Listen to ‘THIS is what’s missing in your funnel’ on: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Your player of choice
In today’s episode, I’m breaking down the real reason your funnel isn’t converting the way you want—and spoiler alert, it’s missing two critical pieces. I walk through what a funnel actually is, why relying only on a front-end funnel leaves a ton of money on the table, and how to build a funnel ecosystem that works with real buyer behavior instead of fighting it. If you’ve ever wondered what happens to the 95% of people who don’t buy right away, this episode is for you!
In this episode, I cover:
- What a front-end funnel is, how it’s meant to be marketed, and why 3–5% conversions are normal
- What happens to the 95% who don’t buy—and how a long-term (reply & buy) funnel recovers that revenue
- Why sending everyone to a general newsletter breaks the buyer journey
- The biggest post-purchase mistake I see (ghosting buyers) and how to fix it
- How a post-purchase funnel helps buyers get results faster and creates repeat customers
- The three funnels you need to build a sustainable, compounding business
FULL TRANSCRIPTION OF EPISODE…
What Is a Funnel?
00:00.92 – Mya Nichol
Before I talk about what your funnel is missing, and I might just add here at the beginning, just give you a little sneak peek that there’s two things that your funnel is missing, not just one thing. So I’m gonna dive into both of those.
But before I do that, I wanna make sure that we’re on the same page as to what a funnel actually is.
A funnel, as for what most people would describe a funnel, is an opt-in page that then leads to a freebie or a lead magnet, two different terms, but they mean the same thing. Then it leads into a series of emails that will then nurture and sell someone into a paid offer.
This is what I call your front end funnel.
The reason why I call it your front end funnel is because you’re gonna take that opt-in page link and you are going to market that on the front end of your business, meaning through your Instagram stories, your link in bio. You might share it in the show notes of a podcast episode or even in YouTube description below your YouTube videos. You might share that on any inside of your direct message automations, anywhere on the front end of your business that you can link that opt-in form.
That is why I call it a front end funnel.
Now, the purpose of your front end funnel is twofold.
The Two Goals of a Front End Funnel
01:08.25 – Mya Nichol
Number one, to bring in new subscribers.
And number two, to turn those new subscribers into customers really quickly by converting them into your main offer with some type of urgency.
That is where you’re going to offer a bonus or a discount or sometime sometimes it’s even like a limited time offer inside of that funnel if they’re purchasing during that funnel.
Now inside that funnel, you’re generally offering this for like anywhere between three to 10 days. And then after that timeframe, it goes to full price or that bonus expires or whatever it is ends. And that works really, really well.
Now, the problem with that front end funnel — and this is not just a problem that you have, but across the board, anyone who’s running this funnel — that funnel is going to see about three to 5% conversion.
Why Front End Funnels Only Convert 3–5%
01:56.02 – Mya Nichol
Anything higher than five, your funnel is performing extremely, extremely well. Across the board though, about three to 5% is what that funnel is going to convert at.
Now, the issue here is what about the 95% of people who didn’t purchase inside of that funnel?
And this is where a lot of people are leaving a lot of revenue on the table.
So what happens generally here is people will enter your front end funnel and whether or not they buy, you’re just adding them to your newsletter list.
And what happens with your newsletter list — and the issue here is not that you’re sending out newsletters, please continue to do so — there’s nothing wrong with that. But people who are getting those newsletters are at all different stages in their journey.
Someone might have purchased one offer from you.
Someone might not have purchased anything from you.
Someone might be on that newsletter for the first time and seeing the very first email that you’ve sent them.
Someone might have been on your newsletter for three years.
Everyone is at different stages.
And so it’s impossible for you to create — or i should say curate — a buyer journey on your newsletter list because everyone who’s getting those emails is just simply at different stages.
The Long-Term Funnel (Reply & Buy Funnel)
03:06.55 – Mya Nichol
And so what I recommend doing is instead of dropping people into your general newsletter list after your front end funnel, if they haven’t purchased, I recommend dropping them into what I call your long term funnel, or the term I use is reply and buy funnel.
Now, this is a three to six month funnel where you’re going to continually educate them on your offer.
Now, this is not a daily email type of thing because we don’t want to burn them out and we don’t want to burn you out either. That’s going a lot of emails, right? And so we’re not doing that.
But we’re making sure that we’re staying top of mind and we’re continuing to sell them the same offer that we did in the front end funnel, but without urgency and hard deadlines.
Why Buyers Need More Time
03:52.09 – Mya Nichol
So again, we do stay top of mind and we just give them more time to purchase.
Because someone might not have been ready to purchase that offer in your front end funnel. They might have just needed to simply build more trust with you. They might have needed to see more social proof. And also, they just might need more time. Simply, they just might need more time.
And so we’re really honoring their buyer journey.
Because buyers, sometimes they just don’t decide immediately. And that’s OK. It doesn’t mean that we’ve lost them as a buyer forever. It just means that we need to make sure that we are recognizing their buyer experience and curating a journey for them after that front end funnel.
So they might need more clarity.
More repetition — AKA they’re hearing about it more.
More time.
More social proof.
More conversation in general.
And so that is what this long-term funnel is doing for them.
Front End Funnel vs. Long-Term Funnel
04:27.29 – Mya Nichol
Your front end funnel is designed to be fast, is designed to be urgent, and to convert those three to 5%, maybe even up to eight to 10% of people inside of that funnel.
But for those who don’t convert in that funnel, we need this long-term funnel.
I call it your patient funnel, because it is patient, right?
It’s all about giving people more time, building more confidence and trust, and also just respecting the fact that it simply might take people more time to purchase.
And that’s okay.
It doesn’t mean that they’re not as good of a buyer. It just means that we need to recognize the way that they purchase and create an experience specifically for them.
And so that’s where that long-term funnel comes in.
What About the People Who Did Buy?
05:32.63 – Mya Nichol
So again, just for clarity there, why is this long-term funnel important?
Because when someone goes through that front end funnel, only three to 5% of people are generally gonna convert. And so what do we do about the 95% of people who don’t? They’re then added into this long-term funnel.
Now let’s talk about the three to 5% of people who did buy, because that is really, really important.
And also what I see happening most here is someone purchases your offer and you’re like, yay, they purchased my offer. And then you like completely ghost them.
Like you send them the welcome email and you send them like maybe some login information. You’re like, hey, here you go. And then you’re like… peace, bye, I’m ghosting you.
Obviously you’re not actually saying I’m ghosting you, but that’s generally what I see happen.
And that is — you’re missing so much opportunity for revenue, but also for serving that person that is inside of your offer.
The Post-Purchase Funnel
06:07.55 – Mya Nichol
And if someone has purchased from you, that means that they trust you. They value what it is that you teach. And they are ready for transformation.
They’re ready for whatever it is that you told them that your offer is going to deliver for them.
And this is why instead of just ghosting them, we need to guide them on a journey moving forward.
We need to set up an email sequence — what I call your post-purchase funnel — that is going to help them get to the transformation that your offer promises faster, better, easier, quicker.
And then it guides them into that next offer that is the next best step for them.
So we’re not leaving them hanging high and dry.
We are making sure that they are getting the information that they need, the support that they need, and the check-ins that they need to achieve the transformation of our offer.
Because that is the ultimate focus.
Creating Repeat Buyers (Not One-Time Sales)
07:25.88 – Mya Nichol
We’re not just there to sell them into the next offer just to make a quick buck.
We really want to make sure that they actually see results from the offer.
Because when they see results from the offer, and then we present them with, hey, here’s the next best step for you — you should dive into this offer for X, Y, Z reasons — it is going to be an absolute no brainer for them to join in.
Because they just saw transformation.
And so of course they’re going to want more. And they also want to stay in your world.
And that’s how you’re going to create repeat buyers.
The Three Funnels You Need
08:17.46 – Mya Nichol
So if you really want that sustainable compounding business, you need not just one funnel.
You need:
- Your front end funnel
- Your long-term funnel
- Your post-purchase funnel
These three funnels work together to create an ecosystem.
If you only have that front end funnel set up, and that is just an entry point into your world, and you’re then just adding people to your newsletter after that — again, it’s better than doing nothing — but we still want to be able to curate some type of journey.
Then after they exit all three of those funnels, they’re added to your newsletter list where we continually nurture and sell to them and maybe even sell them different offers than what we were originally selling them inside of that front end and long-term funnel.
Stacked Inbox Waitlist
If you are realizing and having these light bulb moments of like, oh my gosh, I’m leaving so much money on the table by only having this front end funnel, you need to be inside of Stacked Inbox.
There is a waitlist link down in the description. If you join the waitlist, you are going to get access to an exclusive waitlist-only discount.
Obviously it’s free. No pressure whatsoever.
Stacked Inbox will be launching end of February. And I highly, highly, highly recommend joining in.
It is so, so, so good.
And I hope to see you there.
Resources & Links:
- Join the waitlist for Stacked Inbox
- Join Scalability
- 30 free selling on stories prompts
- Scaling Unlocked Mastermind Application
- Kajabi 30-day free trial + 2 bonuses
- Manychat
- IG University
Some of the links mentioned are affiliate links, which help to support this podcast at no additional cost to you.
Connect with Mya:
- Follow on Instagram @myanichol
- Join my email list
- Check out my website
- Now on YouTube
More about the Radical Disruption podcast:
Are you wanting to make waves in your industry, push the envelope, and change the way things are done in a radical way? Are you looking for tangible, tactical, and actionable steps that will help you build a sustainable business that stands out? You’re in the right place!
Radical Disruption is home to the disrupters. Here, you’ll learn how to take your business to the next level, break the status quo, and build a disruptive business.
Nursing student turned business and social media expert and host Mya Nichol (hey, that’s me!) shares the real and raw of the crazy journey of entrepreneurship and building a multi-six-figure business.
Through solo episodes and special guest interviews, you can expect honest conversations about throwing out the traditional way of business, scaling in a sustainable way, and becoming the go-to expert in your industry. It’s time to build a disruptive business. See you on Tuesdays!
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