Kill the Funnel, Map the Friction

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And then you yell at the screen like it’s gonna turn around and say, “My bad, bro.”

In this newsletter, you’ll find

🛑 Kill the Funnel, Map the Friction

🧠 Google’s AI Overviews Now Feature Ads

 🏆 Ad of the Day

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🛑 Kill the Funnel, Map the Friction

You don’t need more traffic. You need fewer doubts.

Funnels were built for marketers, not buyers. They assume people move linearly from awareness to conversion, but real customers spiral, hesitate, bounce, come back, and question everything before they buy. If you’re still mapping “stages,” you’re ignoring what actually blocks sales: friction.

Friction > Funnel: How People Really Buy

Nobody moves in clean stages anymore.

They get your ad on TikTok, look up reviews on Google, find an old Reddit thread, visit your PDP, and bounce. The entire journey is scattered, but every stop is shaped by one thing: hesitation. Not a lack of interest, but micro-moments of uncertainty like:

• “What if this doesn’t fit me?”
• “Why is this more expensive than that Amazon version?”
• “Is this one of those drop-shipped scams?”
• “Can I return it if it sucks?”

You’re not losing sales because of poor targeting. You’re losing them because these doubts never got resolved.

Find Friction Before It Hurts Conversions

You can’t fix what you haven’t mapped.

Audit every high-intent touchpoint, PDPs, landing pages, checkouts, and track rage clicks, dead scroll zones, and bounce patterns. But behavioral data only gets you so far. You can even use Apollo to re-engage bounced visitors with strategic cold prompts like:

‘Hey, curious, what held you back from ordering?’

Their replies give you hesitation data you’d never get from analytics. The words people use to hesitate are the exact ones you need to dismantle in your copy. You’re not looking for more leads. You’re mining their objections before they ever hit the buy button. You can sign up with Apollo here and use it for free forever!

Replace Stages with Real-Time Interventions

Forget TOFU, MOFU, BOFU.

Replace funnel logic with friction logic. Identify the top 3 hesitations blocking buyers and deploy site-side micro-fixes:

• Hesitation: “Will it work for me?” → Add real UGC by use case, not generic stars.
• Hesitation: “Is this legit?” → Add behind-the-scenes or founder videos.
• Hesitation: “Too expensive?” → Stack bundles with limited-time clarity on savings.

You’re not guiding them down a path. You’re removing all the rocks in their way.

Measure Momentum, Not Just Clicks

Clickthrough rates are a trap.

You can have 7% CTRs and still convert like trash. Instead, track what happens after they land: Do they scroll? Do they click into multiple tabs? Do they pause at FAQs? The goal is not more visitors. It’s fewer unanswered questions. The faster you remove friction, the faster they move to checkout.

Why It Wins: Funnels optimize for traffic. Friction strategies optimize for truth. And truth wins when the only thing between a scroll and a sale… is doubt you didn’t resolve.

🧠 Google’s AI Overviews Now Feature Ads

Google’s AI Overviews summarize complex queries using generative AI to help users explore information faster. Ads can now appear above, below, or inside these summaries, reaching users during high-intent moments. This rollout covers 200+ markets for above/below placements, with in-overview ads live in English for U.S. users on mobile and desktop.

The Breakdown:

1. How Ads Appear Inside Overviews - Ads don’t show for every AI Overview, only when Google detects commercial intent and finds relevant ads. Both the original query and the content of the Overview are used to match ad results. 

2. The Role of AI Targeting Solutions - To qualify for in-Overview placement, Google recommends AI-driven tools like broad match, keywordless targeting (e.g., Performance Max), or Dynamic Search Ads, while Smart bidding is also encouraged to align visibility with performance goals.

3. Creative & Feed Quality Now Matter More - Google emphasizes that fresh, detailed Shopping feeds, accurate product info, prices, and diverse images are essential. Poor feed hygiene could now limit your visibility in these high-potential placements.

4. Not All Queries Will Trigger Ads - AI Overviews typically appear for open-ended questions like “how do I clean a green pool,” not strictly commercial searches. Still, if commercial signals exist, Google can insert contextually relevant ads, like pool vacuums, based on both the query and the generated summary. 

Google's move blurs the line between answers and ads, pushing advertisers to lean into AI-native targeting and high-quality creative inputs. The rise of intent-aware placements within AI summaries means traditional keyword targeting won’t be enough.

🎥 Ad of the Day

What Works:

This ad sells the idea of a year-long relationship, not just flowers. By showing bouquets labeled by month, it taps into anticipation psychology, the joy isn’t just in receiving the gift but in looking forward to the next one.

It leverages “future pacing,” making the customer visualize a recipient’s repeated delight month after month, powerfully emotional and highly persuasive for gift-givers.

Each month has its own background and color label, which cues seasonal change and avoids visual fatigue. The use of hand-held bouquets humanizes the product and keeps it approachable. Bright, saturated florals contrast beautifully against neutral walls or clothing

The grid layout mimics a calendar, subtly reinforcing the concept of time-based gifting. Showing six months (half a year) keeps the concept digestible without overwhelming, ideal for visual cognition. 

Broader Insights:

This ad transforms flowers from a one-off transaction into a relationship-based gift. It makes the buyer feel thoughtful, organized, and deeply connected to the recipient. That emotional leverage, combined with strong visual framing, makes it primed for both direct sales and gift card purchases.

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