10 top tips for building web funnels, plus 1 tactic to boost revenue 20%

Web funnels are huge in subscription apps. 

It’s obvious why: web funnels are essentially an interactive long-form sales experience where you get to know a prospect, explore needs, present a solution, and close the sale. 

Or soft-close the sale and get contact info for later.

So many reasons to do web funnels

Plus, where app store listings are limited by platform constraints, web funnels give marketers full control over messaging and storytelling, personalization, and perhaps most importantly, payment flows, pricing, and monetization models. 

They also provide instant owned-platform data on performance, easy testing, segmentation at scale — BetterMe has more than 15 funnels for different personality types — and a way to get an email address or phone number for follow-up and retargeting.

I recently chatted with Andrey Shaktin, CEO of FunnelFox, about building kickass web funnels. 

He’s optimized more than 3,000 of them throughout his career, and here’s what he’s learned:

10 top tips for building web funnels

High-performing web funnels consistently get the key elements right. 

Here are the key elements to make your funnels sing:

1. Strong creative assets
   Only about 2% of creatives are top performers. You desperately need top-performing creative to kill it with web funnels, so testing at scale is essential.
2. Holistic funnel design
   If you like the cafe from the outside but the inside looks awful, you’ll turn around. Consistency is key: funnels should visually and narratively match the ad that brought the user in. This is also why you need multiple funnels (for multiple campaigns) and you need to be able to spin them up quickly and easily.
3. Trust-building start page
   Why should someone trust you? Unless you’re a major global brand, do they even know about you? And if you are, how do they know you’re not a scammer? Use awards, social proof, and user counts to establish credibility. Then offer personalized quizzes to kickstart engagement and let people know they’re going to get a custom experience.
4. Personalization through relevant questions
   Asking about people’s goals and preferences builds perceived value as well as connection. It also gets them invested in the process of fixing their pain points.
5. Multiple funnel variants
   You need more than 1 web funnel. In fact, high-performing companies segment their audiences and build funnels tailored to specific goals. For fitness, that might be weight loss versus muscle gain. For memory, that might be people’s names versus geographic details. Align each segmented web funnel with its own ad group.
6. Visualize success early
   If people want to solve a problem, they need to see how your solution is going to impact it. Show graphs or projected results to deliver an early aha moment and build anticipation for the results they’ll achieve.
7. Sneak peek of product methodology
   Offer a glimpse behind the curtain. Today, people care about who makes things. How they work. Where they’re made. Why they’re made, and what your passion is. Offering a glimpse of how the product works builds confidence in its value.
8. Effective paywall
   At some point, you want to close the deal. Tie the offer you’re presenting to the personalized goals they’ve just set, and remind them of the value visually with before/after pics or graphs. Connect their use of your service with achievement of their goals.
9. Email collection
   More on this later, but capturing emails mid-funnel can dramatically boost post-funnel revenue. Also, it’s a soft close that doesn’t require handing over a credit card, but does signify a desire to get deeper.
10. Creative > quiz optimization
    Don’t spend all your time building and optimizing your quiz. Start by optimizing creatives, not quiz content or UI: it’ll be more important in the long run.

Boosting web funnel revenue 20% with 1 simple tactic

I mentioned it above, but it bears repeating.

A super valuable tactic Shaktin highlighted was adding email collection in the funnel. Get an email address! Getting an email address magically transforms a 1-time advertising experience from a drive-by-1-and-done to the start of an ongoing relationship.

Hello retargeting!

Hello email marketing!

Hello no more endless cold starts!

Yeah, you’re probably concerned about drop-off. But let’s be honest: if they’re going to drop off at an email request form, they weren’t ever going to hand over their credit card number either. 

So, Shaktin says, despite concerns over drop-off, adding email collection to a web funnel consistently proves its worth when done well.

The reason: email retargeting can generate 20% more revenue from users who drop off before subscribing. So they don’t convert immediately … but

• Now you have a direct line for re-engagement
• Now you can offer exclusive deals, reminder nudges, or content to bring them back

This helps you recover revenue from people who maybe exited the funnel due to timing, cost, distraction, or even a technical problem. It’s a mini psychological commitment too: a soft close before actual payment. It’s a small investment in your solution, and this micro-conversion boosts the likelihood they will follow through with a purchase later.

Along with smart segmentation and automation, it’s a low-cost, high-return strategy that everyone making a web funnel should implement.

Much more in the full podcast!

As usual, there’s much more in the full podcast.

Subscribe to Growth Masterminds, follow our YouTube page, and get the entire episode wherever it works best for you. 

Here’s what to expect:

• 00:00 Introduction to Growth Masterminds
• 00:34 Common Traits of Successful Funnels
• 00:59 Vertical Differences in Funnel Usage
• 02:13 Essential Elements of a Funnel
• 02:27 Tips for Approaching Funnels
• 03:37 What Not to Do in Funnels
• 05:42 The Role of AI in Funnels
• 06:56 Multiple Funnels for Different Audiences
• 10:24 Building Effective Start Landing Pages
• 18:37 Importance of Email Collection
• 21:06 Critical Aspects of Paywalls
• 23:07 Optimal Funnel Length
• 25:11 Geographical Differences in Funnels
• 26:02 Effective User Acquisition Channels
• 27:22 Conclusion and Final Thoughts