Ever wondered if there are any disadvantages to adding a sales funnel into your business?
It doesn’t matter if you are a big company or a small one, I would say that most businesses uses some kind of funnel or pipeline to sell their stuff.
And since sales funnels has grown in popularity over the years, and with so many using them to increase their revenue…
You could for sure start to wonder it there are any drawbacks at all.
Afterall, I can almost guarantee that you are interested in wanting to convert as many leads as possible.
But are sales funnels the right way to do it?
So the question is…
Are there any disadvantages to adding a sales funnel to your business?
And more importantly, do the outweigh the benefits…?
Well, that’s what I want to answer today.
Let’s dive right in…
What are the disadvantages of having a sales funnel?
Ever since I started my first online business, I’ve incorporated sales funnel in some way, shape, or form.
And over the years, I’ve really grown to become a fan of them.
By using funnels I’ve managed to grow my business from nothing to something actually worth being proud of.
But my love for the sales funnel has also given me first hand insights into the good and bad with them.
So…
Despite all of the advantages, there are still some disadvantages with a sales funnel that I’d like to point out.
But before we dive into that, I feel like I need to say this…
This article is not intended to give sales funnels a bad rep, I only want you to get the full scoop before you decide if they are for you.
I want you to see that I’m all about transparency and that if something is worth pointing out, good or bad, I’ll do so.
Secondly, I’d like to say that if you’re interested in funnels, I hope this guide can help you develop a solid game plan. While also helping you to make a good and informed decision.
Now, here are, what I believe are, 10 disadvantages of having a sales funnel?
1. The extra costs
The first thing that comes to my mind when talking sales funnels is the costs.
And most will agree with me and say that having a sales funnel comes with additional costs.
And since money are a big deciding factor for many businesses, including my own, this is an important to point out.
So, what costs are related to sales funnels.
- The monthly cost of the actual sales funnel software.
- Additional costs of training your staff on how to use them.
- Education.
- Integration costs.
Depending on your technical know-how, there could be more or less costs involved.
Let’s assume that you can sort out everything on your own and only need a software.
How much will a good sales funnel software set you back a month?
Well, it depends, but here are some examples, to give you a feel for things…
ClickFunnels (which I’m using) starts at $147/month and goes all the way up to $297/month for their biggest plan.
Kajabi starts at $149/month and ranges all the way up to $319/month for their most exclusive plan.
But on the flip side, Systeme.io can get you started for free, and a paid version starts at $27/month.
As you can see, you can get started for free if you like, but it all depends on what platform you choose.
However, all the funnel builders I’ve come across have a free trial. So, technically, you don’t have to open your wallet right away (if you don’t want to).
2. More integrations
If you already have a business up and running, you know exactly how it’s structured.
Integrating a new software into that perfect structure can cause a lot of frustration…
Especially if it’s right in the middle of everything.
Now, you’d have to break the perfect bond between your already existing integrations, to figure out how to add a new one into it.
This can cause unnecessary downtime of your business, which can severely hurt your income.
Depending on what you’re going to use your funnel for, this integration can be unnoticeable or a pain.
For example: If you’re using a funnel for lead generation. It’s part of the top stages and your business wont even notice that you’ve added another traffic source to it.
Well, you’ll see an increase in traffic, but that’s a good thing…
But if it’s about replacing something in the middle of your business structure. Make sure to put som time away for troubleshooting.
Fortunately for you, software like ClickFunnels can easily be integrated with most of the popular 3rd-party tools out there.
3. Steep learning curve
This one is pretty self explanatory, but I’ll cover it anyway.
If you are used to work with, let’s say WordPress, then I’ll guarantee you that no other software will look and feel exactly the same.
It will be like exploring a new island for the first time.
You don’t know where all the good food spots are, unless you go out and explore.
But we tend to love to stay inside out comfort zone, it’s so cozy there.
So if you to get out of that, it better be worth our time and effort.
Now, depending on where your business are at, the learning curve can have different inclinations.
If you’re just launching your business for the first time, I’d say that you have more time to learn a new platform.
Compared to if you have a business that is fully operational and is already processing tons of traffic. Now you need to get started fast.
And depending on the complexity of the platform, you’ll need to learn a lot in a short time period.
Just like with anything new that is outside our comfort zone, it will take time to get used to.
If you roots are deep into another system, getting used to something new can, honestly, be a bit of a pain.
But, on the other hand…
If you’ve made an informed decision to start with sales funnels, chances are that you’ll know that it’ll be worth learning curve.
4. Follow-up can suffer
Some think that once a lead has made the purchase and has gone through all the funnel steps, it’s never to be thought of again.
Thinking that sales funnels are some kind of “one hit wonder” thing.
If you think like this, you need to stop doing so…right now.
This is not how a sales funnel work, It’s a way into you business…
It just happen to have a product or two placed in front of it.
Your existing customer are equally as important as a new customer, and they should be a high priority of yours.
Why?
Finding a new lead and converting it into a customer is much more expensive than keeping an existing one.
It’s also been proven that existing customers are much more likely to buy from you again in the future.
Therefore, you need a strategy for how you’re going to follow-up with your existing customers.
Show them that you care even after they’ve opened their wallets.
Don’t just rely on that initial purchase.
5. Lacking in details
As you know, a traditional website have multiple pages that showcase your products, services, features, posts, etc.
And if you want to sell your products, you can attach an online store to it.
Then you can have a blog where you educate your visitors about the topics your brand is all about. Showing the visitor that you are an expert in your field.
This however is not the case with a sales funnel, which is another of its disadvantages.
A funnels only goal is to guide the lead through logical steps.
It’s to the point and have very few (or no) distractions on it.
This is exactly why you need multiple ways of providing value to your audience.
Even though a funnel is great for sales, it’s not optimized for long term traffic gains.
A blog filled with quality content would be a much better alternative if you want to grow long-term.
There you can use SEO to rank and get traffic for year to come.
6. Single product promotion
I touched upon this earlier…
When you use a website, you can show your audience many products at the same time.
But that’s really not the case with sales funnels.
Here you only show the most relevant product the prospect might need. You’ll only show other products on the last page of your funnel, creating a link between your funnels.
Anyway, the funnel will only answer the most common questions regarding that product and only provide the most relevant information to try and close the sale.
However, you might have have more products or services you’d like to sell. But a prospect can’t see them once they’re inside one of your funnels.
This makes it seem like sales funnels are a one size fits all kind of solution.
Where the funnel oversimplifies the process of how a prospect interact with your products.
A solution to this would be to use the storefront funnel type. This acts like a qualifier funnel that links to all of your other funnels.
Now you can have all your products and services inside there own separate funnels and still give a visitor the chance to view everything you’re offering.
So, there is a solution for everything, maybe you even found the solution here on my site.
7. Personalization
Another of the disadvantages a sales funnel can suffer from is depersonalization.
Wow, that’s a hard word I never use…
What I mean by this is that if the funnel isn’t created with the user in mind, it can come across as impersonal.
This can cause massive problems based on the data we have on current customer behavior.
Research show that consumers want to have their needs met and they also want to experience marketing that feels like it was made for them.
Personalization is the new king sort of speak…
A sales funnel can struggle with this if it isn’t set up with a proper personalized sales message.
Another thing that is true, is that the modern consumers buyers journey has changed over the years.
If we look at how consumers interact with brands today – advertising, social media, email, organic search – it can be hard to see how the traditional funnel would fit in.
But it does, it’s just in a refined way.
According to stats from EmailToolTester, the number of actual touchpoints a sale requires can vary between 1 – 50 depending on the buying stage.
8. Implies a finite end
By definition a sales funnel implies that there is an end to the customers journey.
A lead enters at the top of the funnel, is nurtured through it’s journey, and exits the funnel after they’ve converted and made a purchase.
This can lead to the assumption that the customer disappears after they’ve converted.
However, I kind of disagree with this finite ending stuff.
Sure, at first glance, this might seem to be the case…
But you as a marketer need to acknowledge that there is a stage somewhere called “loyalty”. Isn’t it also convenient that this happen to be the last stage of your funnel.
This is where you stay in touch with the customer.
Making sure to maintain some level of brand awareness so the customer stays within the funnel.
Given that the cost of acquiring a new customer is 5-10X compared to the cost of retaining an existing one.
You need to make sure that the customers life cycle doesn’t end with “the one” purchase.
This is why you need to shift your focus towards customer retention, since an existing customer statistically speaking have more value to you.
What you need to do is to remove this whole “finite end” idea, and start working on turning your current customers into returning customers.
It’s time to stop only hunting for new leads.
9. Conversion driven
A traditional funnel wants to turn as many visitors as possible into leads and ultimately into customers.
But why is this a disadvantage…
Isn’t that the sole reason to why people are using sales funnels?
Well, traditional things tend to get stuck in time sometimes.
You see, the modern customers is much more sophisticated than you might think.
In fact, a study done by SuperOffice in 2024 shoved that 45.9% of businesses has made customer experience a top priority.
So what can you learn from this?
Clearly, what really matters the most – almost more then the product and the price – is the buyers experience.
And companies that eternalizes this can see an increase in revenue too.
The same study also states that:
“86% of buyers are willing to pay more for a great customer experience.”
SuperOffice
Other data shows that 67% of consumers think it’s important for brands to automatically adjust content based on current context. When brands don’t adjust accordingly, 42% of consumers will “get annoyed” that content isn’t personalized.
People should enjoy engaging with your brand, even though they are only looking for information or want to learn more about one of your products.
So, in order for your funnel to be competitive, you need to shift your focus from the product itself to personalization and a good customer experience.
10. High focus on lead nurturing
Back in the early days of sales funnels, information was limited, therefore attention was abundant.
This led to the salesman having a lot of power over the consumers.
The funnel summed up the product and is was broadcasted to as many as possible in hope to at least grab some attention.
This also ment that the prospects wasn’t a high quality lead, simply because they didn’t have to be.
Irrelevant low quality leads where sorted out, and the high quality once where nurtured to a purchase.
Sadly this simple approach doesn’t work anymore.
Today the prospects holds all the good cards, I mean all of them…
Thanks to the development of the internet, information is everywhere and product competitions is high.
A study done by Marketo showed that 96% of prospects who comes to your website isn’t ready to buy anything from you (yet). They just want to check you out.
This means that you need to keep those website visitors well informed and engaged until they’re ready to buy.
And those marketers and business owners that focuses on lead nurturing are most likely to increase their numbers of sales.
They are also more likely to get recommended to the friends and family of their customers.
To be completely honest, if you can hold a prospects attention for long enough and get them to engage, you have some good cards on hand.
Chances now are that the prospects will rant about you on their social medias and tell others to check you out as well.
Leading to new leads ending up in your funnel almost by accident.
This “marketing by prospect” can be a very powerful thing and not something to be underestimated.
Mainly because people tend to trust and listen to family and friends more often than an ad.
So, are sales funnels worth it?
Okay, there are clearly some disadvantages involved in the whole sales funnel game.
So are they even worth your attention.
Here’s the deal, I’m going to give you my honest opinion on this.
Considering the list I just created, I still believe that sales funnels have their place in the sales machine.
The only thing now is that they can’t be use in a such a “square” manner.
We need to adjust to how the market interacts with brands and buys products.
In fact, for what I’ve seen now in 2024, sales funnels have become more invisible to the naked eye.
They’re there, you just don’t notice them like you did 10 year ago.
I also believe that a well designed sales funnel can help smaller brands grow faster…
This only because it allows for easy upsells and downsells, and also for the ability to create links between funnels and products.
Lastly, something that is highly personal to me…
I like the structured approach to sales that the sales funnel offer.
You don’t need to imagine an entire sales machine at once.
You only need to worry about:
- What products that should be included in the funnel.
- What the sales copy for each page should be.
What I like is that I can only focus my mind on one page at a time, meaning that the copy I create will be better and more targeted.
And from what I’ve learned, multitasking is never efficient, and I like efficiency when I work since I’m limited in time.
Conclusion
There you have it, according to me, these are the disadvantages of adding a sales funnel to your business.
And if you read my guide on the benefits, you should now have enough information to know if sales funnels are worth your time and money.
To wrap up I’d like to say that you should take the word “disadvantages” with a pinch of salt. Most of the items on this list can be dealt with if you plan your sales funnel strategy right.
Now I want to hear from you:
Do you feel like sales funnels are worth the investment…
Or are you going to have a look at another solution?
Either way, leave a comment below and let me know.
