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Checkout is one of the key points that make or break your conversion rate, but most brands have very little control in that arena How to create a more cohesive experience between your traffic sources and your sales pages "Optimizing" the happiness of your customers How personalized upsells can reward customers for making the purchase decision (within the purchase window) Discounting on an upsell can work really well because it’s not public- it’s a great way to reward a purchase, rather than incentivizing one “[SMS] is high risk and high reward.” Moving SMS from “one-to-many” communication to one-to-one “When I look at a thank you page- that’s not a receipt. That is the first ‘goodbye’ in your relationship… If you want to meet again, how do you say goodbye? With a receipt?” Connect with Jordan on Twitter (@jordangal), check out his podcast, Bootstrapped Web, and learn more about CartHook here

How Felix Gray helps customers find the perfect fit by combining digital and in-store experiences 3 factors to work through: style, price, and brand equity Cross-selling for a product that generally lasts for years How different SKUs face different kinds of competition Building a website flow to help customers self-segment Maintaining brand standard across a ton of different channels Targeting paid ads when your product connects with a broad cross-section of consumers How Felix Gray segments customers to better understand repeat purchase rates (and offer better education) Establishing authority in a “post-trust” era Using data to decide when to launch products

Overcoming customer mistrust of loyalty programs Loyalty emails perform ~14x better than standard marketing emails Here’s the LoyaltyLion blog Building up a base of loyal customers is a great way to avoid a race to the bottom on price Different methods for rewarding loyalty and how to tie those into your brand values Rewarding existing behaviors that signal engagement Building a better value exchange for loyalty programs- not just data for perks You don’t need to have everything together when you launch your loyalty program- releasing new rewards and incentivizing new behaviors is exciting for your customers Here’s more about TheCHIVE’s loyalty program, and here’s Annmarie Skincare

How major players “pull the market up with them” Creating an Amazon-level experience through the entire customer journey Balancing fast shipping with environmental concerns and the core elements of your brand Distributing fulfillment centers geographically is a great way to get quicker shipping and a lower overall carbon footprint How to use storytelling in shipping Approaching fulfillment less as a cost center and more as a revenue driver that can build a better overall business How to use free and quicker shipping thresholds to improve AOV In-depth data can be a tool for understanding when it's possible to make operational exceptions How free and two-day shipping can increase your conversion rate Follow Casey on Twitter: @caseya

Iterating a product through some rough initial steps- the product itself might not necessarily be “there” but the right value prop and idea is an important start Retention for a product designed to last years “Acquiring an audience via content and then retaining them as customers” Content can be a powerful tool for keeping potential customers engaged over a much longer buyer’s journey Tortuga’s content needs to be tailored to a really specific, niche set of needs, which makes it great for onboarding post-purchase Educating customers on the ways that products interrelate is a great tool for cross-selling Using a flagship product to drive purchases of other SKUs Helping customers make a series of smaller decisions rather than getting overwhelmed in a single moment The (surprising) value of recommending products from other companies Building your team with a focus on retention

Diversifying ads to look native on newer social media platforms How Facebook advertising has shifted over the past few years (and what that means for brands) The experience of an ad vs conversion rate alone Why dropshipping is more of a struggle in 2020 Using different campaigns for different parts of the funnel is a powerful tool for both acquisition and retention How to use retargeting for upsells and cross-sells (and deciding which products to push in these ads) Signals that let you know if your ads are working Retargeting is expensive on Facebook, but CPMs on newer platforms like Snapchat can be much lower How Savannah harnesses UGC to establish trust Bringing your most evangelical customers to the forefront in your advertising

Why the customer portal is so important for subscription businesses Creating an education focus on the backend of a site The importance of keeping things exciting for a subscriber “Subscribers are really dictating how the merchant is creating the subscription experience” The three layers of retention and why CX platforms tend to get overlooked What actions can customers take beyond pause, skip, and cancel? (Hint: try a swap button) Tracking AOV over time More on tracking data in retention with Taylor Holiday Here’s the portal example from Atlas Coffee and here’s Cocokind’s membership model in action

Balancing physical franchises and online sales Using 10-digit phone numbers vs short codes for SMS Replicating the in-store experience online  SMS becomes more scalable as your team figures out elements to automate but you need to really interact with your customers first to understand their needs “Growth is only as good as your retention.” How a short supply chain gives brands a much faster turnaround on their creative Combating subscription fatigue by staying relevant How Sanjay balances the needs of consumers and team members “The world is my swipe file” Being the top product in a category vs raising the bar for the whole category

Amazon has incredibly low marketing costs for a business of its size because they’ve nailed down a competitive advantage in operations “You can only spend your way to growth for so long before you have to dig in and have a better understanding of retention, repeat engagement, customer lifetime value, like, LTV:CAC equation, and understand at what point and to what degree you’re going to actually turn a profit and be a sustainable brand.” Customer experience is the primary differentiator for brands, and being evidence-based and predictive in your approach helps to underline all the work that you do here Operations are a core driver of customer experience- so what happens after checkout? Honing in on the sources of your variable costs- the two biggest cost drivers for DTC brands beyond product cost are variable marketing & the cost of fulfillment How real time operational state awareness and understanding the value of a customer (and order) can be used to respond to issues Here’s the Allbirds open letter to Jeff Bezos Learn more about SoundCommerce here

The biggest trends in email marketing right now Using email as a narrative channel- it’s a great place to build out your brand story for customers How to use popups without being intrusive or damaging your brand Most cart abandonment happens before the checkout flow, so you need to combine exit intent popups with intelligent targeting How to differentiate while customers are waiting to receive the product Three things that impact email signup popup conversion the most: content in a form (converts at about 1%), an offer (converts at about 5%), “spin to win” (converts at about 15%) Don’t rush into broadcast SMS- focus on the use-cases and flows you already know are important How to follow up from a popup (tell them a story) Here’s the blog post about Privy’s pivot into the DTC space Retention Bite #3 on this page covers post-purchase emails (plus great examples from August Uncommon and Rooted NYC) Connect with Ben: @Jabbawy on Twitter

Agency fees v.s. Guru guarantees: where operators turn with questions about PPC The central formula for ADMission’s approach to growth: Profit = (Visitors x Conversion Rate x 60-day LTV) - Costs Focusing on bottom line profit rather than top line revenue for better cash flow “Valuable content centers on the story your audience already inhabits, entering it not as the hero but as a human helper. Pick that story wisely and tell it honestly, no matter the medium on which it appears.” -Aaron Orendorff Why it’s so important to set goals for paid advertising before you start spending How to calculate profitable PPC spend for your specific brand Machine learning matters: “Let Facebook find your customers” then “keep iterating on success” Here’s the eCommerce strategy resource Kristen mentions at the end Join ADMission (at a discount) Reach out to Adrianne for access to the CAC:LTV webinar

Creating a cohesive set of experiences through the whole customer journey means nailing down your tech and focusing on intangibles Creating a “value add” at every touchpoint instead of independent experiences How Elliot is built to even the digital playing field Marketing to individuals vs marketing to organizations The connections between DTC and SaaS/consumer tech “You can’t optimize brand marketing. You have to feel it- and oh my god, I hate saying that.” Looking at selling as a process largely external to your site Drops are way more interesting than teasing a release To meaningfully use a channel, you need to both create and consume from it Connect with Marco on Twitter: @allthingsmarco

Customer-led buying, selling, and trading can help subscribers stay invested when they already have a ton of product How engaged customers become part of the Battlbox team Dealing with both active and passive churn The huge difference that a .5% improvement in retention can make Replenishment subscription vs curated box subscription Looking at brand experience from a customer perspective Using YouTube for both acquisition and retention Focusing your branding around a range of customer personas

Building a passion project into something much bigger It’s not about creating a new habit- it’s reshaping existing rituals “Everything, to have a successful communication, is about context” Books referenced: Start With Why by Simon Sinek and Obviously Awesome by April Dunford “Consider your product as a feature of the experience” DTC pizza- could it be a thing? Benefit vs value for your customer How UGC creates context and tells the story of your product Selling isn’t just about price and convenience anymore- it’s about deeper values The difference between a subscription and a membership Investing time to create impact (doing the hard things that no one’s doing) Here’s the booklet Kristen mentions

The different kinds of alcohol shopping- impulse buyer vs loyal buyer  What DTC brands can learn from the wine industry- here’s the thread Kris mentions How Haus uses events to build up community and loyalty The best subscriptions reward customers for behavior they already engage in Why Haus focused initially on large cities and gradually moved into smaller developing markets (Seattle, Portland, Denver) “Community is an amazing thing for us because, just from a brand perspective, we’re about getting together over a drink” Organic growth is much harder to predict, and retention is vital to creating predictable revenue “It’s not about the freakin’ drink- it’s about the things that happen over the drink.” Starting with metrics and moving into qualitative conversations with customers

Competing in a space that favors massive corporations How the American alcohol industry mirrors fast food Building a product experience specifically around community and sharing is a powerful tool for organic growth Combining generations of winemaking experience with a decade of Silicon Valley expertise Here’s the podcast Kristen mentions, with a lot more information on Helena’s background How Haus imported a European approach to drinking to the US with millennials in mind Consumer products need to be gold standard from the beginning- you can’t iterate a beta over time once it’s in the market Using word-of-mouth as a growth lever when there’s not a financial base for paid advertising Why Haus puts the product in context in all their imagery Customers don’t want the “what”- they want the “why”

When things are tough, the weak points of your business tend to come to the surface Positioning during the COVID-19 crisis doesn’t have to be entirely about the disease- there are a range of ways to look at your product in context of consumer mindsets Revenue = (traffic) x (your conversion rate) x (your average order value) Understanding the context of the buyer is vital to understanding your own conversion rate In times of trouble, consumers tend to retreat back to products they’re already comfortable with “Increasing AOV doesn't even have to [be] incentivized, or discounted, or [include a] free gift to go with it. It could just be a natural congruency between products that are in your catalog.” Email sequences are a great way to shorten the sales cycle by packing in a much broader range of customer touch points Here’s Kristen’s last PFK conversation with Allen

“Just because you have good branding doesn’t mean you’re entitled to trust.” The challenges (and opportunities) for subscription brands in different countries Building up authority via social proof The difference between replenishables and other kinds of subscription Mapping the customer journey to the pet-parent relationship Disruptive, industry-changing brands face different questions from consumers Creating a super personalized checkout and a customized shipping cadence How calling customers can be a powerful retention tool Being unreasonably flexible in customer service interactions Creating tools to help customers take better care of their pets

“All great strategies focus on the why.” Huge amounts of VC money were poured into DTC in 2018 and 2019, but the brands that will thrive have more than just a growth strategy in mind How influencers (and rappers) use a retention- and community-first approach A lot of DTC brands think the product will speak for itself, but it’s the little things that make a business stand out in competitive markets VC funding v.s. Bootstrapping: “Are you pushing all your dollars to the max?” Customer experience is retention Navigating DTC text “Storytelling forces a brand to stand in the shoes of their consumers and decide whether or not they would buy their own product.” Brand awareness trumps all marketing metrics Great brands don’t follow the trends- they create their own voice The next era of DTC brands will fundamentally reshape commerce 6 Rules of Great Storytelling (As Told by Pixar)

Building a brand focused on the Gen Z market Here’s Blumetopia Using a Close Friends list on Instagram and Facebook to build community The signs of success for a loyalty program Helping customers transition from traditional brands to organic products Check out this amazing email Younger customers are really quick to offer feedback, and it’s important shape your channels around that How Blume educates their customers with The States of Sex Ed