How My Funnel Lost 135 Potential Customers (82.8%) (And What You Can Learn)

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I just ran a lead magnet giveaway, and the results were not what I expected. Only 17.18% of people who signed up actually completed my funnel.

Out of 163 initial sign-ups, a mere 28 made it through to the end. This journey through my marketing funnel revealed critical pain points at each step, from people forgetting to follow on social media to abandoned carts at checkout. Despite the leaks, this experience provided valuable insights to improve future campaigns.

Want to know exactly where I lost 135 potential customers and how you can avoid the same pitfalls?

Let me break down my funnel step-by-step, sharing the good, the bad, and the ugly of my recent lead magnet giveaway on X.

The Post Giveaway: Where It All Began

I kicked off my lead magnet giveaway by sharing it directly on X (Twitter). The goal was to make it as easy as possible for interested customers to get their hands on my course. It’s a free course showing people how to build there online business and start making money using Gumroad.

Here’s the link if you want to learn how to make money using Gumroad too.

Here's what the audience needed to do:

• Comment on the post

• Like the post

• Follow my account

Sounds simple, right? Well, here's where the first leak in my funnel appeared. Lots of people forgot to follow, which meant they didn't receive the automatic DM with the next steps. In order to get the auto DM, they needed to be following my account otherwise I can’t DM them.

Lesson learned: always make instructions crystal clear and consider following-up with a reminder to complete the actions.

The DM: A Direct Link to the Product

For those who successfully completed all three actions, the auto DM was sent with a link to the product. The next steps were simple:

• Open the DM

• Click the link

However, I discovered two major issues here:

• Many people never opened the DM

• Some opened it but forgot to click the link

Lesson learned: This taught me the importance of timing and follow-up. Because we’re all busy and we easily forget, sending a reminder message or using a more attention-grabbing DM could have improved this stage of the funnel.

The Landing Page That Can Make or Break Your Marketing Funnel

Visitors who clicked the link landed on my product landing page. Although the giveaway and DM clearly stated what they'd receive—a free product—the landing page offered more in-depth details about the course content. I anticipated visitors would:

• Read through the copy (optional)

• Click the Call-to-Action (CTA) button

The copy wasn’t long, simply because it’s a free product not meant to convince anyone of pulling out any payment details. It just covers the main points of the course, and some short copy to describe what you can expect to learn.

Lesson learned: Many visitors landed on the page but never clicked the CTA. This highlighted the need for a more compelling landing page design, clearer value proposition, and possibly A/B testing different CTA placements and copy.

The Checkout Page

For those who made it to the checkout page, the final steps were:

• Enter email address to receive the free product (course)

This stage revealed several challenges:

• Cart abandonment was high

• Some people couldn't complete the purchase due to technical issues

• Others entered incorrect email addresses

Determining exactly why so many people abandoned their cart is harder metric to pinpoint on your first try. But, as you keep accumulating data at this point, you can make slight changes like different copy, different images, different upsells (or no upsells), and required fields before submitting.

I only ask for the email address to deliver the product and offer an upsell to provide more value.

Lesson Learned: test different upsells that better match what customers are looking for and keep the copy simple and easy to understand.

The Thank You Page

After confirming the purchase, customers were directed to a thank you page with an access link and instructions. It was simple so they can get started without feeling lost on what to expect next. The final step was simple:

• Click the button to access the product.

• Receive the first email to the course.

However, I found that many people waited to access the product later and ended up forgetting about it entirely. This taught me the value of creating urgency and providing immediate value to encourage immediate engagement. But, at this point, the customer has received the product and they are now on the email list.

Lesson Learned: Add some of the value into the thank you page to motivate the customer to continue through the funnel.

Email Confirmation: The Safety Net

As a fail-safe, I sent a confirmation email with another link to the product. This way, they had multiple reminders and access points for the product. The customer's only task was to open the email. But, there’s two issues here:

• Some users had provided incorrect email addresses

• Emails sometimes landed in spam folders due to deliverability issues

I’m already using a good email service provider (ConvertKit*) for solid deliverability, but, this can be an issue if you are new to email marketing or using a bad ESP.

Lesson Learned: To increase email deliverability, consider implementing these two strategies:

• Use double opt-in: This ensures that subscribers genuinely want to receive your emails, reducing the likelihood of spam complaints.

• Regularly clean your email list: Remove inactive subscribers and bounced email addresses to maintain a healthy sender reputation.

Conclusion

Remember, even the best funnels have leaks. The key is to continually analyze, test, and improve based on data and user behavior. By addressing pain points, you can significantly boost conversion rates in future campaigns.

Want to dive deeper into funnel optimization and marketing strategies? Don't forget to sign up for my newsletter where I'll be sharing more insights and tips from this experience and future campaigns.

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* I am affiliated with the mentioned product in this article.