Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Feeling like Dwight coming back from the long weekend?

We’ve got you covered. Sit back, relax, and sip some DTC.

If you’re new to DTC, welcome! You’re in good company with fellow newcomers from SWELL Wakesurf, Papa John’s Pizza, Pet Honesty, Mountain Hardwear, iRobot, Manscaped, and BarkBox. 🐶

In this newsletter you’ll find:

✅ Product page tips!

👩‍💻 Marketing + Technology with Orchid Bertelsen from Nestlé.

💸 The value of genuine product reviews.

🤯 An email pop-up test you MUST try!

New referral prize! (Free Amazon course) Read till the end to access.🔥

👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe so you never miss out. And be sure to follow us on Twitter and Instagram.

Product Page

We’ve said it once but we’ll say it again. Well-crafted product pages are CRUCIAL to any successful eCom brand.

Product page tips and conversion killers. 👇

🎯 Create targeted pop-ups:

Imagine you’re looking at a page about a pair of over-the-ear, noise-cancelling headphones.

Now imagine your delight when you get a pop-up that offers you 10% off your first pair of noise-cancelling headphones.

Use targeted pop-ups with discounts and messaging related to what the customer is actually looking at. This helps drive the sale, and grows your email (or SMS) subscriber list at the same time.

Bonus: For customers that opt-in from the pop-up, add them to a customized email flow about your noise-cancelling headphones.

Here’s an example from CYSM Shapers, which uses a targeted pop-up on their medical shapers page with a special discount.

👥 Add reviews and social proof:

Reviews and social proof are a great way to build trust with customers who are discovering your brand for the first time.

There are two places to add reviews on your product page.

1) Add the star rating above the fold. Some brands put it above the product name, before the description, or right before the main CTA.

2) Share the full review testimonials. Include these near the end of the page.

Here’s an example from Blume:

✅ Share cross-sells, upsells, and bundles:

Closer to the end of your product page, improve your average order value (AOV) by adding a "recommended products" or "people also purchased" section.

Take this one step further by carefully selecting products that will complement the one the customer is already looking at, and not just including random products.

Showing off bundles is another good way to increase AOV, which Glossier does well on their product pages.

Check out the example below where they highlight full routines.

🚀 Include trust builders: awards, accolades, and PR

There are several ways to build trust with customers, but one low-hanging fruit is to include any awards or press you have.

For awards and accolades, 100% Pure is a great example to check out.

On the main image, they show off their certifications.

If your brand has been mentioned by any notable publications, add a section closer to the end of the product page with the logos of those publications.

📚Share a bit of product education:

Some products have specific instructions –especially for beauty brands.

It’s helpful to share that with customers directly on the product page so they feel confident that your product is something they’ll be able to use.

In the middle of your product page (below the main information and before your trust builders and reviews section), share a few steps on how to use your product.

If your product doesn’t require educating customers on how to use it, you can share a short FAQ section instead.

🔄 Take a 360 video of your product

Product photos are essential, but videos can share a more accurate representation of your product, helping the customer decide if it’s truly something they want.

Allbirds is a great example. Their video shows someone walking in their shoes and bending them from different angles:

Sponsor

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Winback email campaigns can help you reignite your relationship with shoppers that have pulled a disappearing act.

With every highly engaged customer and brand loyalist that keeps coming back, you’ll also have a few lapsed and unengaged customers who haven’t interacted with your brand or purchased in some time.

It’s nothing to be ashamed of –every business has them. But that doesn’t mean you should give up on these subscribers.

💪 Research shows that 45% of subscribers who receive a winback email will go on to open future emails from your brand.

‍

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Product Page – Part 2

The conversion killers: get these off your product page

🔥 Remove extra distractions

You may have a welcome pop-up, an exit-intent pop-up, a promotional banner, live chat widgets, loyalty widgets, and a busy design that are distracting customers from focusing on the product.

It’s also a frustrating experience for customers to have to exit out of all of these things.

You don’t have to delete all of them, but remember your main goal is to convert customers. Anything that’s too distracting needs to go.

👋 Delete additional CTAs

There should be one main CTA on every product page: the add-to-cart button.

However, brands will include newsletter signups, links to social media accounts, or information about their brand community.

Ian Leslie, the Senior Director of Retail Advocacy at Bolt, sees these types of distractions often.

"I've seen brands give way too much priority to everything other than the add-to-cart or checkout button. Photos, copy, reviews, are all pushed to the top while the add to cart button is hidden.

"Never forget, the first priority is to help guide the customer toward the checkout."

If you want to include other CTAs, like a newsletter signup, put them in your footer.

🧐 Change your product name, if it’s too long or short

Two product name mistakes to avoid: an extremely long product name, and an incomplete product name.

Your product name is one of the first things customers look at.

Get a little more creative than just "red shirt," and leave the details about the size, quality, and benefits for the description.

Spongelle’s flower bath sponge product name is a great example of the perfect length.

🤯 Remove backgrounds from product photos

Help customers focus easily on the product –and not what’s going on in the background of your images.

Using backgrounds takes up space by adding unnecessary clutter, and they’re difficult to design around.

Show your product on a white background (or a color that makes the product stand out).

Email tip!

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As brands see the value of SMS marketing, collecting phone numbers has become a huge priority.

Some brands collect email and phone numbers in one pop-up, but we recommend testing a two-step process.

The Pilothouse team notices there’s less friction with two steps.

"We’re seeing a submission increase of 7% for email and 5% for SMS when implementing a two-step process," says Pilothouse’s head of email, Julien.

In the Atoms pop-up below, the copy doesn’t change from step one to step two.

We’d suggest adding "You’re almost there! Finish by entering your phone number and we’ll send you free shipping" as a way to encourage users to complete the process.

Podcast

This week on the DTC podcast, we were joined by Orchid Bertelsen of Nestlé USA to talk about the future of marketing and tech.

As the Head of Consumer Experience Strategy and Innovation, she works with 40+ brands, testing emerging technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, voice assistance, and AR/VR. 🤖

Orchid took us deep into the digital Metaverse, and here’s what we learned…

‍The Takeaways: 👇

💻 What the heck is ‘MarTech’?

‍

MarTech = Marketing Technology

In a nutshell, it includes the tools and technologies ("tech stack") marketers use to inform, plan, and execute campaigns.

Lately, MarTech has been expanding as brands start using more sophisticated technology like artificial intelligence, machine learning, and artificial/virtual reality.

Put on your VR goggles, folks. MarTech is something to keep your eyes on as eCommerce grows. 👀

🚀 Into the Metaverse…

"The Metaverse is really this digital manifestation of a separate universe you could live in."

While this sounds like science-fiction (Ready Player One, anyone?), the Metaverse is already a reality:

• People are having weddings in Nintendo’s Animal Crossing
• Fortnite launched a virtual concert series headlined by Ariana Grande
• Zoom is offering "virtual workspaces" where you can meet with coworkers

"As people spend more time on Animal Crossing or Fortnite, they want to buy shirts or merch for their avatar –they’re spending real money."

Wherever there are goods and services to be sold –whether it’s merch for your Avatar or virtual concert tix – eCommerce can thrive.

Speaking of a digital universe…

👩‍💻 How a digital human can enhance your customer experience:

OK, Tollhouse just took customer service to a whole new level…

They used AI technology to create a digital Cookie Coach™ named Ruth, and she can answer just about every cooking-baking question you might have. 🤯

She can also give you step-by-step instructions, share video tutorials, and even help you customize your recipe based on dietary preferences.

‍

Digital humans like Ruth are an example of the future of MarTech, and how technology can provide a more engaging, interactive, emotionally intelligent customer experience.

"Ruth, how can I sell my cookies in the Metaverse?" 🍪

👉 Listen to the out-of-this-world conversation with Orchid here.

Sponsor

It’s no secret: DTC brands that create memorable customer experiences are the ones that thrive for the long haul.

🤔 But how does your brand stack up against the competition?

Find out at OX Fest’21 – the free, virtual event that’s committed to taking your brand’s customer experience to a whole new level.

Leaders from Patagonia, Zappos, Mars, CCP Games, and NASA (yup, you heard us right) will share how you can transform every customer touchpoint into a moment of unbounded joy.

You’ll even get to hear DTC royalty, Kristen LaFrance, serve her hot takes on community-led growth.

Learn how sustainability, gamification, subscriptions, diversity, and inclusion can help you connect with your customers, boost sales, and increase retention – plus soooo much more.

From live keynotes and online brainstorms to on-demand videos and podcast feeds, there’s a way for everyone to attend.

So, what are you waiting for?

👉 Register for OX Fest’21 to take your customer experience to the moon.

UGC

This 40-second ad by Max Not Beer on TikTok is an awesome example of a genuine product review.

Why It Works:

Max does a great job of capturing the audience’s attention right off the bat, especially since "Glow Ups" are a popular TikTok trend right now.

He talks about the photo editing app Prequel being a huge aid to his social media glow-up.

Notice the content shifts frames frequently. It goes from static images to selfie-style videos, and finally screen recording.

This style helps keep the viewers' attention for longer.

The best part is that it doesn’t feel or look like an ad, it feels like a genuine review and that truly is the best kind of UGC.

Quick Hits

💰 Cash out of your Shopify business. Sell your DTC brand to OpenStore for a life-changing payout. Get an offer as soon as tomorrow.

👀 Snapchat eyes marketers with social listening tool, to track trends.

🥤 "The audience potential is huge" – why DTC drinkware brand BruMate is taking a second look at SMS marketing.

🤑 Twitter launches 'Super Follows' creator monetization option.

📱 Facebook undercounted SKAdNetwork conversions for iPhone 12 users since February.

🚀 Facebook tests new Ad Automation Flows to help maximize campaign performance.

🐦 Pro Tips: Twitter provides insights into how to maximize your tweet marketing approach.

📰 Google News sending users directly to publishers’ websites.

📈 Kantar: TikTok ad exposure nearly doubles, as does platform's trust among marketers.

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🔊 Have you heard our latest podcasts?

‍

👩‍💻 Nestle's Orchid Bertelsen on Strategies that Scale Across 30+ Brands (And the Metaverse)

🤑 How This DTC Brand Grew 1000% in One Year with David Gaylord, CEO of Bushbalm.

📫 Chase Dimond on iOS 15 changes and this one simple hack to raise your email open rates by 20%.

📈 Geeking out on growth with Little Spoon's Simon Wool.

Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

DTC Newsletter is written by Thomas Schreiber, Tina Donati, Kelsey Hess, and Rebecca Knight.

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