We hope this email finds you well 😉
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 How many angles is too many angles?
📦 How to decrease abandoned carts and increase revenue
📦 The benefits of using holidays (and holiday creative) for brand sales
📦 Confidently launch products that maximize profit using AI
📦 South Asian flavors, mushroom gummies, and boxed wine
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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We’re not ones to leave you hangin’. We keep our word just like our pals at Pilothouse, who bring you the rest of the email campaign breakdown with Dr. Squatch.
After some time to sit with their thoughts, the Pilothouse email team has so much more to say on what’s shaping up to be a very effective campaign. Take it away, Pilots!
📐 One angle too many
There are too many angles here. The email is about a 30-day guarantee, but it doesn’t go into further detail about it. We think there’s room to unpack that a little more. Guarantees can seem like a gimmick and play into the ‘risk-free’ trope. It would be more useful to explain what value this guarantee offers to the customer.
Include social proof from people who love your products and be cheeky about why future customers won’t need the guarantee.
What they are doing is communicating the savings in the merchandising section, as we mentioned earlier. We’re hoping the trend continues because of how effective a reminder it truly is!
In the SMS section, they could standardize all that content as a footer or banner at the end of the email. It doesn’t have to be a big component of the email messaging every send, but brands should try to contextualize it as a friendly reminder. Then, incorporate that standardized template throughout other future campaigns and flows.
😋 Face value
We can’t dive too deep into this one because the messaging is pretty clear - 10 days, 10 deals. With such bold visual elements, the product code in the top banner can easily be missed. To a customer, that’s arguably the most important part because, without that code, there’s little point in receiving this email. 🙃
Leverage these strong visual elements but don’t forget to provide value front and center every chance you get. In this example, the code should be placed closer to the CTA or found more boldly in the copy.
You've seen it happen.
Customers make extensive wishlists with their online carts.
Then ghost over the checkout process. 🤦
And while you might not be able to call the Ghostbusters 👻 (yet), you will find answers in this guide from Adroll.
Reducing online window shopping starts with understanding WHY your customers leave without purchasing.
Find information like this and more in The Abandoned Cart Recovery Guide, where you’ll learn how to:
Shopping behavior has changed drastically over the past few years. Adroll gives you the tactics in this referenceable tactical guide.
👉 Learn the strategies you need to strive in the new e-commerce-first world.
Give it to us straight, doc
This is a great example of a strong product collection. 💪 They touch on a common pain point: Are you still using those sticks from middle school that are packed with harsh chemicals? That made us run to the bathroom and read the label of our deodorant sticks.
Now that they have our attention (or questioning our life choices 😬), they present a solution and go into further detail about why their product is better. They not only list the ingredients but also provide a concise explanation of each ingredient and its benefits.
Shout out to the merchandising section here — we love seeing those badges!
🦆 Lucky duck
How did an Irish holiday ever turn into an opportunity for a sale? 🇮🇪
It's a good thing Dr. Squatch has a product to match the occasion. You’ll often see brands with products that have nothing to do with St. Patrick’s Day begin a sale just to take advantage of the holiday name. There might be a study out there claiming that after a wild night out, consumers have an elevated buyer’s intent. Cheers to that!
We love the little coupon at the bottom that serves as a friendly reminder of another promo on the go. Whether a consumer celebrates or not, there’s something here for everyone.
🧺 A bundle of…something
Dr. Squatch is on a roll with their collection emails! Strong copy continues to address a problem, ask questions, provoke thoughts, and lead to solutions. Some benefit-driven copy for the products is always useful, and we’re glad to see its inclusion here.
Dr. Squatch should be less ambiguous in the ’Bundle and Save’ section. We want to know what’s in the bundle and how much we’re saving by bundling. Offers like this should be communicated just like they were previously.
💥 More of a good thing
This is more of what we wanted to see in the other 30-day guarantee email! The copy is strong as always and tells the consumer about the results Dr. Squatch products provide. This is strong social proof, complemented by visually pleasing visuals with the product at the forefront.
It’s surprising that Dr. Squatch doesn’t keep their merchandising sections consistent. They could be on to something, but when we aren’t told how much we’re saving, it’s hard to unravel a satisfying mystery and far easier to feel left out.
Imagine if ChatGPT could tell you what the most in-demand products are
AND
What you should sell them for.
It can't (we tried) 🤷♂️
ChatGPT is just a language model without access to 500 million SKUs and the sales performance trends of 80,000+ brands.
But you know who does? Particl 😉
Using this data and FIVE minutes, DTC brands can -
Using the world's largest DTC sales and product database. Particl uses AI to help you crush your revenue goals and increase your sell-through rate.
👉 Discover your brand's potential using AI.
Just the good stuff
Short, sweet, and beautiful. A strong product released at an opportune time capitalizes on all the love Mando gets, and the turns out to be a collector’s dream. Beautiful packaging leverages a collector’s desire to keep items in their original state. This ad definitely has the high ground 🌑.
🎉 Stay trendy!
In the world of ecommerce, brands are always looking for unique ways to leverage current events or holidays to sell a product. Dr. Squatch does a great job of bridging the gap between the occasion and ecommerce to produce a beautifully designed ad.
📸 It’s just a prank!
April Fools is an occasion for the gullible and the ambitious. When everyone is questioning the legitimacy of everything they see, riding the line of believability is the smartest move a brand can make. Being tied to a larger social campaign reinforces believability and engagement because it’s something their audience can recognize.
Though this one is a little far-fetched, it’s not so ridiculous that it would negatively affect their brand. It’s a very unique and intelligent way to gain insight into your community and this product's potential. This joke went too far (in a very good way!), and now it’s an incredibly successful market research tool.
✨ Conclusion
That’s all for this week from the Pilothouse email team, folks! Stay tuned for your next appointment with Dr. Squatch to learn what this DTC MVP is doing to keep the hype alive.
Brands
🌏 Paro: Looking to recreate your favorite South Asian dishes at home but don’t have a clue where to start (or where to find the ingredients)? Paro’s got you covered! Their meals and spices are the perfect way to bring those comfort flavors you know and love to your own kitchen.
🍄 Troomy Nootropics: If you’ve been taking the same Flintstones vitamins since you were a kid, it’s time to shake things up. Troomy Nootropics’ super-charged mushroom gummies are a bite-sized version of functional wellness.
🍷 Juliet Wine: If you think of your grandparents or college kids when you think of boxed wine, then you’ve got another thing coming for you! Juliet Wine’s boxed and eco-friendly wines are a great way to reduce your carbon footprint and add a cute little something to your kitchen counter.
🕯️ 9 Year Old Lily Harper from Lily Lou's Aromas homeschools us all.
🌲 TAXA Outdoor, Garrett Finney: Digital meets dealership, NASA Architect goes out of home for real.
🐶 Pet Health Comes Home with MySimplePetLab's Jen Hagness.
☠️ Liquid Death Mountain Water: Hamid Saify - Death, Beverages, and the Attention Economy.
🟥 Mid-Day Squares: Jake Karls and Nick Saltarelli - Rainmaking, Fundraising and "One word: F&%^ng Crazy."
💡 Listen to the Biggest Marketing News Stories Today.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Michael Venditti. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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