Sales funnels that will transform your online business
Do you use sales funnels in your online business strategy?
Probably, yes. In the world of digital products, this is an essential step for finding and converting leads. But is your approach going beyond the basics? There are countless sales funnel possibilities and ways to transform your online business with them. You may be only scratching the surface.
But don't worry, most of the market is too.
And, most importantly, in this article Cademí's experts will help you change the game by explaining:
What a sales funnel is
You've probably heard of the AIDA model. It was the seed of the sales funnel, created in 1898 by Elmo Lewis:
A - attention
I - interest
D - desire
A - action
What Lewis created was a method for taking someone from not knowing a product to buying it. In short, that's what a sales funnel sets out to do. After all, it's a representation of your potential customer's buying journey, from first contact all the way to conversion.
Funnels as we know them emerged in the early 2000s, based on AIDA. In short, they're divided into:
Top of the funnel: the moment to make your potential customers aware of the pain and the solution you offer.
Middle of the funnel: getting them to see your solution as the best option.
Bottom of the funnel: your lead is ready to buy and just needs to make the decision; your job is to help them take that last step.
Thinking about the process this way helps, among other things, to automate steps, track metrics, and segment your audience more intelligently. That's why sales funnels have become so popular in digital marketing.
Transformative sales funnels in 2025
It's impossible to say how many funnels exist in the digital marketing world today.
In the United States, names like Russell Brunson, Jeff Walker, and Donald Miller dug into the technique and found different ways to apply sales funnels to online businesses based on different strategies.
In Brazil, we also have big names on the subject, such as Rafa Marks and Érico Rocha, who bring an important angle: the buying patterns of the local audience.
If you can't count them, you can at least point out the options worth investing in.
Lead magnet funnel
A classic, the lead magnet funnel spent years out of fashion. But it's become a favorite of digital product creators again. And for good reason: in a time of constant change, traditional communication channels tend to gain strength. The lead magnet funnel is the best option for building a qualified email list.
In short, you need to create a free resource (e-book, checklist, mini course, etc.) and, on a landing page, set up a sign-up form to receive that material.
Once they sign up, the lead enters your email sequence.
Automated webinar funnel
Also a classic, the webinar funnel is a great option for working the top of the funnel. After all, you'll host an online seminar where you educate your audience on the core topic of your digital product and make your pitch.
Here, the path is similar: choose the topic, build the presentation, and create a registration page. The difference is that the email sequence starts right away, with reminders and warm-up content to keep the lead engaged until the broadcast date.
Diamond funnel
While the two previous options are already classics in the market, the diamond funnel is something new that promises to transform online businesses.
If you've wondered how to get potential customers to the registration page of your lead magnet or webinar funnel, the simplest answer is: paid traffic. With AI going mainstream, organic traffic to blogs and websites is expected to drop by up to 50% by 2028. As a result, the cost of leads, which is already high, is likely to climb even further.
The diamond funnel was created to get around this problem. The promise is qualified, cheap leads.
“It's a strategy built to communicate with a cold audience. The idea is to work with front-end products and move people up the ladder right after,” explains Matheus Benatti, CEO of Cademí and one of the creators of the diamond funnel.
Instead of a lead magnet or webinar, here you offer three lessons hosted in your member area, one of them being part of your method.
Each lesson has a specific goal but, in short, the idea is to build value, “sell without selling,” and show how your solution solved that problem and that the full method is even more transformative.
It's not about offering a free product. It's about building an offer and giving the potential customer an experience.
“Over two years, we studied the market and our customers' pain points. We developed the strategy and tested it with a group of digital product creators, and the results were incredible.”
Just to illustrate, the diamond funnel proved it's possible to take leads straight into a mentorship.
So, how do you apply the diamond funnel?
Instead of creating a completely new product, the idea here is to find the diamond in your method, the very best of it, and offer it as one of the lessons.
The content will be delivered in the one digital environment your leads won't see as a sales environment, which keeps them more open to hearing what you have to say: your member area.
For it to work, though, you need a member area that lets you add unlimited students. Otherwise, per-student fees will make the strategy unviable.
Want to put the diamond funnel to work in your business? Click here and talk to one of our experts.
