The last Monday of January… We’ve almost made it! 🎉
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In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📈 Increasing your AOV through email upsells and cross-sells: Part 2
🔥 5 tips for A/B testing your website
🧐 Why you shouldn’t delete the negative comments on your socials
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
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If you didn’t catch Part 1 of email upsells and cross-sells, make sure to check out DTC 131!
Keep reading to figure out how to incorporate them in your emails! 👇
📧 Upsell emails
Upselling in emails takes a bit of strategy, as you won’t be communicating with the shopper during the checkout process.
However, you can build upsells into flows that catch the shopper right before or midway through making a purchase, such as pre-purchase, browse abandonment, or abandoned cart flows.
For example…
Upsell in your browse abandonment. Ashley Home’s browse abandonment email recommends other related products to complement the sleeper sofa the customer viewed.
At the end of a free trial, like this email from Restream. Notice the effective use of urgency with a limited-time upgrade discount.
When a new product upgrade drops. Apple always does a great job of enticing iPhone users to upgrade to their new model. They also highlight related products in the same email, so this is technically an upsell AND a cross-sell. 👏
📧 Cross-sell emails
Typically, cross-sells are most effective after an initial purchase is made. The main factor here is trust.
Why would a new customer buy a different product from you before they’ve even received and tried their first one? 🤔
For that reason, for new customers, you might want to wait to cross-sell until ~14 days after an order is fulfilled—at which point your customer has likely received and used their initial purchase.
Some examples…
New customer post-purchase flows. This email from Bellroy is a great example of timing on a post-purchase cross-sell. It gets sent out 30 days after the first purchase—plenty of time for their customer to use the product.
Subscription reminders. This email from Dollar Shave Club makes it super easy to toss in another related product to your next box.
Content emails. BOOM! always does a great job of sending value-driven emails with tutorials or makeup routines. Even better, these often highlight multiple products to drive (soft) cross-sells.
Now, go forth and dominate your AOV. 👊
Did you know Gen Z makes up 40% of all US consumers?! 🤯
That means if your marketing doesn’t speak to Gen Z’ers, you could be missing out on a huge opportunity to reach almost half of all shoppers.
But traditional marketing tactics won't cut it.
Marketers must create and deliver authentic, personalized brand experiences at a scale and speed never seen before—often on new, unfamiliar channels and platforms to engage purposefully with young consumers.
😰 Long story short: Marketing to Gen Z is no cakewalk.
But the good news is, Aspire has discovered how to engage with Gen-Z without burning a hole in your marketing budget.
In their guide Content that Connects, you’ll learn:
👉 Download the full guide & learn how to engage Gen Z here.
There’s a reason why more than half of companies A/B test their website.
A/B testing is how you find out what site elements resonate well with your audience and what tweaks you need to make to increase conversions.
While several articles out there tout a concrete list of A/B testing best practices, here’s the thing to remember:
Websites are contextual and audiences are nuanced.
There is no one-size-fits-all checklist for A/B testing a website. However, here’s a closer look at some proven strategies along with advice from experts that will help you.
1️⃣ Start with research
There are a million things you could A/B test on your website, but you don’t need to test everything.
What you end up testing will depend on your website, your audience, the problems/successes you’re experiencing, etc.
The only way to know what you should A/B test on your site is to dive deep into the research.
Peep Laja, the founder of CXL, says this:
“Deciding what to test comes from research. Every test is a hypothesis to solve an identified issue, not trying out things randomly. Companies should use a conversion research framework such as ResearchXL to identify what and where the problems are.”
Peep goes into depth on what the ResearchXL process looks like here.
2️⃣ Look at your current website, data, and KPIs
Part of your research process should include looking at your current website, data, and KPIs.
Use these resources to ask and answer:
You can use website data, Google Analytics, sales data, user information, surveys, etc., to capture this information.
When you identify and answer these questions, you’ll know what questions to ask and what to test.
3️⃣ Start with small, single, and specific A/B tests
You may have uncovered many potential problems and written a huge list of things you want to A/B test.
That’s great and means you’re on the right track.
But it’s best to test one thing at a time.
Don’t underestimate the significance of setting up independent and strategic smaller tests as you get started, as Jon MacDonald points out.
4️⃣ Establish measurable KPIs to determine the success of A/B testing
Ant Pace, owner of Split/Wit, shares his main pieces of advice when it comes to A/B testing:
I asked him to elaborate on what it means to have quantifiable goals. He said:
“Having quantifiable goals is all about using key metrics that make a difference to the business's bottom line—like sales or sign-ups. You can also use smaller KPIs along the conversion funnel, like bounce rates. Using the right software as you run an A/B test will make it easier to manage and track meaningful A/B test KPIs.”
When you define your KPIs before running your tests, you’ll have quantifiable results showing you which variation had the most significant effect.
5️⃣ Use an established A/B testing software
The best news for brands is you don’t have to go it alone. Several well-established A/B testing programs will walk you through the process.
Here are some top tools to consider:
All of these tools are worth checking out and will make it easy to A/B test elements on your site. 🤓
It’s finally here, the moment we’ve all been waiting for…
Now, you can automatically save Instagram content your brand is tagged in! 🥳
Archive App is the only Shopify App that detects tagged IG posts, reels, and yes, even stories and saves them automatically to your personal archive.
That means you can spend more time posting and engaging and less time saving and uploading. And when you’re ready to use all that amazing UGC, it’s ready and waiting for you in your library. 🙏
Say goodbye to disappearing post ghosts. Say hello to peace of mind.
Ok. So we know your social team has the impulse to delete or hide negative comments to keep things positive on your social feeds.
But what if we told you that you’re actually missing out on a major opportunity for your brand when you delete negative comments!
Reframe your approach to negative comments as an opportunity to educate, and respond to as many negative comments as possible.
Your immediate goal is to help the commenter out. What do they need? How can you solve their issue? Try to turn the situation around and make it pleasant and memorable.
Your long-term goal is to provide info for future customers reading the comments, so they 1️⃣ see that your brand has rockstar customer service who genuinely cares about their community, and 2️⃣ avoid the same issue that sparked the conversation in the first place!
Harness negative comments and transform them into an educational platform. 💪🔥📣🎉
When is it ok to hide comments? Well, trolls are gonna troll! 👹 When you’re dealing with a lost cause, you can tell pretty quickly—it’s ok to hide comments from those you simply can’t appease.
For more comment mod tips & tricks from the Pilothouse team, pop on over to this vintage DTC All Killer No Filler Episode! 🎧
📸 Soona, a virtual photoshoot platform for eCommerce, raises $35M Series B.
🥦 Athletic Greens valued at $1.2B after bagging $115M to expand nutrition drink footprint.
🧭 Placer.ai, a location analytics startup, finds $100M at a $1B valuation.
🤑 Bokksu bags $22M Series A at a $100M valuation to deliver traditional Asian groceries to your home.
💗 Changing the World's Pleasure Baseline with Jen Batchelor CEO and Founder of Kin Euphorics.
🍪 How HighKey Raised Their AOV by 40% with Chief Digital Officer Ryan Rouse.
🍫 Muddy Bites CEO Jarod Steffes on Growing 1000% YOY By Delivering Delight and Mastering Memes.
🍽 The New Non-Profit Growth Model: Wellfare CEO Cole Riley on Food Security and $12 Million Economic Impact.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Thomas Schreiber, Kelsey Hess, Ashley Cummings, and Rebecca Knight. Edited by Claire Beveridge.
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