Are you building your business on rented space? Having an email list means you can reach your audience without being reliant on the rules and algorithms of third-party channels like Facebook.
With email marketing, you can serve up timely and personalized content that’s able to connect more deeply and convert more easily. The best part? It doesn’t have to be complicated or time-consuming to get (and keep) it going.
Here’s my step-by-step process for setting up an email funnel that can qualify, capture, and nurture leads for you — literally on autopilot!
Why You Need An Email Marketing Funnel
Why is an email funnel so important? Because it will allow you to:
- Fill your email list with people genuinely interested in what you offer
- Nurture leads by addressing common questions and objections
- Explain and sell your high-ticket offer (course, coaching, etc.)
- Target highly-interested leads with additional offers
- Segment out uncertain leads for additional nurturing
- Increase conversions with targeted discounts, incentives, and upsells
Did I mention your email marketing funnel will practically run on autopilot once you get it set up? Email funnels are the not-so-secret method for passively serving and selling to an audience that’s truly interested in what you have to offer.
What is an Email Marketing Funnel?
So… what exactly is an email funnel anyway? Let’s review.
An email funnel or “opt-in funnel” is a series of simple elements that work together to guide people down a path to joining your email list.
Here’s what the user journey looks like:
- Someone sees your content out in the wild (like on social media)
- They give you their email address in exchange for your free offer
- Your back-end integration sends their information over to your email marketing tool
- Your opt-in form redirects them to your “Thank You” page where the download/webinar/freebie is delivered
- Your email marketing tool sends a welcome email to them right away
- Additional emails are automatically send over the next 2-3 weeks (this is your “welcome sequence”)
As in all things business, don’t get distracted by bells-and-whistles. Stick to the minimum requirements so you can launch your list sooner. Then, you can iterate and update your funnel based on real-world results.
How To Create an Opt-In Funnel in 5 Steps
What’s the date in five days? That should be your target for launching your email funnel! I have repeated this same process for hundreds of business owners over the past decade and I have watched many more follow this process all on their own — so I promise it’s doable!
Here are the exact steps I follow when I set up funnels for my clients.
Suggested Tools
- Klaviyo — Email marketing platform with all the features you need to scale to multiple audience segments, funnels, and pathways. There are no tiers, which means you have access to all features from day one. Use it for free until you hit 250 subscribers, after which you’ll pay $20/month.
- Elementor — Visual designer with a drag-and-drop interface that makes creating beautiful landing pages and pop-ups a breeze. The free version is super powerful or the Advanced version costs $99/year.
- Canva — Perfect for designing PDFs, eBook covers, worksheets, digital ads, and basic mockups. I typically use Canva to create a design and use Shots to turn it into a digital mockup.
- Shots — Showcase your designs, images, and screenshots on realistic renderings of tablets, phones, book covers, browsers, and other frames with ease. Super powerful tool!
1. Create Your Opt-In Offer
Also known as your funnel’s “freebie,” your opt-in offer should center around a topic closely related to the solution you’ll be selling. Build it around a highly specific goal or problem, and don’t worry about appealing to anyone other than your ideal customer.
To speed up the process, consider what you can repurpose. I could easily create a “swipe file” of some winning pitches I sent this year. A photographer could share a few Lightroom presets they’ve created.
Whatever you choose, plan to create your opt-in offer in less than a day. Remember this mantra: Done is better than perfect!
- How to Create an Irresistible Opt-In Offer
2. Write Your Welcome Sequence
Your email sequence needs to fulfill the lofty goal of convincing a lead to become a paying customer. The first email should go out as soon as someone fills out your form. This “thank you” should get them excited to use your freebie and follow along with the emails to come.
Your initial sequence should have 5-7 emails total. These will be sent automatically to each new subscriber, usually spaced one to three days apart. In them, focus on sharing value and positivity; serving comes before selling.
- How to Write a High-Converting Email Series
3. Design Your Pages
There are two pages required to make your email funnel work properly.
Your landing page should be bright and brimming with value. It’s all about hyping up your freebie so people get excited to give you their email address. It needs to get total strangers started down the know/like/trust you pathway.
Your thank you page is just as important. Someone just handed you direct access to their inbox; reiterate the value you plan to share with them. Get them excited! And tell them they can hit “reply” to any one of your emails — this notion will help you build deeper connections.
- Best Practices for Designing an Opt-In Page
4. Share Your Offer
Consistency is key. Sharing your offer once will not move the needle; even sharing it once a month is unlikely to yield strong results. Commit a few minutes every day to building that momentum. With time, your list will start growing steadily.
If you don’t have a ton of bandwidth for social media (or marketing in general), I encourage you to grab the 4-part blueprint I’ve used to get even my busiest, and even shyest, clients going.
- Circular Social Media: A Framework for Meaningful Results
5. Build Out Your Funnel
It is thrilling to get your first subscriber, but do you know what’s even more exciting? Using the results you’re getting to iterate and expand on your funnel as your list grows. Here are my favorite ways to do so:
- Ask for a second opt-in — Pull new subscribers closer by giving them the chance to commit to a second opt-in on your thank you page or early on in your email sequence. For instance, you can ask them to join your exclusive Facebook group or take your free course.
- Create a mini offer — A low-ticket offer (priced around $10) can drive immediate buy-in from new subscribers and spotlight those who are already serious about investing in a solution.
- Segment your audience — Emails perform best when they are highly targeted, making each subscriber feel like you wrote it just for them. Learning to effectively segment your audience will help you achieve this personalization, even as your list explodes to 10,000+ subscribers.
- Write alternative sequences — As more people join your email list, start writing alternative emails that further tailor your automated sequence for people who are opening every email you send, people who aren’t engaging at all, those who bought your mini offer, and so on.
What's Next?
No matter where you’re at in your business — years in and ready to pivot, burned out, or completely lost on where to start — starting a list is always the next best step.
An email funnel will automate much of the list building and nurturing process. Plus, you can repurpose content you’re already creating to build out your email sequence (and even your opt-in offer). In other words, you’ve got no excuse!
Need more guidance on the next steps? Check out my other resources:
- Connect Klaviyo to WordPress
- Create an Irresistible Opt-In Offer
- Build a High-Converting Email Sequence
- Make an Opt-In Page in WordPress
- Craft a Mini Offer for Quick Conversions
