How to Build an Evergreen Sales Funnel (so you can sell your online course on autopilot)
My online course business primarily runs an autopilot. Around once per year, I do a live launch like a virtual summit with a webinar, but for most of the other months, my sales are driven by my evergreen sales funnels.
I absolutely love evergreen sales funnels because they allow me to focus on what I do best which is serving my students and creating content.
I will walk you through EXACTLY how to set up an evergreen sales funnel in your own online course business so you can sell your online course on autopilot every single day.
What’s an Evergreen Sales Funnel?
It’s simply a sales funnel that runs in the background of your business on autopilot.
When a visitor comes to your website or the landing page for one of your lead magnets and signs up, you add them to your email list, and then they are added to your email nurture sequence which promotes your online course.
Most successful evergreen sales funnels also have paid ads running in the background to keep their offer at the top of their prospect’s mind, answer objections, and encourage purchase.
With an evergreen sales funnel in your business, you don’t have to constantly do a live launch like a webinar or a 5-day challenge where you’re stressed and exhausted from all the work involved.
Basically, it’s just an automated system using your website or a landing page builder like LeadPages and your email service provider to sell your online course.
I’ll let you in on a secret…evergreen sales funnels are super easy to set up especially if you’re just taking your content from your live launch where you had success in selling your online course and converting this content into an evergreen sales funnel.
Your sales funnel does the selling of your online course for you…no need to have a live launch with four live webinars or a challenge that goes on for 5 long days.
Have I convinced you yet?
How to Build an Evergreen Sales Funnel
In my online course business, I have evergreen sales funnels set up for all my online courses (all five of them)!
Here’s what you need for your evergreen sales funnels:
Lead magnet that’s worthy of a Facebook ad
High converting landing page for your Facebook ad worthy lead magnet
Email nurture sequence that takes your prospect through the buyer’s journey
Sales page that erases objections and closes the sale
Traffic source which continues to “fill up” your evergreen sales funnel
Lead Magnet That’s Worthy of a Facebook Ad
I don’t want you to create just any lead magnet for your evergreen sales funnel. I want you to create a lead magnet that’s worthy of a Facebook ad.
There’s a difference between a low value lead magnet and one that delivers true value to the end user.
Consider this…how many lead magnets have you signed up for in the past and didn’t even download them?
I’m also a big fan of lead magnets that require the end user to invest their most valuable asset - their time.
When someone is willing to invest time that means that they are truly interested in what you have to offer and are willing to commit to solve their problem.
These are what I call future students. They are NOT freebie seekers. They are action takers.
Freebie seekers are people who are just looking for free stuff. They aren’t the ones who’ll buy your future course.
If you want to stay away from freebie seekers, consider a lead magnet that’s much more than a simple cheat sheet or checklist. Or you can include a video training to go along with your cheat sheet or checklist. Examples include:
Quiz
Ultimate guides with video
Email course with video or audio training
5-day email challenge or video series
Mini-workshop series
Mini course
Spreadsheets/calculators with video training
Toolkits with training videos
Swipe Files with training videos
Templates with video training
Planners with video training
Audio Training
For evergreen sales funnels, for higher priced courses, I’m a big fan of using webinars to instantly build that know, like, and trust factor.
If you’re still stuck, go through these steps:
FIRST…research your industry/competitors. What are they using? (HINT: you aren’t going to copy but use this for inspiration and guidance).
Then, look at examples outside of your industry.
Pay attention to Facebook and Instagram ads. What are others using for lead magnets to grow their email list?
Sign up for email lists. What does their lead magnet look like?
Then ask yourself:
What are the top questions you’re asked by your ideal customer?
What are your ideal customer’s biggest pain points (their migraine)? What do they want to accomplish? How can you help them get there?
What content could you provide that would knock their socks off? (and they would say, I can’t believe this is FREE stuff!)
Now that you have your lead magnet that’s worthy of a Facebook ad, let’s move onto creating your landing page.
High Converting Landing Page for your Facebook Ad Worthy Lead Magnet
This is the website (aka landing page) that your prospects will to go to sign up for your lead magnet.
I highly recommend that you use a landing page builder for your lead magnet. These pages have been proven to convert and the last thing you want to happen is to spend money and time driving traffic to your landing page and have people leave without signing up.
There are many different landing page builders in the market including Leadpages, Instapage, Unbounce, and Get Response. In addition, most email service providers like ConvertKit have built in landing pages that you can use.
Some online course platforms are all-in-one platforms like Kajabi. This means that you can host your online course and website on Kajabi. It also handles email, landing pages for your online course sales funnels, and payment for your online course.
A few things to remember with your landing page.
Your call to action should be in first person. For example, sign me up, I want this, or send to me now!
Don’t forget to include a link (at the bottom) to your privacy policy on your landing page.
Only ask for information that you need like their email address and first name. You don’t need their last name, telephone number or anything else for your email list.
Here’s an example of a landing page that was created using the page builder in Kajabi for a 5-day challenge.
After someone registers for your lead magnet you will direct them to your thank you page. This is a simple page that says thank you for signing up and to go check their email for their free gift.
Later, you can transform this simple thank you page into a tripwire digital offer to turn your subscribers into instant customers.
In some of my evergreen sales funnels where the lead magnet is a recorded webinar training, on the thank you page, I have the recorded webinar at the top of the sales page.
An Email Nurture Sequence That Takes Your Prospect Through the Buyer’s Journey
Once your new subscriber is on your email list, the first email you send them will contain their free gift. Then, you’ll begin your email nurture and sales sequence. This is also known as a welcome sequence, but the goal is simple. You want to start building the know, like and trust factor with your new email subscriber and take them on the buyer’s journey.
You will set this up in your email system, so the emails are sent automatically allowing you to scale.
Sales ads (aka retargeting ads) should also be done during this stage to promote the sales process.
With your sales ads, you are encouraging your prospects to view the sales page, highlight your testimonials, and answer any objections they may have about purchasing your online course.
These ads are only shown to those who have signed up for your webinar or have visited your sales page within a certain time period (e.g. 10 days) and haven’t purchased.
A Sales Page That Erases Objections and Closes the Sale
Unlike your landing page for your lead magnet, which is designed to get signups, your sales page is designed to convince your perfect student to buy your online course.
This will take extra convincing and sales copy that speaks the language of your ideal student so that when they read your sales page they’re thinking….”oh yes, this sounds exactly like me!”
You’ll need to include testimonials to convey social proof and benefit driven copy.
Here are the elements of a high converting sales page:
Countdown Clock
Include your countdown clock in the header of your sales page to create urgency and let them know when the cart is closing.
An Attention Getting Headline
After your countdown clock, at the top of your sales page, include your perfect attention getting headline and hook.
Talk to Their Pain Points
Be sure in your copy that you are speaking to your ideal customer’s pain point, fears, frustrations and desires.
For instance, let’s say that you are selling a course on how to monetize your blog. Your focus on the sales page will talk about how their life is today (no money even though they are working hard to create their blog posts) and how it can transform after they start making money from their blog.
Where will you get the inspiration for the copy on your sales page ---- by talking to your ideal customer!
In this example, it is bloggers who want to monetize their blog! Ask them about their pain points and how they will feel after their blog is creating the kind of income they deserve.
Instructor’s Bio and Qualifications
Your students want to know relate to you and know that you are qualified to teach them the information. If you have any press or accolades, use them here to establish your credibility.
Showcase Your Testimonials
Social proof is key in giving your online course credibility.
When you can show that your students achieve the results you promise, others are more likely to buy. Videos are great for showcasing testimonials and 90% of consumers admit their buying decisions are influenced by online customer reviews.
Describe Your Course Content
In this section, you will talk about the modules and what’s included so that your students understand what they will learn and accomplish. Videos are also great to showcase what’s included in your course content.
After your course content, you can place additional testimonials (if you have them) or start showcasing your bonus material.
Example of bonus material may include a private Facebook group for your paid customers, templates or additional how-to training material.
Your Call-to-Action (CTA)
In this section, you will link to your payment plans. Have a clear CTA that is worded in the first person. e.g. I’m ready to enroll now!
Research has shown that wording your CTA button in the first person increased click-through rates by 90%.
For most courses, it is recommended that you provide two payment options. 1) paid in full option usually at a discount and 2) payment plan option which is a little higher than the paid in full option.
An example may be a paid in full price of $997 or a payment plan of $197 for six months.
Highlight Your Satisfaction Guarantee
This demonstrates your commitment to their success and how much you believe they will achieve the results you promise.
Include a Chat Bot
Be sure you have a way for customers to contact you if they have questions. Buying decision are often emotional.
A chat bot software allows you to instantly communicate with the customer when they are ready to click the enroll now button. If this is not an option for you, you can add a frequently asked questions section with a CTA for them to email or DM you if they have any questions.
Use High Quality Images
Throughout your sales page, use high quality images.
Even with a digital product like an online course, customers like to see what they are buying. It’s important to provide a mock up of your online course displaying the branding.
Traffic Source Which Continues to “Fill Up” your Evergreen Sales Funnel
The secret to making your evergreen sales funnel work is that you need traffic (aka people) going through your funnel.
Think about it this way.
In evergreen sales funnels, you need volume…Not everyone who signs up for your lead magnet or attends your challenge or watches your webinar will buy.
In fact, only a small number of people will BUY even with the best marketing. Typical funnel conversion rates run from 1-5%.
Which means for every 100 people that go through your funnel only a handful will buy. When you do the math here, around 1-5 people out of every hundred when you’re talking about a cold audience which is people who don’t know you.
Here are some ways to find your perfect students and to “fill up” your funnel. One strategy is free PR such as being a guest on someone’s podcast.
Another traffic source is content marketing and SEO. This includes blogging and driving traffic to your website through Google and Pinterest. In fact, the majority of my website traffic comes from Pinterest.
You can also use affiliate marketing to find your perfect students which is one of my favorite ways especially if you’re just starting out and you don’t have a large email list.
For instance, you find someone who has an audience like yours and allow them to promote you and your lead magnet (e.g. a recorded webinar). For students who purchase through this promotion, you pay them a percentage of the sale, usually around 40% of your course revenue.
Facebook + Instagram Ads for Evergreen Sales Funnels
Like a live launch, an evergreen ad campaign is a series of ads that takes your prospect on a buyer’s journey. In fact, the ad campaigns for a live launch are similar to what you would run in an evergreen sales funnel.
When your perfect student just finds out about you, most of the time, they aren’t ready to pull out their credit card and buy right then.
However, with the right marketing, they will be ready to buy soon, and Facebook and Instagram ads are one of the best ways to help them get from the awareness stage all the way to the decision stage where they’re ready to purchase your online course.
Let’s assume that your evergreen sales funnel has a webinar that pitches your online course.
Your evergreen ad strategy would look like this:
The first ad campaign is focused on getting registrations for your webinar. Then you will point them to your sales page which has your recorded webinar. See below for an example.
After they register for your webinar, you will start your retargeting emails and your sales ads (also known as retargeting ads). These retargeting ads will improve your email open rates and your sales page views.
These ads are only shown to warm audiences; in this case, people who’ve signed up for the webinar.
There are several different options for your sales ads. You can…
Point them back to watch the replay
Showcase your customer testimonials, case studies w/ link to sales page
Answer objections in a video ad w/ link to sales page
And 3 days before cart closes – cart is closing soon! w/ link to sales page
Have questions about setting up an evergreen sales funnel to sell your online course or membership on autopilot? DM me on Instagram @destinicopp.
Pin this and save for later
