Funnel Clarity Weekly - Intro (Edition #1)
Riley Kearl - Senior Marketing & Sales Growth Partner | B2B Funnel Clarity & Pipeline Systems – Turn Traffic into Revenue
March 13, 2026
Welcome to Funnel Clarity Weekly. This first post will go over what the next 8'ish weeks will teach you. My goal is to publish weekly or bi-weekly so keep an eye out here on Linkedin and make sure to subscribe!
So let's get right to it...
Is Your Funnel Invisible, Or Just Broken?
Most B2B founders I talk to aren't flying blind by choice. They're working hard, running campaigns, generating some traffic ... but they can't tell you where leads are coming from, why deals stall, or which marketing effort actually makes a difference.
That's not a budget problem. That's a funnel visibility problem.
Is your funnel invisible? This means the funnel isn't being tracked properly or not at all, so you don't even know if it's broken or where.
Or is your funnel broken? This is the better option, it means the funnel exists and some things are being tracked. BUT something in it isn't working (bad conversion rate, poor quality traffic, messaging not resonating, leads not closing etc.)
Some data is a good thing and allows us to start diagnosing problems faster. No matter where you are based on the above there is a path to improve so don't despair. We can move you in the right direction!
So who am I and why am I starting a newsletter? I'm a Fractional CMO working with B2B Tech and SaaS companies in Ireland, the UK, and North America. Over 12+ years I've helped companies turn reactive, siloed marketing into predictable revenue engines. I've taken a $55K ad budget and generated $5.7M in quotes. I've helped teams grow MQLs by 169% and SQLs by 507%. My goal is to help more companies find clarity in their marketing systems and sales funnels, translating it into sales/revenue.
The fix is almost never 'spend more.' It's almost always 'see more clearly.' That's what this newsletter is about.
If you're thinking "not another damn newsletter" then bear with me as I begin to communicate to you the programs and systems I've developed over the years.
What is Funnel Clarity Weekly?
A practical, no-fluff newsletter for B2B founders and marketing leaders who want to understand their funnel, track what matters, and make smarter decisions with their marketing budget.
Over the next 8 weeks, we're building the full picture. We will start more with the basics and then get right through to AI-powered growth strategy / Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).
Here's the plan**:
Edition 1 (This one): Intro; what to expect, and why funnel clarity changes everything
Edition 2: The Basic Funnel; Traffic → Leads → Sales, and the metrics hiding in plain sight
Edition 3: Traffic Channels; The 7 sources explained, and which ones actually convert
Edition 4: Leads & CRO; Website conversion, AI content strategy, and getting found in LLMs
Edition 5: Sales, Metrics & Retention; MRR, ARR, CLV, churn, customer success/support, and what actually matters
Edition 6: The Advanced Funnel; Delta % tracking, funnel stage definitions, and real attribution
Edition 7: AI & GEO; How generative search is changing the game (just like mobile did in 2015) and what you can do about it now
Edition 8: Free Release; Full Funnel Definition Sheet + Workshop Process Breakdown
That last one is worth noting: Edition 8 includes a free funnel tracking tool I use and have developed over the years. I am refining it further for the newsletter and will be giving it to all subscribers. It's built to show you exactly where your funnel is breaking down. More on that as we get closer.
**This outline and exact editions may change slightly over the next few weeks but the goal remains the same: Clarifying your marketing and sales funnels from top to bottom to help you improve conversion rates at each stage.
Who This Is For
You're a CEO, founder, or marketing lead at a B2B Tech or SaaS company. You've got traction, some traffic, some leads, some customers; but your marketing feels reactive. You're not sure which channels are working. Sales and marketing aren't fully aligned. The data exists, but no one has made it make sense yet.
If that sounds familiar, you're in the right place.
One Thing to Take Away Today
Your funnel has three jobs: attract engaged traffic, convert it into quality leads, and turn those leads into revenue. Most teams track pieces of this. Very few track the whole thing, including the delta % between each stage; which is where the real insight lives.
We'll get into all of it over the next few weeks so stick around!
Thanks and I am always open to a 30 min chat, it's a way for you to ask questions without being judged or sold to. See my calendly link below :)
--In a strong and commanding voice going into battle:
"Sales Funnel Weekly Subscribers Unite and Conquer!!!"
Riley
Make sure you Subscribe to Funnel Clarity Weekly! And if you want to talk about where your funnel stands today, book in with me here: https://calendly.com/rileykearl/cmo-discovery-call
Read Edition #2 on LinkedIn
End of Intro.
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Bonus: Edition Summaries
I've also decided to include summaries of all Funnel Clarity weekly editions that are now live. Enjoy :)
Edition 1: Intro (Published March 13, 2026)
Full Title: Is Your Funnel Invisible, Or Just Broken?
Purpose: Introduce Riley, the newsletter, and the 8-edition plan.
Key content:
Funnel invisible vs funnel broken distinction
Riley's background and proof points
8 edition roadmap outlined
Who the newsletter is for (B2B SaaS/Tech founders and marketing leaders)
Teases free funnel sheet in Edition 8
Ends with Subscribe now + book a call at Calendly link
Edition 2: The Basics (Published March 20, 2026)
Full Title: The Sales Funnel
Purpose: Introduce the basic funnel and get readers thinking about their own conversion.
Key content:
Traffic → Leads → Sales as the basic framework
Expanding the basic funnel: Attract Engaged Traffic / Create Quality Leads / Increase Sales/Revenue/MRR/ARR
Conversion deltas introduced (Traffic to Lead, Lead to Sale)
Website visitor types explained: human visitors, web crawlers/bots, agentic traffic (AI agents), malicious bots
Brief mention of advanced funnel stages coming in Edition 6
Teases free funnel sheet in Edition 8
Riley flags he wrote it himself with almost no AI
Ends with Subscribe + book a call + connect on LinkedIn
Edition 3: Traffic Channels (Published March 30, 2026)
Full Title: Top of Funnel: Traffic Channels and SEO Explained
Purpose: Deep dive into the top of the funnel, the 7 traffic channels and how to measure them.
Key content:
The 7 channels: Paid, SEO, Email, Backlinks, Direct, Social Media, GEO
Where to find channel data in GA4 and Google Search Console
Three numbers to track per channel: Volume, Quality, Outcome
Each channel explained in detail including strengths, weaknesses, and practical tips
SEO and GEO linked deliberately; GEO described as "advanced SEO"
llms.txt file and AI agent page mentioned
Simple 3 step process: map channels, identify best performers, decide mix
Riley flags AI was used as a starting point then rewritten
Ends with a link to Book a call with Riley
Edition 4: Leads and CRO (Published April 7, 2026)
Full Title: Converting Traffic Into Leads / CRO
Purpose: Cover the second stage of the basic funnel — leads, conversion rate optimization, and AI content strategy.
Key content:
What counts as a lead (ordered by intent level including follow/like/comment as early intent)
CRO as a multiplier affecting every channel
Three conversion environments: Website CRO, Assisted CRO (AI-influenced), Outreach CRO
The CRO Triangle: Speed, UX and Flow, Messaging and Copy Flow
ICP vs Persona explained
Hard offers vs soft offers — CTA is not an offer distinction
The Proven Conversion Process (based on existing frameworks including StoryBrand reference)
How to measure Traffic to Lead: 3 numbers plus the Marketing Journey and Sales Pipeline stage map
Marketing Journey: Impressions → Traffic → Engaged Traffic → Soft CTA → Action Completed → Hard CTA → Trial Start → Support Interaction → Close → Retention
Sales Pipeline: Awareness → Unqualified Lead → MQL → SQL → Opportunity → Sale → Reduce Churn
AI and leads: structured content, llms.txt, dedicated AI page
Quick wins checklist
Teases Edition 8 funnel sheet
Message "CRO" for free audit + Edition 8 tease
Edition 5: Sales and Revenue (Published April 14, 2026)
Full Title: Sales, Revenue, and the 3 Outcomes That Actually Matter
Purpose: Cover the third stage of the basic funnel; revenue, metrics, pipeline language, and retention.
Key content:
The 3 outcomes every business is working towards: Acquire new clients, Retain existing clients, Increase wallet share
Outcome 1 Acquire: Traffic to lead rate, lead to sales call rate, win rate. Common mistake is scaling traffic before fixing conversion
Outcome 2 Retain: Churn rate, renewal rate, usage and adoption. Churn starts at top of funnel not in CS
Outcome 3 Wallet Share: Expansion revenue, revenue per account, upgrade rate. Includes CRM/ERP/AI tease for Edition 7 or 8
The money language you actually need: MRR, ARR, ACV/ASP, win rate, sales cycle length, churn, retention, NRR
PQL and EQL teased briefly, full definitions saved for Edition 8 sheet
Pipeline language: Prospect, Lead, MQL, SQL, Opportunity, Deal stages, Pipeline
Quality lead defined: right company (ICP) + right person (Persona) + right problem + right urgency
Quick founder test: 4 questions
Growth/Marketing/Sales/CS strategy map was cut from this edition — saved for Edition 6 opener
Ends with an Edition 8 tease
Edition 6: The Advanced Funnel (Published April 22, 2026)
Full Title: The Advanced Funnel: Where Is It Actually Breaking?
Purpose: Take the funnel deeper with conversion delta tracking, benchmarks, attribution, and a preview of the Funnel Clarity Tool.
Key content:
Opens with a strategy map showing how Marketing, Sales, and Customer Success each own a section of the same funnel and where handoffs break down
Growth motions introduced at a high level: Sales Led, Marketing Led, Product Led, Ecosystem Led — full detail saved for Edition 8
Advanced funnel stages for B2B SaaS mapped in full: Awareness/Impressions → Traffic → Engaged Traffic → Prospect/MQL → Lead/SQL → Sale/MRR/ARR → Retention
Conversion delta explained simply with a worked example — lower stage divided by upper stage multiplied by 100
Real B2B SaaS benchmarks shared: Traffic to Lead ~1.4%, Lead to MQL ~41%, MQL to SQL ~39%, SQL to Opportunity ~42%, Opportunity to Sale ~39%, overall Traffic to Sale ~0.09-0.14%
Attribution explained practically: start with source tracking, track lead source to revenue, use UTM parameters consistently, accept attribution will always be imperfect
Preview of the Funnel Clarity Tool shared — green/amber/red diagnosis per stage with likely problem surfaced when below benchmark
Founder test: four questions on conversion delta visibility
Ends with two questions for comments and teases Edition 7 on AI and GEO
Edition 7: AI & GEO (Published April 30, 2026)
Full Title: AI, GEO, and How to Take Advantage of the Shift
Purpose: Explain how AI is changing the way buyers find and evaluate companies and what to do about it practically right now.
Key content:
Two dimensions of AI impact: external (how customers find you) and internal (how mature your team's AI usage is)
External: AI agents are already visiting your site on behalf of human users — your website is becoming a source document as much as a destination
GEO explained as the response to this: optimise so AI tools cite and reference you rather than a competitor
Internal AI maturity levels introduced: Efficiency (day to day assistant), Workflows (repeatable automated processes), Agentic (multiple LLMs working together using your actual company data)
Eight practical GEO steps: check robots.txt for AI crawlers, create llms.txt, create a dedicated AI agents page, structure content for AI, build third party citations, maintain content freshness, write definitive category definition content, track AI referral traffic in GA4
Server side rendering flagged as important — most important pages should be server side rendered so AI crawlers can understand page context. Credit: Sarah Fitzpatrick, sarahfitzseo.com
Human QA for AI content — avoid AI slop, always review and edit to stay out of crawled but not indexed in GSC. Credit: Sarah Fitzpatrick, sarahfitzseo.com
MCP Server mentioned — Model Context Protocol connects live data sources directly into Claude or ChatGPT so AI can query real data in real time. Link: data.guavy.com/ai. Credit: Stephen King
Multi-LLM workflow example: ChatGPT identifies targets, Perplexity refines messaging, Gemini verifies, emails sent
GEO starter prompts shared — run in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Google AI Overview and score yourself
2015 mobile article parallel drawn — same pattern of slow adoption, same mistake being made with AI
Ends with teaser for Edition 8 full release
Edition 8: The Full Release (Published June 1, 2026)
Title: The Full Release! Funnel Clarity Tool and Definition Sheet
Purpose: Deliver everything promised across the series — the interactive Funnel Clarity Tool, the Funnel Definition Sheet, and the full framework in one place.
Key content:
Funnel Clarity Tool released as a public Claude artifact — simple mode (Traffic, Leads, Sales with live green/amber/red diagnosis) and detailed mode (all 8 stages with conversion delta rows and specific diagnosis per stage)
Three export options: Copy to Clipboard for AI analysis, Export CSV for tracking over time, Download Snapshot for presentations
Funnel Definition Sheet released as a Google Sheet with 13 tabs covering every framework, definition, and benchmark from all 8 editions
All 13 tabs described in detail — Start Here, Basic Funnel, Traffic Channels, GEO Prompt Sheet, Leads and CRO, Sales and Retention, Advanced Funnel Selector, Metrics Glossary, Definitions, Growth Motions, Workshop Process, Client Example, Thank You
Growth motions covered in full across all four: Sales Led, Marketing Led, Product Led, Ecosystem Led — each with funnel implications
AI maturity levels revisited: Efficiency, Workflows, Agentic — focus on moving from Efficiency to Workflows as the realistic near term goal
Bowtie funnel briefly referenced — extends the classic funnel past Closed Won into Onboarding, Adoption, and Expansion. Points to Winning by Design for more detail
Funnel clarity reframed as an alignment tool not just a data tool — the shared understanding that comes from everyone working from the same numbers and the same language is the competitive advantage
Ways to work with Riley: free 30 minute call, private community at €59 per month, Funnel Clarity Workshop at €900
Asks for votes on Edition 9 topic — hints at a new series focused on GEO in marketing and sales
Legal note included on both tools