Back
Content
Issue 181
Does a typo matter if the ad converts?
“Half Price” or “50% off” in your ad copy? We’ve tested and have the answer. Stick around until the end to find out. 👀
In this newsletter, you’ll find: 👇
📦 5 copy styles you NEED to be testing on your Facebook ads
📦 Get in on the mobile madness with Sailthru
📦 Why your DTC brand should be thinking about live shopping
📦 Elevate your UGC and be Minisocial’s next success story
Read till the end to access exclusive DTC swag. 😎
👉 If a pal forwarded this to you, subscribe, so you never miss out.
The Pilothouse Facebook team is spilling their secret sauce for high converting ads.
Here are their top five go-to copy styles to start scaling today. 👇
For information on the why and how each copy style and REAL examples that have converted for Pilothouse clients, keep reading here! 🚀
What could your business look like if you were able to reach a larger audience faster...at exactly the right time...for wayyyy less money?
Mobile shopping is that dream come true. 🤩
More than ever, shoppers are using mobile to browse and purchase, especially in apps.
With retail lagging behind other industries to personalize mobile experiences, there is a goldmine of potential for retailers to connect with customers through this intimate channel.
If you want in on the mobile madness, check out “5 Retailers Reshaping the Mobile Customer Experience.”
You’ll learn exactly how brands like Thrive Market, Madewell, Kmart, Steve Madden, and UNIQLO are taking advantage of the mobile shopping trend — and how YOU can use the same strategies to elevate your mobile customer experience.
✋ "Yes, I want to reach more shoppers with mobile marketing."
Since its conception in 2016, livestream shopping has already produced unbelievable results.
Alibaba’s platform, Taobao Live, currently has more than 40 million followers. And, on Single’s Day (the anti-Valentines day) 2021, the marketplace saw $7.5 billion in sales within the first 30 minutes. 🤯
The growth doesn’t stop there. The sales for this year’s Single’s Day event represented a 400% increase over the year before.
While livestreams are already a big part of day-to-day shopping in China, it’s also the future of shopping around the world.
Research from Influencer Marketing Hub shows live shopping will play a massive role in social commerce, especially as more platforms prioritize livestream shopping.
And, 26% of marketing leaders are investing in livestreaming retail. This number is expected to grow to 52% over the next 12 to 18 months.
DTC brands take note. Livestream shopping will become part of your marketing strategy in the coming months. Here’s how to build a successful livestream shopping event.
👥 Build an audience
The success of any livestream shopping event depends on how many audience members show up. The more people who attend your live shopping event, the more opportunities you have to make sales. 🤑
Before you plan a live event, focus on building your social audience across Instagram, Facebook, and TikTok. Get people excited about your product!
It’s also critical to grow your audience on platforms you own. Grow your email list, make your website a hub where your followers can interact, and consider building an online community.
Once you have a robust audience, you start announcing your upcoming shopping events across your most engaging channels.
✌️ Build a pattern of two-way communication
The fun of livestream shopping is that it’s interactive. Content publisher, Christoph Trappe, explains why he enjoys livestream shopping. “You ask questions about the products and the host can actually respond and show you.”
During a livestream shopping event, brands get to put their best foot forward and highlight awesome products with the help of influencers or team members. And, fans show up to watch live demonstrations, ask questions in real-time, throw out hearts, and (best of all) make purchases. 🛍️
While the two-way interaction of a livestream shopping event is exciting, you’ll likely experience more success if your audience is already used to interacting with your brand.
Use your social platforms and online communities to livestream other types of fun and relatable content (e.g., tutorials, demonstrations, Q&As, etc.) before you host your first event.
The more comfortable and curious your followers are, the more likely they are to show up and interact with your livestream!
🔥 Leverage the power of influencers
Influencer marketing is projected to reach $16.4 billion this year for a reason. People love influencers, follow them religiously, and trust their recommendations even more than they trust the recommendations of friends and family.
This is a huge win for brands that can find, and partner with, the right influencers for social advertising, branded content, and livestream shopping events.
Nordstrom does this well with its own, independent live shopping channel. But, the retailer also partners with the likes of Julee Wilson, Bobbie Thomas, Coco and Breezy, and more to host live shopping events.
Not only do followers get to attend a live shopping event, but they get to interact with fashionistas, brand creators, and notable industry executives. Double-down on the incentive of showing up! 👀
Providing an opportunity for consumers to interact in these events builds trust in a way static e-commerce cannot.
If you’re a DTC brand that hasn’t started thinking about live shopping (or it’s impact on the ecommerce space) it’s time to start!
Have you done a live shopping event before? Reply to this email and tell us your best tips and tricks!
Thanks to minisocial you can produce beautiful, authentic user-generated content featuring your products that are fully licensed to your brand.
Campaigns are fully managed and start at just $1.7k (after your special DTC reader discount).
👀 Here's some UGC-spiration
Haven’s Kitchen
Ready-to-serve sauce brand, Haven’s Kitchen uses minisocial to support retail partners with on-demand user-generated content on TikTok and Instagram.
Native
Personal care brand, Native uses minisocial to create share-worthy content at scale. By refreshing their recurring campaign brief monthly for over two years, the brand always has new content on hand.
Wander Beauty
Effortless beauty essentials brand, Wander uses minisocial to amplify product launches on Instagram and TikTok with timely UGC & micro-influencer activations to boost their community and tagged photos, while generating repost-worthy content.
Give it a try and get 15% off your first campaign by mentioning "DTC"!
👉Elevate your UGC and be our next success story.
Sigma Beauty has 4.3M followers on instagram, and we know why (we’re looking at you UGC 👀).
Sigma’s makeup, brushes, and skincare are the perfect product candidates for getting shoppers to show how the products work!
Across their TikTok and Instagram, they continuously share content that they’ve been tagged in and give credit to the original creator.
Who doesn’t want to have the chance to have their work shared with millions? 🤷♀️
Checkout this example: 👇
If viewers are loving the created look, they can shop right from the post with the products used to create it! Well played Sigma, well played 👌
PILOTHOUSE HOT TIP
A tip from the Pilothouse team!
Test this one out and let us know how it goes! 👇
🤑 Growing Your Shopify Store From $5 to $30M with Richpanel.
📈 5x Your Revenue with a Facebook Group, 40 New Creatives a Week, and an App with Ash Melwani from Obvi Collagen.
💬 SMS is No Longer Optional with Sophie Baer, Win Brand Group’s Retention Director (and Automation Overlord).
🧀 Perry Belcher on Ecom Tripwires, Premiums, and Making Sure the Cheese is Worth the Squeeze.
🎯 Ecommerce SEO in Three Simple Steps with Kevin Miller from Gr0.
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight, Ashley R. Cummings, and Jordan Gillis. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up here.
NEED MORE DTC?
🚀 Advertise in DTC Newsletter.
💰Check out our course on Facebook and Instagram ads!
📥 Work for The DTC Newsletter: Send an email to Rebecca, rebecca@directtoconsumer.co, if you’re interested in writing for us!