We’re not in any of those moments. We’re now entering the messy middle phase of B2B marketing.
But what does this mean? What are the impacts on marketing strategies? And how can we succeed (or stop falling behind) at this strategic moment?
That’s what we’ll discover today in this article. Let’s join us!
The Breaks in the Funnel That Highlight the Messy Middle
Exploring the possibilities of the Marketing Funnel has always been our mission as marketers. And this funnel has always been seen as very well structured.
In fact, structured to the point of being understood as a totally linear process, composed of:
- Top of the Funnel: space to generate awareness and convert your website visitors into leads, largely through content across multiple channels, country email list with a focus on organic traffic ;
- Middle of the Funnel : space traditionally used for lead nurturing, with lead scoring actions via email marketing ;
- Bottom of the Funnel: space used to finalize the sale after the lead scoring target score is reached.
We’ve always emphasized that this process isn’t linear — you’ll find people at all stages coming to learn about your brand and products.
But this more obvious lack of linearity is not what we want to discuss here in the text.
The truth is that today’s consumer, especially B2B, is breaking linearity in some very different ways.
These ruptures present themselves in a lead generation for business few different ways, but we’ve selected the most common ones here for us to discuss first:
- Temporal rupture;
- Stage break in the Funnel;
- Disruption in expected behavior.
We’ll discuss these points in more detail below. Follow along:
Temporal Rupture
Quick summary (TL/DR):
- A lead can discover your brand today and purchase the same day, without any prior interaction.
- Or you could follow your company for months, consume content, but only become a customer much later — and without necessarily going through nurturing campaigns.
This disruption occurs when the consumer no longer follows the expected time between stages of the funnel.
If someone has already gone straight to the Bottom of the Funnel, we expect them to either buy within a reasonable timeframe or move on without buying.
We also expect a progressive time between stages. The Top of the Funnel is the most populated area of the funnel—it naturally takes longer to generate leads. The Middle of the Funnel follows the timeframe determined by lead scoring. And the Bottom of the Funnel is the fastest of all.
However, these assumptions are becoming less and less valid with each passing day. A lead might spend one day at the Top of the Funnel, 60 days in the Middle, and another three days at the Bottom.
This is so unpredictable that it is virtually impossible to determine conversion time-related goals on websites today, especially in B2B.
Stage Break in the Funnel
Quick summary (TL/DR):
- A visitor may arrive at your site ready to buy, without ever having downloaded an e-book or read an article of yours.
- A lead might enter through the bottom phone database of the funnel, request a quote, and only then begin exploring your content.
We already know that consumers don’t necessarily enter at the top and work their way down. They may simply emerge directly in the middle or even at the bottom of the funnel.
However, something that was rare before and is becoming increasingly common in B2B is the transition between stages in a completely unpredictable way.
If a person is at the Bottom of the Funnel, it is natural for them to consume content at this stage. However, we see these people consuming content from the Top and Middle of the Funnel normally.
And people at the Top of the Funnel are watching product videos or testing platforms simply to understand what they are and how they are used.
Consider someone who doesn’t know what a marketing CRM is. They’d be at the Top of the Funnel at HubSpot, for example, and they produce more basic content specifically to explain what the tool is and offers.
But instead of consuming this basic content, the visitor goes straight to a free trial of the platform, even with no intention of purchasing. Ten minutes ago, she didn’t even know what a platform was or the name HubSpot.
We, the marketers, created this situation. If all the resources and content in the funnel stages are easy to access, people will access them the way they want, not the way we want.
Disruption in Expected Behavior
Quick summary (TL/DR):
- They ignore email sequences, skip nurturing steps, and reject the predictable funnel model.
- Often, a highly qualified lead, according to lead scoring, may not purchase anything, while another who barely interacted converts quickly.
Behavior no longer follows “expectations” and has become erratic and much more individualized.
This disruption concerns the fact that leads and consumers no longer behave as traditional models predicted.
Lead qualification is no longer an indicator of how close a lead is to converting, but rather an identifier of great opportunities.
This significantly transforms the work of those who follow the Funnel due to the very nature of lead scoring.
Think about it: you need the lead to reach a score X to be understood as ready to advance to the Bottom of the Funnel, right?
So, the leads with the fewest points are the ones that need the most attention. The ones with the most points are already well on their way.
The Funnel’s unpredictability turns this logic on its head. Those with the fewest points are the people who have interacted the least with you and are the least qualified. Those with the most points are the opposite.
Therefore, in an unpredictable situation, the leads with the most points are the most critical, as they represent the best opportunities and can abandon the Funnel at any time.
