How to Build a Challenge Funnel Like a Pro: A Step-by-Step Guide

Are you tired of the never-ending struggle to capture leads? What if we told you there was a way to create a marketing strategy that not only sparks high engagement but also drives conversions? All the while without breaking the bank or relying on overly complicated tactics?

Well, enter the Challenge Funnel! It’s a game-changer you didn’t know you needed. A challenge funnel offers a simple yet incredibly effective strategy for lead generation and customer retention.

In this guide, we’ll walk you through the steps to design, launch, and optimize a challenge funnel that will transform your business. Get ready to elevate your customer experience and take your online store to the next level!

What is a Challenge Funnel?

A challenge funnel is a marketing strategy designed to create high levels of engagement by guiding potential customers through a series of steps, usually via a time-limited challenge, to move them toward a paid offer or commitment by the end.

The beauty of a challenge funnel is that it focuses on providing real value over several days or weeks. Instead of throwing your product at people and hoping they’ll bite, a challenge funnel gets your audience involved and builds their trust using actionable steps that relate to your product.

You invite them to join a fun, engaging ride that leads them naturally to the last stop: buying from you. The challenge can either be free or paid. The key is that it has to establish a relationship marketing and create excitement for what comes next. 

Also read: 5 Real Examples of Sales Funnel in eCommerce

Benefits of Using a Challenge Funnel

So, why should you consider using a challenge funnel for your eCommerce business? Here’s the scoop:

1. High Engagement

A challenge funnel is designed to actively involve your audience. Instead of just watching from the sidelines, participants are encouraged to take action. Whether it’s through completing daily tasks, interacting with content, or participating in discussions, they become part of the process. This level of engagement builds a more personal connection with your brand. 

2. Builds Trust & Authority

Trust is a crucial factor when it comes to making a sale. A challenge funnel provides the perfect means for you to achieve trust. As participants follow along, they experience tangible results from the challenge and start to associate you as a credible source. It naturally builds loyalty and yields a higher chance of conversion. 

3. Boosts Lead Generation

How often have you felt like a business is on the prowl for your information while they give nothing? Challenge funnels are the opposite. They offer something of value (like tips or exclusive content) in exchange for participants' engagement. Challenges make your business stand out from generic sign-up forms or ads. They provide a compelling reason for people to opt in. 

4. Increases Conversions

One of the most significant advantages of a challenge funnel is its ability to convert leads into customers. The time-limited nature of a challenge creates a sense of urgency, while the value provided throughout the process builds anticipation for the final offer. The funnel is designed to naturally guide participants from awareness to action, making it an effective tool for increasing conversions.

Trusted audiences are more likely to convert into paying customers.

5. Scalable & Reusable

Once you’ve created a challenge funnel that works, you can reuse it again and again with minimal extra effort. This is a major time-saver, especially for busy eCommerce businesses. You can also scale the funnel to target different segments of your audience or run multiple challenges at once to reach more people. As your business grows, you can refine and optimize the challenge funnel, ensuring that it continues to attract leads and drive conversions.

A challenge funnel is perfect for businesses in niche markets or those offering products or services that require customer education. Think of industries such as health, fitness, beauty, or personal development. It’s also great for product-based businesses, particularly those with high-ticket or specialized items. 

The Ultimate 7-Steps Strategy to Build a Challenge Funnel

Ready to create your first funnel challenge? With our simple, step-by-step approach, you'll have everything you need to design a funnel that converts. Let’s get to it!

Step 1: Define Your Challenge Goal

Before anything else, you need to get clear on what you want your participants to achieve by the end of the challenge. It gives people a reason to jump in. For the maximum impact, the outcome should be tangible, specific, and exciting. Also, make sure it’s something attainable.

Clearly defining the goal you want to achieve with the challenge funnel will guide you towards the most effective approach.

The ultimate goal here is to keep the offer beneficial, helping participants continue their journey. It should provide real value during the challenge. For instance, if you’re a fitness coach, a 30-day challenge around workouts and healthy eating makes perfect sense.

And don’t forget to clarify your CTA (Call to Action)! The end of the challenge should naturally lead participants toward your offer. Your sales pitch should feel like the next logical step in their journey, not something that’s being forced on them.

Step 2: Plan the Challenge Duration and Structure

Now that you’ve defined your goal, it’s time to think about the duration and structure of your challenge. You want to strike the right balance: long enough to offer value, but short enough to keep people engaged. 

Optimal Duration:

• Short-term: If you’re aiming for quick wins, a 3-5 day challenge is perfect. It’s short, sweet, and achievable, making it ideal for generating quick results and building momentum.

• Medium-term: For more in-depth engagement and better results, a 7-14 day challenge works well. This gives you a little more time to go deeper into the subject matter and nurture your participants.

• Long-term: A 21-30 day challenge is great for more serious transformations. It requires more effort in terms of content planning and daily engagement, but creates a lasting impact (and higher ticket sales).

There’s no fixed recipe to decide which is the perfect duration. A way that can help you decide is by enrolling in the One Funnel Away Challenge. It’s a 30-day course offering step-by-step guidance to help you plan and prepare your funnel challenge. One Funnel Away Challenge reviews a great, often praising the course’s actionable instruction with clear-to-follow examples. 

Step 3: Create Engaging Challenge Content

Now that you’ve got the structure nailed down, it’s time to create content. It will be the anchor that keeps your participants engaged throughout the funnel challenge. Your content should be realistic and directly tied to the outcome you want your participants to achieve.

When it comes to content, make sure it aligns with the interests and preferences of your target audience.

The common content types are: 

• Videos: Short, motivational, and instructional videos work wonders. They add a personal touch, show your expertise, and help explain complex ideas in a digestible format. 

• Email Sequences: Daily emails are an essential part of any funnel challenge. These emails can reinforce the day’s lesson, provide encouragement, and remind participants to take action.

• Worksheets/Quizzes: Interactive content like worksheets or quizzes helps participants apply what they’re learning and feel a sense of accomplishment. 

• Private Group: Create a space for participants to connect and support each other, whether it’s on a Facebook group or a Slack channel. 

The content you provide should always be actionable and realistic, helping participants see progress each day. The goal is to make each step feel like a rewarding win, so they’re motivated to continue through to the end. The more value you give upfront, the more likely they are to invest in your paid offer at the end.

At the end of each content piece, give participants a clear next step. It must be a real action, such as completing a task, engaging in the community, or signing up for a webinar or your paid program. Make sure your CTA leads them down the path to success. 

Step 4: Design the Funnel Pages

Now that you’ve mapped out your challenge, it’s time to build the pages that will bring everything to life. The right funnel pages are key to guiding your participants smoothly from one step to the next and turning them into paying customers. Here’s how to design each essential page:

Lead Generation Page

This is your first point of contact with potential leads, so it needs to grab attention and make it clear why they should sign up. The opt-in page should be clear, compelling, and easy to navigate.

Key Elements:

• A strong, enticing headline.

• Clear benefits of the challenge, explaining what participants will get.

• A simple, easy-to-fill-out form to capture their name and email. 

 

Challenge Page

This is where the magic happens—the daily challenge tasks are delivered to participants. Depending on your platform, you can deliver content via email, a membership site, or a private group. Example: A daily email with actionable tasks or a private Facebook group where you drop a new lesson every day.

Sales Page

At the end of the challenge, it’s time to introduce your offer. The sales page should feel like the natural next step, seamlessly tying the challenge to your product or service.

Key Elements:

• Testimonials that show social proof and results.

• A limited-time offer or exclusive deal creates urgency.

• Clear benefits of your product/service and a strong call to action to make the purchase.

For Shopify merchants, GemPages makes this page-building process incredibly easy. With its drag-and-drop page builder, you can design stunning funnel pages without needing to know any coding. Whether you're creating your lead generation page, challenge delivery system, or a sales page, GemPages offers pre-built templates and customization options that make building professional funnel pages a breeze. 

Step 5: Implement Automation and Follow-Up

Now that you’ve created your funnel pages and set the stage, it’s time to automate. Automation is the key to saving time while delivering a personalized experience. Here's how to set it up:

Email Sequences

Set up an automated drip campaign to deliver your challenge content at the right time. Make sure each participant gets the right information exactly when they need it. Tools like Mailchimp, ActiveCampaign, or ConvertKit are great for this job. They allow you to schedule emails ahead of time, segment your audience, and track their engagement throughout the funnel.

Lead Nurturing

Follow-up emails are a powerful means of providing additional value. When used right, they keep participants motivated and engaged through personalized content. Example: Send a daily email with motivational quotes, tips, and social proof of people who’ve completed the challenge. These can be of people who’ve completed the challenge and their results, which will encourage others to stay on track. 

Conversion Strategies

At the end of your challenge, your emails should push participants toward making a purchase. This is where you introduce a sense of urgency. Common tactics include limited-time discounts, exclusive bonuses, or special offers to create a sense of urgency. Use persuasive techniques like scarcity or testimonials to make the decision to purchase feel urgent and irresistible. Also, if you’re selling a product, consider offering free shipping. 

Step 6: Choose the Right Tools

To make your funnel challenge truly effective, you’ll need the right tools for building, optimizing, and automating your funnel. Here’s a breakdown of the best options:

• GemPages: If you’re using Shopify, GemPages is an excellent tool for building high-converting funnel pages. It offers drag-and-drop functionality to easily create optimized landing pages and sales funnels. The tool also has dynamic page elements for personalization, advanced A/B testing to improve conversion rates, and conversion-focused templates.

• FunnelKit: FunnelKit allows for customizable funnels that cater to your specific needs. This makes it perfect for building a challenge funnel that boasts flexibility as well as cross-selling and upselling abilities.

• Teachable or Kajabi: Both of these platforms let you build membership sites where participants can track their progress, access lessons, and interact with content. They’re ideal if you’re looking to create a more structured, self-paced experience for your challenge participants, with a focus on user engagement.

• Email Automation Tools: Tools like ConvertKit or ActiveCampaign are essential for setting up automated daily email sequences. They allow you to trigger specific actions based on participant behavior, ensuring your emails are relevant and timely. 

GemPages will make designing pages within your challenge funnel a breeze, saving you precious time and resources.

Step 7: Promote Your Challenge

Once your funnel challenge is set up, it’s time to get the word out and drive traffic. Here’s how to effectively promote your challenge and keep participants engaged:

Traffic Sources

To bring in participants, promote your challenge across various sources:

• Social Media: Use platforms like Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok to reach a wider audience. Post engaging content, including behind-the-scenes looks, and countdowns to build anticipation.

• Email List: If you have an existing email list, send out targeted emails promoting the challenge and encouraging sign-ups.

• Paid Ads: Run ads on platforms like Facebook or Instagram to target specific demographics and drive more sign-ups.

• Partnerships: Collaborate with influencers or relevant businesses in your niche who can help promote the challenge to their audience, expanding your reach.

Social media is the most powerful toolkit in a modern marketer’s arsenal, capable of reaching billions of people.

Engagement Tactics

Once users are coming in, you’ll need to keep them engaged. Here are the proven tactics that you should try:

• Countdown Timers: Create urgency and excitement with countdown timers on your landing pages or social media.

• Teasers & Sneak Peeks: Give your audience a taste of what’s to come by sharing sneak peeks of the challenge content.

• Social Proof: Leverage testimonials from past participants or industry experts to build trust and show the value of your challenge.

Practical Tips from Successful Real-Life Challenge Funnels

Building a challenge funnel from scratch can be overwhelming. It’s a long, multi-faceted process that takes months of planning and implementation. Mistakes are inevitable. However, by studying the real-life cases below, you may have a better idea of a challenge funnel in action. 

Amy Porterfield’s List Building Challenge Funnel

Amy Porterfield, a renowned online marketing educator, launched a 5-day list-building challenge that generated over 1,200 new leads per week. The challenge provided actionable steps to help participants grow their email lists, positioning Amy as an expert in digital marketing. This approach not only attracted a large number of subscribers but also fostered trust and credibility. 

James Clear’s Habit Builder Challenge

James Clear, author of "Atomic Habits," implemented a habit-building challenge that guided participants through daily actions aimed at forming lasting habits. The challenge was structured to provide small, achievable tasks that led to significant behavioral changes. By offering value upfront and demonstrating his expertise, James effectively nurtured leads and built a community, many of whom later purchased his book and courses.

SaaS Academy’s Marketing Challenge Funnel

SaaS Academy utilized a marketing challenge funnel to gain 1,200 new leads per week, reduce churn by 30%, and double their activation rate. The challenge was designed to drive product adoption, engage participants through a cohort-based approach, and include upsell opportunities. This strategy not only attracted new users but also enhanced customer retention and lifetime value. 

Key Takeaways for Your Challenge Funnel

Here’s what you can apply to your funnel!

• Provide Immediate Value: Offer actionable steps that lead to quick wins, building trust, and demonstrating your expertise.

• Structure for Engagement: Design your challenge to include daily tasks that keep participants engaged and motivated.

• Nurture Leads Effectively: Use the challenge as an opportunity to build a relationship with participants, guiding them toward your paid offerings.

• Leverage Social Proof: Share testimonials and success stories to build credibility and encourage participation.

• Optimize for Conversions: Ensure your funnel includes clear calls to action and upsell opportunities to maximize revenue.

Wrapping Up!

Building a successful funnel challenge is a powerful way to engage your audience, build trust, and drive conversions, without relying on complicated tactics or hefty budgets. By following the steps we’ve outlined, you can create a challenge that not only delivers value but also fosters deeper relationships with your participants. 

The key is to provide value, keep your audience engaged, and guide them naturally to your offer. With the right planning, promotion, and follow-up, your funnel challenge will be a game-changer for your eCommerce business, turning leads into loyal, paying customers. Ready to launch your first challenge?