Let’s set the scene: it’s a Friday afternoon, the team’s frazzled, our numbers are flatlining, and everyone’s convinced we’ve hit the ceiling. And then, out of nowhere, a 21-year-old intern casually drops a truth bomb during a brainstorming session. One comment. One spark. That’s all it took to flip our entire approach and fix our marketing funnel for good.
Now, if you’ve ever tried fixing a marketing funnel while juggling content, ads, customer support, and internal chaos, you know the struggle. It’s like patching a leaky bucket with duct tape during a storm. But sometimes, fresh eyes, not senior strategists, spot the holes.
How We Got Here: The Funnel Fumble
Like many businesses, we had a shiny funnel map on a whiteboard. It looked beautiful, clean, organised… and wildly inaccurate. Leads were dropping off halfway through the journey, conversions were flat, and our top-of-funnel content was gathering more dust than data.
We’d already invested in paid campaigns, landing pages, automation tools, you name it. We even looked into advanced HubSpot CRM integrations to keep everything stitched together. But the real problem wasn’t tech. It was trust. We weren’t listening.
The Unexpected Brainwave from the Interns
It started during a ‘casual’ Friday team catch-up. You know the kind: someone’s made banana bread, there’s awkward small talk, and everyone’s pretending they aren’t behind on deadlines. Our intern team had just wrapped up a shadowing week and we figured, why not ask them what they noticed?
And boy, did they notice.
“Your emails sound like they’re trying too hard.”
“I couldn’t tell what you actually do until the third scroll.”
“You should really show your team more. Makes it feel less robotic.”
At first, we laughed. Then we cringed. Then we rewrote everything.
Step 1: Rewriting Our Messaging
We realised our copy was polished but lifeless. So we scrapped jargon-filled headlines and got real:
- Before: “End-to-End Digital Enablement Across Customer Touchpoints”
- After: “We help growing businesses run smoother and sell smarter.”
Less fluff, more heart. The interns helped reframe our language from ‘corporate cool’ to ‘approachably human.’
Step 2: Fixing the Content Gaps
Turns out, the interns were our ideal test audience. Fresh eyes, fresh brain cells, zero bias.
They pointed out the real-life questions they couldn’t find answers to on our site, things like:
- “What happens after I fill out this form?”
- “Why should I trust you guys over your competitors?”
- “Do you even work with businesses like mine?”
We created a mini ‘intern FAQ’ guide and turned it into:
- A revised onboarding flow
- A content hub with answers to common questions
- A friendly, behind-the-scenes intro video
Step 3: Streamlining Automation Without Overkill
One intern actually said, “Your automated emails feel like they were written by a robot that just broke up with its girlfriend.”
Ouch.
We took another look at our workflows, reworked our tone, and leaned into humour and transparency. We also simplified our automation HubSpot sequences, fewer emails, more personalisation, better segmentation.
Because let’s be honest, nobody wants to feel like email #782 in a funnel.
Step 4: Testing What Actually Matters
Here’s the kicker: we’d been running A/B tests for fonts, button colours, subject lines… but not messaging.
The interns helped us A/B test:
- “Professional” vs “casual” tone
- Polished images vs candid team photos
- Lead magnet pop-ups vs embedded value offers
Spoiler: casual, candid, and embedded won by a landslide.
What Changed? Everything.
Three weeks after implementing changes:
- Bounce rates dropped by 28%
- Email open rates jumped by 34%
- Our landing page conversion doubled
- People were replying to our nurture emails. Like, actual humans.
But more than the numbers, we saw a cultural shift. We learned to listen more. To test early. To value the ‘obvious’ questions.
And yes, we started involving our interns in weekly growth meetings.
Final Thoughts: Let Curiosity Win
Fixing your funnel isn’t always about spending more money or adding another shiny tool. Sometimes, it’s about pausing long enough to hear the feedback right under your nose.
And whether you’re a graduate manager or a founder knee-deep in landing page edits, there’s something to be said for the humility to listen, especially to those without fancy job titles.
By the way, as we kept iterating and growing, we eventually explored HubSpot for consulting workflows to help other teams do the same. But that’s a story for another time.
So next time you’re stuck, ask the interns.
They might just save your funnel.
