I thought I’d seen all there was to be seen online. I think of myself as being pretty savvy. I’ve been marketing online for 15+ years. Thought I’d seen every sneaky tactic. Every dirty trick.
But even I still get fooled if I don’t pay close enough attention. I recently saw what might be the best bullshit ad funnel I’ve ever seen.
I’m going to explore this in two parts so that:
a) you don’t fall for it…
b) you hopefully learn something from it…
c) you AREN’T inspired to do this yourself!
The Ad…
Today I’m going to break down the ad and why it hooked me. And yes, ‘almost’… fooled Munch.
Here it is…
What do you notice?
The logo is the same… right? The face? The name? The text font? I admit; I don’t watch a bunch of Mr. Beast videos. This ad was just a 15 second still of that image.
Why It Worked To Get The Click…
The most difficult part of creating a BS ad is not setting off everyone’s BS sensors. He has about 100M subscribers; I’m not one of them. But I do know OF him…
I’m not certain if this would work better on people who were very familiar or semi-familiar.
Mr Beast is known for being a philanthropist and throwing a lot of money at his videos with wild projects where lots of people get paid. So on top of the name, logo, face and font… it “idea” falls in line with his brand.
It was plausible. Believable.
It’s known he has a “Gaming” YouTube channel as well – now ok, the lettering is a little off (lower case ‘b’) so there’s your first clue. But it’s subtle.
Personally, I couldn’t recall how the main channels were stylized so I didn’t notice it so obviously.
It’s fairly common for YouTubers to get their channels shut down and have to start alternates; often with the same name with “2” being added. Or ‘3’ if they’re habitual YouTube policy offenders!
You could argue “with 100M subscribers he wouldn’t have to advertise!” and that’s fair. One could argue “there are 2.1 Billion users though – how else are you going to reach them” … Also fair. Plausible even.
How I Became Certain It’s B.S.
I followed the funnel (the link is actually in the ad video’s description – cleverly hidden to avoid detection)… and what I saw tipped me off.
That was the first time my BS sensors went off for sure. It’s what made me go back and check.
First thing I did was check the channel…
84,000 subscribers? Well ok, that could be legi…
… with no content.
Impossible. Bullshit.
Looking at it now; you might think it’s obvious. But in the moment – there was a lot of very, very clever psychology at play here. It almost ‘deserves’ the click. Except for the fact it’s a lie and outright brand infringement. Don’t do it.
The Funnel…
UPDATE: Since writing this second section; I expected the ad to have been taken down. Then I saw it again.
Which means two things:
- Google / YouTube haven’t noticed yet
- It’s clearly making good money (nobody this savvy would be spending money on a funnel that didn’t produce profit).
Anyway, back to it!
What happens after you click? You hit a landing page! Pretty standard.
I identified 11 things making the page compelling enough to convert.
The 11 Legitimate Marketing Elements That Make This Bullshit Funnel Work!
1. Clear & Concise Benefit-Driven Headline – People know why they’re there, it’s congruent with the ad, it’s $1,000 for free.
Nothing to think about. Nothing to analyse. Keep reading.
2. Reserved Reward Inspires Fear Of Loss – It’s more compelling to ‘keep what you already have’ vs. ‘doing more to obtain a reward’.
Much like reserving a table at a restaurant – even though you haven’t eaten yet, the meal feels inevitable. The subconscious demand congruence, so your actions must fall in line.
So stating the reward has been reserved for you, makes it feel more ‘in your pocket’, like it’s already yours. Inevitable. So you’re now on the path, may as well see it through! Congruence.
3. Clear Action Steps – A simple 3-step action plan anyone can follow. Nothing to complicate things. No friction. Low effort.
This part is critical since it’s how the advertiser gets paid, as you’re about to see.
4. Availability Scarcity – Once again, tapping into fear of loss. People will ‘know’ with 100M other people potentially seeing this offer, those ‘6’ spots will disappear in seconds!
No time to think! No time to doubt! I have it now but I could lose it if I’m not fast enough!
5. Big Clear Action Button Literally Pointed Out To You – not much to comment on here, it’s a big button you have to push.
The pointing finger helps – one might argue it should be a slightly different colour to help it stands out more.
They should probably also put the action steps and button at the end of the page too.
But I don’t want to give them any bright ideas…
6. Time Scarcity – If the ‘availability’ scarcity wasn’t enough, there’s literally a countdown on the page.
Once again, a visitor may be thanking their lucky stars they got to see this in time! Better not waste it!
Of course they don’t realise this is a timer programmed to start the countdown as soon as the page loads.
Same for the Date, which updates dynamically.
7. Illegitimate Credibility – Once again, maintaining congruence and ‘legitimacy’, they reference YouTube. Visitors come from YouTube, it’s a famous YouTuber, people trust YouTube.
So while YouTube will certainly shut this down as soon as they become aware of what’s going on – the B.S. advertiser will milk their brand for all it’s worth.
8. Celebrity Social Proof – First comment apparently from another world-famous YouTuber.
While this entire section is pre-written and programmed in, it gives the appearance of live comments.
That’s social engagement and social proof… “if everyone else is doing it, it must be real!”
Except it’s not.
9. Viral Incentive – Why wouldn’t you help someone you love get $1,000 for free? These comments are cleverly used to inspire certain thoughts, impulses and actions.
As soon as they read “can my brothers also claim?” a visitor would think “who could I share this with? who could I reward with $1,000?”
You can imagine you’d get pretty popular pretty fast, showing people how to claim $1,000’s in free money.
Or hey, you might be a bit devious and try to ‘double up’ your $1,000 reward! Game the system!
Except… all the advertiser gets is free traffic from the shares.
You get nothing. Except ridicule, when your friends make fun of you for falling for an online scam.
10. Success Story – A quick ‘natural’ comment to prove it works! More evidence this is legit! (even though it’s completely made up). The rest of the comments follow suit.
11. Branded Credibility – Who would be so brazen as to literally rip off one of the most famous YouTubers in the world?
Surely YouTube has systems to catch this stuff out!
Surely Mr Beast has an army of lawyers!
It HAS to be legit… you just can’t get away with this anymore, with copyright strikes being handed out left, right and centre.
Reasonable thoughts… especially when someone wants it to be so real, they’d rationalise away their common sense.
12. Mr Beast Himself – Just in case you needed reminding, this is “definitely Mr. Beast’s page”… there’s his cartoon avatar and everything, just like the real thing!
13. Extended Credibility – Legitimate sponsors are sponsoring this too! Look at their logos… it almost feels like ‘too much effort’ to be a scam.
Well funny thing about scammers… they aren’t lazy.
Apart from leaning on the brand power of Mr. Beast here; there is a LOT of very savvy marketing happening here.
There are a ton of conversion elements a legitimate brand should be using.
It makes you wonder; if someone is this good at marketing – what could they accomplish if they used their skills for legitimate offers?
What Happens When You “Claim Reward”?
It’s time to hit another landing page – and now we’re getting into the underbelly.
This is hardcore CPA (Cost Per Action) affiliate marketing.
Here’s where the marketer is about to cash in.
This landing page is “what you must do to get $1,000”. Clearly stated.
Congruent with the ad and the page before.
And still mostly ‘Beast’ branded (though less obviously). I’m pretty sure that’s the logo in the background. The ears at least. I imagine the offers here are geo-targeted.
If you’re in the UK, you’ll see different offers than if you’re in the US, Canada, Australia, Dubai etc.
You simply have to click the buttons and complete the offers.
Offer Selection
This part is critical. One of the biggest factors in success with CPA and affiliate marketing is offer selection.
Great offers are easy to convert.
High conversions equal high payouts.
High payouts equal more to spend on traffic.
More traffic equals more sales.
The best advertisers and affiliate marketers in the world are typically the best at offer selection.
Many affiliates will be attracted to high dollar payouts; $30 and more.
The experienced affiliate only looks at ROI (Return On Investment).
i.e. if I spend $1 on traffic can I expect $2 back?
In this case; the payouts might only be a dollar per successful conversion. But this affiliate has incentivised people to do TWO offers.
Not one. Not three. Two.
They most likely tested one and three offers and found two generates the highest profits. Three is too much work so conversions drop.
One doesn’t make as much profit.
Two offers is the sweet spot.
Most importantly – these offers are FREE for the visitors to do!
One is downloading an internet browser. The other is entering a prize draw.
Would you download an internet browser and enter a prize draw for $1,000? Many people would…
… unless they knew the $1,000 was bullshit.
The URL Give Away…
Here’s what proves beyond doubt this whole thing is bullshit.
As though we needed anymore evidence at this point…
Offer #1 – The Browser…
If you look at the URL bar, you can see several mentions of “UTM”, which stands for “Urchin Tracking Module”, which is a snippet of code to pinpoint traffic sources.
Affiliate programs use these metrics to identify which affiliates are sending traffic, and conversions.
If you see a string of these; most likely it’s an affiliate deal.
Offer #2 – The Prize Draw…
And here you see “Aff” tags in the URL.
Aff = Affiliate.
Similar to ‘UTM’ this is another tracking device to assign traffic and conversions to a unique affiliate.
What Can We Learn From This?
This ad funnel works because it leverages a very well known and trusted brand. We do this all the time at AmpiFire i.e. leveraging the power and authority of massive brands.
The difference is; we don’t lie and pretend we’re the brand – we get the brand talking about us and our clients, and publishing our content.
Of course – that’s usually more difficult to do for most. We make it easy, but for anyone not using AmpiFire, it’s tough. These con-artists probably made good money with this ad… but before too long, it’ll be dead in the water.
Short term vs. Long-term; I choose long-term every time. I want my results to compound and stack. I’d hate having to start from scratch every time.
There are ways to use these methods for good!
