Itās incredible to think weāre 100+ newsletters deep and weāve never used this gif on Wednesday.
If you havenāt seen the legendary Geico hump day commercial, jump on the ole YouTube ASAP.
Happy Hump day!
If youāre new to DTC, welcome! Youāre in good company with fellow newcomers from Shopify, SpƤrkel, Camp Chef, Punchy Drinks, Blue Planet Eco-Eyewear, Woven Earth, and NEST Decor. š¾
In this newsletter youāll find: š
š How Vessi is crushing BF/CM.
š Re-engaging your email list ā winback flows.
š¤µāāļø 3X to 10X ROAS with Suit Shopās Kristen Jones.
š Custom metrics for Facebook ads reporting.
DTC Scale School is in session. Read to the bottom to learn more :)
š If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe so you never miss out. And be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Two tactics from DTC brand Vessi that weāre LOVING:
Number 1: The waterproof sneaker brand, automatically applies a $25 gift card to purchases greater than $110.
It's a great tactic for putting $$$ in peopleās pockets prior to BFCM in order to get them to come back and spend more.
If people have "free" money, it decreases the friction of spending more money. Repeat purchasers through the roof! š
Number 2: Vessi always tries to provide value to their communities. Recently they ran an Instagram giving away 200 free pairs of shoes.
The first 100 pairs were first-come, first-serve, which created massive urgency to kick things off.
The second 100 were selected at random to give everyone a chance.
To enter, contestants had to give Vessi their information including email so if you didnāt win, they hit you with a great email flow encouraging you to purchase.
This is a GREAT list building exercise prior to BF/CM.
Thereās still time to do this for your own brand!
75% of DTC brands will offer a subscription experience by 2023.
Will you be one of them?
Launching a subscription experience can feel like an insurmountable task. But with the right knowledge, it doesnāt have to be.
šØ Thatās why Ordergroove created The Beginnerās Guide to eCommerce Subscriptions, a step-by-step guide on how to get started with subs.
This comprehensive report outlines everything you need to know about subscriptions, including:
Donāt be part of the 25% that falls behind on subscriptions!
š Get the guidance you need today in The Beginnerās Guide to eCommerce Subscriptions.
š¤ Donāt have a subscription program yet? Not happy with your existing provider? Schedule a call with Ordergroove's subscription experts here.
Weāre back for part 2 of a three-part series on re-engaging email subscribers!
For this part, weāre talking winback flows
A Winback Flow is an automated email sequence for customers that have purchased before but havenāt engaged with or purchased from your brand for a period of time.
Basically, they say: "Hey, remember us? Weāre still here, and this is a reason to shop with us again!" š
Winback Flows are an essential part of customer retention. If you donāt have a Winback automation set up, youāre more likely to be forgotten by customers (and leave untold amounts of money on the table).
ā²ļø When to send a Winback Flow:
First, get clear on whether your Winback will be targeted toward previous purchasers (eCom or DTC) or unengaged subscribers (Saas or content service).
For DTC brands: Your Winback Flows should be sent to previous buyers when a certain amount of time has elapsed between purchases ā usually three times your productās life cycle (but depends on your product and price point).
For example, if you sell a 30-day supply of vitamins, your Winback would trigger when 90 days have passed from the last purchase.
However, if you sell a product such as cars or home goods, your lifecycle might be much longer, so keep that in mind.
For Saas or Content brands: Your Winback would trigger when a customer hasnāt engaged (clicked email, visited site) in a period of time, usually 30-180 days.
ā ļø Winbacks are different from Replenishment Reminder Flows, which get triggered just before the product life cycle runs out.
š The structure of a Winback Flow:
A basic Winback Flow is ~3ā5 emails designed to re-engage past purchasers, usually with an incentive or compelling offer, such as:
āļø We recommend taking this opportunity to gather data from your customer on why they may not have purchased again. These valuable insights will help you improve your customer journey in the future!
The typical structure of a Winback Flow:
For our visual folks, hereās an example of how your Winback Flow structure might look in Klaviyo:
š” Winback Flows IRL:
Brooklinenās Winback email is not only totes adorable (puppies 4ever š¶), but itās also effective in re-engaging customers with curiosity, inviting them to check out mysterious new products.
This is likely the first email in their Winback Flow, so it doesnāt drop an offer just yet.
Want to know how top DTC brands succeed with UGC?
minisocial has created this guide exclusively for DTC readers that shares how brands like Native, Kettle & Fire, Imperfect Foods, and Spotlight Oral Care are seeing results by leveraging UGC!
So why do these brands partner with minisocial in the first place?
minisocial has streamlined the process of generating UGC while scaling your micro-influencer strategy.
Their campaigns start at $2k ($1.7k after your special DTC reader discount). š
š But don't take our word for it, find a time to connect with the team at minisocial here.
Tulaās Winback offers a discount, and the headline "we never do this" makes it feel special. They also give free shipping, no minimum, and create urgency with a deadline.
Plus, their email includes social proof and highlights best-sellers to help re-engage buyers.
This Winback email from Gap combines a killer offer (40%!) with a sense of urgency.
It also gives the customer a chance to update their preferences for better future email targeting, or unsubscribe if they arenāt interested.
šØ Donāt forget to nail that subject line!
Remember, these customers havenāt engaged with your brand for a while, so your email will need to really grab their attention in their inbox.
Here are some examples of Winback subject lines we love:
š Subs still not engaging?
If subscribers go through your Winback Flow and still donāt engage, it may be time to Sunset them.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of Re-engaging Your Email List: Sunset Flows!
š§ This weekās pod episode features Kristen Jones, Director of Marketing at SuitShop (recently rebranded from The Groomsman Suit).
SuitShop is shaking up formal wear, providing quality suit-lutions for both men and women at a fraction of the price. š¤µ
So change out of those sweatpants, throw on your best tie, and get ready for this Masterclass on customer lifecycle marketing!
āThe Takeaways: š
ā Why a rebrand?:
After a few years, it became clear to the founders that "The Groomsman Suit" wasnāt representative of their wide range of customers ā so the founders decided to rebrand to SuitShop.
"Itās been a great opportunity to represent everyone we suitā¦ We really do cater to anybody and everybody."
However, it was a little bit nerve-wracking to potentially lose the SEO tied to their previous name. š¬
Kristenās advice to companies doing a rebrand? Make sure you work with an SEO agency or have someone on your team to help navigate through the changes.
"We saw a small dip [in traffic] for six weeks, but weāve come back better than ever."
š„ How a TikTok vid boosted traffic by 20%:
A video Kristen filmed on her iPhone in just a few minutes ended up going viral, and completely exploded SuitShopās site traffic.
"I had no expectations of it, I was just kinda having funā¦ and [the video] got 60K views overnight."
But donāt be fooled. There was certainly strategy involvedā¦
The vid was posted in December, the biggest month of the year for proposals āwhich helped the video gain traction among newly engaged couples. š
"If youāre in the wedding industry and youāre able to catch someone in those first moments of excitement, theyāre probably gonna stick with you."
šØ Kristenās marketing advice for Q4:
Q4 is the biggest quarter for brands when it comes to new customer acquisition and revenue.
But while weāre crushing our holiday campaignsā¦ Kristen reminds us to stay one step ahead.
"Itās all about retentionā¦ [after Q4] what do you have in place to keep [new leads] as a customer and build their lifetime value?"
"Make sure you have everything in place to know where they came from and what got them to convert, and follow up accordingly."
š Listen to the full pod to learn more about SuitShopās success, Kristenās authentic approach to marketing, and much more!
Facebook Tip!
3 custom metrics now for more meaningful Facebook Ads Reporting
Hereās how to set up custom metrics in Facebook, along with the simple formulas for the 3 most important metrics.
Step 1: In your ads manager, go to 'Columns: Performance' then, 'Customise Columns...'
Step 2: Click āCreate Custom Metricā
Step 3: Enter the metric name, description, and formula
Step 4: Click āCreate Metricā and your metric will be saved šš¼
3 most important formulas:
Earnings Per Click (EPC):
Why it matters: Just like a Profit and Loss statement, knowing how much a click earns will help you understand why driving down your costs (i.e. cost per click) will drive more profit.
Format: Currency
Formula: Purchase conversion value / Unique link clicks.
Average Order Value (AOV):
Why it matters: The more we can increase our average order value, the more profitable advertising becomes.
Format: Currency
Formula: Purchase conversion value / Purchases
Conversion Rate (CVR):
Why it matters: Knowing an adās conversion rate can help us optimize the same way as knowing a landing pageās conversion rate.
Format: Percentage
Formula: Purchases / Unique link clicks
Finally, donāt forget to save your ideal dashboard as a preset so you donāt have to customize your columns every time.
š A huge thank you to the Pilothouse team for this tip!
š„ How brands can more easily collect UGC.
š¼ How these 3 DTC brands are utilizing TikTok for growth.
š Facebook announces new groups tools at its 2021 Communities Summit.
š„¤ DTC drink brand,Kin Euphorics which was co-founded by Jen Batchelor & Bella Hadid, is hiring a senior ecomm growth manager and a digital designer!
š Google: Add store sales to your Smart Bidding to grow online and in-store sales.
š TikTok shares new insights into holiday shopping trends to assist in campaign planning.
š¤ Creators on Facebook can evade Apple's 30% transaction fee.
š„ DTC Podcast: Unlock the power of growth through data with Bainbridge Growth and Geologie.
š„¤ DTC drink brand, Kin Euphorics which was co-founded by Jen Batchelor & Bella Hadid, is hiring for two positions:
1) Senior ecomm growth manager: Perfect for someone who is a combination of the Queenās Gambit and Being John Malkovich with a deep interest in data and insights.
2) Digital designer: Perfect for someone who is a cross between David Lynch and Miss Cleo with a deep love of user experience.
For the first time ever you could get exclusive access to the complete playbook used by an entire team of Pilothouseās ninja marketers to generate millions in profitable ad revenue for our clients, all distilled into one course.
Scale School is the distilled knowledge and wisdom of over 120 Facebook and Instagram advertising experts who have driven over 50 million dollars in ad spend in the past 6 months alone.
You only have a few days left to save $700 with the world's first Reverse Black Friday sale!
Join DTC and Pilothouse at Scale School: Facebook and Instagram Ads Now.
š Have you heard our latest podcasts?
š¤µāāļø 3X to 10X ROAS and managing your customer lifecycle with Suit Shop's Kristen Jones.
š§² Wildstorming the Beauty Space ā Glamnetic's Head of Growth Margaret Fortner Returns!
ā»ļø Learn how Fussy Deodorant Lowers Blended CaC with Cofounder Matt Kennedy.
š¦· Spotlight Oral Care Goes Viral on TikTok with Cofounder Dr. Lisa Creaven and VP Marketing Siobhan Nolan.
Donāt forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (āļøāļøāļøāļøāļø)
DTC Newsletter is written by Thomas Schreiber, Kelsey Hess, and Rebecca Knight.
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