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We often find that clients want to focus on generating top of the funnel MQLs, but misalignment with sales and an average buyer experience means those leads can stall. It’s called late-funnel friction and can result in wasted time, effort and budget.
When your success is measured by pipeline growth and revenue impact, it’s not enough to simply generate leads – you need to make sure you take them through the entire buying process successfully, and eliminating late-funnel friction can help.
Why late-funnel friction happens
Several factors contribute to this bottleneck:
- Misaligned metrics: Marketing focuses on engagement, sales on closed deals and revenue. Leads that look promising on paper may not be ready to buy.
- Poor lead nurturing: Automated email/LinkedIn sequences can fail to address individual buyer intent.
- Weak handoff processes: Without clear definitions for SQLs or a joint follow-up plan, leads fall through the cracks.
- Data silos: Marketing automation and CRM systems often don’t talk to each other, leaving teams blind to the buyer’s journey.
This friction isn’t just an internal issue; it directly affects the buyer experience. Prospects are looking for relevant and helpful interactions, so when they don’t get them, they disengage quickly.
How website personalization can solve late-funnel friction
Looking at this problem through the lens of web personalization, there are a few simple tactics that can help bridge the gap between marketing and sales.
Tailored content for every stage of the funnel
By dynamically showing content based on visitor behaviour, industry and funnel-stage, you can move prospects from ‘education’ to ‘consideration’ without overloading sales with unqualified leads.
Real-time lead insights for sales
Personalized experiences generate richer data about what a prospect is interested in. This allows sales teams to prioritize leads with real intent, growing conversion rates and massively improving the conversation with buyers.
Seamless buyer journeys
Personalization ensures that every touchpoint, from paid ads to website visits, align with the prospect’s current stage. This keeps leads engaged and reduces friction when they reach sales.
Closed-loop feedback between teams
By tracking interactions on personalized web experiences, marketing can feed valuable insights back to sales, creating a truly aligned approach that turns leads into pipeline faster. Involving sales early on about what they want to see and what a ‘good interaction’ looks like is key.
Making it work
For B2B organizations, the key is to give your buyers the right information at every stage and not just those first interactions when they’re in research mode. Website personalization doesn’t just improve the user experience, it helps sales and marketing work together more effectively, to increase lead conversion and deal velocity.
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