Automation

One Funnel Away Challenge Review – Worth It?

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OFA-Challenge

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What is the one funnel away challenge?

One Funnel Away Challenge is a 30-day challenge for online business owners to up their game by creating a funnel that generates cash passively and in a totally automated way.

If you are utterly new to funnels. The following picture explains the funnel principle pretty nicely.

nurturing_funnel_thecours

So you have leads coming in from multiple sources and customers coming out from the end of the funnel.

That is a funnel, and it works like a charm when you get it going. However, getting it going is another thing altogether, and that needs more in-depth knowledge.

That is where Russell and the One Funnel Away Challenge comes in. OFA is precisely the training you need when you need to build a funnel, but you just don’t know how.

Inside the training, you will get coached by Stephen Larsen and Julie Stoian on top of Russell, giving you in-depth training videos on the various aspects of a funnel.

If there’s one training that gives you everything you need to know about funnels, I would say this is the training.

The OFA has a pre-training part and 4 weeks of funnel training. The challenge starts from week 1, and the pre-training is for you to get your gears in flame.

But the big question is, why would you join? What makes funnels so good and interesting? Why this training?

Why?

Being a small online business owner and wanting to automate things to sell your knowledge and services, you need funnels. You can’t grow your business if you are trading your time for money.

Funnels are meant to take the selling and marketing from your hands to an automated system that handles the selling AND marketing for you. That is the fundamental reason why funnels exist. To automate your business growth, giving you time to do other things, like improving your products and services.

You have a business, and you feel like you are doing so much work for it. You only have so much time in your day, and it feels like everything you do only creates a small ripple in the vast ocean of markets.

Rushing and hustling, these things will eventually burn you out. You are trading time, sweat, and tears for money. How would you feel to trade your time to what you want, and watch the income rolling to your bank account in automation?

That is a funnel right there!

Funnels enable you to free yourself from the daily tasks to new things and opportunities.

But is it really so easy? Is this actually possible?

One Funnel Away Challenge provides you one huge bonus on top of the already awesome training, and that is 30 different ways to build a funnel in 30 days. And this information comes from 30 different millionaires who generate that mentioned passive income in automation with funnels.

So there’s more proof than is needed!

So what about the challenge, what does it have, and how was it?

The Challenge

30 days to launch your first (or next) funnel, only 30 days to build a funnel that generates money on automation; THAT is a CHALLENGE!

Russell_Brunson

From who?

Russell Brunson is the co-founder of ClickFunnels and also one of the coaches inside the One Funnel Away Challenge. Russell has been in the internet marketing scheme years already and is one of a beast when it comes to marketing and selling with funnels. 

He breathes and lives funnels and is the no. 1 person to learn about funnels. He did create a multi-million dollar company around funnels after all.

Pre-Training

Creating a belief

Content

  • PT-M1: You Must Believe
  • PT-M2: Failure
  • PT-M3: Who Not How
  • PT-M4: 10x Secrets
  • PT-M5: Belief
  • PT-M7: Mission Review

Pre-training is all about getting you to the right mindset. We, as online entrepreneurs, carry different baggage, and sometimes we might have certain false beliefs towards things.

This training is all about breaking your false beliefs and showing you what is possible. If you don’t believe that you can be successful, you probably never will be. If you don’t see how you can provide value, and how you can get paid for it, you will not succeed.

For you to get out of the rat race, and for you to get more out of your life, you need to start thinking differently. Online business is not about you, it’s not even about the product or service you are selling.

You are selling people their desired-self image, results, wins, and success. In the pre-training week, you will learn how to overcome obstacles, and more like why obstacle is the way.

You will also learn the 10X Secrets, which absolutely blew my mind. It’s funny how your mind experiences a shift when you learn something completely new and something you never thought of. That is what happened to me.

HOOK – STORY – OFFER

This is a concept that I did not see before this training, while I had been in the online business for a while already, concepts thought in the OFA training are just plain brilliant. They just open your eyes and make you see how marketing actually works.

I would even go as far as saying that the pre-training was already worth the price!

Rating:

4/5

Week 1

Hook – Story – Offer

Content

  • PT-M1: You Must Believe
  • PT-M2: Failure
  • PT-M3: Who Not How
  • PT-M4: 10x Secrets
  • PT-M5: Belief
  • PT-M7: Mission Review

Week 1 is where it all starts. The CHALLENGE IS ON! It’s exciting, and it’s nerve-wracking at the same time. However, the very best thing about this challenge is the Facebook community in which people can comment and share success with each other.

People go crazy with the challenge, and everyone is pumped up, it is, after all, one of the best training there’s available about funnels and online marketing. As the pre-training is already so good, the first week and the first day already gets the blood rushing and make you ready for the challenge.

Week 1 is all about offer hacking, offer sequencing, and even creating your product. Remember that building your very first funnel is a challenge, and the homework, tasks, and other things that are presented to you on a daily basis requires hard work from you.

However, having that 1-2 hours each day is already a lot of time, and you can accomplish a lot in that time. I remember how much fun it was, and people take the training a bunch of times, even when they already have access to the material. Yes, the material will be available to you after the 30-day challenge is over.

However, my recommendation is to keep up with the pack, as it makes the whole process so much more fun. It really does!

I remember creating my product in those 30 days and building the funnel and all, so it’s all doable though it requires a lot of effort from you. That has to be said.

In the first week, you will also learn how you can monetize your product and services from a completely new perspective. Day 2, on week 1, is called Greatest Showman, and in that training, you will learn why people buy products, even the same one in a different package.

Rating:

4/5

Week 2

Your Hooks And Stories

Content

  • W2-M1: Publishing
  • W2-M2: Epiphany Bridge
  • W2-M3: Your Origin Story
  • W2-M4: Hooks, Hooks, & More Hooks
  • W2-M5: Catch Up Day
  • W2-M6: Catch up day
  • W2-M7: Mission Review

If week 1 was all about offer hacking and learning how sequencing works inside the funnel. Week 2 is about selling and marketing. Week 2 is an absolute blast (sorry, but I just have to be honest here, it’s so good)!

In week 2, you will learn how to use stories, hooks, and your backstory for your benefit to make a sale and to persuade people to buy your products and services.

In marketing and selling, it’s not so much about the logical part of your brain that makes the decisions. The part of your brain that makes decisions is called amygdala (also called lizard brain or reptilian brain), and when you can tap into that part of the brain, the game changes.

In week 2, you will learn the importance of talking to your audience through stories and creating that connection with the prospect. As we are building funnels, we are kind of inviting people to our world, and we have to make sure they feel welcome, and more than anything, they feel like they are the same as you.

Week 2 shows you ways to break false beliefs, just like they do in the pre-training. We have to remember that beliefs you feel right now are right and can’t be changed without a strong counter belief that breaks your own beliefs, and that is what is thought in week 2.

Rating:

4/5

Week 3

Creating THE Funnel

Content

  • W3-M1: Core Funnel Strategy
  • W3-M2: Your Share Funnel
  • W3-Bonus
  • W3-M3: The Squeeze Page
  • W3-M4: The Sales Page
  • W3-M5: The OTO Page
  • W3-M6: Members Area
  • W3-M7: Mission Review

It’s GO TIME! It’s week 3, and it’s all about crafting your beautiful funnel. Funnel that works on automation, bringing leads, and creating customers. It’s a delinquent step-by-step process that takes a cold lead to a happy customer.

Inside the training, you will see how exactly a core funnel strategy works. How to design and craft your squeeze page, sales page, and OTO page. This week of the training is super insightful and interesting as you get to see how Russell’s brain actually works, how he designs his funnels, and how they are formed.

Squeeze page, sales page, and OTO page all work slightly differently while they do have the same hook, story, offer concept behind them. It’s downright hilarious when you see other marketer’s funnels and also sales pages, and you see the template they use.

You can not unsee when you see it. That is pretty much what this week will bring you. That vision and clarity on how sales pages work and also WHY they work.

The sales page is your main page, where the sale happens, so your online business must know how it should be structured. With correct sequencing and rhythm, in place, prospects become from cold leads to warm and happy customers.

Even the sales page has a funnel built-into it. You just need to see how it works, and then you can implement the information to your own business.

Week 3 teaches you how offers work and how you present your offer. You are not ultimately selling a product or a service, you are selling an offer. Funnels are about offers, and your goal during this week is to nail down your core offer.

Having your offer clear and done, you create the pages mentioned before. This was probably the most fun I had. You actually build the pages and bring your branding to it. Making the sales pages look like yours.

Rating:

5/5

Week 4

Igniting Your Funnel

Content

  • W4-M1: 3 Types of Traffic
  • W4-M2: Dream 100
  • W4-M3: Earn Your Way In
  • W4-M4: Buy Your Way In
  • W4-M5: Funnel Audibles
  • W4-M6: Mission Review
  • W4-M7: Mission Debrief

The last week of the challenge is about pouring the gasoline to your funnel. Setting it ablaze and generating those leads to your funnel. Week 4 shows you how to get leads and how traffic works.

With your funnel in place and your product and service ready to be delivered to the world. The last thing you need is the audience, traffic, and those leads.

Week 4 gives you an insight into different traffic types, and how to get your dream 100 who has your customers. Before this training, I was a bit clueless about how traffic works and how to find my audience.

Luckily the last week in the challenge is just about traffic. Inside the training, you will see how to use Facebook effectively and how to find your people.

As this is the last week, it feels like it’s too soon to end. I felt like I want this to last forever. It was so much fun, and it was so motivating to see people succeeding inside the program.

It was a challenge, and one I don’t regret taking it. It was soooo much fun.

Rating:

3/5

Are you ready for the challenge?

Here’s what you get!

  • 30 Days of video missions from Russell Brunson ($997 value)
  • 30 Days of coaching from Stephen Larsen & Julie Stoian ($997 value)
  • One Funnel Away Challenge customized kit (30 Day Plan) ($247 value)
  • BONUS: Physical copy of the challenge workbook ($97 value)
  • BONUS: MP3 Player ($297 value)
  • BONUS: 30 Days hardcover book ($97 value)
  • BONUS: Unlimited access to 30 days interviews ($197 value)
  • BONUS: Behind the scenes: Two comma club interviews ($197 value)

Total value: $3,126

f you want to get your funnel LIVE and start building your business, then this is the mission we’re giving you…


Join the challenge now!

What more you Get?

Led by Trainer Russell Brunson and Coaches Stephen Larsen and Julie Stoian, the ‘One Funnel Away’ Challenge is designed to help you Customize and IMPLEMENT your plan in just 30 days…

Russell_Brunson

Russel Brunson: “The Strategist”

Russell will train you with NEW videos created and structured for this specific challenge. He will lay the solid groundwork, so you can master the CORE fundamentals and strategy behind your customized 30-day plan. It’s important not just to do the daily tasks, but to understand the “bigger picture” of what you’re doing over the 30 days, and why.

Julie_Stoian

Julie Stoian: “The Transformer”

Julie will help walk you through the process and the “how-to” of turning your abstract customized 30-day plan into an actual funnel that’s built and up and running. She’s a master at transforming business ideas from the initial “vision” phase to reality. Julie helped me immensely by answering some questions I had during the challenge. What a lovely person she is!

Stephen_Larsen

Stephen Larsen: “The Executioner”

Stephen will coach you daily on LIVE group calls! This is where you can get your questions answered if you need extra help on completing your daily tasks. Don’t be afraid of the occasional BOOOOOOOMs! Consider Stephen your supportive (but no-excuses) accountability partner! He’s not afraid to “hold your feet to the fire” and make you stay accountable for getting your tasks DONE! While the teaching method might not be for everyone. I had a blast watching and listening and getting coached by him. Such a hilarious personality.

Bonus: 30 Days Summit Interviews

Two comma club winners:

  • Trey Lewellen
  • Liz Benny
  • Garrett J. White
  • Alison J. Prince
  • Dana Derricks
  • Julie Stoian
  • Stephen Larsen
  • Stacey Martino
  • Ed Osburn
  • Tyler Shaule
  • Rachel Pederson
  • Jeremy McGilvrey
  • Peng Joon
  • Myron Golden
  • Jaime Cross
  • Dan Henry
  • Joe McCall
  • Spencer Mecham
  • Anissa Holmes
  • Dean Holland
  • John Lee Dumas
  • Rob Kosberg
  • Natalie Hodson
  • Pat Rigsby
  • Caitlin Pyle
  • Akbar Sheikh
  • Rhonda Swan
  • David Asarnow
  • Raoul Plickat
  • James P. Friel

Thoughts on the interviews?

I think the 30 interviews that you can read from the book are pretty much priceless. I think the real value this book provides is just insane. There are 30 millionaires from which you can learn. I think that kind of knowledge is pretty high on value.

I do have to admit that while they do share a lot of insight and knowledge on how they would build a funnel if they only had 30 days to spend. However, where it misses the mark is this: “It’s not easy.” While they do make it sound easy and all, completing what they suggest is not easy.

What you do get from the interviews is different tactics and ways you can approach the funnel building. These small but super interesting tactics and strategies do give you that much-needed motivation and flame you might need along with the challenge.

Sometimes we just don’t how to approach something, or what are some ways we can attract that audience or how to get coaching clients and so on. So this book is filled with those types of ideas.

If you thought the book was all you were going to get. Nope. You will also see interviews with these millionaires and see how they have built funnels, and also see behind the scenes stuff to their business. Suuuuper interesting!

I think Rachel Pederson was one of the most interesting ones. Also, the interview with Liz Benny was something I enjoyed a lot. There are some big names interviewed, such as Dan Henry and John Lee Dumas, without forgetting that also your coaches Stephen and Julie gave an interview.

Just the amount of information that is packed into this 30-day challenge can feel overwhelming. Fortunately, the training is very well structured, so following the path is easy, and it does get you results if you are willing to do the work, that is.

How was it like all in all?

It was a blast! It was so much fun, and I will always remember the training. Fun, exciting, challenging, intense, exhausting, amazing! These are the words that best describe the experience OFA offered to me.

But here comes the part that you might have waited for. Did I get results?

The answer is NO! I did not. Then how come I’m so excited about this course?

Because the content is just pure DIAMOND. Not even golden, but DIAMOND.

I didn’t get the results I wanted, but the marketing and sales training I got, it’s something that I go back to every now and then.

I think the content and the knowledge you get for a measly $100 is an offer I wouldn’t like to miss.

Would I do it again! Yes! But, I don’t need to as I already have the material with me and ready to be consumed whenever a need arises. I consider OFA as one of those courses that I can wholeheartedly recommend.

I got so much out of it, and while I didn’t succeed with my plan, I’m not stressed about it. I survived the challenge, and it changed my beliefs about marketing and selling for good!

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there a money-back guarantee?

Yes, there is! If you are not happy with the training, you can ship the challenge kit back within 30 days and receive a full refund. Do check the official support for more info.

How much does the challenge cost?

The challenge costs $100 if you get the digital version, though if you are like me and like to read a physical book now and then, you can get the physical plan. Physical is the same $100, but you’ll be paying for the shipping, which is $19.95 or $29.95 if you are from outside the states.

Do I need to have a product or a service to join the challenge?

No, you don’t! That’s the beauty of this challenge. If you have a product already, then the challenge is a lot easier for you. However, I joined the challenge with no product or service to sell. Inside the challenge, you will be shown how to get that product creation gear in motion.

Does this course have an affiliate program?

Absolutely! We are talking about ClickFunnels, after all. Probably one of the biggest companies to support the affiliate business model. OFA has a $100 commission for every sign up you can get. So, for example, I will get a $100 commission if you decide to click my affiliate link. And the best part is that it doesn’t cost you a dime, but it does help me immensely. The same way I’ve tried to help you with this article right here.

Do I need to have a ClickFunnels subscription?

Nope! Though if you are new to funnels, it might not hurt you to try out their platform and service. They are indeed one of the biggest and, if not the best funnel service provider you can find.

Now, I did my funnels with WordPress and Elementor Pro, with ConvertKit integration. So as you can see, you might need to grab a few other services to get the ball rolling. With ClickFunnels, it’s just ClickFunnels, so you can see the simplicity it offers.

Do I need any special skills?

No again! The OFA challenge is all you need. The training and the material shown to you is all you need. However, if there is one skill people usually lack, that is immensely important to your business. Itäs the skill of copywriting. That is the one thing you definitely need, but then again, that is something you can practice and will eventually get better. This training is one that shows you ways to improve that.

Is there a community of some sort?

Yes! After I joined the challenge, I was able to join a Facebook group that was specific to my OFA challenge. You see, there are always groups for every challenge. Just to make the challenge intense and exciting.

The Next ‘ONE FUNNEL AWAY’ Challenge Starts On

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Final Rating

4/5

Join the challenge now!

About the author

“I am an independent ClickFunnels Affiliate, not an employee. I receive referral payments from ClickFunnels. The opinions expressed here are my own and are not official statements of ClickFunnels or its parent company, Etison LLC.”

The 7 Best Online Course Hosting Platforms You Need To Know

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online_course_platforms_best

You have an idea for an online course, or you have already created part of the online course. Or perhaps you have already created a fully-fledged online course, and now you are looking for a platform to host your online course on.

This post has gathered the very best online course platforms for you to place your online course on and sell it to your audience. Compiling this list took a lot of time, but I think you appreciate the results.

Some of the platforms offer you more features than others, and some even handle taxation for you (Gumroad). So there’s an option for everyone.

If you are totally new to online business and making money online and especially through online courses, there’s an option for that too (Kajabi).

The very best combination you can have if you are going full-on with online courses is to have a separate WordPress site and an online course hosting service.

Some sites might suggest that you host the online course on your own website, while that is a good option to have. I would recommend starting with something easier and one that requires little to no maintenance. 

I’ve hosted an online course on Thinkific and on Gumroad, but have also created an online course on my own website. So I’ve seen and experienced both sides of the equation.

This post will be about hosting your online course on an external service and not on your own website, as these two things are very different.

Here’s a quick summary of the whole list:

Table Of Contents

A quick table to show you the pricing plans between different online course platforms (the price is based on the most affordable solution available within the platform):

Online course platformFREE OptionPricing Level 1Pricing Level 2Pricing Level 3
TeachableYes$29/month$79/month$399/month
ThinkificYes$39/month$79/month$399/month
KajabiNo$119/month$159/month$319/month
ClickFunnelsTrial$97/month$297/monthcoming
PodiaTrial$39/month$79/month
CourseCraftYes$29/month$59/month
ZippyCoursesNo$99/month$199/month
RuzukuTrial$74.75/month$83.03/month$125/month
Academy of MineTrial$499/month$792/month$1208/month
TeacheryTrial$39/month
NotionYes$4/month$8/month$20/month
PatreonYes%5 of earnings8% of earnings12% of earnings
GumroadYes8.5% + $0.30 (USD) per sale$10/month, 3.5% + $0.30 (USD) per sale

Teachable

Let’s start with the obvious one, and probably the most popular one. Teachable is one of the biggest online course hosting services online. They have more than 18M students already, 186k+ courses hosted, and the course creators have earned more than $338M on their platform.

But what makes Teachable so good? What features can you expect, and why would you choose it?

Teachable is evolving all the time, and new features are added on a yearly basis. At least it has been that way for the past year or so.

Customization

You can upload video, image, text, audio, and PDF-files to the platform, and you can also import content directly from Dropbox Google Drive, or OneDrive is you keep your content on those services.

Teachable has its own drag-and-drop builder built inside the platform, and what this means is that you can use it to build the sales page or create a landing page for your course, which means that you don’t have to have your own website or domain name to host your online course.

The website, as well as the course page, is all responsive, so your students and customers can view your content from computers, tablets, and smartphones. 

As you can use their page builder, it means you can create beautiful landing pages, sales pages, while making sure the pages look yours and have your branding on them. 

If you want to take it a step further, you can use your own domain name to make it look like yours all the way.

Learning tools

Teachable also offers learning tools for your students. You can create quizzes, create course completion certificates, or even force your students to watch or complete a lesson before they can move on inside the course.

Student feedback is essential for your course to succeed, so Teachable is offering you the ability to include Google Forms or surveys for you to collect valuable information from your students. Surveys are a phenomenal way to collect information and feedback for you to improve your course even further.

Teachable integrates with Zapier, and Zapier, on the other hand, integrates pretty much with and to anything. Intercom, Olark, Gumroad, Zendesk, ConvertKit, etc. So the integration part is fairly nicely covered.

Teachable also has a segmentation feature that enables you to send targeted emails based on completion, enrollment, code redemption, etc.

Marketing

Teachable has a built-in coupon system, which lets you select either a dollar amount or a percentage-based discount for your online course. You can also use custom expiration times with the coupons.

You can select various ways to charge your members. You can offer a subscription-based payment plan, a one-time fee, or a payment plan, and this way, give your students multiple ways to sign up for your course. 

Something teachable offers that not too many offers is a taxation handling service. A few years ago, Teachable developed a BackOffice solution for course creators, thus enabling you to focus on the business part rather than worrying about taxes.

The platform also offers an affiliate program for you to develop your sales even further. An affiliate program is superb if you want to reward your students for promoting and selling your course. Within Teachable, you can track the affiliate sales with a built-in affiliate marketing feature.

Analytics

Teachable offers you a dashboard where you can track your sales and also the progress of your students and the average completion rates for your course. You can also see a trend for how your courses have sold every month.

Price:

  • Basic: $29 (billed annually) / $39 (billed monthly)
  • Professional: $79 (billed annually) / $99 (billed monthly)
  • Business: $399 (billed annually) / $499 (billed monthly)

Pros:

  • Easy to use
  • Affordable
  • Amount of features in the Basic plan
  • Built-in affiliate marketing feature

Cons:

  • 5% transaction fee in the Basic plan
  • The free plan is basically useless
  • Average page builder
  • Lacks funnel building features

Patreon

Patreon started out as a platform dedicated to artists and creative persons and over the years, developed to a massive platform that now supports creatives of all kinds.

I remember Patreon was founded and the way it was celebrated among artists. It was a place where pretty much every artist I followed at the time, had created a profile and had different rewards setups for supporters. 

After a few years of massive growth, Patreon is now a well-established platform in which creatives can run their own membership programs in multiple ways.

What makes Patreon a bit different than the rest of the crew is that they are more focused on creatives persons than, for example, business and finance types of persons. 

Patreon is also all about monthly income and creating a membership-based business model. Even though courses are generally thought to be a one-time fee, the online course is going through a change, and that change is continuous support and engagement. 

People are looking for interaction with the course creator, and they look for personal touch and community. Students want to be taken care of. They want results, and sometimes they need that extra motivation from the creator.

Patreon also differs in a sense, that it’s not so business-focused. You might not find so much analytics, marketing features, hardcore sales analytics, etc. 

What you do find from the platform is ease of use and, more importantly, ease of payments. Patreon offers creators the option to fill out some forms, and that’s about it. Patreon transfers funds via PayPal and Payoneer.

Price:

FREE, but

  • Lite: 5% of the monthly income you earn on Patreon + payment processing
  • Pro: 8% of the monthly income you earn on Patreon + payment processing
  • Premium: 12% of the monthly income you earn on Patreon + payment processing

Pros:

  • FREE to use
  • Ease with the taxation 
  • Community-focused  
  • Made for monthly income  
  • Membership model focused (future of online training)

Cons:

  • Not so much marketing focused
  • Lacks in-depth customer and sales analytics
  • Pretty hefty transaction fees (though you don’t have to worry about taxation so much)
  • Course structuring

ClickFunnels

ClickFunnels is a bit of a newcomer in the course platform business. However, it is pretty solid and offers you a ton of features, while not so much in the membership part, but in the way of bringing in the sales.

ClickFunnels is a massive sales machine system. It gives you a massive amount of features, and all of the features are thought from the marketing and sales perspective.

ClcikFunnels is the number one funnel building platform and if you are new to funnels. I would dare to say that every major internet marketer and online course creator uses funnels more or less.

When we think about ClickFunnels and what is it good for, the first thing that comes to mind is making sales. While we should focus on picking the best online course platform, we can’t ignore the fact that making sales is the number one thing a business needs to survive.

And for that reason, I selected ClickFunnels as one of the best online course platforms available. And I didn’t even mention the training you get when you sign-up with ClickFunnels. It is priceless like he mentions. Russell Brunson is one of the best internet marketers ever. 

As you can see from the image above, the actual membership/ course area might not be the most beautiful compared to Thinkific or Kajabi. But in the end, the content is the BIGGEST thing that matters to a student. 

The screenshot is from a One Funnel Away Challenge I took not too long ago, and even though the platform might not be mobile friendly and fine-looking and all. I got the information and training I was looking for, and that is what matters at the end. And yes, the training ClickFunnels offer is one of the best marketing training available online.

And while many could be put off by the $97/month price, you should remember that you are getting a massive platform to market and sell your course and not just a platform to host your course, which pretty much all others offer.

Price: 

  • ClickFunnels: FREE 14-day trial, and after that $97/month
  • ClickFunnels Platinum: $297/month
  • ClickFunnels Collective – coming soon

Pros:

  • Fully-fledged funnel and webpage builder
  • Email marketing features
  • Lead capturing
  • Sales features
  • Affiliate program for you and for your students
  • Sales and marketing training
  • The number of features the platform offers

Cons:

  • Average course player
  • Might be overwhelming at the beginning
  • Lacks traditional quizzes, and other learning tools

Related: One Funnel Away Challenge Review

“I am an independent ClickFunnels Affiliate, not an employee. I receive referral payments from ClickFunnels. The opinions expressed here are my own and are not official statements of ClickFunnels or its parent company, Etison LLC.”

Kajabi

Kajabi is one of those online course hosting giants like Teachable and Thinkific. Kajabi is used by the likes of Brendon Burchard, Amy Porterfield, Danielle Leslie, and other internet millionaires. 

While that might not be the main thing, you should notice that if the platform suits their needs, it probably is enough of a platform for both of us too.

Kajabi is trying to be one of those all-in-one service providers, offering you pipelines (funnels), email marketing, webpage builder, domain hosting, etc. 

While I do like Kajabi as a company and how they are at the forefront of online course development, some of the features like the webpage builder is lacking quite a bit of possibilities, compared to Elementor Pro, for example. 

Though I do have to admit that, when we are talking about online course hosting, the course platform is the one thing that matters quite a lot.

Even though Kajabi is feature-rich, the main thing is the way courses are handled. That is their main selling proposal, main business, so to say. Kajabi is filled with features for course creators and has to say they offer the most.

I’ve said this many times before, but relying only on one platform might not be the best choice. I believe that separating your website and course hosting is the best model to use. 

I would say that Kajabi is probably the BEST option for course creators when it comes to having everything in one place if you are not too tech-savvy and don’t know much about funnels or internet marketing in general. My recommendation is Kajabi, and NO, I’m not even an affiliate for them.

Price:

  • Basic: $119 (annual billing) / $149/monthly
  • Growth: $159 (annual billing) / $199/monthly
  • Pro: $319 (annual billing) / $399/monthly

Pros:

  • Beautiful course player and platform for students
  • All-In-One solution
  • Built-in pipelines (funnels)
  • Email marketing
  • Webinar hosting
  • Constant platform development

Cons:

  • Price, Kajabi is one of the most expensive solutions out there (if not the most expensive one)
  • If you want to remove Kajabi branding, you have to get Growth plan
  • Basic and Growth only allows you to host one website in their platform
  • Limited personalization and marketing options for webpages

Gumroad

I love Gumroad! But why? Because they are free and handle my taxes, FULLY! I can just sell my online course, and not worry about handling refunds, taxes, customer support, nothing really. As I’m an EU citizen, this platform is an excellent choice for me. Even if you are from the US, it’s still an amazing platform to try out.

Gumroad is NOT the best online course hosting platform, but it’s pretty much the best when it comes to selling digital products.

Gumroad’s check-out process is super simple, and you can integrate the platform with ConvertKit (check my current email marketing recommendation from the resources page), and that makes Gumroad one of my favorite platforms.

I’m hosting one of my online courses on the platform, and so far, people have enjoyed the course with zero complaints or refunds. So while Gumroad might not be the best platform to host your course, it’s a robust and solid platform with plenty of different options for collecting payments.

You can create a subscription-based plan, a one-time fee, a membership plan, etc. Gumroad also offers third-party analytics integrations with companies like Google and Facebook to track sales and conversions.

You can also integrate the platform with Google Analytics in the way that Analytics shows you sales and eCommerce data.

I have always loved Gumroad, and to top it all, Gumroad is totally FREE to use, and that combined with all the features and possibilities it offers makes it one of the best platforms to use for sales and course hosting.

Course example:

Price:

  • FREE, but transaction fee-based: 8.5% + $0.30 (USD) per sale
  • Premium, $10/month, but just 3.5% + $0.30 (USD) per sale

Pros:

  • FREE to use
  • Sales features
  • Integrations
  • Simplicity
  • Ease of use

Cons:

  • Course structure and consuming the content might not be the best experience
  • The transaction fee is a bit high
  • Limited customization and branding options (even with the Premium plan)

Related: Gumroad Review

Udemy

udemy

Udemy is a course marketplace and a platform to host your course on. Udemy is a bit special when it comes to course hosting. While you can host your course on Udemy, you can’t fully control the pricing of your course. 

Udemy offers a pricing matrix, from which you will select a price suitable for your course. The maximum that you can charge a course for is $199.99, and that is not a lot if you have a content worth of $1,997.

However, what Udemy enables you to do is sell your course with zero worries on taxation. Udemy is the seller of your course, and thus you don’t have to worry about sales taxes, refunds, customer support, chargebacks, and other billing headaches.

You also get the marketing power of Udemy and can reach a new audience quickly. Udemy is the biggest online course marketplace, and that means there’s plenty of eyeballs on their site every single day.

Udemy also has these Flash sales and other promotions now and then, and while you can’t control the pricing when these happen, you can expect to get sales as the courses are usually priced pretty low at these events. There can be discounts up to %75 off the base price you’ve set.

And I think this is the thing that might upset you as a course creator — having your course sold as cheap as $15, for example. That is not a real price for any course. A course should be priced at least around $100, and while we do have to remember that some information is easily found online, you as a course creator, have put in the effort when creating a course, and that has to have a price.

Udemy is superb for course creators that DO NOT want to handle complicated sales pages, marketing, and sales funnels, or website hosting and content creation on top of course creation. 

So if you are one of those that just want to put up a course for sale and educate people what you know and get paid to do that, then Udemy and Skillshare could be the thing for you.

Udemy made it to the list because of the ease of use and how easy it is to get paid from your course. Billing, taxes, platform, course page, audience, etc. are all right there and for you to tap into. There’s little to no barrier for entry, making the platform easy to jump in.

Price:

  • FREE for course creators

Pros:

  • Taxes are handled for you
  • You can focus on selling your course
  • Power of a course marketplace
  • Less marketing effort needed from your side

Cons:

  • Pricing of the course
  • Udemy controls pricing
  • Udemy is the brand, not you
  • You are one of many
  • You can’t build a strong brand within Udemy

Final Conclusion

There are plenty of opportunities for you to host your course on. Some platforms offer you all-in-one solutions, and others offer you easy setup and the handling of taxes.

Many other blog posts offer you plenty more options, and so I decided to include also those few other options here:

The reason why I didn’t yet create comprehensive analysis on all these other platforms is the fact that this list is meant to be the very best online course platforms and so this list only has a closer look at the ones chosen.

This list will more than likely be updated in the future, but for now, here are the best course platforms for different scenarios:

Quick final recommendations

For all-in-one solution: Kajabi

For strong sales and marketing features: ClickFunnels

For just course hosting: Teachable

For easy taxation: Gumroad and/or Patreon

For a ready-made course marketplace: Udemy

You can also check my resources page for the very latest recommendation when it comes to building your own online course business.

The Best Online Course Affiliate Programs For Making Money

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Affiliate marketing is one of the best ways to make money without actually owning or creating a product.

Affiliate marketing is all about selling products that someone else created. Whether it’s an online course, ebook, physical product, membership, or a subscription service, there’s an affiliate program for all of these options.

This post will cover some of the best affiliate programs found online regarding online courses. This post also discusses how you can make money being an affiliate marketer.

But before we go in-depth with the programs, there has to be a word of caution. 

While many affiliate marketers glorify the business model, we have to realize that making money online is not easy, no matter how you do it. I’ve been selling online courses, ebooks, and digital products in general for months already and have come to the conclusion that while it’s passive, it’s hard.

It’s hard to generate those sales, and while you can automate a lot, you still have to do a lot of work beforehand. And this work is something many are struggling with. 

While you are not selling your own product or service, you still have to do a lot of work before you actually make a sale. 

The thing you have to realize with affiliate marketing is that you are promoting other businesses, and this puts you at a disadvantage. You are not so much pushing your brand but other people’s brands.

One of the best ways to generate affiliate sales is to create a product or service review and have an affiliate link attached to the post. Another way is to create a resource page and add affiliate links to different products you are recommending.

While there are many other ways to make affiliate sales, it’s time we get into the programs and see what programs are out there when it comes to online courses.

Online course platforms

Online course platforms are platforms where you host your online course. While people might only see them as platforms to host your course, these platforms also offer you a robust way to earn that passive income in the form of affiliate marketing. 

If you are using an online course platform, it’s easy to write a review of it and promote it that way. You are, after all, using a service, and if the service has an affiliate program, it’s only beneficial for you to promote it.

That is if you are happy using their service?

All you need is to check whether the platform has an affiliate program or not. But without checking every platform, I’ve compiled some of the best course platforms out there, but also platforms that have an affiliate program.

Teachable

Teachable is one of the world’s best online course hosting platforms out there. Teachable has somewhat 18M+ students, 186K active courses, 68K course creators on their platform, and the instructors have earned roughly $338M+. These statistics tell the story of one thing. Teachable is pretty big and well used and liked. 

Looking at this from the affiliate marketers’ point of view, it’s easy to recommend such a platform, but as with everything, best recommendations come from experience. 

If you are using Teachable to host your online course, write a review of using it, or add it to your funnel even. Talk about how you were able to succeed with Teachable and how you create course sales in automation.

The more you can give those personal experiences using the service, the better.

Teachable has an excellent affiliate program, and they even claim it to be the best affiliate program in the industry. 

Teachables’ affiliate program

Commission: 30%/month

Cookie duration: 90-day

Payment method: PayPal

Kajabi

Kajabi is definitely one of the top three online course platforms available today. Kajabi offers so much more than Teachable, but it comes with a price tag. Kajabi can be considered an all-around solution for managing an online business. 

Though I would still say that having your own WordPress site and course platform separately is the best option, Kajabi comes close with its offering.

Kajabi has built-in funnels, email marketing, course hosting, membership plans, and community elements all built into one platform. Thinkific is probably one platform that comes close to Kajabi, but not close enough.

Kajabi might not be as popular as Teachable, but the statistics are still impressive. $1B worth of transactions processed, nine years in the business, 41M consumers served.

So we are not talking about a small player in the market here. Kajabi is used by top thought leaders such as Brendon Burchard, Amy Porterfield, and Billy Gene. So if you know who these are, then we can conclude that Kajabi is a platform worth considering.

While Teachable claimed to have the best affiliate program in the industry, Kajabi pretty much offers the same. However, Kajabi differs in the sense that you have to be a paying customer to Kajabi to promote them. 

What is an advantage, though, is the platform’s payout, which could go up to $1,000 even. If you get to the Platinum level in their affiliate program, you could be making an extra $1,000/month on top of the already earned commission.

Kajabis’ affiliate program

Commission: 30%/month

Cookie duration: 30 days but can potentially last 90 days (not confirmed)

Payment method: PayPal

Thinkific

As mentioned before, Thinkific is an excellent choice to host your online course. Thinkific offers almost all-in-one solution for online course businesses, just like Kajabi. The platform offers landing page developer, and you can also use your own domain name with them. 

The service looks professional, and creating a course is a pleasant experience. Having designed one course using their platform, I can say that I enjoyed the creation process a lot. 

I think the way the course is presented is absolutely fantastic and looks professional. You can use the platform with any device, and the course works wonderfully, even on mobile.

From affiliate marketers’ point of view, you can easily promote Thinkific, just because the platform is solid. Over $200M worth of courses have been sold through the platform, and there are over 16M students that have used their platform and counting. 

Thinkific offers an amazing option for affiliates. You can get an affiliate link through ShareASale, and when accepted, you are offered a few different link options. One is for FREE sign up, and the other is Pro+Growth bonus as FREE for one month.

Thinkifics’ affiliate program

Commission: 20%/month, extra bonuses offered and limited availability for 30% commissions

Cookie duration: 90-day

Payment method: PayPal

Become an affiliate for online courses

Promoting online course platforms is one thing, and promoting online courses is another. When you promote a platform, you are essentially promoting a big company that generates millions on a monthly basis.

The bigger the company, the bigger the brand and the lower brand devaluation coming your way. What do I mean here?

Promoting an online course is a bit different as you are promoting someone else’s business. You are promoting a brand that could be a bit closer to your own brand than you might realize. 

When you are promoting other peoples’ online courses, you are essentially saying that you don’t offer this or that service. You are raising the business you are promoting over your own business.

So you are, in a sense devaluating your own brand. This is a different case when you are promoting a significantly bigger business than yours. The viewpoint is different. 

However, there are always exceptions, and sometimes the service you are promoting only compliments your offering, making it the best possible scenario.

Let’s look at some online course programs that offer huge commission either in percentage or in monetary value.

Consulting Accelerator 2.0 by Sam Ovens

Sam Ovens Consulting Accelerator course is hands-down the world’s best course on how to become a highly-paid consultant in your niche.

I’ve taken this course, and it’s single-handedly one of the best online courses ever created.

It’s not just for people who want to become a consultant; it’s for people who own online business. While the focus is on becoming a consultant, the teachings can be applied to many areas in business and life.

I can’t say enough good things about this course other than if you have an online business, this course is fundamental for your success (if you are struggling that is).

It’s that good!

While I do have to admit Sam might not be for everyone, even though being an extremely nice guy, he might be a bit harsh. He is thinking against the mainstream (which is something I like a lot) after all, and that might not be for everyone. 

Some statistics from the Consulting.com business, which has the course I’m speaking of. 

  • 20,000 active students
  • $690M earned by students
  • 52 Millionaire students (this is some amazing stat right here)
  • 4.9/5 reviewed by more than 3,600 customers

As you can see from the statistics above, the business Sam has built is something to be admired. He is truly a visionary leader and teacher. And I’m eternally grateful to have gone through his course. Even though it cost around $2,000, it’s worth every penny.

If you are interested in the course, I can offer you a $500 discount on the price of the course. Here’s my affiliate link for you to enjoy the free 7-day trial AND unlock the $500 discount! You won’t be disappointed.

Consulting Accelerator offers one of the best affiliate programs out there and to say a bit more about it. Sam had to build it with a team to get it to work as he wanted. 

Commission: $500/sign up

You can’t go wrong promoting this program. There are just too many success stories supporting this program.

Knowledge Business Blueprint 2.0

While this might already read like everyone is doing 2.0 programs these days. That’s not the case here. It just happens to be named like that.

Knowledge Business Blueprint is one of those programs that can be extremely lucrative. However, a fair warning again is in place. While these programs can net you a lot of money, it’s not easy to make the sale with your cookie as the winning one. It only takes another affiliate link to override your link. So do remember that.

If you have the most sales and become no. 1, you will win a $100,000 cash prize, first-class ticket to Tony and Dean’s private resort in Fiji, where they will hold a mastermind for you. You will get even more, but that was just for starters and the main things you should get excited for. 

There are also prizes for the next 39 affiliates, so all in all, 40 of the best affiliates will get some reward for selling their course.

And we haven’t even talked about the commission price yet.

Commission: 45%, paid up to $898 on every sale.

The course roughly costs $1,997, so you will get a pretty big commission for selling their course. However, whenever you are selling such a highly prized course, there has to be pretty good trust between you and the customer, for you to get the sale.

2019 Jenna Kutcher hold the top spot, and reading between the lines, she made more than 1,000 sales, and if we assume, she got $898/sale. It would have netted her around $1M, including the 100,000 cash prize. So that is a pretty big commission for selling one course.

One Funnel Away Challenge by Russell Brunson, ClickFunnels

I took the One Funnel Away challenge with a friend of mine, and it was so much fun. I learned a lot, and I can only say that the course was a blast. People are taking the course repeatedly (it’s a limited-time course), just because it was so much fun, and it really makes you complete things. Now, the course is a one-time purchase, and I still have access to all of the content. So it’s nice to visit the material now and then. 

It doesn’t cost a lot, and at the time of writing, it was only $100, and you’ll be given the challenge to complete your very first funnel in only 30 days.

If you are new to funnels, a funnel is basically a system where leads are coming in from one end, and at the other end, you have a happy customer. It’s a system for nurturing a relationship and trust between you and the person entering your funnel.

But about the program itself. There’s a 40% commission, which would net you around $40/sign up. 

Now, while that is not something to drool over, here’s the fun part. ClickFunnels have developed a special cookie called a sticky cookie. This means that if someone purchases inside the 30-day challenge or at any other time, you will get the follow-up commissions too.

So, for example, if someone signs up for ClickFunnels and they still have your cookie active (even if they got in through the 30-day challenge), you will get the commission. So any future purchase they have will earn you a commission until another affiliate link is activated.

You could earn a lot of money by just getting people signed up to OFA through your affiliate link.

Commission: 40%, special sticky cookie available

So, while the initial earning could be only $40 or so, you can also promote other ClickFunnel products and earn big commissions through the other products, making the course a very lucrative affiliate program.

Related: One Funnel Away Challenge Review

“I am an independent ClickFunnels Affiliate, not an employee. I receive referral payments from ClickFunnels. The opinions expressed here are my own and are not official statements of ClickFunnels or its parent company, Etison LLC.”

Online course marketplaces

Now, we have covered online course hosting platforms, and some of the most lucrative online course programs out there. Now it’s time to check the course marketplaces.

Online course marketplaces are sites where they host a bunch of online courses. Some are higher priced than others. Udemy, though, has a cap on price, and currently, it’s $199. So no course can be sold beyond that price point, making the courses extremely affordable. 

Now, the best thing about promoting online course marketplaces is that they have an insanely wide variety of courses available, meaning that you can promote them to any person imaginable. 

These marketplaces have courses on web development, fitness, coding, marketing, business, art and creative, etc. So there’s something for everyone. 

When you are building your affiliate business or want to add an affiliate business model as a part of your business, adding a marketplace like Udemy or Skillshare to your recommended resources is not a bad idea.

Many course marketplaces have an affiliate program available, and why wouldn’t they. It’s only beneficial for them if you are promoting them. It is benefitting you and them when a person signs up with a marketplace you have recommended.

So next, we will dive into marketplaces that are good affiliates to join and earn from.

Udemy

udemy

As I previously mentioned, Udemy is one of those marketplaces that offer a wide variety of courses, and thus, you can promote the marketplace in/for a variety of niches.

Udemy has impressive statistics such as:

  • 40M students
  • 130K courses
  • 50K instructors
  • 245M course enrollments
  • 60+ languages

It can be said that Udemy has a lot of content and a lot of happy students. As an affiliate, it’s easy to promote such a big site as it has a lot of courses that are highly rated and liked by the students.

As far as the affiliate program goes, Udemy offers a 40% commission on each course sale and has a 7-day cookie duration. Meaning that if a person buys a course from Udemy through your affiliate link in 7-days, you will earn a 40% commission.

Commission: 40%, with a 7-day cookie duration

Now, as mentioned before, Udemy has placed a $199 price cap on courses, and that also limits your earnings to around $80/course at maximum. 

So what makes this affiliate program so good?

Selling a $199 course is not too hard as it’s definitely in the range of affordable. Premium-priced courses sell for $1,997 and so on. So we are at the very low end of the pricing spectrum.

One thing that does favor Udemy is that there are so many courses available. So you can pick a course that you like or have gone through and then promote that course with your affiliate link. Not much is needed from your part.

Skillshare

skillshare

Skillshare is another beast of a course marketplace with thousands of online courses on offer. However, this time, there is no commission percentage to gain or a course to promote per se. 

Skillshare is based on a monthly subscription, and thus, signing up to use the platform grants you access to yet again thousands of courses.

The monthly subscription price is super affordable, so getting people signed in shouldn’t be too much of a hassle.

So what is so good about Skillshare that it’s worth promoting?

The first thing is that Skillshare doesn’t cost too much, but here’s the kicker, you will be paid based on sign-ups EVEN if they sign up for a FREE account. So you are actually getting money just by getting people signed up, even if they don’t buy the subscription for themselves.

So what’s the catch here?

I guess it would be that Skillshare is confident that they can turn a FREE trial account into a paid one. They are so confident that they are paying you $7/sign up. 

Meaning that your job is to push the traffic and people to their door, and they will care for the rest. 

Commission: $7/sign up, no purchase required

I think Skillshare has a wonderful affiliate program, and while it might not be the most lucrative one, it’s still one that does not require purchase decisions from the customer, making it a very nice program all in all.

Pluralsight

pluralsight

Pluralsight is the third online course marketplace that has an excellent affiliate program, and what makes Pluralsight a bit different is that it’s focused on software development, coding, information, & cybersecurity. So if you or your audience are into that sort of thing, Pluralsight has some excellent affiliate commissions in store for you.

While Pluralsight might not be the most well-known marketplaces out there, it does have some reliable online courses and also a track record worth mentioning.

  • 1500+ expert authors
  • more than 17,700 business accounts and trusted by more than 70% of Fortune 500 companies
  • 1,400 employees

Pluralsight is a different course marketplace as it’s slightly more suited for organizations such as Adobe, Nasdaq, etc. However, the courses they offer are all created by experts in their field. So there’s no amateur stuff expected in their course catalog, which can’t be said about Udemy.

As for the affiliate commissions, with Pluralsight, you have some nice earning potential:

Commission:

  • $5/free trial sign up
  • 50% on monthly subscriptions
  • 15% on annual subscriptions
  • 10% on premium subscriptions
  • 10% on professional subscriptions

The income that could be generated from a monthly subscription is around $15. However, what should be noted here is that you get a $5/free trial sign up, which is already an awesome income just by getting someone through the doors.

Summary

There are a lot of opportunities out there when it comes to online courses and affiliate programs. 

Many individual course creators offer affiliate programs for promoting their courses, and while some creators can give you lucrative rewards and different bonuses for promoting them, the main struggle will be the traffic.

You have to have traffic to get those clicks with your affiliate link as the active one. Even if you get the traffic, it only takes another affiliate link to override yours, and you will lose the sale.

While affiliate programs can net you a nice monthly income, given that you have joined programs that are actually beneficial for you, you might not always get the winning click, or get the prospect to buy the course you are promoting from YOU. 

The expensive the course, the harder the sale. Luckily there are online course marketplaces like Udemy and Skillshare that offer you a way to sell courses in a slightly different way.

With Skillshare, for example, you are selling a free trial and not an actual course.

And in case you have created your own course, you can promote the platform you are using to sell your course. This way, you are promoting something that you are already using and why not even create your own affiliate program and let the customers promote your course instead of you promoting someone else’s course.

ConvertKit Pricing In Detail And My Honest Review

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If you are interested in ConvertKit pricing, and what it’s like to use the service. This review and pricing overview covers it all.

What is an email service provider?

An email service provider (ESP) is a service that sends emails instead of you sending those. ESP is a must-have service for online business owners of any size. It enables you to send broadcasts (emails in a mass), it allows you to do email sequencing and segment your email list among other things.

ConvertKit is one of many email service providers and not the cheapest nor the most expensive one. Somewhere in the middle, pretty much.

ConvertKit Pricing

ConvertKit is priced based on the number of subscribers you have. ConvertKit offers a single subscription plan that ranges from $29 to $3,999 per month, depending on the number of subscribers. If you have more than 5,000 subscribers, you can calculate the monthly price by entering the size of your email list.

convertkit_pricing_table_subscribers

ConvertKit pricing based on the number of subscribers:

Number of subscribersPrice
0-1,000$29/month
1,000-3,000$49/month
3,000-5,000$79/month
5,000-10,000$79-$119/month
10,000-50,000$119-$379/month
50,000-200,000$379-$1,279/month
200,000-500,000$1,279-$2,499/month
500,000-900,000$2,499-$3,999/month

ConvertKit is by no means free or cheap, but it is affordable and easy to use. There are free options out there like MailChimp, but at a certain subscriber threshold, you would have to start paying for the service anyway. 

If you have a massive email list that requires a migration, ConvertKit offers that service for free if your list is bigger than 5,000 subscribers.

Otherwise, all the features are the same for every level. So it doesn’t matter whether you pay for 5,000 or 1,000 subscribers, you get the same benefits anyway.

If you want to know more, how has it been using their service for a few years? Do read further.

My review after using ConvertKit for around two years

In this review, I will go through all the features you can find from ConvertKit and how I have used them throughout the years in my online business.

One side notice: “I recently deleted my whole email list as I needed to do a 180-degree turn in my business (proof of this in the review).” -Luckily this is easy to do inside ConvertKit.

Check the table of contents to see which areas are covered (pretty much every area really):

Table Of Contents

Let’s dive in and see how ConvertKit actually works and why it’s easy to use and why I like them.

Subscribers

Subscribers dashboard

When starting from zero, your screen might show something else than a graph. And it’s only because you don’t’ have those subscribers yet.

In the subscriber view, you can see the total amount of subscribers you have and how many new subscribers you’ve gathered along the road. You can change the date range to see how are you progressing with acquiring those subscribers.

You will also see your average email open rate, average click-through rate, and the number of emails you’ve sent.

You can also go check your subscribers’ status from the list.

You can check the following types of subscribers:

  • All subscribers
  • Confirmed subscribers
  • Unconfirmed subscribers
  • Canceled subscribers
  • Complained subscribers
  • Bounced subscribers
  • Cold subscribers (the best feature ever)

In the subscribers’ dashboard, you can see all the different segments, tags, and products you have created inside ConvertKit.

Tagging subscribers

Inside CK (ConvertKit), you can create different tags. Tags themselves don’t mean anything, it’s only when you use them, they will get a meaning.

For example, you could create a tag called “In A Sequence.” Whenever someone joins your email list, they get this tag added (later shown in the visual automation part), and with that tag, you can see where your email subscribers are going. You can also direct them to different email funnels with the tags.

Tags let you segment people and also control who gets what post. You can create as many tags as necessary, just remember that the more tags you have, the more complexity you add to your funnels and email sequencing.

What I like about tags is that you can create funnels that don’t irritate people. No one wants to get bombarded with emails. With tags, you can easily control the flow of emails and how and when people receive them.

Segmenting subscribers

You can create segments based on:

  • tags
  • distance from a city
  • within a country or region (useful for the GDPR)
  • subscription date
  • first name
  • email address
  • custom field
  • cold subscribers
  • forms
  • sequence
  • products

As you can see from the list above, the segmenting is very fine-tuned, and you can create extremely subtle segments and send emails to a particular segment of people.

Segments become super useful when you want to send a certain broadcast to a certain group of people. Let’s say you have an email funnel where you offer a discount at the end of the email funnel. It’s not suitable to send a discount code to someone who purchased a product from you in the middle of the funnel only to get a discount email the next day.

You can create that kind of funnel with tags, but you can also use segments to do the same.

Product and service integration

CK lists some integrations on their platform, but it doesn’t mean that there wouldn’t be other integration available.

From the list above, I’ve used Gumroad integration and have seen it working extremely good.

Even though your course platform or service you are using isn’t listed. Services and platforms can still have the integrations made to CK. Thinkific, for example, has an option to integrate CK into its platform.

With a successful integration, you can get product data (I assume this feature works with integrations listed in CK) to your CK account through the integration.

Many services and tools offer integrations with CK, and that is one thing to keep in mind when choosing an ESP for your business.

Integrations are handy and sometimes even essential when you are building a funnel that works fully automated. With segments, tagging, and service integrations, you can make sure that the right emails are sent to the right people at the right time.

If you make a sale in Thinkific, for example, you want to make sure that the customer won’t receive a discount code the same day. But you also want to make sure there’s some sort of welcoming message that fire up after a sale happens. Or you can send a product feedback email a few days later to get insight into what the customer liked or didn’t like about the product.

All of the above can be made automatically with a well-developed email funnel.

Deleting cold subscribers

This is probably one of the best features of CK. You can actually delete subscribers that never open your emails (meaning that they are not interested in your services). This way, you won’t be paying extra for cold subscribers.

It’s more than likely that people sign up to your email list only later to find out that they don’t need your services or help anymore. It’s useful to have this kind of feature available where you can then delete the subscribers that don’t even open your emails.

Automations

Visual automations

Automations are essentially funnels. Except when we are talking about emails, we are talking about email funnels, which are slightly different from a pure product-based funnel.

Form and tagging

From the above image, we can see that the prospect signs up to a form, in this example, it’s a newsletter form (placed on a website). After the person has signed up for a newsletter, I put a tag called ‘In A Sequence’ to him/her. This will make sure that I won’t send too many emails to that person.

Email sequence

When the tag is active, an email sequence is activated. You can create automations to be as complex and sophisticated as you want or have a simple funnel like the image above.

The email funnel works in a very systematic way and will proceed based on the settings you’ve made inside the email sequence (later in this post).

Delay and removing the tag

In the funnel shown here, I’ve set a one day delay before I remove the tag from the subscriber. This way, I make sure that if I sent a broadcast, it wouldn’t be sent just when the email sequence has ended. So there’s some delay before the person gets another email from me.

The example above is the simplest form of automation you can actually have. As mentioned before, you can create as sophisticated and complex email funnels as you want. Just make sure it won’t go too complex.

Rules

Rules are somewhat of an old way of doing automation in CK. At some point, ConvertKit suggested that people would use automations as they are generally a bit easier to handle and maintain, and they are.

I’ve still made few rules for a few simple email sequences. I will probably transfer the rules to automations for better maintenance.

RSS Feed

If you would like to send an email whenever you publish a blog post, you can do that, and in an automated way.

Landing pages and forms

The Dashboard

CK offers you a good selection of forms and landing pages to choose from. In all honesty, I don’t use the forms or the landing page templates. I create my own using WordPress and Elementor Pro.

All pre-made templates and such can be useful for the ones who are not familiar with page builders.

I, however, like to brand my forms and landing pages as much as possible. I can also attach HTML-code and other excellent features to my landing pages to track visitors in high-detail.

While CK and other ESPs offer you these templates, my recommendation is to integrate the service with a world-class builder like Elementor Pro and brand your pages to your liking.

If you still want to use the pre-made templates, you can create different variations of them from the landing page and form tab. 

When you have created the form of your choosing, you can go and insert that form to your website in five different ways:

  • Javascript (I used to use this)
  • HTML
  • Share
  • WordPress (a shortcode, but you would need to install a CK plugin)
  • Unbounce

I used the Javascript (it works as HTML) and pasted the code to my site before I moved to use the Elementor Pro and CK integration.

How to create forms and how they work

The next example is how I use the forms.

You start the form creation by clicking the ‘New Form’ button. I select Form-> Inline -> “the most basic one”:

Instead of customizing the form in CK, I go to my website and create a form in Elementor Pro. Then I just connect the two together via CK and Elementor Pro integration. And the form looks like this:

Instead of this (CK form):

Above, you can see that with little effort, you can create something totally cool and unique that shows your brand the way you want it.

Integrating forms to your WordPress site

So how do you integrate the two together? How do you achieve these results?

Next, I will walk you through how to create these results. First, you need Elementor Pro (you can check my resources page for a link if interested).

With WordPress and Elementor Pro installed and active. You need to go to Elementor->Settings->Integrations:

Scroll down and apply the API key, which you can get from the CK settings area (Account info). Save settings, and that’s it.

If you have created the form already in CK, you can go and create a new form in Elementor Pro.

You need to select Actions after submit and select ConvertKit from the list.

Next, you will select the correct form (the one you just created) and point the fields. That’s all. Now you have a form that looks like yours, and that is integrated with CK.

If you want to embed a simple form straight from CK to WordPress, you can do that in the Widget area the easiest.

Select custom HTML and copy and paste the Javascript to this field. That will then display your CK form on your website, assuming that you use widgets and have WordPress.

Sequences

Creating an email sequence

Email sequence allows you to send email after email (indefinitely if you’ve done that kind of sequence). 

An email sequence is one of those things email marketers know well. They know that once someone signs up to their service, they drive them to this email funnel, which is basically a funnel where the company sends you emails in a row and calculates that around 2% will buy the product at some point in the funnel.

ESP, like ConvertKit, is a marketing tool and also a service that enables you to contact your audience more effectively. 

It would be a pain in the butt to send a new welcoming email every time someone signs up to your newsletter. So that’s the reason there are tools like CK, that offers email sequences so you can welcome your subscriber to your world.

Email sequences are powerful as they guide the subscriber to any direction you want. You can pitch them your services, you can help them by giving them valuable downloads, or you can ask feedback and so much more.

To create an effective sequence, you must understand what did they sign up for. What was the reason you got their email address, and what did you promise to give them in exchange for that email address?

Many internet marketers offer some kind “free” downloadable pdf-file or such. These are called lead-magnets and while I won’t go into detail what they are, they are one way to get that email address.

An email sequence is a series of emails send with pre-made rules. You can create these rules inside the sequence:

Inside the settings, you can influence who gets an email and who doesn’t, and you can do this by using tags, segments, or other rules. 

What sequences can do is that they irritate the subscriber. This happens when too many emails are sent and/or a wrong person is inside your email funnel. 

If your site is about horses and you start to send emails about butterflies, it could be that you will soon have more unsubscribers than subscribers. So you have to be very clear what kind of email sequence you are creating and for WHO.

Sequence settings and reports

Inside the sequence settings, you can change when the email is sent, what email template to use, and who shouldn’t get those emails.

A rough sequence would be that current customers won’t get your discount emails on the same product they already purchased. But remember that you can always create extremely subtle and sophisticated sequences as you like.

For example, in automations, you can direct customers and non-customers to different paths and send them completely different emails. One would get feedback, thank you, or upsell emails, while the other would get cross-sell, offers, or downsell emails.

From the reports view, you can see how your email sequence is performing. 

From the reports, you can see what emails get opened and at what point subscribers tend to lose interest. Make your headlines striking and try to keep your audience engaged. If subscribers don’t open your emails, it’s pretty useless to keep them in your list, but what it also tells is that your approach is not working.

Different features in the email editor

To be completely honest, I can’t understand why it’s so hard to create an email editor that would actually work, and that would keep different styling and other header settings in place and working.

Creating emails with CK is not the best experience. I would have to say that this is the area where they lack a lot. I’ve seen the editor just flipping when I’ve tried to do some styling, changing the font color, or adding a header. 

Currently, I don’t like the editor, and it would be nice if CK could put an emphasis on the editor. It should be the #1 thing, after all, sending emails that look good and are a pleasure to read.

Personalization

One thing I do like about the email editor is that you can personalize emails. This means that you can use subscribers’ first name automatically if he/she provided a name, that is. 

For example:

“Hello {{ subscriber.first_name }},

{% else %}

Hello,

{% endif %}”

This means that Hello Juha, or Hello, will be presented if a person gave the first name or not.

Email editor has basic functions for headers, paragraphs, indents, images, attachments, etc. The usual, really.

Broadcasts

Broadcasts are the one thing you need an email service provider. Try imagining you sending 700 emails, one by one. That would be the reality if you wouldn’t have a service to do that for you.

Broadcasts are what the name says, an option to send an email to your whole list, or to some segment of your list. Broadcasts are meant to be used when you want to inform your subscribers something. You either have a discount coming up, or you have released a new blog post or something. 

When you have a big email list, something like 10,000 subscribers, it’s an awesome feeling when you can reach 10,000 people at once by sending one email through your ESP.

How to create broadcasts

You can create broadcasts by clicking broadcasts and defining to whom you want to send your email to. As you can see from the screenshot, I’ve sent a broadcast to my previous list (I deleted my email list as I had a change of plans in my business).

And from the broadcast you can see, how many got the message, what was the open rate, and how many clicked-through and of course which one you pissed off and made unsubscribe. Or they could have felt that they don’t need your help anymore.

When creating a broadcast, you can define who sends the broadcast (you can have multiple email addresses assigned to CK) and to whom it will be.

Broadcasts have the new email editor, which you can’t see in the sequence emails yet (more than likely coming soon). With the new editor, you can create a bit more, yet, I’m not sure whether I like it or not. It does have a bit more features but still a bit clunky -maybe I’ll get used to it?

You can also do A/B testing with the headlines. Headlines are, after all, the first thing a reader notices. Creating attention-grabbing headline is important, and with A/B testing, you can test which headline received more opens. 

Strategy tip

Let’s say you have an email list of 10,000 people. You might send the broadcast to 1,000 first and do A/B testing and then use the best performing headline and send a new email (with the best performing headline) to the rest 9,000 people. This way, you will increase the open rate and reach more people.

When you are building a funnel, it might be useful to do A/B testing inside the email sequence. After a test period, you would leave the best performing headlines intact and maybe do a second round of experimenting with a new headline. Testing brings the best results.

Settings

Account settings

From the account settings you can access: 

  • Your personal information
  • The API key
  • Affiliate link
  • GDPR compliance setting
  • Email settings
  • Default time to send emails
  • Your address (shown in every email)
  • Custom domains
  • Billing
  • Billing history
  • Team and team members

I wouldn’t say that there’s anything special here, so I’ll just leave it at that. 

Email Templates

Email templates enable you to create different looking emails for different occasions. If you manage multiple different sites and brands from one CK account, it will make sense to brand your emails with each site. 

The default template is the one that has a green mark on it.

By leaving the account default as the one you use in your broadcasts, email sequences, and such, it will be that one that is used.

A final note

I’ve liked ConvertKit from the very beginning when I started to use an email service provider. I remember the moments when I had trouble with the service, and I posted on some Facebook group something about ConvertKit; Nathan Barry (the founder of ConvertKit) stepped up and helped me with my issue and concerns. 

I would say that those little things here and there really make a difference. And to be honest, I have always liked it when the CEO is a part of the company and actually helps us out. It feels like the business matters to him and that he is willing to put his energy and time to the business.

It’s easy to outsource many things in your business, but when the top management is aiding you, you feel like things are how they should be.

I like the simplicity that ConvertKit is offering, I think the automations work nicely (though they could be better, for example, where is a resend when someone hasn’t opened an email?). You can accomplish a lot with those, and managing email sequences right through automations is also a nice touch.

ConvertKit has served me well, but if you would like to know my current recommendation for an email service provider, do check my resources page and see what ESP I currently use is.

Conversion Rate Optimization

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conversion_rate_optimization_ver_2

Website visitors, email subscribers, lead magnets, ads, sales pages, landing pages, etc. They all have more than likely a hidden agenda of converting a person to a customer. 

A person is a prospect or a person (we are people after all and not some numbers) before that person decides to buy something. After which that person becomes a customer to your business.

What we shouldn’t forget at any point is that a person has feelings and emotions, and we should respect every single person landing on our pages. So even though this article is a lot about optimizing your online business to convert people to customers. We shouldn’t forget there’s another person on the other side, making decisions based on your information.

This article will cover the following areas of conversion rate optimization:

  1. What is conversion
  2. What is a conversion rate
  3. What is conversion rate optimization
  4. Why conversion rate optimization is important
  5. How to do conversion rate optimization
  6. Identifying a good conversion rate
    1. Email marketing
    2. Ecommerce
    3. Facebook ads
    4. Landing pages
  7. How do you optimize conversion rate for your website
  8. Services, tools, and resources

1. What is conversion

A conversion is an event (in eCommerce) where a prospect is converted from a visitor to a customer. That’s a conversion in short.

A conversion has a lot of things involved though, and maybe the most significant elements are that the person you are selling your services to has to like, know and trust you. 

And these three things might not necessarily happen right away when a person lands to your page. So what can you do to make that person convert to a customer? That’s where conversion rate optimization comes in.

Conversion examples

Micro-conversions:

  • Adding a product to a cart
  • Subscribing to an email list
  • Signing up to a (free) service
  • Starts to follow you on social media

Basically, a small commitment to use your services. Not monetary.

Macro-conversions

  • Subscribing to a paid service
  • Purchasing your product or service

The person trusts you enough to be able to exchange money for your products and services.

2. What is a conversion rate

Conversion rate is a numerical representation of a person converting to a user of your product or service. The conversion rate in eCommerce (products and services sold online) would be the number of new customers gained divided by the number of visitors.

The conversion rate for email list would be a person converting to an email subscriber. So it would be calculated as new email subscribers divided by the visitors to your landing page (a blog post, for example).

Example:

You get 1000 visitors to your landing page that is a blog post of cute kittens. You also have a subscribe to my email list opt-in box in the page. Out of all those 1000 visitors, 20 people decide to opt-in to subscribe to your email list. 

The conversion rate would be 20/1000 = 2%.

Example 2:

1000 visitors visit your sales page, where you sell a digital product for $37. Out of those 1000 visitors, 10 buys the digital product. In this example, you would net $370 and had a conversion rate of 1%. 

10 purchased your offer/1000 visitors visiting your sales page = 1% conversion rate.

A user can only convert once. So even if the customer would buy two to three items from you. It would still be counted as one. Conversion is always a single transformation. Person trusting you or not trusting you.

The trust factor varies, and more trust is needed for larger purchases. 

This is the reason why there are these lead magnets all over the web.

Building trust is not easy, so these macro-commitments are sometimes needed to get that purchase to happen.

3. What is conversion rate optimization

Conversion rate optimization (CRO) is a systematic process of optimizing the event of turning a person to a person who signs up to use your services.

We can do conversion rate optimization to all aspects of our business. So it’s not always about optimizing for sale to happen. You can be optimizing email open rates, email list sign-ups, webinar sign-ups, sales page structure, copy in your sales page, ads, engagement, etc.

So conversion rate optimization is not just about getting customers but more of making the journey to turn your website visitor to a person who can trust you.

This aspect is often forgotten when everyone is so busy optimizing the Facebook ad numbers, launching new ad campaigns in the hope of getting better numerical results.

When the focus should be on the user experience and optimizing that. So that the person visiting your site can see you as trustworthy for the money (read as ‘trust’) you are asking for.

In summary, we are optimizing for trust.

CRO marketing

CRO marketing is a way of doing conversion rate optimization with the help of a service. When we talk about CRO marketing, we are talking about a service which provides conversion rate optimization.

4. The reason why conversion rate optimization is important.

The reason why CRO is important is that it gives you more results/output with the same initial input/volume or state you were in.

You get more out of your visitors by not changing the volume of your visitors. In eCommerce, this is crucial to realize. You could be spending $1,000 on ads and get x results. By Doubling the ad spend to $2,000, you would get 2x results. However, with conversion rate optimization. The idea is to get 2x results with the same $1,000 ad spend as you had before.

So when you do CRO the right way, you are getting better output/results with the same or less input.

This will decrease your need for bigger ad spend, or need for website visitors. You would get more email sign-ups with the same amount of visitors you had before.

What conversion rate optimization does?

It lowers the costs and inputs you need for your business to get the same results as before. Or get better results with the same input you had before. 1,000 website visitors converting for the email newsletter at 1% and after CRO, you would hypothetically get 2% conversion rate. 

This would double your results and get you twice as many email subscribers with the same website traffic you had before. That is optimizing the email sign-ups.

5. How to do conversion rate optimization

You first have to understand the current situation you have in your business. What is the conversion rate that you currently have? If you don’t know these values, you can’t do optimization because you don’t the values to compare your results to.

Beginner level example

I will use email sign-up as an example.

You get 1,000 visitors to your website every month. Out of those visitors, 1% is opting into your email newsletter. So you are getting 10 email subscribers every month.

Now the first thing to do in this scenario would be to focus on what you are offering. If you are offering a plain sign-up for a newsletter. Then your content (blog posts) would have to be pretty outstanding for the person to want notifications to their email about the new content you have on your site.

So for us to increase those sign-ups, we could offer something more than just a reminder and a notification. We could offer them a downloadable guide (a.k.a lead magnet). Something to entice the visitor to like you. 

You give them something extremely valuable, and in exchange, they give you their email address. Now, this is pretty much the most basic thing to know about email sign-up CRO.

Advanced level example

To give you more of an advanced example for those who would like to push CRO to another level.

In eCommerce, the main thing is to get those sales. So let’s do some CRO for that.

The first thing (and this is for the advanced ones out there) is to remove ALL distractions that you have on your sales page. The header should be removed, and the footer should only include the necessary disclaimer, ToS, privacy policy, and those kinds of things.

Next, you have to realize that only ONE CTA should be present on your site. The customer does not know how to use your site, so guide the user as clearly as possible.

Also, make sure to speak about benefits and not about the features of your product and services. Features and the price is given at the end of the sales page. You have to build that like, know, and trust effect before a sale happens.

These are some of the ways you can increase conversions on your sales page.

CRO done the right way

Everything about CRO is about making more with less. Focus on the user experience and the results the user is looking for from your product, service, or content. 

Conversion happens when a small amount of trust is built, and a sale occurs when enough amount of trust is built.

Don’t try to push the user to do the things you want them to do. Make it an optional and friendly event. 

Being too pushy does not make things better.

6. So what is a good conversion rate

A good conversion rate is industry dependable, but I’ve tried my best to gather a few of the industry averages on different topics. You can view the sources at the end of the article.

If we agree that everything above average is good. Then if you can achieve better conversions that of which are the industry standard, we can assume you are doing a good job. Right?!

Email marketing

In email marketing, conversion rates are measured in email open rates, email click-through rates, and getting customers to buy your product through an email campaign.

The average open rate for all industries analyzed by MailChimp is 20.81%, and the average click-through rate for all industries was 2.43%. And for the purchase rate, a rough 2% conversion rate was studied.

So we have average values for:

Email open rate: 20.81%

Email click-through rate: 2.43%

From email to purchase rate: 2%

So we if you get better open and click-through rates than the values mentioned above. You are doing a good job. However, you can always be better with your email campaigns and optimize your copy to get better open and purchase rates.

eCommerce

In eCommerce, the conversion rate is more or less always about the sale. Getting the visitor to make a purchase in your landing page. Right there and then.

As eCommerce is varied and a lot of things play a part in making the sale. Such as season (winter, summer), region, marketing channel (Facebook, Google, etc.), website traffic, content, etc. 

The CR value hovers between 1-3%. Moz study reporting a 1.6% average conversion rate for eCommerce.

There have been reports that for example, Black Friday has a higher CR percentage than on holidays. Adobe saw that with their sales, having 5.5% CR in Balck Friday and 3.2% on holidays.

Google has showcased an average 3.48% conversion rate from PPC traffic. So it fluctuates a bit, but it’s safe to say that if you have a conversion rate of 5% for cold traffic. Then it’s pretty darn good sales page you have there.

Facebook ads conversion rate

In the case of Facebook ads, the conversion rate is about the action taken by the user towards your offering. Offer can be a post, lead magnet, like, share, purchase, something that makes the user do something with your ad.

The average conversion rate for Facebook ads across industries, according to WordStream, is 9.21%.

Meaning that for every 1000 impressions, 9.21% will give an action towards your ad. As said before, an action/conversion could be a share, like, pageview, email sign-up, etc.

Something that converts the user from a static position to take action. But with Facebook ads, you have the Facebook ad manager to do the calculation for you (in some regards) to easily track the results you get from your ads. 

You set different goals for your ads and track the conversions based on the goal you have assigned for you ad.

Landing pages

A landing page is a page a visitor lands. So it can be a sales page, thank you page, homepage, blog post.

The purpose of a landing page yet again differs a lot, but in eCommerce, it’s usually one of these: sales page, blog post, opt-in page (having a lead magnet). These three forms of landing pages are the ones most used.

Page offering a free opt-in, in exchange for an email address.

Across industries:

Average (high-end) conversion rate: 18.28%

Median conversion rate: 3.96%

So fo you to get an opt-in rate of 19% is already a good situation. Then again, that is the average across different industries. 

Summary for good conversion rate

All data combined and all things combined. It’s safe to say that having over 20% conversion on stuff you try to achieve, is already a very good CR. What we have to remember is that while it’s always fun (at least to me) to play with numbers and try out different strategies. In the end, we are selling to other human beings. 

We are not selling to a number. We are selling to a person. When we remember that we can get those conversions up and perform better.

7. How do you optimize conversion rate for your website

First, we have to understand the goal we have within the page. Do we want a new email subscriber, do we want a customer or something else.

So the goal determines the way you optimize your website. A general rule for optimization is having a goal, a value to measure against the goal to and to know who is visiting your site. When you know these three things, we are already on the safe side.

Let’s say our goal is to get them to sign-up to a free webinar. What elements in your site is pointing towards that webinar registration? Do you have pop-ups in use, do you have a top bar showing the webinar registration on every page a user visits. Do you have a footer that reminds them of the webinar? 

So as you can see, when you have a specific goal that you want to achieve. You need to make sure, you clear all distractions from your site and point the user to the webinar. Making the webinar sign-up the most important thing to do on your website.

When you optimize your website, you optimize it for a specific goal. When you keep your goal in mind all the time, you will see what things are distracting or better said what things are taking the attention away from the goal.

By placing CTA (call-to-action) elements across your site (but not in an intrusive way) that all points to the one thing you want your user to do. You are doing things effectively and in an optimized way.

Guide the user, and do not assume the user knows how to use your site or what the user should use your site for.

Clear copy (message), clear site design, one CTA, and a feeling of safety are things to keep in mind. You want your visitor to feel comfortable using your site. It should be easy to use, easy to navigate, and easy to understand.

These are some of the things to keep in mind when optimizing your website for your visitor.

8. Services, tools, and resources for CRO

When doing optimization, you can always think about your competitors. What do they do right, and how do you feel using their services and products. What would you change, what would you do differently, how would you speak.

Competitors are your greatest allies when it comes to CRO. What has worked for them could work for you. Just remember to change it to your voice and to your design. Make it feel yours and not a copycat version.

No one likes copycats, and we all see them when we encounter them. Be sure to be yourself.

Hotjar

Hotjar is a superb service on tracking your website visitors so you can see what things they click, how they move in the site, where do they stop, etc.

So it’s really a service to see how well, your CTA is performing and how the user ended up that CTA.

Google Analytics

How could we forget the big G and it’s superb analytics tool. Google analytics offers you a wide variety of data concerning your website. From user demographics to traffic sources, to smart goals. 

The tool is a must-have for every serious online business owner, and luckily it’s free to use. You only need to connect the Google Analytics to your website with an HTML tag (which is easy and instructions to do that can be found online -quickly).

With Google Analytics, the most important thing to analyze is the bounce rate and average time spent on site. If you can keep your visitors on your site longer, it means you are providing value to your visitors. And the user is enjoying her/his stay.

So look where the user is coming from, the traffic source and study the behavior that takes place on your site. A lot of information can be tracked through Google Analytics. So make sure you have it.

Blogs

As for the resources, it’s always useful to read blogs from services that offer conversion tools (Optinmonster, for example). While they could be a bit biased towards their offerings, but if you can get past that. You might find valuable advice from the blog posts they create.

YouTube is also a fantastic place to find ideas for CRO. While I still believe blog posts are the most effective way of getting reliable and thorough information. YouTube videos can offer you that inspiration and ideas, while not maybe effective solutions.

A final note

All things considered. We are in online business, and in online business, we have to value the customer journey. Instead, of forcing a purchase, we should optimize the path to the purchase, and that is the core of conversion rate optimization.

We optimize the user to convert, and when we can convert more for less. Then we are doing optimization. Fewer visitors, less ad money is needed to achieve the same results.

For you to get 1% to 2% is an achievement that shouldn’t be taken lightly. You have doubled the conversions, and you are getting twice the results you were getting before. 

So celebrate every 0.5% increase you get to your conversions. Usually, these kind of percentages are massive improvements in your sales funnel (if you use one, which you likely do use). Keep optimizing the things that worked before and see how much you can squeeze out of your site. 

Conversion is always a single transformation. A person can become a customer only once. Even if the person buys your products and services multiple times in a year.

With subscription services, it’s the same thing. Except if the customer decides to unsubscribe from your service, then the person is a one that can convert again. Reconversion optimization strategy, anyone?

Sources

https://marketinginsidergroup.com/content-marketing/email-marketing-conversion-rate-comparison/
https://mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks/
https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/
https://www.remarkety.com/ecommerce-email-marketing-benchmarks-2016
https://econsultancy.com/what-good-ecommerce-conversion-rate-average/
https://news.adobe.com/press-release/marketing-cloud/media-alert-adobe-data-shows-black-friday-breaks-online-sales-record-3
https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/02/28/facebook-advertising-benchmarks
https://www.smartinsights.com/lead-generation/lead-generation-analytics/average-landing-page-conversion-rates-for-lead-generation/

Email Open Rates

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Here’s a discovery on email open rates, click-through rates and getting that online course sale with email marketing. While email marketing is seen something of a holy grail, we can say that it lacks some serious selling power. Check the infographic below and determine yourself if email marketing is a viable option for you or is there another way, a better way to generate those sales. More efficient way.

 

Email open rates

 

Average email open rate:

20% across industries

Average email click-through rate:

2.5% across industries

Average email to purchase rate:

2.0% across industries

 

References:

https://mailchimp.com/resources/email-marketing-benchmarks/

https://www.remarkety.com/ecommerce-email-marketing-benchmarks-2016

https://www.campaignmonitor.com/resources/guides/email-marketing-benchmarks/

 

Conversion Rates – 3 Insights On Sales Funnels

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Here’s a compilation of conversion rate studies and observations throughout multiple media and company sites. To give you a rough idea of how online course funnel works.

 

Conversion Rates Infograph

 

Here’s a short breakdown on conversion rates:

The conversion rate for a landing page:

Page offering a free opt-in, in exchange for an email address.

Industry (compiled):

Average (high-end): 18.28%

Median: 3.96%

Optimized/potential funnel: 70%

https://www.conversionbenchmarkreport.com/

https://www.smartinsights.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/Average-lead-generation-rates-by-industry-2017.png

https://www.crazyegg.com/blog/what-is-good-conversion-rate/

http://www.createyourlaptoplife.com/2016/11/23/anatomy-unicorn-sales-funnel/

 

The conversion rate for a tripwire / SLO (Self-Liquidating-Offer) / BEO (Break-Even-Offer)

The main goal is not to make money but to cover the Ad expenses. A small value offer in the range of $7-47

Average: 3%

Reported values: 10%, 1-5%, 3%

Optimized/potential funnel: 24%

https://www.authorityhacker.com/tripwire-case-study/

https://www.clickfunnels.com/blog/sales-funnels-the-ultimate-guide/

https://www.clickfunnels.com/blog/find-leak-sales-funnel/

http://www.createyourlaptoplife.com/2016/11/23/anatomy-unicorn-sales-funnel/

 

The conversion rate for an OTO (One-Time-Offer)

Your main online course offer a.k.a core offer with a discounted price. Usually in the range of $57-X97 (e.g. $297)

Average 5%

Reported: 10%, 2-10%

Optimized/potential sales funnel: 10%

https://crazyeyemarketing.com/blog/case-study-our-free-shipping-book-sales-funnel-launch/

https://www.clickfunnels.com/blog/find-leak-sales-funnel/

 

Average leaky sales funnel:

With $17 tripwire and $297 online course offer: $1,741

Optimized potential sales funnel:

With $17 tripwire and $297 online course offer: $78,456