TARGETED INTERNET FUNNEL

A targeted funnel assumes the user has already been filtered.

Before the first interaction occurs, the system has decided who should enter and who should not. Demographics, behavior, inferred intent, and prior exposure determine eligibility. What is described as the “top of the funnel” is already downstream from a sorting process.

Awareness is not broad. It is selective.

As attention moves through the funnel, targeting intensifies. Content is adjusted to match the profile that allowed entry. Messaging narrows. Alternatives disappear. What is presented as personalization is often constraint.

The middle of the funnel is where alignment is manufactured. Case studies, testimonials, and comparisons are used to reinforce the system’s prior assumptions about the user. Dissonant information is reduced. Friction is introduced only where it improves compliance.

By the time the bottom of the funnel is reached, the outcome is framed as a decision. In practice, most other paths have already been removed. Conversion is not the result of persuasion alone, but of cumulative exclusion.

Analytics are used to refine the process. Drop-off points are identified. Leaks are sealed. The funnel reshapes itself around observed behavior, not stated preference.

From a laundering perspective, the targeted funnel is not a journey.

It is a corridor.