The Digital Marketing Funnel Is Dead

The modern customer journey. It’s a bit like taking a six-year-old into a toy store at the moment. It’s chaotic, it’s unpredictable, he’s easily distracted by the next shiny object. One minute we’re focused on that dinosaur that we came in for, but the next he’s three aisles over looking at the Lego. Just when you think he’s made a decision, something else catches his eye and the journey just begins all over again.

And this is exactly how your customers are navigating their purchase decisions in this modern AI era. Except instead of toy store aisles, they’re bouncing between things like search engines, social media platforms, review sites, competitor websites, AI-powered recommendations like ChatGPT and Claude, all while being bombarded with personalised ads and personalised content at every single turn that they take.

And literally over the past few months, we’ve been going deep on this podcast about this ever-changing customer discovery landscape. How it’s changing so much, and how AI is reshaping marketing, from the exploration stage and the rise of zero-click search results, to trying to investigate how AI tools are fundamentally changing how customers are finding and choosing our businesses. And one thing’s become crystal clear with all of these episodes that we’ve released over the past few weeks, and that is that the traditional customer journey is getting more and more complex. It’s more complex than ever.

And it was early this week, actually, that I was listening to Steven Bartlett’s Diary of a CEO podcast. It popped in a bit of a concept from Google back in 2020, in fact. It was a bit of research that they’d done, and it resurfaced and rekindled it in my mind. And it was called the messy middle, the messy middle of customer decision-making. And this concept, though, like I say, it’s not new. It just took this renewed significance in my head as I started thinking about the AI-driven world that we’re living in, and how it perfectly complements all these recent podcast episodes that we’ve done into how customer discovery is actually evolving in 2025.

So in this podcast, in this article, I want to break down this concept a bit more for you. I want to explain to you why it’s more relevant now than ever before, especially as AI is continuing to reshape how customers discover and interact with businesses. So today, what I want you to learn is, firstly, what the messy middle concept is and why it matters more right now than it ever has; how AI and modern digital platforms are actually making this middle even messier; and also I want to share some practical steps to adapt your marketing strategy for the new reality, and share why traditional marketing funnels, they might actually be failing you in today’s business landscape.

So whether you’re in the stage of struggling to make sense of AI’s impact on your marketing right now, or maybe you’re looking just to better understand your customer’s journey, hopefully this deep dive, this podcast into the messy middle, is going to help you navigate these changing times.

If we haven’t met before, my name is Jordan McFadyen. Welcome to the Marketing Mindset podcast. And if this is the first time you’ve been listening, this podcast is designed to help you navigate this cluttered world of marketing that we all face in this AI-driven world, and help to challenge you to move away from random acts of marketing towards planning an intentional marketing strategy.

And as I said there in the intro, what we’re discussing today is not a new concept at all. Google first released their research looking at this concept, looking at the changing customer journey, back in July 2020. They explained at the time how people decided what to buy lies in this messy middle of the purchase journey. And they were trying to get us to think away from that linear marketing funnel that we’re all so used to. And even more so as we enter more prevalent digital marketing places this year as well. Because AI is a big player in why this is now so important today.

But remember that this was actually put together back when the words like digital transformation was a bit of a buzzword of the COVID era. And throughout that period, throughout that COVID time, remember people were fast changing the way that they were discovering and they were researching products and services. And this was all driven by that massive shift, that digital transformation shift, towards things like the influence of social media, user-generated content, the rise of e-commerce platforms as well. And essentially the rise in confidence and learning that everyday consumers were having, and the trust in their buying and doing business online, essentially.

And what started as a look into the psychological journey of customers and how they discovered your business, it soon started to actually catapult further, and with the rise of AI that we’ve been seeing over the past few years. And I have spoken about this a lot recently as well, as I do believe that AI will continue to change, and it has changed, but it’s going to continue to change how customers discover and do business with brands and with businesses. And that’s why I think this concept continues to make more and more sense to me.

So let’s break it down. The messy middle concept. How this could be the missing piece for your marketing strategy at the moment. So what exactly is it? I’m going to start by trying to make this as simple as possible, so you get a good understanding of the concept.

Let’s say you’re in a supermarket. You’re staring at dozens of products. You’re scanning labels. You’re looking at brands and branding, different packaging designs. You may pick up your phone, quickly check a brand online. You’re comparing prices. You’re reviewing a message that your friend had sent you via text telling you about their recommendation, about what product you should be looking at. You may even leave the supermarket that time without even buying the product right away, but then you return later that week. You finally go back and pick up the product.

And that, what I’ve just described there, that’s the messy middle. That space between someone’s first thought about making a purchase and the moment that they actually buy. Because the point is that it’s not always a real straight linear path like we have to believe with that marketing funnel. People are looping back and forth. They’re exploring options. They’re reading reviews, comparing prices. Ultimately, people are getting distracted all the time.

And as consumers, we’re drowning in so much information at the moment. There’s heaps of content out there. There’s choices that we’re having to make every single day, especially when we’re online. And the internet, and especially the explosion of AI, has made everything so easily accessible for all of us. Every option, every price review, every expert opinion on a certain product. It’s all there, ready for us to discover and find. So the decision-making overload is becoming really common.

So that’s the real-world example. But I want to break this down in more detail. Explain actually how the diagram looks. So Google, when they did this research, they actually put together this diagram. Obviously, I’ll put this on the blog, if you’re reading the blog, or up on the screen now, so you can see it on the YouTube video. But if you’re listening to the podcast, I’ll try and explain it as best as I can.

The process starts with a trigger. And this is essentially that initial spark of interest, or a need, or maybe a problem that your consumer is facing. This could come from an advert, for example. The spark could be a recommendation, or simply just that realisation that, I’ve got this problem that I need help being fixed. That’s a spark. And then instead of moving in that straight line, that old-school marketing funnel, toward a purchase, the consumer then enters a phase of what was called the exploration phase, where they’re actually out seeking out information, discovering new brands and starting to consider their options.

They might browse a few online stores. They may watch a few product reviews. Maybe they can ask recommendations. And this phase really is a bit open-ended. And consumers are often encountering new possibilities that send them back to the beginning of their research. So already, I’m sure you can start to see why I think this is called the messy middle concept. You can already spot probably your own behaviours in discovery and what I’ve just kind of mentioned here for you as well.

As people start to gather information, what they then do is they then move into that evaluation phase, where they begin comparing their options and they’re comparing them more critically. And this is a stage where consumers are weighing things like the pros and cons of a product. They’re really checking their reviews. They’re comparing the prices. They’re assessing whether a product or a service actually meets their needs.

However, rather than just progressing directly to a purchase, a lot of consumers then are going to loop back into that exploration phase, that are going to suddenly discover a new alternative before returning back to the evaluation phase. And this cycle, going back and forth between those two phases, this cycle can repeat multiple times. But the trick is that if businesses can successfully guide a consumer through the loop, and sharing clear information, clear trust signals, persuasive messaging, they can eventually move a consumer towards making a purchase.

And throughout this process, we also need to remind ourselves that some consumers may actually abandon the journey altogether, while others are going to need some additional nudges along the way. Think personalised recommendations, maybe time-sensitive offers, just to make sure you’re pushing them towards a decision.

So let’s say you get the purchase. Brilliant. But the concept of the messy middle doesn’t actually end there, because the experience stage then plays this real crucial role in actually shaping future behaviour. So this is where you need to be thinking like great customer service, product satisfaction, trying to reinforce the trust and the loyalty in your business or your brand, your product, your service. And this means that rather than starting from scratch each time, the consumer is then going to hopefully bypass that exploration, that evaluation loop that we’ve just discovered. And it’s going to go straight to the purchase stage, or the brand that they already trust. Or think about this in this way: how can that person then help close the evaluation loop faster for any new consumers, as kind of like user-generated content, or as a recommendation, a referral?

So now hopefully you’ve got a bit of an understanding of the concept of the messy middle. And I’m sure you can see the messy middle is exactly that. It’s pretty messy. There’s endless options, reviews, information. It’s easy for consumers to feel really overwhelmed by so many choices that they have out in the market. And as people, we don’t really like uncertainty as well. So instead of rationally evaluating every single option, our brains, what they’re actually doing is they’re looking for shortcuts to help us decide faster. And these shortcuts, these are the mental biases that we use to filter out the noise and help us move forward with a bit more confidence.

And as part of Google’s research into the messy middle, it’s a very interesting report. If you ever wanted to read the full report, you can obviously get it anywhere online. They also identified six key biases that play a major role in consumer decision-making. And instead of you reading the whole report, I’ve done it for you. And I’ll go through these six key biases now, because I think they’re really interesting. And it’s going to help you understand how consumers are going through this messy middle, and how you can adapt your marketing, your messaging, to be able to get people through these loops easier.

The first one was social proof. If others recommend it, it’s got to be good. This is where you’re thinking product reviews, your testimonials, your influencer endorsements. The second one is scarcity. It’s “if it’s limited, it’s got to be valuable” type mindset. Obviously, if you’ve ever seen the “only two left in stock” or the “limited time offer”, that type of thing. The authority bias is the third one. So if an expert’s going to endorse it, then it’s got to be trustworthy. So this is where brands will do celebrity collaborations, maybe the doctor-recommended labels, or Amazon’s Choice tag and things like that.

Now, the fourth one is category mental shortcuts. So these are the simple rules we use to make faster decisions. So an example of that is more megapixels clearly means a better camera, or a higher SPF clearly means a better sunscreen. So those mental shortcuts.

Number five, the power of free. So if there’s something free, it’s more attractive. So for example, free shipping, the try-before-you-buy type promotion as well. And then the sixth one, the final one, was the framing effect. The way that information is actually being presented, and how it changes how we perceive that product. So for example, it’s that classic example: would you rather buy 95% fat-free yoghurt, or one that says it’s got 5% fat?

So understanding those behavioural biases is also really crucial, because it’s going to show us why traditional marketing funnels are going to fail to capture the reality of modern consumer behaviour, because these six biases, they’re not tricks. They’re actually natural ways that our brains are processing decisions more easily. And as AI-driven marketing is becoming more prevalent, businesses can now actually leverage these biases ethically to guide consumers and customers through this messy middle without overwhelming them.

And it’s definitely not necessary to apply all of these six at once. I’m not saying you go out and do all six and then your marketing’s going to be fixed. What I’m saying is think about how you can test and optimise based on your audience, based on your industry and based on your product type. That’s the key of this bit, especially as we see that the messy middle is starting to shrink, thanks to the rise of AI and more personalised marketing. So we need to make sure that we’re testing and optimising.

So the big question then is, after what we’re saying here, does this mean that the traditional marketing funnel, that linear funnel, is it dead? Is it gone? Well, it might not be dead, but I definitely think that it’s outdated, in my view. Pretty much dead. Now, the typical marketing funnel, obviously, it’s really high level, I think. It’s really linear. And the whole point of the messy middle concept is that it’s trying to mirror customer behaviour, and trying to show that customer behaviour has changed and is changing. As people, we are explorers. We have more tools for discovery at our fingertips.

So this concept of having someone follow the straightforward path towards a conversion with your business is getting less and less likely. And the research is really clear that consumers are really jumping around. They’re moving back and forth between different platforms. They’re getting influence from AI-driven recommendations. They’re seeing the social proof. They’re seeing all your content. They’re all presented at different stages of their journey. And it’s also really hard to pinpoint a fixed entry and exit point for consumers as well. So when they first discovered your business, when they actually left, when they maybe came back, and when they actually convert at the end of the day as well.

Plus, what we’re seeing is that AI is actually accelerating this decision-making as well. And that old traditional marketing funnel, that’s assuming that consumers are driving the journey themselves. But today, what we’re seeing is we’re seeing more and more that all these amazing tech giant companies are guiding that process, instead of having the consumer guide the process. Think about it. This is where the word algorithm comes in. The algorithms used by Google for search, Amazon for e-commerce, TikTok for social media, as examples, they’re getting more and more personalised. You get more and more personalised content on those platforms than you ever have before, as they become more and more clever. And this means that discovery can really be driven by those platforms.

So using this data, using the report, using the understanding of the concept, the question now is, how should we as marketers apply or test this concept with our marketing strategies? So what I’ve wanted to do is I want to give you the step-by-step guide, so you can start to implement some of the learnings that you’ve taken away today.

So the first step is understanding your customer’s messy middle journey, because it’s going to be different for every business, every industry, every niche. You need to work out your own customer’s potential messy middle. How are your customers exploring products or services and evaluating your business before they actually make a purchase? This is where you need to use the data that you’ve got available to you right now. Analytics, social media data, your Google Analytics, your CRM, HubSpot data, website heat maps. Track your customer behaviour and look for certain patterns. Are they getting stuck somewhere? Where are they dropping off? Where are they even finding you?

And sometimes the best way to start with this is actually just to conduct a survey. Understand any decision-making hurdles that your audience, your consumers, your customers have, because you need to understand how your customers like to communicate, what content they’re enjoying viewing, how are they actually purchasing, how are they discovering a product and service just like yours. So that’s the first thing. Understand your customer’s messy middle.

The next thing is making your brand unmissable in this first phase, the exploration phase. So once you’ve got that understanding of your customer’s messy middle, you need to understand and test ways to ensure that you’re actually going to be visible where your customers are searching and discovering products just like yours. And this may be focusing on your content marketing strategy, the type of content that’s going to resonate with your audience. So for example, informative content, trust-building content, user-generated content.

And I think at this stage as well, this is where you need to be exploring using paid search, social media ads, to try and reach and capture early interest in your product and service, so that consumers understand that you even exist in the first place, and they understand that main problem that you are actually solving. This is where you can use influencer, user-generated content to get real customers to tell their story, and influencers to help engage and showcase your brand.

Then step three, we then move into the evaluation phase. And I think this is where we need to think about how can we speed up the evaluation phase? Because the key at this stage is to reduce any friction and to avoid customers from looping back and going back into exploration. They don’t want to go, oh, this isn’t quite feeling right, I’m going to look at this tangent instead. Bam, they’re straight back into exploration. You need to be reviewing how consumers make that final purchase from you, and help them to reduce their decision-making burden experience when they are evaluating their product and service.

Research shows us that customers tend to favour brands that provide quick, clear, trustworthy signals when they’re at the evaluation stage. So you need to be thinking about how can you leverage things like social proof, your authority bias that we spoke about before, to try and reinforce trust in a customer’s final decision. Make sure that they understand they’re about to make a fantastic decision with engaging with your business. And when consumers visit your website or contact you via your content on social media, the user experience should make that evaluation process as simple as possible, with the appropriate detail and functionality that your consumers require as part of their messy middle journey.

Then at this stage, you need to consider using tactics like retargeting messaging to engage with consumers who are still evaluating, but who may be in danger of exiting back into that explore mode. We don’t want them going back into the exploration mode. We want to keep them in their evaluation mode to get them closer to that conversion.

Step four, test and apply those six key behavioural biases. As I said before, don’t use them all, but consider thinking about your content, your current advertising, your messaging, the copy that’s on your website, your social media language. Is there an opportunity for you to focus on or use one of those biases that we discussed earlier in your messaging? Social proof, scarcity, authority bias. Start to have a play around with those. Start to test them, adapt those biases to your content and to your overall marketing strategy, and look about how can you apply them to your strategy, and how does it affect people’s perception of you and your brand and your business.

And then step five, the final part, pretty common in marketing: test, measure, optimise, continuous improvement. It goes without saying with all your marketing to test and optimise, because you’re not going to get it right the first time, and that’s fine, that’s completely fine, because it is the messy middle. The important thing is that we need to continue to test and refine and adapt all of the steps that we’ve spoken about above.

So here are some ideas, some worthy tests that you should consider as you are working through incorporating this into your marketing strategy. Try remove any friction, any of those barriers to decision-making, and test it. Test your website speed, confusing messaging, poor user experience on your website. Run controlled experiments and test some of the behavioural biases in your messages. So you could test those in your ad campaigns or your content or your website messaging. Maybe you could consider trialling retargeting and remarketing campaigns and adding that to your strategy as, as I said before, the data is showing that customers potentially could leave before making a purchase, but they could be nudged back into action before going back into that exploration phase.

Because marketing in the messy middle isn’t about a single big change that you need to make to your marketing. Instead, it’s about continuously testing and measuring and refining strategies based on real-world data. Because the traditional marketing funnel was built for a world where customer journeys were predictable and more linear, but in 2025 that world no longer exists. AI has exploded, AI tools have exploded; combine this with increasingly sophisticated digital platforms. It’s transforming how customers are discovering and evaluating businesses. And the messy middle concept, it isn’t just a concept, it’s the reality of how your customers are actually finding and choosing businesses to work with today.

And while AI is making this middle even messier, it’s also providing us with new opportunities to actually connect with customers at critical moments in their journey. The key here is to stay curious about how your customers are discovering your business. Keep testing, keep measuring and adapting the approach. And most importantly, remember that in the messy middle, the path to a purchase isn’t about controlling your customer’s journey, it’s about being there at every twist and turn along the way. Because in my eyes, the future of marketing is not a funnel, it’s more a web of interconnected moments, many which soon will be powered by AI and shaped by a changing consumer behaviour. But it’s going to be won by businesses who understand how to navigate this whole new reality that we’re all trying to navigate and learn as we go.

And that’s why Done By Nine, we’re committed to helping businesses try to navigate the shifting landscape. The traditional marketing funnel might be dying, but the opportunities to connect with and convert with customers have never been greater, if you know where and how to show up.

And if you want help from me or anyone on the team, you know how to reach out: donebynine.com. Or even if you can share this podcast with someone you think will benefit from the learnings from the research that we’ve done, that will help me more than you will ever know as well, and I really appreciate that.

And if you do want to learn some more from some of the other learnings from the other podcast episodes, if this is the first time you’ve listened to us, you can head across to our website, donebynine.com/podcast, and you’ll see all other learnings on that. You can find us on YouTube, and you can obviously find us on different podcast platforms as well.

And thank you so much for tuning in once again. It’s been a bit of a longer episode than we typically do, but I just found that this topic and this research was really interesting, so I really wanted to delve in. Hope you’ve been able to get a different perspective on the old traditional marketing funnel, and hopefully you start to lean into that messy middle just a little bit more. We look forward to seeing you on the next episode of the Marketing Mindset podcast.