Goooood morning đ
Eric is in Austin for our DTC Dines event happening tonight, so I (Rebecca, Content Director here at DTC) am taking over the intro today.
And⌠I have a requestâŚ
Iâm hoping to meet with some of you to get feedback on the newsletter (what you like and what you donât - I promise you wonât hurt my feelings). If youâd be open to having a chat with me, just reply back to this email, and Iâll reach out to find a time for us to connect. Or, if youâd rather, you can email me directly at rebecca@directtoconsumer.co
Looking forward to hearing from you!
Hereâs your morning meme before we get into it.
Alrighty, hereâs your updates for today:
đ¨ Meta and Google both upgraded their AI ad image tools this week
Meta's Advantage+ Creative can now take an image youâve already uploaded and rewrite just the headline text on it, keeping your fonts, colors, and layout untouched.
In testing, one source image produced eight new headline and copy combinations without a designer touching it.
Fill out your Branding settings in Ads Manager before you turn this on: logo, voice, restricted words. If you skip that step, youâre gonna end up with Meta handing you options with an emoji you banned or a word you flagged.
Google announced a move in the same direction. Google Ads added an upload option to its AI image generator, letting you drop in a product shot, background, or reference image so the AI uses it as a style guide alongside your text prompt. It closes a real gap since text-only prompts rarely nail your product's actual look.
đ Your worst-CPA ad might be propping up your best ones
@binghott broke down a Meta account and shared why he doesn't judge an ad as good or bad based on any single metric like CPM or CVR. He looks at the top spenders in the campaign.
The data shows the three best CPAs sat next to the three worst CPCs, and the two best CTRs sat next to the two worst CPMs. This is normal and what an optimized system looks like.
Niche and broad ads, cold and warm audiences, none of them run the same rates, and you need all of them in the mix to scale past one or two winners.
He calls this the "breakdown effect.â Kill your biggest spender over a bad CPA and that budget doesn't move to your cheapest ad at the same rate, it drags the campaign's blended CPA up instead.
đ¤ AI is running the daily media grind now
Several operators running DTC brands at scale sat down with me (Eric) and shared where AI is actually earning its keep in media buying and creative. Chatham House rules, so no names.
One operator is AI-maxxing and has automated daily media optimization end to end. An AI system reviews test campaigns against target ROAS and promotes or kills ads without human input.
The guardrail is each ad has to spend at least $100 before the system can cut it. Angle suggestions come from AI too, but final creative production, especially with video, stays with people.
Other operators use AI mainly for volume. Generate multiple variants fast and A/B test them. Skip the hand-polishing on a single asset.
Another operator suggests pairing AI-generated hooks with human-shot footage and real creators rather than relying on AI output start to finish.
Some other ideas include using AI to scrape and analyze competitor content, reviews, and comments to surface new ad angles.
This week: If your creative team is stuck hand-editing AI drafts, test generating 10 variants and picking the best instead.
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đĄ Aloâs AI-Powered Tech Stack
Alo Yoga sells yoga apparel, streetwear, and wellness products through a DTC site, making a whopping $78M a month. We did some digging and found a stack of AI-powered Shopify apps that are helping power their growth and ops. Â
Built for product discovery and customer outreach, these tools help the brand find products faster, sell them at the moment of intent, and stay in touch with customers after the sale.
Here's what's running under the hood:
Searchanise
A search and filter app with AI personalization built in. It powers instant and predictive search, synonym handling, voice search, and custom product filters.
On Alo's site, Searchanise runs the search bar and the autocomplete results that appear. Type "black leggings" and it surfaces recommended products along with search suggestions instantly.
It also drives the filter sidebar on collection pages (size, color, category) and handles "no results" pages by redirecting shoppers to alternative products.
Endear
An AI clienteling CRM built for brands operating both online and in-store. It pulls customer data, orders, loyalty status, purchase history, into unified profiles, then uses an AI feature called Opportunity Engine to generate a prioritized outreach queue for sales associates.
Alo's team uses this to message VIP customers, book appointments, and manage segmented outreach over email, SMS, and WhatsApp.
Attentive
Handles AI-led email and SMS marketing. It builds cross-channel audiences (SMS, email, push, RCS) that update in real time, and applies AI to optimize send times, message personalization, and A/B testing.
Attentive shows up on Alo's site through the email and SMS signup units, typically a pop-up or embedded form capturing an email and phone number in exchange for a discount.
Once a shopper opts in, Attentive powers the triggered messaging: cart abandonment, browse abandonment, back-in-stock alerts, welcome flows. It also integrates with Shopify's checkout extension, so SMS/email capture and consent can happen at checkout too.
đ§ The Perfect Pop-Up: Timing, Targeting, and the Right Offer
Jordan welcomes Shaan Arora, founder of Alia, back to the TWBERP pod. The email and SMS pop-up company was recently acquired for $60 million.
He shares why this was the right time for an exit and what makes a high-converting pop-up work.
They get into the role of data as a competitive advantage, how AI is changing software development, and why strong ecommerce brands should continue testing even after they find a winning variation.
âśď¸ Watch here | đ§ Listen on Spotify
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