How Leadfeeder Lights Up The Dark Funnel

In 1933, Caltech researcher Fritz Zwicky discovered the visible mass of a galaxy cluster he was studying was too small to keep the galaxies from escaping the cluster. 

Based on what he could see, the galaxies should be spinning off into space. 

But they weren't. Something was keeping them in place. 

That something became known as "dark matter." Scientists estimate that 80 percent of the universe is made up of particles we can't see. We only know they exist because of how they impact the stars and galaxies. 

This isn't just a random astronomy lesson.

There's a good chance similar shadowy forces are at work in your sales and marketing funnel — invisible actions buyers take can impact conversion rates. 

While we have no idea what dark matter is, there are ways to get insights into the dark forces at work in your sales funnel. 👻 And it starts with Leadfeeder. 

Are your customers making important decisions in places you aren't tracking? Leadfeeder helps shine a light on your dark funnel. Try Leadfeeder free for 14 days. 

What is the "dark funnel"?

The Dark Funnel is a phrase coined by 6sense that refers to the plethora of data B2B users create, but we can't track. 

B2B buyers do a lot of research. They read blogs and guides, watch videos, download ebooks, and pick up trade publications. They talk to other people at their company, send them links to content they liked, and discuss their options over Friday afternoon coffee. 

And most of that interaction is totally hidden from companies. You can't see that John from finance sent Susan in HR a link to a blog post or that Susan then forwarded it to her boss. At best, you'll see a slight uptick in traffic.  

You might notice sales increase after a new marketing initiative, but if you're using last-click attribution, you’ll likely have no idea what part of the initiative actually impacted sales. 

While we can't solve the secret of Dark Matter in the universe, there are ways to shed light on a Dark Funnel. 

Here's how Leadfeeder can help your business gather and leverage hidden buyer intent data. 

Identify which companies visit your site 

Most businesses track overall traffic to their site. The problem? That stat only tells you how many visitors your site gets — not who they are.

Leadfeeder uses IP tracking to identify the actual companies that visit your website. 

Note, that you can't see exactly which person visits your site in most cases. Instead, Leadfeeder uses IP tracking to identify what company someone works for (even if they work from home!) 

To view this data, create a free Leadfeeder account and install the Leadfeeder tracker. 

See how many times a company visits your site

Now that you know who is visiting your website, you want to know how often they stop by, right? In Google Analytics, you can compare new vs returning visitors to get a general idea of how often people return to your website. 

But it's not very exact—and preciseness matters when it comes to buyer intent. 

Consider these two situations: 

Example 1: 5 companies visit your website; 4 companies return

• Overall traffic: 9

• New versus returning visitors: 5 new, 4 returning 

Example 2: 5 companies visit your website; 1 company returns to your site four different times. 

• Overall traffic: 9

• New versus returning visitors: 5 new, 1 returning 

If you're just tracking traffic and new and returning visitors, you'd miss out on a crucial piece of buyer intent data — one company has returned to your website four times. They're obviously interested in what you have to offer! 

With Leadfeeder, you can track how much traffic you get to your site—and how often specific companies return. 

That data is crucial to spotting accounts closer to conversion and lighting up your dark funnel.

To view this data, click on a lead in your Leadfeeder dashboard, then scroll down to "Activity" in the right panel. 

Find out how many times (and who) viewed pages from your email campaigns 

Email campaigns offer some of the highest ROI in marketing, with some claiming it's as high as 36:1. In B2B that rate might be a bit lower, but email is definitely an effective marketing platform. 

But you might not see exactly how it's impacting your conversion rates thanks to the dark funnel. 

Email platforms often show you how many clicks you get, maybe how many conversions. However, email also tends to use last-click attribution models. 

In Leadfeeder, you can see how many times someone visited your site, exactly what pages they visited, and who they are, if you have their email address. 

This data is presented alongside other data from that company. So you might see that James from sales read five blogs, but you can also see that five other people from the company visited your demo page. 

It's like shining a powerful flashlight in a dark funnel. 🔦

Use goals to see when companies take a specific action 

In Leadfeeder, goals let you track when site visitors take specific actions on your site — for example, if they download a guide, fill out a form, or view your pricing page. 

This makes it a lot easier to see when specific companies have a stronger buyer intent. 

Even better, you can set more than one goal. Maybe you want to easily see when someone fills out a form, visits your pricing page, and watches a video. Creating a goal for each high-intent action allows you to see when a company that matches your ICP takes high-intent actions. 

You can track these metrics separately, of course. But Leadfeeder brings all the data together—and shows you what company they work for. 

No more dark funnel for you! 

Final thoughts on lighting up the dark funnel 

Tired of guessing what campaigns and content result in conversions? The B2B sales funnel is longer than ever, making it harder to track what actually delivers results. 

Leadfeeder does more than just identify anonymous site visitors; we also help light up the funnel so you can see precisely what initiatives impact your sales. 

Want access to more buyer intent and acquisition data? Try Leadfeeder free for 14 days and shine a light on your dark funnel.