How to build a funnel comes down to one decision and five pieces of setup. The decision is the single action you want a stranger to take. The setup is a page that asks for it, a form that captures it, an automation that responds within minutes, a calendar or checkout that closes the step, and a pipeline that shows you where every lead sits. This guide covers the full build on the levelpartner.ai platform, from an empty Sites area to a funnel that records each lead against a contact.
What a funnel is for in a company your size
A 60-person firm with flat revenue rarely has a traffic problem. It has a leak problem. Enquiries arrive through the website, referrals and campaigns, then wait in a shared inbox until someone has time. A funnel fixes that by giving every enquiry the same path: one page, one ask, one response, one owner.
When you build funnels for businesses of this size, the funnel replaces three things: the generic contact page, the spreadsheet of leads someone updates on Fridays, and the follow-up email a salesperson remembers to send. You get a path you can measure step by step.
Before you start
You need four things ready before you open the builder:
- One offer, written in a sentence: what the visitor gets and why it is worth their time.
- A connected sending domain for email and a phone number for SMS, so the follow-up does not land in spam.
- A calendar for the person who takes the first call, with real availability.
- A pipeline with stages that match how your team actually sells.
If any of these is missing, the funnel will look finished and still lose leads at the hand-off.
How to set it up
- Go to Sites, open Funnels and click New Funnel.
- Choose From Template and click Continue, or choose From Blank.
- Search the Template Library and preview a close match.
- Click Continue and edit the copy in the Funnel Editor.
- Add a form, then open the Pages drawer and click Add New Page for booking.
- Click Save.
- In Automation, open Workflows and click + Create Workflow.
- Choose Start from scratch.
- Click Add New Trigger and choose Form Submitted.
- Add the Form Is filter, select your form and save.
- Add a Send Email action confirming the enquiry.
- Add Create Opportunity in the first stage of your pipeline.
- Turn on the Publish toggle, then click Save.
- Go to Settings, open Domains and click Connect a Domain.
- Enter the domain, click Continue and add the DNS records.
- Click Verify Records, link the funnel, then click Proceed to Finish.
How to create an online funnel that fits the way you sell
The order of steps should follow your sales process, not a template. If your team qualifies on a call, the funnel ends in a booking. If you sell a fixed-price diagnostic, it ends in a checkout. If buyers need to read before they talk, it ends in a download followed by nurture email.
For a deeper look at the stages behind this, read the guide to sales funnel stages. If your goal is volume of new contacts rather than meetings, the lead generation funnel article covers that variant.
Say a firm runs one funnel for a strategy review. The page asks three qualifying questions, then offers a 30-minute call. If 200 visitors a month produced 20 form submissions and 12 bookings, that is a 6% visit-to-booking rate. The workflow would send a reminder the day before and a text an hour before. Because each booking appears as an opportunity, the sales lead could see the month's pipeline without asking anyone.
How to build a funnel for free, and what it really costs
Funnels, forms, calendars and workflows are all part of the platform licence, so there is no extra charge to create funnels. The real cost is time and usage. Email, SMS and calls are billed as used as you send them, and the hours go into writing the offer and testing the path.
Budget about a day for the first build if your offer and calendar are ready. After that, running a funnel takes 30 to 60 minutes a week: reading the step-by-step numbers, replying to anything the automation could not handle, and fixing the step that loses the most people.
Building three funnels before the first one works. Most teams launch several offers at once, split their traffic, and cannot tell which page is failing. Build one, get it converting, then copy what works.
When not to build a funnel
Do not build a funnel for an offer that only sells through relationships, such as a large retained contract won over months of meetings. A page will not shorten that cycle. Use the pipeline and a nurture sequence instead. Also skip it if no one owns the follow-up: a funnel that books calls nobody attends does more damage than a contact page.
Troubleshooting
Form submissions are not creating contacts. Check that the form is a platform form, not an embedded third-party one, and that the required email or phone field is mapped. Resubmit a test entry and look in Contacts.
The confirmation email goes to spam. Your sending domain is not authenticated. Finish the domain records in Settings, wait for them to verify, then send another test.
Bookings are not appearing in the pipeline. The workflow is triggered by the form, but the booking happens on a later step. Add a second trigger for the appointment being booked, or move the opportunity step into a workflow that listens for bookings.
The page is slow on mobile. Large images are the usual cause. Compress them before upload and remove any video set to load automatically above the fold.
Frequently asked questions
How many pages should my first funnel have?
Three is enough for most offers: the page that asks, the booking or checkout step, and a thank-you page. Each extra step loses some visitors, so add one only when it does a job the others cannot. You can extend the path once you know where people drop off.
Can I use my existing website domain?
Yes. You can connect your main domain or a subdomain and give each funnel step its own path. Many firms keep the website on the main domain and run funnels on a subdomain so they can change them without touching the site.
How long does it take before a funnel shows results?
You will know within two to four weeks whether people complete the first step, provided traffic is reaching the page. Judging the full path to a signed client takes at least one complete sales cycle. Change one step at a time so you can see what made the difference.
Do I need a separate tool for email follow-up?
No. The workflow that responds to the form runs inside the same platform, so the email, SMS and pipeline update all happen from one trigger. For the wider picture of how these pieces fit together, see the overview of the sales funnel and how to build a funnel website around it.