Paul Boag

Fix Funnels Now or Rebrand First? Choose Wisely

I was in a discovery call this week with a large charity that's got two fundraising products in decline. Both showing appetite from users, but conversion rates are dropping. One product launched strong a few years back but has been falling off. The other launched recently with decent interest but people aren't completing the journey. During the conversation, someone asked a question I've been thinking about ever since. Should we tackle the broader brand positioning piece first, or should we optimize the individual product funnels now and position better later? Because the organization is also going through a major strategic shift. They're moving from being seen as a visitor destination to being understood as a charity that needs public support. That's a massive repositioning job that touches everything. So do you fix the leaky funnels with what you've got now, knowing the positioning work might make those fixes obsolete? Or do you invest in positioning first, accepting that conversions will continue to struggle while you're building that foundation? In my experience, the answer depends on how much financial pressure you're under and how long the positioning work will take. If you've got revenue targets breathing down your neck and the positioning work is a multi-year program, you can't just wait. You need some quick wins to buy yourself time. But if you optimize too early, you risk solving the wrong problem. You might make a poorly positioned product convert slightly better, when the real issue is that people don't understand why they should care in the first place. We're going to run this as a consultation piece. Map out where the issues are, validate what's causing the drop-offs, maybe test a few things to understand the topography of the problem. Then use that to inform what gets tackled first. Sometimes the best answer to "should we do A or B first" is "let's find out which one will have more impact." #ConversionOptimization #DigitalStrategy #CRO