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.)

Nikita Vakhrushev

Aspekt

Helping DTC/Ecom Brands Increase Their Monthly Revenue By 30% With Email & SMS Marketing

RPMmedia.com

Helping businesses of all industries increase their profit through the use of digital marketing strategies like social media, SEO, and Google Ads.

CEO/Founder 

✅ Data Driven Email Marketer. Specializing in Email & SMS Marketing.

📈 Looking for new customers or increasing retention for existing customers? 

☎️ Let's talk! I have helped dozens of DTC/Ecom brands across multiple industries increase sales, generate leads, build their online audience and improve brand engagement all while maintaining a positive ROI (return on investment). I focus on generating your business RESULTS the most efficient way possible. Whether it's through email or SMS marketing. I manage and lead you all along the way through your email marketing journey, so I work on the campaigns and flows, while you focus on building your business.

My Unique Approach to Email & SMS Marketing

1. Turning Visitors Into Subscribers
I create and optimize email capturing popups and forms to obtain the highest subscription rate for your email and SMS marketing lists.

2. Converting Subscribers Into Customers
We design beautiful, yet highly converting, email campaigns and flows to turn your list of subscribers into actual purchasers.

3. Increasing Customer Lifetime Value
We use data to create and optimize opportunities in your email marketing services to increase repeat customer purchase rate. This allows your brand to consistently generate revenue from existing customers.

I promise to match your desire for success and together we will have a successful collaboration. If you'd like to know anything else, please feel free to let me know. 😁

Founder/CEO of ASPEKT | Creating Beautiful & Highly Converting Emails for DTC Brands | Car Enthusiast & Meme Connoisseur | ENTJ

How I operated 5 years ago is wildly different than how I operate today! 

Loved going on this pod with Cory Jackson

Your resend strategy is probably leaking sales

Resends aren’t just “send again to non-openers.”

That’s how you kill deliverability.

Here’s how to do it right:
 • Exclude people who opened or clicked in the last 1–4 hours
 • Use tight resend segments
 • Keep messaging fresh, not copy-pasted (even an updated header goes a long way)

We often resend the same day, especially during BFCM with this schedule:
- Morning: Main send.
- Afternoon: Follow-up to non-engagers.
- Evening: One more nudge.

It adds 10-20% more revenue. Every time like clockwork.

If you're still sending the same email to everyone, you’re not doing marketing, you’re just making noise.

Omnisend's lifecycle segmentation is the unlock:
• New customers → welcome & onboarding
• Loyal customers → referrals, rewards, upsells
• Champions → VIP perks & early access
• Ghosted once-buyers → we-miss-you winback flows

Brands that know where their customers are in the journey win more repeat purchases, more loyalty, and higher LTV.

And the best tool that has all that baked in is Omnisend:
 - AI-driven lifecycle stage map
 - Plug-and-play automation for every lifecycle stage
 - Integrated email & SMS follow-ups
 - Advanced analytics to track LTV per segment
- $68 ROI for every $1 spent

Marketing needs to feel personal and with Omnisend, it is!

Get 30% off your first 3 months with code BFCM-2025 (or use the link pinned in the comments)

Brand recognition isn’t just about logos. It’s the reason why customers trust you, buy from you, and pay more.

Nike, Coca-Cola, and Apple didn't win by accident. They won through consistent messaging, clear values, and high-frequency communication.

If your emails don’t match your website, your social tone, or your packaging, you’re creating confusion, not loyalty.

And if you're not sending on-brand, personalized emails & SMS? You're not top-of-mind.

That’s where Omnisend shines:
 - Email, SMS, & web push all in one place
 - Pre-built brand-friendly templates
 - 150K+ brands trust it, with a 4.8+ average rating
 - Built-in signup forms and brand storytelling tools

Build a brand that people remember, and keep coming back to.

Start strong and get 30% off your first 3 months with code BFCM-2025 (or the first link pinned in comments)

BFCM Pro Tip: Always embed your coupon code in your CTA URL.

Why?

Because if the customer clicks your email, shops, then hits checkout… they shouldn’t have to dig around to find your discount code again.

That’s friction and friction kills conversions.

We use a simple tool to create discount URLs that auto-apply at checkout.

Making the checkout process frictionless like a dishsoap slip-n-slide, which means wayyy higher conversion rates. 

Want the tool? DM me.

This Kills BFCM Emails Before They Even Get Opened

Subject lines make or break your Black Friday emails.

Follow these quick rules for best results:
 • Keep them under 45 characters (optimize for mobile view)
 • Ditch all-caps + exclamation points (spam triggers)
 • Use first name personalization
 • Try “Re:” style or benefit-led copy

Examples that crush:
 → “Early access, John: your cart is waiting”
 → “We didn’t do 50% off. Here’s why.”
 → “Don’t refresh. Prices are already dropping.”

If your subject line flops, doesn’t matter how good the design is.

My main life mantra: How you do one thing is how you do everything!

taplio

The Battle

Brian Schmitt

Nikita Vakhrushev

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taplio

The Battle

Brian Schmitt

Nikita Vakhrushev

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Brian Schmitt's LinkedIn Performance

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Performance ScoreBrian Schmitt's LinkedIn Performance