DTC788:Moonboon’s Clever Newsletter Pop Up

Good morning,

Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC:

📦 Daily Tariff Update
What’s new in tariffs and ad spend poll.

🚢 Imports, Pricing, and Exemptions
What ecommerce brands should know.

🎧 Cognitive Biases That Drive Email Sales
Learn how these psychological tactics impact conversions.

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You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from Adrift Hospitality, Bustle, and AstraZeneca. 👋

💪 When Pressure Rises, Performance Matters Most.‍

Tariff changes are sending waves through ecommerce right now. And for brands with international supply chains, this isn’t just noise—it’s direct pressure on your margins, your operations, and your growth.

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When things tighten, you don’t need just another marketing agency; you need a PERFORMANCE agency that knows how to:

• Drive efficiency
• Protect profitability
• Move fast when it matters most

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At Pilothouse, we make every dollar of your ad spend go further. We don’t just focus on acquisition—we maximize lifetime value, deepen customer relationships, and make sure your existing base is working harder for you.

Brands like Benchmade, Meyer Corp, Four Sigmatic, Selkirk, Big Blanket, and more trust us to deliver when it counts. ✅

This is where growth happens. Not by playing it safe, but by making smarter moves with the right support.

Pilothouse is here to help you navigate, adapt, and thrive—no matter how the market shifts.

Now’s not the time to pull back. It’s time to double down—with a team built for moments like this.

Chat with us to see how we can help your brand navigate the tariff changes.

💰 With New Tariffs in Play, How Are You Approaching Your Current Ad Spend?

• Increasing ad spend
• Decreasing ad spend
• Holding steady
• Unsure

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Check back in tomorrow for the results!

❓ Have any specific questions you want us to ask re: tariffs? Respond to this email and send them our way.

📦 Your Daily Tariff Check-In

Whether it’s a minor tweak or a major shift, we’ll keep you posted on the latest tariff changes—so you’re always in the know.

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April 7, 2025 update:

Yesterday, U.S. President Donald Trump stated that if China does not reverse the 34% retaliatory tariff on the U.S., the U.S. will respond with an additional 50% tariff on Chinese goods—bringing the total potential tariff rate to 104%.

The deadline for China’s reversal is today, April 8th, 2025.

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Other key highlights:

• Kimbal Musk Criticizes Trump’s Tariffs as a “Permanent Tax on Consumers”
• Apple Shares Drop Amid Concerns Over Tariffs
• Trump Rejects EU’s “Zero-for-Zero” Tariff Deal, Calls Trade Deal Inadequate
• White House Council Warns Against Retaliation Over Dollar’s Reserve Status
• Netanyahu Pledges to Eliminate Israel’s Trade Deficit with U.S.
• White House Open to Tariff Negotiations with Countries Showing Positive Responses
• U.S. Oil Prices Drop Amid Recession Fears Linked to Trump’s Tariffs

We’ll be back tomorrow with a quick, reliable update from DTC Newsletter, delivered daily.

🔑 Want To Unlock The Full Potential of UGC? This Virtual Event Is Your Key‍

The first-ever global UGC Summit is here—and it’s your chance to unlock the full potential of user-generated content and influencer marketing. 💥

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👉 Join Skeepers on April 29th at 1PM EST as they host a groundbreaking virtual event for brands and marketers who want to:

• 🌟 Learn from the best: Explore actionable insights and proven strategies from industry leaders like TikTok, Google, Shopify and more.
• 📈 Drive real results: Discover how brands like L'Oréal, Veepee, and Estée Lauder create authentic content that builds trust and boosts engagement.
• 👥 Connect with industry leaders: Hear from top brands and influencers shaping the future of marketing.

From refining your strategy, to staying ahead of the curve, the UGC Summit is your chance to level up.

📦 Tariff Impacts: What Brands Need to Know Now

The recently announced tariffs are broad, fast-moving, and likely to have a significant impact on brands importing goods, packaging, or ingredients from China and other affected countries.

The Pilothouse team has compiled several key considerations for brands navigating these changes.

If your operations rely on global supply chains, especially for lower-cost goods, these updates are critical.

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1. Pricing Strategy Requires Precision

Tariffs apply to goods entering customs on the effective date—not when they’re shipped. That means adjusting prices today based on future tariffs may be premature and could lead to unnecessary disruptions in your pricing strategy.

Only shipments already in transit and arriving after the tariff date are at immediate risk.

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2. The De Minimis Loophole Is Now Closed

The de minimis exemption—which allowed goods under $800 in value to enter duty-free—will be eliminated for shipments from China, effective May 2, 2025.

Many brands used this exemption to avoid duties on packaging, ingredients, or even individual unit shipments structured to fall below the threshold. That option is no longer available.

This will especially affect brands sourcing low-cost materials or using fulfillment strategies built around fragmented shipments to stay under the limit.

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3. Expect Significant Customs Delays and Rising Fees

In February, a similar move led to a customs backlog so severe it required a temporary reversal. The same scenario is likely to play out again—at greater scale.

Additionally, customs brokers are likely to raise their fees as demand increases and processing becomes more complex.

Mistakes—especially tariff misclassifications—are becoming more common due to the pace of change. Brands have already seen instances of duties being charged at 2–3x the correct amount.

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4. Enforcement Gaps May Lead to Competitive Disadvantages

Undervaluing goods to reduce tariffs is illegal. Some companies—especially those headquartered abroad—manipulate declared values.

With customs teams overwhelmed, enforcement will likely be limited. While legitimate brands raise prices to offset rising costs, competitors evading tariffs may not—leading to pricing imbalances and unfair market pressure.

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5. Country of Origin Rules Can Provide Relief

Another way brands may be looking to reduce exposure: reassessing country of origin.

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If Substantial Transformation occurs in another country (e.g. parts made in China, assembled in Australia), brands may be able to shift the product’s country of origin—and avoid specific tariffs.

This requires proper documentation and should be verified with a customs attorney or trade compliance expert, but for some brands, it could offer significant cost savings.

The current tariff changes are creating real, material risk for consumer brands. Delays, increased costs, regulatory uncertainty, and competitive instability are all on the table. Now is the time to re-evaluate your import strategy, engage with trusted customs partners, and prepare for disruption.

🎧 How Cognitive Biases Can Transform Your Email Marketing

Today, we’re revisiting cognitive biases in email marketing with Jordan Gordon from Pilothouse’s Email & Retention team.

Marketers often struggle to get customers to open, click, and buy from their emails.

But what if the key to better results isn’t just in better design or copy—but in how the human brain actually works? 🧠

Jordan breaks down how leveraging cognitive biases can significantly boost engagement and conversion rates, making your email marketing more persuasive, strategic, and profitable.

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In this podcast, we cover:

✅ Anchoring Bias: Why listing a higher "original price" can make discounts more effective.
✅ Loss Aversion: How to frame urgency (without sounding too pushy).
✅ Social Proof: The psychological power of showing how many people already trust your brand.
✅ Rhyme as Reason: Why a simple rhyme at the right time (see what we did there? 😉) can make your copy more persuasive.
✅ Goal Gradient Effect: The secret behind why loyalty programs work so well.

👉 You can listen to the full episode with Jordan here.

⚡ QUICK HITS

😮‍💨 Your current audiences are tapped out. Time to diversify. 85% of Snapchat users learn about new products and brands through social ads and content, versus 68% of non-Snapchatters. See what’s possible with Snap. Learn more here. *

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📅 EVENTS

GROW LA is two-days of learning / inspiration / networking with 900 operators from mid-market & enterprise brands. 50 talks, panels, interactive workshops, plus tons of 1-1 meetings, and a lively exhibit space. Speakers include industry leaders from Dr. Squatch, True Classic, FabFitFun, Fabletics, AS Beauty, Crunch Labs, Variety & more.

🗓️ Apr 23-24 📍 West Hollywood, CA 💰 Apply for a comped ticket

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📰 NEWS

• Trump threatens an additional 50% tariff on China if they do not pull back their retaliatory tariffs.
• ​Meta has unveiled the Llama 4 series, featuring multimodal AI models like Maverick and Scout, for coding and reasoning tasks.
• ​PayPal has launched personalized advertising services in the UK, utilizing its extensive user transaction data to offer targeted ads to consumers.

‍📥 Got a B2B Biz?

Join dozens of B2B companies finding demand-gen success through our niche community of 150k brand leaders and founders this year. Talk to our team to learn more.

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Have you heard our latest podcasts?

• 🏆 How Tito’s Built America’s #1 Vodka Brand Without Celebrities or Flavors
• 💻 AKNF 494: Why 2025 is the Year of Post-Click Optimization
• 📧 TWBERP 26: Building the Continuation Flow: A Lifecycle Email Strategy for Large Catalog DTC Brands
• 👜 Scaling a Luxury Resale Empire with Luxe Du Jour
• ⚡ AKNF 492: How To Win on Amazon in 2025: Rising Tariffs and AI
• ⭐ TWBERP 25: The Role of Email in Branding and Retention

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Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)

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DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight and Frances Du. Edited by Eric Dyck.

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