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If you’re new to DTC, welcome! You’re in good company with fellow newcomers from TONYMOLY, One Stripe Chai, Tinto Amorío, and Stix Golf. ⛳
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 Jess Cervallon from Feastables: What CPG can learn from SaaS about CX
📦 DTC C-Suite Mastermind replays
📦 The big Meta event of 2023…
📦 Get access to over three years of data and 500M SKUs
📦 Using emotions to boost sales (part two)
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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🎧 Today on the DTC pod, we're excited to jump into a downright delightful chat with Jess Cervallon, the Head of CX at Mr. Beast Feastables.
We'll be dishing the deets on how the consumer packaged goods (CPG) world can take a page out of the SaaS playbook to level up their customer experience game, plus the inside scoop on her CX stack and smart strategies for segmentation and dynamic customer journeys. 🍬
Thanks to Jess's SaaS background, she's putting the "fun" in "functional" by sprinkling some Mr. Beast charm into every touchpoint. Get ready for some incredible tales (like when she hand-delivered 11 Teslas across the US 🤯!)
The takeaways 👇
🖥️ SaaS-ifying CPG
Feastables is shaking things up in the CPG world by borrowing a few clever tricks from the SaaS playbook and supercharging their CX game. They've discovered that the secret sauce is all about personalization, staying in touch with customers, and letting data do the talking.
By embracing a SaaS-style, customer-centric approach, Feastables has built some seriously deep connections with their customers, unlocking sales opportunities left and right.
So, if you're a CPG brand looking for a CX upgrade, why not take a page out of the Feastables' playbook? 📚
You'll not only give your brand a boost but also watch your business relationships and prospects soar to new heights. 💸
🚀 CX efficiency boost
Jess and her resourceful team at Feastables have found an efficient way to amp up their CX game with the help of their trusty sidekick: chatbots! 🤖
These virtual assistants not only provide self-service options but also keep customers engaged, making every interaction a memorable one.
The Feastables team knows that having the right tech stack is essential for building a successful conversational AI bot with a lean CX crew. And by infusing their chatbot with jokes, fun facts, or even memes, they've created a delightful experience that keeps customers coming back for more.
Thanks to their (and their chatbot's) hard work, Feastables can efficiently deflect 80-90% of customer convos, allowing their CX team to focus on addressing those extra tricky 10-20% of cases. 👍
Feastables is a prime example of how chatbots can significantly enhance customer experience and create more efficiency within a company's CX operations.
👉 Listen to the full episode with Jess Cervellon here!
Stop FOMO-ing and start getting in on the action! If you couldn't make it to our epic DTC C-Suite Las Vegas event, fear not - we're bringing the party to you! 🥳
For just $199 USD, you can now score exclusive access to all the juicy talks, brand hot seats, and panels. That's over 8 hours of mind-blowing content from 16 industry heavyweights!
We're talking Nick Saltarelli from Mid-Day Squares spilling the beans on funding and P&L-focused CPG scaling, Isaac Medeiros from Mini Katana dishing out secrets on scaling organic content on YouTube and TikTok, and even CraftlyAI's AI workshop with Iman Bashir!
But wait, there's more! Sean McGinnis will reveal how to add a 7-figure affiliate program to your business, Karly McFarland from Mini Katana will drop 10 email and retention hacks you can start using right away, and so much more!
👉 Don't be a wallflower - click now to unlock a treasure trove of knowledge and insights from DTC's C-Suite Mastermind Las Vegas!
There’s nothing like waking up on a fine Sunday morning to one of the biggest widespread marketing events since the dreaded iOS 14…
Meta announced that on Sunday, April 23rd, at 1 AM PT, an error occurred with their automated ads system, primarily on Facebook (and to a lesser extent on Instagram) and caused accounts to spend a majority of their budgets within the first few hours of the day.
If you’re wondering if what you saw on your accounts was normal, and what the ‘normal’ is looking like as we pivot back to regular spend, keep reading.
🌒 Sunday April 23rd:
More spend, more speed, more money, right? Definitely not. Majority of brands saw a decrease in performance due to accelerated spend on inefficient traffic.
☀️ Current day:
If you, or your team, felt like you were behind, put out, or out of the loop during this widespread event, here’s what the team would suggest:
1️⃣ Document Everything. Be sure to grab screenshots of the abnormal impact (increased cost metrics, spend per hour) and lost revenue (compared to normal days) in your ad account to build your case for reimbursement.
2️⃣ Request a Refund: Use your documentation to request a refund from your Meta representative. If you don’t have a Meta rep, submit a general support ticket and include your screenshots. Although several Meta reps have responded saying they will be broadly sharing refund eligibility requirements, in our experience the squeaky wheel gets the grease so it’s best to get the process started proactively.
At times Meta may also directly apply refunds to your ad account (different from ad credits), so check account notifications and emails to see if that’s been done (if it has you’ll want to make sure you’ve been refunded the correct amount).
3️⃣ Zapier Alerts: The Pilothouse team utilizes Zapier alerts that feed into their Slack workspace for media buyers. The alerts sound when Meta posts a disruption notification.
🛑 Rule Stop Gaps: Lean into tools like Meta’s automated rules based on either cost-per-impression or cost-per-click. These rules can automatically shut things down if the parameters aren’t being met. For example, your rule could be ‘if cost-per-click is >x, and purchases are <x’ pause spending.
*Note that although rules are good to have set up on your account, they fail from time to time (for most brands that includes April 23rd’s event). Always rely on manual reviews on a regular basis.
Although the total impacts of Sunday’s events are yet to be known, ensure your team is taking the necessary steps and precautions to protect your ad accounts if future events of a similar scale arise.
Ensuring a successful product launch can be stressful. 😰
What does the market need? What should you set the price at? What are your competitors doing? Are your consumers looking for it?
All important questions!
Thankfully the advancements in AI have solved the problem (again!) 🎉
Particl has combined over three years of data and 500 million SKUs with an advanced AI system so that you can unlock the answers to these questions!
Allowing you to -
👉 Leverage insights from the fastest-growing brands while skyrocketing your own with Particl.
If you missed Monday’s newsletter, jump back to get caught up on emotional selling and the impacts it can have on your brand.
If you’re new here, we dove into how consumers now demand more than a good product at a fair price: they want to be valued, appreciated, and heard by the brands they buy from.
Let’s check out more examples: 👇
🐶 Chewy
Like Bombas, Chewy is known for going above and beyond for its customers. So much so that stories of their exploits have gone viral numerous times.
The company's customer service team is made up of compassionate pet lovers trained to provide the best possible experience for pet owners. 💗
During the pandemic, the company used photos from its customer pet database to send thousands of customers the portraits of their pets along with their orders. They also regularly send flowers to customers whose pets passed away. 💐
Considering word-of-mouth sales are two times more powerful than paid advertising, it’s likely that these small acts of emotional kindness have tangible effects on customer acquisition and retention.
⭐ Curology
Growing up with acne can be very emotionally taxing. That’s why Curology showcases real people (hint hint, not models!) on TikTok, highlighting the benefits of their products and how they’ve improved customers’ skin.
In this video, Curology shares a customer’s “glow up” transformation from struggling with serious acne to flexing clear skin. Highlighting the confidence in her appearance after using Curology taps into those who wish to achieve the same. ✨
Other pieces of content are less sales-y. Instead, they offer words of encouragement for those struggling with acne's emotional side effects. Receiving the advice you’d normally get from a friend invokes a sense of comfort and acceptance from the brand. 😍
As short-form video continues to skyrocket, there’s more opportunity than ever for brands to showcase emotion and demonstrate their value to customers.
🤔 What brands are the best at emotionally connecting with customers? Any examples? Why? Reply to this email and let us know!
Quick Hits
📸 Snap’s 1-star reviews continue to climb after rolling out the My AI feature. Many complaints stem from the compulsory nature of its use in the app, which disrupts the flow of regular chat interactions and navigation.
🎒 Shopify adds new ways for merchants to pay vendors for products and services. This has been touted as the next step in Shopify, bridging the gap between fintech and ecommerce business.
🐣 Twitter has reinstated Blue Checks for free. Reinstatements were initially reflected on high-profile accounts but have since expanded to previously verified and deceased users.
🧑💼 LinkedIn shared insights about its viral spam protection tools. This release will help users further understand how the platform’s algorithmic flow works and why content is shared to any particular user.
🤖 Bard will now help you code as a competitor to GitHub’s Co-Pilot. Bard can assist in debugging, code generation, and explanation.
🔊 Have you heard our latest podcasts?
🍸 Ben Soffer - Spritz Society: Influencer Strategies for Alcohol Brands and Linear Commerce.
🕯️ 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.
💡 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, Kate Gullett, Randy Ginsburg, and Michael Venditti. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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