Thank you for all your lovely comments about my email to you last week and I’m glad you found some of the suggestions useful. But I’m so sorry to hear that many of you are having to deal with ongoing pain. It seems far too common these days and that’s so sad.

I’ll be sure to share any helpful tips and advice moving forward with this in mind. Now onto today and something entirely different that might surprise you.

You see, a while back, I was in a room with some of the smartest online marketers in the world – people who had spent tens of thousands to be there (myself included) and a lot of the big name US guru’s were there!

We were listening to Ryan Deiss, yes, that Ryan Deiss, founder of Digital Marketer, whose marketing materials and training were treated like gospel at the time.

And then he did something that made the whole room laugh.

He showed us a screenshot of one of their landing pages…

…with a glaring, totally obvious mistake on it.

Big typo. Huge design flaw. Something you’d expect a newbie to spot straight away.

He said,

“We’ve had quite a few emails about this. People saying things like, ‘Genius move, I saw what you did there!’… assuming it was some clever, psychological tactic.”

But the funny thing was – it wasn’t a tactic.

It was just… a mistake.

No split test. No strategy. Just a human error.

But here’s the daft part…

Because it came from Digital Marketer, people assumed it was intentional. Strategic. Brilliant, even.

And it struck me right then and there: funnel hacking has a blind spot.

Here’s what I mean…

Funnel hacking, which you may have heard of (and I’m a fan with caveats!) is the process of analysing other people’s sales funnels to learn what’s working – so it can be useful.

It’s how I get inspiration for layouts, offer structures, upsell flows, and even headline styles.

But here’s the catch: you don’t know if what you’re seeing is actually working.

You don’t see the numbers.

You don’t see the tests.

You definitely don’t see the mistakes they meant to fix last Tuesday but forgot.

And if you’re copying blindly (and you should NEVER EVER COPY!)?

You might be copying someone’s typo.

Someone’s broken checkout process.

Or worse – someone’s failed experiment they forgot to take down.

That’s why I always tell my students: don’t just funnel hack. Funnel question. Funnel TEST.

Here’s how to do it well:

1. Start with curiosity, not comparison.

– Ask: “What is this person trying to do here?” and “How would this feel to someone seeing it for the first time?”
– Use it to spark ideas – not as a script.

2. Look beyond your own niche.

– Some of my best course launch ideas have come from analysing skincare brands, wellness funnels, parenting newsletters and even… Amazon & Mcdonals funnels (but that is a story for another day)!
– Innovation often happens outside your bubble.

3. Be honest about what feels good (and what doesn’t).

– If a funnel feels gross, confusing or overly slick… trust your gut.
– You’re not trying to become a clone. You’re building something real – and you-shaped.

4. Keep a swipe file — but always annotate it.

– Jot down why something caught your eye.
– Guess what their strategy might be.
– Then test it your way, for your audience.

5. Most importantly: track your numbers.

– Your funnel is the only one that matters.
– Let data, not assumptions, guide your decisions.

Remember it’s YOUR results that count.

Here’s to smart strategy, a bit of scepticism, and learning as we go (mistakes and all).