One of the most important decisions a brand owner must take is picking the right tools for business management and growth. When discussing business management tools, two world-famous platforms immediately come to mind: ClickFunnels and WordPress.
These platforms are popular amongst not only brand owners but also online course creators. Whether you want to build a digital course, an online store, or a personal branding website, these 2 platforms are excellent options to consider.
There are a bunch of benefits that custom WordPress website development offers and some others that you must use ClickFunnels to enjoy. So, each of these content management systems has its own sets of advantages that can aid in your online growth.
Naturally, it can become quite confusing to decide which of the two platforms to choose for running your company.
Not to worry, because this blog post will cover all your concerns, teach you the primary differences between ClickFunnels and WordPress, and assist you with making an informed decision for your digital brand. Let’s get into it!
Table of Contents
What is ClickFunnels 2.0?
ClickFunnels was launched originally as a cloud-hosted funnel builder. Recently, it was updated to be more than just a tool to create sales funnels. Today, ClickFunnels offers numerous resources needed for managing an online store.
ClickFunnels allows its users to automate mundane tasks, categorize target audiences according to their behavior patterns, build email lists, and so much more.
Also read Why WordPress Is Perfect For Small Business Sites?
An Overview of ClickFunnels 2.0
In October 2022, ClickFunnels 2.0 was launched. This launch transformed the previously funnel building platform into an all-in-one resource for business owners. It operates as a SaaS or Software as a Service platform.
Today, with ClickFunnels 2.0, you do not have to look for different resources and tools at different places. Everything your digital brand needs is offered via one solution.
ClickFunnels has a target audience that consists of entrepreneurs, business owners, and marketers who want to create and maintain complex funnels without worrying about the technicalities involved.
Some Limitations of ClickFunnels to Keep in Mind
Even though ClickFunnels has become a one-stop solution for many marketers and entrepreneurs, do note that it cannot completely replace a traditional website.
Yes, it can replace some aspects of a website but to say that it can fully replace a traditional site would be wrong.
ClickFunnels is also difficult to personalize. So, if you want everything perfectly matched with your brand’s personality, then you may need to consider another option.
ClickFunnels is also not ideal for businesses that have a small budget to spend on setting up a platform.
Popular Features of ClickFunnels
Following are some of the globally praised features of ClickFunnels:
Pre-Built Design Templates
ClickFunnels offers various pre-designed templates for any type of sales funnel you are looking to build. This is helpful particularly for course creators who have no prior design experience but still want to put out informative courses with engaging visuals for their targeted community.
Integrated CRM Solutions
ClickFunnels comes equipped with an in-built CRM system to help you connect to your audience better and nurture client relationships.
A Customer Relationship System or CRM is key to not just keeping track of your leads and customers but also staying connected with them to keep your brand’s name at the forefront of their minds.
Integrated Blogging Solutions
ClickFunnels also comes with a built-in blogging platform to enable you to share valuable blog posts with your audience regularly.
You can write and publish helpful articles for your visitors to foster brand loyalty and a strong community around your digital business.
Course Selling Capabilities
ClickFunnels has been designed for solutions beyond just sales funnels – it is also great for building and selling courses and is, therefore, loved by different types of course creators.
This platform supports almost every type of course creation, even if the course creator has no prior technical or design experience.
Accurate Progress Monitoring
With ClickFunnels, conducting regular A/B tests is easy. Therefore, it becomes effortless to monitor the progress of your sales funnels and make tweaks accordingly.
This way, you can learn from your mistakes and pinpoint exactly what is getting you the desired results.
What is WordPress?
WordPress has been around for years as a reliable website builder and Content Management System. WordPress is a self-hosted platform that was created to serve as a blog-publishing site.
But, as you may already know, it has now emerged as a full-fledged Content Management System that can efficiently handle e-commerce processes.
It is open-source, free, and can easily be installed on your web hosting software to manage your data efficiently without having to deal with technical complexities.
WordPress is a versatile tool for building and sustaining the business website you want. A WordPress website will enable you to process payments from customers, share engaging content with them, and also optimize your pages for search engine optimization.
WordPress has a target audience consisting of business owners, content managers, and digital marketers who want personalization and complete ownership of their sites.
Some Limitations of WordPress to Keep in Mind
There are no built-in sales funnels in WordPress. Installing WordPress plugins designed for creating sales funnels is how you can utilize them.
This means that within a WordPress ecosystem, there are no pre-built funnels and you will be dependent on plugins to acquire them.
Also, keep in mind that you must be ready to train yourself and your team in order to get everyone familiarized with the WordPress platform if you decide to leverage it.
This is because the interface is not as simple as ClickFunnels and will take some practice to get used to.
WordPress is not a go-to platform for selling digital products. Other solutions like ClickFunnels and Kajabi are more well-suited for this purpose.
So, if you are someone who currently sells digital products or wants to sell them online in the future, then WordPress may not be for you.
If you are an ecommerce entrepreneur than you may also read: The Right Choice for Your Business – Is it Shopify or WooCommerce?
Popular Features of WordPress
Following are some of the best and commonly praised features of WordPress:
Extensive Plugin Library
WordPress offers a vast plugin library to its users containing more than 60,000 WordPress plugins to choose from.
These plugins can range from basic ones to more advanced premium plugins. The plugins offered serve different functions – SEO, design, e-commerce operational assistance, and a lot more.
Diverse Variety of Themes
WordPress offers its users thousands of themes to choose from. You can beautifully personalize your website to match your brand’s personality and make it more eye-catching for your target audience.
Each aspect of your website can be tailored to your taste and your brand’s color palette.
Excellent Tool for Blogging
If you love sharing content and valuable information with your community via blogging, then WordPress is a platform you must check out, as it offers countless features designed to support your blogging journey.
This is useful, especially for companies selling products that do not have a lot of awareness and education around them.
ClickFunnels 2.0 vs WordPress
Both these platforms have their own unique sets of strengths and weaknesses when it comes to business management. Your goals will determine the best option for you.
The most productive way to make the right decision here is to study the features and benefits of each platform.
Let’s study WordPress vs ClickFunnels based on different characteristics.
ClickFunnels vs WordPress:
Let us look at a side by side comparison of ClickFunnels and WordPress and find out which one of them is best.
Comparison Based on User-Friendliness
ClickFunnels has been designed keeping an average user in mind with no technical training. With its drag-and-drop function and extremely simple interface, ClickFunnels is easy to use for most people.
It allows entrepreneurs to set up their funnels and start managing their online businesses fast without having to deal with a learning curve.
On the other hand, WordPress requires more of a hands-on approach. There is a learning curve present. Fortunately, there are countless training videos offered by the WordPress community that make this process simpler.
Comparison Based on Website Ownership
As mentioned previously, ClickFunnels is a SaaS platform, which means you do not have full control of your hosting solutions. So, ClickFunnels is currently limited when it comes to site ownership and control.
WordPress provides its users with complete control and ownership over their entire website hosting. So, with WordPress, you are 100% in charge of your website.
Comparison Based on Business Model
One important factor to consider when deciding between ClickFunnels and WordPress is your brand’s offering. If you have a business that sells digital products such as courses, then ClickFunnels is your go-to platform. This is because ClickFunnels provides a variety of online course design templates for course creators.
However, if you have a business that sells physical products, then WordPress might be a better option. This is because WordPress is more customizable and will allow you to deliver a personalized shopping experience to your customers.
Comparison Based on Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
ClickFunnels offers its users a plethora of marketing tools, especially for conversion rate optimization as well as sales funnel building. It enables A/B testing, analytics, and smooth email integrations – everything that has the potential to boost your funnel’s success.
WordPress sites are very well-known for the SEO benefits they offer. The Yoast SEO plugin is offered to help your site climb up the search engine result pages. Because WordPress is so flexible, it empowers entrepreneurs to try out a diverse mix of marketing strategies that extend well beyond only utilizing sales funnels.
Comparison Based on Plugins & Third-Party Integration
ClickFunnels comes packed with all the integrations an e-commerce business may need. It can be effortlessly integrated with payment gateways and is, therefore, great for managing digital shops.
WordPress, on the other hand, requires plugins such as WooCommerce to properly support a digital store. Although this might seem like a hassle to many e-commerce store owners, it is important to keep in mind that WordPress is capable of supporting small to even giant-sized e-commerce operations.
Comparison Based on Personalization
When it comes to customization, ClickFunnels has limited options. There are premade elements available and you have to decide between options that are in front of you. With ClickFunnels, 360-degree customization is not possible.
Many businesses use WordPress to fully customize their sites. There are many different WordPress design themes to choose from, and every template can be completely personalized to your business, from landing pages to contact forms.
Comparison Based on Content Publishing
Although ClickFunnels comes with its own blogging tools, WordPress is an obvious winner here. It is known worldwide as the de facto blogging platform as it offers a wide range of content publishing tools.
Because WordPress is a great platform for content customization and sharing, it remains an attractive choice for content creators, writers, and influencers.
Comparison Based on Scalability & Pricing
ClickFunnels offers its users a subscription-based pricing model. Currently, 3 basic tiers are being offered: Basic, Pro, and Funnel Hacker. The basic tier is the cheapest and the Funnel Hacker tier is the most expensive tier option available as it offers a wide range of solutions. You can avail of their 14-day free trial period to test things out before committing to anything long-term.
WordPress, on the other hand, is free to start with but remember that you would have to pay for other services such as hosting, premium themes and plugins, domain registration, etc. In terms of scalability, WordPress is considered to be the winner as it is highly scalable and more economical to maintain as your business grows.
WordPress vs ClickFunnels: Pros & Cons
A proven way to decide between two choices (WordPress or ClickFunnels) is to weigh their pros and cons. Let’s take a look at the pros and cons of both these solutions.
| WordPress | ClickFunnels |
|---|---|
| WordPress is fully customizable and you can get the exact look you are envisioning for your brand. | 100% website customization is impossible to achieve with ClickFunnels. |
| You can acquire complete control and claim full ownership of your website with WordPress. | It is impossible to acquire complete control and ownership of your site. |
| WordPress plugins like Yoast are excellent for search engine optimization. | In the long run, ClickFunnels is a pricy option, especially for startups and small businesses. |
| With WordPress, there is a learning curve present and the user must learn to properly navigate the interface and the overall system. | ClickFunnels has become an all-in-one solution for users looking to create sales funnels. |
| WordPress is a self-hosting platform, which means you will be responsible for your website’s security. | There are no learning curves with ClickFunnels – anyone can get started thanks to its drag-and-drop editor and user-friendly interface. |
| WordPress is a self-hosting platform, which means you will be responsible for your website’s security. | A/B testing is easy to conduct and analyze to monitor sales funnel results. |
Is it Possible to Use Both Platforms Together?
An interesting thing to note here is that both platforms, WordPress and ClickFunnels, can be used hand-in-hand with each other. This can be done by incorporating ClickFunnels buttons, opt-in forms, and pop-ups into your WordPress business website.
There is another method to use WordPress and ClickFunnels together, i.e. via a plugin called ClickFunnels WordPress Integration. This plugin will help streamline the incorporation and deliver a smooth user experience to your site visitors.
Embedding ClickFunnels elements on your WordPress site is a great way to leverage the sales funnel-building abilities of ClickFunnels while leveraging the benefits of the WordPress platform simultaneously.
ClickFunnels vs WordPress: The Final Verdict
WordPress and ClickFunnels are both awesome platforms for managing e-commerce operations and handling content. So, if you are confused about which of the two to go for, consider sitting down with your team and getting to know your priorities.
What is it that your business needs at this very moment? What is your platform budget? Can your team handle a learning curve? Ask yourself and your team such questions and figure out which of the two platforms you should go for.
Don’t have a team of IT experts by your side? We at 2BTech are available to support your digital brand at jaw-dropping prices! Simply write to us and one of our representatives will contact you shortly for a FREE consultation!
