Good morning,
The House has once again passed a bill that, if approved by the Senate, could result in a total ban on TikTok in the U.S. The new bill gives the app nine months to divest or risk being banned. 🕜
Stay tuned as the Senate is set to vote in the next few days, we’ll keep you posted on all the latest developments.
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:
You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Apeel, Haiper AI, and Doghouse Distillery. 👋
Riddle us this: Is there ANY industry that moves as fast and changes as much as ecommerce does? It sure doesn’t feel like it. 😅 We’re about to say sayonara to cookies AND hasta la vista to stable acquisition costs amidst election volatility.
Yet, through the uncertainty, Saysh and Doen are still finding ways to win with email and SMS. Join Klaviyo’s panel-style discussion on April 24th at 12 p.m. ET where they’re sharing their strategies on growing audiences and revenue.
Summer and BFCM prep are right around the corner. Make sure you have all the information and insights you need for success. 📈
*Sponsored
Google is phasing out ad customizers for expanded text ads (ETA) and dynamic search ads (DSA) and pushing responsive search ads as the most effective ad format.
What are ad customizers?
Ad customizers allow you to define custom attributes like product name, model, or price in real-time, making it easier to scale and personalize your ad messages.
Why?
Google has been trying to make responsive search ads the primary ad format for a while now. In 2022, Google announced that advertisers would no longer be able to create or edit expanded text ads, unlike RSAs.
When will this happen?
This phase-out will come into effect on May 31st, 2024.
Note: ETAs will still run but advertisers won’t be able to use ad customizers which provide dynamically generated content based on the info provided.
If you are still running text-based ads, the general recommendation is to rebuild these campaigns before they are fully deprecated.
What you need to know if you advertise on Google:
The Pilothouse Google team shares that, luckily, advertisers can easily replicate these campaigns.
Here are some next steps:
Duplicate Expanded text ads (ETAs) by pinning headlines and descriptions within your RSAs.
💡 Don’t worry about Google calling your ad strength “poor” if you know those specific headlines are the ones that work. Ad strength isn’t as important as ad relevance.
Duplicate Responsive Search ads: Run tests by pinning certain headlines against an unpinned variant to see which ad performs best if you believe specific ad copy is superior to rotating through various headline and description combos.
Take this time to set up and test RSA campaigns against your existing ETAs so that ad performance doesn’t dip.
Ditch the scripted "UGC" and lean into real, authentic testimonials with minisocial's micro influencer creators.
Plant People uses minisocial to get content that converts. They’re seeing:
Ready to get started with 15% off your first project? Reach out to minisocial in April (act fast!) and tell them DTC sent you. 🫡
“I’m Ready to Make Better Ads”
*Sponsored
In this episode of the pod, Avery, Pilothouse’s Social Content Lead, returns to chat about the importance of understanding your audience and how to tailor your marketing efforts to reach them effectively.
Brands may have misconceptions about their audience and should adjust strategy based on their data analytics and insights.
Avery explains: “Ask yourself, what words and emojis does my target audience like to use? What do they enjoy posting about, and what content do they engage with? You can use all that data to understand their pain point and inform your ad copy.”
In this podcast, we cover:
Learn how to understand your audience using a data-driven approach and leverage these insights from Pilothouse to create creative ad copy that converts.
👉 You can listen to the full episode with Avery here.
Remember to give your team some words of appreciation! Acknowledging their efforts will go a long way. 🫶
❓Guess what percentage of shoppers still prefer retail? 71%! To combat, DTC brands are adopting a Where-to-Buy solution to benefit from the increased presence of established online retailers. Read more here. *
⏰ LAST CHANCE for 1 month FREE! Visually.io, the no-code CRO platform for Shopify Plus, will boost your CVR by 10% within a month. Claim your FREE month - April installations only! *
Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 160k brand leaders and founders this year. Talk to our team to learn more.
Have you heard our latest podcasts?
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.
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