5 Case Studies of Successful Sales Funnels That You Must Know
Creating a sales funnel strategy that works for your brand can be a daunting task. With so many sales funnels to choose from and so many ways to implement them, one can get easily confused and overwhelmed.
However, you can derive inspiration by learning from other flourishing companies.
Five case studies of brands that designed successful sales funnels are: Netflix’s use of free trials, Grammarly’s strategic advertising techniques, Groupon’s well-designed User Experience, Basecamp’s awareness of customer needs, and Mixergy’s influencer marketing tactic.
In this article, I have compiled a list of 5 case studies of successful sales funnels that use strategies and techniques that effectively boost profit and increase the conversion of prospects into loyal customers.
5 Brands That Executed Sales Funnels Successfully
1. Free Trials Set Up Netflix For Future Success
Netflix started by basing its sales funnel on the free trial model that attracts new customers by allowing them to experience the streaming service before they can commit to purchasing a subscription. Although the free trial option is no longer available, it is the reason why Netflix has 269.9 million subscribers today.
The free trial lasted 30 days and was followed by a ‘free trial ending’ reminder 3 days prior. Do not mistake this reminder for an obvious next step. Netflix very strategically used this reminder to establish itself as a transparent business that was not trying to take your money by fooling you.
I call this a strategic move because once you buy a subscription, the default payment setting is set on auto-renewal. In simple words, many customers continued to be Netflix customers because they had forgotten to cancel their subscriptions.
Do check out my in-depth guide on Monthly Recurring Revenue (MRR) to learn how to build a solid subscription business for yourself.
Currently, Netflix’s sales funnels revolve around the personalization of content. The customers are hooked because of its ML-powered algorithm that has the ability to provide personal recommendations by learning the customer’s preferences based on their watch history, likes, and dislikes.
By providing access to a large variety of movies and shows on its platform, it remains relevant in pop culture, inviting more customers to use its services. They use targeted advertisements to reach the masses on TV, podcasts and various social media platforms like YouTube.
Lastly, the CTA buttons that are placed noticeably on the website, lead to a guided step-by-step process of purchasing a subscription, which makes it a smooth experience for the customer.
2. Advertising Placement Increased Grammarly’s Sales
Grammarly is an AI-based writing assistance tool that checks spelling, grammar, punctuation, clarity, and engagement of writing in English texts.
Grammarly’s sales funnel strategy works on a multi-level channel, influencing prospects to convert into customers at different stages of the buying journey.
Grammarly is exceptionally clever in the way it positions its brand and the placement of its advertisements. The advertisements in video format are featured on TV and YouTube as paid ads that target different segments, such as students, job seekers, or anyone who requires writing assistance on a daily basis.
Many advertisements are also published on websites that are related to grammar or other writing assistance tools to directly reach prospects who are already looking for a writing assistant and can benefit from their business.
Their website includes testimonials and a free trial of the premium version so that potential customers can use the tools extensively and make their own decisions.
The most engaging aspect of their sales funnel is their interactive demo page and its insight page, they used a gamification approach to make user’s learning process more engaging
If you, too, want to build such engaging sales funnels, I highly recommend one of the best sales funnel building software.
3. Smooth User Experience Helped Groupon Retain Customers
Groupon is a coupon database that gives customers quick access to discounts and deals on different products and services. Their sales funnel is embedded in the idea of simplifying the use of their website to the maximum.
Their user interface is designed with intention: streamlined navigation allows customers to quickly find coupons for a particular product or service and complete the purchases quickly in-app. The clear CTAs make users feel as though they are accessing a tool rather than a traditional website.
Groupon also uses a customer’s purchase history to email personalized coupons along with a scarcity component, such as a countdown showing the time they have left to access the coupon. This creates a sense of urgency and forces the customer to act on their impulse and make a purchase.
Groupon pays particular attention to the retention of customers by having a referral program in place, paying $10 to referrers per referral. They also implement the concept of loyalty rewards that ensure repeat purchases.
4. Understanding Customer Needs Greatly Rewarded Basecamp
Basecamp is a leading team and project management solution for remote workers. What makes their sales funnel so effective is their deep knowledge of their customer’s pain points.
The brand caters to these pain points using visual cues such as infographics that are visible as soon as you arrive on the landing page. They do very minimal paid advertising and mainly depend on organic traffic from Google searches.
To raise awareness, they create educational content that explains to the audience how Basecamp assists with the management of remote teams. This content is available in different mediums like blog posts, books, informational videos, case studies, testimonials, newsletters, and even guides that include tips and tactics for management.
Basecamp also provides a free trial for customers to test out the tool. Customers can sign up and start their free trial within two clicks. Such a frictionless journey increases your chances of converting prospects into paying customers.
5. Mixergy Relies on Influencer Marketing to Boost Sales
Mixergy is a membership-based e-learning company that offers a range of courses and interviews to help budding entrepreneurs start and grow their businesses.
Their sales funnel begins with ordinary marketing strategies such as pay-per-click ads and advertising on social media. Their funnel relies greatly on collecting users’ contact information to engage them in targeted email campaigns.
These emails are first verified for validity. You can read my article on checking the validity of an email to improve deliverability.
Mixergy’s emails always include a CTA, which opens a landing page that provides a detailed account of the advantages of the membership and the value of their brand, i.e., access to more than 200 courses and 1700+ interviews.
To give the users a glimpse of the benefits, Mixergy generously provides 9 free interviews in exchange for their email information. Since famous entrepreneurs and professionals conduct these courses and interviews, Mixergy also taps into influencer marketing.
Most interview conductors and course instructors have loyal audiences of their own who wish to have more access to them. Many users are likely to convert into paying customers because they want to join the community their role models are part of and actively endorse.
Conclusion
Hope you had a great time learning from the successful sales funnels. The best sales funnel depends on the nature of your business, ICP and revenue generation process.
Take some ideas from the above funnel examples and implement them on your business. Don’t forget to actively monitor the results you are funnel is bringing to your business. Use commonly used metrics such as CAC, CLV to benchmark the sales funnel performance.
