🍀 OG Funnel Hacking

X 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 funnel hack our little hearts out! Innersense Organic Beauty, you’re up… 

Let me start by saying, I have NEVER been an ingredients person (as evidenced by my love of Creamy Chicken Top Ramen). ESPECIALLY FOR MY BEAUTY PRODUCTS. I, quite frankly, am too vain. Gimme the chemicals!! Just fix my split-ends. 🧙‍♀️

Except we went to Whole Foods last week and I decided to look at Credo’s website on the drive home (passenger princess 👸). I think Whole Foods inspired an ingredients-focus in me. Not to an intense level, but it inspired me to look at Credo. Because I think of Credo as the ingredient-safe-zone for beauty. 

So, I browsed. And, whenever I’m browsing in unfamiliar territory, I HUNT FOR THE BESTSELLERS COLLECTION and the BESTSELLING BRANDS. Because I trust the Credo-die-hards more than I trust myself to sort through hundreds of brands that are unfamiliar to me. 

Luckily, among the bestselling brands, there were a few that were familiar to me. 

OSEA, which is my obsession and a brand I have shopped extensively since 2023. Never via Credo (I always shopped OSEA directly), but I felt comfort in seeing them here. 🌊

Westman Atelier, who’s contour stick I purchased in person at Sephora this spring, was a sight for sore eyes. I, to be honest, had NO IDEA that Westman Atelier was considered “clean’. That’s not why I bought it back then, but that was pleasant to find out. Look at me, all healthy already. 😇

I also saw ILIA, a brand I’ve never purchased but have seen on Sephora for years. So, again, familiar faces. Interestingly, Credo spells Ilia’s name, Ilia. But Sephora spells them as ILIA. Which is it??

But, I digress. I go further down my bestsellers exploration, and I hit this page: https://credobeauty.com/collections/bestsellers

It’s really easy to navigate to on mobile. It’s the 1st item at the top of the hamburger nav, and the link above is the SHOP ALL. 

So, I do just that – I SHOP ALL. I didn’t click into any of the brands under the BESTSELLING BRANDS. I just wanted to see who was here, in clean-beauty-land. 

I start going down the BESTSELLERS SHOP ALL. This image below is the banner that sits atop the page, with a short, helpful 2 sentence description beneath it. I’m feeling comforted by seeing my OSEA there. I have that exact oil from the brand, so I trust these Credo shoppers more and more (that’s my favorite OSEA product, too). 

As I scroll beneath the banner, nothing really starts to catch my eye. Sure, I see the Tower 28 mascara, which I’ve always been curious about. But I don’t click in, because I bought a new mascara from the Chanel beauty counter in Saks a few weeks ago in Boston (the ingredients on that mascara probably lean towards Top Ramen but I’m going to use it up, thank you).

AND SO, I SCROLL. I get past the 1st page of the BESTSELLERS SHOP ALL with nothing in my cart. But, I get more and more invested. (I’m already 5 minutes in at this point and that’s a lot of time on site). 

On page 2, I see that Westman Atelier contour stick I was telling you about (the 1 I own already from Sephora). Comforted. 

Then, a few rows below it on page 2, I see this: 

INNERSENSE ORGANIC BEAUTY

Hydrating Cream Conditioner 

with 323 Reviews!!!!! And, a brand with the word ORGANIC in the name. That certainly helps on the old ingredient quest. 

I’ve been paying attention to the review count this entire time. And, if you see above in this screenshot, this new-to-me Conditioner brand has more reviews than an Ilia/ILIA product that is pictured right above it. 

So, in my mind, if this new-to-me brand can pull fandom in more than Ilia/ILIA (I’m making fun of the spelling here but I know it’s actually spelled ILIA because I checked their IG. So, ILIA, please reach out to Credo and ask them to correct your name in their nav, thank you!) then we have the 1st product I’m clicking into on the Credo site.

I click into the PDP, and immediately this product isn’t right for me. It’s for thick hair, which I do not possess. But, I’m not quitting. The brand has the word ORGANIC in the name. This is HEALTH. 

I then do something a little crazy. 

I leave the Credo site, and search ‘innersense organic’ on google chrome from my phone. What is this brand? I go find out. 

Upon my search, we see that Credo is bidding on the name in a big way and is 1st hit. I’m not about to click that link, I just left Credo as you know. I’m looking for THE BRAND.

Then, 2nd hit is the brand’s sponsored ad. I would NEVER click that. I like this brand, that I’ve known about for 7 minutes now. I never, ever, click the Google Ad of a brand I like. So, I scroll further. Below the fold, and below ULTA’s Google Ad, we find the brand’s website. 

I land on the site. It’s not the best UX/UI of my life, I won’t lie to you. The homepage hero scrolls too quickly, the font is hard for me to read!!!!!!!, and I’m immediately sure I’m going to purchase on Credo and NOT ON THE DTC. Which, I know sounds harsh.

But, in my exploration, I’m starting to like the brand more and more. I hit the Bestsellers page within Innersense’s site – and product after product has HUNDREDS of reviews. That’s really impressive, and I’m getting more sold by the minute. 

I navigate to the ingredients page, quickly. But I don’t actually read it through because the brand is already named ORGANIC. If it’s organic, that’s fine by me. Remember, I’m newly mindful here. 

And, before you know it, I’m back on Credo’s site. Ready to revamp my entire hair routine. I wish I was kidding. 

We’re on Credo’s site again. I still had the PDP pulled up on a browser of my phone (the PDP for that thick-hair conditioner). I click into the brand’s name straight from the PDP, and it leads me to their brand-specific page within Credo. This is the page I could have navigated towards at the very beginning, because Innersense Organic Beauty is a BESTSELLING BRAND at Credo, remember? It’s on that list next to OSEA and Westman Atelier. But, at that juncture, I wasn’t ready.

Now, I sooooooo am. And, within their brand-specific page, I find my 1st product. It’s listed as the #1 item on the brand’s page as a bestseller. This hair mask.

I won’t lie to you. I immediately added that product to my cart. I didn’t read the reviews (there were almost a hundred). I just decided I trusted that hair mask was the best, because it was #1 and because I have a hair mask I use (this 1 from Philip Kingsley), but I know that the mask I use isn’t organic and this is. And, that’s enough for me.

IN THE CART IT GOES! I won’t bore you with the rest, but here’s how it ends:

I end up buying ALL OF THESE ITEMS FROM CREDO THAT DAY, WHILE IN THE CAR:

1. The Hair Mask 

2. Which lead me to the Heat Protectant (the 1 I used prior always gave my hair a weird smell so this was a no-brainer once I stumbled upon Innersense’s version (because the 1 I use is also a huge chemical-laden 1 as evidenced by the way my hair smells after 😱).

3. and 4. I ended up getting the conditioner that is for thick hair – BECAUSE IT CAME IN A MINI SIZE. I know, I know, it’s not meant for my hair type. But, I wasn’t ready to buy a full-size shampoo and conditioner from the brand, seeing as I only found out about the brand within 15 minutes of this purchase. So, I got mini’s of the Hairbath (shampoo) and the conditioner. 

AND, IT’S NOT OVER. This was almost 2 weeks ago. The products have arrived, and I AM SO HAPPY WITH MY PURCHASES.

Credo is now on their 20% off sale. I’ve been eye-ing it all weekend, and I’m going to get a full size of the shampoo, I’m going to try their hairspray, and I’m going to switch and get a full size of this conditioner from the brand. 

I don’t need to stock up on the Hair Mask or Heat Protectant because both were full sized when I bought them and they’ll last me for many months. 

I think a brand like this (Innersense Organic Beauty) is so exciting to funnel hack because I only just today looked at their Instagram for the 1st time. Only 1 person I follow follows the brand, and Credo (who I follow) follows the brand. That’s IT. Yes, they have 237,000 followers, but that’s not social proof to me because only 2 accounts I follow follow them, so it’s still random.

The proof came from their popularity on Credo.

Credo’s authority came from the years of exposure I’ve had to the brand, and their singular, repetitive, brand message about clean ingredients. I’ve been in to their Newbury Street store, but over a year ago. I didn’t purchase anything in store. I was browsing. 

I’ve been on Credo’s website before, yes, but THIS WAS MY 1ST PURCHASE EVER FROM CREDO. 

And now, because of Innersense Organic Beauty, a brand I just found out about, I’m going to shop AGAIN and place my 2nd order in 2 weeks from Credo. Repeat purchaser within the first 30 days, add me to that list, Credo!! 

All of this was jogged not by a paid ad that I was served. Not by a friend. It was started by me going to Whole Foods, which is a brand that in my mind, I tie to Credo. Whole Foods = ingredients. It got me thinking of the ingredients I put on my skin and hair. It got me to remember Credo. 

Whole Foods x Credo x OSEA x Westman Atelier x Ilia/ILIA x Innersense Organic Beauty. 

Who woulda thought?