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- Information Marketing Explained
- Do You Need a Funnel Builder?
- Why Build an eBook Funnel?
- A Good Conversion Ratge for an eBook Funnel
- What’s Your Upsell?
- The 7-Step Bare-Bones eBook Funnel Strategy
- Simple 7-step eBook Funnel Worksheet
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Authors, professional speakers, course creators, and advisors need to spend a lot of time engaging with their audience. Building an eBook funnel can help you establish yourself as an expert, build a following, create reciprocity, and scale your business faster. Of course, there’s the thing called writing the eBook, but it should not be all about breaking your neck or burning the night oil all night. There are plenty of ways of putting together an eBook in just a couple of hours, in fact. In this post, we will cover the process of building the funnel, but you can check out our previous posts for inspiration.
Information Marketing Explained
eBook funnels are a great way of starting your information marketing journey. If you are planning on launching a course or a YouTube channel, you can build a highly engaged list of prospects who are going to be engaging with your content. You can also use this type of lead generation method to sell your professional services.
The information marketing industry was valued at $34.61 in 2019, and it has doubled twice over since. So, it’s a good time to invest in creating digital products and content that you can sell, use for lead generation, and reuse in different formats.
Information marketing helps you take care of building your brand awareness, your reputation, and your following at the same time. It usually requires more time investment than financial commitment.
Do You Need a Funnel Builder Such as ClickFunnels to Create an eBook Funnel?
The simple answer is no. While most of the funnel builders, including ClickFunnels have templates that can be implemented to create an eBook funnel, you can build it from scratch.
We generally build them from scratch, as it saves clients a lot of time and money long term. The funnel pages (including download and Thank You pages) are hosted on their own platform. With ActiveCampaign automation, the results can be easily measured.
In fact, there are some great WordPress plugins that will help you create a stunning funnel that can generate leads for years to come.
Why Build an eBook Funnel
There are many benefits of building an eBook fuWhat Is an eBook Funnel
An eBook funnel is a lead generation system that takes care of getting people interested in your services and what you have to teach them. It can help you improve your brand reputation, put you on the map as an expert, and help you build an email list. So, it is a part of the content marketing family, and it is used by many professionals, such as public speakers, coaches, and consultants.
An eBook funnel generally has a free download page (lead magnet page), an email marketing sequence, and a “Thank You” page. This page can be used to create a direct upsell, to introduce yourself to your prospects, or to offer bonuses. You can also use the “Thank You” page to promote a complimentary product or service as an affiliate and earn commissions. Just by adding an upsell to the page, you can potentially multiply your revenue per signup.
nnel, no matter if you are just starting up with your business, or would like to scale your professional practice. It is a great investment that gives you a lot more return than most marketing methods you have used so far.
Here are some of the main benefits of having an eBook published and marketed using automation.
- Leveraging what you know helps you “multiply” yourself to reach more people. It’s something you could never do by having just one-to-one conversations.
- You can create a qualified list of buyers, if you sell the eBook for a nominal price, or offer the print version for the cost of shipping. (this is an advanced method I have seen many successful entrepreneurs use, including Anik Singal).
- You will not have to follow up manually with every person who purchased your book. The funnel will take care of most of the automation.
- You can streamline your business. You can actually replace a full time salesperson by getting an eBook funnel set up.
- Depending on your upsell, you can achieve much higher profits than providing one-to-one coaching or webinars. You will no longer have to exchange your time for money.
Of course, the above is not a comprehensive list of the benefits. We hope you will discover more once you have your marketing automation and lead generation system set up.
What Is a Good Conversion Rate of an eBook Funnel?
It is hard to say what your target conversion rate should be. It depends on the content, how relevant it is to your audience, and whether or not you charge on the front end (for the eBook). If you are not charging for the eBook, you might see conversion rates as high as 30 percent. However, this should not hold you back from putting a price tag on an info-packed product. After all, people who pay more pay more attention!
The back end (upsell) conversions – obviously – will be lower. Anything between 10-20 percent is good, but it depends on different factors, such as:
- How relevant the offer is to the content of the eBook
- How well the sales page is written
- The design of the “Upsell Thank You Page”
- Your market and audience.
So, let’s do the maths together!
500 visitors to an eBook funnel at 30% conversion rate will get you:
- 150 leads if you are not charging for the eBook
- 150 “buyer leads” and £450-£1500 of revenue if you are charging £3-10 per eBook
On the upsell, you will get:
- 15 -30 buyers (new customers)
- 15-30 times the amount you charge for the upsell product.
Let’s say your conversion is 10 percent and your offer price is £150. That’s an additional £1,500 in the bank.
Of course, this calculation is based on the first sale. You might be selling a membership option, which means that you will have to take the average lifetime value of the customer into account. Additionally, in the email follow-up sequence you might sell a high-ticket offer, and this will further increase your revenue per lead.
What Is Your Upsell?
We talked about “upsell” in the previous section. Let’s look at what it is and how it can help you maximise your revenue.
If your prospect feels like they got a great value for free or a low cost, you have already built reciprocity. That’s the time when you should get them to check out your other offers, because they are already in the “buying mode”. There’s no point waiting for days or weeks after the download to make an offer to them. They might have already forgotten about you by then.
Different Types of Upsells To Offer in an eBook Funnel:
One-time offers are the most popular offers digital marketers and content creators use. It is presented to the prospect straight after they sign up to your list. It can be anything; from a membership, a lifetime access to a software, or a discounted package (i.e. 10 coaching sessions for the price of 7).
You might also offer complimentary services after selling or giving away your eBook. For example, you might offer a worksheet or a workshop to help people make the most out of the eBook content. Or you can offer a strategy call based on the eBook.
Of course, the next logical step could be a course that is based on the book. However, it takes a while to create. So, even if you don’t have it ready yet, you can get people to sign up for a waiting list to get a preferential price. This is a method Jeff Walker teaches; you generate the interest before you would create the course.
Before building an eBook funnel, you will need to decide on the channel, the target audience, and the upsell. Then, you can get on with creating it using the 7 bare-bones eBook funnel strategy.
The 7-Step Bare-Bones eBook Funnel Strategy
Now that you have your book idea, the upsell, and worked out the pricing, it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty of creating a marketing automation plan that will get you a high return on investment. Follow the steps below, and don’t forget that you can always get in touch if you get stuck with technology or strategy.
1. Do Your Audience Research
The first thing you will need to do is get to know your audience. Any type of research can be done cheaply and fast using social media polls or quiz funnels. But it’s important that you know which questions to ask.
If you are doing the research for writing the book, you will have to identify the most urgent problems your audience is facing.
When conducting audience research for the upsell product, you will need to know more about the buying triggers of buyers; what motivates them to pay for the solution? (hint: it’s either to save time, save money, gain something, or avoid pain).
2. Pick the Type of Funnel You Would Like To Build
We have mentioned different types of funnels above, and you will have to pick the one you would like to build. The simpler the initial system is the faster you can execute it and the quicker you will get results. Don’t worry about having an all singing all dancing funnel; you can build on it later.
You can choose a funnel just for lead generation, course sales, retargeting, or one-to-one client acquisition. You can read more about these types of funnels in a previous blog post.
3. Determine the Outcomes
When we design any type of funnel, we always start with the end result in mind. That means that we determine the ideal outcomes (goals) and work our way backward. You should do the same.
You might want to set a goal for new subscribers, conversions, revenue, profits, or all of the above. Use the calculator above to work out what to expect and how much traffic you will have to generate.
We usually take the income goal, work out the average customer value, and determine the amount of traffic we need to send to the landing page to create a profitable campaign. If you need any help, please do let us know.
4. Build Up Excitement
One of the most common mistakes people make is that they start to launch an eBook without anyone knowing about it. You don’t have to create a full-on launch party; you just have to make your audience anticipate the launch of the eBook and the upsell.
You don’t have to spend a fortune on promotion, either. You can simply talk about it on your social media or YouTube channel to create a buzz. If you really have a lot of time, you could go on podcasts as a guest, or send a review copy to some influencers who can create a buzz on your behalf.
5. Communicate Your Value
The most important question your prospects are going to ask you is: “What’s in it for me and why should I care?” That means that you have to keep on communicating your value so you answer this question 24 hours a day.
Create videos about the eBook, mention it on your blog and social media, and focus on the most urgent problems your prospects are looking to solve, highlighting the solutions your book offers.
6. Make Them an Offer they Can’t Refuse
Creating an irresistible offer is an art. You have to step in your prospects’ shoes and understand what “makes them tick”. Like the Godfather, you will have to make them an offer they cannot refuse.
Simply put in a mathematical equation:
Perceived Value > What prospects give in exchange
7. Stay In Touch
You can’t expect prospects to buy from you the first time they come across your offer. Even though upsells work, some people might be hesitant to make a decision on the spot. They are people (like me) who leave things in their shopping cart and “sleep on it”. They will need a bit more education and convincing, and that’s why you’ll need to stay in touch.
The difference between a campaign with and without a follow-up sequence can be huge; often 300+ percent in revenue. So don’t leave money on the table by not following up with your prospects.
Now you have one of our most valuable blueprints! Use it wisely!
Simple eBook Funnel Framework Worksheet – Free Download
To help you plan your eBook marketing we have created an easy-to-use cheat sheet. You can download it here and work your way through the steps. Good luck!
Download Our eBook Funnel Building Cheat Sheet for Free!
Are you thinking about getting an eBook funnel set up this year? Let’s schedule a free consultation so we can point you in the right direction and give you some useful tips!
Resources:
https://www.writtenwordmedia.com/how-to-make-an-ebook-marketing-funnel-for-authors/
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