A click funnel can turn casual Google searchers into website visitors — and then paying customers. This step-by-step pathway leads prospects from initial awareness to the final purchase. By strategically narrowing the audience at each stage, a click funnel helps businesses focus on their most qualified leads, ultimately driving sales.

Read on to learn what a click funnel is and how they create high-converting sites.

What’s a click funnel?

A click funnel is a step-by-step path for guiding potential customers toward completing a desired goal, like buying a product or subscribing to a service.

Each funnel stage progressively narrows the audience by presenting more targeted content. These stages naturally filter out those less interested in your offering, leaving only the most qualified leads moving forward in the funnel and potentially converting. 

It's a journey that involves capturing attention, nurturing leads, and driving conversions by gradually leading people from awareness to action.

Click funnels vs. sales funnels

Click funnels and sales funnels both convert visitors into customers, but they have different purposes within the overall marketing funnel and customer journey. 

A marketing click funnel encourages immediate behavior — it convinces people to click through to specific pages and complete short-term actions like buying a product or subscribing to a newsletter. This approach involves fewer steps than sales funnels and drives conversions from targeted traffic sources, like social media ads or an email list.

A sales funnel covers a broader angle, from initial awareness to long-term customer retention. For example, a click funnel guides people to buy running shoes via an ad. A sales funnel would include additional steps, like follow-up emails, loyalty discounts, and personalized messaging to encourage repeat purchases.

How click funnels work: 4 stages

In marketing, a click funnel typically has the following stages to guide potential customers from awareness to conversions.

1. Awareness stage

The funnel starts by generating awareness and attracting visitors to your website through social media, email marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO). At this point, the goal is to capture readers’ attention and offer something valuable, like a free guide or discount, so they explore further.

2. Interest stage

Once people are on your website, the next step is educating them. In this stage, the site provides relevant information, such as product benefits, case studies, and testimonials. This content builds trust and shows visitors how your site’s service or product solves their pain points.

3. Consideration stage

At this stage, the funnel guides visitors toward making a decision. The focus is to remove doubts, show why your offering is better than the competitors’, and encourage the user to act.

4. Conversion stage

The final step occurs when the funnel leads users to make a purchase or sign up for a service. A well-designed funnel with clear calls to action (CTAs) and sign-up pages ensures the process is as frictionless as possible. Simplifying this phase helps you avoid losing leads at this critical juncture.

An example of a click funnel

With the above stages in mind, here's what a step-by-step journey of a click funnel would look like:

• Awareness — Say a user searches for "budget-friendly running shoes" on Google. They click on a paid ad that takes them to a landing page for a discount shoe company. 
• Interest — The landing page shows a selection of affordable running shoes, high-quality product images, and a strong CTA encouraging the visitor to "Shop now!"
• Consideration — Once the user clicks through to a product page, the website shows them a section highlighting the shoe's features, along with customer reviews to build trust. A tempting offer, such as free shipping or a coupon code popup message, creates urgency. ‍
• Conversion— After adding the shoes to their shopping cart, the user arrives at a quick and seamless checkout gateway. Options like a guest checkout for non-members and multiple payment methods make the conversion stage smoother and encourage them to take the last step. Finally, a confirmation page with a personalized "Thank You" message completes the funnel.

Best practices for creating an effective click funnel

To build a compelling click funnel for your website, keep these best practices in mind.

Craft a high-quality landing page

Your landing page design is a critical part of the interest stage, so ensure it's visually appealing, fast-loading, and focused on a specific CTA. The journey should flow logically alongside the message, with more information and trust-building elements to encourage people to move further into the funnel.

Use attention-grabbing headlines and a prominent CTA that matches the expectations set by the content that led them to the start of the click funnel. Whether they saw a limited-time offer or a specific product, keeping the initial awareness element and the first phase of the funnel consistent encourages visitors to take the desired action.

Focus on generating leads

To capture leads, offer a valuable resource, like a free product trial, an exclusive discount, or downloadable content. For higher success rates, design opt-in forms that aren't overwhelming. Only ask for the essential information you need so visitors can quickly complete the desired action.

Nurture qualified leads

Qualified leads are potential customers who have shown an interest in a product or service and are more likely to convert. They've moved beyond the awareness stage and have shown behaviors, such as downloading a guide or interacting with targeted content, to indicate that they genuinely need what you or your client offers.

After generating leads and bringing them to the website, the next step is guiding them toward conversion. Use compelling CTAs to encourage swift action and reduce drop-offs. These touchpoints should provide extra value to convince them that your product or service is the one they should choose over other options. The goal is to keep prospects interested and gradually move them toward making decisions.

Present opportunities to upgrade or add to their purchase

Once a lead is ready to convert, create upselling or cross-selling opportunities to increase the value of the transaction. If someone is buying a design template, for example, you could offer them an exclusive add-on for more functionality or a coupon for future purchases. You can also upsell premium versions of products or recommend complementary items to the ones already in their cart.

Gather feedback and optimize

It takes time to optimize click funnels, so collect data and feedback from analytics tools at each stage to see where people bounce from the site or drop off from the funnel route. Over time, you can refine specific web pages or change CTAs to yield better results and create a funnel that consistently converts.

Design high-converting click funnels with Webflow

Click funnels can turn visitors into customers by taking them through intentional steps that lead to conversions. By understanding your audience and creating relevant customer journeys, you can boost conversions and increase their bottom line.

With Webflow's visual-first design environment, you can create SEO-driven, appealing web pages that guide leads from search engine results to checkout pages. Webflow offers an extensive list of apps and integrations that share real-time marketing insights so you’ll know whether your click funnels are successful.

Get started with Webflow to design intuitive web experiences that convert.