The Funnel Gap No One Talks About: How to Find Real Behavior in Your Data and Build Middle-of-Funnel Audiences
Introduction
Most brands focus their ad strategy on two places:
👉 Top-of-funnel to create awareness
👉 Bottom-of-funnel to drive conversions
What gets ignored? The middle.
Middle-of-funnel (MOF) is where curiosity turns into consideration.
It’s the most overlooked part of the customer journey—and it might be costing you more than you think.
The Blind Spot in Most Ad Strategies
You’ve probably seen this in action:
A prospect clicks on an ad (top-of-funnel)…
But if they don’t buy right away, they either get hit with another bottom-of-funnel ad or get ignored completely.
The truth is: Most brands don’t know how to identify middle-of-funnel behavior.
And without knowing what to track, they don’t know who to talk to—or how.
Where It Gets Exciting: Using Behavior to Build MOF Audiences
So how do you actually find behavior in the data?
It starts by mapping the customer journey—not the ideal one, but the real one.
We look at how customers are currently finding you, engaging with your brand, and moving toward action. This mapping process reveals key behaviors that indicate someone is no longer just aware of your brand. They’re considering it.
Examples of MOF behavior might include:
Visiting multiple service pages
Watching 50% or more of a key video
Returning to the site within a few days
Clicking “Learn More” on two different offers
Scrolling 75% of a landing page
Completing a quiz or tool without converting
These signals tell us: “This person is thinking about you. They just haven’t taken the final step yet.”
Next: Define the Behavior as Trackable Events
Once we identify those meaningful touchpoints, we turn them into custom events using tools like a Customer Data Platform (CDP).
That means we can now create real middle-of-funnel audiences—people who have shown intent, but aren’t ready to convert yet.
🎯 These are the audiences your competitors aren’t targeting, which means your ad bids work smarter and cost less.
You’re not just blasting messages to everyone who visited your site. You’re speaking directly to the people who are most likely to become your next customer.
Why This Strategy Only Gets Smarter Over Time
Here’s where it gets really powerful: The longer this strategy runs, the better your audiences get.
Every tracked behavior sends stronger feedback to your ad platform, which means:
Better targeting
Smarter bidding
Lower cost per acquisition
And better ROI without needing more ad spend
✅ Your marketing becomes a feedback loop—not a guessing game.
Final Thought: This Is the Competitive Advantage You’ve Been Missing
Most brands will never touch this kind of strategy. Not because it’s complicated, but because they don’t know it exists.
They’re still chasing short-term wins or throwing more money at the problem.
But if you want to create a system that scales... you need to stop looking at clicks and start understanding behavior.
👉 Ready to identify the middle-of-funnel opportunities your competitors are missing?
Let’s map your customer journey and build a smarter, more profitable strategy—together.
