As an online instructor, you know how tough it is to stand out. With so many experts offering similar skills, it’s hard to attract the right clients.
So, how can you prove you’re the best choice?
A Challenge Funnel might be the answer. It’s a proven strategy that’s helped many marketers build trust, attract quality leads, and even become millionaires.
Considering that 54% of marketers struggle to improve lead quality, this could be your game-changer.
Today, I’ll share 5 challenge funnel examples that delivered amazing results and show you how to plan one for your business.
Let’s get started,
What is a Challenge Funnel?
As John Paul said, “You prove your worth with your actions, not with your mouth.” Simply saying you’re an expert isn’t enough, you have to show it.
That’s where a challenge funnel comes in. It’s a proven strategy where you guide your audience through a short challenge designed to help them achieve a specific result.
For example, As a fitness coach, you offer a free 7-day “Morning Energy Boost Challenge.”
Participants commit to 15 minutes of guided morning exercises each day, designed to increase energy and focus.
At the end of this fitness marketing challenge, they feel the results and trust your expertise. This builds a strong foundation for you to pitch a longer fitness program.
Benefits of Using a Challenge Funnel
- Build trust: By guiding participants to achieve a small win, you prove your expertise through actions, not words. This helps establish credibility and confidence in your abilities.
- Attract participants: A clear goal and a simple signup page make it easy for people to join. This approach excites them about the challenge and increases your reach.
- Show value: Offering free, actionable content showcases your knowledge and abilities while delivering tangible results your participants can appreciate.
- Convert leads: When participants achieve their desired results, they’re more likely to trust you and invest in your services or programs.
- Works everywhere: Challenge funnels are versatile and can be adapted to any business type, whether you’re a coach, trainer, or entrepreneur.
- Build loyalty: Regular follow-ups and engagement after the challenge keep participants connected, turning them into long-term clients or advocates.
Steps to Create Your First Challenge Funnel
Here’s how you can create your first challenge funnel in simple steps:
- Set a Specific Goal: Decide on a clear goal or problem your challenge will solve. Focus on something that promises a small win for participants.
- Create Engaging Free Content: Design content that guides your audience step-by-step over a few days. Make it actionable and easy to follow.
- Build a Signup Page: Create a signup page where participants can join your challenge. A simple, clear page is key to attracting more participants.
- Showcase Your Expertise: Share daily instructions or tips, like a digital calendar with bookmarked tasks, to help participants achieve their desired results.
- Build Trust: After the challenge, follow up with participants to confirm they got the promised outcome. This reinforces your value.
- Convert Leads to Clients: Offer a special discount or bonus for participants who want to take the next step with your service.
- Drive Action: Continue nurturing participants with helpful tips and encouragement to turn them into loyal clients.
5 Successful Challenge Funnel Examples That were Super Successful
Following are five challenge funnel examples that have delivered way more leads & clients than expected.
- Russell Brunson’s One Funnel Away Challenge
- Tony Robbins’ 7-Day Challenge
- Jenna Kutcher’s List to Launch Challenge
- Amy Porterfield’s List Building Challenge
- James Clear’s Habit Builder Challenge
They all have their own unique approaches and have well-planned funnel journeys that are designed to get more results.
So let’s look at them more closely.
1. Russell Brunson’s One Funnel Away Challenge:
If you’re looking to master sales funnel building and marketing, this challenge is a great example to follow.
It guides you step by step in creating your first successful funnel, even if you’re starting from scratch.
Strategies behind sales funnel building and marketing
Russell Brunson’s One Funnel Away Challenge is a 30-day challenge designed to teach participants how to build a sales funnel from scratch.
Each day, you’ll tackle a new step, guiding you to create and optimize your funnel.
The goal is simple: help you generate more leads and sales for your business while giving you the confidence to master funnels.
It’s a hands-on approach that makes the process clear and actionable, so you can see real results by the end of the challenge.
Key tactics used in the funnel:
The challenge is structured as a series of daily video lessons, with each lesson building on the previous one.
Participants also get access to a private Facebook group where they can ask questions, get feedback, and connect with other challenge participants.
One Funnel Away Challenge Funnel Template
- Pre-Challenge: Before your first funnel challenge officially begins, you’ll get pre-training materials to prepare you for success. This includes mindset training and foundational knowledge to ensure you’re ready to tackle each step.
- Week 1 – Hook, Story, and Offer: During the first week, you’ll create a strong hook, craft a story that connects with your audience, and develop an irresistible offer. This hook story offer is the key elements that drive conversions in challenge funnels.
- Week 2 – Refining Hooks and Stories: In the second week, you’ll refine your hooks and stories to better communicate your message. This helps you build a deeper connection with your audience, making your offer even more compelling.
- Week 3 – Building the Funnel: This is where you build your first funnel challenge. You’ll create effective landing pages, sales pages, order forms, and thank-you pages. Plus, you’ll learn about different sales funnel examples and strategies to maximize conversions.
- Week 4 – Driving Traffic: In the final week, you’ll explore traffic strategies to bring the right audience to your funnel. This includes free and paid methods like social media marketing, email marketing, and advertising.
This step-by-step approach makes it easier for you to create and launch a successful funnel while building confidence in your skills.
Results achieved :
The Funnel Challenge has generated impressive results, with over 100,000 participants since its launch.
According to Russell Brunson, participants have generated over 3.8 million leads and $1.3 billion in sales through their funnels.
2. Tony Robbins’ 7-Day Challenge
This challenge funnel’s Niche or topic of the online course is Personal development and self-improvement
Strategies behind personal development challenges
Tony Robbins’ 7-Day Challenge is designed to help participants create a breakthrough in their personal or professional life.
Each day, participants are given a new challenge that helps them identify and overcome their limiting beliefs, develop new habits, and take action toward their campaign goals.
Key tactics used in the funnel:
The challenge is delivered via daily email lessons, with participants encouraged to share their progress in a private Facebook group.
Tony Robbins also offers additional resources, including live coaching sessions and access to his online courses.
Tony Robbins’ 7-Day Challenge Funnel Template:
- Awareness: Tony Robbins creates awareness about the challenge through multiple channels like his website, social media, and email lists. This is how he attracts potential participants, sparking interest in his challenge.
- Landing Page: Once you’re interested, you’re directed to a dedicated landing page. It includes compelling copy, testimonials, and videos that encourage you to sign up and join the 7-Day Challenge.
- Opt-in: On the landing page, you’ll be prompted to enter your email. This step allows Tony Robbins to capture contact info and build a list of interested participants for future engagement.
- Email Sequences: After signing up, you’ll receive daily emails for seven days. Each email includes a new challenge, along with insights and instructions from Tony Robbins to guide you through your journey.
- Private Facebook Group: You’ll be invited to a private Facebook group where you can share your progress, connect with others, and receive support from both Tony Robbins and fellow participants.
- Additional Resources: Throughout the challenge, you’ll gain access to extra resources, like live coaching sessions and exclusive content. These help you stay motivated and engaged as you go through the challenge.
- Transformation and Results: By the end of the 7-Day Challenge, you’ll experience personal transformations. Success stories and testimonials are shared, showcasing the results achieved, which helps build social proof and promotes the challenge.
Results achieved:
The 7-Day Challenge has been a massive success, with thousands of participants reporting breakthroughs and transformations in their personal and professional lives.
According to Tony Robbins, the challenge has helped participants increase their productivity, improve their relationships, and achieve greater success in their careers.
3. Jenna Kutcher’s List to Launch Challenge
This challenge funnel’s Niche or topic of the online course is Email marketing and list building.
Strategies behind Email marketing and list-building challenges
Jenna Kutcher’s List to Launch Challenge is a 5-day lead challenge designed to help participants grow their email list and launch their first digital product.
Each day, participants are given a new challenge that helps them build their email list, create a lead magnet, and develop their product ideas.
Jenna Kutcher’s List to Launch Challenge Funnel Template
- Day 1 Challenge: On day one, you’ll receive a challenge focused on the basics of email marketing and list building. This includes setting up your email marketing platform or creating an opt-in form to start growing your list.
- Day 2 Challenge: The second challenge helps you create a lead magnet, a valuable resource offered in exchange for email addresses. This is a key step in building your email list and attracting potential customers.
- Day 3 Challenge: Day three is all about developing your product idea. You’ll identify a digital product you can create and launch, setting the foundation for your future sales funnel.
- Day 4 Challenge: On day four, you’ll refine your product or create sales materials. This makes sure your product is irresistible to potential customers and ready for launch.
- Day 5 Challenge: The final challenge focuses on launching your digital product to your newly built email list. You’ll learn how to promote your product, craft persuasive emails, and set up a sales page that converts.
Throughout the challenge, you’re encouraged to share your progress and engage with others in a private Facebook group.
This fosters a sense of community and support, which makes the challenge experience more impactful.
Additionally, Jenna Kutcher offers extra resources like a free webinar on email marketing and list-building strategies. You can also gain access to her online courses for more in-depth guidance.
This sales funnel challenge is perfect for anyone looking to build and launch a digital product quickly, while also growing their email list
Key tactics used in the funnel:
The challenge is delivered via daily email lessons, with participants encouraged to share their progress in a private Facebook group.
Jenna Kutcher also offers additional resources, including a free webinar and access to her online courses.
Results achieved:
The List to Launch Challenge has helped hundreds of participants grow their email list and launch their first digital product.
According to Jenna Kutcher, participants have generated thousands of leads and sales as a result of the challenge.
4. Amy Porterfield’s List Building Challenge
This challenge funnel’s Niche or topic of the online course is List Building and Email Marketing.
Challenge funnel strategy for email marketing:
Amy Porterfield’s List Building Challenge is a perfect example of a strategy you can use to grow your email list.
Over five days, you’ll receive daily video lessons, helpful worksheets, and live Q&A sessions with Amy herself. This hands-on approach helps you build your list while gaining valuable insights along the way.
You’ll also be part of a private Facebook group, where you can connect with others, share your progress, and get support.
By the end of the challenge, you’ll feel confident in your ability to grow your list and be invited to join Amy’s email marketing course to take your skills even further.
If you’re looking to build your email list and improve your marketing, this challenge is a great way to get started.
Key tactics used in the funnel:
Some key tactics used in this funnel include a free offer, daily video lessons, live Q&A sessions, and a private Facebook group to encourage community building.
Amy Porterfield’s List Building Challenge Funnel Template
- Free Offer: The funnel starts with a free five-day challenge designed to help you grow your email list. This acts as a powerful lead magnet, attracting potential participants like you who are eager to improve their email marketing.
- Daily Video Lessons: Throughout the challenge, you’ll receive daily video lessons packed with actionable strategies. These lessons are focused on list-building and email marketing, giving you the tools to succeed.
- Worksheets: Along with the video lessons, you’ll get worksheets to help you implement the strategies and track your progress. These worksheets make the content more practical and easy to follow.
- Live Q&A Sessions: Amy Porterfield hosts live Q&A sessions where you can ask questions and get personalized guidance. This interaction ensures you stay on track and overcome any roadblocks you might face.
- Private Facebook Group: You’ll be encouraged to join a private Facebook group where you can connect with other participants. It’s a great way to share your progress, ask questions, and feel supported by a community of like-minded people.
- Invitation to Email Marketing Course: At the end of the challenge, you’ll be invited to join Amy’s email marketing course. This is the next step for you if you want to continue learning and dive deeper into mastering email marketing.
This marketing challenge is a great way to kickstart your email list-building journey, and it can easily fit into your coaching funnel template for future funnel strategies.
Results achieved:
According to Amy Porterfield, the List Building Challenge has helped her grow her email list to over 250,000 subscribers.
The challenge has also generated over $1 million in revenue for Amy Porterfield’s email marketing course.
5. James Clear’s Habit Builder Challenge
This challenge funnel focuses on personal development and habit formation, an area that’s incredibly valuable for anyone looking to improve their daily routines and build lasting habits.
Habit formation challenge funnel Strategy:
The Habit Builder Challenge is a free 30-day challenge designed to help participants build new habits and improve their daily routines.
The challenge includes daily emails from James Clear with guidance and support, along with access to a private Facebook group where participants can connect and share their progress.
Participants are also given the option to purchase James Clear’s book, “Atomic Habits,” at the end of the challenge.
Key tactics used in the funnel:
Some key tactics used in this funnel include a free offer, daily emails, access to a private Facebook group, and an upsell to purchase James Clear’s book.
James Clear’s Habit Builder Challenge Funnel Template
- Free Offer: The challenge begins with a free 30-day Habit Builder Challenge, designed to attract individuals like you who are interested in personal development and habit formation. This free offer serves as the initial entry point to engage participants and provide them with value.
- Landing Page: When you sign up, you’ll be directed to a landing page where you can enter your email. The page highlights the benefits of joining the challenge and encourages you to take action and kickstart your habit-building journey.
- Daily Emails: After signing up, you’ll receive daily emails from James Clear. These emails provide guidance, actionable tips, and motivation to help you stay on track and build lasting habits over the 30 days.
- Private Facebook Group: You’ll also get access to a private Facebook group. This is a space where you can connect with others, share your progress, and get support from both James Clear and fellow participants, creating a sense of community.
- Upsell: At the end of the challenge, you’ll be invited to purchase James Clear’s book, Atomic Habits. This upsell encourages you to continue your personal development journey and deepen your habit-building skills.
This sales funnel challenge is a great example of how a simple challenge can lead to long-term transformation.
It also works well if you’re looking to apply the same approach in your own coaching funnel template for future challenges.
Results achieved:
According to James Clear, the Habit Builder Challenge has helped over 200,000 people improve their habits and routines.
The challenge has also helped increase the sales of “Atomic Habits,” which has sold over 3 million copies worldwide.
Research on this challenge funnels then start planning your first funnel challenge.
Now, I’ll mention some more industries that can host challenge funnels to get results.
Who Should Host Challenge Funnels?
Challenge funnels have proven to be particularly effective in industries where education and transformation are key objectives.
If you are operating in any of the following industries, incorporating challenge funnels into your marketing approach can lead to significantly more results.
Marketing or Business Coaching
Business coaching is a wonderful way to showcase your business expertise and help others while growing your revenue.
Whether you offer courses on project management or digital marketing you can have your potential prospects excited about your service.
For example, If you are a business coach, you can create a 5-day challenge on effective social media marketing.
Instruct and support them with different strategies and help them to improve their ROI.
When they show improvement in a few days many of them will come back for your service later.
Online Course Creators
Selling courses is a brilliant way to showcase your expertise and help others while growing your revenue.
Whether you offer courses on programming, personal growth, business growth, or even photography, you, too, can get more relevant potential clients excited about your services using challenge funnels.
For example, you run an online coding academy. You can create a 7-day coding challenge to teach them a core programming aspect, let’s say, OOP.
If your guidelines are properly created, then, the people who will attend the challenge will become efficient at using OOP.
After that, they will be more confident when purchasing your courses on other topics.
Personal Development Coach
Entrepreneurs and high-level officials often struggle to develop their personal lives in an organized manner.
If you are a coach who specializes in personal development, then issuing a challenge could be a great way to prove how good you are.
Then, you can readily offer your high-ticket services to the participants. Many of them can also consider hiring you because they have just seen great results.
For example, If you are a personal development coach, you can create a 7-day lifestyle improvement challenge to teach and get them used to it day by day.
provide additional resources and support during challenging times to encourage their continuous improvement.
Thus establish yourself as a guide. Build trust and confidence, so that, they can come back to you for better improvement.
Fitness & Wellness
Another industry that is fitness industry thrives on challenges, and incorporating a challenge funnel can help fitness coaches and wellness experts engage their audience and drive membership or product sales.
For example, If you are a fitness trainer you can create a 7-day challenge for health lover people. Let’s say you offer a challenge to improve their body strength for cardio.
Encourage and support them during the challenge of going the extra mile. During this period they will feel improvement in their strength and come back to you for more consultancy.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the five examples you’ve covered show how powerful free challenges can be. When you offer real value, you motivate participants to take action and achieve their goals.
As an online instructor, you’re inviting your audience to join a challenge that helps them improve. You guide them through each step, and by the end, they feel great.
The best part? Many will be ready to hire you for paid consultancy. With the right tools and strategy, you can make this work for you too.
To make it easier, I recommend using WPFunnels to create your challenge funnels. It’s the perfect tool to help you design and manage your funnels with ease.
** FAQs **
What is the ideal duration for a challenge funnel?
- The ideal duration for your challenge funnel is 5–7 days. This keeps your participants engaged without overwhelming them. Shorter challenges are easier for your audience to complete, making it more likely they’ll see results and trust your expertise.
How do I promote my challenge funnel?
- Start by sharing it on your social media platforms, email list, or even through collaborations with others in your niche. A compelling signup page with clear benefits will also help you attract more participants.
What kind of results should I promise in my challenge?
- Focus on promising small but achievable wins that align with your expertise. For example, “Learn 3 new productivity hacks” or “Build your first funnel.” This builds trust and sets realistic expectations.
How do I keep participants engaged during the challenge?
- You can send daily reminders through emails or messages and include easy-to-follow steps. Adding a supportive community, like a private group, can also keep everyone motivated and connected.
Can I reuse a challenge funnel for different audiences?
- Yes, you can tweak the content to match the needs of each audience. With small adjustments, your challenge can serve different groups while saving you time and effort.
Comments (4)
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Thank you for your feedback! I’m glad the article resonated with you.
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Really nice and interesting post.