Imagine if your sales funnel was able to build you a huge email list for FREE….
…Where your Facebook ads actually PAY for your 100% of your email list growth…
…Where you create a close-knit network of customers with minimal effort (and no cost)….
…This is the LAUNCH-PAD for scaling a digital business to the $10k/mo, the $100k/mo mark and beyond.!
Want to travel the world?
Want to pay off your debt? (This exact method is how I paid off my $50,000 in student loan debt!)
Want to fire your boss and pay off you mortgage to live free-and-clear?
Now you can... The key is building an optimized Self Liquidating Funnel.
If you’re selling something online....no matter what you’re selling; be it an ebook, a course, membership or even software... A self-liquidating funnel is the fast track to scale!
This is the fastest and most powerful way I've found to drive a nearly-limitless amount of traffic and grow a massive email list FAST.
And this post shares everything you need in order to build one for yourself!
Ready?
Let's dive in.
What the *#&%! does "Self Liquidation" even mean?
First, let’s take a look at what self-liquidation is.
According to the Cambridge Dictionary, here’s the literal meaning of self-liquidation:
“A loan or investment that is paid back using the income from the project, asset, etc. that it was used to buy”
Self-liquidation is when the REVENUE from the INVESTMENT pays for the investment.
Stated another way...
When your ad spend in Facebook ads PAY FOR THEMSELVES, that same day.
you put in $100 into Facebook ads...
you generate $100 in revenue from the traffic you bought from the ads.
And here's the key.
With the right funnel structure, you will also generate dozens if not hundreds of email subscribers as a byproduct of that $100 ad spend.
You get your money back and your list grows...
Cycle that money back into more Facebook ads for more traffic and sales... Your list grows again!
And you make all of your profits on the back-end by selling more products, services and memberships to your HUGE list that keeps growing at no cost to you.
Cool, right?
Let's go deeper!
What is a Self Liquidating Offer?
A self-liquidating offer (SLO) is a low cost product/service that you sell to cold traffic.
It’s the first thing you offer to new visitors who click on your Facebook ad.
Initially, these people don't know you or your business. You just popped up in their newsfeed when they were wasting time on FB or Instagram.
And you've got a free offer for them to get a pdf, free video, etc. that will help them improve their life.
This is the entrance point...
Simple stuff, right?
To be sure this is clear, you MUST fully understand what the objective of a self liquidating offer is.
The objective of a self liquidating offer is simple: To help you IMMEDIATELY recover your ad spend.
The faster you generate this return on investment (ROI) from your ad spend, you can re-invest that money into running more ads.
And, this tactic can work for anyone! You don’t have to be an expert to build a self-liquidating offer.
How Does A Self Liquidating Offer Work?
Let’s take the example of affiliate marketing to better understand how a self-liquidating offer works.
Suppose you’re an affiliate marketer and you already have a product that you want to market. You basically want to drive traffic to your landing page.
So, you place your ads on Facebook and/or Google to drive traffic and generate affiliate sales.
But, here’s the twist….
Rather than directing this traffic straight to the affiliate sales page, you send it to your own opt-in landing page where you’re offering a high value item for free (such as a free video course) in exchange for their email address.
A portion of this traffic will subscribe to get access to the video. Your goal is to convert 50% of visitors to your landing page into leads.
Now, the 'thank you' page they reach after opting in has your video... You train them on the topic...
And then you link them to the affiliate product at the end of the video.
you promote the affiliate product from the video as the "Want more help solving your problem, check out this course I love by clicking the button below"
For affiliate marketers this is called a 'bridge page' and it is the key to success with an affiliate marketing funnel.
Here’s another twist if you have your own courses or memberships for sale.
…The thank you page for the free offer actually sells your first low cost product… This called a one time offer (OTO).
And, guess what? Some percentage of visitors will purchase your OTO, provided it’s of high-quality and adds value for them and has GREAT sales copy!
But, why all this hassle? Why don’t you drive traffic directly to the affiliate offer... Or straight to your sales page?
This is because this particular funnel structure helps you:
- Build your email list quickly
- Recover your marketing expenses straightaway
- Build a new customer base for yourself
- Market the affiliate product/service to generate commissions
This is what you call hitting two targets with one arrow….actually, four targets in this case!
When you go for the opt in first, you will have a much higher conversion rate and you'll grow your list.
When you focus on list growth, you don't just have 1 chance to sell your visitor on your product (like you would if you simply drove traffic to your sales page...)
But you can follow up with them for months or years, giving more value, building the relationship and ultimately you have DOZENS of opportunities to make a sale to you list.
Make sense?
Great... Let's move on...
What Is A Self Liquidating Funnel?
It’s a no-brainer that a SLO funnel is the one that you construct to promote your SLO!
You basically design a funnel to produce an email opt-in, lead, or purchase, while concurrently balancing (or completely negating) your advertising costs.
Why Should You Use A Self Liquidating Funnel?
Do you want to run free ads promoting your business on social media and/or Google for the rest of your life?
If you answered ‘YES’, you already have the biggest reason for using a SLO.
By creating the perfect self-liquidating offer, you won’t have to pay for advertising again!
Here’s why we say so…
A SLO is intended to help you recuperate your advertising costs straightaway….
….which means a big issue is resolved ....... particularly for affiliate marketing professionals.
And this issue is cash flow. It’s an issue that can literally wipe your business out.
Let’s take a closer look at this issue.
Suppose you run an ad online (on Facebook or Google) and send the paid traffic to your affiliate sales page where you’re marketing the product.
Visitors click on your online ad, landing on your sales page, where they purchase the product you’re marketing.
In return, you receive a commission after the refund or locking period, which is usually 30 days post-sale.
This means you have to wait for around 30 days to get ANY funds back from your ad spending.
You naturally can't manage to pay for more and more ads without getting paid. And you eventually stop promoting.
This is a terrible pattern that has trapped numerous affiliate marketers in its claws. Even if you’re promoting your own product or service, you aren’t immune to it.
So, how do you get out of this vicious cycle? A SLO is the answer, my friend!
Who can use a Self Liquidating Funnel?
You may be wondering, “Is a self-liquidating funnel right for me as well?”
Yes, absolutely!
The good news about this kind of sales funnel is that literally anybody can use it. No special training is needed!
In fact, we have yet to find a single business that can't utilize a self liquidating sales funnel to sell more. And best of all, it won’t destroy their sales budget in the process.
We’ve compiled a list of people who can (and do) use a self-liquidating sales funnel to do more business at virtually no cost.
- Product/service creators – to direct insane amounts of web traffic
- Affiliate marketers – to recuperate ad expenses swiftly to continue their marketing efforts
- Lead Gen providers – to capture zero-cost leads that can be sold
- Cost-per-acquisition (CPA) marketers – to drive huge amounts of traffic to their CPA offers
- Advertisement merchants – to construct huge email lists swiftly, and then to sell individual advertisements to that list
- Training professionals - to recuperate ad costs as well as to start nurturing prospective customers.
- Counselors – to recuperate advertisement costs as well as to explicate their services in a non-salesy manner
- E-commerce retailers – to attract huge numbers of prospects to their online business and to detect their interests
And, there are many more people who can use SLO to build their own business empire.
How To Create A Self Liquidating Funnel?
So you know all the perks that a SLO has in store for your business, but how do you build one that works like magic?
Here’s a step by step guide to help you:
1. Identify a SLO
The first step is to have an offer that you’re going to provide for free.
It’s a bait, lead magnet, giveaway, or squeeze offer that you’re going to promote to capture your lead’s contact info.
This SLO could be an ebook, online course, online video training, business report, checklist, survey results, or any other offer that adds value etc.
Think of something that your leads are extremely interested in so that they just can’t resist taking action towards the sought-after outcome you’re promising them.
Remember, your SLO should work like an appealing appetizer. You want to grow your lead’s appetite while leaving them wanting more.
2. Your One Time Offer (OTO)
Once your leads share their email address in exchange for your SLO, you take them to your one-time-offer….something you want them to BUY from you.
Again, your OTO product must be totally relevant to your lead’s interest. It should be tempting enough for your lead to give you their $$$.
It’s critical to choose the right price point at this stage. Too low and your lead may think you’re cheap and low quality; too high and you’ll just shoo them away (and they won't even leave a reply!).
For a SLO, usually offering products that cost between $27 and $97 is more suitable. Anything less than $27 and it may be a challenge to recover your money. Anything more than $97 and you may struggle to make profit or sales.
It is also a good idea to make sure that the price on the item is heavily discounted.
For example… offering a $169 product for $97… or an $89 product for $27, etc.
Remember, there’s a subtle equilibrium of value and conviction when it comes to price psychology.
We’d strongly recommend you to test different price points in your shopping cart to find the one that works best for you.
3. One Click Upsell (OCU) Offer
Congratulations! Your lead has just purchased your OTO.
What should you do now? Just thank them for their purchase? Or, follow up with them?
Wouldn’t you want to earn some more money?
Here’s how you can recover an extra amount of money…
Once your lead becomes your customer, take them to your One Click Upsell offer.
OCU offer is the one where your customers don’t have to undergo the entire purchase process and enter their credit card info again. It’s super convenient, and that’s why it is also super effective!
Alternatively, you may also add an order bump form on your page, and then take them to the rest of your OCU offers (ideally, not more than two).
This will help you earn more revenue that you can put back into your advertising budget.
While a self liquidating funnel is mainly there to break you even really quick, you can use it to extract more profit from your funnel.
Why A Self Liquidating Funnel Is Perfect As A First Time Funnel
What is the basic purpose of building a first time funnel?
To create an email list, right? Plus, you want to attract more and more leads to turn into prospects and eventually into paying customers.
This is exactly what a SLO helps you with. You build a list of your potential customers, along with creating a following, a community, a clan – whatever you label it.
It helps you encourage the audience to follow your story, your thoughts, and your communications. You want them to think about you whenever they need to solve a problem that your offer can help them with.
On top of it, a SLO effortlessly converts leads into customers, along with recovering your ad costs!
Wrap Up
A SLO is a perfect opportunity to blow your audience away with immense value.
In return, you also receive as much value as you can, even if it’s just a huge list of email addresses… which, by the way, is a very powerful tool that internet marketers can use to send follow up sequences and promotional material.
Building a self-liquidating funnel isn’t rocket science. What happens AFTER you put your funnel in place is actually the most challenging part: nurturing your leads further down the funnel via potent email marketing!
Remember, if you have the right SLO and you nurture your leads right, a large percentage of people accessing your freebie WILL buy your core offer.
And, once you ace your SLO design, it’s going to rain leads and sales!