Middle-of-Funnel Lead Pooling
Build a growing pool of aware, engaged leads — via freemium — and let them convert on their timing
- Difficulty
- Advanced
- Time to result
- ~months to results
- Steps
- 3
- Confidence
- 85%
Campbell argues top- and bottom-of-funnel efficiency has plummeted and modern sales is mostly about timing, so the leverage has moved to the middle: a large pool of people who are aware of you and interacting regularly until their timing is right and they opt in. The best pool-builders are freemium (your product as content) and inbound media, both of which produce higher-retention, higher-NPS customers who convert on their own schedule.
Origin
Patrick Campbell's thesis from building ProfitWell's freemium metrics product and eight inbound podcasts/video series, backed by ProfitWell's cross-company data.
Core principles
- 0180% of sales/marketing budget goes to top and bottom of funnel
- 02Top- and bottom-of-funnel efficiency has plummeted; sales is now about timing
- 03The middle of the funnel is the new top of funnel
- 04Your product is your best content
How to run it
- 1
Reframe demand gen as pool-building, not just a gateway
Stop treating the middle purely as a pass-through between awareness and conversion; make it a growing pool of engaged, aware leads.
- 2
Use freemium to fill the pool
Offer something free so leads interact with your actual product before their buying timing arrives; even enterprise solutions should give something to interact with.
Pro tip Freemium converts retain ~10-20% better and show roughly double the NPS versus free-trial or traditional-sales converts, because they convert on their own timeline.
Watch out CAC for freemium is still up over the decade — just up far less than overall CAC.
- 3
Add inbound media to keep the pool warm
Run niche podcasts/video/SEO/ebooks so leads interact regularly; ProfitWell ran shows like a pricing-page teardown and a subscription-ecommerce retention show.
Pro tip Let people opt in and hang out in the pool so you avoid churn-and-burn sales chasing.
In the wild
By the sale ProfitWell ran eight niche podcasts and video series (e.g. Pricing Page Teardown, boxed-out retention show) plus a free metrics product, so prospects stayed aware and self-identified when they hit a pricing or retention problem.
→ A standing pool of aware, engaged leads that converted on their own timing into higher-retention, higher-NPS customers.
Common mistakes
Over-investing in top and bottom of funnel
With ~80% of budget on top/bottom and efficiency there collapsing, teams keep spending where returns have plummeted instead of building the middle-funnel pool where timing-driven buyers actually sit.
Treating the middle of the funnel as a mere gateway
Viewing the middle as just a pass-through between awareness and conversion misses the chance to accumulate engaged leads who opt in when their timing is right, reducing churn-and-burn sales effort.
Is it for you?
Best for
SaaS and subscription marketers facing rising CAC who need timing-driven buyers to self-select
Not ideal for
Businesses that can't offer any free product interaction or sustain niche content production
From the transcript
“that middle of the funnel needs to get bigger that pool of users who is aware of you interacting with you on a regular basis”
“the best way to create pools of leads freemium”
“customers who convert from freemium and become paid customers their retention is typically about 10 to 20 percent higher”
“middle of the funnels the new top of funnel we need a bumper sticker”
From the episode
10 lessons on bootstrapping a $200m business
Patrick Campbell (ProfitWell)