Discover which is best for your business: A website or a funnel?
There are so many websites on the internet today. However, only a fraction are alive and converting leads into customers.
Websites are fast becoming a thing of the past regarding conversion. Although, it still cannot be ruled out completely. A funnel and a website complement each other. You can utilize both platforms for your business for high conversion.
A website is best for branding. On the other hand, if you are heavy on conversions and generating sales, a sales funnel is your guy.
Let’s get started.
Table of Contents
Key Takeaways
- Every kind of business can use sales funnels to improve sales.
- Optimizing your sales funnels can help you attract new prospects automatically.
- Websites carry too much information that can lure customers away so, most people opt for sales funnels.
- Using both websites and sales funnels together can produce high conversion rates.
- A website is mainly for product information, while a sales funnel helps to convert visitors to customers.
Difference Between a Website and a Sales Funnel
Before you decide if a website or a funnel is best for your business, let us dissect the difference between both platforms. Most people think a website and a sales funnel are the same, but they are not.
They both have their different purposes for businesses. A website is a collection of web pages and digital content accessible only through your domain name and available on a server.
A sales funnel is a marketing model that illustrates the process of a customer’s journey toward the purchase of a product.
Websites carry too much information that can take the attention of the viewer from your product. It overwhelms visitors with choices, and there is no clear path or direction.
Sales funnels on the other hand are direct and straight to the point. There is only one path that leads visitors from the awareness stage to the action stage where they finally purchase your product. This is the reason it brings more conversions than websites.
When you talk about the perfect platform for conversion, sales funnels was built to convert. With websites, there is only a single one-time interaction involved. On the other hand, sales funnels foster relationships over time.
You can incorporate components such as one-click upsells or downsells in your sales funnel. This naturally increases the cart value. Websites do not have this option.
Unlike websites, sales funnels are of different types, and each type is structured to achieve different goals.
Sales funnels drive results, which makes them vital in businesses. They help you generate leads, increase conversions, and make sales.
Website Vs Sales Funnel: How Do They Compare?
When comparing sales funnels to websites, funnels win because they generate far more revenue than websites. Let us compare them based on the parameters below.
Cost
A website’s cost is usually an initial cost for development and design. Then ongoing payment for maintenance and hosting. You can as well reduce costs by taking advantage of hosting sales and discounts.
But sales funnels usually has a recurring monthly subscription plan due to its reliability on dedicated sales funnels software like ClickFunnels. The cost of setting up a sales funnel may vary depending on the type of funnel builder software you choose to use.
The cost for creating a website is relatively cheaper than building a sales funnel.
Conversion Rate
Websites rely on organic traffic, thereby attracting a broad range of audience. This can lead to low conversion rates. Unlike websites, sales funnels are specifically designed to lead visitors through a particular process until conversion.
This is simply to say that sales funnels are built with the goal on conversion in mind.
Other reasons why websites have lower conversions are they have slow loading speed, too many offers and click buttons in one place, and generic texts that do not speak to specific customers.
Then, the reasons sales funnel can have a much higher conversion rate is because they have faster loading speed, have one offer, button, and direction, which makes it easier for visitors to navigate easily until they get to the point of purchase.
Ease of Use
Sales funnels are relatively easy to use. Most dedicated sales funnels websites like ClickFunnels have user-friendly interfaces, and easy drag and drop templates that you can edit and use.
Most of these software also have automation capabilities which can automate email sequences and marketing options based on user behaviour. This makes the process even easier.
A website’s ease of use can vary on its design, complexity and the user’s technical ability. Websites with a simple layout are relatively easy to navigate.
However, those that are built with confusing navigation options are difficult to use.
Pros of Using a Website
- It gives you brand strength and solidity online.
- A wide audience reach.
- Easy access to business information by anyone at anytime.
- Data analytics
- Your website attracts traffic organically
Pros of Using a Funnel
- High customer retention rates
- Easy to encourage impulse buying
- Direct customer interaction
- It allows for automation of repetitive tasks
- Effective tracking of marketing and sales performance
- Provides a structured approach to nurturing leads
- Sales funnels are fast to build
Cons of Using a Website
- Websites aren’t free.
- Risk of crashes and uptime
- Difficulty reaching the right people
- Time-consuming
- They produce low conversion rates
- Complex to build
- Lack of direct interaction with customers
Cons of Using a Funnel
- It is not free.
- Requires upfront strategizing
- Needs constant monitoring as buyers’ behaviour evolves
A Website Vs Funnel: When to Choose Them
Knowing the distinct purpose of both platforms and when to use them is key to driving sales and recording high conversion rates.
If you want to establish an online presence, provide extensive information about your brand, attract new clients, build trust and generally increase your reach, you should use a website.
On the other hand, if your goal is to optimize potential customers’ journey from awareness of your product or service through their purchase of the product or service, thereby improving conversion rates, then, a sales funnel is your best option.
Website Case Study: How Altius’ Technical Services Improved Sales
Altius’ website was running a paid search program, however, the conversion rate was not as high as they expected. They then went on the quest to create a new mobile-friendly website that would increase user engagement and conversion.
They designed the new website to project Altrius’ expertise more. It was optimized using SEO and was more user-friendly than the former.
Within 90 days of the launch of the new website, Altrius recorded a 212% increase in overall website generated revenue, 450% increase in PPC driven transactions, and 300% increase in organic driven transactions.
Funnel Case Study: How Netflix’s Free Trial Strategy Turned Visitors into Customers
This is a 7-stage lead magnet sales funnel that attracts visitors with a 30-day free trial offer. This strategy helps new users to experience the platform even before they commit to subscribing.
As of this year, Netflix has over 282 million subscribers from all over the world. Ever wondered how it gets so much traffic? It leverages social media to drive huge traffic to its sales funnels.
Netflix’s sales funnel was built on personalization of content. Customers remained hooked because the algorithm kept providing personal recommendations after studying customers’ preferences based on their watch history and activities generally.
Also, the call to action button on their website leads customers through a step by step journey of purchasing a subscription.
BONUS: How to Build High-Converting Websites or Funnels
No matter your niche, you can build high-converting websites or funnels for your business. Here is how you can achieve that.
Draft A Customer Journey Map
First thing to do when creating a funnel is to define your target audience. You want to study how visitors behave on your website as well as their preferences. This will help you tailor your marketing strategies and craft your customer journey map accordingly.
A customer journey map usually includes the pathways customers go through, their activities on these pathways, how a website makes them feel, challenges they encounter and possible solutions.
Create Customer-centric Content
Using content like sales videos, ecommerce case studies, and product reviews can boost customers’ interest in your products.
The content should address the needs of your target audience and how you can meet them. You can use a great ad-free video hosting tool like Adilo to host your videos.
Adilo also allows you to add opt-in forms to your video to collect quality leads from your funnels. So, instead of using different software for hosting your sales videos and creating opt-in forms, you can use Adilo, which offers all these all in one platform.
You can sign up here and start hosting your videos for free with no ad interruptions.
Set Conversion Goals
Setting conversion goals help you to determine the pathways you want your site visitors to go through and how to help them get there.
Having clear goals will guide you in creating a high converting funnel for your website. You can implement tactics and incentives that will prompt people to take action such as moving from prospects to customers by making a purchase.
You also need to be able to monitor where customers are getting stuck or losing interest.
Find Leaks in Your Funnels
Funnel leaks simply means the places your visitors fall through in the course of their visits. It is certain that not all visitors will convert. However, it is important that you cover as many loopholes as you can cover so that you have a very small number not converting.
You can use tools like Google Analytics to find these leaks and patch them. To get a clearer picture, you can send such visitors an email survey asking to know why they didn’t complete their purchase.
Monitor Your Performance
Knowing how your visitors are interacting with the funnels in your website is important. Monitoring user behaviour on your website helps you know the strategy that is working, and the one that isn’t working.
You can monitor your sales funnels with metrics such as traffic, conversions, and cart abandonment. Google Analytics is the perfect tool to help you check these metrics.
FAQs
What does a website or a funnel do for your business?
A funnel guides your leads until the point where they can make a purchase. A website on the other hand provides a place to answer questions for potential customers who want to know more about your product.
Should I use a website or a funnel?
A funnel and a website compliment each other. Your business will thrive better when you use them together and not as singular entities.
Can I have multiple sales funnels on my website?
You can create multiple sales funnels on one website to target different customer segments.
Final Verdict: A Website Or A Funnel?
Websites and funnels serve different purposes for your business. They are both important, and combining them will help you get the most out of paid and organic traffic.
Websites serve as your digital storefront, while sales funnels are tools designed to guide potential customers through a structured journey to conversion.
If you already have a website, it is advisable to incorporate a sales funnel to increase your conversion rate. So, when next you are faced with the question, should you build a website or a funnel for your new product, you know what to answer.
Priscilla Aguonye is a Customer Support staff and SEO Writer at Adilo. She dedicates most of her time carrying out research to ensure innovative and accurate content. When Priscilla is not writing or helping customers out, she is karaoking.
