We are all witnessing the huge impact that the internet is having on society, and there is no doubt that in the past few decades, the internet has been one of the biggest points of global debate.
Do its pros outweigh its cons? To be honest, the answer to this question depends on how you approach and use it. If you know the benefits of the internet and know how to use it consciously, you will be at a huge advantage compared to the people who don’t use it.
Internet use especially matters if you are starting an online business that is based on selling products and services.
As you might know, TV ads, pamphlets, and post mail letters were the traditional advertising methods for decades, but now, digital marketing is taking over, and it seems that there is no room left for the traditional methods.
Digital marketing has quite a few benefits of which some include being cheap, effective, widespread, and long term.
The major advantage of online advertising is the fact that you get to reach your target group, instead of random people that are not likely to become your customers.
In the past few years, sales funnels have taken over, and now relevant platforms are used by millions of entrepreneurs. But what are sales funnels in the first place? It is a marketing process that consists of four different steps to attract, convert, close, and delight your customers.
Most potential prospects stay in the first stage, and that is why your goal as an entrepreneur is to make them reach the end and become your long-term customers.
The Benefits of Sales Funnel Methods
While many think that responsive web design and SEO will be enough, it all depends on the type of company you are running. Investing in a sales funnel platform is beneficial for a few reasons.
First, you will be integrating both the SEO and web responsive design in the process, along with a variety of other features that aren’t allowed by the previously mentioned methods.
Apart from that, a sales funnel will help you raise brand awareness and, what might be the most important point, increase your return on investment (ROI).
By guiding your potential prospect through the four stages, they will realize the importance of your service or product, and how it is different from your competitors.
On the other hand, you will put your content to good use, and show your potential prospect that their problem will be solvable with the use of your product or service.
Lastly, with a sales funnel, you are going to create a network of stable customers who will always come back to your website when they need something covered by your area of business.
And not to forget, by using a sales funnel, you will get to analyze customer behavior and know what you should change in order to achieve better results.
The Sales Funnel Platforms
If you have been invested in an online business for a few years, you will probably have already heard about the platform called ClickFunnels. And there is no doubt why – it is one of the oldest sales funnel platforms, and is still the leader in the market.
But, if it is so good, why are there other platforms that are revered by entrepreneurs and business owners?
You see, ClickFunnels has one major con and that is that it is so expensive. The starting price of its packages is $97 per month, while the full package is a whopping $297, and such a price immediately excludes small businesses as well as individual entrepreneurs from using this platform.
That is why numerous alternatives have appeared, and now we have more than a few that can stand side to side with the ClickFunnels platform.
Apart from BuilderAll which is a young platform that carries a lot of potential, but still needs its bugs to be corrected, Systeme.io, appears to be the platform that can easily compete with ClickFunnels and is nowhere near as expensive.
But what should a sales funnel platform have and how can you know if it is a good one? Let’s compare Systeme.io and ClickFunnels, and find out the important points.
ClickFunnels – A Sales Funnel Evergreen
ClickFunnels was founded in 2014, and since then, the hype about it hasn’t seemed to stop because it is an all-inclusive sales funnel platform that allows you to maintain your strong online presence while marketing and selling your products in the process. And on top of all that, it is pretty easy to use.
The platform itself covers a variety of different features that are either meant for marketing or sales funnel building and creating attractive landing and sales pages, making these processes super easy. By using the drag-and-drop editor, you will be able to customize a variety of different funnel sets and templates and achieve the best results.
Once you have your pages set and ready, you will be able to publish it either using the WordPress plugin or sharing an HTML link on one of your social media profiles. Let’s not forget – ClickFunnels also includes the option to use your own domain as well, and that is one of the most important points in knowing a high-quality sales funnel platform.
Highlight Features
Given its high price you would expect that this platform comes with a variety of automated features, and easy-to-use tools – and guess what? It does. Still, the question remains if all that is worth the price, but for enterprises as well as larger businesses, it might be a good choice.
One of the best features that ClickFunnels allows for are the premade templates and funnel sets made by professional designers. This means that you will be able to save your time and energy on creating your own template but still find the one that suits your idea given the hundreds of options.
On the other hand, if you still want to customize and create one from scratch, ClickFunnels allows for that as well.
A major feature of ClickFunnels is eCommerce and through it, you will be able to advertise, sell your products and services, and receive online payments.
As ClickFunnels is integrated with numerous payment options, PayPal included, this will not be a problem, and everything about shipping can be made easier as well if you decide to integrate Shipstation.
It includes an easy-to-use drag-and-drop builder that will allow you to edit texts, backgrounds, pictures, videos, and templates in order to create a more attractive online presence.
Let’s not forget that one of the most important aspects of digital advertising is an affiliate program and ClickFunnels allows you to create such. Along with that, you can support it via a custom membership site, where you can include exclusive member benefits and a number of other advantages.
Streaming prerecorded or live webinars has never been easier, and with ClickFunnels you will be able to set up an automated webinar that can be advertised through an email marketing service. A great thing about ClickFunnels email marketing service is the fact that you can integrate it with other platforms such as MailChimp, Hubspot, and Aweber, and get even more out of your weekly email letters.
When it comes to integrating, we can’t go on without mentioning the fact that ClickFunnels is integrated with powerful platforms such as Shopify and WordPress – a big plus.
Of course, this platform allows for split testing, so before you finally publish or launch your site, you will get to test your pages (separately) and know their potential performance. And with the analytics feature, you will be able to track the performance of each funnel taking user behavior, page views, as well as successful conversions into consideration.
Last but not least, ClickFunnels offers good support through both the ticket that you can submit as well as through joining the social media community (Facebook, YouTube, etc.).
Can System.io be the Successor of ClickFunnels?
In the other corner, we have the platform that was designed by a French entrepreneur Aurelien Amacker – Systeme.io. Many people see it as the main competitor of ClickFunnels, and in fact, taking a look at the number of features it offers, we can safely say that it is a great alternative to ClickFunnels.
Time will tell if it can maybe even overthrow ClickFunnels given its current popularity. A huge advantage of Systeme.io is its pricing – the most expensive Systeme.io package is still 50% cheaper than the starting package of ClickFunnels. And you are not missing out on much with the lesser price – it is still an all-inclusive platform that is excellent for eCommerce, and marketing as well.
We do see Systeme.io as the best platform when it comes to online courses, as well as automation features.
Highlight Features
Same as ClickFunnels, Systeme.io offers a number of easy to use tools and features that will allow you to create a strong eCommerce platform and maintain a healthy relationship between you and your online prospects and customers.
First, it comes with an excellent drag-and-drop builder for which you don’t need any coding skills. Following the instructions, you will be able to develop an attractive landing page that will stand out from your competitors.
On the other hand, if you are not sure of your drag-and-drop builder skills, you can still enjoy the excellent feature called custom enrollment page. The Systeme.io experts are there and waiting to create your idea and design an extraordinary page according to your requirements.
Systeme.io, much like ClickFunnels, comes with an excellent affiliate program that will allow you to track the progress of this strategy, as well as receive and give affiliate payments.
Once again, the Systeme.io platform doesn’t lack custom domain connections either and you will get the option to host your funnels on the brand-named domain. This is a powerful strategy when it comes to raising brand awareness, and will, on the other hand, save you money, as it is included in this sales funnel platform.
Along with that, you can follow your progress through the enrollment and sales statistics, and know the separate success of each and every funnel. Last but not least, the contact database offered by Systeme.io proves to be critical and makes communication between your network easy.
What are the Pros of System.io Compared to ClickFunnels
Well, there is a good reason why Systeme.io is seen as the potential ClickFunnels overthrower. First, it offers three packages at affordable prices. The price varies depending on what’s included. The three packages are: Startup ($27); Webinars ($47); and Enterprise ($97).
On the other hand, ClickFunnels’s starting package is the same price as Systeme.io’s most expensive one, and for all the features you would have to pay $297 a month. Apart from Systeme.io being a lot cheaper, it is easier to use as well.
While it still lacks certain guides and testing tools, you don’t need high tech or coding skills to get around Systeme.io as most of the tools and features require only basic web knowledge.
Along with that, it comes with a variety of automated features such as automated email response, automated visual appearance, as well as automated updates.
We can’t forget to mention the fact that Systeme.io is mobile responsive as well, and has good speed optimization.
One of its biggest advantages is the fact that the payment system is integrated both with PayPal and Stripe, and in case any kind of problem occurs, you will be able to contact 24/7 live chat support, that we can safely say that is better than the one ClickFunnels offers.
Last but not least is the fact that the Systeme.io platform is available in both English and French, and that is something that is critical for all French-based entrepreneurs that aren't as skilled with the English language.
Final Verdict
While ClickFunnels has been the leader of all sales funnel platforms for the past few years, it is clear that Systeme.io is a great alternative, especially when it comes to online courses and webinar streaming. If you are an individual entrepreneur or you are running a smaller business, it might be just the right one for you and your budget.