Stop losing them halfway

You’ve probably seen it happen.

You run a great awareness or thought-leadership campaign.

The top of the funnel blooms. But somewhere between interest, consideration and decision…

prospects vanish.

You’re left staring at a beautiful flagship piece or social campaign with very little follow-through.

That’s the drop-off effect in action. Too many marketers treat each stage as a separate silo. But in reality, each layer of content must feed the next.

Ignore it and the funnel leaks.

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The drop-off effect: when effort outpaces clarity

People abandon tasks when the effort feels higher than the clarity of the next step.

If your content does a great job at top-funnel visibility, but doesn’t clearly map what to do next, people stall. They don’t convert because your product is bad, but because your funnel feels like a labyrinth.

At the awareness stage, drop-offs can be incredibly high – around 80% won’t progress. And even mid-funnel, drop-offs of c.50% are very common.

These aren’t just numbers. Every % is someone who could’ve turned but didn’t because clarity failed them.

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Full-funnel content: more than just SEO

One mistake I often see is clients pouring the lion’s share of budget into bottom-of-funnel content, such as product demo videos, comparison posts and pricing pages. And I get it – that’s where the ROI seems obvious.

But without the motion and trust built higher up, those efforts are starved.

Every stage must contribute.

• Top (Awareness): Content that signals “you may have a problem I can solve” e.g. Blogs, social posts, videos.
• Middle (Consideration): Content that nurtures belief e.g. Comparisons, articles and spec sheets.
• Bottom (Decision): Content that removes friction e.g. Use cases, customer stories and case studies.

Doing these in isolation means the ‘decision’ piece will rarely see prospects. Do them in sync and each stage propels the next.

So, it’s really important to have a balance throughout the entire funnel, because ignoring the full-funnel will hurt your growth.

It starves your bottom funnel. Great BOF pieces are a waste if no-one reaches it.

It damages your brand. Disjointed messaging across stages lead to a lack of trust.

It wastes budget. You overpay for bottom-funnel spend because your funnel leaks above.

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Personalisation can be the glue for finance businesses

Increasingly, personalisation isn’t optional, but expected.

A McKinsey survey found that 71% of consumers prefer personalised ads and 76% feel frustrated when they don’t get them.

In fintech, being able to personalise allows you to match content to where someone is in the funnel. For instance, you can:

• Show different messaging to someone who’s only visited your blog vs someone who’s downloaded a white paper.
• Use account data to surface content that resonates, such as “how this product affects your cash flow”, rather than generic “features”.

Yes, personalisation is an important growth driver, but companies must also consider the prospect of privacy invasion, so maintaining transparency at all times is key.

But personalisation acts as a bridge: it brings clarity by making content feel more relevant.

And relevance reduces drop-off.

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Think of the funnel in reverse

Start from the bottom and work backwards. Ask:

“What belief or objection must exist at decision stage for someone to hesitate?” and then

“What content above that can anticipate and defuse it?”

By reverse engineering:

1. Nail the emotion or belief blocking the final conversion.
2. Build mid-funnel content that addresses that (e.g. case studies, social proof, failure stories).
3. Then support it with awareness content that primes the same belief shift.

This approach ensures your funnel isn’t a one-way street, but a cohesive path.

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Final thought

A funnel isn’t just a pipeline. It’s an ecosystem.

Each stage is connected. Think of your funnel like a relay race – if the first runner stumbles, it doesn’t matter how fast the last one is because the baton will never make it to the finish line.

If your funnel is feeling a bit leaky, it might be time to rethink the balance. So, if you want sharper strategy, smarter messaging and stronger results, let’s talk.

Speak soon

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