Sales Funnels

I’m often asked which marketing automation software I prefer. And that’s a hard question to answer. Because there are several that I love almost equally! Two of my favorites are for sure ClickFunnels and Simplero. They do similar things, some things one does better and some things the other does better. And some things only one will accomplish. Here are my thoughts on these two platforms, in no particular order, as a freelancer who builds and manages sales funnels and email marketing for my clients.

What I love about ClickFunnels

The people who run ClickFunnels KNOW digital marketing. Like, they are the expert of experts. And that’s evidenced by how well their brand is marketed. And thus all of their funnel “recipes” are designed to create “perfect sales funnels”.
They teach you what they know! If you are brand new to sales, digital marketing, and other aspects of the online business world, you NEED to check out their free and low-cost training opportunities. Start with the books by Russell Brunson. Grab Expert Secrets here through the ClickFunnels website. (Pay attention to how the funnel flows! That’s where your education begins!) Another great resource to really dive in and start learning funnels is the One Funnel Away challenge.
Amazing sales funnel and landing page builder. Whether you choose to use a free or premium template or create your own from a blank page (or have your team’s funnel builder or techy VA do it for you), you can rest assured that the basic elements of quality web design and sales funnel design will be in place when you are done. It’s a relatively simple drag and drop platform with an uncomplicated way to embellish your design with CSS code.
Payment processing is smooth. You do have to choose one payment processor, but using Stripe (for example) through ClickFunnels has always been a very smooth experience.
Set up of multiple products is straight forward.
Upsells are done nearly perfectly as well. This software was absolutely designed to perfect the art of the upsell. (You know, “Do you want fries with that? Or a dozen of whatever you just bought? Or an upgrade to the VIP package?”)
You can place your ClickFunnels pages on your WordPress website using their plugin. (Not free from glitches, unfortunately, but overall it usually works quite well.) This means that you don’t necessarily need a secondary URL or subdomain to present your ClickFunnels pages to the world, and you certainly don’t want to put out your landing pages with the default ClickFunnels url on them.
They have a fantastic affiliate program. Want to be in the affiliate business or simply refer your clients to them and cash in on their account month after month? Make sure you sign up for an affiliate account! (That’s why I’m using my affiliate links in this blog post, by the way. Because why would you want to talk about and send someone to a platform and NOT use an affiliate link?)
They also allow you to have your own affiliate program for your products and it works pretty well, also. Affiliate links use cookies that embed themselves on the user’s browser memory and tell the seller who provided them with the link so that they can compensate the referrer appropriately.

Cons of ClickFunnels

Their funnels aren’t always pretty. They actually like to say that ugly funnels sell better than pretty funnels. I’d have to see the stats on that one and understand their definition of “ugly”. Because I wouldn’t describe their funnel templates as ugly at all! They are neat and aesthetically pleasing and well designed. But they do tend toward feeling quite masculine. So maybe that’s why they aren’t “pretty”? And maybe what matters in how well an “ugly” vs “pretty” funnel sells has to do with your product and target market? I know I’m biased because of my profession, but I always find myself more inclined to purchase from a beautifully done funnel.
The tech issues. Things break…alot. Cache doesn’t purge when you’ve made changes…alot. Little glitches abound.
Related to that, their tech support has a reputation for being terrible. They have made strides to do better in the past couple of years, but seems that it’s still lacking compared to other platforms. And while, maybe, someone is working on the tech issues on the backend quickly, they tend to not let you know about it. The best tech support for ClickFunnels that I’ve found (other than hiring your favorite funnel geek)? Head to the official Facebook group and scroll/search for the issue you are experiencing. You are likely to find the solution, or the lack of solution other than “just wait it out”. If you can’t find a solution, post your question. You will probably get a couple of helpful answers and a ton of “I can fix that for you” offers.
Their membership site platform leaves a lot to be desired. It’s great for a simple member offer, such as lifetime access to a virtual summit recording. But if you want a more robust interactive membership site, this is not the solution for you.

What I love about Simplero

Simplero will do what ClickFunnels will do, and more. The sales pages you can build (from template for from a blank page) can look just as good as any other landing page builder. Mostly this has to do with educating yourself.
You can put almost everything in Simplero… your email list, your subscriptions, your website, your blog, your membership site. And it all works so well!
Payment processing is smooth and you can choose multiple payment processors (Stripe and PayPal, for example).
Their tech support is on point! Have a problem? They respond within minutes or hours (depending on complexity and time of day). Just can’t figure something out? They almost always know the answer.
They have extensive, searchable, free trainings available, using their own course platform.
They make constant improvements! Nearly every single time I log in, I get a notification of a list of things they have improved.
They really listen and care about their users. Many of the ongoing improvements are based on user suggestions. Want the platform to do something that you loved about another platform? Just have a vision of what would make a certain aspect of Simplero even better? Submit a suggestion and they will read it, consider it, and implement it at some point if it makes sense and is possible.
They also have a great affiliate program, both for you to help promote Simplero (here’s my affiliate link!) and that you can use to promote your own programs with your own affiliates.
One login for everything housed in Simplero. Let’s say you have purchased a course from 2 other people and you have your own Simplero account. If you use the same email for all 3, you will find it all under your profile. I love that feature!

Cons of Simplero

When I first started using Simplero for a client’s projects a year or so ago I was amused by the title. “Simplero” suggests its “simple”, right? It’s most certainly not simple! I screamed at my computer a great deal while learning this platform. lol But now that I’ve mostly mastered it, I find it to be simply wonderful. Maybe that’s why they use the name Simplero?
Some aspects are a bit limited. But again… they listen and if you want a particular new feature or upgrade to an existing feature, suggest it and it just might happen within a few months.

Let me know which platform you love, hate, or want to know more about. I’d love to hear your thoughts.

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***This post or website contains affiliate links, which means that I may receive a commission or other compensation if you make a purchase using these links. As someone in the digital marketing industry, I strongly recommend that you also start to share affiliate links of your own! But be kind and honest when using them. Don’t just randomly throw affiliate links out there. Use the product first, know the seller first, or at least do your research first. Everything you see referred to on my website is either a product I have used for myself or a client or is from someone who I know and respect in the virtual business world. Enjoy!***

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Those pesky squirrels!

Not the cute brown ones I have running around outside my house.

But those squirrels that seek to derail my best laid business plans with yet another free offer or fabulous webinar or amazing course.

I see first hand where that expression came from because if there is one thing that gets my dog distracted from what he is outside to do, its squirrels! They jump off the neighbors house, run along the power lines, leap from tree to tree. And my poor dog forgets everything else but the desire to be able to jump high enough to get them.

Ever been there?

When you are working hard, focused in on your next big business goal, only to have an amazing offer thrown at your that looks SO good and you just MUST obtain it. Then a few days or weeks later you realize you left your much-more-important goal hanging while you ran off down a rabbit hole chasing this new “whatever”. It may or may not have worked out, and it may or may not have made you any money, but it DID pull you away from what WOULD have made you much more money anyway, I’m betting.

What can help with focus is putting your plans into a visual representation that you keep nearby at the ready.

I call this a value ladder.

This is a tool that helps you plot out the various levels of value that you are giving and getting from the offers and products in your business.

At the bottom of your ladder are your free giveaways such as lead magnets, virtual summits, etc. These have a singular purpose of reeling in new leads to your emailing list. These are always free and can be used not only in prominent places on your website but also as a free gift when you are invited to be a guest speaker or participate in someone else’s offer.

The next rung of your ladder would be your lowest priced offer. This could be an offer, often referred to as an SLO or Self-Liquidating Offer, that you charge anywhere from $7 to $47 for. Maybe even a little bit higher. You might run ads to it. It might be an upsell from your lead magnet. You might find other uses for it here and there as well.

After that you have the high priced rungs. These are your primary revenue makers. And you shouldn’t have a wide variety of them. Actually best to focus on just one or two levels. This would be your premium coaching program or service that you offer to your ideal clients.

You can also have a few other rungs here and there with extra things, like a live event or an exclusive Black Friday offer that you only pull out now and then to drive fresh new traffic into your premium offers.

But the point is that you need to set your value ladder, have room for a couple extras, and then leave it alone while focusing on how to achieve each of those levels and keep traffic flowing to them.

When something new comes along, another one of those squirrels that seek to distract you, look at your value ladder and ask yourself where would it fit? Would it add value to your current knowledge of what you can deliver to your clients or would it improve HOW you deliver it? If the answer is no, then keep on walking past that pesky squirrel.

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Image by Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay