Your one stop solution to different sorts of online trainings and courses on various subjects. User Friendly!
ClickFunnels vs. Shopify: Which Is Best For Dropshipping, E-commerce & Conversions?
Finding it difficult comparing ClickFunnels vs Shopify?
That’s what this post will help you decide. In terms of conversions and otherwise.
Plus, you’ll also learn how to INTEGRATE both.
Starting an eCommerce business from scratch is not so easy. The same goes for maintaining an existing one.
Especially, if you’re like me when I started online a few years ago.
Choosing the right path was the HARDEST!
When it comes to building an online business in general…
One of the critical steps should be going for the right tools and resources that will serve and uphold every asset you build till the end of time.
That will enable you to sell your amazing product to hungry prospects out there.
Well, ClickFunnels and Shopify are two great platforms that can serve as a powerhouse you need to make your dreams come true.
The problem?
I know it can be a bit confusing coming up with a favorable decision whether to go for ClickFunnels or Shopify, right?
It’s no doubt that both platforms have helped countless entrepreneurs account for millions in their online businesses over the years and it’s never too late for you to leverage the power of either of these tools to succeed as well.
For dropshipping, funnels or eCommerce.
If you check other of my ClickFunnels comparison posts with Instapage, Kartra, Unbounce and the rest…
You’ll find out that ClickFunnel’s goal is to help you increase conversions and drive sales and not just building out fancy funnel pages.
Same as Shopify. Making sales
But how do these two platforms stack up to each other?
In this ClickFunnels vs Shopify comparison review, we shall take a very detailed look at both tools’ features, comparisons, similarities, pros, and cons and I shall help you make a prudent decision on which to go for.
Or maybe you desire to integrate (the best route), you’ll also learn how to do that in this post!
Below is what I shall be covering:
-
Overview of ClickFunnels and Shopify
-
Features – ClickFunnels vs Shopify
-
Costs of ClickFunnels and Shopify
-
Differences
-
ClickFunnels Shopify Integration
-
Pros and Cons
-
Final Verdict
ClickFunnels vs Shopify Summary: If you’re looking for the short summary between these two great platforms – I got you! The preferred software was ClickFunnels as it is built to host your complete online business without needing another tool. You can sell both physical and digital products on ClickFunnels and upsell customers. Unlike Shopify that causes distraction and leakage in your funnel.
Keep reading if you’d like to find more details…
Part#1: Overview – ClickFunnels vs Shopify
ClickFunnels Overview
I guess you already know what a powerful sales funnel building tool ClickFunnels is? This is a tool capable of taking your online business to another level entirely.
ClickFunnels is a software used to create a complete marketing system, from acquiring leads to making sales. This tool has a line-up of fantastic tools and unlimited integrations that will empower you to make the most out of ClickFunnels.
All-in-one.
Due to the fact this tool is geared towards helping to convert cold leads to hot buyers, ClickFunnels features an inbuilt automation tool that helps you in following up prospects inside your funnels.
No matter the type of product you decide to sell, there are pre-built pages and funnels specially made to sell physical products, membership contents, and digital services.
Shopify Overview
Shopify is a web-based tool that allows you to create online stores. This tool has become the leading platform for e-commerce owners. Unlike ClickFunnels, this is mainly used for showcasing and selling various products.
Shopify comes with lots of themes that allow you easily build and customize out your store the way you want needing no design skill.
Everything you need to set up your business is inside Shopify. There’s also a Shopify developer community where you’ll find solutions to any issues you encounter using the platform.
Just like ClickFunnels, Shopify is also a hosted solution – meaning that you need not worry about buying web hosting or installing software anywhere.
The idea is that pretty much everything you need to build and run your business happens ‘out of the box’
Part#2: Features – ClickFunnels vs Shopify
Features of ClickFunnels
Lots of Integrations
With ClickFunnels you can add as many as third-party tools as you like. There are different types of integrations you can add to your ClickFunnels account:
-
Email integration
-
Payment Integration or Gateways
-
Webinar Integration
-
SMS/text integration
-
Many more…
A/B Split testing
It’s advisable to always split test in marketing because it gives you insights into what you never knew works. This ClickFunnels feature lets you duplicate a page and make changes to pages, copies colors, etc…
Pre-made Funnels
There are quite a few types of available pre-made funnels, oriented to different types of businesses where you can quickly change up a few things and launch.
You’ll get funnels to sell every kind of product you want to sell. There are basically funnels for physical products, membership courses, e-books, webinars, agency funnels, coaching funnels, affiliate marketing funnels and many more.
As a matter of fact, I even provided more of these funnels which have generated millions for business on my bonus page.
Affiliate Management Platform
This is called Backpack. An inbuilt tool for creating, assigning and managing affiliate programs in your business. This is a great feature not so many sales funnel software offers.
Smart inbuilt Autoresponder
Since the goal of ClickFunnels is helping you make a sale, they featured an inbuilt automation software called Followup Funnels. This cool tool is responsible for:
-
Viewing and tracking the journey of your customers
-
Sending targeted email campaigns and texts according to funnel actions
-
Set up actions based on different triggers
Members area feature
The membership site feature allows you to create digital products and give access to paying customers.
Easy Funnel replication
With a single button click, you can download an already existing successful funnel into your ClickFunnels account and either model or change things up as needed.
To check this ClickFunnels feature out – you can download from any funnel from these share funnels.
Free marketing resources and courses
Apart from the free marketing courses Russell provides all over the internet – he went further to partner with marketing and personal development gurus to give ClickFunnels users to all their premium courses.
It’s called Funnel Flix.
Diverse niches
Unlike Shopify, ClickFunnels can be used in almost every industry or niche you can think of. Selling courses, doing dropshipping, consultants, affiliate marketing, B2B and lots of other things:
-
Agency/Freelancer
-
Info Products
-
Ecommerce
-
Coaching/Consulting
-
Network Marketing
-
Local Business
-
B2B
-
Non Profit
-
Getting started
-
Affiliate marketing/Blogging
Features of Shopify
Wide range of themes
Shopify provides lost of themes (or templates) that you can use in building out your eCommerce store, which comes as free or paid.
All the templates are attractive and mobile-responsive which makes it more conducive for your customers to shop with on any device.
Just like the way, you could customize the pre-built funnels you get in ClickFunnels; Shopify also lets you customize every element of the pre-designed themes using the drag and drop editor.
More payment gateways option
Unlike ClickFunnels which supports only a dozen payment integration gateways, Shopify supports up to 100s of payment gateways which lets its users choose any of their choices no matter where they reside in the world.
Blogging functionality
Content marketing via blogging is one of the key ways to increase traffic to your store; Shopify comes with a built-in blogging tool that allows you to create a built-in blogging tool, allowing you to create content.
Although there are few functionalities lacking in the Shopify blogging platform. It is not like the native WordPress platform.
Comprehensive reporting
Shopify provides a comprehensive range of reporting which includes:
-
Customer reports (where they came from, overall spend, percentage of new vs returning customers)
-
Financial reports (tax, sales reports, etc.)
-
Marketing reports (customer acquisition reports)
-
Search data reports by customers in your store
-
Abandoned carts reports
I want to point out that these reports are only available in the advanced plan of Shopify.
If you’re not on this plan, what you get is just a basic dashboard containing topline stats only.
Mobile App
Shopify provides two main apps for its users on a mobile device which you can use to manage your business: The Shopify main app and the Shopify Point of Sale.
The Shopify app lets you view and fulfill orders; like adding and editing products and viewing reports.
The Shopify Point of Sale app enables you to take card payments in person, track inventory (inventory management), send receipts to customers.
Shopify’s App Store
One of Shopify’s core features is the availability of an app store where you can visit to get applications (free and paid) to make your store more functional.
Some of the plugins and integrations enable you to create good landing pages, forms, accounting reports lots more.
Dropshipping
Shopify offers a very large range of dropshipping apps which allows you to source and sell a variety of suppliers’ goods online with ease.
Shipping and delivery of your products wouldn’t be a problem, since Shopify has partnered with major couriers like USPS, DHL, UPS to offer low shipping rates to your customers.
Part #3: Costs – ClickFunnels vs Shopify
How much does ClickFunnels cost?
ClickFunnels has two standard plans where the features are limited in some way according to the costs. The Starting plan costs $97 per month with limited features and the Platinum plan (formally Etison suite) costs $297 per month with unlimited features.
In the StartUp feature you get access:
-
20, 000 visitors
-
20 funnels
-
100 pages
-
1 SMTP integration
-
Unlimited contacts
-
3 custom domains
-
A/B split testing
-
Email integrations
-
Members area
-
ClickPops
-
ClickOptin
-
Upsells and downsells pages
-
Share funnels
-
Advanced funnels
-
Auto webinar funnels
-
Funnel Flix
Then on the Platinum plan, you get everything unlimited plus access to the Inbuilt autoresponder and affiliate marketing management tool.
There is also a more discounted ClickFunnels option available which gives you everything to master funnel building.
How much does Shopify cost?
Shopify gives you access to a 14-day free trial period just as ClickFunnels does. And its pricing plans come with various options depending on the level of your business and needs. Shopify costs for individual plans are stated below:
The basic plan of $29/mo:
-
2 staff accounts
-
Wide range of themes
-
Credit card processing
-
Integration with PayPal
-
Blogging functionality
-
Import/export customer data
-
Content Management System
-
SEO functionality
-
Option to integrate 100+ payment gateways
-
Printable labels for product shipping
-
Access to Point of sale App (limited feature)
-
Discount codes etc
Shopify plan of $79/mo:
You also all of the features in the basic plan plus everything you need to grow your business and also fewer transaction fees on third-party apps such as payment gateways usage.
-
You also get gift cards
-
Professional reporting feature
-
Complete Point of sale functionality
-
5 staff accounts
Advanced plan $299/mo:
You get more functionalities in this Shopify plan for scaling your business to another new level.
-
15 staff accounts
-
You get access to the advanced report builder for creating custom reports
-
Access to real-time carrier shipping
Shopify also offers a 10% discount on an annual subscription and a 20% discount on a biennial plan, should in case you don’t want to go the monthly route.
Part #4: Differences Between Shopify and ClickFunnels
The biggest difference between ClickFunnels and Shopify (when it comes to eCommerce) is that one allows you to build an online store while the other allows you to build a single product page.
The thing is:
When a person comes to your Shopify store after clicking an ad, they will see the product they clicked for and also similar products to browse and choose from.
That is just like walking into a supermarket with the intention of buying a single product, but you ended up spending hours contemplating on what to spend your money on because your eyes and mind have been fed (distracted) with lots of options.
There are only two options in this scenario:
-
Buying lots of products and spending more than you’ve budgeted
-
Or leave the supermarket in a confused and indecisive state without buying anything
Whereas in the case of using ClickFunnels:
It’s like you walking into a store that specializes in a single product. You definitely do not have any option other than buying or leaving immediately.
After paying for the product that brought you, there will be an option for a commentary product that goes well with the initial product you paid for.
You get the point, right?
Part #5: Can ClickFunnels and Shopify Integration work?
You can integrate ClickFunnels with your Shopify store or vice-versa. Doing this will enable you to send shipping information directly from a ClickFunnels order form to your Shopify account for shipping.
It’s pretty simple though.
If you have a Shopify store where you wish to manage fulfillment and inventory of a product you create in ClickFunnels, you will need to make sure you have:
-
A ClickFunnels account
-
A Shopify account
-
A product created in Shopify (here is how it is done)
Then follow the below steps to Integrate Shopify With Your ClickFunnels Account:
-
Log into your Shopify account in another tab before returning to ClickFunnels.
-
From within ClickFunnels, navigate to your Account Menu and click “Integrations.“
-
Click “Add New Integration.”
-
Search for and select Shopify.
-
Type your Shopify Store URL into the field and click “Connect Integration.“
-
On the next page, scroll down and click the “Install unlisted app.”
Next is Connect A Product In Shopify to Your Funnel:
-
From your Order Form page, click “Products.”
-
Click “Add Product.”
-
Enter all necessary data for your product, including your Payment Gateway
-
Click the “Shipping” tab under Product Settings.
-
Check the box for Shopify.
-
Under Integration, select your Shopify Account.
-
Under Product SKU, select your product.
-
Click “Create Product.”
Part #6: Pros and Cons – ClickFunnels vs Shopify
When it comes to using either ClickFunnels or Shopify, not everything are rainbows and sunshine. Whatever that has an advantage must surely have an opposite disadvantage, right?
ClickFunnels Pros
-
With ClickFunnels you can sell couples of complementary products in one single funnel using the order bump, upsells & downsells.
-
You get a complete tool for lead generation and conversion inside a single software
-
You can build out a system for recruiting marketers who will help you in driving sales to your funnels
-
Inbuilt CRM tool, membership tool and automation tool which makes things less hard on you
-
A beginner with no marketing and coding knowledge can use ClickFunnels to quickly launch a product and make sales
-
You can share your entire funnel with another user or a client
-
ClickFunnels is perfect for selling a single product. Especially high-ticket ones.
Cons of ClickFunnels
-
You can’t sell or display other related or similar products on the same page or funnel
-
Poor for blogging and not an SEO friendly platform
-
No advanced reporting features
-
ClickFunnels is expensive
-
No mobile app available for its users
Pros of Shopify
-
You can use the blogging and SEO friendly the feature to drive more traffic to your store via content marketing.
-
Enables you to sell and hundreds of products on the same store and display other related products on the same page.
-
Shopify can also handle the creation and application of product categories very smoothly
-
Both iOS and Android apps are provided to enable you to manage your store on the go
-
Store owners and users can sell or buy an existing store whenever they like.
-
Shopify is perfect for selling 100 variations of products in different categories.
-
Professional reporting and inventory management
Cons of Shopify
-
No advanced automation to track customers actions and purchases
-
Does not feature an advanced marketing functionality for building a sales funnels and lead capturing
-
You can’t build a member’s area nor manage affiliates.
-
Mainly for selling products. You’ll have to learn how to get drive traffic and retain customers. This is what ClickFunnels teaches its users.
-
A beginner with no marketing experience will find it difficult setting up a store and driving sales
-
Prospects could easily abandon a purchase because they’re likely to get distracted due to the related product options and non-persuasive call the actions.
-
Can’t send automated texts and email campaigns
Verdict
Shopify is a good choice if you’re a marketing pro and want to go full-time running and managing your online store. Its product management and delivery features are unmatched. But you need to know how to set up different integrations for building landing pages, running email campaigns and automating your online business.
That’s why Clickfunnels is the better choice if you’re just starting out selling products. You won’t need a lot of marketing experience to build your funnels and you’ll get all the services you need to run your online business – including hosting to get you started.
If you are going to choose, Shopify – you might want to invest in landing page editor app right from the start