with users who appreciate the relevancy at each stage of the experience.

An example of this could be personalised recommendations within the click funnel based on user browsing history. This offers a tailored, much more meaningful experience to each user, which in turn increases conversions.

Automated emails featuring targeted content help you nurture prospects by addressing their needs and overcoming any objections at critical stages. This careful approach gently pushes them closer to a purchase decision.

Here’s a great example of an email nurturing sequence from Tutero after a user has signed up but has not paid for their service yet.

When a new user signs up to start with Tutero, it provides clear next steps, along with a PDF welcome pack for a user to learn more about getting started, which answers a lot of common questions people might have.

Click funnels aren’t complete at the point of sale. We can also use them to encourage customer retention; encouraging repeat business and building customer loyalty over time. By offering further value like membership programs or upsells post-purchase as part of your click funnel, you can encourage another transaction while cementing a relationship.

The balance, as with many of these steps, is to ensure your digital communication is rooted in adding value rather than merely an attempt to entice further purchases.

With modern tools like Salesforce Marketing Cloud, powered by AI, you can gain access to valuable customer behaviour data that will inform further marketing strategies.

Understanding how customers interact with each stage allows you to iterate with A/B testing to continually optimise the funnel for better performance.

Salesforce Marketing Cloud helps you analyse click funnel metrics to track users to see where they seem to drop off (where they exit the funnel). It also offers insights on how you can improve your customer journey for better results.

Click funnels enable the automation of repetitive marketing tasks, such as sending follow-up emails or segmenting leads. This not only saves time but also ensures consistent communication as your business scales.

Once again, marketing tools and funnel builders like Salesforce can help you set up these automated journeys and sequences tailored to your business, proposition, and audience segments.

With the help of these AI-driven tools, you’ll feel the benefit of a much more cost-effective marketing strategy. Salesforce takes a lot of the hard grind away from you, using data to help you target the right audience with relevant messages at the right time.

Of course, this frees up some time for you and your marketing team to focus on other business strategies and outcomes.

Let’s see some successful click funnel strategies in action.

Flipkart, one of India's largest e-commerce platforms, has mastered the art of utilising click funnels to convert website visitors into loyal customers. Let's delve into how Flipkart's click funnel operates and why it is highly effective.

At the awareness stage, Flipkart employs ad strategies across various channels. Their campaigns often feature catchy slogans and celeb endorsements to resonate with an Indian audience. Events like “Big Billion Days” sales create buzz and draw significant attention. This is how Flipkart gets customers into their click funnel.

From here, landing pages further encourage exploration with enticing deals to manufacture further interest and desire. Specially designed landing pages highlight upcoming deals, exclusive offers, and top categories. Observe the special ‘Flipkart Travel’ discount seen behind the login box above.

Personalisation is a major tool for Flipkart. They leverage user data to display products and categories relevant to individual browsing histories and preferences. As you can see above, there is an immediate pop-up to log in to the site, giving you access as a customer to see your ‘orders, wishlists, and recommendations.” In other words, your personal, tailored experience.

The log-in box effectively acts as a lead capture form for those who haven’t registered an account yet.

On individual product pages, Flipkart displays helpful information such as prominent reviews and sections such as "Frequently Bought Together" and "Customers Who Viewed This Also Viewed.” These are tactfully displayed to encourage users to explore further related products.

You’ll also see multiple images, 360-degree views, and sometimes videos demonstrating product usage.

This builds trust in Flipkart as a product provider while sharing valuable information about the products themselves. The combined effect gently persuades the visitor to proceed with the purchase.

From there, if you choose to proceed with the purchase, the experience is smooth. Flexible payment options and a facility that allows customers to buy products instantly and pay later remove potential barriers for somebody looking to make the purchase.

Post-purchase, customers receive SMS and email updates about their order status, delivery estimates, and any delays.

Overall, Flipkart’s web experience is a fantastic example of an optimised click funnel, where every step is staged to offer a fantastic customer experience that removes friction.

While the bottom line is that the company wants to sell products to make a profit, the key skill in the company’s marketing is that it facilitates the journey by offering value to the customer. It does this through personalisation, in-depth info on its various pages, and delivering a seamless experience driven by choices that build trust.

Lazada Malaysia is another example of an ecommerce platform/online store with a highly optimised click funnel.

It’s known especially for huge sales. The marketing strategy is to capitalise on high traffic during the promotional period. Lazada employs many of the same click funnel tactics as Flipkart, but let’s focus on this emphasis on promotional periods.

Prior to sales events like the "11.11 Shopping Festival," Lazada runs extensive advertising campaigns across TV, radio, social media, and online platforms. They then engage users with games and quizzes in the app, offering rewards and vouchers that can be used during the sale.

All of this is extensive work done at the awareness stage of the click funnel, just getting potential customers to engage with the site.

If you click on an ad, Lazada’s marketers then generate interest on landing pages through two key tactics:

• Upcoming deals, flash sales schedules, and exclusive offers appear on landing pages to catch the eye.
• They create urgency through visible countdown timers to the start of sales, building anticipation.

Here’s an example of one of these countdowns below, which helps to create a sense of urgency:

But Lazada doesn’t stop there. There are further opportunities to nudge you toward a purchase, increasing the overall effectiveness of their marketing funnel.

• Users can browse products and add them to their cart before the sale begins, ensuring they don't miss out on limited-stock items.
• Users can get personalised vouchers based on browsing habits to encourage higher spending.
• Lazada hosts live streams where sellers showcase products, answer questions, and offer special deals to viewers.

All of these features help move a user from interest to desire for any given product on Lazada.

Just like Flipkart, Lazada is then at the cutting edge of the action stage, with a simple purchase process based on making things easy for users.

Lazada’s click funnel works during promotional times since it plays significantly on urgency and excitement. Timed sales and countdowns motivate customers to act quickly. Meanwhile, gamification and live interactions keep users engaged and invested in the platform.

Not to be forgotten, Lazada prepares for higher traffic. Your click funnel is only as good as the infrastructure it’s built upon. Lazada’s optimised infrastructure ensures a smooth shopping experience even during peak times. Otherwise, the slow, clumsy user experience would be a frustration for customers, causing them to exit the funnel early.

We’ve spotlighted a few excellent examples to help with understanding click funnels: Lazada, Flipkart, The Iconic, and Tutero. But these guys had to start somewhere. How do you go about creating a click funnel?

Any marketer worth their salt knows everything stems from knowing your audience. You need to understand your potential customers' needs, preferences, and pain points.

You can use analytics tools like Google Analytics or Salesforce CRM to gather insights.

Determine what you want to achieve — whether it's lead generation, sales, or sign-ups. Defining your goals will also help when it comes to measuring success. Are you just looking to see an increase in profit, or is a bigger subscriber list more valuable to you over time?

You can find detailed advice on landing page design elsewhere. For our purposes, remember three key principles:

• Communicate what you offer and why it's beneficial. A clear value proposition is vital.
• Use compelling headlines, images, and videos as engaging content.
• Include signup forms to capture visitor information.

Populate your sales pages with detailed information about your product or service. Ensure to build credibility on these pages. You can do this through customer reviews and success stories. A key aspect of these pages is your CTA buttons. Encourage the next step with clear and prominent calls to action that the customer can’t miss.

Offer additional products or services to increase transaction value. A good example of this is our Salesforce Marketing Cloud page. On the Salesforce page, people can watch a demo and explore how AI can help.

The page also has a dedicated section that educates customers about Salesforce's products. This section allows customers to customise and explore potential add-ons that may result in an upsell.

Automate follow-up emails to nurture leads and encourage conversions. You can get to grips with Salesforce Marketing Cloud’s capabilities to set up these email sequences for you.

Before launching, it's always a good idea to use A/B split testing to experiment with different versions of landing pages to see what performs best on each page variation.

Once you’re happy, go ahead and launch. Use paid search, social media, and content marketing to drive visitors to your funnel. Affiliate programs and influencers are another option to leverage and expand your reach.

The work never stops. Keep iterating and improving your landing pages to ensure your click funnels are as efficient as they can be.

Tracking metrics like conversion benchmarks and bounce rates gives you an idea of funnel performance. Review these metrics regularly to see where there might be room for improvement and where you can optimise your funnels.

As you create your click funnel, it’s important to avoid some common pitfalls we can all get suckered into if we’re not careful.

• Don’t overcomplicate the funnel. It’s easy to get carried away planning vast networks of pages to cover every potential customer journey. We’re not saying that can’t work. Yet, the principle of keeping things simple is important to avoid confusing potential customers.
• Avoid weak CTAs. Ensure your calls to action are clear, concise, and compelling. The visitor should be in no doubt about where their click will take them, and it should also be clear where they are expected to click.
• Don’t ignore mobile. Make sure your funnel works seamlessly on mobile devices as well as desktops. The trend is moving toward mobile use, and a bad mobile experience will simply turn off visitors who can easily head elsewhere.
• Don’t skip testing. Regularly perform A/B tests to optimise performance. It’s a key step. You may come across significant issues you need to fix or minor adjustments to improve efficiency. Either way, the result will be a better click funnel for having put in the effort.