surefoot.me

We are proud of the long-term partnerships we have with brands like Peak Design, Hydro Flask, Brooklinen, OXO, Made In Cookware and more.

We strive to create a culture where superior service is our primary sales strategy, clients and co-workers are friends and hard work is balanced with play.

Our core tenets:

- Partner with brands and companies we believe in, who give more than they take, whether that’s in the way of charitable giving, happiness or health.

- Win with integrity and put people over profit in a world that often forgets how to do those things.

- Refuse to waiver on doing what is best for our clients, even if it means less upside for us.

- Only do what we can do well, providing strategic AB testing and personalization services, and partnering with others when we veer outside the realm of our core competencies.

- Be happy. As they say, life is too short to be anything else.

If our philosophy resonates, please give me a shout at brian@surefoot.me

CEO & co-founder

CROmetrics

As employee #1, I helped grow the company to $3.5MM in annual recurring revenue and wore many hats, handling everything from client management to data analysis, QA and process implementation for clients like Facebook, 99designs, Trulia, General Assembly, Weight Watchers and more. 

As the company grew from two people to 25, I was promoted to Director of Operations, where I led various initiatives, including implementation of back-end systems and automation that facilitated internal efficiency and client success.

Director Of Operations

Test My Marketing

This was the second company I co-founded, which I spun out of a 3-day startup event, even winning a MSN influential new business contest. True story. I’m still surprised the domain name was available. 

We offered an affordable copywriting solution to help businesses craft crisp, actionable and compelling messages before publishing to their audiences. As co-founder, I led all internal operations and marketing and managed a community of freelance marketers.

Co-Founder

Rockbridge Seminary

Directed technology, online and traditional marketing, and finance.

Vice President of Operations

Director of Operations

Operations Manager

Watch Dog Time

This was my first foray into the world of business ownership, an online luxury watch repair business. If you had a broken Rolex, Tag Heuer or Breitling, I had a fix for it.

• directed all matters of finance, marketing, and daily operations 
• handled all customer service inquiries, ensuring timely responses (see what I did there?) 
• bootstrapped company and reached profitability and positive cash flow within 5 months of launch

President & Co-founder

Justice Jewelers

In this role, I found diamonds in the rough (literally and figuratively), as I was responsible for directing the buying team, small diamond buying and jewelry appraising. This is where I got my first taste of the World Wide Web (as it was referred to then), as I  managed our company websites and the Inventory Management System. 

• responsible for planned merchandise spend of $6MM annually
• directed outsourced marketing activities with ad agency
• designed and implemented a system to control purchasing budgets 
• designed and implemented a website for sale of slow moving inventory, which led to increased profitability and faster turn
• designed and implemented a purchasing process to increase inventory turn; turn exceeded industry average by 186%
• earned Graduate Gemology degree from the G.I.A.

Buying Team Manager/Marketing Coordinator/Merchandiser

Growing ecommerce businesses through CRO, UX research, and data analytics.

We're a conversion rate optimization agency for eCommerce brands looking to grow to the next level, but know they need to a better job converting traffic. 

We talk to your potential customers, find out why they're not buying, and fix those issues through a/b testing, personalization, and data-informed UX/UI design.

We help you grow by leveraging: 
-> Full-website conversion optimization
-> Landing page optimization
-> Personalization and segmentation
-> Conversion-focused web design
-> User experience research
-> Website analytics and reporting

We’ve worked with brands you know, like JensonUSA, Osprey, PENN Fishing, and The Shade Store. We’re also fired up about helping growing brands reach the next level. Some brands we've helped make this jump include Hydro Flask, Made In, Mizzen and Main, and Peak Design.

Brian Schmitt

The CRO industry is full of 25-year-olds teaching "masterclasses" after running 10 tests.

I've been doing this since 2001. And honestly, almost all of what I see from newer operators today is straight trash.

Can someone be good at CRO in two years? 

"Good" is a loose term. Can someone do it? For sure.

But if you're coming in fresh at 25 with no business experience, you're not going to be proficient.

You'll end up copycatting wins you see posted online with no strategic thought and zero customer empathy.

I've stepped in for clients after they left younger agencies. Their biggest complaint is always:

"Our tests would win, but we wouldn't see revenue translate."

When I examine their "winning" tests, I find they hit significance in 3-4 days when the sample size wasn't big enough, creating false positives everywhere.

We've found "losses" that were actually wins when re-run correctly and "wins" that were flat or actual losses.

Real experience teaches principles, not tactics.

CEO at Surefoot.me | Driving ecom growth w/ CRO, Analytics, UX Research, and Site Design

The most expensive mistake $10M+ ecommerce brands make:

They spend millions on traffic.
But 98% of those visitors leave without buying.

CRO is the lever they ignore.

Acquisition builds reach.
Optimization builds revenue.

Without CRO, your ad budget is a leaky bucket.

Recent wins from Surefoot clients:

 • Free Shipping Threshold → +$516K annual revenue
 • Centaur LP → +8.3% cart adds
 • Category Clarity in the Nav → +$149K annual lift

Different brands. 

Same pattern:
Disciplined experimentation beats design trends.

The most expensive phrase in eCommerce?

“We want to redesign the website.”

Full redesigns do not deliver the ROI you think it will, and it is almost always a waste of time and resources that brands could be putting towards what ACTUALLY drives a substantial impact: 

→ Removing friction where it counts
→ Fixing leaks in the customer journey
→ Tapping into buying psychology
→ Running smart, strategic A/B tests

Chasing shiny new designs is looking for gold at the end of the rainbow. 

Double down on what works and optimize the rest.

Most people think CRO is about button colors and call-to-actions.
It’s not.

It’s about truth.

When we run a test, we’re asking:
“What actually drives buying behavior, not what we think drives it?”

Sometimes that truth hurts.
It shows your $82k redesign was vanity.
It proves your CEO’s favorite headline does nothing.
It humbles teams who “knew” their customer.

But that’s why it works.

CRO turns “we believe” into “we know.”

And once you operate from truth, every other part of your business compounds faster.

When a brand tells me “it should be working,” I know we’re about to find revenue.

“Our PDP should convert better.”
“Our new landing page should outperform the old one.”
“Our loyalty program should increase retention.”

The problem?
None of those sentences include proof.

We’ve run over 9,000 tests across ecommerce brands.
Roughly half the time, the “better” version loses.

That’s not failure.
That’s the tuition you pay for certainty.

You can either spend millions building what should work…
Or a fraction testing what actually does.

If everyone follows “best practices,” who’s left to stand out?


So many CRO audits start with the same sentence:


“We follow best practices.”


And that’s usually the problem.


Because “best practices” mean “what everyone else already tried.”
They’re safe. Predictable. Easy to copy.


But optimization isn’t about copying. It’s about discovery.


Your audience, product, and price point are unique.
Your winning version probably breaks at least five “rules.”


If your pages look like your competitors’, you’re fighting for scraps.


CRO is how you break away, safely.
You earn permission to zig while they all zag.

How's it going today? 

Feeling the anticipation or feeling the heartburn?

Every brand has one assumption about its customers that has never been tested.

What’s yours?
(Serious question.)

Nick Shackelford

BRĒZ

Partner - Head of Retention and Subscription

Structured

Co-Founder - CRO

Commerce Roundtable

I lead the content development and speaker procurement process that allows for the highest quality conversations to be had in an e-commerce centered live event space. From in-person to digital, the focus on content will always remain the most valuable thing we can provide.

Partner - Content and Education Lead

Konstant Kreative

Top 1% of performance focused ad designers and editors from around the world.

Lucyd Media

Partner

GeekOut Events

Geek Out Education is all the elements of events we love combined into one. 
Our only rules, No ego and don't be a jerk.

We speak with each attendee, we hand select the teachers and we work hard to create environments that produce conversation, debate, and ultimately future business growth. We are paid media experts across multiple channels, multiple industries, and

Triple Whale 🐳

Marketing Advisor

Motion (Creative Analytics)

Angel

PostPilot

MarketerHire

Drinkbrez.com Structured.agency Konstantkreative.com Wearelucyd.com

Proven Track Record of Scaling Social Focused Campaigns consistently past 8-figures through Programmatic buying, Influencers, E-mail and Adwords. 

Learning and growing businesses in this ever changing age of customer acquisition.

Knowing that I had more to offer, I applied that same drive to work with established brands as well as brands looking to make that pro jump. 

Let's Connect at 

nick@structured.agency

Did anyone in NY get a chance to see our can? 

Shoot me a few photos if so!

Drinkbrez.com Structured.agency Konstantkreative.com

No alternative text description for this image

San Diego, a few weeks back. I’m hosting a fireside with Gary Vee.

I do the grown-up operator thing. Prepare a doc, talk track, & run of show. Send it to his team. Boxes checked. Timers set. We’re tight.

Morning of, Gary walks in. I hand him the docs. He smiles, “I’m not going to look at it. I’m just going to do my thing.”

I give him the quick brief of who’s in the room, where they’re at, what’s heavy right now. Five minutes later it’s the full Gary show. At one point I just step off stage and let him cook. People loved it. Voted best talk of the week.

Lesson #1: You don’t interview a hurricane. You point where the water should go and get out of their way.

He tells us he has a hard out. Then he pushes past it. Then he takes a swarm of questions. More hands shoot up and, boom, “I’m out,” and he’s gone. Perfect timing.

Lesson #2: Gary on stage is Gary off stage. Same on camera, same off. Consistency = credibility.

Appreciate you, @garyvee. Absolute legend

If you're just starting out in ecom right now / or doing it solo... I’m not gonna lie to you,  it's not easy and it’s gotten harder in a lot of areas.

Yeah the complicated tactics are one thing, but the main thing is you have no relationships, no partnerships, no mentors giving you feedback.

You're just listening to everybody chatting sh-t on the internet.
 
Where do you even go? 
Who do you follow? 
What do you listen to?

Who's going to spend time with you without charging you money you don't have?

Yeah, there are tools now - to find mentors and stuff while you hit people up on different channels. But getting somebody invested enough in you takes money and time from that person.

People will overcomplicate this because at the beginning, you actually have nothing.

Just simplify it as easily as possible before you start listening and consuming all this type of content

Or you're just going to fall into analysis paralysis and have a lot of conflicting information flooding into your workday.

That's where you're going to get stuck.

Being Brand Side AND Agency 
Here's How I Recommend going about getting what you want from the agency.... (too a degree)

Same story every time.

If your agency is doing 3+ of these 5 red flags, it's time to have a conversation: 

1. Weekly Reporting Theater

They make you wait for a weekly call to get updates. You can't access data ongoing.

Worse - they use the same cookie-cutter template for every brand regardless of what stage you're at or what you're trying to accomplish.

If the report isn't bespoke to what YOU'RE trying to do right now, they're not paying attention.

2. One-Hour Franken-Meetings

They combine creative strategy conversations and business updates in the same 60-minute call.

This is disrespectful.

Strategy sessions need inspiration and space to think. Updates need focus and clarity.

Grouping them together means neither gets the attention it deserves.

3. Yearly Contracts With No Outs

They lock you into 12 months with no quarterly opt-outs.

Three months is enough time to do real damage (in a good way). If they're not delivering in 90 days, why would the next 9 months be different?

Shit changes. Clients change. Teams change.

4. The Bait and Switch

The person who closed you never touches your account again.

You DON'T want the closer working on your account at all.

You want them to identify what your business needs, match you with specialists, then get out of the way.

But if they disappear completely and you never hear from leadership? Red flag.

5. No Clear Owner

You're dealing with 5 different people and none of them own your success.

Someone needs to own your account end-to-end. Not just execute tasks, but actually give a shit about whether you win.

If nobody's accountable, nobody cares.

Brands spend $10K-50K/month with agencies that check these boxes.

Stop paying for theater. Start demanding results.

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The Battle

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