4 Signs To Start Sales Funnel From Scratch

Last updated on July 22nd, 2025 at 12:42 am

If your funnel is faltering, there’s always a sneaking suspicion in the back of your mind: “should I start over?”

Before you pull the plug on your funnel, take some time to understand the four signs that you need to start fresh and keep these tips in your back pocket for future funnels.

There’s nothing worse than sinking a bunch of time, energy and cash into a project just to watch it fail.

Although cutting our losses on a product or funnel may hurt our ego, needlessly pouring more money into something that simply isn’t working will hurt your wallet, too.

But how do you know when it’s time to sever and move on?

First and foremost, you need to assess your situation objectively.

It’s natural to be blinded by our own blood, sweat, and tears: therefore, you need to let the numbers speak for themselves.

For example, you take a good, hard look at the following elements of your funnel to diagnose its health sales-wise:

Traffic – Although it may take months to see your organic search efforts pay off, you should immediately be able to drive at least some traffic to your sites through ads and referrals. However, if you’re seeing little more than junk traffic that isn’t taking action, there’s probably something wrong.

Clicks vs. Conversions – Likewise, you need to forget about junk traffic that doesn’t convert and instead focus on users that actually take action. Although click-through rates may vary from industry to industry, a steady sales funnel should be able to sustain at least some sales after launch.

Budget – If you’re sinking your budget into paid ads but aren’t seeing an ROI, that’s a major rad flag. Additionally, you adage of “you’ve got to spend money to make money” doesn’t ring true for investing thousands of dollars into a funnel if you’re only getting pennies in return.

If you feel that your funnel is reaching a financial point of no return, what are you supposed to do?

Learn from your mistakes.

However, first, you need to figure what those mistakes are.

For better or for worse, novice funnel-hackers often face a similar set of pitfalls that eventually sink their sites. Thankfully, we’ve uncovered the surefire signs that it’s time to scrap your current funnel and start over.

Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, take action. By understanding the following four mistakes, you can avoid them in the future and make your future sales efforts that much stronger.

All Design, No Copy

 While we’ve stated time and time again that the elements of design are incredibly overlooked by many marketers, you absolutely cannot afford to sacrifice copy for the sake of a sexier sales funnel.

According to copywriting guru Joe Sugarman, the purpose of any ad design should be to get readers to read the first sentence of your copy or deal.

The same rules apply to your sales funnel: your design should drive traffic straight into your deals, not vice-versa.

You can hire a world-class designer to fill out your funnel; however, how can you expect anyone to convert without killer copy?

For starters consider:

CTAs – Despite having targeted traffic and the perfect product, you absolutely must give your visitors something to do: CTAs are often the missing piece between clicks and conversions.

Headlines – It’s absolutely impossible to grab your reader’s’ attention without a headline to pull them in: take a page out of Buzzfeed’s playbook by crafting headlines that pique your reader’s’ curiosity and drive them to keep reading.

Voice – Without a unique voice, you’re just another face in the crowd: not only does your copy need to be compelling, but also represent the voice of your brand.

Remember, neither design nor copy operate in a vacuum, but rather work hand in hand. How so?

• Create high-converting CTAs by combining copy, the psychology of colors and buttons that your copy pop
• Using imagery and examples that improve the flow of your copy and keep people reading (think: the principles of VSLs and long-form sales letters)
• Images and headlines will ultimately drive your readers from Point A to Point B: understanding user behavior through heat maps, for example, can guide how you decide to break up your content and find a balance between copy and imagery.

Design is absolutely crucial to the success of your funnel; however, it means very little with the proper copy to back it up.

If you’re not seeing success with your own copy, consider hiring someone with a track record to get you started.

Going With Your Gut Instead of Data

 Trusting your intuition versus data could signal your funnel as dead-on-arrival upon launch.

There’s a notion that data alone isn’t enough to run a successful empire, which is fair enough.

You do need a certain degree of intuition in the world of sales: after all, if you can’t trust your own common sense, what can you trust?

However, assuming that most marketers trust their gut versus hard numbers, the fact remains that understanding the data surrounding your products, traffic and competitors will help ensure your success versus those flying blind.

So, what data do you need to understand?

For starters:

• You need to understand whether or not your product is a winner: if you’re relying on an affiliate marketplace such as ClickBank, make sure that your affiliate product is actually selling
• How much your affiliate offer pays out: while Amazon sells just about anything, for example, their payout is a measly 4% for your first few sales, peaking at just over 8.50% (therefore, you’d more than likely need either a high ticket item or insane traffic to break even)
• Whether you’re not you’ve picked a crowded niche: take a look at competing sites in your space, understand what their traffic looks like and where it’s coming from

Luckily, there are plenty of free spy tools out there to do most of the legwork for you when it comes to crunching the numbers.

In short, you absolutely must do your homework when launching a funnel.

Making assumptions is the same as guessing: can you really afford to gamble with your budget?

You Don’t Know Your Customers…

 Beyond data, it’s crucial that you understand the ins and outs of your customer base.

After all, selling a weight loss affiliate to middle-aged women versus an enterprise software solution is to CEOS is apples and oranges.

Regardless of your offer, consider the following background information as a solid starting point for understanding your customers:

Demographics – Factors such as age, gender, location and income will ultimately shape your marketing message: for this reason, Neil Patel suggests creating a customer “persona” to help you truly get into the heads of your base and uncover what makes them tick.

Pain Points – What’s ailing your ideal customer? Are they trying to lose weight, earn more money or simply save time throughout their busy day? By touching on such points throughout your copy, you’ll be able to make an emotional connection with your readers and ultimately draw them through your funnel.

Competitors – Where else are your users spending money and how can you set yourself apart? After all, our audience has a finite budget: by understanding where else your potential customers’ money is going, you can better determine which offers and features to boast to draw their attention.

The better you know your customers, the more likely you are to push your deals; however, knowing your customers is only half the battle. How so?

 …Or Where Your Customers Hang Out

 Think about it: what good is understanding your base if you don’t know where your potential customers are hanging out?

Now, you may be able to uncover this information through a quick Google search.

For example, you may find that your customers are particularly active in private Facebook groups.

Perhaps they’re partaking in a lively discussion on forums such as Reddit.

However, how do you take these users and turn them into customers?

Once you know where your base spends their time, you can use a three-pronged approach of transforming them into traffic:

• Get into the trenches yourself by asking questions in groups or forums, contributing to the discussion by offering yourself as a potential solution (note: this doesn’t mean needlessly spamming or tossing out links)
• Sharing content which in turns encourages email opt-ins on your site, which can turn referral traffic into loyal subscribers that are hungry to buy from you
• Running advertisements on Facebook, if that’s where your customers are, as a means of introducing your brand and ultimately driving traffic back to your funnel

Just as you need to know where your customers hang out, you also need to understand where most of your traffic comes from.

You may uncover a base that primarily thrives on email: on the flip side, you may find social ads as a more prudent place to advertise your business.

Either way, spend quality time researching and mingling with potential customers as a means of growing your brand.

What are Your Signs of a Funnel Do-Over?

Funnel failure isn’t a reality that anyone wants to face; however, diagnosing your site’s mistakes and starting from scratch may be the best decision for the long-haul.

Just think: learning the so-called “hard” way will ensure that you avoid any major pitfalls in the future.

So, what are your tell-tale signs that it’s time to start a funnel from scratch?

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