Definition
The middle of the funnel (MOFU) is the consideration stage of your sales and marketing process, where curious prospects turn into serious evaluators. At this point, leads know who you are. They’ve read your content, visited your site, maybe even attended a webinar. Now they’re asking: “Can this actually solve my problem?”
Why the middle of the funnel matters
Most leads fall out here, not because they aren’t interested, but because they’re not convinced.
The middle of the funnel exists to bridge that gap by:
- Nurturing awareness into conviction through storytelling and proof.
- Qualifying leads to identify who’s ready to talk to sales.
- Building trust with consistent, credible content and engagement.
- Aligning sales and marketing so that handoffs feel seamless, not forced.
A strong MOFU strategy ensures you don’t lose high-potential leads halfway down the funnel.
The MOFU playbook: what happens here
What not to do at the MOFU stage
- Jumping to the pitch too soon: Pushing demos before building trust kills interest.
- Weak handoff between marketing and sales: Leads feel lost when messaging shifts abruptly.
- Not tracking behavior: Without engagement data, you can’t tell curiosity from intent.
- Recycling TOFU content: Mid-funnel prospects need specifics, not awareness content repackaged.
How to strengthen your middle of the funnel
- Personalize follow-ups based on engagement (webinar vs. pricing page visitor).
- Build nurture sequences that progress from education → validation → conversion.
- Use intent data to surface the warmest leads early.
- Arm sales with context-rich content like ROI calculators or product comparison decks.
- Measure success not by lead volume, but by lead quality and SQL conversion rate.
