5 Awesome Sales Funnel Ideas For Authors
Are you an Author who is frustrated because you have no clue how to generate leads, and to promote your book?
If that’s the case then I humbly invite you to join this epic brainstorm session where we’ll explore 5 different Sales Funnel ideas for Authors!
Sales Funnels can be a huge advantage to Authors, because a Sales Funnel can allow you to generate leads, to promote additional books, and you can also try your best to split test different ideas so you can test for feasibility and see what works, and what doesn’t.
As someone who has studied the art and science of Sales Funnels rather extensively, I’m super excited to share these ideas with you, and I truly hope that they find you well!
Author Sales Funnel Idea # 1 – Free Plus Shipping Book Funnel
One of the most popular Sales Funnel ideas these days for Authors, or anyone selling any type of E-commerce product is something called the Free Plus Shipping Funnel.
This works in a really cool way, where you literally give your book away for free, minus shipping of course.
Then, and this is the most crucial part, after your buyer purchases your book, you can then present an immediate One Time Offer Upsell, or even many Upsells if you wish.
This is hugely important obviously, since if you simply give books away for free, forever, then it might be difficult or impossible to turn a profit, right?
So, the idea with a Free Plus Shipping Funnel is to give away as many books as possible, with the hope that your customers are also interested in your Upsells.
If you’re not sure what type of Upsell might be a good idea in this case, simply ask yourself what other services you could offer to your reader.
Do you offer any coaching, consulting, or do you sell any courses?
If not, would you be willing to turn your book into a course?
Another cool idea that might be cool to experiment with, is to perhaps bundle a huge collection of your books.
Finally, if you are an affiliate marketer, it’s also possible to promote your affiliate links right on your “Download Page”, your “Confirmation Page”.
My philosophy is that when you have your own Sales Funnel, there are so many creative ways that you can promote your own offers, and even affiliate offers, so I implore you to keep an open mind and to use your creativity!
(Also remember, that the only way to know what is feasible and what isn’t, is to test! So, I always try my best to encourage my friends, colleagues, and readers to remember that we never know what’s best until we test).
Author Sales Funnel Idea # 2 – Traditional Tripwire Funnel
A Tripwire Funnel is, in my opinion, the classical Sales Funnel idea that in my opinion can be a good idea in many situations.
The main idea of a Tripwire Funnel is to offer something for such a good deal, that your customer can’t resist but to take action!
After your end user purchases the first “Tripwire Product”, they are then presented with a One Time Offer, also known as an Upsell.
Again, as an Author, there are so many cool things that you could possibly offer as an Upsell.
Maybe a bundle of your books, a video course, a coaching session, or some other type of product that you and your business offers.
Author Sales Funnel Idea # 3 – Lead Magnet Funnel
A Lead Magnet Funnel is personally one of my favorite ways to promote my own email newsletter.
The cool part, is that as an Author, there are probably tons of different Lead Magnet ideas that you can brainstorm about.
So maybe you could give away a few chapters of your book for free.
Or, maybe you could give away one of your older books for absolutely zero cost.
Another option is to give away special bonus chapters or bonus content that your readers can’t get anywhere else.
After your end user subscribes and opts-in to receive the lead magnet, you can then present to them a special offer, maybe you could promote the full version of your book, the latest version of your book, or even a discount on your other books.
The best part is that once your new reader joins your email list, you can then follow up with them, share your awesome email marketing content over the long-haul, and hopefully, all of these steps can help you to build massive rapport, goodwill, and to build you brand of course.
Author Sales Funnel Idea # 4 – Product Launch Funnel
I’ve written about how Product Launch Funnels totally rock in other blog posts, but I’ve also wondered if a Product Launch Funnel can be overkill for a simple tiny book?
A Product Launch Funnel is a very special type of funnel with many advantages. First of all, a Product Launch Funnel allows you to generate an email lead, so you can followup with your subscribers later and share some of your best content with them.
Product Launch Funnels are all about sharing content, pre-sell videos, and awesome training material before you even reveal your book launch.
A Product Launch Funnel also allows you to pre-sell your books, so you can create awesome videos that talk about all of the benefits of your book, and why it’s truly awesome, special, and worthy of your audience.
My honest two cents is that it’s always best to test to see which type of Sales Funnel might work the best; since every market, and every product is truly unique, you never really know what’s going to work before you experiment.
However, I’d also like to say, that in my opinion, a Product Launch Funnel can be an awesome way to promote your book, but I think for best results you should totally consider including additional Upsells.
In fact, I think that the ability to offer Upsells is the single biggest advantage that launching a Sales Funnel can provide, so I would advise all Authors to brainstorm what types of Upsells they could offer to their buyers.
Author Sales Funnel Idea # 5 – Video Sales Letter Funnel
As an Online Teacher, I have enrolled well over 10,000 students thanks largely to the help of my sales videos, I think that sales videos rock, and I think they can be a great way to promote anything.
So heck yes, I’m a huge proponent to Video Sales Letters, and I think that Video Sales Letters can be an awesome way to promote just about anything.
The even better part, as you know, is that you can offer your end users some really cool Upsells and One Time Offers if they decide to buy your book.
If you’re going to bother with a Sales Funnel, then you may as well have a One Time Offer, right?
Why Are One Time Offers And Upsells So Powerful? Imagine These Two Scenarios…
Scenario 1 – Without Upsells… Imagine if you launch a book, and don’t have any upsells. Pretend you got super lucky and sold 1,000 copies of your book. You’re guaranteed not to sell any Upsells, because you didn’t offer anything to your customers!
Scenario 2 – With Upsells… However, now let’s pretend that you launch a book, and you got super lucky again and sold 1,000 copies. Now, this time, let’s pretend that you also have an Upsell for a huge bundle of your books as a One Time Offer. You also have a great 50% discount on your latest course as a second Upsell.
In my opinion, all things being equal, Scenario 2 is far superior to Scenario 1.
Because with Scenario 2, while you’re not guaranteed to make any more sales, one thing is totally true, the second funnel has more potential, right?
Because with Situation 2, if you sell 1,000 books to 1,000 customers, then you have 1,000 more chances to sell your One Time Offers.
With Situation 1, you’re guaranteed not to sell any One Time Offers, because you’re not making the offer to your customers.
I hope that this makes sense, because I’m a huge fan of Sales Funnels and think that they totally rock!
Thanks So Much For Checking This Out! You’re Awesome!
In this humble document, I tried my best to brainstorm a bunch of powerful Sales Funnel ideas for Authors.
I hope that this document finds you well.
Also, I invite you to contact me in the event that you ever have questions about Sales Funnels, or any other nerdy marketing stuff.
Until next time, please have an amazing day!
Cordially and humbly yours…
Mike DeVincent
MrComputerScience.com