DTC690: Understanding FTC's New Review Collection Policy

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Good morning,

Google has released their Holiday 100 list based on top search trends this year.

Some of the most sought-after gifts include baggy jeans, charm necklaces, and kid scooters. 🛴

Peek the full list in the news section below!

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

💸 Understand FTC’s new review policy and avoid getting fined by making these changes to your site's review collection process.
🎁 Why you need to get those gifting ads up now so you can start testing before scaling.
💡 And…try this GSC organization hack to see top-performing sections on your site.

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You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Yeti Cycles, Port Lighting, and Smitten Cosmetics. 👋

💸 Update Your Review Collection Process Now To Avoid Harsh Penalties

A new Federal Trade Commission (FTC) rule banning fake online reviews came into effect last month.

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Why?

Fake reviews are rampant all over the internet.

In 2023, Trustpilot had to remove over 3.3M fraudulent reviews from their site.

The FTC’s groundbreaking rule targets selling and purchasing fake reviews, aiming to clean up the online marketplace.

The new rule prohibits AI-generated reviews, fake reviews from people who don’t exist, and reviews from those with no real experience with the product/service.

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What do I need to do?

For companies that rely on online reviews, they will need to change their review collection process to remain compliant.

The FTC gives businesses 60 days to align their review practices to these new requirements.

Part of their business recommendations include creating a compliant review request template and training staff on new procedures or facing stiff penalties of $50,120 per violation.

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Here are examples of what you can say to get feedback from customers and what to avoid:

A compliant response: “We value honest feedback from our customers. If you want to share your experience, leave a review on x product.” ✅

A non-compliant response: “Leave us a five-star review and get a $50 gift card!” ❌

The takeaway?

If you can’t authenticate a review for your business, don’t include it in your marketing materials and ad campaigns.

Make sure to update your customer service team and adjust any wording necessary on your site or other platforms to remain FTC compliant.

🎄 Looking For a Last Minute Boost to Your Holiday Sales? Direct Mail Is The Answer

This holiday, stop wasting budget trying to compete in the oversaturated digital advertising space. Stand out and drive revenue with direct mail. 📬

Poplar gets your first mailing in-home within 1-2 weeks, plus provides advanced targeting, personalization, and real-time reporting, just like digital channels.

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Find holiday success with:

• 🎯 Retargeting: Target anonymous site visitors and email leads with powerful address matching software.
• 👋 Retention: Reactivate customers who purchased in Q4 last year with a repeat offer or target previous gift recipients.
• 👥 Prospecting: Build AI-powered lookalike audiences that fit your ideal holiday customer perfectly.

Plus, for a limited time, get free creative design, $500 in free Poplar credit (that's up to 1k postcards!), and a free one-month trial of their Pro plan.

🎁 Get Gifting Ads Going Early on Meta

November is already well underway, and this is the perfect time to launch gifting angles in your ad account if you haven’t already.

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Here are a few reasons why your brand should launch gifting ads early:

• Launch early to angle test and find top pockets
  • Gifts for him, her, kids, corporate gifting, general gifting, etc.
• Take your winning pockets and iterate
  • Contrasting creative, urgency headlines, post-click optimizations, etc.
• Start gaining momentum on gifting ads early
  • This way, you can scale them up further through BFCM and run through your shipping cutoff after Black Friday.

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The Pilothouse Meta team has already been testing gifting angles across a handful of brands, and they’re seeing this campaign start to emerge for a Canadian brand.

This copy variation has a ROAS that’s 38% higher than other copy tested with the same creative.

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Here’s why it’s working:

• The copy breaks down gift-giving into simple terms for consumers
• The copy also calls out limited stock and pushes urgency
• The creative calls out Christmas, aligned with the product name and it ties in the gifting copy

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A strong next step for the team is testing different headlines and contrasting creatives to push more urgency with shipping cutoff dates, stock count, and limited-time savings.

Get gifting angles going in your ad account today and scale them up this Q4!

🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE

Did you know you can verify properties at the subdirectory level on Google Search Console?

What this means: Add URLs of different sections on your site so it’s easier to troubleshoot issues and analyze performance metrics.

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⚡ QUICK HITS

🤔 Need help keeping up with the constantly shifting trends for Black Friday? Adjust your BFCM gameplan with daily insights across the market with Particl’s free newsletter. Subscribe here. *

📥 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.

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Have you heard our latest podcasts?

• 🏆 TWBERP 7: Email Like A Top Brand: Fresh, Flawless, Simple
• 🌟 Building Culturally Relevant Brands with Eugene Healey
• 🌚 AKNF 454: Amazon’s Cold Start Problem and Honeymoon Phase
• 📧 TWBERP 6: The Inbox Has Changed - 2024 BFCM Game Plan
• 👡 Scaling Custom Footwear at Crocs and Customer Personalization
• ❌ AKNF 452: Q4 Google Campaign Media Buyer ‘Don’ts’

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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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