Part 4: How to go from 0 to $100K in 2022 with an online course
Part 4: Automate + Scale
Welcome to part 4 of our “How to go from 0 to $100K in 2022” with an online course series-- now that you know how to build an audience from 0 - 500 email subscribers, you understand how to create, validate + launch your online course, it’s time to focus on the best part-- the magical part-- the automation + scaling portion-- where things REALLY start to take off!
This is the phase where all your hard work really starts to pay off and you start to reap the rewards from all the hard work you put into creating your first online course-- and trust me-- I won’t downplay it-- it’s pretty straightforward, but it’s still a LOT of work to get a course up + running and this “fun” part doesn’t come until after all of that.
But once you’ve ran your beta round + launched your online course, then what??
Now you’re going to repurpose a bunch of the course + launch assets you’ve already created and turn them into your first evergreen funnel.
Your evergreen sales funnel is going to create a personalized journey for your subscribers with built in urgency, scarcity, and exclusivity-- all in a truly authentic, serving way that serves your customers at the BEST possible time in their journey.
EVERGREEN FUNNELS
But first things first--what is an evergreen funnel?
An evergreen sales funnel is simply a series of content (usually email + webinar) presented to your subscribers in a strategically sequential order that introduces + sells your product on autopilot.
Okay-- so let’s break it down and talk about what the difference is between live launching + an evergreen funnel so you can get a better understanding of what that actually means:
Live launching
Set start + end date that is the same for everyone and made public
Short bursts of concentrated engagement during launch periods
Feast-or-famine mode
Manual engagement + connection with your audience
Quick validation + wins
Evergreen funnel
Start + end dates are customized to when someone enters a funnel-- so doors open “privately” when someone subscribes to your list-- meaning you can make sales 24/7
Minimal, ongoing “maintenance” work
Sustainability + predictability
Gradual growth over time
Live launching is all about momentum, public visibility, and manual engagement with your audience
Evergreen funnels is all about systemized processes and strategically engineered engagement + connection
How to set up your first funnel
The first funnel you’ll set up is called your MVF-- or minimum viable funnel. This is the quickest + easiest type of funnel to set up because it only involves a couple of evergreen tweaks to your sales page and just ensuring all the tech is running smoothly.
Basically, whenever anyone subscribers to your email list via your Irresistible Invitation, they’ll immediately be redirected to a page-- your MVF page-- that gives them a limited-time opportunity-- usually less than a couple of hours-- to purchase your course for a special promo price. There’s a timer on this page, some special language, and then you’ll just copy + paste on your regular course sales page (that you already created!)
Now if they DO purchase from your MVF, it’s just like with your launch-- they’ll checkout + get the log-in welcome emails delivered directly to their inbox and they can begin. This is usually a small number--between 1-2%--of all people that opt-in to your irresistible invitation, but it’s an amazing way to catch those who are ready for your program RIGHT NOW.
STANDARD FUNNEL
But, if they DON’T purchase, you’ll send them to the standard thank you page and then they will be added to your evergreen “funnel”-- usually by being given a specific email tag.
This “funnel” isn’t nearly as complicated as it sounds-- it’s simply a series of emails set up in a “sequence” to deploy according to a schedule you set. These emails serve a certain purpose-- they’re going to encourage your new subscriber to watch your webinar training (just a repurposed one from your LIVE launch-- you’ll simply remove any time-sensitive content)-- and then encourage them to enroll after watching the webinar.
This associated email sequence lasts about 5-7 days (depending on the price point of your product + how many emails you decide to include) and beyond just selling your course, it also serves to educate + build a relationship with your new subscriber. If they don’t purchase, you have the option to introduce the offer to them again at a later time…and in the meantime, they’ll just be on your regular email list (that you SHOULD be sending weekly emails out to!). But really, with these funnel emails, you’re just serving them and teaching them and if they buy, awesome. And if not, you can rest assured that you truly served them in a deep way with your helpful content. So don’t think of this as “sleazy” or “sales-y” because while a sale is a GREAT outcome, even if they don’t buy, they’re still walking away with some really valuable. And who knows-- they may buy later! “No” doesn’t usually mean no-- it just means “not right now.”
Now as easy + effortless as the sales process is once you’ve got your launch assets repurposed and set up on autopilot, your work isn’t *quite done.*
Test + Tweak phase
Because now you’re about to enter the “test + tweak” phase. And this is where you essentially become a scientist in your business and start running experiments to see how to convert more traffic into paying customers.
Things like tweaks to your sales page, email subject lines + copy, your webinar-- those are all things that you can tweak over time to increase your sales conversions and build a more profitable business.
TRAFFIC
So now we’ve covered the “automation” portion of this lesson-- but how about the SCALING part?
Well, I’m going to let you in on a little secret-- the most important aspect of all that evergreen sales magic? TRAFFIC.
You MUST have traffic…your evergreen funnel-- while passively converting the casual subscriber into a paid customer-- will NOT be able to do that work if people aren’t actually joining your email list.
I cannot stress that enough.
Creating your weekly Hero Content, + creating a consistent push towards your Irresistible Invitation and--now-- your evergreen webinar training-- will ensure that you ALWAYS have a steady stream of traffic going through your evergreen funnels.
And when you need a boost? You can tap into the more accelerated growth strategies-- collaborations with other business owners that share a similar target market with you. Whether it’s a lead magnet swap, podcast interview, paid training, or something else. These are REALLY effective ways to grow your email list quickly.
And when you’re ready and you KNOW you have an evergreen offer that converts, paid traffic is another option you can add to the equation to scale things. Things like Facebook + Instagram ads, Pinterest promoted pins, or even affiliate marketing with others in your niche are fantastic ways to scale your business and tap into traffic that is--literally-- waiting to snatch up your offer.
But you MUST understand that driving traffic to your business-- no matter WHAT you sell-- be it handmade products, services, supplies, online courses-- traffic is ALWAYS going to be a CRITICAL part of being successful online. You can automate all the sales funnels in the world and have the actual “buy my product” marketing be 100% hands-off which can be SUCH a relief if you’re not big on sales talk-- but you MUST get people to actually see those offers before they can make you money.
And there you have it! The 4 part. If you missed parts 1-3, you can find them here:
Part 1: click here
Part 2: click here
Part 3: click here
That’s it for this week. I’ll see you next time-- same time, same place here on the Simplify Your Sales podcast!