When starting off a dropshipping business or a few other e-commerce businesses, you will be introduced to a couple of software solutions designed to help you improve your business and equally get the most out of every resource expended on it. Some of the best platforms you will learn about as time goes on are ClickFunnels and Shopify.
If you are confronted with the Shopify vs. ClickFunnels debate and are still determining the best software, you should check out our comparison of these two platforms below. We provide the overviews of Shopify vs. ClickFunnels, compare their features, and show their differences.
Overview: Shopify vs. ClickFunnels
Shopify
It is a web-based software generally used for designing and maintaining online stores. Due to its unique features, Shopify is one of the most popular tools for various e-commerce businesses. The main functions of this tool are displaying and selling a wide range of products obtained from other sources.
Shopify provides a wide range of themes and includes everything you need to start building an e-commerce store personalized to suit your particular tastes and needs. Unlike many other tools that perform similar functions, Shopify does not require special design expertise or experience. In fact, the tool does most of the setting up and maintenance of the online stores for the users.
In addition, you can use the Shopify developer community to get any assistance you might need while using the tool. Also, Shopify takes care of web hosting solutions by providing users with hosting service that caters to their needs.
ClickFunnels
ClickFunnels, on the other hand, is an effective software designed for creating sales funnels. The essence of this tool is to assist you in creating a fully functional marketing system that can be used for getting leads, displaying your products, making sales, and lots more. By using ClickFunnels, every e-commerce business can move its business forward by leaps and bounds.
Like Shopify, ClickFunnels comes with loads of incredible features and robust integration capabilities that can make it easy for you to maximize the benefits of using a sales funnel. The software has various ready-made funnels and pages to sell digital services, memberships, and physical products. Therefore, irrespective of the products you offer, you can always rely on ClickFunnels to help attract leads and sell to them. With the help of the integrated automation tool of ClickFunnels, each user can track the prospects currently inside their sales funnel.
Comparison of the features of Shopify vs. ClickFunnels
Features of Shopify
App Store
One of the most essential elements of Shopify is that the tool has an app store that can be used to improve your e-commerce store’s functionality, such as creating forms, accounting reports, and landing pages. Although the apps may be free in some instances, you may also need to spend on buying paid apps. Integrations and plugins are the other benefits you can enjoy from the app store of Shopify.
The apps and systems that can be integrated into your Shopify store are:
- MailChimp
- ActiveCampaign
- Constant Contact
- Book Online Scheduling and Reservations
- Bookeo Appointments
- LiveChat
- LiveAgent
- Bitium
- Post Affiliate Pro
- Campaign Monitor
These are just a few of the numerous apps that can be used to make your Shopify store more functional.
Lots of themes
Regarding themes, you can hardly find any other e-commerce solutions that beat Shopify. This tool offers users several templates and themes that can be utilized for setting up an e-commerce store. Generally, some of these themes are free, while others are paid. So, you must decide the best type of Shopify theme ideal for your online store.
Shopify’s templates are usually known to be beautiful and also highly responsive to mobile devices. Therefore, your existing and prospective customers can use your e-commerce store regardless of their device. It is also important to note that you can tailor the elements of any of Shopify’s pre-designed templates to look the way you want. This customization does not need coding, as you only have to drag and drop the elements you want to edit.
Hundreds of payments gateways
Shopify supports over 100 payment gateways. This can improve the customer experience and ease of buying on your e-commerce store as your customers can use any payment option to pay for the products they purchase. This is one of the areas where Shopify has a competitive edge over ClickFunnels.
Mobile app
If you want to manage your e-commerce store via mobile apps, Shopify makes this possible as it offers two different apps: The Shopify Point of Sale and The Shopify main app.
From viewing orders to adding products, editing products, and tracking reports, you can do an array of activities with the Shopify app. On the other hand, the Shopify Point of Sale app is designed to physically receive card payments, send receipts to your clients, and manage your inventory. These mobile apps are available on iOS and Android devices.
Blogging feature
Shopify also provides blogging functionality. This built-in blogging functionality allows you to create highly-optimized blog posts for your eCommerce store. Writing blog posts on your e-commerce store can draw more traffic and improve your credibility as an authority in your chosen field. Expectedly, the blogging functionality of Shopify is less developed or feature-packed than WordPress or other blogging platforms, but it is good enough for basic blogging.
Dropshipping apps
Shopify makes dropshipping more convenient than ever as it provides many dropshipping apps. Using Shopify, users can easily and quickly find different products online and showcase them in their Shopify store. Additionally, Shopify partners with UPS, USPS, DHL, and several other popular couriers, so you can quickly ship and deliver your products.
Detailed reporting functionality
If you use the advanced plan of Shopify, you will have access to many detailed reporting tools. Not only will these tools show you what is going on with your store, but they will also provide you with data that can help you make informed decisions that can be instrumental in determining the success of your e-commerce store.
A few of the reports you can get are:
- Financial reports – this provides details of sales reports, tax, and lots more.
- Abandoned carts reports
- Marketing reports – to give details of what the customers are acquiring
- Customer reports – to show you various sets of information about your clients, such as their location, total expenditure, and comparison of the percentage of repeat and new buyers.
- Search data reports – what the customers are searching for in your e-commerce store
Features of ClickFunnels
Several integrations
In our Shopify vs. ClickFunnels debate, one of the significant advantages of ClickFunnels is that it allows users to integrate several third-party tools into their funnel. You can add many messaging, email, webinars, and third-party payment tools to your account, and these tools are all created to increase productivity and traffic.
The business apps and systems that can be integrated into ClickFunnels are:
- MailChimp
- WebinarJam
- Ever Webinar
- Maropost
- Goto Webinar
- GetResponse
- AWeber
- Shipstation
- Twilio
- ActiveCampaign
- Sendlane
- Constant Contact
Notably, most of these apps and systems offer various services and functions. Clickfunnels also has more integrations; these are only some of the few options available. You can also use Zapier, which gives you access to even more integrations.
Payment gateway options
Unlike Shopify, ClickFunnels allows users to integrate only a few payment gateways. To an extent, this will limit your customers’ options when paying for your service. Nevertheless, ClickFunnels supports major payment options that most customers will use for online payments. Shopify and Clickfunnels integrate with major payment gateways like Stripe And PayPal.
Built-in automation tool
ClickFunnels comes with an integrated autoresponder known as Actionetics. The primary function of this tool is to help you view and follow up on how your customers interact with your funnel and your products. Similarly, this tool makes it possible for you to send targeted emails that suit the funnel actions of each customer. This does not only improve the experience of your customer, but it also improves the results of your email marketing. In addition, Actionetics utilizes various triggers to determine actions that will be taken.
Ready-made funnels
Of course, not every user will be ready to go through the stress of creating their sales funnel from scratch. ClickFunnels caters to the need of these e-commerce store owners by providing ready-made funnels. These funnels have been designed to suit various types of businesses. So, each user can select a suitable funnel and make a few modifications before launching it. Irrespective of the products you are interested in selling, certain pre-made funnels are ideal for it. These pre-made funnels are designed for tangible products, affiliate marketing, e-books, coaching sessions, membership training, etc.
Easy replication of funnels
If you like an existing funnel, ClickFunnels allows you to download it and transfer it to your account. You can edit this copied funnel without much stress and launch your replicated store, and this feature makes life easy for users of ClickFunnels.
A/B split testing
A/B split test is a feature that allows you to duplicate any page and tweak the colors and pages. The benefit of this feature is that it may allow you to know certain overlooked changes or modifications that can improve the productivity of your funnels or increase your sales. Split testing is an essential feature in the internet marketing industry that allows you to test different versions of a landing page to help you determine which version is performing the best.
Membership site functionality
This feature is for creating digital products and allowing paying customers to access your products. It is capable of speeding up your overall sales over time.
Affiliate management feature
Suppose you want to offer your own affiliate programs. In that case, ClickFunnels provides a platform that enables you to manage your own affiliate programs to help increase sales to your funnels or landing pages even more. This unique feature is referred to as Backpack, and Shopify and many other eCommerce solutions do not offer this feature.
Comparison of the price: Shopify vs. ClickFunnels
Foremost, Shopify and ClickFunnels have more than a single pricing package, and different packages allow users to choose the particular plan that fits their budget. Moreover, both platforms offer a 14-day free trial period for users just starting. Of course, if you like the platform’s package and features, you need to pay for any plan of your choice after the free trial period and start enjoying the several benefits these platforms offer.
Shopify pricing
Shopify offers three different pricing packages. Your budget, needs, and business levels are the main factors before selecting any particular package. The three pricing packages are:
Basic Shopify plan
This plan costs $29 monthly and provides several themes for customizing your Shopify store. With this plan, you can also add more than 100 payment gateways to your store, easing your customers’ choice of payment options. Similarly, the Basic Shopify plan allows you to integrate various SEO and PayPal features. You can add printable labels to the products you are shipping. Similarly, with this plan, the data of your customers can be imported and exported.
Shopify plan
This is the second plan of Shopify which costs $79 per month. It boasts all the features in the Basic Shopify plan. This plan provides users with a comprehensive point-of-sale feature and a professional reporting functionality. It allows the integration of lots of third-party applications into your store. The transaction fee on this plan is 1% compared to the Basic plan, which is 2%.
Advanced Shopify Plan
Advanced Shopify plan costs $299 per month and has all these features and functionalities of both basic and Shopify plans. It is for larger businesses that require a scale-up. In addition to providing real-time carrier shipping, this plan offers users several reporting features such as Advanced Analytics reports, Third-party calculated shipping rates, Duties and import taxes, up to 8 inventory locations, and 15 staff accounts. The Advanced plan also reduces your transaction fees to 0.5%.
Irrespective of the plan you are subscribed to, Shopify gives discounts when you sign up for a long-term subscription. For a 12-month subscription, you get a 50% discount. That means you will end up paying $14.44/month for the Basic plan, $39.44/month for the Shopify plan, and $147.78/month for the Advanced plan.
ClickFunnels pricing
ClickFunnels has three pricing packages – Basic, Pro, and Funnel Hacker.
Basic plan
This plan costs $127 monthly and gives users access to most of Clickfunnels core features, including creating sales funnels, landing pages, Email marketing features, A/B testing, and basic analytics. This plan allows you to create 1 website, create 20 funnels, host 1 domain, host 3 courses, have 1,000 students, and have up to 10,000 contacts.
Pro plan
This is the next plan of ClickFunnels, which is available for $157 per month. With the Pro plan, you can have 1 website, create up to 100 funnels, host 3 domains, host up to 15 courses, 10,000 students, and 25,000 contacts. This plan also includes the following features below:
- Affiliate Program
- API Access
- ShareFunnels
- Liquid Theme Editor
- CF1 Maintenance Mode Plan
Funnel Hacker Plan
This is the most expensive and comprehensive plan available with Clickfunnels. This plan costs $297 per month, and you can create up to 3 websites, create unlimited funnels, host up to 9 domains and 200 courses, and have up to 20,000 students and 200,000 contacts. This plan also gives you access to Advanced Analytics.
If we compare Shopify and Clickfunnels in terms of pricing, it’s clear that Shopify is the more affordable option for most users. However, keep in mind your requirements before choosing the best solution. If your sole purpose is to build an eCommerce store, then Shopify would be the better option. If your goal is to create high-converting landing pages and sales funnels, then Clickfunnels is the better option.
Shopify Pros
Easy-To-Use Platform
Shopify is one of the easiest platforms to use. You don’t need coding skills or previous experience with website builders, and the platform is intuitive and user-friendly. Even if this is your first time building a website, you’ll be able to create a beautiful online store with Shopify.
Wide Variety Of Features
Shopify provides a wealth of features to aid in the development and expansion of your online store. There are over 100 professional themes to choose from, powerful eCommerce features, and apps to help you boost your sales. You can also use Shopify’s built-in blog platform to drive traffic to your website and promote your products.
Mobile Responsive Templates
All of Shopify’s themes are mobile responsive, so you can be sure that your store will look great on all devices. Mobile commerce is growing rapidly, and it’s essential to have a mobile-friendly website if you want to stay ahead of the competition.
Great For Dropshipping
Shopify is an excellent platform for dropshipping businesses. With Shopify, you can easily add products from AliExpress and start selling them in your shop within minutes. There’s no need to worry about inventory management or product fulfillment – Shopify will take care of everything for you.
Free Trial
You can test out Shopify risk-free for 14 days before committing to a paid plan. Without investing any money upfront, this is a great way to determine whether Shopify is the right platform for you and your company.
Shopify Cons
Limited Customization Options
For those looking to launch an online store quickly and easily, Shopify is a great platform. However, one of the downsides of Shopify is that it has limited customization options. You may need to hire a developer if you want to modify the appearance and feel of your store or add particular features.
Processing Fees
Another downside of Shopify is that they charge processing fees on transactions. These fees can add up, especially if you have a high sales volume, and they start at 2% and can go as high as 3% for specific payment methods.
No Email Hosting
Shopify does not offer email hosting as part of its plans. If you want to use email to communicate with your customers, you must set up an account with a third-party provider like Google Apps or Zoho Mail.
Limited Free Theme Templates
While Shopify does offer some free themes, the selection is relatively limited compared to what is available from third-party developers. You may need to purchase a premium theme if you want a truly unique look for your store.
No Inbuilt Email Marketing Tool
Shopify also lacks an inbuilt email marketing tool. To send newsletters or promotional emails to your customers, you must sign up for a separate service like MailChimp or Constant Contact.
Clickfunnels Pros
Conversion Optimized Templates
Clickfunnels comes with a wide variety of templates for different types of funnels, and you can easily customize them to match your brand. The templates are also designed with conversions in mind, so you can be sure that your visitors will be taken through a well-optimized funnel.
Easy To Use
Even though Clickfunnels has many features, it is still effortless to use. Drag and drop operations are simple, and you can easily create the funnel you want using the user-friendly, intuitive interface.
It’s An All-In-One Solution
With Clickfunnels, you don’t need to worry about integrating different tools to create a complete funnel. It includes everything you need in one platform, from the landing page builder to the email autoresponder. This makes it much easier and faster to set up your funnel.
Clickfunnels Cons
Costly Pricing
Clickfunnels is an excellent tool for small businesses and entrepreneurs looking to increase their online sales. However, the pricing can be a bit too expensive for some people. The basic plan starts at $127 per month, which can be a bit much for someone just starting out.
Not Ideal For Bigger Retail Stores
While Clickfunnels is excellent for small businesses, there might be better options for bigger retail stores. This is because Clickfunnels is designed more for lead generation and conversion optimization than just eCommerce capabilities. If you’re looking for an eCommerce platform more suited to larger retail stores, Shopify is the better option.
No Mobile App Available
Another downside of Clickfunnels is that no mobile app is available for on-the-go usage.
Shopify vs. ClickFunnels: Summary of the Comparison
As our Shopify vs. ClickFunnels debate ends, let’s pitch these two platforms against each other and see the areas where they beat each other.
Features
Both platforms are great for newbies exploring dropshipping because they offer several features that will help them learn the business model effectively. However, ClickFunnels has the advantage in this regard. This is because this tool provides video tutorials and training manuals that users can go through to develop their dropshipping skills and learn how to use the tool effectively. This tool also has a great support system that allows you to get assistance when starting your dropshipping business. It also has a membership tool, a CRM tool, and an automation tool that eases your daily e-commerce operations.
However, if you are a professional who has mastered the art of digital marketing, Shopify should be your top choice. Shopify allows you to have great control of your online store, and it also consists of powerful delivery and product management capabilities that ClickFunnels cannot rival.
Pricing
Whether you are a pro or just starting a dropshipping business, pricing should be one of the most critical factors. Regarding the Shopify vs. ClickFunnels debate, the difference in the pricing of these two tools is a bit dicey. Foremost, the most advanced packages of these tools are very close in pricing – $299 per month for Shopify and $297 per month for ClickFunnels. However, there is a wide gap between their cheapest plans – $29 per month for Shopify and $127 per month for ClickFunnels.
Nevertheless, the price of third-party apps is another crucial factor to consider when comparing the pricing of Shopify vs. ClickFunnels. ClickFunnels has all the essential features that you need for your funnels. In fact, you do not have to buy any third-party apps to maximize your e-commerce business, dropshipping, or affiliate marketing. With Shopify, the reverse is usually the case because you need to buy some third-party applications to improve the productivity and functionality of your business. These apps could cost you hundreds of dollars in some cases.
Shopify is the cheaper option for beginners, but Clickfunnels gives you a more comprehensive solution, so keep this in mind when deciding between them.
Additional features for tracking your e-commerce
Shopify and ClickFunnels provide features for tracking your finances, customers, marketing, and other aspects of your business. Furthermore, ClickFunnels provides you with features that allow advanced automation so that you can get details of your customer purchases and their other actions. Shopify, on the other hand, does not have these advanced features.
Additionally, Shopify lacks any feature that can be used for creating funnels and capturing more leads for your e-commerce store. ClickFunnels is mainly designed for this particular function, so it beats Shopify in this regard. When using Shopify, you need to buy additional apps from their app store or third-party apps to enhance the buying process on your eCommerce store. ClickFunnels educates you in this regard so that you can maximize the effectiveness of your e-commerce business.
Availability of mobile apps
Shopify is the clear winner in this category as it provides Android and iOS applications that users can use to track their sales and manage their business anywhere they are. Unfortunately, ClickFunnels does not have any apps for mobile users. So, you will have to use your PC to manage your sales.
Management of affiliate programs
ClickFunnels has a feature that ensures users can track their affiliate marketing programs and create a member’s area. Such a platform is not available on Shopify. So, suppose you want to manage any affiliate marketing programs with Shopify. In that case, you will need to download additional apps to serve this purpose, and many of them are an additional monthly cost.
Display of products on a single page
With Shopify, you can list, create, and sell several products in various categories. It is the ideal platform for anyone who wants to sell multiple products. However, ClickFunnels is slightly disadvantaged in this regard. If you are using your funnel or page for a product already, ClickFunnels will not allow you to showcase or sell other similar items on the page or funnel. This can be a big problem for sellers who want to offer many related products on the same page. If you have a big eCommerce store with many products or are a retail company, then Shopify would be the more suitable choice.
Blogging functionality
If you want to promote your products with blog posts, you can easily take advantage of the blogging functionality of Shopify to achieve this. Their blogging platform can help significantly increase traffic to your e-commerce store. ClickFunnels lacks this blogging feature but compensates with other features that can help improve your conversion rate and make the most of your traffic. Clickfunnels is not intended for bloggers or people who focus on SEO. Instead, the platform is more centered around sales funnels and conversion optimization. If SEO is essential when choosing between these two platforms, then Shopify is the better solution.
Shopify vs. ClickFunnels: Which one is the best for your e-commerce store?
To conclude this Shopify vs. ClickFunnels debate, users should understand that these tools offer similar pricing, benefits, and features but have certain differences. Also, they have both shown that users can depend on them to take their e-commerce stores to the next level. However, you do not necessarily have to select one of the two; you can combine Shopify’s comprehensive shipping, payment, and inventory benefits with the ability of ClickFunnels to help you generate leads and increase conversion and sales.