Funnels vs. WhatsApp: A conversion story

I’ve always been a fan of checkout-first funnels. 

Why make it complicated? Send people to a landing page, get them excited, tell them how the product is worth more than food and direct them to buy. 

Simple. 

But after running a few campaigns in different verticals, I’ve noticed something interesting. 

Instead of checking out through the funnel (the way we designed it), a prospect messaged the business on WhatsApp. After a short back-and-forth, they bought.

Actually, this isn’t a one-off.

In Southeast Asia – Malaysia, people use WhatsApp to check if a business is real and to ask questions, before they buy. I do it myself. One quick message, see if they reply quickly, if the reply feels human… and then I’m ready to buy. 

I already hear the objections coming...

• “But if everybody messages me on WhatsApp, I’ll be super busy.”
• “I want them to buy automatically.”
• “They message and ghost me…”
• “This is not scalable…”

My answer? Suck it up.  

Trust me. I like everything to be automatic as well. But this is the cost of doing business in this market. 

Instead of fighting customer behaviour, build around it. Add automation to lighten the load, not to replace the human touch, but to accelerate it.

That’s exactly what we’re doing inside the Daily CMO app (built on GHL) for WhatsApp workflows to qualify leads, answer FAQs, and drop payment links. Another alternative we also use is OtoWA.

West vs. East

Many marketers copy what’s working in the US. But behaviour in Asia is different. 

In the West, checkout-first funnels are the default. In Asia, chat-first funnels can be the difference between a failed campaign and paying customers. 

Simple rules: 

Use checkout-first funnels when:

• You’re selling a known-brand
• The product is already highly desirable (without much convincing)
• Customers see it as “worth more than food”
• Scarcity is real and obvious

And use chat-first funnels when:

• You’re selling a new or unproven brand
• The product is high-ticket (requires decision-making)
• Scarcity isn’t obvious or believable 
• Customers want reassurance before buying

The big idea

Funnels don’t fail because of design. They fail because they ignore how people actually buy. 

In Asia, people tend to buy through conversation.

I paid USD229 so you don’t have to… 

Last week I spent time and money at SDS in Bali, to learn from marketers like Dan Henry, Peng Joon, Rory Flynn, Reeve, etc.

There’s always something you can learn from someone, even if you have different views. 

This Wednesday, I’ll be going live to share the best lessons I took back from the conference. 

24 Sept 9PM 

Join me live to get a PDF of my notes. 

👉 Hop in here