A founder friend of mine reached out last week, frustrated that nothing was converting users, no matter what they`ve tried.
“We’ve tried everything - new landing pages, better copy, faster load times, etc. Nothing’s improving our conversion rate.”
I asked him a straightforward question: “Who exactly are you targeting?”
It takes him a moment to respond, but essentially, it was something like
“Well... anyone who needs what we built, I guess?”
There it was. The real problem is hiding in plain sight.
His funnel wasn’t broken. His targeting was. And no amount of optimization was going to fix that.
In this week’s newsletter, I’m walking through the five specific signs you’re targeting the wrong audience. The patterns most founders and teams miss because they’re too busy optimizing funnels. More importantly, I’ll show you precisely what to do about it, step by step.
Let’s get into it.
The Real Reason Your Growth Slowed
You’re three months into launch. Traffic is decent. Your funnel looks good on paper. The team is executing.
But nothing’s moving.
So what do you do? You optimize. You A/B test headlines. You rebuild landing pages. You simplify the signup flow. You add urgency messaging. You hire a conversion expert.
And still... nothing changes.
Here’s what nobody wants to hear: Your funnel isn’t broken. You’re just filling it with the wrong people.
I’ve attended countless meetings where teams stare at dashboards, discussing minor improvements to conversion rates. Everyone’s fixated on tweaking the mechanics. Then someone asks the tough question: “Who are we even trying to convert?”
Silence.
That’s when the real problem becomes clear. You’ve built an optimization machine for an audience that was never going to buy from you.
How This Happens
It’s easy to get here. You aim for a large TAM to attract investors and prevent excluding potential investors. You think narrowing your focus will cost you opportunities.
So, you cast a wide net, targeting groups like “small businesses,” “productivity-minded professionals,” or “anyone who struggles with X.” As a result, your messaging becomes generic because your audience is broad.
You attract traffic. People sign up for free trials. They browse around. Some even engage, but they don’t become paying customers, or if they do, they leave quickly.
The pattern continues until you run out of runway or patience.
The 5 Indicators That Suggest You Are Focusing on the Incorrect Audience
If you’re noticing these patterns, your issue isn’t with conversion optimization. It’s with audience fit.
1. High Traffic, Low Conversions
You’re driving traffic to your site. People are browsing and possibly signing up for trials or downloading your lead magnet. But they’re not making purchases.
This isn’t a messaging or pricing issue; it’s a fit issue. You’re drawing in people who are curious but not committed. They might like what you offer, but they don’t have the problem badly enough to pay for a solution.
The real indicator: examine the gap between engagement and purchase intent. If people are consuming your content but not taking steps toward a sale, they’re the wrong audience.
2. People Say “Interesting” but Never Follow Through
Your demos go smoothly. People say they like what they see and ask good questions. They often say things like “this is cool” or “I can see how this would be useful.” Then they disappear.
This is the worst kind of false positive because it feels like progress. You think you’re close. You need to tweak the pitch or add one more feature.
But “interesting” is not the same as “I need this now.” When you’re talking to the right people, you don’t hear “interesting.” Instead, you hear “when can we start?” or “how fast can you implement this?”
Real signal: Track how many discovery calls turn into second meetings. If most conversations die after the first call, you’re talking to tire-kickers, not buyers.
3. Sales Cycles Drag On and Go Nowhere
You’re having conversations with many people. These go on for weeks or months. There’s always one more stakeholder to include, one more question to answer, or one more piece of information they need. Then they go quiet or tell you “now’s not the right time.”
Long sales cycles occur for two reasons: either you’re selling to enterprises (which is common), or you’re selling to people who don’t urgently need the problem solved.
If you’re not focusing on enterprises and your deals keep stalling, you’re probably talking to people who are exploring options rather than looking for solutions.
Real signal: How many deals are stuck in your pipeline for over 60 days? If it’s more than 30%, you have a targeting issue.
4. Feature Requests Are All Over the Map
Your customers and prospects request very different things. One wants more detailed analytics. Another prefers simpler workflows. Someone else seeks integrations you’ve never heard of.
There’s no pattern, no consensus, and no clear direction.
This happens when you’re trying to serve multiple audiences with different needs. You might think you’re being customer-focused by listening to everyone, but you’re actually just spreading your attention thin across people who want different products.
Real signal: Can you organize your feature requests into 2-3 clear themes? If not, you lack a target audience. You just have a collection of random users.
5. You’re Constantly Explaining the Problem
Every conversation begins with education. You need to explain why this matters. You guide people through the implications of the problem. You make the case for why they should care.
This is draining, and it’s a huge warning sign.
When you speak to the right audience, they already recognize they have the problem and are actively looking for solutions. Your goal is to show them you provide the best solution, not just point out their problem.
If you focus more on problem awareness than on solution differentiation, you’re engaging with people who aren’t ready to buy.
The real signal: In your last 10 sales conversations, how many times did the prospect mention the problem before you did? If it’s fewer than half, you’re targeting people who don’t feel the pain.
What to Do About It
There’s a counterintuitive strategy that makes most founders uneasy: deliberately narrowing your target audience can actually accelerate your growth.
I understand why - it feels counterproductive.
Every instinct indicates that a larger audience leads to more customers and increased revenue. But when you look at what truly works, the pattern becomes clear. The fastest-growing companies aren’t casting the widest net; they’re being precise about who they serve.
Here’s how to make that shift:
Step 1: Find Your Pattern in Existing Customers
Pull a list of every customer who has paid you money. Not trials. Not freemium users. Paying customers.
Now ask: What do they have in common?
Look for:
Company size (number of employees, not just revenue)
Their role and decision-making authority
What they were doing before they found you
What event triggered them to search for a solution
How much time passed between the first contact and the purchase
You’re searching for the pattern that isn’t immediately obvious. Not “they’re all in SaaS,” but “they’re all 20-50 person companies that just raised Series A and hired their first dedicated person in this role.”
If you don’t have paying customers yet, talk to the 3-5 people who almost made a purchase. Ask them what prevented them. Their answers show who you should have been aiming for from the start.
Step 2: Rewrite One Thing For That Specific Person
Don’t redesign your entire site. Just rewrite your homepage headline.
Bad (too broad): “The productivity tool for modern teams.” Better (specific): “Task management for engineering teams shipping weekly sprints.”
The test: Would your target person read it and think “that’s me,” while others believe “that’s not for me”? If yes, you’re on the right track.
Then rewrite your first email. Then your demo intro. One thing at a time, with each version becoming more specific.
Step 3: Turn Off What’s Bringing the Wrong People
Review your traffic sources. Which channels are bringing in visitors who don’t convert?
Suppose it’s organic traffic from generic keywords, which indicates a content issue. Stop creating content for “anyone interested” and focus on your specific audience. If it’s paid ads, examine your targeting.
You might be bidding on keywords that attract the wrong crowd because they’re cheap and high-volume. Remove the channels that bring in traffic but not customers. Yes, your traffic volume may decrease, but your conversion rate will improve.
Step 4: Say No to the Wrong Customers
This is the hardest part. Someone wants to buy from you, but they don’t match your criteria. Maybe they’re too small. Perhaps they’re in the wrong industry. Maybe they have a different use case.
You want to say yes because revenue is revenue.
Wrong-fit customers drain your support team, request features that don’t serve your core audience, and churn quickly.
They cost more than they’re worth. If you’re pre-product-market fit, every wrong customer pulls you further from finding it.
What Actually Changes
When you narrow your targeting, three things occur:
Your messaging becomes clearer because you know exactly who you’re talking to. Your sales conversations become shorter because you’re speaking to people who already face the problem.
Your product roadmap becomes more focused when you stop trying to serve everyone.
Your conversion rate might initially drop. That’s okay. You’re filtering out people who were never going to become good customers anyway.
What matters: Are the people who convert staying longer and buying more? If so, you’ve found your audience.
In conclusion, I would say the most substantial growth I’ve seen occurs when teams become very focused on their targeting. They say no to opportunities outside their primary focus.
They turn away customers who aren’t the right fit. They accept a smaller addressable market in exchange for a market that actually converts.