DTC938: Billing Practices, Deliverability, and Copying Competitors

Good morning,

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

• ❌ Don’t Let This Tank Your BFCM Ad Campaigns  
• ✉️ Email Myth: Only Big Lists Have Deliverability Issues
• 💡 Don’t Just Copy Competitor Ads…

You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Craig Travel, SLP Lighting, and Runderwear. 👋

‍📺 Reach High-Intent Shoppers This Black Friday With Roku Ads Manager

Black Friday weekend is the most-streamed period of the year on Roku, with users logging 300+ million hours of viewing in 2024. 📈

As consumers stream more and shop earlier, Roku delivers access to 125+ million U.S. households daily, at the exact moment purchase intent peaks. 👀

With Roku Ads Manager, advertisers can:

• 🚀 Launch campaigns quickly with a self-serve, intuitive platform
• 🎯 Target precisely by demographics, interests, and geography
• 📊 Optimize in real time using live performance insights

Roku is America’s #1 TV streaming platform by hours streamed, capturing 47% of all TV streaming time. This holiday season, gain agility, scale, and measurable ROI where shoppers are most engaged. 🛍️

Don’t miss your chance to turn peak streaming into peak sales. Use code GET5K for $5K in ad credits on your first $5K in spend on Roku Ads Manager. Terms apply.

‍❌ Keep Your Ad Account Running Smoothly During This Critical Period

❗ Failed payment.

The message that keeps advertisers up at night.

Not only is this a hassle, but it can disrupt ad delivery and spend pacing for your Meta campaigns.

Pilothouse shares that the learning phase won’t be greatly impacted if your ads are off for an hour while you sort out your payment method, but multiple failed payments and longer outages can have a larger impact on your account and ability to advertise.

And too many missed payments can lead to your account being suspended. 🙅

But don’t fret, the Pilothouse team is here with a couple of tips to help you set yourself up for success with ad account billing for Q4.

• Check your account spending limit
  • If you have an account spending limit set up, make sure it’s high enough that you have room to spend 20-25% over your budget for November - it’s good to have room to scale beyond what you’re planning!

• Set up two backup payment methods
  • Having backup payment methods is huge!! The pilothouse team recommends having at least two backups in case needed. This account has three backups, which is ideal.

• Consider applying for a credit line: Depending on the volume and eligibility, it’s worth looking into applying for a credit line.
  • If you have a credit line, it’s so important to make sure to check the balance and how much room there is. Meta sometimes reduces limits without communicating this to advertisers, which can leave you in a scramble. If a credit line is your default payment method, the Pilothouse team recommends adding additional backup methods in case.

Lastly, check your account's billing section regularly for any failed payments so you can stay ahead of any lapses in delivery.

Keep in close contact with your finance team to make sure credit cards are paid on time and that there’s room for the ad spend budget that you’ve laid out for the month!

‍👀 Get Your Brand In Front Of Engaged Audiences. Reach Holiday Shoppers Where They Stream Most

📊 The numbers don’t lie.

Roku is America’s #1 TV streaming platform by hours streamed, capturing 47% of all U.S. streaming time. 📺

Combine that with the high engagement of Roku holiday shoppers, with over 67% planning to start their shopping before Thanksgiving, and it’s a must-have in your holiday playbook.

Roku Ads Manager lets advertisers launch campaigns in minutes, reach target audiences, and optimize campaigns in real time. 🚀

Roku’s intuitive, self-serve platform gives you flexible scheduling and advanced audience segmentation for maximum impact during peak shopping weeks. 📈

🎯 Engage early, convert faster, and make this holiday season your biggest yet.

‍🎧 Email Deliverability, Explained with Benny Rubin of Senders.co

On this episode of TWBERP, Benny Rubin breaks down the technical systems that keep your emails out of the spam folder and in front of your customers.

Deliverability isn’t about sending more emails. It’s about building trust with inbox providers.

Benny shares how fast-growing DTC brands often create deliverability issues by mixing cold outreach, transactional sends, and promotional campaigns under one domain.

In this episode, we dive into:

• How to structure your domains and sub-domains for inbox placement
• Why domain age and IP reputation matter more than send volume
• The right way to revive and validate old or acquired email lists
• How ESPs and inbox providers calculate engagement ratios
• Why large brands can email more often

▶️ Watch the full episode on YouTube here.

🎧 Or click here to listen on Spotify.

Too many ecommerce marketers get stuck recycling competitor ads and wonder why performance stalls.

Real growth happens when you look outside your niche for inspiration.

What you can do:

1️⃣ Study why an ad works in another category.
2️⃣ Then adapt that insight to your own brand and audience.

This approach helps you slay new messaging angles your competitors haven’t tried yet.

‍

‍Instagram Rolls Out Competitive Insights Feature

There's now a new way for brands to benchmark their Instagram performance against competitors.

You can now compare your account to 10 competitor profiles side by side and see metrics like posting frequency and relative follower growth.

Learn more here.

‍📺 Your customers are streaming on Black Friday weekend. Make sure they see you. Roku Ads Manager puts your brand in front of millions of viewers so you can win this holiday season. Start your campaign today. *

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‍📥 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.

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.