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Happy Sunday! If you’re reading this email, I hope you’re sitting comfortably (whether you’re on a couch or at a desk), you’ve got a beverage to sip on, and you have your gold pan nearby because we’re going to find some golden nuggets in today’s newsletter. Last week, I put on a conference, the Q4 Summit, in New York City. We rented out Terminal 5 (one of the greatest music venues). We invited speakers from the best brands (HexClad, Jolie, PetMeds, Shopify, TripleWhale, True Classic, OpenStore, Loverboy, Snapchat, etc) in our space to come and talk about Q4. I took a whole week to gather all the best insights from the event. We also had 500+ incredible founders and operators in the room, including attendees who each run 7, 8, and 9-figure brands. The power and energy in the room… you could feel it! Everyone was hungry to learn and find one more golden nugget for Q4. We had over 7 hours of content and conversations during the day. If you want to watch the full live stream, here is part 1 and part 2. Today’s newsletter is over 16 pages long and has over 100+ unique insights from our speakers. Alright, are you ready to make some $$$ in Q4? Here’s 100+ insights to help. From Harley Finkelstein, The President of Shopify: I started the day with a fireside chat with Harley Finkelstein, the President of Shopify. As everyone knows, Harley is a legend in DTC. Alongside Tobi and the team at Shopify, his life’s work has literally enabled us all to do what we do. To start the conversation, Harley mentioned that Shopify recently surveyed 18,000 consumers to identify key trends in commerce today. This data had never been shared before this talk, so I’m sharing it all with you now. Here’s what the Shopify team found: On Demographics and Spending: 1. GenZ dominates DTC: According to Shopify, the 18 to 24-year-old age group is the most digitally native cohort and the most likely to increase their spending via DTC this year and over the next several years. As their purchasing power increases, they will spend more of their dollars on the internet than in-store. 2. 35-44-year-olds can become lifelong customers: Harley said that 85% of shoppers aged 35-44 have strong, established preferences for the products and brands they know, like, and trust. This group stops experimenting with new products and tends to become loyal, repeat purchasers if you have sold to them before during this stage. If you can build brand loyalty at this age, they will likely become lifelong customers. Add that to your calculation of LTV! On Holiday Shopping Behavior: 3. 60% of US Shoppers prefer buying smaller items online but consider larger purchases in-store. For anything over $1K, people still like to visit a retail store before deciding to buy. 4. Priority Product Categories: For Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM), the top categories on Shopify are:
5. Loyalty Drivers: The main drivers for consumer loyalty are:
On Early Holiday Shopping: 6. 55% of young US shoppers finish their holiday shopping by the end of November. Historically, holiday shopping would continue until around December 18th, but this has shifted to an earlier end date. 7. One in five shoppers start planning their holiday shopping lists before the end of June. This means you can tease Q4 promos earlier to get a slice of that mindshare much earlier than you think. 8. On E-commerce Penetration:
Harley said we are still so early here. As more people come online and grow up digitally native to the internet and DTC, he only expects this channel to grow. He said we aren’t even on the field yet; we’re still in the locker room getting dressed to head out to the big game! As far as tactical Insights, Harley said: 9. Use Shopify Audiences: Shopify has data from over a trillion dollars in online spending, which you can use to supercharge your ads across Meta, Google, Pinterest, and more. This is a no-brainer for brands, and you can learn more about it here. 10. Embrace novelty: For Q4 and BFCM, brands should embrace novelty by launching new offers, variants, colors, bundle names, partnerships, and co-branded products. You need to give prospects something new to get excited about on top of your sales. 11. Stay in Founder Mode: Founder Mode is an essay by Paul Graham that recently went viral. In it, Paul encourages founders to stay deep into the details so they have a pulse on everything that is going on. This is in direct contrast to “manager mode,” where the founder isn’t as close to the fire and allows managers to handle issues on their behalf. Shopify has always been in founder mode, and you should be too. 12. Collaborate with the community: Harley pointed out something critical to everyone in the audience. Everything you need to unlock the next level of scale is in this room. If you are struggling to grow or need advice, reach out to the DTC community. You are always one cold email or text away. I have always believed that kind collaboration, not cut-throat competition, is how we all grow together. 13. Avoid blanket discounting for BFCM: 20% off your entire site is less attractive than a new product, variant, colorway, or exclusive bundle or free gift with purchase. Harley recommends focusing on discounts for specific products rather than offering blanket discounts across the board, which can diminish brand value and reduce overall net margins. 14: Take an omnichannel approach: Retail is still a great sales channel for brands. It shouldn’t be DTC vs retail. The best brands utilize both. 15: Do Things That Don't Scale: Small brands should do things that large companies can't, like sending personalized notes or small gifts to customers. No big brand will do this. This is your competitive edge.
TALK #2 Crafting the Winning Holiday Funnel (Ari Murray & Carly Lieberman) Next up, we had Carly and Ari from the Sharma Brands team teach us all about how to craft a winning holiday funnel. Here’s a bunch of the best nuggets that they shared. 16. Start with the End in Mind: When planning a holiday funnel, begin with the end destination in mind, which is the landing page or collections page. The final step (from add-to-cart to purchase) should be the easiest for the customer, so test and optimize this final destination first. 17. Create Seasonal Landing Pages: Brands should create holiday-themed landing pages for Q4. They can incorporate elements like snow or festive visuals to signal seasonality. Make it agnostic and appealing to everyone. 18. Test into Offers & Use Data to Decide: Always use data to decide on offers, and then stick to the one that performs best. Don’t reinvent the wheel; focus on reinforcing the chosen offer that’s performing the best based on the metrics that are most important to you (i.e net contribution margin or profitable ROAS on your spend) On Ad Creative and Iteration 19. Maintain Evergreen Ads: Do not turn off evergreen ads that perform well during the holiday season. Instead, add holiday-specific ads on top of your existing evergreen campaigns. 20. Try Dark Mode Ads: For your top-performing variants, implement a "dark mode" version to stand out visually within your media mix. 21. Omni-Channel Destination Links: Direct ads to various destinations like the holiday shop, homepage, collections page, and specific product detail pages (PDPs). Each destination serves different customer preferences. Measure the performance and scale up spend to the destinations that are performing best. On Campaign Optimization 22. Avoid Daily Deals: Instead of changing daily deals during promotions, use a consistent offer that can gather social proof and build momentum throughout the holiday campaign period. 23. Use GWP’s (Gifts With Purchase): Try a gift with purchase strategy during the holiday season. Keep it as a surprise to allow dynamic inventory management and continuous ad running. 24. Use Holiday Shop Animations: Utilize simple animations (e.g., snowfall) on landing pages to evoke a more playful and fun holiday vibe. 25. Use Social Proof in Ads: Always, always, always incorporate social proof, reviews, and product statistics into ads and landing pages wherever you can.
TALK #3 Then we had lessons from Ezra Firestone’s Media Buying Masterwork These are all of the best insights that Ezra shared: On High-Level Q4 Strategy 26. Start Early: Run your first sale on October 9th and 10th, aligning with Amazon’s Prime Day sales dates. Open your Black Friday sale two weeks early (this year, November 8th) to get ahead in customers' inboxes before the chaos of actual Black Friday emails. 27. Peak Days: Identify key sales days: Prime Day, early Black Friday, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Green Monday (December 11th), and New Year's Eve. On these peak days, increase your marketing efforts: send three emails, two SMS messages, and double ad spend. 28. Merchandising: Emphasize the importance of the incentive (i.e why buy), the deadline (i.e urgency), and ownership benefit (i.e communicate the benefits of owning the product). Your merchandising should include threshold-based discounts, gift-with-purchase offers, bundles, and kits to increase the average order value. 29. Mobile Optimization: Ensure all sales pages are optimized for mobile since 60% browse and purchase from mobile. Use a clear, easy-to-navigate layout here. On Execution Steps 30. Warm Up Audiences: In October (outside of Prime Day), allocate 10% of your marketing budget to run video view campaigns on TikTok, Facebook, and YouTube. These should focus on content ownership benefits to attract and engage new prospects. 31. Create an Early Bird List: During the first week of November, run lead generation campaigns to collect email addresses for an early bird list. Use ads, emails, organic social posts, and SMS to drive people to an opt-in page. This creates anticipation and results in 50% of sales coming from this list. 32. Prepare Your Sales Page: Build a holiday interstitial page with:
33. Retargeting: Focus heavily on retargeting customers who visited your holiday page but didn’t purchase. These folks are most likely to convert. 34. Social Media Shops: Set up shops on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. Mimic your holiday promotions across these shops to capture additional revenue. 35. Utilize Live Shopping: Host weekly Facebook Live, Instagram Live, and TikTok Live events during Q4, offering exclusive discounts to participants. Amplify these organic posts to reach more potential customers at a lower cost than traditional conversion campaigns. 36. Countdown to New Year’s Sale: After Christmas, run a “Countdown to New Year’s” sale, replicating your Black Friday/Cyber Monday promotions to capture additional revenue when customers are less busy and more likely to shop. On Upselling and Increasing Average Order Value 37. Upsells on Product Pages: Include upsell or cross-sell offers directly on product pages to increase average order value. Test different variants and pre-select higher-priced items to encourage customers to buy more. 38. Two-Click Buyer Flow: Implement a follow-up flow for buyers, offering them a larger discount to make a second purchase within seven days of their initial order. This strategy can increase revenue by up to 10%. 39. Focus on the Long-Term: Q4 is a five to ten-year game. Concentrate on setting yourself up for what happens in your business next year, the year after, and beyond. 40. Enjoy the Process: Show up daily with a positive attitude. Success is about consistency, enjoyment, and the quality of your products and interactions with customers.
TALK #4, Unlocking Your Best Holiday Performance with AI. (Bryan Cano & Logan Brown) Then we had Bryan Cano from True Classic and Logan from TripleWhale teach us about AI. Here are the best nuggets from their panel: On Leveraging AI in E-commerce 41. Use AI for Asset Creation: To create landing pages, ad creatives, and other content to streamline media production. 42. Use AI For Operational Support: Brands should implement AI for operations such as building Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) and standardizing processes to increase team efficiency. 43. Use AI For Scenario Planning: You can also use AI as a "personal board member" for scenario planning and strategy building. Ask AI to break down your strategy, predict potential failures, and assist in refining your approach. 44. Use AI for Data Analysis: You can utilize AI tools (like Moby from Triple Whale) to analyze complex data, such as inventory levels, sell-through rates, and customer lifetime value. AI can quickly identify trends and offer insights without needing software or SQL expertise. 45. Use AI To Analyze Customer Reviews: Download customer reviews from your website or Amazon and use AI to identify key messaging angles. Enhance this copy by instructing AI to rewrite it in different styles, such as using "Apple power words." 46. Use AI To Understand Product Profitability: You can use AI (Like Moby From TripleWhale) to assess revenue, order quantity, Average Order Value, and Lifetime Value per product. You can identify which products, despite having a lower Return on Ad Spend, yield higher LTV to maximize profitability in the long run. 47. Use AI to Help Understand LTV by Ad Analysis: Brands can also use AI to break down customer lifetime value by ad to determine which messages set the best customer expectations and encourage repeat purchases. Focus on ads that result in long-term customer loyalty and LTV. 48. Use AI To Do a Q4 2023 Retrospective: Review your Q4 2023 performance data to identify what worked before that you can replicate this year. You can create specific dashboards to evaluate historical performance and guide your 2024 Q4 planning. 49. Keep Profitability The Main Focus: Keep a close eye on contribution margins during Q4 sales. Know the margins of your products, including discounts and free shipping, to ensure you don’t sacrifice profitability while driving revenue.
TALK #5 Then I Was Joined By Ryan Babenzien From Jolie, Aaron Nosbisch From BREZ, and Stuart Leitch from Skin Fix to talk about Marketing Outside of Meta These were some of my favorite insights they discussed: 50. Focus on Quality over Quantity: While the quantity of content is important, especially on platforms like TikTok, ensure that the quality of your content is "good enough" to maintain brand standards. That said, avoid over-polishing your brand's content. Raw still performs best. 51. Use TV Advertising: More brands should use TV advertising (both streaming and linear) as a top-of-funnel marketing channel. TV and CTV both have incredibly competitive CPMs right now. Use them. 52. Use TikTok Shop: TikTok Shop offers a massive opportunity right now if leveraged correctly. Consistency is key; send products to affiliates regularly and amplify their content with ads. 53. Seed Product to Native Creators: Jolie has scaled by getting their products into the hands of thousands of influencers and everyday users to create new content, reviews, and testimonials. It’s the ultimate word-of-mouth marketing. 54. Have a Retail Presence: Don’t overlook traditional retail channels. A presence in physical stores can boost brand awareness and drive sales from the halo effect of your online ads. 55. Reward Loyal Customers: Instead of spending heavily on acquiring new customers during competitive periods like Q4, focus on rewarding existing loyal customers to ensure their continued support. 56. Be Profitable Early: The name of the game is to become profitable as early as possible. If you aren’t profitable during BFCM, something is wrong. 57. Avoid Blanket Discounting: Avoid using discounts as the primary means of customer acquisition. Consider building a business model that doesn’t rely on discounting to attract customers. This is what Jolie does. They have never discounted once, and it’s helped them build a wildly successful, premium brand.
TALK #6 Then we were joined by Dylan Ander, CEO of Heatmap.com, to discuss Contrarian CRO Hacks For BFCM. These were the best insights to take: On Website Optimization for Black Friday and Cyber Monday 58. Prioritize Website and Offers: Allocate at least 20% of your Black Friday/Cyber Monday preparation time to website optimization and 20% to offers. Your website is where conversions happen, so it's crucial to invest time in refining it. 59. Focus on Selling Products, Not Just Discounts: Emphasize the value of your products rather than focusing solely on discounts. Remember that even during sales, you are still selling products, not just deals. BFCM Website Hacks 60. Highlight Products in Promotions: On your homepage, showcase the product first and mention discounts subtly, ensuring that the main focus is on what you are selling. 61. Rename Shipping Options: Rename your shipping options to "Black Friday Rush" in your Shopify settings to create a sense of urgency. 62. Use Clickable Announcement Bars: Ensure your website's announcement bar includes a clickable link to the sale or featured products to increase conversion. 63. Name Discounts in Product Titles: Include discounts directly in the product title (e.g., “30% off”) to reduce scrolling and make the discount immediately visible. 64. Do a Year-Round Black Friday Upsell: Consider keeping a successful Black Friday post-purchase upsell running year-round if it’s profitable. 65. Duplicate Collection Pages: Create a duplicate of your collection page for BFCM traffic and title it specifically for the sale (e.g., “Black Friday Deal”). 66. Use "Fast and Free Shipping" During BFCM, use the term "Fast and Free Shipping" to increase appeal, as this has been found to be more attractive than simply "Free Shipping."
TALK #7 Then we had a Power Lunch conversation with Sandro Campos, CEO of $PETS. Sandra went from the top of the fashion world as the CEO of Dianne Von Furstenberg to now the CEO of PetMeds, a publicly traded DTC company specializing in petcare products including medicine, food, and accessories. Here are some of the best tips that Sandra shared. 67. The Importance of the Call Center: PetMeds was inspired by the concept of 1-800 Contacts and applied it to Pet medicine. With that in mind, the call center is crucial to their business, representing about 70% of the headcount for PetMeds and a massive amount of their total sales. Not many brands utilize the call center model but I think more should. It’s been a proven sales channel for decades and has worked for countless brands. Sandra and the team were incredibly smart to lean in here. 68. Exploring Alternative Channels For New Lift: PetMeds already spends heavily on Meta and Google. Now, they are exploring alternative channels like radio, sports stadium advertising, untraditional OOH, and TV to drive new incremental lift. Like everyone, they want to find new, underpriced acquisition channels in order to diversify their spend. 69. Think About Loyalty & Retention First: PetMeds focuses on marketing initiatives which drive loyalty and retention first. They have an amazing loyalty program and always think about how they can reward and incentivise existing customers to buy again vs simply acquiring net new accounts. 70. Why Great Design Builds Trust: Sandra is a client of Sharma Brands, and we’re helping her redesign the PetMeds site. We talked about how great design builds consumer trust and bad design weakens it. Sandra emphasized that a well-designed brand converts better too. This is one area that we are actively working on to continue strengthening and modernizing the brand. 71. Navigating Quarterly Results: Sandra said that the biggest difference between operating a private vs public company is that public companies are measured by their quarterly results. Investors expect consistent performance, profitability, and growth, which means more decisions need to be made with their 90 day impact in mind. 72. Try Everything in Q4: To Sandra, Q4 is about embracing experimentation and new ideas. She thinks more brands should: 73. Encourage Collaborative Ideas From The Team: She said to always allow team members to voice their ideas and be open to testing new strategies and concepts even if you disagree. 74. Fail Fast, Learn Fast: Sandra believes in experimentation even if the experiments might fail. If you don’t try and fail, you can’t learn. The learnings are what’s most important for the next at-bat. The key is to fail fast, and learn fast so you can quickly iterate and improve.
TALK #8 After that I had the pleasure of doing a fireside chat with the one and only Danny Winer, CEO of HexClad to talk about what it’s like to build a billion-dollar CPG brand. Here’s some of what Danny and I covered below: 75. Build Your Brand Through Storytelling: Develop a strong brand story that resonates with your audience. Make your product synonymous with a lifestyle or concept (e.g., HexClad is "badass cookware"). 76. Create Your Own Content: Transition into a content or media company to become a lifestyle brand. Utilize platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and partnerships to promote your products through your owned media + UGC. 77. Pursue High-Profile Partnerships: Strategic partnerships (e.g., with celebrities or well-known chefs) can significantly elevate brand visibility and credibility. This is what Hexclad did with Gordon Ramsay. It only takes one big partnership to change the trajectory of your brand. 78. Prioritize Long-Term Goals: Maintain a long-term perspective rather than chasing immediate sales. Focusing on customer respect and patience in building relationships can lead to a higher lifetime value and more repeat purchases. 79. Create a 12-Month Q4 Strategy: Think of Q4 as the culmination of a year-long effort. The work done in early months (January to July) contributes to a successful Q4 harvest. It’s all about the preparation during the first 3 quarters of the year. 80. Focus on Owned Channels: Direct most of your Q4 promotional efforts to your brand’s website to establish and nurture customer relationships rather than solely relying on third-party platforms like Amazon or retail stores.
TALK #9 was on Winning New Customers with Snapchat with Sid Malhotra, The Global VP of SMB at Snap. Here’s what Sid shared: 81. Snap’s Growing Demographics: Snapchat’s fastest-growing demographic is now 25+ years old, with nearly half of all U.S. Snapchatters in this age group. This is who you should target, and these users have substantial purchasing power. 82. Snap’s Incremental Reach: Snapchat offers access to unique audiences not found on other platforms. For example, 43% of U.S. Snapchatters (16+) are not on TikTok daily, highlighting the potential for incremental reach. On Snapchat as a Performance Marketing Platform 83. Use Snaps Conversion API (CAPI) Integration: Implement Snapchat’s CAPI to share real-time event data with Snapchat, allowing for better ad optimization. On Ad Formats and Optimization For Snap 84. Use Seven-Day Click and Zero Click Optimization: Snap’s new optimization models allow marketers to fine-tune targeting based on actions like clicks and on-page engagement, directly impacting purchase outcomes. 85. Value Optimization: If you prioritize purchase value over the number of purchases, Snapchat’s value optimization can help increase the overall basket size. Example: Lancome increased its purchase value by over 35% using this product. 86. Use Landing Page View Optimization: This tool identifies users more likely to spend time on your website, thereby reducing bounce rates and improving site quality. Test this feature to boost the efficiency of your site traffic campaigns. On Implementation Tips 87. Use Simple Ad Creatives: Simple user-generated content (UGC) with users speaking directly to the camera is highly effective, as demonstrated by Javy Coffee’s success with Snapchat’s zero-click product.
TALK #10 After that, we had Kyle Cooke, the founder of Loverboy, and Philippe von Borries, co-founder of Refinery29, to discuss all things branded content in 2024. These were some of the best takeaways from their panel: On Brand Building and Community 88. Focus on Building Community First: Establishing a niche community around your brand is crucial for success. Start small, focus on a specific audience, and build a sustainable business model before scaling. 89. Consider offline strategies, too: Brands should also consider returning to analog methods (e.g., local events and IRL experiences) to create unique, memorable brand moments that stand out in an online-heavy world. 90. Use Founder-Led Content: Have the founders share their stories and experiences directly with consumers. Simple, self-shot videos can be more effective than polished, high-budget content here. 91. Embrace Humor and UGC: Use humor in your marketing campaigns to cut through the noise. User-generated content (UGC) also resonates with audiences, especially when it doesn't look overly produced. 92. Be Selective With Influencer Marketing: Choose partnerships based on the influencer's audience and their content's fit with your brand vs just their follower count. 93. Update Content Quarterly: Understand that content consumption habits change quarterly. Implement updates every 90 days based on current trends. 94. Pay Attention to the ROI of Content: No matter what you are making, when engaging in branded content and influencer marketing, track the return on investment to ensure that your efforts are translating into actual profit.
TALK #11: Then, I had a fireside chat with Keith Rabois about OpenStore and how he operates a portfolio of 51 DTC brands. Here are some of the takeaways from that talk. eCommerce Business Strategy 95. M&A is a Unique Unlock for Scale: OpenStore has built their portfolio through M&A. More brands should consider M&A as a way to grow and expand. Sometimes you’re not acquiring the brand, but just the factory, the customer list, etc. 96. Every brand needs a custom strategy: There is no one-size-fits-all approach to growing e-commerce brands. Each brand requires a unique playbook based on its customer acquisition channels, product line, and market positioning. OpenStore has some macro strategies they’ve set in place, but also unique offerings, angles, and approaches for each brand. 97. Focus on Shopify not Amazon: Brands like Thrasio and others have struggled since they focused on Amazon. They don’t have the first party data or the flexibility to design, brand, and market like Shopify stores do. Keith thinks this is a key reason why many other aggregators have struggled. He thinks OpenStore’s focus on Shopify stores is a much better model and why they are better positioned to succeed. 98. Build Specialized Capabilities: Invest in areas like fulfillment and supply chain management to improve stock rates and enhance customer satisfaction, particularly during peak periods like Q4. 99. Inventory Management is Hard: Accurately predicting inventory needs, especially for Q4 is really hard. You need to spend a lot of time on this to avoid stockouts while minimizing excess inventory. This requires building adaptable models that account for it in Q2 and Q3. 100. Be More Efficient With Customer Support: Reduce customer support costs and scale efficiently by building or adopting new tech and tools. For example, OpenStore's new product, OpenDesk (Which Keith announced live on stage!), has successfully reduced customer support costs by using automated tools. They are now opening this up to other brands. 101. Venture Capital Doesn’t Make Sense For DTC: According to Keith, venture capital is ideal for businesses aiming to scale to a valuation of $10 billion or more. For those seeking sustainable, profitable growth, bootstrapping or raising small amounts of capital is better (especially for DTC). 102. Buy Now, Pay Later Isn’t an Issue (Yet): Keith is on the board of Affirm. He said that buy now, pay later is not a huge issue (yet). He expects consumers to continue using it heavily this year. 103. Q4 Is Already Locked In: By Q4, most aspects, such as inventory and channel strategy, are already in place. Brands need to plan well in advance to adapt to the holiday season effectively. You can’t start now. 104. Election Year Impact: During an election year, Keith expects customer acquisition costs to rise on platforms like Meta and TV due to increased political advertising. However, he said that brands should consider targeting states with less political ad spend to find pockets of more affordable advertising. The CACs will go up dramatically in swing states and less so in states that are already decided.
TALK #12 Then we had a session with Dan Pantelo, CEO of Marpipe, all about DPA ads. Here’s what you should know: Dynamic Product Ads (DPA) Overview: 105.Get Higher Performance: DPAs, especially enriched catalog ads, often deliver significantly better performance. They can offer up to 2 times better return on ad spend (ROAS) vs standard statics or videos. 106. Take Advantage of Smarter Ad Delivery: Ad platforms use DPAs to match specific user preferences (e.g., size, price range, location) with products in real-time, making delivery more effective than traditional video or static ads. 107. DPAs are The Fastest-Growing Ad Type: Catalog ads are seeing increased ad spend while video ads are declining. Platforms like Meta and TikTok shops are investing heavily in DPAs due to their effectiveness. They will continue doing this over the next 5 years. The time to lean in is now. 108. Use The New Video DPA Format: Meta recently introduced video DPAs, offering a more engaging alternative to static images. This format is live in every Meta ad account and has shown to outperform static DPAs. Unique DPA Tips for Q4: 109. Dynamic Discounting: With DPAs, you can automatically apply dynamic strikethrough pricing to highlight discounts across various SKUs in your catalog. Even if you don’t offer discounts, you can still showcase buy now, pay later options dynamically for every SKU. 110. Dynamic Testimonials and Reviews: With DPAs, you can pull specific product reviews and star ratings dynamically into the ad, providing social proof directly in the ad creative. 111. Add Countdown Timers: You can Incorporate countdown timers for sales events. The ads automatically update to show the remaining time, driving urgency without needing to create new ads manually. Lastly, we finished with a keynote on winning in the routine economy with Jen Gray, the SVP of Recharge. Jen got the most kudos from everyone I spoke with after the conference — she had the most nutrient-dense talk! Here are the best insights from her talk. 112. Prioritize Routine Over Demographics: Instead of focusing solely on demographics, understand your customers' routines. Consumers, especially millennials and Gen Z, are seeking products that fit seamlessly into their daily lives. 113. Distinguish Between Bought and Kept Products: Aim to become a product that customers keep using, not just one they purchase once and discard. Figure out how your product can transition from a "nice-to-have" to a "need-to-have" in their daily routine. 114. Position Products Based on Customer Goals: Organize products on your site based on how they fit into customers' goals (e.g., skincare routine, fitness goals) rather than just product features. 115. Highlight Usage Benefits: Clearly communicate how long a customer needs to use the product to see results. For example, mention that results are noticeable after three months of consistent use to encourage a subscription-level commitment. 116. Create Flexible Subscriptions: Allow customers to choose their subscription frequency to align with their routines, creating a more personalized experience. 117. Implement Rewards Programs: Introduce punch card rewards, milestone-based rewards, or cashback credits to add value to your subscription model and create game-like incentives for your customers. 118. Create a Subscription Benefits Landing Page: Develop a dedicated landing page that outlines the benefits of subscribing, emphasizing convenience, value, and positive lifestyle changes. 119. Use Subscription To Offset Acquisition Costs: Use subscription models and recurring revenue to offset the high customer acquisition costs during Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Subscription vs one-off purchases leads to higher LTV.
And that’s it for this week.
I hope at least 15 of these bullet points make a difference in your marketing strategy this and next year. I’m already excited about what we are going to achieve with our upcoming event in Q1 2025 — more details on that coming soon! |
That's all for this week |
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I hope today’s newsletter was a fun read for you — it was so fun to look back on all the talks and see what stood out to me, or what made heads nod in the audience. I’m so proud of the event we put on; I hope to see you at the next one!
Given that tonight is a Sunday night, I hope you’re planning to get 9 hours of sleep tonight going into the new week. We’re officially in Q4 now, so please prioritize getting adequate sleep, hydration, a workout, or anything that contributes to your own mental sanity. Things will be moving quick, and it’s important to take time for yourself.
If there’s anything I can help you with, shoot me an email (n@sharma.com) or fill out the form on the Sharma Brands website. I hope you have an amazing upcoming week! |
