Reverse engineering a funnel

All Case Studies  🔍 Advertise With Us

Hey, it's Alex. We're hitting LA next week to shoot our new YouTube Series. The bags are packed. Cameras are packed. The video is outlined. Storyboarded. And ready to be shot. I'm telling you right now - this is going to be some of your favorite growth, marketing, and startup content.

And we're throwing a meetup while in LA. I'll share a Typeform in Thursday's NL.

But first, a huge thank you to our partner AddGlow.

This is how I study marketing and bring case studies to your inbox.

It’s the marketing detective method.

And it starts with reverse engineering funnels.

Today, we’ll walk through how I studied Farmer’s Dog’s Meta funnel.

You can use the same steps to deep dive into other brands or your competitors’ strategies.

For Meta, I like to reverse engineer two funnels:

1. Top of Funnel (TOF) & Middle of Funnel (MOF)

2. Re-targeting

Sometimes you’ll find two different types of ad creative matched with entirely different landing pages.

That’s always worth studying.

TOF & MOF Funnels

1. First, let’s get to the brand’s ad library:

Go to Facebook >> Find your competitor via the search bar >> Click their Company Page.

Click About >> Click “Page Transparency” >> Lastly, go to Ad Library.

2. Find the best ads

Scroll to find the oldest active ad in the library.

These are some of their best.

Why?

If an ad has run for over 6 months - it shows one thing... It’s working.

It’s spending efficiently, is ROI positive, and Meta loves it because customers click it.

Learning:

For Farmer’s Dog, their standout ads feature various dog breeds + a 50% off CTA. These creatives are not only scroll-stopping (who can resist cute pups) but also directly appeal to a diverse audience of dog owners.

3. Click through to the landing page

Next, click the ad to see what landing page it takes you to.

But before we dive into the LP, we’ll visit the time machine.

Copy the landing page’s URL and visit web.archive.org.

Paste the URL into the search bar and hit enter.

Now you’ll see the history of edits made to the landing page over the years.

And you can compare/contrast what changed and stayed the same.

Learning:

Farmer’s Dog’s landing page’s above-the-fold section now vs. a year ago:

What changed (didn’t work):

• The image zooms in on a dog’s face vs. just showing its paws.

• The headline touches on the benefits (healthy life) rather than just the product (healthier pet food).

• The trial offer increased from 20% off to 50% off.

What stayed the same (worked):

• “Start Today” CTA to the personalized quiz.

• Social proof with media mentions.

For funnels, I like to map it out using Figma.

I’m specifically looking at:

• Landing Page

• Entry points into the funnel

• Offers

• Objection Tackling

• Personalization

• Exit Intent

• Email Marketing

Looking at Farmers Dog here’s the breakdown:

• Facebook Ad

  • Goal: Educate about why your dog needs human-grade food vs kibble.

• Landing Page

  • Goal: Stress that a healthier life starts with healthier food.

• Entry Points

  • Nav Bar: 50% off.

  • CTA on the Landing Page.

• Personalization

  • CTA funnels into quiz.

  • Collect my and my dog’s info.

• Exit Intent

  • When I try to exit they tackle their top two objections:

    • Different recipes

    • Price

Re-Targeting Funnels

Next, we’ll dissect their retargeting funnels.

If you’re not familiar with retargeting, it’s essentially getting an ad because you visited a site or clicked on another ad in the past. (Because you’re being tracked by the Facebook pixel).

The second set is more targeted or promotes a different offer. All to bring you back to the site.

• How can you see a brand’s retargeting ads?

  • Visit their site, put a product in your cart, and start the checkout process.

  • Then go to Facebook and scroll until you served another ad.

Make this easier by downloading the Chrome extension “My Ad Finder” to your Chrome browser.

This extension removes everything that isn’t an ad from your Facebook feed.

With that active - I got hit with three retargeting ads from Farmers Dog in seconds.

1. From Farmer’s Dog directly with a 50% offer.

2. Through a pet publication with a 50% offer.

3. Through a food publication with a 50% offer.

Each ad funneled me back to “ Build Marley’s Plan” right before the checkout. (My dogs name is Marley).

Learning

• Run retargeting through non-brand accounts for an effective way to push products by leveraging social proof (e.g. from a large publication or influencer).

• A personalized landing page based on user input performs well for retargeting ads.

And that’s how I studied the Farmer’s Dog acquisition funnel on Facebook. It’s a hidden secret, hiding in plain sight.

Now go follow these steps with competitors in your niche to find out what’s working:

1. Pick a brand.

2. Go to the ad library.

3. Find the best / oldest running ad.

4. Click the landing page.

5. Run it into the time machine.

6. See how it’s evolved over time.

7. Start the checkout process.

8. Download ‘my ad finder’.

9. Study the retargeting ads you get.

10. Use the learnings to build your own funnel.

🕳 Rabbit Hole Reads and Resources

• The future of shopping: $1,000-per-month private luxury shopping clubs. (LINK)

• Top 28 Hooks: from the top creators on Twitter (you might see a familiar face in there). (LINK)

• $1B juggernaut: How PRIME hit $1.2 billion in annual sales in 2 years. (LINK)

• Spotify Wrapped 2.0: Searches for Spotify's daylist spiked 20,000% after trend took over Instagram. (LINK)

• IRS social game is dialed: If you haven’t checked out the IRS’ IG account, you should. (LINK)