Playbook
Where should your ad traffic land?
Not on your homepage, and not on a form. The funnel that works for cold traffic has three steps - an ad that names one problem, a short page that teaches one thing, and a few questions that end in a page written for that one person. Each step has exactly one job, and each one tells you where the money is leaking.
The shape
The ad
Win the click by naming the problem.One problem, one audience, in the words they'd use themselves. "Spend is up and sales are flat" stops the right person mid-scroll; a line about your product stops nobody, because cold traffic isn't looking for you yet. The ad makes one promise, and everything after it has to keep exactly that promise.
The bridge page
Teach one thing before asking for anything.A short article on your site - five hundred words is plenty - that teaches one useful thing about the problem the ad named. Someone who clicks an ad has a problem, not an intention; the article turns a stranger into a reader before anything is asked of them. It ends with a single invitation: "see what this looks like for your account" (your store, your books, your skin - whatever the problem lives in).
The questions
Trade a consultation for the email.The invitation lands on your lead magnet: a few questions, one per screen, at least one of them open text so people can say it in their own words. Every person who answers gets a page written just for them - a real read on their situation, from what your business knows. You get the email, and everything they told you, before anyone books time with you.
Why the page in the middle?
Because sending a cold click straight at your questions asks for trust you haven't earned yet. The article does the warming up, so the questions don't have to - by the time someone reaches them, they've learned something from you and want the version that's about them.
It also keeps the promise consistent. The most common way this funnel fails is that the ad, the page, and the questions each talk about a slightly different problem - and every seam like that leaks paid clicks. If the ad says "spend is up, sales are flat", the article teaches why that happens, and the questions ask about their account. One problem, all the way down.
The shape, worked
Northpeak Growth is one of our example businesses - not a customer, a template you can open and try. Here is the shape mapped onto it:
- Ad: "It worked, then it died - and nobody can tell you why?"
- Bridge page: a short article on the three reasons ad accounts stall - the offer, the creative, the signal.
- Questions: the Ad Account Mini-Audit - four questions, one of them open text ("what have you already tried?"), and every inquiry gets the first ten minutes of the audit back in writing, before anyone books a call.
The three numbers, in funnel order
Each step has one number, and together they tell you where the leak is. Fix the earliest number that looks wrong - everything after it multiplies through it.
| Number | What it judges | Where to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Cost per click | The ad and its promise | Your ad platform |
| Start rate | The bridge page - did readers take the invitation? | Starts in your dashboard, against the clicks your bridge page sent on (your analytics counts those) |
| Opt-in rate | The questions - did they earn the email? | Counted for you: every lead magnet shows starts, finishes, and emails in your dashboard |
See the third step on your own business
Answer a few questions about your funnel and get back the consultation lead magnet we'd build for you - the concept, the questions, and the page every lead should receive.
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