What Are We Missing About the “Dark Funnel”

It’s time to talk about attribution, the dark funnel, and how to understand what is working.

Over the years, I’ve seen companies over-index their focus on attribution and under-index their focus on attribution. The myth seems to be here is a perfect model that exists. But how can this be? We never know the whole store about why someone purchases. So how you do optimize your attribution, measure the dark funnel, and create repeatable results?

Let’s dig into the attribution puzzle.


What Is The Dark Funnel In Attribution?

You’ve probably heard of the “dark funnel” over and over again, but for that who haven’t, here is what it is in simple terms, the dark funnel comprises our blind spots about our potential customers. It’s the channels or places where buyers are making decisions and engagements that we don’t have a way to track or attribute. Think about content you post to Twitter or Linkedin but doesn’t link out, the review sites that people go to to understand more about your product, or Slack/Discord groups that people are asking about your product or ones like it in.

While the “dark funnel” is an example that shows how attribution attempts can fail, the truth is that attribution has long been broken. 

This fact isn't new. The buying process is not linear. In fact, it was difficult to attribute even before recent challenges in changing buyer journeys, which is okay! It keeps humans employed.

But here’s the thing – the attribution challenge doesn't just exist for classic “dark funnel” channels like Slack groups, social posts, word of mouth, and other offline channels. I see challenges with direct response channels, too. 


The Attribution Challenge

A couple of years ago, I had scaled paid search up for a company from $50k to $700k. But our analysis was showing that we weren't seeing the ROI we wanted. (I think it was $1 CAC to 1 ACV, if you’re interested to know.) So we cut spending dramatically to our paid search budget.

A couple of months later, we had our worst month of growth ever. The spending cut hadn’t helped our trajectory. It had made it worse.

At the moment, I didn't understand. I was too close to the numbers. After all, I was thinking, “Google Ads is supposed to be easy to measure. These numbers must be straightforward.”

But a lot happens in a B2B transaction. Buyers look at your site and click on Google ads, sure, but here’s what else impacts their decision:

  • Buyers look at review sites like G2 & Capterra

  • Buyers talk to colleagues in their company and outside

  • Buyers look at competitors' sites 

  • One buyer is made up of multiple people

  • One person is using multiple devices

  • You’re competing against ad blockers

The list goes on and on.

Looking back, it's obvious that cutting the budget would have a bigger impact on growth than I forecasted. 


Reframing Attribution For A Realistic Buyer Journey

In the example above, I hadn’t accounted for two significant factors about a buyer's journey. Here’s what I wasn’t considering. 


Buyer Journeys Aren’t Linear 

We were experiencing what you might expect from the “dark funnel.” But even with direct response marketing, buyers can zig and zag. 

The numbers weren’t perfect or linear because the buyer’s journey wasn’t perfect or linear. We weren’t asking the right questions yet about the buyer's journey. 


Numbers Need Time

Not only was analytics attribution not perfect – it was delayed. The delay is important because it showed that, even for an SMB low ACV product, the buying process still took longer than we predicted. Users were doing research longer than we expected. 

We didn’t give the numbers enough time.

When dealing with something as complex as a buyer journey, you have to measure with complexity. Your attribution strategy has to be nimble, flexible, and layered. Ask if you’re giving the numbers enough time. Ask if you’re missing parts of the buyer journey that might be affecting your numbers.


A Final Thought On The Dark Funnel

One final thought – it also may be easier to measure the dark funnel than you think. Use your sales team, talk to customers and ask how they heard about you. In my experience, prospects will offer up this information more often than not (so sit in on sales calls!).

In the end, a marketing strategy should be driven by a healthy mix of quantitative, qualitative, and gut instincts.

To hear more marketing insights like this, see our success stories, or connect with me on LinkedIn.


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John Short