August 18

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Clickfunnels Review 2023: Moneymaker Or Mammoth Waste?

By Hanson Cheng

August 18, 2023


  • minute read
  • If you’ve been in digital marketing circles long enough, you’ve heard about Clickfunnels.

    It’s a famous online business software for building marketing funnels and landing pages.

    They dominate online marketing software review charts. But are the rave reviews valid? Or it’s all hot air?

    In this Clickfunnels review, we will analyze the tool’s foremost features.

    Let’s get started.

    Clickfunnels is a software company that helps business owners build high-converting funnels and websites to sell their products and services online.

    Those are the tool’s core functions, but it does more, way more.

    Serial entrepreneurs Russell Brunson and Todd Dickerson founded Clickfunnels in 2014.


    Who Can Use Clickfunnels?

    If you are a small business owner, you can benefit from Clickfunnels. Thousands of businesses profit handsomely from the software’s capabilities. So if you are a startup, marketer, entrepreneur, funnel optimization specialist, growth hacker, blogger, affiliate marketer, or eCommerce store owner, you will benefit from the tool. 

    Here’s what you can do with Clickfunnels.

    • Build sales funnels quickly.
    • Sell online products or physical products.
    • Create stunning, high-converting landing pages.
    • Generate affiliate income by selling the tool to your audience.
    • Grow your email list, your biggest online marketing asset.
    • Connect your sales funnel to other marketing channels.
    • Create webinar funnels to market your product or service.
    • Host your WordPress blog and do content marketing.

    In short, Clickfunnels gives you everything you need to promote, sell and deliver your product or service online.

    ClickFunnels Review: An Honest Feature-by-Feature Look

    I’ve given you an overview of what Clickfunnels can do. It’s time to go deeper. 

    Let’s look at the software’s best features in greater detail.

    Sales Funnels

    First up is the sales funnel builder.

    The sales funnel software function is the nerve center of Clickfunnels. They have set the bar high for other sales funnel builders. Most renowned business owners regard Clickfunnels as the gold standard for creating sales pages and funnels that convert on autopilot. They pride themselves in that users can create a working funnel in under 10 minutes. That without touching a single line of cord.

    In case you are uninitiated, a sales funnel is a pathway of interconnected steps that turn potential customers into leads and leads into buying customers.

    Like this.

    Source: Clickfunnels

    Clickfunnels gives you the technology to create all these pages and connect them so your website visitors move smoothly through your entire sales process. From simple 3-step sales funnels to complex ones with upsells, downsells, and the whole shebang, Clickfunnels has got you covered.

    There are two ways to build funnels using Clickfunnels:

    • Use their templates.
    • Build from scratch.

    They also have 22 ready-made page templates. 

    Important to realize these are proven templates. They sifted through their vast user data. Then they picked their most successful sales funnels across industries.

    These cater to 9 core businesses or services.

    • Freelancer/Agency.
    • Ecommerce.
    • Retail.
    • Coaching/Consultant.
    • Network Marketing.
    • Local Small Business.
    • B2B Lead Generation.
    • Blogging and affiliate marketing.
    • Professional Services.

    As you build your funnel, you can pick one of three goals.

    • Generate leads.
    • Sell A Product.
    • Create An Event.

    To make sales funnel creation a breeze, they have a funnel cookbook. Inside the cookbook, you get step-by-step guidance on how to make a funnel that suits your needs. It’s like having a funnel coach by your side helping you along the way. Super cool, if you ask me. 

    You can download the cookbook for free. Or they can ship it to your doorstep at your own cost if you want a physical copy. Just give them your contact information and they’ll do the rest. Also, there’s an explainer video for each of the funnels. It shares hot tips on how to maximize results. So you have all the help you need to make a profitable funnel.

    Templates are great for beginners.

    But if you are a marketing expert who doesn’t mind handling code, you can build from scratch.

    Actionetics

    Actionetics (now called Follow-up Funnels) is a Clickfunnels Platinum feature.

    Follow-up funnels help you collect vital data about your audience. 

    This data includes:

    • Recent website or funnel activity.
    • Work history.
    • List of email lists they joined.
    • The number of Twitter followers.
    • Purchases they’ve made on your site.

    Besides gathering customer details, the platform also allows you to import contacts, create tags, and build autoresponder sequences to target user segments. You can target custom groups in several ways such as:

    • The pages they visited.
    • Their country, zip code, or state.
    • The products they bought (or didn’t) buy.
    • The emails they opened or didn’t open.
    • The email list they belong to.
    • Their social media channel.

    This intel and powerful customization gives you full control of how and when you send automated follow-up messages to your leads and customers.

    The result?

    You multiply your profits because customers respond better to customized offers. That’s why some people have dubbed the follow-up feature the hidden money maker. It’s the secret to the millions of dollars smart Clickfunnels users make by automating their backend offers.

    The super value you get from this feature alone is massive.   

    Not only does the Clickfunnels automation platform cover emails. It also has an SMS and Twilio integration. This gives you more channels to connect with consumers.

    Drag And Drop Builder

    Top page builders have one thing in common—a sleek drag and drop editor.

    Clickfunnels ticks the box here and then some. Their drag and drop editor is up there with the best of the best landing page builders. Designed for simplicity and instinctive use, the Clickfunnels editor makes creating pages or funnels a walk in the park. Even with zero coding knowledge, you can create web pages you can be proud of. Design becomes an enjoyable experience you look forward to, not a scary task you loathe.

    Let’s unpack what you can do with the Clickfunnels drag and drop editor.

    • Content Blocks

    Pick from the mixed content blocks to whip up your funnel. Simply drag and drop various elements like pricing tables, FAQ sections, progress bars, and timers exactly where you want them.

    • Custom CSS

    If you are a code wizard, they don’t tie your hands. Dive into code and create individualized CSS for your pages. Remember, coding isn’t a must (thank God 😀). It’s a nice extra for those who are comfortable with code.

    • Backgrounds

    You can choose funnel background from the options. Select from images, colors, or even videos.

    • Fonts

    Go for any Google font you like. Perfect the look of the content on your funnel by experimenting with the font sizes and colors until your headlines and body copy sparkle.

    • Media

    Enrich your pages with photos from renowned image sites like Unsplash, Pixabay, and IconFinder. The best part? You can do this from inside the editor. Plus, you can add audio and video to your funnel.

    • Forms

    To collect leads, gather valuable customer data, and aid conversions, you need various form types. Create billing address forms, SMS sign-up forms, and survey forms easily using the fast editor.

    • Pop-ups

    Clickfunnels allows you to add catchy pop-ups to your pages. They give you total control. Display them where you want, however you want. Show them when visitors arrive or leave, or after they have been on a page for a certain time. Your page, your rules.

    • SEO

    Smart SEO helps you get traffic from your long pages long after you’ve launched your funnel. They make adding keywords, meta description, and getting a preview of your Google search engine snippet a breeze.

    • Social Media

    Add Twitter and Facebook share buttons anywhere in your funnel. This allows your visitors to easily share your pages and help you spread the word about your products and services on social media.

    Below is an example of how to edit the social share button elements inside Clickfunnels.

    Note that Clickfunnels funnel builder is a WYSIWYG editor. This means what you see is what you get. So whatever you see on the screen as you create your pages is exactly what you will get after you hit publish.

    It’s this ease of use that makes the page builder beginner-friendly.

    eCommerce Functionality

    Next, we look at the Clickfunnels ecommerce platform.

    Like all modern all-in-one marketing platforms, Clickfunnels has the complete suite of ecommerce features for getting bumper sales online.

    • Create custom order forms for all your products/services.
    • Set up upsells, downsells, and cross-sells for more profit.
    • Add buyers to a special email list for remarketing purposes.
    • Launch products with a bang through a silky product launch funnel.
    • Craft video sales letter funnels.
    • Create an abandoned cart list and go after lost sales via email.
    • Set automated follow-up sequences using the Follow-up feature.
    • Sell more through their shopping cart that’s already baked into their funnels. 

    Their native shopping cart feature helps them stand out from their competitors as few offer the service. 

    Having a native shopping cart inside their funnels is convenient.

    You don’t have to go through the hassle of configuring a third-party integration to sell your products. But you can still use 3rd party shopping if that’s how you want to roll. Clickfunnels integrates seamlessly with popular shopping carts like Shopify, Magento, and WooCommerce.

    From these features, it’s clear Clickfunnels meets ecommerce best practices.

    Membership Funnel

    If you make money through membership sites or premium drip content, you will love the Clickfunnels membership funnel.

    Membership sites are a superb way of getting recurring income like clockwork every month when members pay to access premium content.

    You can use Clickfunnels membership funnel to:

    • Have a membership area where customers access the content they bought.
    • Categorize.
    • Register and sign-up paid-up customers and give them access to your community.
    • Customize permission levels and drip content based on what users signed up for.
    • Track all vital metrics of your membership funnel like the number of sign-ups and churn rate.

    Here is a shot of the membership funnels in action.

    When members pay up the restriction is lifted. They can access the previously inaccessible content.

    The cool part?

    All this happens on autopilot. You set it up once and forget.

    If you’ve got the technical chops, you can build a membership funnel from scratch.

    Hosting

    Not only does Clickfunnels help you create money-making sales funnels, but they also host all your web files.

    Yes, everything.

    Text, audio, and video content. Clickfunnels double up as a hosting solution. The Amazon Cloud (fully backed by CloudFlare Security + CDN) powers them so they never run out of space. Whether you get 100 visitors or 200k, they can handle the heavy load. It won’t slow down one bit.

    Because Clickfunnels comes with hosting:

    • You will save money you should have spent paying dedicated hosting companies.
    • You can add your custom domain and maintain your brand identity.
    • You won’t have to worry about website maintenance and security issues.
    • You reduce the chances of your funnels breaking and costing you money.

    While Clickfunnels offers hosting services, they don’t own the content. You own the content 100%. They are just a tool for you to deliver your content. You can export your contacts and the HTML form of your pages anytime.

    Integrations

    Yes, Clickfunnels is an all-in-one marketing tool.

    They give you everything you need to market and sell products online. But let’s face it. You have darling tools you cherish. Surely you can’t dump them because you now use Clickfunnels?  

    Thankfully, you don’t have to.

    Clickfunnels allows you to have the best of both worlds. Through the integrations feature, you can connect your favorite tools to Clickfunnels and enjoy both. They integrate with all leading service providers on the market.

    Clickfunnels offers integrations in two broad categories.

    • Email Integrations

    Clickfunnels connects smoothly with top email service providers.

    They offer SMTP integrations. SMTP means Simple Mail Transfer Protocol, a method of sending and receiving emails online.

    There are two types of SMTP integrations available inside Clickfunnels.

    • Transactional Only: transactional only integrations empower you to send automated transactional emails like password resets, welcome emails, order confirmations, fulfillment emails, and so on.
    • Transactional And Marketing Integrations: besides basic transactional emails, these integrations allow you to send intricate marketing campaigns. You can connect service providers like Sendgrid, Mandrill, and Mailgun.

    Here is some leading email marketing software you can link to your Clickfunnels account.

    • Aweber.
    • Get Response.
    • Keap (previously Infusionsoft).
    • Convertkit.
    • Drip.
    • Mailchimp.
    • Ontraport.

    Can’t connect your preferred autoresponder through the standard integration?

    No worries.

    Simply connect to your funnels via HTML.

    Clickfunnels cover all the integration bases.

    • Payment Gateway Integrations

    You are not in business for fun and games, are you? Payment gateways help you collect payments from customers—the primary reason you are in business.

    There are two types of integrations: API and 3rd-party. API integrations allow you to process payments of products you made in Clickfunnels. With 3rd-party integrations, you can process payments of products created on external platforms. 

    Popular payments you can link to Clickfunnels are PayPal, Stripe, Clickbank, JVZoo, and InfusionSoft.

    On top of all this, they also offer 1,500 app integrations through Zapier.

    In short, Clickfunnels has an impressive array of integrations.

    You can link Clickfunnels with any top marketing tool.

    A/B Split Testing And Analytics Features

    Tracking the conversion rates of your web pages is an integral part of running an online business. 

    The Clickfunnels funnel builder has rock-solid testing and analytics features.  

    Before we get into split testing your landing pages, let’s go over seven metrics you can track under the funnel stats section of the dashboard.

    • Unique Page Views: shows you the total number of unique visitors who have visited that page.
    • All Opt-ins: displays the number of opt-ins you’ve netted through that page.
    • Opt-in Rate: this is an important (percentage) conversion metric that shows the number of people who opted into your offer divided by those who visited the page but didn’t convert.
    • Earnings Per Click (EPC): means the average amount of money you get from customers who click that page.
    • Gross Sales: total sales registered in the funnel.
    • Average Cart Value: tracks the amount spent by a single customer.
    • Sales Count: the total number of purchases in the order step.
    • Recurring Value: subscription products sales total.

    Running many funnels at once? The good news is you can compare their stats to see which ones perform best.

    Besides these funnel stats, you can do a/b testing on all pages in your funnel.

    A b testing helps you see what’s working well and what’s broken. Then you can double up on what’s working and discard or tweak what isn’t working and maximize growth.

    In Clickfunnels you can test virtually any page element:

    • Headlines.
    • Body copy.
    • Images.
    • Videos.
    • CTA buttons.

    Certainly, the Clickfunnels landing page builder has a stellar testing and analytics feature. It compares well with leading builders on the market.

    Customer Support And Documentation

    In the SaaS products sector, customer support is crucial.

    No matter how much value a product packs, if the support behind the product is lousy, you will get frustrated whenever you get stuck because of the inevitable software glitches.

    Clickfunnels have many support channels.

    • Knowledge Base: they have many support articles packed with step-by-step guidance to help you along the way.
    • Explainer Videos: alongside the articles, they avail explainer videos so their uses get the technical help they need.
    • Community: Clickfunnels has a tremendous community. As a member of this vibrant community, you will get all the help you need from fellow business owners. 
    • Blog: their blog has rich articles jam-packed with useful info.
    • Phone: should you want to talk to a human, their phone support team is available Monday to Friday during normal working hours.

    With 5 support channels their consumers can use to reach out if they need help, Clickfunnels prioritize customer support.

    Clickfunnels Features Pros And Cons

    PROS

    • No coding skills are required so newbies are comfortable building pages.
    • Super easy-to-use drag and drop editor.
    • An ever-growing pool of proven sales funnels that convert.
    • Plenty of landing page and funnel templates to choose from.
    • All-in-one system for all your marketing and selling needs.
    • Straightforward user interface so you learn how to build pages quickly.
    • Mobile responsive landing pages that look the part on mobile devices.
    • A wide range of integrations that caters to all major tools.
    • No endless plugins to add to your site and landing pages.

    CONS

    • Shared servers drag page loads speed down significantly.
    • Pricey, so not for those with shallow pockets.
    • Mediocre membership site area that’s unsuitable for hosting online courses.
    • Support can be on the slow side.
    • There’s a learning curve if you are a total newbie.

    Clickfunnels Review Wrap Up

    That’s your thorough Clickfunnels review.

    All things considered, Clickfunnels is a pretty solid funnel and landing page builder. They have top-drawer sales funnel workflows. Admittedly, the tool has a few blemishes. If you can live with them, you can benefit immensely from the software.

    Maybe Clickfunnels is the missing link in your business.

    Try it out today!

    Last Updated on August 18, 2023 by Hanson Cheng

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    Hanson Cheng

    About the author

    Living in Portugal with my wife and puppies.
    Scaling online businesses and sharing lessons learned on this website and in our email newsletter.

    Always happy to hear from you, so find me on Instagram if you want to say hi!

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