Telegram funnel bot for educational product sales

Built a Telegram bot for phased lead nurturing and product sales: free guide delivery, paid chapters, webinar-style intensive, course pre-registration, followups, and runtime admin controls without redeploy.

overview

The client already had a basic Telegram bot for distributing free materials, but the product needed to evolve into a structured funnel. The goal was to reactivate the audience, deliver a free guide, support paid content, collect leads, and move users toward an intensive and a course offer.

solution

I built a Python-based Telegram bot with phased funnel logic, centralized message configuration, user data collection, followups, admin commands, and payment flow abstraction. The bot guides users through free materials, paid chapters, intensive registration, course pre-registration, and later-stage sales scenarios.

challenges

The project evolved from a narrow phase 1–2 MVP into a broader multi-phase funnel. To keep the system manageable without constant code changes, I added runtime phase switching, feature flags, admin controls, a demo mode with mocked checkout, database exports, and operator documentation.

result

The result is a working Telegram bot that supports free guide delivery, paid chapter upsell, intensive registration, course pre-registration, admin broadcasts, followups, and demo presentations for the client. The implementation includes persistent storage, exportable lead data, runtime configuration, and a live demo environment.

key features

phased funnel logic
centralized lead capture
runtime phase and feature control
followups and broadcasts
demo mode with simulated payment
admin commands without redeploy
SQLite storage and Excel export

stack

Python
python-telegram-bot
SQLite
openpyxl
Docker
Webhook helpers

proof / artifacts

bot flow diagram

start -> free guide -> lead capture -> paid chapters -> intensive -> pre-registration -> followups

admin commands reference

/phase set intensive
/feature enable payments
/broadcast draft
/export leads
/demo on

demo mode overview

demo mode enabled
checkout: simulated
notifications: test-safe
operators: admin-only controls

lead funnel structure

free guide
-> paid chapter upsell
-> intensive registration
-> course pre-registration
-> followups

database / export preview

users.db
leads.xlsx
segments.csv

fields: source, phase, email, status, paid_flag

technical notes

The project uses modular Python architecture with separated config, handlers, database layer, payment abstraction, webhook helper, tests, and deployment files. Runtime behavior is controlled through admin commands and database-stored config, which makes it possible to switch phases and enable features without redeploying the bot.