Good morning,
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:
❗ How Meta’s latest updates impact brands deemed to be in sensitive categories. Here’s how to check if you were affected.
🟢 Why tracking only email revenue isn’t enough. Learn how studying these three lifecycles is key to growing a thriving business.
📈 And… dupe culture prevails. Searches for the Wirkin (no, that’s not a typo) skyrocketed this past week.
You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Auberge Resorts, Magellan Health, and Phia Group. 👋
👀 TikTok May Be Up In The Air, But This Social Media Strategy Is NOT
That strategy? Influencers.
When done right, influencers can help your brand:
✅ Create endless UGC.
✅ Strengthen your social presence and drive sales.
While avoiding:
❌ High costs, wasting money on unproductive influencers, and short-lived strategies.
So the question becomes: How do you create a successful influencer strategy?
Join DTC and SARAL on January 29th at 10 AM PST / 1 PM EST for a high-impact webinar: The Influencer Illuminati Model: Build, Grow, Scale.
You’ll walk away with: 👇
Learn how to start small, scale smart, and grow with confidence.
Can’t attend live? Register to get the recording and bonuses.
* sponsored
❗ Meta’s Data Restrictions For Brands in Sensitive Categories
Meta will restrict data sharing and event tracking for sensitive categories starting this month.
Who is affected: Due to regulatory changes regarding user privacy, brands deemed to be in these sensitive categories can no longer share key event data with Meta.
What this means for advertisers:
Advertisers in the EU may face full restrictions, while affected brands in North America are likely to face partial event restrictions.
North American advertisers won’t be able to use lower-funnel conversion events like ‘Purchase’ and ‘Lead’ in campaign optimization.
Instead, they will need to rely on upper-funnel events like ‘Landing Page Views’ and ‘Engagement.’
Less data means less precise audience targeting, which can lead to a rise in acquisition costs.
How do I know if I’m affected?
To see if this change impacts your business, head into Meta Events Manager.
Go to Settings > Manage Data Source Categories, and look for a flag like ‘Health & Wellness Condition.’
👉 You can request a review if you believe your site is miscategorized.
From here, brands should be able to apply for a 30-day delay for these changes to come into effect so you can prepare.
There is a "more time" button available that gives advertisers until between Feb 14 and 21 to align with the potential restrictions.
While advertisers can still build custom events, if they don’t comply with Meta’s new rules, you may encounter restrictions or face potential fines.
The takeaway?
It’s important to adapt to these changes before these restrictions take effect. Otherwise, some ad sets may be paused, impacting performance.
Pilothouse doesn’t recommend circumventing these practices. Instead, figure out what is the best proxy for performance that Meta will allow and use that data to enrich the quality of upper funnel events.
Need help navigating these new Meta restrictions? Contact Pilothouse for more insights on how to safeguard your ad performance.
U.S. TikTok Users Are Migrating To RedNote
Angry U.S. TikTok users are pivoting to this app to protest the U.S. ban.
Chinese social media app RedNote quickly became the most downloaded app in the U.S. this week, soaring to the #1 position in the Apple App Store.
🎧 How to Track Customer Life Cycles to Build a Sustainable DTC Brand
Understanding the path your customers take—from their first purchase to repeat transactions and beyond—can transform your business.
In this episode of TWBERP, Jordan Gordon from Pilothouse delves into this game-changing framework: tracking promotional, customer, and category life cycles to understand the quality of your revenue.
In this podcast, we cover:
👉 You can listen to the full episode with Jordan here.
What’s Trending: Walmart Birkin
Why is this happening? Last month, Walmart released a bag that bore a starting resemblance to a Birkin. Customers quickly shared this online via social media, giving the bag the nickname “Wirkin.”
While a Birkin can cost upwards of $10K or more, the Walmart dupe retails for only $80, and quickly went viral online.
The response shows how consumers are still seeking budget-friendly options and dupe culture is not going away.
📥 Got a B2B Biz?
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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Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content.
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