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Good morning,
Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:
🤖 Google’s AI Overviews Update
How Comparison Mode targets mid-funnel customers.
💗 Valentine’s Day Amazon Listings
Optimize keywords for more traffic & sales.
🌱 Ditch Negative Self-Talk
Stop chasing perfection & try this instead.
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Google has made a big update in AI Overviews that will strongly impact ecommerce brands.
When U.S. users search for two different products using ‘versus’ in their query, it’ll trigger Comparison Mode, a new feature in AI Overviews that compares two products in Google Search.
For example, users who type in a product query like ‘iPhone 15 vs iPhone 15 pro’ will see the two products side by side, along with an AI-generated summary of the pros and cons of purchasing each.
When users click on the tab ‘see full comparison,’ they are taken to a more detailed breakdown of key specs like size, features, weight, and durability.
What this means:
For ecommerce brands, this is a great opportunity to do some competitive research and see how your products stack up against your competitors in this highly coveted space.
Tweak your PDPs if necessary to make a stronger impression on customers in the consideration phase to grow clicks and potentially sales.
For advertisers, this could be a new area to advertise products within Google Search down the road.
👀 DTC Brand Discovery Trends: What’s Changing?
This portion of DTC Newsletter is brought to you by DTC Index, your go-to source for performance and consumer behavior insights. Twice per month, we’ll share key takeaways from our latest report.
DTC Newsletter subscribers get $50 off their first report—use code DTCNEWS at checkout.
Our data shows a clear shift: organic channels are growing while paid channels are losing ground as brands optimize for profitability over aggressive growth.
In 2023, 67% of discovery was driven by paid channels, compared to only 64% in 2024. While not a massive shift, it’s notable, especially when the sample is 10s of millions of respondents.
Paid Channels YoY Change
Organic Channels YoY Change
What This Means for 2025:
Organic discovery is becoming more valuable. Expect more focus on community, brand storytelling, and omnichannel presence in 2025, with brands leaning into Amazon, Reddit, and influencer-driven word-of-mouth.
Want more insights? DTC Newsletter subscribers get $50 off their first report—use code DTCNEWS at checkout.
⚡ Trump Retaliates with Reciprocal Tariffs
Yesterday, President Trump announced reciprocal tariffs stating, "I have decided for purposes of fairness that I will charge a reciprocal tariff. Meaning, whatever countries charge the United States of America, we will charge them. No more, no less."
However, the new levies will not take effect immediately.
A senior White House official shares that the process can take weeks or months to complete.
More on this story in our News section below.
💎 Don’t Forget To Work Those Gifting Angles!
This month, we’ve been analyzing Hey Harper and Kendra Scott’s Amazon product listings, and today, we’re concentrating on SEO and copy.
What we love about each listing:
✅ Kendra Scott and Hey Harper both include relevant keywords in their product descriptions.
Hey Harper includes keywords related to benefits like waterproof and sweatproof while Kendra Scott calls out upcoming holidays like Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day so they can show up for those searches.
While the Kendra Scott listing only contains three bullet points, they do a good job positioning the product as a gift by calling out the branded gift box.
Hey Harper’s listing includes much more information related to size and weight, addressing common customer concerns about the product.
Pilothouse Tips
The Pilothouse Amazon team suggests that both listings add more relevant keywords to their product titles to improve organic visibility.
👉 To target gift-givers, Hey Harper can include information about gifting (and whether or not they offer a gift box or wrapping) further up in the listing to entice customers.
Stay tuned for the last installment next week when we go over Amazon A+ content!
⚡ QUICK HITS
🚀 Need a growth partner? DTC's sister company, Pilothouse, helps brands scale with expert strategies. Book a free call to learn more!
📈 Join this free Website Sales Workshop on Feb 26 at 12 PM EST, co-hosted by Pilothouse Co-Founder Kyle Hitchcox. Get expert strategies, live site breakdowns, and actionable feedback to boost conversions. Can’t attend live? Register for the recording! Sign up here.
📰 NEWS
🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE
It’s time to cut out the negative self-talk.
No one is perfect, so stop aiming for perfection.
Instead aim for progress to improve your self-growth.
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DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.
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