Every move your prospect makes, from their first encounter with your business all the way to completing a transaction, requires your close attention. That’s where a sales funnel concept steps in, allowing you to understand and monitor each stage of your customer’s journey.
Modern sales funnel software can become your invaluable asset for gathering data on customer behavior, as well as creating, personalizing, and executing your marketing strategy. In this guide, we will explore the ten best sales funnel tools that will help you create a highly effective funnel that streamlines your lead nurturing process and, in turn, maximizes your profits.
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What is a sales funnel?
Before diving into different sales funnel tools, let’s clarify what “sales funnel” means. Essentially, it’s a map of your potential customer’s journey. It starts with their first introduction to your product or service and ends with their purchase while covering every stage in between.
Now, let’s take a look at the most fundamental sales funnel stages:
- Awareness. It’s the top of the funnel where your potential customers first discover your product or service. Their awareness may stem from your advertising, social media, blog, or other marketing channels.
- Interest. Your prospects express interest in your offerings. They may seek more information, explore their options, sign up for your newsletters, or engage with your content.
- Desire. Your potential customers develop a desire for your product or service and start actively considering a purchase.
- Action. It’s the final stage, where your prospect makes a purchase, becoming an actual customer.
The funnel metaphor is used for a reason here. An actual kitchen funnel narrows down from top to bottom. Similarly, not all your prospects will make it through all stages of your sales funnel, which narrows down your list of customers. Let’s visualize this with an image below.
A well-designed sales funnel aims to nurture your potential customers through their entire buyer journey — catch their attention, foster their interest and desire, and, ultimately, encourage them to place an order. While some of your prospects will inevitably drop out at different stages for various reasons, your ultimate goal is to increase the likelihood of conversions as much as possible.
What is sales funnel software?
Sales funnel tools are digital solutions designed to maximize the efficiency of your sales funnel. This software can help you streamline and automate tasks associated with each funnel stage, such as creating landing pages, sending follow-up emails, managing payment gateways, and more. While the specific features and capabilities may vary across different platforms, the main goal remains the same: to comprehensively manage and optimize your sales and marketing efforts, as well as track and boost engagement and conversions.
Sales funnel software features to look for
With such an abundance of sales funnel tools on the market, finding the right fit might get tricky if you don’t know what you can expect from them. To assist you in making an informed choice, we’ve compiled a list of the most fundamental features your sales funnel builder should have.
- Lead generation. First and foremost, your sales funnel software should offer robust lead capture mechanisms. It typically involves using forms, landing pages, and integrations across various channels to effectively gather prospects.
- Lead scoring. Once leads are captured, lead scoring functionality can help you evaluate your prospects based on their engagement and behavior, allowing you to prioritize high-value prospects.
- Sales pipeline management. Such functionality is necessary for organizing and visualizing different stages of your sales process.
- Email marketing. Sales funnel tools can also help you reach potential buyers through personalized email messaging. You can create emails from templates and track click and open rates to understand how effective your campaigns are.
- Automation. Using sales force automation tools from your sales funnel software can help you save time and effort on mundane administrative tasks.
- CRM. Integration with a CRM system is another crucial aspect, as it provides you with a unified view of all customer interactions, allowing for more relevant and personalized communication.
- A/B testing. This feature can help you experiment with various elements of your sales funnel. By systematically comparing different versions of your funnel components, you can identify and prioritize the best-performing ones to boost your conversions.
- Integrations. Many sales funnel tools can seamlessly integrate with other sales apps. It will allow you to share and use data across various platforms without switching between different browsers and transferring data manually.
- Analytics and reporting. These tools are essential for tracking key metrics such as conversion rates, lead sources, and overall sales funnel performance.
- Security compliance. Robust security measures are fundamental for any sales funnel software, as it’s imperative to protect sensitive customer data and comply with data privacy regulations.
These were features you’ll often find in the majority of reputable sales funnel tools. Leveraging them can greatly improve the effectiveness of your sales funnel, starting from lead acquisition up to conversion.
Top sales funnel software
Once you’ve clearly outlined your requirements and objectives, the next step is to choose the most suitable sales funnel software. Given the plethora of available tools on the market, we’ve compiled a list of some of the best options.
SendPulse
SendPulse is a comprehensive sales and marketing automation platform that can help you streamline every stage and process of your workflow. The service offers a wide range of tools for generating leads, nurturing them down your sales funnel through various marketing channels, and storing their data in the CRM system.
This sales funnel software allows you to create different types of sign-up forms and strategically place them on any webpage to attract subscribers. There’s an extensive variety of pre-made templates to choose from, which you can fully customize to suit your preferences. Besides, the platform also offers an AI-powered chatbot builder you can use to generate, nurture, and convert your leads across various social media and messaging platforms.
To streamline your prospect’s progression through your sales funnel, you can reach out to them via targeted email campaigns, SMS, and web push notifications, all available at SendPulse. The platform offers extensive analytics and allows you to segment your audience based on age, gender, geographical location, and activity to personalize your campaigns for maximum impact.
On top of it, SendPulse offers a CRM system that can provide you with a unified view of all your user data and customer interactions. It seamlessly integrates with all the platform’s features, including email services, SMS, and chatbot builder, allowing you to create, automate, and analyze your marketing campaigns from one place. Also, with SendPulse’s CRM, you can manually add deals or automatically generate them after client interactions on various communication channels.
Pricing: You can try all of SendPulse’s features at no cost. The platform’s free plan allows up to 5 users and 2 sales pipelines. Its entry-level paid plan starts at $29.80 if billed annually and includes up to 10 invited account users and 5 sales pipelines.
ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels stands out as a comprehensive and user-friendly sales funnel builder, designed to help businesses drive potential customers to their websites and guide them toward conversions.
This platform allows users to effortlessly create and customize sales funnels without any coding skills or technical background. It offers a diverse range of pre-designed templates available for creating websites, opt-in pages, landing pages, membership websites, and more.
ClickFunnels also provides a variety of automation features to streamline and optimize marketing and sales processes, such as automating your segments, email campaigns, and follow-up processes.
The service’s standout feature is a one-click upsell, which allows you to suggest additional products or upgrades to your customers right after they’ve entered their credit card information and completed a purchase. The platform also provides smart checkout features like customizable checkouts and automatic form filling.
For analytics and reporting, ClickFunnels offers a live analytics dashboard that provides valuable insights into your sales funnel’s performance. You can access summaries, explore tailored reports, and evaluate funnel conversions across different pages.
Pricing: ClickFunnels doesn’t offer a free plan but allows testing its features within a 14-day trial. Additionally, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee after the trial period. The most affordable plan starts at $127 monthly with an annual discount. With this plan, users can create up to 20 funnels and manage up to 10,000 contacts.
Leadpages
Leadpages is another popular sales funnel tool, providing businesses with an easy way to create highly effective landing pages. The platform gives users access to a diverse range of 250 ready-made templates and a user-friendly drag-and-drop editor, allowing you to craft visually appealing, easily customizable landing pages and funnels. Furthermore, Leadpages offers a comprehensive conversion toolkit that includes pop-ups, alert bars, lead-generation forms, and more.
Leadpages seamlessly integrates with many well-known email marketing services, CRM systems, and payment gateways. Such impressive integration capabilities ensure smooth data flow and enhance the overall efficiency of your sales funnel. With Leadpages, you can also monitor your performance in real-time and conduct limitless A/B tests to optimize your outcomes.
Pricing: There are two paid plans available for Leadpages. The most affordable one is priced at $37/month for an annual subscription. The plan includes a drag-and-drop landing page builder, 10,000 monthly AI Engine credits, 250+ templates, 1 custom domain, and unlimited traffic and leads. You can test the service within a 14-day trial period before committing to a paid subscription.
Zendesk Sell
Zendesk Sell is a straightforward CRM solution with an intuitive lead-tracking system and a suite of tools for effective lead generation. These tools include a landing page builder, web forms, and automated lead scoring, among others.
With Zendesk Sell, you can effortlessly manage your contacts and retrieve all the necessary information. This sales funnel builder lets you handle large volumes of potential buyers and automatically generate precise real-time reports, allowing you to have a practical evaluation of your business’s overall status.
Zendesk’s CRM system offers easily implementable features such as email insights, a customizable dashboard, acquisition tools, and mobile access. Additionally, you can enhance team productivity by establishing triggers and automating tasks. For reporting and analytics, Zendesk provides complete visibility, allowing businesses to plan, track, and analyze sales processes with ease.
Pricing: While Zendesk Sell doesn’t provide a free plan, you can try out the platform on a free 14-day trial. The most affordable plan starts at $19/month for 1 agent and includes up to 2 customizable sales pipelines, a pre-built sales dashboard, and email and calendar integrations. However, it’s important to note that the platform charges on a per-agent basis per month, making it relatively expensive for larger teams.
HubSpot
HubSpot is another comprehensive sales funnel tool that offers powerful engagement features, including customizable landing page templates, a content creation and distribution infrastructure, and robust email automation capabilities. With a CRM system at its core, HubSpot can cater to all your marketing, sales, and customer service needs.
The platform offers users easy access to each lead’s history, including essential details like company information and a comprehensive timeline of interactions. This provides valuable insights into every touchpoint between the contact and your business.
One of the standout features of HubSpot’s lead management software is its automatic lead prioritization based on custom scoring criteria. These lead scores can help you assign prospects to your sales team or trigger targeted workflows, making your sales process more efficient.
Pricing: You use some of HubSpot’s CRM tools without any charges. To unlock advanced CRM features, you will need to purchase one of its paid plans. Its cheapest plan starts at $20/month if billed annually and includes two deal pipelines per account and 50 active segmentation lists.
GetResponse
GetResponse is another all-in-one solution that offers a wide range of marketing features. The platform’s sales funnel builder allows users to effortlessly configure various buyer journey elements, including social media campaigns, landing pages, webinars, and email automations.
GetResponse really stands out for its straightforward setup and quick implementation. It provides businesses with a clear visual representation of how their leads progress through the sales funnel.
The platform offers over 30 professionally designed scenarios to help businesses grow and sell more effectively and provides simple opt-in funnels for capturing new leads and lead magnet funnels. Also, this software offers a diverse selection of sales pages and order form templates.
Pricing: You can use GetResponse for free with a limitation of 500 contacts. Its sales funnel builder is also available within GetResponse’s Marketing Automation suite, priced at $48.70/month if billed annually. Aside from the sales funnel builder, the package also includes an email marketing suite and up to 5 active websites, among other features.
Kajabi
Kajabi is another all-in-one platform designed to provide essential tools for running a digital business. Although primarily tailored for course creators, this solution also provides robust sales and marketing features.
Businesses can use Kajabi to build a blog, craft landing pages, run email campaigns, create checkout pages, or initiate their affiliate programs. What sets Kajabi apart is its visual sales funnel builder. With its ready-to-use funnel templates, it takes a few clicks to tailor them to your needs. Every funnel comes equipped with pre-written copy crafted from the sales funnels. You will need to fill in the blanks and customize it to your preferences.
Pricing: Kajabi doesn’t provide a free plan, but you can test the service with its free trial. After that, you’ll need to switch to one of the paid plans. The most affordable one costs $119/month, billed annually, and includes 3 funnels, unlimited landing pages and emails, 10,000 contacts, and 1 admin user.
Kartra
Kartra is a marketing and sales solution that provides a range of features for managing leads across various stages of your sales funnel. These features include a landing and website builder, email marketing automations, opt-in forms, a ticketing system, video hosting, and checkout forms.
The platform’s drag-and-drop editor allows you to easily create a comprehensive sales funnel for your prospects. There are plenty of customization and automation options available, allowing you to set rules, conditions, and triggers for your sequences and effectively guide your prospects through their buyer journey.
Kartra also allows you to closely monitor your customers’ progress as they move through your sequences, providing you with real-time insights into the number of individuals at each specific step. It gives you access to various crucial metrics, such as the percentage of users reaching the final step, the most common exit point, and more.
Pricing: Kartra offers a free 30-day trial. After its expiration, you’ll need to select a paid plan to keep using the service. The most affordable one starts at $99/month and includes up to 5 team members and 2,500 contacts, funnels and campaigns, automated sequences, and advanced analytics.
ActiveCampaign
ActiveCampaign is a comprehensive marketing automation software that encompasses email marketing, sales pipeline management, multichannel marketing, and customer relationship management, among others.
The platform provides a wide range of tools for building highly effective sales funnels. Some of the platform’s notable features include customer journey mapping, site tracking, segmentation, and triggered follow-ups. There are also numerous automation features you can use to create automated sales pipelines and score leads.
One of the standout aspects of this sales funnel tool is its CRM system. It can facilitate the synchronization of contact data, tracking interactions, and acquiring valuable insights into your leads and customers.
Pricing: ActiveCampaign provides a range of plans tailored for marketing, sales, or bundled options for those needing both. The most affordable bundle is priced at $93 per month for 1,000 contacts if billed annually. It includes marketing and sales automation features, forms, and landing pages.
Keap
Keap is another flexible sales and marketing platform that can help you effectively guide prospects through your sales pipeline. It provides a range of useful features, including a convenient drag-and-drop sales funnel builder, CRM system, automated lead scoring, appointment booking, customer surveys, and automated follow-up emails, among many others.
This platform offers extensive analytics and reporting capabilities that allow users to access ROI tracking, view contacts’ performance through each stage of their customer journey, forecast payments, etc. Besides, Keap offers a multitude of integrations for streamlining lead generation, sales tracking, email marketing, reporting, and scheduling.
Pricing: Keap doesn’t provide a free plan, but you can opt for a free trial to test its functionality. The cheapest plan starts at $159/month for 1,500 contacts and 2 users. You will get access to email marketing, marketing, sales, workflow automations, CRM, etc.
Final thoughts
Discovering the ideal sales funnel tool for your business doesn’t have to be difficult. Take some time to research and assess the software on the market and carefully compare their features with the specific requirements of your company. For a better overview of the solutions presented in this post, we’ve compiled a table with the essential information.
Software | Free plan | The cheapest paid plan | Key feature |
SendPulse | + | $29.80/month | All-in-one sales and marketing solution |
ClickFunnels | – | $127/month | One-click upsell |
Leadpages | – | $37/month | AI engine |
Zendesk Sell | – | $21/month | Pre-built sales dashboards |
HubSpot | + | $20/month | Automated lead follow-ups |
GetResponse | + | $48.70/month | Ready-to-use funnel scenarios |
Kajabi | – | $119/month | Creator studio |
Kartra | – | $99/month | Pre-made marketing campaigns |
ActiveCampaign | – | $93/month | Pre-build automations |
Keap | – | $159/month | Advanced tracking and reporting |
The most effective way to determine if a platform suits your company is to take advantage of a free trial. This allows you to explore their features and experience everything firsthand.
With SendPulse, you can start at no charge and stay on a free plan as long as you like. Using the service, you will benefit from a wide array of functionalities, such as email marketing, CRM, chatbots, and even an online course builder. Don’t hesitate to give it a try today!