Meaning… are you hitting publish on your funnels and letting them run their own show without a second thought?

If so, you likely aren’t getting the best results out of the sales funnel you worked so hard to get off the ground. Any time you launch a new sales funnel, application funnel, and especially an evergreen funnel, it’s crucial to keep your finger on the pulse until you have it dialed in.

• Walt Disney didn’t land a deal on his first pitch.

• Dr. Seuss had his first book rejected 27 times.

• Stephen King’s novel Carrie wasn’t accepted by a publisher right away… the first 30 actually said no. 

• Carrie Washington, the queen that she is, was only ever cast on two pilots and subsequently fired from starring in the shows once they were picked up prior to Scandal (that she snagged a Golden Globe for, and rightfully so.)

You’ve heard this song and dance before, we know, but you probably haven’t applied the same principle to your business's funnels. The point is, that most people don’t secure an award-winning anything on their first shot. Your funnel probably isn’t bringing in knock-out conversion rates in its first orbit around the internet either.

So how can you apply that same principle of trying again and growing to your funnels?

Easy(ish)!

You review the funnel, analyze your numbers and feedback, and use that information to hone your strategy, offer, and marketing into a kick-ass, screams-to-the-soul, problem-solving, money-making, machine of a funnel.

In less hype energy jargon, you don’t have to rebuild it all from scratch, but you do need to step back and objectively review what you’ve done to see where you can improve.

And if you’re sitting here thinking “my launch went well, nothing needs to change” well then…

Just because your initial launch was a success does not mean your funnel can’t improve.

A more honed, more finessed funnel means more students you can help, and more profit in your pocket.

Does it take time? Absolutely! Bringing any style of funnel to its absolute best is a long game and it’s not something you should try to accomplish in a matter of days. It’s a strategy you should be building into your business meaning you have to make a plan to make it happen. Luckily, we’ve done this a time or two so we’ll make it easy on you and give you somewhere to start (and we’re kinda nice like that, duh.)

1. Plan out a few days to review how your funnel is performing. Remember this isn’t a full rebuild, more like a wellness check for your funnel. For evergreen sales funnels or lead funnels, we would recommend doing this once a quarter. If you’re live launching, you should be doing a post-launch review in the weeks after the launch, keep that data, and complete this process after you get some feedback from your current students. This timeline will vary depending on what type of product or service you’re offering and how long it takes to complete.

2. Start with reviewing your statistics. You’ll want to know your conversion rate but also where people are dropping out of your funnel the most often. If you need help figuring that out, we have a pretty cool calculator for just a few dollars right here, just plug and play! Other numbers you should be looking for include email open and click rates, unique page views AKA how much traffic is getting to your page, checkout page views if you’re using one, and any other data pertaining to your funnel or launch. If you’re using a challenge, workshop, webinar, etc. as a sales mechanism don’t forget to get that data too! 

3. Review your customer feedback and your ideal client avatar. Look for any common feedback you’ve received that you may be able to use to improve sales page headlines and copy, email subject lines, marketing content, your offer, etc. 

4. With all the information you now have at your disposal, it’s time to ask the hard questions and look at your funnel and marketing content with a fresh perspective. Check out our blog post on how we analyze, audit, and edit funnels for some examples of questions we ask during a funnel renovation.

5. Make the changes from a place of information and always remember, everything is a test! This is not the time to rip yourself or your team to shreds because you now have the clarity you wish you had while dealing with the immense pressure of building, launching, and crossing fingers and toes that it would work and resonate. Write down exactly what changes you’re making, you’ll need this later! Finally… breathe.

6. Compare and contrast, just like in those dreaded English class assignments. What did you change last quarter or last launch? What changes are you seeing in your funnel this time around? Did those changes have a positive impact? Possibly a negative impact? By continuing the process, making the changes, and looking back, you’ll find the sweet spot of funnel bliss.

One important thing we haven’t mentioned here is that there will always be changes in the market, changes in the world, and changes in the season. All of these can, and usually will impact your business in some way. The system is not foolproof and certainly isn’t life-proof, but it will give you a solid foundation and system to continually know what’s happening in your funnel and build upon that to improve season after season.

So, can we agree hitting and quitting isn’t really the best funnel growth strategy?