DTC913: Meta Attribution Test, Urban Outfitters Growth, and Hidden Shipping Fees

Good morning,

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:

⚡ Scale Ads Like A Pro
Run this attribution test to unlock growth.

👚 Lessons from Urban Outfitters
Analyzing the apparel brand’s retention wins.

💀 Silent CRO Killer
Get rid of this on your checkout page.

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Gold Holly, Electronic Express, and Norbar. 👋

🛍️ Imagine, Your Customers Flowing From Intent To Purchase, Effortlessly. This Is The Future Of Commerce

Introducing Swap’s Agentic Commerce Platform—an AI-native infrastructure transforming how merchants sell, plan, and grow. 📈

🔮 AKA, the future of your store.

This storefront allows consumers to go from intent to purchase in a fully AI-native environment. 🛒

What does it mean for your shoppers? Ease. From conversational search to chat-native checkout, it makes the shopping experience joyful again. 🎉

What does it mean for you? Up to 2X higher conversion than traditional storefronts, with higher cart sizes, faster discovery, and stronger loyalty. 💵

🌟 On top of that, Swap products are baked in. Exchanges, returns, tracking, demand planning, cross-border and beyond—It all just got easier.

👉 Swap gives you the power to sell anything, anywhere—from one platform.

Ready to step into your future?

📅 Book A Demo

💰 Run This Attribution Test on Meta Before Q4 Takes Off

In 2025, the default scaling strategy on Meta is vertical scaling by pushing more budget into top campaigns, running fewer campaigns, and letting Meta’s algorithm allocate budget where it sees the most opportunity.

This typically works well for the majority of the year, but when Q4 competition peaks and CPAs increase, vertical scaling alone can leave you handcuffed.

Pilothouse shares this is where horizontal scaling becomes an important tactic, and understanding what attribution settings work the best for your brand can be powerful in continuing to scale in a competitive landscape.

Campaign attribution settings define how conversions are credited to your ads and what audience Meta is trying to target with the different settings.

7DC1DV (7-day click + 1-day view) might work well during evergreen periods, but when you’re trying to maximize Q4 performance, small shifts in attribution can unlock major opportunities.

Here is one test that the Pilothouse team recommends setting up with attribution settings:

7DC1DV vs 7DC

How the Settings Work:

• 7 Day Click, 1 Day View (7DC1DV): This is the default option on Meta and generally reaches the broadest audiences.
• 7 Day Click (7DC): This is a strong option for trying to hit users who are more likely to convert after clicking on an ad only. You’re more likely to drive more incremental revenue by looking at 7-day click data.

Test Structure:

• Create two new campaigns in your ad account using the highest volume as the bid strategy.
• At the Ad Set level under “Conversion”, change the attribution setting on one to be 7-day click, and the other to be 7-day click, 1-day view

• The Pilothouse team recommends targeting a broad open audience for this, and leaving all placements selected.
• At the ad level, copy over your top 5-8 ads as a starting point.
• All settings across both campaigns should be the same, aside from the attribution settings.
• Launch both campaigns at the same budget and at the same time, then run for 7-10 days or until each campaign reaches 10x your target CPA to gather enough data as a foundation.
• Compare the performance of the two campaigns and determine the winner.

💡 Pilothouse recommends adding the 7-day click attribution setting and a comparison and using that to determine true success.

For example, your 7-day click, 1-day view campaign might actually yield a better 7-day click ROAS compared to the 7-day click campaign, so it’s important to review using multiple attribution windows.

• To add a 7-day click attribution column, click on Columns, then Compare attribution settings. A second window will pop up > click 7-day click and apply.

• You’ll end up with a second column for 7-day click performance and can use it to compare more accurately.

Give this attribution test a try in your account and let us know how it goes!

📲 The Future Called. It Said, Get In, We’re Going Shopping.

Swap’s Agentic Commerce Platform is so much more than just an AI-native storefront environment.

It's the ability to sell anything, anywhere, all from one platform.

With Swap's Agentic Commerce Platform, you give your business and your customers the ability to step into modern commerce.

Your customers will enjoy: The automated storefront experience. ✅

While you see the benefits from: One platform connecting logistics, tax, and compliance. ✅

Powered by AI tools driving the future of commerce, this offering is designed to help customers seamlessly move through the buying process—from discovery to checkout.

This changes the way customers shop. Want to be at the forefront of that change? 👇

Halloween spending is projected to hit a record $13.1 billion this year, up from $11.6 billion last year, according to the NRF.

Despite higher prices driven by tariffs, consumer enthusiasm for Halloween remains strong across age groups.

So build your seasonal campaigns early and capitalize on consumers' willingness to spend for experiences, costumes, décor, and treats.

🎧 How Urban Outfitters Uses Email + Onsite Continuity to Drive More Revenue

When you break down Urban Outfitters’ email and onsite strategy, one thing becomes clear: continuity and simplicity drive retention.

Instead of obsessing over clever subject lines or long-winded copy, UO wins by making sure every email, category page, and homepage feels like part of the same experience.

On this episode of the TWBERP podcast, Jordan from Pilothouse shares some takeaways your brand can use starting today:

1. Let the Images Do the Work

Fashion emails shouldn’t be text heavy. Because let’s be honest, no one’s reading it. They want eye-catching visuals. It’s all about putting together looks.

• UO’s best emails simply say “NEW” and then show full-bleed images stacked one after another.
• No space, no copy, no overthinking, just window shopping in your inbox.

👉 If your product is highly visual, test emails with less text and full-bleed images.

2. Use Browse Abandonment to Replicate Window Shopping

One genius idea: repurpose UO’s image-heavy template for browse abandonment emails.

• First image = the product they viewed.
• Followed by a recommendation grid (2x2 on desktop, 1x4 on mobile).

👉 This creates the same experience as walking past a store window.

3. Match Emails to Landing Pages for Continuity

Every landing page should answer these questions:

• Where am I?
• What do you want me to do?
• What’s in it for me?

Urban Outfitters nails this by reusing the same photography from their emails at the top of the category page.

That continuity removes friction and reassures the shopper they’re in the right place.

👉 Audit your own site: do your emails, category pages, and homepage tell the same story?

4. Stop Using Carousels on Category Pages

Static hero images beat carousels. Why?

• Carousels distract shoppers into waiting for “what’s next.”
• Static images let them consume the message quickly and move on to products.

👉 Replace your category page carousel with a still image from your latest campaign.

5. Double Down on Product Discovery

UO makes it easy for shoppers to keep exploring:

• “Complete the Look” 👉 Accessories that go with the chosen product
• “You May Also Like” 👉 Broader discovery recommendations

This combo keeps shoppers engaged whether they’re ready to buy that product or not. If they are, it raises AOV.

👉 If you’re only running one type of recommendation block, add the other.

6. Layer in Culture for Retention

Urban Outfitters doesn’t just sell clothes. They sell culture to a Gen Z audience.

• They have a section on its site called UO Music Shop and feature UO curated playlists.
• That playlist can easily be worked into welcome flows, site abandonment, or even seasonal campaigns.

👉 If your brand has cultural equity (music, community, lifestyle), bake it into your retention strategy.

👉 Listen to the full episode with Jordan here.

CRO expert Dave Diederen shares how hidden shipping fees kill conversions.

When costs only appear at checkout, shoppers feel tricked.

The fix is simple: show shipping estimates in cart, use geo-based estimates, and set clear free-shipping thresholds.

Transparency builds trust, prevents abandoned carts, and can even lift AOV in some cases.

🤖 Your shoppers are using AI. So why aren’t you using it for your storefront? Swap’s Agentic Commerce Platform provides an agent-enabled shopping experience that drives conversion from discover to checkout. Learn more here. *

📥 Got a B2B Biz?

Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 150k brand leaders and founders this year. Talk to our team to learn more.

Have you heard our latest podcasts?

• 🚀 Highland’s $10M Playbook and CAC Payback
• 💡 AKNF 546: Pilothouse’s Strategy Team Transforms Ad Accounts
• ⛰️ Ad-venturous 21: Cringe Mountain and Why fearless Brands Win
• 😨 TWBERP 52: Don’t Let This Tactic Tank Q4
• 🧸 How Lovevery Built a Nine Figure Subscription Engine
• 📈 AKNF 544: Break Through Scaling Ceilings in Google Ads

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

DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.

Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.