Funnel Hack
Funnel Hack mode in full: buy from the target the way a customer would, and map every step from the first ad to the last follow-up. It extends go-inside.md, and all of its rules apply: the user approves each action, the user's real identity, and a dedicated inbox on the user's domain.
Contents
- Before you buy
- Map the money path
- Find their tests
- Read their paid search
- Build the swipe file
- The funnel map deliverable
Before You Buy
- Set a budget with the user before the first purchase: the total, the products, and whether to take upsells. Every purchase needs an explicit yes with the amount.
- Buy to keep. Refund only under the seller's published policy and for a real reason. Don't plan purchases around refunds.
- Use the user's payment method and name. No virtual cards in made-up names.
- Don't exploit bugs. If a checkout misprices something or a discount stacks by mistake, note it and don't use it.
- Pick the entry point a real buyer would use: an active ad (from
sc-adsor the ad libraries), a lead magnet, or the homepage. Record which one, because funnels differ by entry.
Map the Money Path
Screenshot and record each step in teardowns/<target>/funnel/steps.csv:
step,url,screenshot,offer,price,anchor_price,cta,timer_or_scarcity,notes
| Step | What to capture |
|---|---|
| Ad | Hook, offer, and the exact landing page with its UTM parameters |
| Landing page | Headline, offer stack, proof, guarantee, CTA, page speed |
| Opt-in | Fields, lead magnet, consent language, SMS opt-in |
| Thank-you page | The immediate next offer, often a low-price first purchase |
| Checkout | Order bump, payment options (Shop Pay, buy now pay later, PayPal), shipping threshold, subscribe-and-save, trust badges |
| Upsells and downsells | Each one-time offer after checkout: product, price, and what happens if you decline |
| Confirmation | Post-purchase offers, referral prompt, account creation |
| Follow-up | Every email and SMS for 30 days, logged as in go-inside.md |
Then run the side paths:
- Abandoned cart: add to cart, enter the email, leave. Log the emails and texts, their timing, and whether the discount grows with each one.
- Abandoned opt-in: start the quiz or opt-in and stop halfway, if the flow captures the email early.
- Popups: note what triggers each one (time, scroll, exit intent), the offer, and whether it changes on a second visit (hand to popups).
- Webinar funnels: registration page, confirmation, reminder sequence, the replay page, the minute the pitch starts, the offer, and the deadline.
- Quiz funnels: every question, the branches, each result page, and the offer each result gets.
Check the Urgency
Open each countdown timer, "only N left", and "offer ends tonight" message in two clean browser sessions, a few hours apart, and again after the stated deadline. Record exactly what you saw as Observed: "the timer restarted in a new session", "the count stayed at 7 for three days". Whether the scarcity is staged is Inferred: a count that never moves can mean no sales, and a restarting timer can be a disclosed per-visitor offer. Either way, don't copy urgency as if it's what converts, and remember that false scarcity runs into the FTC's rules on deceptive practices.
Find Their Tests
teardown.mjs experiments <domain>lists the client-side testing tools and, for Optimizely and GrowthBook, the readable names in their configs. Names likepricing_annual_default_v3orcheckout_bump_sockshint at what they test, though a name in a config can be paused or finished.- Variant check: load the landing page, pricing page, and checkout in three or four fresh sessions and compare. Different headlines, prices, or bumps suggest a live test or personalization, labeled Inferred. Screenshot each variant.
- Dynamic text: change
?keyword=,?utm_term=, or?q=on an ad landing page and see if the headline changes to match. - Geo pricing: if the browser tool supports country proxies, compare prices by country.
Read Their Paid Search
Search results with ads, from a SERP API (DataForSEO, SerpApi) or by hand:
| Query | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Their brand name | Whether they protect it, and who bids on it |
| Your brand name | Whether they bid on you, and their ad copy against you |
| Other competitors' names | Who they treat as their rivals |
| Category terms ("best X", "X software", "X near me") | The ad copy and landing pages they pay for |
| "[their brand] alternative", "[their brand] pricing" | How they defend their own funnel |
Record the ad copy and landing page for each, dated. Hand conquesting findings to ads and competitors.
Build the Swipe File
One file, teardowns/<target>/funnel/swipe.md, grouped by type, every item linked and dated:
- Hooks: first lines of ads, emails, and landing pages
- Headlines and subheads
- Offer stacks: bonuses, guarantees, payment plans, price anchors
- Proof: testimonial formats, numbers, logos, review widgets
- CTAs and button copy
- Email subject lines with their send day
Hand the swipe file to offers, copywriting, and emails. Copy the structure, never the words: their copy is protected.
The Funnel Map Deliverable
teardowns/<target>/funnel/map.md:
- The diagram: each step as a box with its price, in order, with branches for declines and abandons
- The offer stack table: every product and offer, its price, its anchor, and where it appears
- The follow-up calendar: day by day, email and SMS, with offers
- Tests seen: tools, config names, variants
- Urgency check results
- What to copy and what not to: with the skill that runs each copied piece (offers, cro, popups, emails, sms, pricing, paywalls)
- Spend: what was bought, the total, and any refunds under the published policy