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- Are Trad Sales Funnels Dead?
1,447 Words | 6 Min 03 Sec Read
Welcome to another issue of Passionate Income.
Today we’ll be discussing whether traditional sales funnels are still relevant to online marketing.
In particular, whether or not you even need one and when you should consider adding one to your marketing mix.
Let’s dive in.
I recently filmed this exclusive free training on the Smartest path to $10k a month in 2025 (using Instagram)
I released this training because we kept getting replies from our readers about an actual business model that will work long-term and isn't overhyped.
Nothing held back, this is the framework I and 100+ of my clients used.
Haven’t cracked the code on what type of funnel you should use to drive leads and buyers for your business?
If that’s you, then maybe today’s issue will help.
Earlier this week, I saw a video where a YouTuber argued that traditional sales funnels are dead.
Before I explain his version of the alternative, I wanted to dive into his justification for why they’re no longer relevant.
Mainly because I agree with most of the points he made.
First, he argued that sales funnels are focused on making the sale.
While this might sound obvious, reading between the lines, what he’s saying here is that the focus is on making the sale at the exclusion of everything else.
From providing value to building trust, not every action we take as marketers is designed to drive a bottom-line sale.
In fact, given the sale takes place over a span of minutes (if not seconds), it’s fair to say the majority of what we do as marketers is not focused on the conversion itself.
Further, if you look at how a prospect interacts with your marketing ecosystem before making a purchase, you’ll see they spend the majority of their time consuming content, looking up your reviews and testimonials, doing research on competitors, etc.
Sales funnels, however, do not address any of these points.
Instead, they are 100% focused on generating the conversion—and generating it as fast as possible.
Second, he argues that sales funnels are an outdated relic from an era when people did not feel comfortable purchasing information online.
While Gen Z has grown up Internet-native, it was only 10 short years ago that information marketing really went mainstream.
The pivotal moment was the launch of ClickFunnels, which went live in September 2014 but didn’t explode in popularity until 2016.
Prior to that, building sales funnels was a slow, expensive, and highly technical process very few online business owners had the resources to implement.
In fact, forget the sales funnels.
Because relative to today, there weren’t even that many people running online businesses 10 years ago!
And because there weren’t that many people selling products or services on the web, the masses weren't accustomed to buying intangible products and services online.
I put emphasis on the word "intangible" because e-commerce had already gained traction by that point.
But when it comes to things like courses and coaching (where you can't physically touch what you're buying), it was only the most tech-savvy millennials / Gen Xers that bought that kind of stuff.
In short, one of the big reasons sales funnels blew up is because they expedited the process of building trust with strangers online.
In 2024, however, even my boomer dad knows about information products.
In fact, just recently, he told me he was considering signing up for some paid newsletters. And really, why not?
If the seller doesn’t honor their refund policy—or their product or service is dog poop—consumers can submit a charge back with one quick call to their bank.
And because of that, there's almost zero risk to transacting online in the 2020s.
Along the same lines, our YouTuber friend also argued sales funnels require customers to jump through a large number of unnecessary hoops.
From upsells and downsells with tiny "No Thanks" font, to having to speak with a "setter" before you can book a sales call with someone, many of today's sales funnels feel icky.
Especially when online checkout software has never been more advanced, allowing customers to hypothetically mix and match whatever products or services they want without needing to go through a funnel.
Third, this guy argued sales funnels bring out the worst in marketers.
From highly exaggerated headlines to fake AI-generated testimonials, much of what you see online is designed to manipulate rather than ethically persuade.
This stands in stark contrast to the copywriting of the early 1900s, where ad men like David Ogilvy wrote timeless headlines that leveraged legitimate creativity instead of exaggerated hype.
So what’s the solution?
Trust Funnels
While trad sales funnels made it easier for marketers to push their goods and services, that was a first-order effect.
What marketers didn't consider, however, were the second- and third-order effects of this new and ground-breaking (at the time) technology.
Mainly, that making it easier to sell stuff online would result in the general public being bombarded with direct response funnels that were low on quality and high on hype (and in most cases, outright lies).
The crescendo happened during the COVID era, when the global population was locked down and chronically online (making them ripe targets for information marketers).
Since then, there’s been an aggressive backlash toward course sellers and coaches, with many people claiming info marketers are just as bad for society as porn stars and OnlyFans models.
Even Alex Hormozi himself put out a recent video addressing the industry’s bad reputation (while differentiating between educators and information marketers).
So what is a trust funnel?
The short version is that it’s a marketing ecosystem where the primary goal is to provide value and build trust.
No sales pages. No webinars. No VSLs.
Instead, you simply push out valuable content with the goal of getting your prospect to trust you.*
*And not just trust you on a personal level, but trust that your products and services will live up to their promises.
Admittedly, putting this into practice isn't as easy as our YouTuber friend makes it sound. Mainly because there's no clear path to getting hundreds, thousands or millions of strangers to "trust you."
With that said, I still agree with his main thesis.
As an older millennial copywriter, part of me clings to the style of marketing I first learned when I got into the industry.
But if I look at my own behavior, it’s extremely rare I spend more than $50 after clicking an ad and landing on a stranger's sales funnel.
Instead, if I’m considering a purchase that costs hundreds or thousands of dollars, there is no way in hell I would ever click an ad and immediately buy something (or book a sales call) with a brand I wasn't familiar with.
And if I - as an old-school funnel builder and copywriter - do not engage in that kind of behavior, it’s fair to assume the general public doesn't either.
With that said, traditional funnels have their time and place.
First, if you’re selling something that is an impulse buy (meaning it’s under $100) via advertising, funnels still work incredibly well.
I can testify to this because I’ve not only purchased stuff from these kinds of funnels myself, but we are currently using them here at Passionate Income.
Second, even if you have the prospect’s trust, that doesn't change the fact you still need a way for them to buy stuff from you online.
And because of that, there is nothing morally or ethically wrong with using a sequential set of pages (aka a funnel) to sell your products and services.
And because of that, it’s unlikely funnels will disappear anytime soon.
In conclusion, if you’re trying to build an audience and sell to total strangers, odds are you should focus on building trust first.
But once that trust is built, sales funnels are a perfectly acceptable tool for selling your products and services in the most efficient, effective way possible.
💡 Takeaway: While sales funnels were impactful in the mid and late 2010s, it's questionable how relevant they are 10 years later. Between consumer skepticism toward overtly salesy marketers, and the fact most people feel comfortable buying intangible products and services online, it's possible marketers need to adjust to a new paradigm.
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