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Diamond Funnel: The Strategy for Cheap Leads in 2025

5 min read

Diamond Funnel: The Strategy for Cheap Leads in 2025

Over the last few years, the cost of acquiring leads has gone up astronomically: studies point to an increase of around 91%. It reflects a combination of factors, including:

  • More competition for attention
  • Market saturation
  • Constantly changing consumer behavior
  • Constant changes to platform algorithms

That's why getting cheap leads is probably something every course creator wants. The truth many people don't know is that it's still possible. There are even digital product creators working with a 2015-level CPL in 2025.

Their secret: keep updating their strategies and always rethinking them. That's what you'll do as you keep reading this article and learn:

All about the new online sales funnel

To start, it's important to let go of old strategies and adapt to the new. And that should start with your sales funnel.

The sales funnel was first proposed in 1898. Since then, buying behavior has changed and, on top of that, consumers have come to understand the logic behind the strategies.

cademi.com.br - Diamond funnel

A quick exercise: have you ever filled out a landing page with the email address you use least? Probably, yes. After all, you already knew a flood of sales emails would fill up your inbox.

So why do you expect your leads to behave any differently?

Your lead already knows that filling out your landing page will put them on an email sequence. They also know your lead magnet is a lead magnet. That makes it harder and harder to turn your ICP into a lead with the traditional funnel and to make sure your leads are qualified, not just curious people who only want the free content.

That's how the diamond funnel came about. The new funnel that, in 2025, delivered results like:

So, what is the diamond funnel?

Ever since digital marketing has existed, countless funnels have been developed. Lead magnet funnels, book funnels, email funnels… The diamond funnel is one more spin on Elias St. Elmo Lewis's strategy.

In all of them, the goal is to attract, qualify, and offer a product.

Unlike the funnels mentioned here, you won't create a new product to run the diamond funnel. The goal is to use what you already have and polish that material.

On top of that, it has its own technology. Developed and tested over two years by Matheus Benatti and Renan Côrrea, CEO and CTO of Cademí, the diamond funnel focuses on selling to a cold audience and then creating ascension. That way, it turns leads into fans.

"When I took over as CEO of Cademí, my first move was to sit down with the CS team to understand the number one reason for cancellations. The interesting part was that I found out it wasn't about our platform or our technology, it was about the businesses: 85% of cancellations were due to a lack of results," explains Matheus Benatti. "So I started analyzing those cases with the team to see what was behind that lack of results."

According to him, the problem for most course creators was:

  • In the copy, which needed small tweaks;
  • In the offer;
"Besides our specialists, I got on calls myself to point out those tweaks. But when someone was frustrated, it was hard to convince them to get on a call. That's how we started thinking about how to make Cademí a sales booster."

How the diamond funnel is structured

And that's how the idea for the diamond funnel came about. In short, it has its own technology that takes leads into a space inside the learning area, with a completely different layout designed to build authority and lead to the sale. On top of that, the content itself follows a specific structure.

  • Three videos;
  • Researched, structured goals;
  • Engaging copy;
  • Photos that build authority.

That way, you break down the first objection right away with the environment where your lead magnet (polished to become irresistible) is consumed. The lead watches it in a learning environment, not a sales one. Where, by the way, they get a sense of how big your digital business is. The way the content is structured is also carefully designed to turn curious people into customers by getting them to:

  • Know you;
  • Like you;
  • Trust you.

All with a script for how to work each step in the lessons. From how the content is presented to the title and the cover image.

How to build a sales funnel

As Benatti explains, applying the strategy makes leads very cheap. But for that, your digital business needs to be on Cademí. Click here to learn about Brazil's first Member Hub.

Without Cademí, you won't be able to apply the diamond funnel. But you can start by improving the funnels you already use. So, run an analysis to see whether your structure is planned with intent and aligned with your audience's awareness and maturity level. The recommended step-by-step is:

  • Understand your audience deeply and their main pain points;
  • Create a digital product that solves that pain and offer it as a lead magnet;
  • Nurture those leads with valuable content;
  • Make a strategic offer.

After that, it's important to keep analyzing and adjusting. These small tweaks will already make a difference. But to get leads at 50% of the cost, you'll need to bring your business to Cademí and use the new sales funnel.

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