Shopify Sales Funnel: How to Build One in 2024 (+ Best Apps)

Building a sales funnel may seem intimidating, but it doesn't have to be!

In 2024, Shopify offers some of the best apps to create sales funnels that convert.

In this article, we'll walk through how to build an effective Shopify sales funnel. You'll learn how to create landing pages, leverage email marketing, and analyze data to optimize your funnel. 

Let's jump in!

Tip: Have you already created your Shopify account? If not, sign up by clicking this link here to get a free 3-day trial + 1 month for $1!

What is a Shopify sales funnel?

A Shopify sales funnel is a series of steps designed to guide potential customers through the buying process, from first finding out about your store to making a purchase.

Think of it as a path that filters visitors into buyers:

It starts with creating awareness about your brand or product, often through social media or search engine optimization.

As potential buyers learn more about what you offer, they move down the funnel by showing interest and eventually deciding if they want your product.

The final stage of the funnel is all about action, enticing shoppers to complete their purchases.

How do you build a Shopify sales funnel?

Before we dive deeper into the article, we will give you an overview of the three elements you need to build a Shopify sales funnel:

1. Top-of-the-funnel. Here, we will focus on making potential customers aware of your store (marketing).
2. Middle-of-the-funnel. Here, we will focus on educating potential customers about the problem your product solves.
3. Bottom-of-the-funnel. Here, we will focus on trying to make potential customers take action by making a purchase.

Awareness: Top-of-the-funnel strategies

A Shopify sales funnel starts by making potential customers aware of your product.

You can do this using various marketing methods, like social media marketing or SEO.

In this Shopify sales funnel example, Pelacase uses paid Google Ads for their awareness stage, so let's take a closer look at it:

In other words, whenever someone's searching for something related to phone cases, there's a good chance an ad for Pela Case pops up.

Pela Case's domain name is 13 years old, and yet they still run ads:

So, if you're trying to push a brand new product to the market, it's a must to advertise. Even established names of over a decade old keep their advertising efforts up.

You can find many other ways to create awareness for your Shopify sales funnel in our article here!

Interest: Middle-of-the-funnel strategies

The middle of the sales funnel, often called the 'interest' stage, is where potential customers who know your product start considering whether it's right for them.

At this crucial step, your goal is to nurture their interest, providing them with enough information and value to move them closer to purchasing.

We can see that Pela Case intends to convince its visitors to make a purchase using some valuable tactics.

For example, nowadays, there is a general confirmation consensus that ocean
pollution is a significant issue, and Pela Case taps into this concern by highlighting how their eco-friendly phone cases contribute to solving this problem:

They share compelling stories and facts about ocean conservation and how each purchase of their product supports efforts to clean up and protect the oceans:

Here are some strategies to effectively engage your visitors during this phase:

Interactive content

Engage your audience with interactive content like quizzes, surveys, or stopping the scrolling in a particular section of the page.

In fact, this is one of the features Pela Case has implemented in its sales funnel: to stop users from scrolling down a particular section of the page to highlight the key benefits of their eco-friendly phone cases:

This clever trick ensures visitors take a moment to understand what makes Pela Case stand out, such as their commitment to sustainability.

Email marketing

Email marketing is a powerful tool for nurturing leads in the middle of the funnel.

But how do you get these emails from your customers?

You need to offer value to get a potential customer to give their email address; let's take Pela Case as an example:

Essentially, they give away a 15% discount on their product; however, you need to give your email address to obtain it.

Email marketing is powerful because you can share targeted content, special offers, and information to keep your brand in mind and build a relationship with your customers.

Retargeting campaigns

Use retargeting ads to stay in front of potential customers who have visited your website but haven't made a purchase.

These ads can remind them of the products they viewed or offer a special discount to get them closer to a purchase decision.

Let's say you decide to run ads on Facebook. You will need to install a Pixel before running any campaign; this is because the Pixel needs time to collect data about your website visitors.

Once installed, the Pixel starts tracking who visits your site, what pages they browse, and what actions they take.

This data is invaluable because it allows you to create precise retargeting campaigns on Facebook.

Desire and Action: Bottom-of-the-funnel strategies

Moving from just keeping folks interested to really getting them excited about buying is the final part of the Shopify sales funnel.

It's all about making them feel like they need to act now.

And there are some tactics to turn your website visitors into paying customers.

Consider using countdown timers for deals or letting people know when only a few items are left.

An example is using Hextom, a countdown timer app available on the Shopify App Store:

Now, choose a free template and customize it according to your sales strategy.

Remember to use it at the bottom of the page (of course, you can always change it), but if you test it at the bottom first, you'll have a baseline to compare its effectiveness against other placements.

Experimenting with its location can significantly impact how visitors interact with it.

Also, note that this typically isn't a permanent bar; you should use it in special promotional periods, such as:

• Flash sales. Use a countdown timer to highlight limited-time offers. This could be a 24-hour flash sale or a weekend special.
• Seasonal or holiday promotions. Align countdown timers with seasonal or holiday promotions. For example, a countdown to Black Friday, Christmas, or the end-of-the-year sales.
• Limited stock alerts. Combine the countdown timer with alerts about limited stock availability. This double urgency tactic shows how much time is left and how few items are left.

Another tactic is to have a chatbot ready to answer any questions:

It keeps people from bouncing off the page because they can't find an answer.

Even Pela Case uses it on its website, so why not try it?

You can use an app like Tidio Live Chat & AI Chatbots to implement a chatbot in your Shopify sales funnel. Follow the wizard, and then you'll be prompted to answer some questions:

Once you've done that, select 'build chatbots,' and you'll see the main dashboard where you can choose many default templates; however, for this article, we'll only going to show you one:

Choose the reactive welcome message in the main control panel to initiate the customization prompt.

Once you've done that, select 'create from scratch'.

Then you need to choose the triggers, basically what action you want the chatbot to take once a visitor lands on your website.

From here, it is all drag and drop; you can take inspiration without copying from Pela Case by experimenting with what triggers they use.

4 Best apps for building a Shopify sales funnel

Let's explore four of the best apps for building a Shopify sales funnel, each offering unique features:

1. Zipify - Best for building sales funnel pages

Zipify is a powerful application designed specifically for Shopify store owners looking to create high-converting sales funnels:

Founded in 2016 by Ezra Firestone, it offers a suite of features that make it an ideal choice for merchants who want to increase their conversion rates and average order value.

Here's how Zipify can be great for building a Shopify sales funnel:

Pre-designed page templates

Zipify provides a library of page templates that are optimized for conversions. These templates are based on proven sales funnels.

They include landing pages, product pages, upsell pages, and thank-you pages, which can be easily customized to fit your brand and products.

Easy drag-and-drop builder

The app comes with a user-friendly drag-and-drop page builder, which allows you to create and edit your sales funnel pages without any coding knowledge.

This means you can quickly design pages that lead customers through your sales funnel, from the initial product discovery to the final purchase.

Built-in split testing

Zipify allows you to split-test different funnel page versions to see which performs best.

This data-driven approach can significantly impact your sales strategies based on actual customer responses rather than guesswork.

For example, if you're selling skincare products, you might create two different upsell offers for customers who add a facial cleanser to their cart.

Offer A could be a moisturizer that complements the cleanser, while Offer B might be a bundle deal that includes the cleanser, moisturizer, and a toner at a discounted rate.

By running an A/B test, you can determine which upsell offer has a higher take rate, allowing you to optimize your sales strategy and potentially increase the average order value.

One-Click Upsells

Zipify includes a one-click upsell feature, which is essential for increasing your average order value.

After a customer makes a purchase, they can be presented with a related offer that complements their initial purchase, and they can add it to their order with just one click without having to enter their payment information again.

2. Selleasy - Best for upsell funnels

Selleasy is a great app for creating persuasive upsell funnels on your Shopify store. Developed by LogBase, it claims to be the best Shopify Upsell & Cross-Sell app:

Let's dive into some specifics:

Customizable upsell offers

Selleasy allows you to create targeted upsell offers during various stages of the customer's buying journey.

For example, when a customer adds an item to their cart, Selleasy can trigger a pop-up suggesting a related product or an upgrade, effectively increasing the average order value.

The key here is the customization capability, allowing for very specific and relevant upsell offers based on customer behavior and the items they are interested in.

3. Octane AI - Best quiz funnel builder

Octane AI takes the quiz funnel game to new heights, making it an essential tool for any Shopify store looking to personalize the shopping experience.

Here's how Octane AI specifically excels in building effective Shopify sales funnels through quizzes:

Personalized shopping experiences

Octane AI creates engaging quizzes that mimic a personal shopping assistant. These quizzes ask customers about their preferences, needs, and interests, allowing your store to offer personalized product recommendations.

Don't know where to start? Not a problem!

Octane AI gives you a database of 250 live quizzes to get inspiration from so that you can see a wide range of successful quiz formats and questions that have already proven effective in engaging customers and boosting conversions.

Lead generation

Besides driving sales, Octane AI’s quizzes are an effective tool for lead generation. People need to be incentivized!

It's a common human behavior, we're all looking for value before giving something in return, such as our contact information.

So, by using quiz completion with discounts or special offers, you can capture email addresses, which creates an opportunity for ongoing engagement through email marketing, further nurturing leads down the sales funnel.

4. Lucky Orange Heatmaps - Best for analyzing your funnel

Lucky Orange is the last app on our list.

One particular feature that caught our attention while looking at the specs is the 'heatmap,' which is an option that you can enable to visually track where your visitors click, scroll, and move throughout your Shopify store.

Just ask yourself, how can you know what's working and what's not if you can't see where people click the most on your store?

It's like driving a car in the darkness without lights. Hope you get the metaphor.

But let's see what else they've got.

Visual representation of user engagement

Lucky Orange organizes data visually through its heatmap feature, which turns complex data into easy-to-understand, color-coded visuals.

Optimize page layout

By analyzing how users interact with your site, Lucky Orange Heatmaps can inform design decisions that make your site more intuitive and user-friendly.

For example, if the data shows that users frequently miss important information that’s below the fold, you might consider redesigning your pages to bring key elements into the initial viewport.

This optimization ensures that visitors see the most important content without needing to scroll, potentially increasing conversion rates.

Summary

Before we go, we've created a quick summary of this article for you so you can easily remember it:

• Set up engaging landing pages with clear calls to action and ensure email and SMS marketing campaigns are used for lead nurturing.
• Use social media and content marketing for awareness; employ targeted ads and clear store policies for credibility.
• For conversion, create urgency with limited-time offers and use apps like Zipify and Selleasy for optimized sales funnels.

Conclusion

That's it for now!

Building a sales funnel on Shopify can be a powerful way to guide potential customers through the buying journey.

We wish you good luck, and remember, if you have any questions, you can always contact us.

Want to learn more about Shopify?

Ready to move your Shopify store to the next level? Check out the articles below:

• Is Shopify Worth It as an Ecommerce Platform in 2024?
• Do You Need a Business License to Sell on Shopify? (2024)
• The 15 Most Popular Shopify Apps in 2024 (Backed by Data)

Plus, don’t forget to check out our in-depth how to start a Shopify store guide here.