Saturday, December 4, 2021
Anyone else have a billion dollars in sales on black friday? 😂😂😂
In this newsletter you’ll find: 👇
🚀 Creative iterations and value-prop testing on TikTok.
📸 How to collect UGC – part 2.
🤑 Tips to help your homepage hero convert.
👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe so you never miss out. And be sure to follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.
Creative iterations and value prop testing
If you’re a Facebook OG, you already know the importance of testing pain points in your copy and creative.
For TT, Audio is a crucial part because it’s always on.
So instead of testing pain points within copy or creative, test by using voice overs.
The Pilothouse team launched a brand on TikTok using their extensive library of UGC with popular audios in the background.
After one month they saw 0.32 ROAS on the platform.
The following month they shifted focus – from testing pacing and SKU variations to testing value propositions as voice-overs on top creative.
After one month the team saw 1.68 ROAS, and continues to use this strategy for TikTok growth.
If you have creative that’s crushing in ads or organic, then there’s no need to throw new ideas at the wall to keep momentum going.
If you’ve got a winning creative, you’ve found your TikTok north star.
This is your chance to take that style, joke, or creative and do it again… and again… and again.
Give the TikTok algorithm what it wants, but implement subtle changes.
Apply this concept to your ads and your organic efforts too!
Thanks to the Pilothouse team for the tips!
Create customer loyalty without sacrificing revenue
Do you have customers who only purchase from your brand when you offer a discount?
What you really need are customers who value what you offer – even if it’s not on sale.
After all, keeping your existing customers happy and making sure that they remain loyal is one of the most effective ways for your business to save money.
So how do you motivate your customers to buy from your brand again and again, without hurting your bottom line?
It all starts by nurturing your existing customers on your owned channels – like email and SMS. 😉
👉 Check out Klaviyo's top tips for building meaningful customer loyalty here.
How to collect killer user-generated content – Part 2
The UGC tips aren’t over yet, keep reading for part 2! 👇
Make it fun! Fenty Beauty encourages customers to share their "Fenty Face" for a chance to be featured on the brand website or social accounts.
They've got a dedicated hashtag for #FENTYFACE, or customers can upload directly on the website. Instagram posts are also pulled into a feed directly on the Fenty Beauty homepage.
While there are some customers who will happily share and promote your products, there are others that might need a little incentive encouragement.
So, give customers something in return for content.
One example is Galen Leather, which gives out loyalty points for verified reviews:
And for brands in the beauty and cosmetics industry, give customers discounts, gift cards, or other perks if they show you before and after photos.
This type of UGC can be really effective for showing your products naturally.
Popular communities across social platforms are a great place to run contests or mine for user-generated content.
Obvi, a health and beauty company, utilizes its Facebook Group of over 45K members – most of them customers.
"We started our Facebook group, Obvi Community, just around the same time we started our brand. Over the last two years, it has grown tremendously to just shy of 45K members," said Ash Melwani, CMO at Obvi.
In the group, Ash holds giveaways in return for pieces of content, as well as personal stories that they use in our ad copy and emails.
"Because we've spent the last two years nurturing this relationship with our community, when we do ask for specific things such as gathering UGC content, our community has zero hesitations."
As a more direct channel with higher open rates, and an easy way for customers to snap a pic with their phone and reply, this channel can drive awesome UGC results.
Our tip here is simple: Just ask customers directly to share photos of your products.
Note: SMS is a more personal and private channel, so you don’t want to overdo it by asking for UGC too often. Respect your customers’ inboxes and only ask once in a while.
Strategically only reach out to your most loyal and engaged customers, so you don’t bother ones who aren’t likely to share UGC anyway.
You may not realize how many customers are tagging you in photos with your products. Similar to a branded hashtag, see what customers are tagging you in to pull some UGC.
If you look at your tagged section, you’ll find customers who’ve used your products or even well-shot product photos.
Just like in this example from OUAI.
Ask customers for feedback on a recent purchase, and follow up via email with a survey link. Surveys allow customers to rate your product, share their likes/dislikes, and you can ask them to upload a photo as part of the survey.
As customers interact with your brand, be clear and consistent about how you want them to talk about your brand across social media.
Use the same hashtag throughout the purchase process.
For example, put your brand hashtag in your Instagram bio so customers see right away how to engage with you on that channel.
You can also put it on your packaging like Allure does, so a customer sees it with their order.
"These are real customers giving their real-time impression of our products. Consumers today are smart, they know when something isn't genuine or if something is scripted. We don't tend to worry too much about quality because we know we are able to get UGC in volume and we can take bits and pieces and put things together for a more polished look," said Ash.
Although you can aim for perfection, with UGC it’s hard to do.
Even if you brief customers on how to take photos or videos of your products, you’re taking away the main element of UGC that makes it work so well: The authentic images that other customers can see themselves in.
The content will feel scripted and not as organic.
"The best way for the content to feel organic is to ask them to talk about the product as if they were explaining what they purchased to a friend or family member. Keep it simple," said Ash.
"Brands should be using their UGC in ads on every single channel. Customers sell to customers – it's as simple as that."
On your owned marketing channels, place UGC on your landing pages, product pages, as well as your checkout page.
This will help customers identify with your products on every page that they visit, giving them more confidence to purchase your products.
Have you thought about selling your Shopify business? It’s easier than you think. 🤔
You don’t need to "dress up" your store or brace yourself for painful negotiations.
OpenStore is the most straightforward way to sell your business. You'll get an objective, data-powered offer that’s based on your Shopify performance in just one day.
All you need to do is:
Merchants across every category are selling their businesses directly to OpenStore.
💸 Find out how much your business is worth now.
Helping your homepage hero convert
Oddit’s top five tips to help your homepage hero convert 👇
Free shipping is a big bonus to a lot of buyers. Customers are less likely to hesitate on the purchase if they see ‘free shipping’ frequently and clearly.
"Front Door Delivery" isn’t a competitive advantage – that’s fairly expected. "Free Delivery" deserves attention.
Show your product(s) clearly, especially when your packaging is colorful and eye-catching.
Your primary image should occupy at least 75% of the screen WIDTH on mobile devices.
Social proof is a huge key to building instant trust with new customers. Highlight it at every opportunity within the customer journey.
Pull in a review count (if you have enough) and your star rating to sit right above your headline or CTA.
Use a design hierarchy that clearly differentiates between the importance of your various page elements.
Your headline, primary action (Shop Now), and any secondary actions (Read More) should be easy to scan, distinct from one another, and whether there’s an action or not should be obvious at a glance.
Your primary action should be the highest contrast, punchiest element on your homepage header.
Make sure there is a high color contrast between the "type" and "button background." It needs to be clearly visible at small sizes and on devices with low brightness.
If you want these kinds of tips for your own site, start your own Odditfor free and improve your UX instantly!
🚰 Hydro Flask owner to acquire backpack brand Osprey for $414M.
🤖 Verbit lands $250M Series E at a $2B valuation to expand its AI-powered transcription platform.
🔥 Smart mug maker Ember raises $23.5M, as it looks toward medical storage.
🪒 Schick maker acquires Billie for $310M.
🧈 Butter raises $7M to end ‘accidental’ customer churn due to payment failure.
🎓 Student media giant Chegg acquires language learning startup Busuu for $436M.
❄️ How Josh Elizetxe Would Build Snow Oral Care if He Was Starting Today.
⚡️ Real Talk On The Supply Chain Crunch, Word's Best Checkout Experience, and the Future of NFTs with Bolt’s Ian Leslie.
👟 Vessi’s CEO Tony Yu’s Q4 Lead Generation Brilliance (40K+ New Leads in 24 Hours With THIS Contest Strategy).
🤵♂️ 3x to 10x ROAS and Managing Your Customer Lifecycle with Suit Shop's Kristen Jones.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Thomas Schreiber, Tina Donati, and Rebecca Knight.
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
NEED MORE DTC?
🚀 Advertise in DTC Newsletter.
📥 Work for The DTC Newsletter: Send an email to Thomas, thomas@directtoconsumer.co, if you’re interested in writing for us!
DTC 2023. All Rights Reserved.
DTC is fueled by Pilothouse company registered in Victoria, BC, Canada.