The first step of any good sales funnel begins with collecting email opt-ins. Every serious internet marketer knows that “the money is in the list.” Building your list is one of the most important things in your company – more important than SEO, than buying traffic or even than optimizing your sales copy.

Why is collecting email opt-ins always the first step to any good sales funnel?

==> 99% of Your Site’s Visitors Leave and Never Come Back

Let’s say you have a 1% conversion rate from visitors to buyers. That means a good 99% of your site’s traffic just disappears every day.

Having an opt-in collection system allows you to salvage the rest of that traffic. You’ll be able to collect anywhere between 10% to 40% of your visitors’ email addresses.

Instead of just losing 99% of your customers, you can collect the email addresses of 10% to 40% of your visitors and build a long-term relationship.

==> Sell Them Again and Again and Again

If you don’t get someone’s email address, you only really have one chance to sell them. If they decide they aren’t interested in what you’re offering and leave, chances are you won’t ever get a second shot.

They might actually really like your product and your brand and what you have to offer. It just might not be for them right now.

Having their email allows you to present different products to them at different times. It allows you to sell to them again and again and again.

==> Sell High Ticket Items

Selling high ticket items to a first-time viewer is nearly impossible. Nobody is going to land on a website for the first time and put down a $2,000 payment.

On the other hand, once someone is on your list, you can start to build a relationship with them. You can build trust. You can establish yourself as a credible expert.

Once someone has been on your list for two or three months and seen what you’re about, if you then come along and offer a high ticket item, they’re a lot more likely to buy.

==> Maximize Your Per-Visitor Value

In buying web traffic, one of your most important numbers is your per-visitor value.

If 1% of the visitors who come to your website end up buying a $40 product, the average visitor is worth $0.40 to you.

If 4% of your visitors end up buying a stream of products totaling $400, then the average visitor is worth $16 to you.

These are both very realistic numbers for the average information marketer. The first is what you might expect with no funnel and no email list. The second is what you might expect from a marketer with a strong funnel and list.

Having a good email funnel is fundamental to the health of your business. Use it to establish relationships with customers and make more sales over time.