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Issue 408
In this newsletter, you’ll find:
Let’s dive in: 👇
The Pilothouse TikTok team is getting ready to ramp up spend this BFCM. 💸
A key takeaway from Q4 2022 was that evergreen content can absolutely CRUSH on Black Friday. 👀
And last Q4, the Pilothouse TikTok team scaled a jewelry brand to their biggest BFCM yet.
The key to success? 🔑 Evergreen ads.
Check out the results:
🛍️BFCM ads:
🌲 Evergreen ads:
The top performing ad was an organic-style, greenscreen style video that didn’t call out an offer. Leaning into evergreen ads like this can help you continue running top ads even after Black Friday sales end.
Don’t snooze on sales this Q4. Shoutout to the Pilothouse TikTok team for the hot tip. 🔥
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On October 11th, German sandal maker Birkenstock made their IPO debut on Wall Street. The outcome was not quite what they hoped for with its stock ending more than 12% below its IPO price. The shares began trading at $41, despite the IPO pricing at $46. The stock eventually closed at $40.20, a decrease of 12.61%. This marked the poorest debut by a company valued over $1B in nearly two years.
Does this mean bad news bears for Birkenstock? Absolutely not. The almost 250 year old brand has made some major moves in the past decade breaking into the direct to consumer space and growing their bottom line substantially.
A recent Tweet/X post from Trung Phan explained that since the company switched hands in 2013, they’ve 5x’d sales from $125M to $1.3B.
Additionally, new leadership brought new opportunities for growth. The first? New footwear at new prices. The new water-proof rubber sandal sells for just half the price of the traditional Birkenstock models and now represents approx. 15% of the 30M units sold.
Since entering the world of DTC in 2016 with Birkenstock.com, the brand has grown their online channel to 38% of sales in the past 7 years (from 0%).
Although Birkenstock’s initial IPO didn’t have the strongest performance, it’s inspiring to see big consumer brands go public, pivot strategies and growth channels, and continue to push boundaries. BirkenFLOP? We think not and we’ll keep rocking ours.
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Stand out in the ecomm crowd, and join the list of shopping apps like Princess Polly, True Classic, MUD/WTR and more.
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Over 100 million emails will be sent on Black Friday alone this year. Will yours stand out? 👀
We’ve rounded up five email trends (plus a bonus at the end) to give you a competitive advantage in the inbox this BFCM. Today, we’re covering the first trend — Teasers, previews, and early access sales.
Let’s go 😎
1️⃣ Use teasers, previews, and early access sales to boost sales
BFCM weekend is a big deal for brands in DTC. We prepare for months on end, and so we tend to think our shoppers see it as a big deal, too.
But here’s a stat that might blow your mind (especially if you’re more of a last-minute-gifter 🙋)
🤯 59% of consumers start their holiday shopping before BFCM — typically by November and sometimes as early as September!
Why would anyone be so ahead of the ball?
One reason is that shopping over BFCM weekend is seen as “stressful” by some consumers. Think shipping delays, supply chain issues, and items going out of stock. 💆
So, brands look to appeal to early bird shoppers by launching BFCM campaigns sooner rather than later.
That means you’ll see more “pre-sale,” “sneak peek,” or “early access” emails to generate hype, make shoppers feel exclusive, and give them a chance to get their shopping done before the weekend rush. 🛍️
Want to ensure people see and open your early-sale emails? Use your subject line and preheader to tell email scrollers what they can expect when they open.
For example:
1️⃣ Subject line: We’re Giving You A Sneak Peek
2️⃣ Preheader: Get X% off in our exclusive holiday pre-sale
This also has the plus side of alleviating shipping constraints and supply chain demands for brands.
Want to jump on the early bird train this year? Check out these pre-BFCM brand emails for inspo.
This week, Google unveiled the "Google Ads Data Manager." This tool is developed in response to the shifting dynamics in the post-cookie era and the growing emphasis on first-party data, amidst the evolving online advertising standards.
Features of the Google Ads Data Manager include:
1️⃣ Integration with marketers' first-party data, preparing for an upcoming digital ad environment less dependent on cookies.
2️⃣ Consolidation of data management controls to streamline advertising outcomes and improve the amalgamation of first-party data across different platforms.
3️⃣ Enabling analysts to create new data connections and allowing marketers to utilize specific data for targeted ads and conversion tracking.
4️⃣ Making processes more user-friendly; meaning fewer clicks to complete tasks and minimal coding knowledge required.
As the industry transitions away from cookies, tools like Google Ads Data Manager may offer us marketers the much needed insights into understanding customer behaviors and their journey.
DTC Newsletter + Podcast reaches a highly qualified audience of Shopify merchants, eCommerce founders, and digital marketers. Talk to our team to learn more.
Calculate your target customer acquisition cost, figure out how to acquire customers in your range, and scale to the moon. 🚀
🔎 Job Searching? Love managing high-performing ad campaigns and driving growth? Golden Hippo — one of the leading DTC companies in the world — is hiring on their Digital Acquisition Marketing team. Apply today! *
✖️ Expanded profiles are coming to X. Businesses and creators are now able to link more resources and add further context to their profiles. Future updates are slated to include jobs and location information.
🎵 Another lawsuit against TikTok emerges from Utah, the latest in a string of lawsuits from various American States over the last few years. This time, the lawsuit highlights TikTok’s addictive engagement tactics.
🛍️ A new ecommerce bartering system is in development by ergo, a tech startup. The goal is to revive a brand’s old inventory for a better profit than the same products being sold through a traditional clearance discount.
📺 YouTube is introducing new accessibility options for the visually impaired through audio descriptions for videos in the subtitles tab.
Based on what we’ve seen on Twitter, this is a majority of marketers dodging calls from Meta. 😂
Have you heard our latest podcasts?
Don’t forget to rate the DTC Podcast on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️)
Got an awesome DTC brand story to tell? Calling all brand-side founders and team leaders! Fancy joining us on the DTC Podcast as a guest? Tap the link to toss in your application.
DTC Newsletter is written by Rebecca Knight, Kelsey Hess, and Michael Venditti. Edited by Claire Beveridge and Eric Dyck.
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