Clickfunnels Review 2019 – Is It The Best Funnel Builder Today?

Marketing funnels (also known as sales funnels) are the topic of the town lately.

You can hardly find articles on internet marketing without the mention of ‘funnels’. Creating marketing funnels (or funnel hacking as it is called), is one of the most talked about subjects in the marketing world.

What Does ClickFunnels Do?

It is a unique tool which simplifies the task of building professional grade sales funnels.

For many marketers, it has become their go-to tool.

Today, we will explore ClickFunnels in detail. What it does, how it works, its strengths and weaknesses, and how it fares with the competition.

If you’re interesting in learning more about funnels, how you can build one, and whether or not ClickFunnels is the right product for you, read on.

Let’s throw some light on the basics first.

What Is a Marketing Funnel?

Definition: A marketing funnel is a guided path in which prospects move sequentially in your sales process. It takes visitors from their first engagement with your brand (also known as cold prospects), through a series of steps with the intention of one or more conversions. The goal of these steps should be to give real value and building a good relationship.

A conversion can be any of these — from opting-in to an email list, or downloading a doc file, to attending a webinar, or making a purchase.

A funnel will usually encourage several different conversions along the way.

A funnel will often incorporate branches — upsells, downsells, and one-time offers knows as OTOs. The end goal will be to maximize the profit from each visitor.

Customers may be offered different things at different points, depending on their progress along the funnel.

Funnels can be simple, or quite complex at times. At the end of the day, they are all about one thing — getting the visitor to convert into a paying customer.

Now you know why they are so popular!

Why Funnels Work?

Marketing/Sales funnels guide visitors through a process that would start with a very low commitment (such as downloading a free report), and then gradually ‘warms them up’ and exposes them to pricier upsells as they get to know your brand better, and start trusting you.

Imagine walking up to a total stranger (who has never heard of you) in the street, and asking them outright for a large order.

It’s just not going to happen, is it…

The Secret Funnel Formula

However, if you first of all offer them something of value — usually as a freebie, it’s more likely they’ll love it.

As a matter of fact, if you offer your ideal customer something of value for free, there’s a good chance they will respond.

And they will have you in mind. Because you’ve helped them.

They have now entered your funnel…

Now you have demonstrated your worth to them, and have built some rapport, you can start offering them some opportunities to buy.

You might want to start with a lower priced offer, to get some commitment from them — to get them to buy into you — before you proceed to offer them something higher priced.

If that is too much for them, you might then offer them a cheaper option (also known as a downsell).

But if they do buy, you might then go on to offer them a more expensive, premium product at a higher price (upsell).

Those are the basics of a sales funnel.

The Value Ladder

You start with a micro commitment (such as giving their email address to receive a free product), demonstrate your value, and then as their trust in you grows you take them up an ascending value ladder.

This method of doing business is not only extremely profitable, it’s also very ethical.

It is the antidote to many of the ills that afflict digital marketing.

If you do this successfully, you won’t just make more money, you’ll create a business that you feel good about, and that your customers love.

In fact, we’d say it is essential that you adopt these principles if you want your business to thrive.

if you don’t, your competition will.

What Is ClickFunnels?

ClickFunnels is a tool designed to help people implement sales funnels in their business.

A typical funnel might incorporate one or more opt-in/squeeze pages, an email autoresponder (to send a sequence of emails that move them up your value ladder), plus one or more sales pages, members area, order forms, additional content etc.

In the past, this would require you to have a website, hosting, an autoresponder service, landing page software, split-testing software, membership site software, and probably a host of designers and programmers to cobble the whole lot together and that would be a mess because of complications.

Click Funnels lets you do all of that under one roof.

This not only saves you a lot of money in buying all those different products and services, it also save you the technical headache of trying to make a lot of disparate tools work together.

With ClickFunnels, you don’t even need a website anymore…

People spend time creating and perfecting their web pages without thinking much about how they’ll acquire customers.

The funnel is the backbone of your online marketing efforts.

We’re not suggesting that you should ditch your website altogether, as Russell Brunson and the guys at Click Funnels suggest, but it’s definitely worth focusing on your funnels above everything else.

CF will let you build all your squeeze pages, sales pages, email sequences, membership areas, online training courses etc, and link them together to build your funnel — all in one, easy to use beginner-friendly tool.

Sounds good? Let’s see how it’s like in practice.

Getting Started With Click Funnels

ClickFunnels has a free 14 day trial that will let you explore the product at your own pace, and you can try all its features to see if it’s suitable for you.

The signup process for the free trial was a bit clunky for me — you have to enter your card details when you signup for the trial (your card is not charged until you complete the trial — you can cancel any time).

However, the on-boarding process is pretty slick.

Many people don’t bother to watch the tutorials when they get a new product, preferring to dive in and figure it out themselves.

However, by doing that you’re actually wasting a lot of time, and it takes you way longer to get up and running with the product.

ClickFunnels combats this by offering you a bribe in a free “#FunnelHacker” t-shirt, and a ready-made email funnel, if you just watch the introductory tutorial video.

(ClickFunnels users go absolutely crazy for these t-shirts. They are incredibly passionate about the product, and the Click Funnels user community is SO enthusiastic it’s almost like a cult!)

We loved the training, everything is explained very clearly and quickly.

Just 4 videos, a few minutes each, and they are well-worth watching (even if you don’t want the shirt!).

Building Your First Funnel

Log into your ClickFunnels account – once you’ve gone through the introductory videos, just follow the steps they showed you in building your first funnel.

Kick things off by choosing the type of funnel you want to build:

For this case study, we’ll build a simple squeeze/opt-in funnel with the objective of ‘Collect Emails’.

You would give the funnel a name, and then create your email squeeze page, and a thank you page, either from scratch, or using one of their ready-made templates, that would make for a good starting point.

For this exercise, we chose to use one of their templates and modify it, rather than starting from scratch. There are a ton of free templates available to choose from or you can also get paid ones from the clickfunnels marketplace. It has some decent community created plug and play templates.

In real life, you would want to create one from scratch, but actually why bother? If they are good enough for Russell Brunson to use, they are probably good enough for you!

After choosing a template, we replaced the sales copy with our own wording, added the images, and that was it.

From beginning till the end, this hardly took 9 minutes, and that was our first time using the product.

If we do it again, now that we’ve had a little practice, this would take about 3 minutes.

The finished landing page:

The next step is to create the thank you/bridge page that people are taken to after they opt-in, and to connect the form to our autoresponder so that we can deliver the report and then send them follow up emails.

In all, to create a simple landing page with an email opt-in page, a thank-you page, and to link it to our autoresponder – that hardly took half an hour.

You don’t need any web hosting or website to publish the pages (although you can publish them on your own website if you want to).

We have to say the ease of use of ClickFunnels, and the quality of the finished pages, was second to none. They are all mobile-responsive too which means they look good across all the devices.

We were using a product called Elementor page builder for a while, and we loved it, but will have to admit – with CF it was way easier and quicker to get decent results.

The tools are not identical though — Click Funnels does a whole lot more, and does it way better, it therefore costs more too.

[Also, Elementor only works with WordPress, and you need to have your own website to be able to host your pages. ClickFunnels is totally standalone, you don’t even need to own a website!]

But a simple landing page like this isn’t really a proper funnel, is it?

ClickFunnels is designed to do a lot more than that!

Developing More Sophisticated Funnels

ClickFunnels claims that you can build any type of funnel you can possibly imagine, and from what we have seen that’s certainly true.

Here are some of the different types of funnels you can create with ClickFunnels:

• Lead Capture Funnels - Used to grow your email/mailing list.
• Sales Page Funnels - Used to sell products and services, incorporating upsells/downsells/one time offers or OTOs to maximize your profit per visitor.
• Webinar Funnels - Promote and get registrations for your webinars.
• Online Courses - you can sell and host your online course all under one roof which is ClickFunnels.
• Membership Websites - Get a recurring income stream by creating membership sites within CF.

ClickFunnels comes packed with tons of ready to go templates for a lot of funnel types, if you want to start fresh, you can also do one from scratch!

This is where ClickFunnels absolutely shone.

The editor is extremely easy to use, everything seems to look good by default, and you don’t need any programming/coding skills.

All you do is drag and drop different elements onto the page, and change the wording and appearance (the color, font etc) to suit your requirements.

So creating the pages that make up your funnel is quick and easy.

But a funnel is not just a set of pages, it is also a set of actions that would take the user sequentially through a series of steps.

Your funnel will probably begin with an opt-in page to capture your visitors’ email address.

Typically, you will want to offer them some sort of opt-in bribe also known as a lead magnet, as a freebie to get them to give up their email address.

Once they have opted-in, they will get to a followup sequence that will send them an automated email sequence over the course of next few days. They will then be redirected to a bridge page where you’ll give them the lead magnet.

On this page, you can offer them a chance to buy something.

This could be a never-to-be-repeated one time offer (OTO), or a low-cost tripwire offer designed to weed out the buyers from the freebie seekers.

Depending on the choices they make, they may be presented with other offers (upsells and downsells), or sent different emails depending on their progress through your funnel.

So a funnel isn’t just about creating a few pages, it’s also about linking these pages together with different action flows, and integrating them with autoresponders and payment processors, so that the whole process happens literally on autopilot.

Prospects go in one end, and money comes out of the other — that is probably the simplest description of a funnel.

ClickFunnels provides you with a platform where you can build your entire funnel, including email automation and payment processing — without needing anything else, or even a website, all under one roof!

It also provides comprehensive tracking and analytics so that you would know how each step in your funnel is performing, and optimize it to improve conversions and profits.

One of the main ways you can optimize your funnels with ClickFunnels is to use the built-in split testing feature to test out different landing pages, sales copy etc. to see what’s converting better.

It’s a great system, covering all the extensive facilities clickfunnels has to offer, is outside the scope of this review.

The best thing to do is to sign up for the free trial, and then take the free training you will get after you sign up.

Once you’ve watched the training videos (and DO watch them, they don’t take long), take it for a spin yourself. That’s the best way to get a feel for it.

Community & The Two Comma Club

One of our favorite things about Clickfunnels is the community aspect of it. There are thousands of members in the Facebook group known as “funnel hackers”.

This is beneficial because the group is supportive of beginners and not just help them make m​​oney online but also solve tech issues quickly.

Another good thing about the community is the ability to ask strategy related questions and have people who are knowledgeable in the same software you are using who can give you a quick response.

A lot of the times, some of these people are millionaires and part of Russell Brunsons’ 2 comma club.

The 2 comma club award is an award to people who have made in excess of a million dollars as a Clickfunnels affiliate!

The community doesn’t stop there!

Clickfunnels also hosts an annual event known as “Funnel Hacking live”. This event has been going strong since the year after Clickfunnels launched in 2015.

Third Party Integrations

ClickFunnels offers integration with a ton of third-party solutions. Besides email marketing, they offer payment integration too. With ClickFunnels, you can integrate an e-commerce website to your landing page.

Some popular integrations include

Payment integrations:

• Infusionsoft
• WarriorPlus
• Clickbank
• Stripe

Email Integrations:

• AWeber
• Getresponse
• Mailchimp

ClickFunnels Affiliate Program

ClickFunnels has one of the best affiliate programs which pays out 40% of the monthly ClickFunnels subscription for any customers referred by you. And these are monthly recurring commissions — you get that payment every month, for the lifetime of the customer!

You hardly need a bunch of referrals to maintain a healthy cash flow.

Every clickfunnels customer is eligible to receive these commissions when they refer someone. You can even promote Clickfunnels without being a user.

If you use clickfunnels, program helps you defray the costs of your monthly subscription just by recommending a product that you personally use.

If you’re into affiliate marketing, then you’d love this because of the high value recurring commissions you can receive.

The free training teaches how you can do well promoting Click Funnels. If you’re a network marketer, you’d greatly benefit from it.

ClickFunnels Pricing Plans

Click Funnels comes with a FREE 14-day trial during which you pay $0 and can use the software without any limitation.

After the trial, you can either get the standard plan which is $97 a month or get their flagship package – Etison suite at $297 a month.

However, there’s a secret pricing option which isn’t visible to the general audience called the ‘shared funnel only’ option. This option is limited to 3 funnels, 10 pages, and 1000 visitors per month maximum.

With click funnels, you can create a funnel and share it with others. As soon as they click on your share funnels link, it’s downloaded onto their clickfunnels account in a jiffy.

Simply login to your clickfunnels account and it will be waiting for you in the funnels tab.

When you’d get a funnel share URL from an existing click funnels user, you’d be asked to create a free account if you aren’t a click funnels member already.

If you’d sign up for a ClickFunnel trial directly (through links which are not shared funnel URLs), you’d never see the ‘Limited shared funnels only option’. It’s limited but as long as it fits the bill, it can be a decent option here.

Here’s one of our high converting funnel URL in case you want to get a discount and get the hidden $19 per month cf plan. Get it here (you will see the $19 option).

If you want a video tutorial on how to get the $19 CF plan, here’s a step by step YouTube video which explains the same.

How Does ClickFunnels Fare Against The Competition?

Clickfunnels has a bunch of competitors – shopify, kajabi, thrive architect, builderall, samcart, leadpages, infusionsoft just to name a few.

Most of these are decent services but clickfunnels is way ahead of all these in every single department. Not to forget, clickfunnels is an all in one suite. When Russell Brunson says you can ditch every online service you currently use for clickfunnels, he means it!

ClickFunnels vs Thrive Content Builder (Thrive Landing Pages)

We used Thrive Content Builder and Instabuilder the entire time to build our landing pages in the past, there are a bunch of click funnels alternatives but they don’t hold a candle. Both are decent products, but they only do a very small part of what ClickFunnels does.

Thrive only works with WordPress (and you must have a website ready to go to be able to use it), and it only makes pages. It doesn’t include an autoresponder or some of the other advanced features you’ll get with ClickFunnels.

If you do have a WordPress website, and an autoresponder service, then Thrive can be an alternative, but it is only designed for making pages, rather than funnels, so it lacks a lot of the features that ClickFunnels has. However, Thrive is still AMAZING at what it does. It just does not have all the features ClickFunnels has (worth mentioning ClickFunnels is also a little more expensive).

ClickFunnels vs LeadPages

Like Thrive Content Builder, LeadPages is designed basically for building landing pages, rather than integrated funnels, so it’s not a like-for-like comparison again.

LeadPages also lets you build good looking landing pages that are mobile responsive, but LeadPages is really all about producing single pages, rather than linking them together to create sophisticated funnels.

ClickFunnels is focused on building funnels, not just opt-in pages.

ClickFunnels vs Infusionsoft

Infusionsoft, is quite complex and overpriced for what it offers. You can’t just get started on your own — you have to pay somebody to set it up for you which may cost up to $2000!

Thereafter you’re in for at least $300 per month, and it is notoriously difficult to use.

That’s the bad bit over.

Infusionsoft is capable of building very sophisticated funnels too, but it’s not very good at making good looking pages (ClickFunnels is way ahead), and it’s certainly not quick and easy.

ClickFunnels vs Builderall

Builderall is a cheaper alternative to clickfunnels but it’s very limited, and the platform is not half as polished as clickfunnels is.

It however, is a decent platform for the price.

It can be a decent starting point for those who are on a budget. But, if we were to use one tool, we would use and recommend clickfunnels any day.

Some Pros & Cons

Let's face it - no system is perfect, CF is no exception. Here are some pros and cons at a glance.

Let's Check Out The Cons First:

• Requires some investment in time (there's a learning curve)
• A bit more expensive than Elementor or Leadpages (but does way more) if you get the flagship plan which includes backpack and actionetics – clickfunnels’ own autoresponder.
• Continuous subscription required to use your funnels

Now, The Pros:

• Very easy to build complete automated funnels
• Excellent free training – blog articles are actionable too
• Creates beautiful looking pages very quickly
• Conversion tracking and split-testing to improve results
• Integrates with all the major email services
• Links to payment processors within ClickFunnels
• 14 day free trial — lets you test it risk-free
• World class customer support – most tickets answered within 24 hours.

Final Thoughts

ClickFunnels is an excellent product for creating and hosting sales funnels.

It was designed from the ground up, purely for that one sole purpose, and it does it very well.

It is not the cheapest product in the world by any means ($97 basic level, $297 for all the bells and whistles), but it can save you the cost of several other products that you will no longer need, which may actually make it one of the cheaper options.

The whole purpose of ClickFunnels is to increase your profits. If you use it well, it has the potential to pay for itself, so the monthly price shouldn’t be a concern. Especially at the entry level (you can upgrade later).

There is also another huge benefit in using ClickFunnels, in addition to the product itself, that nobody talks about

That is the education that you get along the way. Not just the product training, but the whole mindset that ClickFunnels is built around.

It pervades everything they do, and if you become a part of the ClickFunnels community, it will level up your marketing game as there’s a lot to learn from hundreds of thousands of experienced marketers.

It is more than worth it for the education alone!