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Saturday, March 5, 2022

It’s Saturday… and you know what that means.

Truth. Unless that movement is your fingers scrollin’ through this email…

Because we’re back with a new edition of our brand breakdowns! 💥

In this series, we’re reviewing Bombas , a sock and apparel brand that’s perfected comfort and style, resulting in clothing you’ll never want to take off.

But they’re not just about clothing. Bombas also has a greater mission of helping those in need, and for every purchase made, they donate an item to those affected by homelessness.

Time to get cozy with Bombas (luckily, we’re all still in our PJs, right? 😉).

In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇

🥇 Brand Breakdown Part 1: Bombas (Facebook Ads)

🔐 How leading eCommerce brands unlock subscription success with Ordergroove

💰 Get on top of your finances and invoice tracking with Settle

Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎

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FB ADS

1️⃣ You’ve got mail

This ad highlights the entire “package arrival” experience for Bombas, from delivery to unboxing—which, let’s face it, turns us all into little kids on Christmas. 🤗

✨ Where it shines

• Killer creative! A quick GIF that takes you from package arrival to opening the box ✅
• We love the copy structure and substance. Powerful adjectives and short sentences tend to perform really well. It also details exactly what you get while leaving room for the creative to show more ✅
• Great use of promo/offer in the CTA ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• Test some emojis in the copy to help ads stand out more in the feed
• The promo code in the headline works for Facebook, but if they’re running automatic placements, consider placing the code in the ad copy as well because it won’t show on Instagram
• Emphasize that this code is a “social media exclusive” (if that’s true) to highlight exclusivity 💅

2️⃣ Festive vibes

Speaking of Christmas… In this ad, Bombas capitalizes on the most gifted item by Grandmas worldwide 🧦. Who doesn’t like getting a stocking full of fun new socks?!

✨ Where it shines

• Great use of copy! We love the festive line “warm the hearts and toes.” They also get the ease of use across quickly with “no wrapping required.” ✅
• The creative use of an alternating GIF with a static offer is an excellent format for performance ✅
• Combing the ideas of a “perfect gift” that’s also discounted can work wonders for perceived value ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• Ditto from the last ad on emojis and code in the headline
• Test adding a bulleted list in the copy that highlights the benefits of the products (which can help the shopper justify paying a premium)
• If this is used for retargeting, test some different headline and copy formatting as it has a similar tone to their other ads

3️⃣ Mission-focused

This ad has the same description copy as the previous ad but is paired with a different video. Notice how the message can change so much with different creative!

✨ Where it shines

• We love how they use the creative as a place to portray their larger brand mission ✅
• The text overlay on the video is well designed: short and sweet, easy to read, emphasized in all the right places ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• There’s a bit of disconnect between the copy (which highlights socks) and the products shown in the ad (includes other apparel). This could be confusing for shoppers that are new to the brand.
• If this ad performed well during the holidays, they could try an “all seasons sock” iteration that highlights how they’re also great year-round or for winter—giving it more momentum post-Q4.

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FB ADS

4️⃣ Which Disney princess are you?

This ad highlights a pretty epic collab with Disney, showing their princess sock collection (BTW, we’re definitely #teammoana).

✨ Where it shines

• Fantastic attention to detail with this creative. The GIF highlights the different sock options and what princesses they’re modeled after ✅
• We love that they use kids in the creative, which is the audience that’ll likely be most stoked about Disney socks ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• Simple copy drives your eye to the creative, but it would be worth exploring how contrasting factors in the copy and headline (emojis, formatting, etc.) impact performance
• Directing to a custom landing page here could have insane potential (if there isn’t already one)

5️⃣ Sesame Street socks

“Count” us in. 🧛 This ad shows another fun collab with childhood characters.

✨ Where it shines

• Fun, age-appropriate ad creative ✅
• The characters “peeking” into the graphic is a nice humorous touch and works well to highlight the product ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• Putting the thumbnail with the discount at the end of the video means people may not see it. We’d suggest split-testing a) this GIF version with the thumbnail at the front and b) a custom thumbnail graphic to see what converts better.

6️⃣ Bombas IRL

This fun GIF highlights the different Bombas socks you can wear in real life, every day of the week. (Plus a few cameos of a cute pup, which we all know never hurts.)

✨ Where it shines

• Illustrating how a shopper can use your product in their daily life is always a smart strategy ✅
• They take the opportunity to highlight their Lifetime Guarantee and refund policy in the headline. It shows a level of care for the customer that can help them stand out against competitors ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• They chose not to have any copy for this ad, but we feel like it may have been a missed opportunity for trying something funny. We suggest at least split-testing one version to see what performs better.
• The headline “Bombas” is a bit weak for feeds. Adding a USP statement, like “world’s comfiest socks,” would likely stand out more.

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FB ADS

​​7️⃣ Unbox me

This video illustrates the gift unboxing experience for the Bombas holiday collection. Clever strategy!

✨ Where it shines:

• We like how simple and quick the video is, which grabs your attention before you have a chance to bounce.

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• The box is pretty far away in the video, making it hard to see in detail
• The size of the video isn’t optimized for feed; we’d probably test a 4x5 or 1x1 version

8️⃣ Strike a pose

This GIF highlights a few different styles of Bomba socks on an eye-catching background.

✨ Where it shines

• Promo code is in the copy here! Good for automatic placements ✅
• Headline and description are strong with this ad ✅
• Colorful creative that highlights a few different products ✅
• The offer thumbnail is at the end of this GIF also, but it isn’t as much of an issue since the discount and code are also highlighted in the copy ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• We’d love to see more SKUs and color options shown. They could also test different versions to see what performs best
• Product GIFs can often end up with lower CTRs. We’d be interested in testing this same copy with different creative such as lifestyle imagery and video
• Pairing the strong headline “The Most Comfortable Socks Ever Created” with creative that actually shows their comfort (like lying on a couch, or someone rubbing the socks on their face) might be a more powerful combo

9️⃣ Basic imagery

When we analyzed Bombas ads, only three versions used a still image. The same image was used but paired with a different copy.

✨ Where it shines

• Yay, some humorous copy! The “Warning:” angle typically works well in ads—it’s a word that tends to catch people’s eye ✅
• Solid emphasis on the offer and their lifetime guarantee ✅

💡 Pro Tips from Pilothouse

• The headlines could be stronger
• The image used is a little bland and only shows one type of sock, which could be limiting the potential of the copy. We’d suggest testing this copy on more eye-catching creative.

🚀 Further observations and suggestions:

Bombas has some awesome video creative that highlights various product offerings.

Here’s what the Pilothouse team suggests for the future:

👉 The majority of Bombas ads are videos which can reduce CPC costs, so they should test more lifestyle imagery. If they create images that show the quality of the products or highlight the USP, those could easily be top-performing ads.

👉 Most of the ads are directed to their website and PDPs. While this is a good strategy in some cases, custom landing pages could be instrumental for new customer acquisition, especially for the special collabs with partners.

👉 There’s something funny about buying socks and underwear that could be played up more. Finding ways to showcase the brand’s personality and sense of humor would be a huge win here!

👉 The copy often falls flat when compared to their creative. Overall, there’s an opportunity to test more iterations of different copy and formatting.

👉 Lower AV products are better suited for video.

That’s a wrap on our ads analysis!

👋 Stay tuned for Part 2 of the Bombas brand breakdown…emails!

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BRANDS

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🧴 Pholk: Winter’s almost come and gone. It’s time to refresh your skincare routine. Check out Pholk’s skin quiz to get products inspired by African herbalists and healing traditions.

💐 Unwilted: What if your Valentine's flowers could still look as fresh as the day you got them? Unwilted’s handmade paper flower arrangements are the perfect solution.

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‍🔊 HAVE YOU HEARD OUR LATEST PODCASTS?

👟 Restructuring Google Ads for Customer Avatars with Sean McGinnis from Kuru Footwear.

🐶 40% Repeat Purchase Rate (Without Email) and True Meaning of Product-Market Fit with James Petrellis from Mighty Munch.

🥣 Mascots in the Metaverse: How to Make NFTs Work for Your DTC Brand with OffLimits CEO Emily Elyse Miller.

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DTC Newsletter is written by Kelsey Hess and Rebecca Knight. Edited by Claire Beveridge.

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