Have you ever taken the time to analyze what potential customers think when they come across your products before eventually deciding to make a purchase or not? Have you ever felt the need to guide them through this journey? This is what a sales funnel does.
As a business owner, there is nothing as satisfying and reassuring as being in control of the steps potential customers go through before eventually making a purchase.
Being out of the loop is leaving things to chance — and giving up the fight against the competitor who is probably pulling all stops to corner all the market share.
It’s 2022; having a sales funnel is the bare minimum these times — having an effective one is the standard. Brands that put in the effort to have an outstanding sales funnel eventually take the largest share of the cake.
Hey! This will take a few minutes of your time but worry not — every single second spent here will be totally worth it.
- What Is A Sales Funnel?
- How Much Does It Cost To Build aASales Funnel?
- How Much Does It Cost To Build A Sales Funnel If You Do It Yourself?
- How Much Does It Cost If You Hire Freelancers To Build Your Funnels?
- Why Are Sales Funnels Expensive?
- Best Affordable Sales Funnel Builders
- 1. GetResponse AutoFunnel
- 2. Leadpages
- 3. ConvertKit
- In Conclusion
What Is A Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel is the step-by-step process potential customers go through before becoming leads or paying customers.
A sales funnel is so-called because the process is like a funnel — many start at the beginning but the number narrows down towards the end.
A sales funnel is divided into three sections:
- Top of the funnel (Tofu): Cold leads or target audience
- Middle of the funnel (MoFu): Prospective customers
- Bottom of the funnel (MoFu): Newly converted or returning customers
As a means of segmenting the customers’ journey, the processes involved in the sales funnel are divided into stages using different models. The most popular model currently in use is the AIDA model developed by Elias St. Elmo Lewis in the late 19th century.
The model divides a sales funnel into four stages:
1. Awareness
The brand ensures their potential customers come across their brand or products. There are different means through which this is achieved, through targeted ads, offers, and other forms of marketing.
2. Interest
Prospective customers get in contact through the different marketing mechanisms used to target them and show interest. This time, a significant number of prospects have dropped out at the first stage. This stage is where the brand woos the prospect, learns about their interests, and suggests tailor-made deals to convince them to continue to the next step.
3. Desire
Here the prospect commits to patronize the brand. The prospect realizes that the products or services of the brand are good enough and they are needed — to either solve a problem or satisfy a need. This step is where the brand suggests their best offers to the prospects and educates them on how it suits them best.
4. Action
The customer decides to either make a purchase or not. Either way, it doesn’t end here as the effort continues to either retain the customer (if they make a purchase) or try to convince them through scheduled reminders, offers, education, etc., — if the prospect doesn’t make a purchase.
How Much Does It Cost To Build aASales Funnel?
As a service that is so crucial to businesses, there are currently many ways to build a sales funnel through different platforms. A brand may hire the services of experts or take the DIY approach.
But the big question remains “how much does it cost to build a sales funnel?“
Like every other question similar to this, the answer is relative but to make it easier for you as a business, all the answers you need have been provided below.
The cost of building a sales funnel differs according to the expert, the package, and the platform used. These essential factors are combined to form the final cost of building a sales funnel.
A brand decides where and when to reduce cost or go for premium service; it depends on preferences.
A little heads up before we dive in deeper. “The most expensive option is not always the most effective, or the cheaper option is not always the worst.”
How do you get the best services? The answer lies in the details.
1. ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels is a sales funnel building software built on some principles, and the most critical is “premium service.” It is one of the most expensive platforms to build a sales funnel.
Of course, there are different packages (only two actually) available to choose from — the least plan on the ClickFunnels platform is $97/month. This price is without the cost of hiring an expert to build the sales funnel — this is necessary, especially when the brand is out of clues on how to build one.
Included in this package are:
- 20 funnels and 20,000 visitors
- 3 custom domains
- 100 landing pages. A/B split testing
- Webinars
- CRM
- E-commerce
- Payment gateway integration, etc.
The other package on the ClickFunnels platform is the Platinum package for $297/month. It has many premium benefits and several massive upgrades from the basic $97/mo plan.
ClickFunnels is an easy choice for many brands due to its popularity and the number of sales funnel experts who use the platform.
2. GetResponse AutoFunnel (Conversion Funnel)
GetResponse AutoFunnel is the most complete yet affordable sales funnel building platform with a mandate to produce effective results at a reasonable cost.
GetResponse is the more favorable platform to build sales funnels for small businesses or brands. That is not underselling the fact that GetResponse is also a platform that big brands trust to build effective sales funnels. It’s all in the different plans.
Unlike ClickFunnels, GetResponse AutoFunnel has several packages a brand can choose from, starting with a free package.
The pricing plans are in four different plans, and brands can upgrade their packages as their businesses improve along the line. The plans are in stark contrast to the pricing policy of ClickFunnels, where the small brand is left to choose between a high price and a higher one — with many of the services wasted at the early stages of the business.
The plans offered by GetResponse include:
- A free package that includes: a website builder, a custom domain, free unlimited newsletters, a landing page, sign-up forms, up to 500 contacts, etc.
- The Basic plan, starting from $15/mo
- The Plus plan, starting from $49/mo
- The Professional plan, starting from $99/mo
The packages are significantly cheaper for long-term subscriptions for 12 months and even more affordable for 24 months.
To fully grasp how affordable GetResponse AutoFunnel is, let’s analyze what the most popular package in GetResponse, which is the Plus plan offers in contrast to the popular ClickFunnels basic plan.
The $49/mo Plus package:
- 5 funnels
- Email marketing
- Marketing automation
- A custom domain
- Unlimited landing pages. A/B split testing
- Website builder
- Webinars
- Opt-in forms and pop-ups
- CRM
- E-commerce
- Social media campaigns
- Payment gateway integration
- Reports
- Web notifications
How Much Does It Cost To Build A Sales Funnel If You Do It Yourself?
The decision to build a sales funnel yourself or hire a freelancer depends on how much experience you have in the field and how good you want the sales funnel to be.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with going the “do it yourself (DIY)” route; if you trust in your abilities to do a good job, it will save you money and some uncertainty in leaving the success of your business to a third party.
However, for someone who has no experience in building sales funnels but is confident in their ability to learn fast and do a good job, there are some necessary things to know before you go ahead and build a sales funnel.
Nevertheless, other than subscribing to a platform that helps in building a sales funnel, other things like copywriting, graphics and brand design, market research, data mining, and sales funnel management are all critical to the success of a sales funnel. You can decide to handle these yourself or outsource some of them.
So, how much does it cost to build a sales funnel if you do it yourself?
Since the cost of hiring sales funnel freelancers differs based on skill and experience, you are saving about $15 to $500 in the cost of hiring someone else to do it.
Consequently, the actual figure may be closer to the lowest price or the highest, depending on how much of the process you handle yourself and how much you outsource.
How Much Does It Cost If You Hire Freelancers To Build Your Funnels?
Hiring freelancers sometimes feels like the right thing to do.
They are skilled and experienced in the craft, and most of them handle every process involved, leaving the client with little or nothing to worry about.
Freelancers abound on freelance marketplaces like Fiverr, Upwork, PeoplePerHour, etc.
Hiring freelancers is not as easy as it seems. Some promise what they can’t deliver, some take more jobs than they can handle, while some go out of the client’s specifications to do a different thing.
Look out for clues like star rating, client reviews, the amount earned, turnaround time, and experience (portfolio) when hiring a freelancer.
The cost of hiring a freelancer depends on the experience level. On most freelance marketplaces and other platforms where freelancers sell their skills, experience levels are divided into three and priced accordingly.
1. Beginner Rates
Beginner freelancers are the most affordable because most are still looking to attract and retain clients. On Fiverr, which is arguably the most popular freelance marketplace and most other freelance marketplaces, the cost of hiring a beginner-level freelancer in the sales funnel building niche ranges from $15 to $100, depending on the services offered by the freelancer.
2. Intermediate Rates
The cost of hiring an intermediate-level freelancer ranges from $50 to $150.
3. Expert Rates
Expert sales funnel builders are pretty pricey, but the cost of hiring one is almost always worth it in the end. They are highly skilled and experienced; hence they need no hand-holding. Rates usually start at $150 and may go as high as $500.
Why Are Sales Funnels Expensive?
Sales funnels are not necessarily expensive as there are many affordable ways and platforms to build one.
However, in some cases, sales funnels are expensive because they guarantee a consistent and continuous streak of lead generation and lead conversion.
The guarantee of sales return and a significant base shift in profit margin sometimes make every penny spent to build a sales funnel worth it.
An effective sales funnel consists of many things — things like:
- A website
- Landing pages
- E-commerce
- Newsletter
- Lead generation, etc.
These services and many more involved in a sales funnel cost significantly when done in isolation. So, the price of a process that combines these services should reflect the cost of the services involved.
Consequently, some sales funnel-building platforms put a premium pricing regimen to their services — primarily because of the processes and the packages involved and the belief that the returns will justify the cost to the businesses.
Best Affordable Sales Funnel Builders
Yes, sales funnels are expensive, and rightly so, but there are a few platforms where an individual or a business can build an affordable sales funnel.
1. GetResponse AutoFunnel
GetResponse is one of the most affordable platforms to build a sales funnel. There is a free package for small businesses just taking off. Other packages are reasonably priced, with several valuable services included.
It is widely regarded as the platform to build a comprehensive yet affordable sales funnel. Starting from the free package to the Professional package, each consists of services that cover many bases for the business.
2. Leadpages
Leadpages has two pricing packages — the Standard plan, which costs $49/month if paid monthly, and $37/month if paid yearly. The Pro plan costs $99/month with monthly payments and $74/month with yearly payments.
There is a free trial period of 14 days before a business is billed for any package chosen.
3. ConvertKit
ConvertKit is another very affordable sales funnel-building platform. There are three packages which are very affordable but with limited services. It is more suited to small businesses looking to build their subscribers up without pressure.
There is the free plan, the Creator plan, which costs just $9/month, and the Creator Pro plan, which costs $25/month.
As stated earlier, these plans have limited services and are more suited to small businesses that are just taking off.
In Conclusion
The importance of a sales funnel to a business cannot be underestimated.
Whichever platform you use, be sure to consider the needs of your business first and choose a platform accordingly
The same thing applies when deciding to either hire a freelancer or do it yourself. Consider the good a perfect sales funnel will do to your business and make a decision with that in mind.
Lastly, good sales funnels are expensive but not necessarily so. There are a few platforms where you can build an affordable sales funnel to grow your business.
Thank you for coming this far. I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I did putting it together.
