Twitter might call this ~funnel hacking~.
In reality, there’s no better way to study a brand or a business than to behave like a customer.
With that, let’s get this funnel hacking On the road! On Running (known as On) is On my mind (I’M SORRY – I WILL STOP)!
I currently have a pair, but I want more (why am I like this?). I’ll be honest with you, I’m here to shop. Let’s funnel hack our way to a purchase. On the way, we’ll conduct critical market research.
Onwards!
STEP 1: SEARCH FOR THE BRAND ON GOOGLE
On is running brand search, we see upon googling that we’re selling billions of dollars in shoes.
I can’t think of better social proof.
Above the fold I see other proof + value props here that really convince me to buy (I mean I was always gonna buy, but if I wasn’t me and if I wasn’t ready, I’m already feeling very at ease in purchasing and very left out if I didn’t yet have any).
Roger Federer ✅
Swiss Performance Running ✅
$1B ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅ ✅
P.S. Do we all have a wikipedia and $1B in sales and Roger Federer as an investor and public figure in our brands? Sadly, not yet.
Do we all have the ability to hack our above the fold SEM experience and to own our value props and to hit with proof? Mhhm.
STEP 2: CLICK THROUGH TO THE BRAND’S WEBSITE
I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS RIGHT CORNER EMAIL CAPTURE. It doesn’t pop out at you and scream BOO! It isn’t scary, it isn’t jarring. It isn’t… like most popups.
The creative here matches exactly to the homepage = which any brand at any size should prioritize doing. Make sure your popup doesn’t look like you created it 3 years ago / that you forgot about it.
P.S. Don’t forget about it.
Also, the CTA here says Join the team
^ any brand at any size can find an equivalent way of saying something so clear and original. If you have trouble thinking of yours and want to run your on-brand CTA past me, email me back and let’s workshop. I live for this shit.
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P.P.S. I wanted to figure out what CRM On was using and then I got lost in the sauce and found a million pieces of their tech stack that I need you to know about.
Notably On uses:
: Sailthru for email
: Hotjar for heatmaps
♀️: Friendbuy for referral
: OneTrust for privacy + compliance
♂️: Strava for running integration – CUTE!
STEP 3: ENTER YOUR INFO
When you see an email / SMS popup – enter your info! I entered my info so that I can judge every single email in On’s new customer welcome series. Judgey wudgey is here!
Here at Go-to-Millions, we accept cookies (so that we get hit with a million ads for us to study), we enter our email addresses (so that we can build our email swipe files), and we fork over our phone numbers (so that we can steal SMS copy).
THE MORE YOU SEE, THE MORE YOU CAN COPY! ♀️
STEP 5: JUDGE THE WELCOME EMAIL
Is this inspired? No, not in my opinion.
Would I like to split-test a different emoji, a more urgent subject line, and a longer pre-text? Yes, yes I would.
STEP 6: CLICK THE CTA
I click the email CTA and to my delight, we are split-testing!!!! Read the URL with me:
Sailthru ✅
US based split-test on Welcome email 1 ✅
GO On!!!!! FUCK YA!
STEP 7: SHOP AROUND
I am sad when I land on this collections page (I clicked the Step into running CTA from the Welcome 1 email – cute CTA again!).
The reason I’m sad is when I land on desktop the CTAs in the hero are below the fold. Breaks my soul.
Won’t stop me from buying (I’m forgiving, and desperate). HOWEVER, please use this as an opportunity to pause and click every CTA in your email welcome series and make sure that the landing experience is completely hitting the basics:
Above the fold CTA(s) ✅
Offer appended to the link if you have a welcome offer % discount, make sure it auto-applies on click out ✅
The products on the page that the customer lands on are in stock, have reviews showing, and have the prices visible and very clearly stated ✅
STEP 8: JUDGE THE CART
I’m here today to buy these. Cloudgo’s in White | Glacier
My cart looks like this (I have big feet but you know what I am who I am so judge the cart and not me okay)?
No suggested products. Not an upsell in sight. Everything feels so… tiny. There’s no eco-friendly carbon offset (I use EcoCart). No gifting options. No… anything…
We have so much room. What I would give to have my team work on this cart.
On, if you’re out there, call us.
STEP 9: EXPLORE THE SITE
On, still love you. I just spent $150 and this is my 2nd pair of shoes with you in the last 3 months. I’m loyal.
I know I was mean about the cart, but here are some things I love about your website that we should all copy:
: This about page. I love the story. I love the timeline functionality. I love that you show the founder’s journey – together.
: The Roger collections page is incredible. (The word Tennis that takes you here is not clickable – which I would change in the mega nav).
: The mega nav and hierarchy of each of the sections is beyond well thought out. The negative space here feels peaceful and lets you take a quick and unconfused action. Huge fan.
STEP 10: SWITCH LISTS
A journey of 1000 steps begins with a single purchase. I can’t wait for my shoes to arrive. In the meantime, find me studying every email I receive from On as my shoes make the trek to me. I can’t wait to photograph the packaging and add that to my packaging swipe file.
See, market research!! 😉
