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Get ready for our fourth instalment of the Healthy Sodas DTC Diagnostic ā this time itās all about the drinks, baby!Ā
Our taste tester, Thomas, sampled sips from all of our DTC soda brands and has reported results below.Ā
Live footage from DTC headquarters:Ā
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While we certainly crushed a few sodas, that's not all this issue has to offer. Read on for:Ā
š¦ What NOT to do with Google Ads.
š¦ A breakdown of all things whitelisting, from our pals at AspireIQ.
š¦ Our conversation with Simply Earth on subscription services and education-based marketing.
š¦ Everything you need to know about eCommerce funding, courtesy of Clearbanc.
š¦ Ad Creative of the day!Ā
Drink it all in!Ā
ā”ļø If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe so you never miss another.Ā
ā”ļø And be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram.Ā
Welcome to part four of our four-part deep dive into the marketing strategies of DTC soda brands Olipop, Ugly, and Poppi.
If you havenāt read the first three parts (Facebook Ads, Email, and Website Analysis) you can catch up here! For the fourth and final part, weāre breaking down each brand's product experience.Ā
I ordered three variety packs so we could answer two questions: what was the unboxing experience like? And are the taste buds satisfied?Ā
My taste buds have been certified by the NTBA (national taste buds association) so this is an extremely official process. š
š„¤ OlipopĀ
Variety pack (12 pack) = $41.99 (the most expensive)
My package arrived in three days which is lightning fast especially during a pandemic.Ā
For such an elegant and beautiful brand, it surprised me that Olipop hasnāt invested more into the look of their packaging.Ā
A cardboard box doesnāt match the rest of the brand. Olipop features the packaging below on their website, so hopefully theyāll transition to something similar in the future.Ā
Fizz factor: Olipop has low fizz compared to normal soda. For those who go crazy for fizz, it could be difficult to get used to. For me, itās the perfect amount.Ā
Flavors:Ā
š Orange Squeeze ā Nailed this flavor. Tastes like regular orange crush on every level.Ā
š Strawberry Vanilla ā Not a huge fan. The smell threw me off and I was never able to recover.Ā
š Ginger Lemon ā Ginger is an acquired taste so I can see some users being 50/50 on this flavor. Personally, Iām a big fan. It compliments the traditional flavors like Cola and Root Beer with its modern and fresh taste.Ā
š„¤ Vintage Cola ā For all you Coca-Cola lovers, this is your signal to try this flavor. It matches the traditional cola taste, through and through.Ā
šŗĀ Root Beer ā Easily my number one flavor. Everything about this drink is spot on. Plus, itās great with dairy-free ice cream, making for the perfect millennial root-beer float. Give it a try as well, boomers.Ā
Olipop included every flavor in their variety pack, something the other two brands didnāt do. When you include only a couple flavors in your variety pack, thereās a higher risk someone wonāt find their favorite flavor.Ā
š„¤ UglyĀ
Variety pack (24) =Ā $24.99 (cheapest out of all three brands)Ā
Due to COVID-19, Ugly had shipping issues with my order. Instead of the standard 3-5 days it took 10, which wasnāt a big deal. Their customer service team was A+ and kept me up to date. Nothing better than a kick-ass CX team.Ā
Like all things Ugly, the packaging was bold and in your face. The bright blue box was surrounded with funny sayings like āH2OMG this is heavyā and āPlease recycle, but Instagram me first.ā
If you can make a customer laugh or smirk, your brand will live rent-free in their head. Ugly easily had the best unboxing experience out of all three brands.Ā
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Fizz factor:Ā Ugly had the highest fizz rating on my fizzy scale. It packs a punch more than regular soda, which isnāt necessarily a bad thing.Ā
š. Cherry ā It didnāt make me jump up and down, but it didnāt disappoint. A solid flavor that I enjoyed, but I wouldnāt make a point out of drinking it again.Ā
š Peach ā I wasnāt a huge fan of this flavor. I found it a bit bland, but I know this is one of their best-selling flavors in the U.S. so you should go in with an open mind.Ā
š Lemon Lime ā My favorite flavor. Light, refreshing, and the perfect amount of lemon:lime. I highly recommend it, especially if you like Sprite.Ā
Bonus: I tried Uglyās energy water and itās killer. I like it even more than their flagship products. Thanks to Hugh for the care package. š
Ugly was the only brand to encourage posting a picture of the product on Instagram. While it wasnāt formal by any means, it surprised me that the other two brands didnāt mention anything about sharing on socials. This can be a huge source for consistent UGC, especially if you include a small discount.Ā
Finally, if youāre a LaCroix stan, give Ugly a try. I had multiple LaCroix enthusiasts drink an Ugly and say theyād consider switching. Blasphemy, I know.
š„¤ Poppi
Variety pack (12) = $29.88 (second-most expensive)Ā
Since Poppi is sold through Amazon, my package came in two days (Thanks, Jeff). While the speed of shipping was a huge plus, the Amazon packaging and branding did take away from Poppiās own brand experience.Ā Ā Ā
As you open Poppiās package youāre hit with āPop of the morning to youā plus each of their value propositions. Love this.Ā
Fizz factor: Poppiās fizz level is very similar to a traditional soda. Not too low and not too high.Ā
š Ginger Lime ā Typically Iām a big ginger fan, but the lime overpowered the drink. Not the biggest fan of this flavor.Ā
šOrange ā Similar to Olipop, this tastes just like an orange Crush. Really enjoyed sipping on this.Ā
š„Pineapple mango ā Hereās a flavor you donāt see everyday. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this unique drink. My only wish is that the pineapple showed up a bit more.Ā
š Strawberry Lemonade ā Hands down one of my favorite flavors out of the three brands. Itās summer in a can, and Iām sure it mixes well with the adult liquor of your choice. š
While the Amazon packaging did bum me out, Poppi makes a big effort to make you feel like a part of the brand. Iām looking forward to seeing the Poppi brand evolve.Ā
We set up this diagnostic to be a four-part series, but we realized thereās at least one more MAJOR category weāve still got to cover for these amazing brands.
Come back next Saturday for a deep-dive with the Pilothouse Amazon team, where weāll uncover the strategies and tactics these healthy sodas use on the worldās biggest marketplace.Ā
After that, itās on to our next product category. Any guesses as to what it is? š
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As the influencer-marketing industry has evolved, so have the social media platforms that support the creator economy.Ā
From building branded content tags to incorporating more monetization opportunities for creators, Facebook has expanded its slew of features to support partnerships between creators and brands on both the main platform and its sister app Instagram. Businesses and creators have leveraged these tools to build more meaningful relationships and create authentic ads.
In the last couple of years, one of the most popular ways to do this has been through influencer whitelisting on Facebook and Instagram.Ā
This allows brands to use the influencerās handle for their ads and provides brands with many advantages, such as:
Beyond brand advantages, the whitelisting process is also beneficial for creators.
As brands use the influencerās content to reach wider, like-minded audiences, the creator gets exposure to new audiences who may have not interacted with their account before. This widened visibility can drive more people to discover the influencerās account, allowing the creator to grow their following.Ā Ā
If done right, whitelisting is a win-win for both brands and creators. Both parties have access to performance metrics of the whitelisted post. Brands get key insights into running successful campaigns, and creators better understand what type of content resonates. Not to mention, whitelisting builds trust between brands and creators, elevating the relationship and paving the way for more authentic ads.
Read the full AspireIQ Guide to Whitelisting for:
Thinking about elevating your influencer marketing campaign? Schedule a time to strategize with one of AspireIQās experts.Ā
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We asked the Pilothouse Google team about the most common mistakes media buyers make in Google Ads.
Have a look šš
Manual bids are good to start off, but generally performance is better when you let the AI bidding kick in once enough conversions have come through. Then, use other levers to optimize your CPAs.Ā
This leads to campaigns that only exist at the bottom of the funnel. Business growth requires top of funnel, middle of funnel and bottom of funnel campaigns.
The Google Display Network is arguably one of the most difficult channels to run profitable ads to a cold audience. With such a massive variety of ad types and bid strategies, and ads that reach 98% of the accessible web, itās crazy not to at least test it.Ā
Make sure your landing page matches the search term that brought them there.Ā
Also, explain why they should do business with your company. Very few people are going to say āyesā if you ask them to marry you on a first date!
Like Facebook, people spend considerable amounts of time watching videos on YouTube, and the ability to retarget and reach the right audiences on this platform is considerable.Ā
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Get ready to relax and unwind, cause this week's poddy features Lee Veldkamp, Co-Founder and CEO of Simply Earth, an essential oils subscription company that aims to teach people about the benefits of essential oils so that they can live a toxin-free life.
Lee has the mind of an engineer, so his approach to everything is very methodical. If youāre building a subscription business, and want to focus on retention and LTV, this podcast is a must listen.Ā
Here are the key takeaways from our chat:
Early on, Lee quickly realized that selling one-off essential oils on Amazon was never going to be sustainable. Too much competition, and no brand loyalty. The company turned to the subscription model and focused heavily on education and community.Ā
One of the main reasons people donāt buy more essential oils is that they donāt understand the various ways to use them. To increase customer education, Simply Earth started including educational content like recipe cards with each purchase.Ā
As customers learned various ways to integrate oils into their life, they better understood the value Simply Earth was providing.Ā
The next step Lee took was to build a full eight-week online course about how to make and use essential oils. It sells for $250, or is free when you subscribe to Simply Earth.Ā
Lee broke it down: āwhen someone subscribes, weāre not just delivering a product, weāre delivering a course on how to become an expert at using essential oils in your life ā itās called the Essential Oils Hero Course. It sells for $250 on its own but if you subscribe to our products, you get it for free.ā
How do people value this zero-cost digital product? Often Simply Earth subscribers print the recipes out and put them in binders, becoming a perpetual catalog for their products.Ā
Simply Earth drips the course content out over eight weeks, and if you cancel your subscription you lose access to it, so right there youāve got a two-month retention booster built right in.Ā
Simply Earth benefits from Leeās engineer mindset, but the educational platform is run by his wife ā a middle school teacher by profession. Leeās advice is āif you want to do this at your company, get yourself a teacher, because teaching builds up so many skills that are valuable to a DTC company.ā
Adding value beyond your products can build huge amounts of brand loyalty. If youāre not sure where to start, call your most loyal customers and understand how you can provide more value.Ā
To serve their courses, Simply Earth uses Teachable, an LMS (Learning Management System), and for their group they use Facebook Groups where employees and consumers troubleshoot and generate hype around the products.Ā
While Lee is always looking to innovate his online presence, his advice to founders is clear: Have a great product and build a community around that product. Facebook or Slack groups are a great way to start.Ā Ā
Simply Earthās Facebook community is a āwacky bunchā whoāve bonded, and become real friends, over making essential oils and by showing off or talking about their work. When you unsubscribe, you also lose access to this group, so it acts as another incredible retention booster.
Lee doesnāt think much about ROAS specifically. Instead, he looks at the cost of subscription vs. their LTV, and then weighs that against their overhead costs. Simple.
Leeās audience skews older and his biggest ad platform by far has been Facebook ā without much success elsewhere. Lee is confident that Pinterest and YouTube are on the horizon, and that theyāll also work.Ā
Through these awesome educational and community tactics, Lee has built Simply Earthās LTV to eight months. So with a subscription cost of $40, he can count on a customer LTV of $320.Ā
His goals are to get retention to 11 months ($440 LTV) and to get there heās methodically testing a few key things:
If youāre thinking of getting in the essential oils business and youāre selling $15 standalone bottles, youāre going to have a tough time competing with Lee.
Consider education and community as amazing methods of boosting customer retention and loyalty.Ā
To hear more about the journey of Simply Earthās products, how they build good causes into their marketing, and how they would use a 50k grant, check out the full poddy here. Take care!
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š° VCās arenāt the only way to get capital for your online business. Check out Clearbancās Ultimate Guide to eCommerce Funding. It outlines the pros and cons of every type of funding available for eCommerce entrepreneurs
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