Marketing
In 2026, the best e-com brands make every step of their funnel feel more like a game and less like a transaction.
Gamification isn't new. What's new is that the best brands now push it everywhere: in ads, in emails, right through to the confirmation page. Every interaction becomes a little game. That's what we call gamified friction.
We'll show you how to do the same, stage by stage 👇
1️⃣ Make visitors play before you pitch
Grüns: $300M of revenue in 24 months
In just two years, Grüns built an empire that sold for $1.2B. The secret: vitamin-packed gummies paired with a whole stack of clever marketing plays.
Someone clicks your ad and lands on your site. The problem is that their attention has already dropped. They've just left a dopamine feed (cat videos, shocking headlines…) and hit a product page piled high with sales arguments. Grüns adds a friction instead: a game.
Right at the bottom of the funnel, its paid traffic lands on a page called Flip to Win. You flip a card, you win three free gifts, then you reach the product page with the offer already applied. That's it.
💡 How to steal this for your brand?
- Put the game between the ad and the product page, so the visitor earns the offer instead of just reading it.
- Why a game rather than a discount? A discount suggests your base price was inflated. A free gift feels like you got lucky and rides the buzz of the moment.
2️⃣ Send emails that don't look like emails
Willie's Remedy+: +400K bottles sold in the first year
In its first year (2025), Willie Nelson's Remedy+ sold 400K+ bottles and became the #1 THC drink online, the kind of debut most founders spend a decade chasing.
Its best email looks like an incoming phone call that you answer without giving it much thought. The creative plays on that reflex and makes the customer act right in the inbox, instead of clicking through to a landing page.
💡 How to steal this for your brand?
- Disguise the ask as an everyday gesture (a call, a text, a notification), so people respond on reflex.
- Your creative and your product need to be a perfect match. Here, the weekend calls for a Willie's, and the message lands just right.
3️⃣ Double retention with a better UX
Buoy: 25K+ subscribers, 30X growth in the last 14 months
Buoy makes flavourless liquid electrolyte drops you can add to any drink, and makes almost all its revenue through subscriptions.
Most brands try to stop cancellations by making them annoying. Hidden buttons, exit surveys, retention calls. Buoy did the opposite, cutting cancellations by 52%.
Its billing reminder email lets customers skip, delay and downgrade in one click. Without the friction of logging into their account.
💡 How to steal this for your brand?
- Turn your cancel flow into a menu (skip, delay, downgrade), playable in one click from the email, with no login.
- Most subscribers don't cancel because they've fallen out of love with the product. They cancel because cancelling was the only option on the table. Give them an easier option, like skipping a month, and many will take it.
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This newsletter is brought to you by Bigblue, Europe’s #1 3PL. We’re at the heart of operations for 600+ brands, which lets us spot the best e-com trends out there. Every two weeks, we break one down for you.
I’m Evan. Before Bigblue, I built DOSE TUE: 244M organic views, 300K+ cans sold, 3K+ supermarkets, zero ad spend, all in one year. Now I break down what other great brands do so you can steal it, too.
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