The number one way to move your potential customers to conversion is to understand them: what brought them to your site, what they’re looking for, how they experience your website and, hopefully, how they decided to commit to buying your product. 

This is, in essence, the customer journey, and understanding the path to conversion is how you can lead more people down it.

Conversion funnels are a visual representation of that journey. Creating one will help you understand how to optimize the stages of your website’s selling process to find more customers and make more conversions.

If you’re an entrepreneur, or a startup, or a low effort kind of person (that’s me, I fit into this category), you might want to skip the pain of building a sales funnel from scratch and use a conversion funnel builder. 

To skip the pain of finding a good one, I’ve found the best funnel builders for you.

The Basics of a Conversion Funnel

There are four main stages of a conversion funnel: awareness, interest, desire and action. These are the stupid simple parts of purchasing, right? But having a full understanding of this process takes research, and optimizing this process takes planning.

Stage 1: Awareness

In this stage of the buying journey, your potential customers have no idea that you exist. They’re looking for something to help solve a problem, or reach a goal. Maybe they stumble upon your social media, or their keyword search lands them on your page.

The name of the game, then, is exposure, influence and engagement.

You have to make yourself more visible and attractive by offering up loads of free educational information like blog posts, webinars, reports, guides and videos. You have to show them that you have something that could benefit them.

At this point, they’re “visitors”, and the goal is not to make a hard sell.

This is also a good place to impress your brand upon them, and make them remember you.

Stage 2: Interest

This is where your “visitors” turn into potential leads. They’ve been hooked in the first stage, and now they’re trying to decide whether to engage with you or walk away. 

Here is where you’re going to make a connection with your leads, and start to build a relationship. This happens in two parts: leads learn more about you, and you learn more about them.

Continue to provide them with entertainment and educational content, offering freebies like free online courses, product samples or trials, or email newsletters. Engage with them on social media, respond to inquiries, and get an email. Make it easy for them to learn more about and connect with you.

Really, get an email: it’s the easiest way to connect with customers and provide offers.

You learn about your potential customers by building a profile of who they are. This is so that you can offer targeted content and offers tailored to them. Building a personalized profile of your target customers allows you to cultivate that relationship.

Stage 3: Desire

This is the stage where you generate the desire for your customer to act. Your customer may be scrutinizing your product, or deciding from an emotional standpoint whether your product is worth it. 

Your customer could be thinking: Does this new coffee machine have all of the features I need to make the best latte ever? Or, on the emotional side: Do I absolutely need this new hat?

Either way, you have to create a balance of meeting emotional and specific needs by showing the customer the benefits of your product. Then, institute a Call to Action (CTA) that gets them to the checkout stage.

Stage 4: Action

Finally, the stage we’ve all been waiting for: your customer has their amazing new product in their cart, and they’re on the checkout page.

You had better make sure the checkout process is as quick and simple as possible. If it’s not optimized for ease of use, payment options and transparency, all that hard work you did to guide your customer to this stage may have been for nothing.

There is also a second, often neglected, part of the customer journey: follow up. This is where loyalty building comes in, and how you turn a customer who’s made a single purchase into a repeat buyer. It’s less expensive to retain a customer than to go and generate new leads, and the back end of the sales funnel should be optimized as well.

That customer profile you built should be leveraged to make content continually appealing for your buyers. Offer discounts on their next item after they have made a first time purchase. Send out sales reminders and special events on that email newsletter they so graciously signed up for. 

Do not forget these repeat customers. It costs way more money to pique someone’s interest than to show your customers that you know and care about them. Loyalty generates way more revenue, too.

What makes a good conversion funnel?

I would be lying if I told you that your chances of converting were very high. But I would also be lying if I told you that you can’t do better than a 3% conversion rate.

Funnel builder software helps you to take your business’s goals and automate, refine and reiterate upon them. They can help you analyze and optimize landing pages, marketing campaigns and streamline the checkout process. 

Overall, a good sales funnel builder should:

• Be customizable enough to meet your specific business goals, from building brand awareness to retaining customers
• Be able to analyze your website’s shortcomings and offer suggestions on how to fix them
• Be able to quantitatively tell you if your pivots in customer acquisition strategies are working or not

With this, and the reminder that different industries will have different needs, let’s get to the good part: the best funnel builders to reach your business goals.

9 Best Funnel Builders to Build Sales Funnels that are Worth It

1. Kartra: An all-in-one platform for the beginners and the time-constrained
2. Dropfunnels: SEO powered blog and sales funnel wrapped up in one
3. Groove Funnels: A cost-effective alternative to funnel builders like Kartra
4. Leadpages: A leader in creating conversion driven landing pages
5. ActiveCampaign: A dominating force in the email marketing game
6. Autofunnel: A stupid fast way to get landing pages and sales funnels set up
7. ThriveCart: Exclusively focuses on the checkout process
8. Optimize Funnels: Designed specifically for WordPress users
9. ClickFunnels: A popular funnel builder with a killer affiliate program

1. Kartra: Best funnel Builder for an all-in-one marketing and sales platform.

Many funnel builders focus on specific stages of the customer buying process, so other software needs to be integrated to get a full picture of your site’s activity, user experience and places for optimization. Kartra has recognized the need for an all-in-one marketing and sales platform, and then, they delivered.

They offer a page builder for you to make a website, and they can also host your site. While the page builder is easy to use, it won’t live up to a dedicated web builder like WordPress. You can, however, integrate Kartra’s software into your site, so you don’t have to use their page builder.

There is a powerful A/B split tester for landing pages. Split testing allows you to create two versions of a landing page and show them randomly to users. The tester measures user engagement with each of the two pages. The most well received page wins, so you use that one.

Kartra’s split tester analyzes many parts of your landing pages at once, including videos, copy and overall design. This is very flexible as compared to other split testers, which only allow you to test small things, one at a time.

The software has a built-in shopping cart feature, which allows you to create in-depth offerings. You add a product to the platform, and then manipulate everything: payment options, pricing and trial products, thank you pages, cart abandonment procedures and more.

Kartra aims to take on Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign and Convert Kit — incredibly popular marketing softwares — with their email marketing tools. Kartra is gearing up for a tough fight there, but they came equipped with many tools:  email broadcasts, automation, tagging, sequencing, efficiently adding leads to email lists, I could go on.

They also have powerful marketing campaign software, which allows you to create a marketing campaign from scratch, or you can customize one of Kartra’s premade campaigns.

In fact, Kartra has 31 “Done For You” campaigns, which are full blown campaigns incorporating every stage of the conversion process. You choose one, customize it for your brand and business goals, and start generating traffic (and money).

They’re not the cheapest out there, for sure. But for all of the software they include, which you would have to separately find and put together — probably haphazardly — it’s worth it.

This is the best conversion funnel builder for beginners who are newer to the online business game, or those who have had to slap together plugins and services, and are looking for something more cohesive. It’s for people who don’t have the means to hire entire sales and marketing teams. It’s for those who want to spend less time working on software, and more time making sales and improving products.

2. DropFunnels: For meeting SEO and sales goals.

For those attempting to establish themselves as an authoritative source of information, or rank on Google in general, and still make sales goals, DropFunnels is the software for you.

DropFunnels has a front end web builder and blogging features powered by WordPress, so the platform is easy to use. A powerful hosting solution is included. You get an unlimited amount of landing pages, blog posts, membership sites and courses, unlimited leads and contacts, custom domain mapping, and an SSL certificate.

This all comes pretty standard in most marketing platforms, but what makes DropFunnel special is their powerful built in SEO capabilities. They have everything you need, setting titles, meta descriptions, sitemaps, and the ability to connect your socials. There’s Google Analytics, schema to show up on Google rankings, FAQ schema. You’ll have everything to streamline your online brand’s presence and conquer the internet. Or, you know, something like that.

If you are a blogger or content creator looking to sell, or a marketer who doesn’t want to hire an SEO expert, DropFunnels is the best funnel builder for you.

3. GrooveFunnels: For lifetime access to a low-cost alternative to Kartra.

GrooveFunnels is probably the newest funnel builder in the funnel building game as of 2020. The founder of Kartra left the company and started this company, making it a cost effective alternative to his original software. It is meant to compete in the same realm as Kartra, with all of its features.

The major appeal of this new software is that right now, pricing plans are pretty sweet. You can access many of their features, for free, with no credit card required. Or, you can pay a one time fee ($1397, paid all at once or over a year) for the entire suite of professional software packages currently in use, and everything that will be built in the future. These are both lifetime deals.

On the free plan, you’ll get the ability to build websites with custom domains, bandwidth and hosting. You’ll have the ability to sell products with a 1-click upsell (which tacks add-on products with a purchase). Create automated and behavioral based marketing campaigns, video campaigns and membership site platforms. For free.

The Lifetime Pro Plan (or will integrate – many features are still being developed) gives you the ability to create dedicated landing and checkout pages for Shopify owners. Or switch from Shopify to their alternative store builder, GrooveKart, in a matter of seconds. You’ll be able to create a WordPress-esque blog, and, like Zendesk, manage customer history. 

I’m going to be straight with you though: Right now, Groovefunnels is selling a promise. It’s still in BETA, and many of its features are still being developed. (If this content goes evergreen, maybe this will be irrelevant by the time you’re reading this.)

If you are looking for a great deal on conversion funnels and are ready to be in it for the long haul, GrooveFunnels is the web builder for you.

4. Leadpages: Best funnel builder for optimized landing pages.

Where your customer ends up when they get to your site can make or break both a sale, and the potential for a repeat customer. A sloppy product page or confusing checkout page can easily turn customers away.

Leadpages knows how critical this is. and the company created the software that does what a team of web designers and developers used to take weeks to do.

Leadpages software allows you to build conversion driving landing pages and A/B split test landing pages. Create pop-ups, forms, and call to action buttons. Sign up existing subscribers to something like a webinar using a clickable link. Use their drag-and-drag page builder and adding widgets.

There are also analytics tools, SEO and page tracking tools. You can connect to other marketing tools, such as email marketing and CRM. You can build an entire website using Leadpages, and they will host the site for you.

Alternatively, you can import your Leadpages work into your own website. The software easily integrates with WordPress, Squarespace, Joomla and more.

This software is not necessarily a one-stop-shop for site and marketing efforts. But if you want to focus on improving your landing pages, and have other marketing tools you’d like to integrate, then Leadpages is the best funnel builder for you.

5. ActiveCampaign: For hardcore email marketing efforts.

Good email marketing campaigns take time and practice to create. Once you have the basics of developing one, ActiveCampaign does the heavy lifting that comes with its execution. The bread and butter of this software is its ability to automate an entire campaign, once you’ve tweaked one of their 40 high quality templates. You only have to intervene when you want to change something.

The software supports multi-channel marketing, so you can send customized SMS and email messages. Get in-depth reports with crucial insights, such as page visits, geographic tracking and click-maps for your entire site. This information helps you build consumer profiles. You can A/B test email marketing campaigns, and you can migrate from other email marketing software for free. 

ActiveCampaign is the best conversion funnel builder for email marketers who understand the fundamentals of a good email campaign, and want to make the process simpler. Use this funnel builder’s simple flow-chart automation system, which you customize, and then just let it do its thing.

6. Autofunnel: To get campaigns up and running fast using automation.

Autofunnel is actually a software designed by GetResponse, which is a convenient email newsletter tool. They are known specifically as an email marketing platform, not a landing page designer or sales funnel builder.

Naturally, when GetResponse came out with this new software, many were skeptical. However, Autofunnel has proved itself to be great for getting conversion funnels and landing pages built quickly. These are automatically generated for you to tweak and then use.

The GetResponse Basic Plan offers email marketing and a landing page builder. You also have the ability to create webinars, forms and surveys, and you have a CRM tool. 

Higher plans offer this and an automated funnel tool, which includes 30 templates designed for selling products, growing your audience, and monetizing webinars. Once you choose one, your funnel is automatically generated. A funnel could include a product catalog, Facebook ad campaign, or adding to a subscriber list. It might be used to drive users to sales pages and sending abandoned cart recovery emails. You can also convert your site into a store by adding a payment option to your checkout pages. 

The Autofunnel feature was designed to be your one-stop-shop for quickly creating funnels and pages. This funnel builder is designed for those who have difficulty coming up with the right words or look for their landing pages. And for those who want to take all of the guesswork out of creating funnels. If this sounds like you, make the easiest decision out there and get the tool that makes all of the decisions for you.

(If you can find me a tool that does this for my whole life, let me know.)

7. ThriveCart: For that last, crucial checkout stage. Make the sale, guys.

Remember that saying: “I didn’t come this far to only come this far”? A lot of people credit Tom Brady with saying this, but it was actually Jessie Itzler. (I don’t necessarily hate Tom Brady, but I think it’s my civil duty to set the record straight.)

Anyway, this saying applies to your checkout process too. You didn’t optimize every part of your customer acquisition strategy to only fall flat because of your checkout page. That’s why you need a cart optimizing tool, and ThriveCart is the leading provider in this department.

That’s because ThriveCart has taken into consideration everything a cart setup needs to be successful.  These are conversion-centered design, reliable payment integration, the ability to integrate with other necessary tools. You’ll need the ability to handle tax, and you might nice-to-have features like coupon codes.

Quickly build stunning, modern looking checkout carts that are well organized and help people easily get through checkout. ThriveCart works with many payment processors, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal and Stripe. 

ThriveCart makes sure that recurring subscriptions are held within the payment providers that customers pay to. This way, if you decide in the future to change carts, ThriveCart doesn’t hold your subscribers within their system, but in that third party provider account that you’ll use later on. You’ll retain all your subscribers.

This cloud based software can be used in conjunction with email marketing tools like ActiveCampaign and MailChimp to reach your customers based on what they do while on your cart page. For example, if someone abandons their cart, this triggers an automatic action from your email marketing tools, which in this case is sending an abandoned cart reminder email to your (temporarily) lost customer.

ThriveCart can manage digital sales tax and value-added taxes, which is a big advantage it has over other carts. 

You have the ability to pre-fill fields in the checkout (things such as name and email address) from links in emails or on your site. That way the barrier of typing in tedious information is removed, and the buying process happens faster. You can also offer coupon codes so you can offer your customers special deals.

Right now, ThriveCart’s Standard plan is available for a one-time purchase of $495. This is apparently a sale though, so I don’t know what the product might cost when you’re reading this. It’s a chunk of money, but ThriveCart works hard to make your conversion efforts…thrive, for lack of a better word. If, for some reason your strategies aren’t working, ThriveCart’s team will work with you, for free, until it does. If, during the first 30 days, you find that nothing is working for you, you will be refunded in full.

ThriveCart is for people who want to sell things to people, plain and simple.

8. OptimizePress Funnels: WordPress site crew, this one’s for you.

Optimize Funnels is a new addition to OptimizePress, a WordPress plugin for creating high conversion landing pages. It’s a little late to the party, but a nice choice for a complete WordPress based conversion funnels. With this software, you own all of your funnels and content. This is so that even if you decide not to continue with OptimizePress, you still get to keep your funnels.

OptimizeFunnels does what most of the above funnel builders like Kartra do, except email marketing and and landing page hosting. Expect to add on other plugins to fully envision the customer’s journey through the stages of conversion.

If you want a complete, relatively affordable, “made for WordPress” funnel builder, then this is it.

9. ClickFunnels: A popular solution with the best funnel builder affiliate program.

ClickFunnels is well known in the digital marketer circle. This can be attributed to its founder, financial money-making wizard Russell Brunson — and ClickFunnels’ vast army of affiliates referring everyone and their mother to this product.

This is not to say that ClickFunnels is a bad product. It’s a good product. Certain plans include the ability to quickly and easily create landing and sales pages. There are templates for lead magnets, digital downloads, webinars and sales pages, among others. You build with a drag-and-drop editor, and can save templates and pages to use later. You can do A/B split testing, and, because they’re such a tour de force on the market, many third party providers have made it very easy to integrate with ClickFunnels.

Try a 14-day trial, and if you don’t like it, get a full refund. This product is a little steep in comparison to its competitors. High pricing is one of the major drawbacks that steer people away from it.

The Standard plan has all the main features for building sales funnels and pages. The Platinum plan, however, comes with many more tools. These include: one-time payments, subscription plans, unlimited funnels, pages, visits and custom domains, priority support, and template requests. 

The selling point of ClickFunnels is that it’s easy to use. Beginners can learn how to use the software in a couple hours, especially when you consider the huge community and the founder’s books about it. You should probably walk into this venture with a little technological literacy. But overall, the setup and deployment process is pretty intuitive and streamlined for efficiency. 

Customer service is not the best. It meets standards, but barely. Their support knows that their provided documentation answers the basic questions, and that their tools are new and not easy to work with for some users. In some cases, customer support has been found to be unresponsive or unhelpful. This is especially with more advanced questions. But, for general questions, they’re helpful enough, and so is the documentation. 

Or you could put that cult-like fan base to use. Power in numbers, right?

ClickFunnels is one of the best funnel builders for creative product selling and independent ventures. Many of their templates are suited for consultants, speakers, coaches, content selling businesses, people exclusively in ecommerce or people in network marketing. 

If you want simplicity, a great affiliate program and are selling something creative, ClickFunnels could be the one (to make conversions).

You should get to know your customers.

Making a sale is all about providing a solution to a customer’s problem. Getting to the sale is all about understanding how the customer gets to you, how they experience your site, and what gets them to commit to you. 

Funnel builders are the key to both answering those questions, and using those answers to improve (dare I say, perfect?) the conversion and retention process.

Convert more than 3% of your leads. Make money while proving me right.