Day 107: Building to $240K: Back on the Funnel Rollercoaster

Today is Tuesday the 16th of December, and it’s around twenty past six in the evening.

There hasn’t been a huge amount going on today because I’ve been completely swamped working on a new project.

Because of that, this is going to be a fairly simple update looking at the numbers and what’s happening across the funnels.

Daily Numbers Overview

Yesterday was a perfect example of just how brutal this can be sometimes. We went from the dizzy heights of just under $1,500 in sales to around $526.

That kind of swing really does drive you nuts, but unfortunately, that’s just how this works sometimes. In terms of ad spend, we spent roughly £482, which came out at about $575.

Against sales of $526, that means we probably lost around $49 on the day.

It’s not a huge loss, but it’s still frustrating when you’ve just come off the back of a very strong day.

Funnel Performance Breakdown

Once again, the first funnel did most of the heavy lifting. The original funnel brought in around $456 in sales.

There were a small amount of back-end sales as well, but nothing significant. The real problem yesterday was funnel number two. It recorded zero sales.

That’s obviously not what you want to see, and to be honest, it’s pretty frustrating. This second funnel continues to feel like it’s on its own extreme rollercoaster. One day it’s making money, the next day it’s losing outright.

There doesn’t seem to be much middle ground with it at the moment.

Short-Term Perspective

What’s important to remember is how thin the line is between profit and loss at this stage. Even one extra sale would have pushed the day back into profit.

That’s how marginal things are right now. The difference between one sale and two sales, or two sales and three sales, is massive.

When you’re running on relatively low budgets, those small swings make all the difference. You could argue that the solution is simply to spend more and increase the odds.

But the reality is that the conversion rate isn’t strong enough yet to justify that.

At around a two percent conversion rate, it’s okay, but it’s not good enough given how high the CPM is on this funnel.

What Needs to Change

Because the CPM is significantly higher on funnel two, the conversion rate really needs to be higher as well.

That means the sales page itself needs work.

One thing I’m very clear on now is that I need to split test the sales page properly.

More specifically, I need to test a VSL version of the page. That’s firmly on the agenda for this week.

The only issue is time, because things are very busy at the moment. Even if I don’t get it built immediately, I at least need to start planning it properly.

Where Things Stand Right Now

As of around six o’clock this evening, we’re sitting at about $539 for today.

We’re not far off break even.

A couple more sales would put us back into profit. Ideally, I’d like to see the day end somewhere around $700 to $800. That would be enough to avoid another painful loss and keep things ticking over.

Next Steps

There’s a lot going on right now, but I do need to prioritise improving this second funnel.

Testing a new sales page format is the most obvious next step. Even if I don’t launch it immediately, I need to get the thinking and structure in place.

I’ll see how things develop tomorrow and whether I can start mapping that out properly.