Last updated on December 18th, 2025 at 03:02 pm
Building an engaged email list is one of the best investments that you can make as an entrepreneur. Why?
Because email marketing can be extremely effective when done right. According to DMA’s research, marketers estimated that the ROI for every £1 spent on email marketing was £35.41. That’s a 3541% return on investment!
And that’s just the average ROI which means that you could almost certainly do better than that if you put your mind to it.
So how can you use email marketing to drive sales?
Here are seven hacks that can help you with that…
#1: Design Your Sales Funnel First
Email marketing doesn’t exist in isolation – it should always be viewed in the context of your overall sales funnel.
And email marketing hacks won’t help you if your sales funnel is a mess. That’s why we recommend designing your sales funnel first!
If you are not interested in this subject and want to get straight into email marketing, you can skip ahead using the table of contents above.
But we highly advise reading this section because a well-designed sales funnel will help you drive sales!
What is a Sales Funnel?
A sales funnel is a system for converting potential customers into leads, leads into paying customers and paying customers into repeat customers.
Here’s the core structure of a sales funnel:
- Top of the funnel: Potential customers aka target audience.
- Middle of the funnel: Leads aka potential customers that have expressed interest in your product or service and gave you their contact details.
- Bottom of the funnel: Customers.
While this core structure can be helpful for understanding how sales funnels work, it’s way too general to be useful in the practical sense.
That’s why when online marketers talk about sales funnels, they are typically talking about specific sales funnel models which are much more detailed.
There are several popular sales funnel models out there. So which one should you use for your business?
What is the Value Ladder Sales Funnel?
We believe that the most effective way to sell anything online is the Value Ladder sales funnel.
It was created by our co-founder Russell Brunson who then used it to take ClickFunnels from zero to $10M+ in annual revenue in just one year (it’s at $100M+ now!).
This sales funnel has four stages:
- Bait – You offer the potential customer your lead magnet in exchange for their email address.
- Frontend – You offer the potential customer your least expensive and least valuable product or service.
- Middle – You offer the customer a more expensive and more valuable product or service.
- Backend – You offer the customer your most expensive and most valuable product or service.
Ideally, you also offer a continuity program of some sort, meaning, a subscription product that generates recurring revenue.
We also recommend adding downsells, upsells, and cross sells to these core offers in order to maximize your revenue.
The reason why this sales funnel works so well is that it allows you to:
- Start the relationship with that person by offering free value
- Nurture that relationship by continuing to provide free value via email
- Build trust by providing progressively more paid value at each stage
Here’s how Russell explains it:
How to Build a Value Ladder Sales Funnel
The Value Ladder sales funnel graph above might seem overwhelming. What if you don’t have four offers + a continuity program + upsells, downsells, and cross sells??
Fortunately, you don’t need all that to get started, you can build a basic Value Ladder sales funnel with just the lead magnet + a frontend offer.
Here’s how:
Step #1: Create a Super Valuable Lead Magnet
A lead magnet is a freebie that you offer to potential customers in exchange for their email addresses.
It can be anything that they can either download to their device or access online:
- A report
- An eBook
- An email course
- A video course
- A webinar
…etc.
There are also advanced “FREE + Shipping” lead magnets where you offer a physical product for free but ask the potential customer to cover the shipping costs.
For Example:
Russell has written three best-selling books on the subject of making money online.
All three books are available on Amazon but you can also get them for free provided that you pay for the shipping:
Of course, physical lead magnets are much more expensive to produce, plus you also have to store them somewhere.
This means that you need to run the numbers and make sure that the math works if you want to go the “FREE + Shipping” route.
If you have never built a sales funnel before, it’s probably best to start with a digital lead magnet because a physical one would introduce an unnecessary risk that you may not be prepared to handle at this point in time.
Either way, regardless of whether you decide to go with a digital lead magnet or a physical lead magnet, you want to make sure that:
- Your lead magnet provides a solution to a problem that the potential customer is struggling with.
- That solution is either the same one or related to the one that your frontend offer addresses.
The purpose of your lead magnet isn’t just to serve as bait that attracts potential customers, it’s also to set the stage for your upcoming frontend offer pitch.
One way to do that is the “free sample” approach where your lead magnet is effectively a free sample of your frontend offer.
For Example:
Matthew Hussey, a world-renowned dating coach, has a lead magnet called “9 Magic Texts No Man Can Resist”.
It’s a guide that features nine text message scripts that women can copy-paste when texting men they are interested in.
This lead magnet serves as a free sample of Matthew’s frontend product called “The Momentum Texts” which is a guide that features 67 more text message scripts.
If a woman downloads “9 Magic Texts No Man Can Resist”, tries out the text message scripts, and gets good results, she will probably be interested in “The Momentum Texts”.
See how there’s a logical progression from the lead magnet to the frontend offer?
Another way to set the stage for your frontend offer is to provide relevant information with your lead magnet, then pitch a tool that can help the potential customer to implement it.
For Example:
Russell’s book “DotCom Secrets” is all about growing online businesses with sales funnels and covers this subject in great depth.
Get “DotCom Secrets” for FREE!
People who read it and decide to implement his advice need funnel building software… And that provides us with a perfect opportunity to pitch ClickFunnels!
Again, there’s a logical progression from the lead magnet to the frontend offer, which makes it much easier to sell it.
Also, the more valuable your lead magnet, the more likely the potential customer will be to buy your frontend product.
So make sure that it exceeds all expectations!
Step #2: Create a Landing Page for Your Lead Magnet
Once you have your lead magnet, you need to create a landing page for it. It doesn’t have to be complicated – you can start with a simple squeeze page!
For Example:
Here’s a squeeze page that we use to promote our “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook” lead magnet:
Get “The Funnel Hacker’s Cookbook” for FREE!
We don’t recommend designing your landing page from scratch if you don’t have any previous landing page design experience. Why?
Because online marketers have been relentlessly A/B testing landing pages for more than twenty years now.
At this point, we know what works and what doesn’t work when it comes to landing page design. Or, to be more precise, we know what’s most likely to work!
That’s why the most reliable way to create a landing page that converts well is to use a proven template that follows the best landing page design practices.
Our software, ClickFunnels, includes a template library that features high-converting landing page templates for all of the most common use cases.
So why waste time reinventing the wheel when you can simply do what’s been proven to work?
Start Your ClickFunnels 14-Day Free Trial Now!
Step #3: Create an Irresistible Frontend Offer
Can you use an existing product as your frontend offer?
Yes, you can, but we highly recommend creating a new product specifically for that.
Here’s how:
- Make it digital – Even if you are in the business of providing services or selling physical products, you want your frontend offer to be digital. Why?
Because booking a service requires scheduling an appointment and ordering a physical product requires paying for shipping and then waiting for the item to arrive.
Purchasing a digital product is much less hassle in comparison which is why people are more likely to buy them on a whim. - Make it valuable but inexpensive – In our experience, $7 is the perfect price point for a frontend offer. Why?
Because it’s not low enough to make potential customers doubt the quality of the product but also not high enough to make them stop and think twice before purchasing it. - Offer a 30-day money-back guarantee – Removing all financial risk from the purchase decision will reassure the potential customer. Worst case scenario, they can simply get a refund, right?
It’s important to understand that the purpose of your frontend offer isn’t to make you loads of money, it’s to convert leads into paying customers.
That being said, if your frontend offer is digital, then it’s going to have a high profit margin, so it will still contribute to your bottom line.
For Example:
Russell primarily used webinar funnels to grow ClickFunnels from zero to $10M in annual revenue in just one year.
He could charge a lot for teaching other entrepreneurs how to use webinar funnels to grow their businesses.
However, he decided to put all his knowledge into an info product called “Perfect Webinar Secrets” instead, then use it as one of our frontend offers.
And yes, it only costs $7!
Get “Perfect Webinar Secrets” for just $7!
Step #4: Create a Sales Page for Your Frontend Offer
Once you have your frontend offer, you need to create a sales page for it.
Just as with landing pages, if you don’t have any previous experience designing sales pages, we don’t recommend building one from scratch.
ClickFunnels template library includes proven, high-converting sales page templates for various use cases, so you can simply pick one that suits your needs the best.
As for the sales copy, we suggest reading our friend Jim Edwards’ book “Copywriting Secrets”.
It was designed to serve as a shortcut for busy entrepreneurs who want to learn copywriting FAST!
Get “Copywriting Secrets” for FREE!
Step #5: Create a 6-Email Welcome Sequence
We don’t recommend hitting the potential customer with a sales pitch the moment they give you their email address.
Send them this 6-email sequence instead:
- Email #1: Who Are You? Introduce yourself to the new subscriber.
- Email #2: Where Did You Come From? Share your origin story. How did you come to do what you do now?
- Email #3: What Do You Do? Explain what you do in more detail.
- Email #4: How Did You Gain This Expertise? Explain what makes you qualified to do what you do. Mention relevant education, credentials, and accomplishments.
- Email #5: Who Do You Do This For? Explain who are your dream customers + share a case study on how you helped such a person to get the results that they wanted.
- Email #6: How Can You Do It For Me? Pitch your frontend offer and provide a link to its sales page.
Bonus tip:
End emails 1-5 with a question and a call to action encouraging the new subscriber to hit the reply button and let you know what they think.
Ideally, you want to respond to every email from new subscribers, as that will help you build trust with them and make them feel appreciated.
Start Driving Traffic to Your Lead Magnet Landing Page!
Now that your Value Ladder sales funnel is all set up, it’s time to start driving traffic to your lead magnet landing page.
Paid advertising is the best way to do that because paid traffic is targeted, predictable, and scalable.
All major social media platforms allow you to run ads on them:
- YouTube
- TikTok
Pick the platform that makes the most sense for your business, create an ad campaign designed to promote your lead magnet, and start running it with a small daily budget.
Once you figure out how to run ads profitably, you can start scaling your campaign.
You can also use conversion rate optimization to 2x, 5x, or even 10x your funnel profits!
#2: Use Email Segmentation
Email segmentation is an email marketing practice where you segment your email list based on various criteria such as:
- Traffic source
- Demographic data
- Subscriber behavior
- Browsing history
- Purchase history
…etc.
This gives you the option to send targeted emails to specific subscriber segments and ensure that your offers are as relevant as possible.
You can also use email segmentation to exclude specific subscriber segments when the offer in question isn’t relevant to them.
For Example:
Let’s say you are selling an online course that only becomes available a few times a year.
You can use email segmentation to create a segment of subscribers that have already purchased the course so that you could exclude them from future relaunch emails.
#3: Use Marketing Automation
Marketing automation is an email marketing practice where you create automated workflows based on behavioral triggers.
That allows you to automatically tailor your email content to each individual subscriber.
For Example:
Let’s say that a subscriber visited your e-commerce store and put something in their cart but then left without buying.
You can use marketing automation to create an abandoned cart workflow where you automatically send them an email reminding them about the products in their cart and encouraging them to finalize the purchase.
Another Example:
Imagine that a subscriber visited your store and browsed your catalog but then left without putting anything in their cart.
You can use marketing automation to automatically send them product recommendation emails based on their browsing history.
In fact, Amazon does this all the time:
Of course, marketing automation isn’t exclusive to e-commerce, you can create automated workflows for any business that has an email list!
#4: Implement the Hook, Story, Offer Copywriting Framework
We recommend using the Hook, Story, Offer copywriting framework in your sales emails. That’s what we do and it has worked extremely well for us!
- Hook – Grab the subscriber’s attention with a compelling subject line.
- Story – Tell the subscriber a captivating story that resonates with them on an emotional level.
- Offer – Transition from the story to the sales pitch and then to the call to action.
Example: You Want Me to Pay Me How Much for My Iphone?
Here’s a real sales email that we use in one of our email marketing campaigns:
Subject line: you want to pay me HOW MUCH for my iphone?
There I was.
On stage.
In front of 2,000 attendees, all high achievers.
And I knew this would be one of the most valuable concepts I could possibly share with them.
It’s the key to getting what you want in business, but also the key to getting anything you want in LIFE.
So I pulled out my new iPhone.
Asked the audience if anyone would give me $100k for it.
No one’s hand went up. (of course)
Then I explained what was actually ON the phone.
- Apples books app – with over $750k in courses that I have collected over the years.
- My contacts list – which is a virtual who’s who in the business, marketing and software world.
- Voxer – full of my high end clients who pay me $100k/year to ask me any question at any time.
- Other apps – like google apps with all our company’s SOP’s.
“Who here would give me $600 for this phone?” I asked.
EVERY hand in the room was up.
“$1,000?”
Not a single hand went down.
“$5,000?”
Still not a hand dropped.
“$10,000?” … “$20,000?” … “$250,000?”
Each increase a few hands would drop.
Finally, I said …
“If you are willing to pay $750,000 for my phone right now, come up on stage with me.”
Several people did get up on stage with me.
Then I explained to everyone in the room the valuable lesson they just observed.
There are two ways to have the lowest price product in your market.
The first is to decrease the price of what you sell (and cut out your margins and profit).
The second is to increase the value so much that when you sell it for what it’s worth, it seems inexpensive.
This is why you want to use the Hook, Story, Offer framework.
You start by hooking them to grab their attention.
Then I told stories to increase the perceived value.
Finally, I made an offer … and within minutes the value of the phone went from $600 to over $750,000. Understandably, these results were extraordinary but it evidences the possibility.
I’ve just shown you a glimpse of how quickly we can change the value of a product by changing it into an offer and dramatically increasing its value by using stories and a hook to grab attention.
Of course, once you use the Hook, Story, Offer framework – where do you think you will send people when it’s time to make an offer?
Correct – a FUNNEL.
Because they work. 🙂
If you want to build gorgeous looking funnels that can convert, FAST… without the need for expensive designers or developers… the best way I know of is by using ClickFunnels.
Rather than try to convince you how good ClickFunnels is, I’m just going to give you free access for two weeks and let you see for yourself 🙂
Try it out and see just how easy it is to use.
Click here to try ClickFunnels for free for 14 days >>
Enjoy!
Thanks,
Russell Brunson
P.S. – Don’t forget, you’re just one funnel away…
See how Russell grabs the subscriber’s attention with a subject line that piques their curiosity, tells them a captivating story, then pitches our software and ends the email with a call to action?
Also, note how the story includes a valuable business lesson, something that the subscriber can benefit from even if they don’t sign up for our free trial.
It’s important to provide free value in your sales emails so that your subscribers would keep opening and reading them even if they aren’t interested in buying from you at this point in time!
#5: Launch an Email Newsletter
Entrepreneurs who use email marketing have to deal with this conundrum:
On the one hand, if you want to stay top of mind with your subscribers, you need to email them regularly.
On the other hand, no one appreciates being bombarded with endless sales pitches, which means that you will alienate your subscribers if you overdo it with sales emails.
So how can you stay in touch with them without coming across as obnoxious?
We believe that launching an email newsletter is the best solution to this problem.
You can start with a weekly links roundup newsletter where you share interesting content (articles, podcast episodes, videos, etc.) related to your niche.
Once you get that going, you can start expanding the scope of your newsletter by adding original content in the form of educational articles.
And once you get the hang of that, you can expand the scope of your newsletter even further by adding original interviews and case studies.
If you don’t have time to run your newsletter, you can always outsource that to a freelance writer.
You can find writers on job boards such as ProBlogger Jobs, Best Writing, and Dynamite Jobs.
Ideally, you want a writer who has a proven track record of producing high-quality content in your niche, especially if you are targeting a professional audience (e.g. you’re in tech and your target audience is software developers).
Also, keep in mind that the old adage “If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys” remains true, so resist the temptation to hire whoever offers to do the job for the lowest price.
Hire the most competent writer instead!
#6: Optimize for Lead Quality
Leads can be separated into three categories:
- Low-quality leads that are highly unlikely to convert into paying customers.
- Medium-quality leads that are somewhat likely to convert into paying customers.
- High-quality leads that are highly likely to convert into paying customers.
When you are just starting out, you may not have enough data to optimize for lead quality so you need to make your best guess as to who might be interested in your products and services and then target them in your ad campaigns.
However, as your email list grows, you will accumulate sales data, which you can then use to determine which leads are the most likely to convert to paying customers. Who’s actually buying your products?
You want to figure out what people who convert into paying customers have in common so that you could use those common traits in your ad targeting.
You also want to figure out what people who are not converting into paying customers have in common so that you could exclude them from your ad campaigns.
For Example:
When Noah Kagan, the founder of Sumo and AppSumo, looked at the data, he realized that women who subscribed to his email list weren’t opening his emails. What did he do then?
He stopped targeting women in his Facebook ads campaigns.
Here’s how Noah explains it:
“It’s not that I don’t like women. I love them!
But the point is that they are not actually as interested in my content.
There’s probably someone who can better share that type of content with them.
So I target my audience which is males, 25-44.”
Excluding entire demographics like that may feel uncomfortable at first but that’s what you need to do if you want to improve lead quality, generate more sales, and increase your revenue!
#7: Regularly Prune Your Email List!
As your email list grows, you will inevitably start accumulating inactive subscribers, which is why it’s important to regularly prune it.
The best way to do it is to create an automated workflow for that:
- Set up a behavioral trigger – If the subscriber hasn’t opened your emails in three months, this pruning sequence should be activated.
- Send them a confirmation email asking them to confirm that they want to stay subscribed to your email list by clicking a confirmation link.
- Split the workflow into three paths:
If they didn’t open the confirmation email then remove them from your list.
If they did open the email but didn’t click the confirmation link also remove them from your list.
If they opened the email and clicked on the confirmation link keep them on your list.
That way, you will automatically remove inactive subscribers, which will help you ensure that your email list remains engaged as it grows.
Also, regular email list pruning can help you avoid getting marked as spam, maintain deliverability, and prevent metric distortion.
Build a Sales Funnel for Your Business With ClickFunnels!
ClickFunnels has everything you need to build a sales funnel for your business:
- Sales funnel and landing page templates.
- Visual editor that you can use to customize those templates.
- Email marketing functionality that allows you to send broadcast emails, set up automated email sequences, and create email workflows with behavioral triggers.
What’s best is that we have a free trial which means that you can check out our software without any risk.
So why not start building your Value Ladder sales funnel today?