Eli Schwartz

If you're a DTC brand trying to grow STOP picking arbitrary ROAS or CPA targets and making ad spend decisions off of those alone. What actually matters? 1. Payback Period - at what point in time do you become profitable on that customer? Times have changed - bootstrapped or VC funded - if your payback period if beyond 6 months you’re most likely in trouble. (just look at the public DTC companies that tried that) 2. Contribution Margin Simply: Average Order Value - COGS - Ad Spend = CM You should know what your CM is at different periods of time (Day 0, Day 60, Day 90, 1 year). This goes hand in hand with your payback period of course. Here's an example of a roughly 3 month payback period: Day 0: AOV = $100 COGS 50% = $50  CAC = $60 Contribution Margin = -$10 Day 90: AOV = $130 COGS 50% = $65 CAC = $60 (you only pay for the customer once) Contribution Margin = $5 Understand how this affects your overall P&L and you can start making better decisions in how much to invest in growth.

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After 5 years of experience and generating millions of dollars online for 6 to 8-figure DTC brands, I’ve put together "The Ultimate Guide to Segmentation Strategies in Klaviyo" Why is segmentation key? It’s the foundation for personalized emails that engage customers and drive serious revenue. If you're not segmenting, you're leaving money on the table. Especially with Q4 around the corner! Comment ‘Segment’ or ‘Q4’ and I’ll send the guide straight to you. Let’s make some bags this Q4 together! (Must be connected)

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Here are 3 two BIGGEST traits we look for in a team member when hiring for Chewonthis DTC and GaaS For SaaS And why you should be looking for the same.

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💸🔥 Burning Money for Growth? 🔥💸 In a dramatic twist of history, Pablo Escobar once burned $2 million to keep his daughter warm. While his actions were extreme, they draw a stark parallel to how companies today are 'burning money' in marketplace advertising. In the relentless pursuit of growth and market dominance, many businesses find themselves pouring vast sums into advertising efforts. The intent is to boost visibility and capture market share, but are these investments always strategic? Much like Escobar's gesture of desperation, not all ad spend yields the desired warmth of ROI. It's crucial for companies to evaluate their strategies, ensuring that their advertising spend is heating up growth rather than going up in flames. 🌐 Key Takeaways: Evaluate ROI: Regularly assess the return on your advertising investments. Strategic Spending: Allocate budget towards channels that provide measurable growth. Innovative Approaches: Consider out-of-the-box marketing strategies that may offer better cost efficiency. Let's make sure our advertising dollars are creating value, not just smoke. 🔥💰 If you are interested in the best practices for successful marketplace ads, feel free to send me a message. #MarketingStrategy #Advertising #ROI #BusinessGrowth #MarketplaceAds

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Actionable Insights from Kevin Indig's Growth Memo This year has been intense for e-commerce brands aiming to grow with SEO. Staying ahead of the flood of commentary is challenging, so filtering the noise by following reputable experts is crucial. One expert is @kevinindig, whose Growth Memo newsletter provides valuable insights. You can subscribe here: https://lnkd.in/gCAnwnni Here are some key takeaways from recent editions that I found particularly valuable for e-commerce brands and my own SEO work: 𝗘-𝗖𝗼𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗢𝘂𝘁𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺 𝗥𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗿𝘀 He notes that since August 2023, e-commerce brands have performed better in organic search than e-commerce retailers. Retailers sell many brands, while Google seems to favour single-brand sites. 💡 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽: If you're a multi-brand retailer, invest time understanding why this trend is happening and how it impacts your SEO strategy. Consider building communities on your site, as Google has shown a preference for online communities. 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗥𝗮𝗻𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 A recent Google leak indicates that brand search volume contributes to rankings for non-brand terms. In other words, the more people search for your brand by name, the better you rank for commercial keywords. 💡 𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗦𝘁𝗲𝗽: Engage in marketing activities that drive more brand searches. This could include community building, creating helpful content, or PR activities. Ensure these efforts also attract backlinks to your site. 𝗣𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗕𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲𝘀 & 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗰𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗴𝗹𝗲 Kevin highlights that it’s becoming harder to succeed in e-commerce and publisher SEO, with many more sites losing visibility than gaining it. Small brands may struggle to compete with established sites due to their authority, built on backlinks, content quality, and brand strength. 🔑 𝗞𝗲𝘆 𝗧𝗮𝗸𝗲𝗮𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀: 𝗦𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗱 𝗙𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗹𝘀: Ensure your site has high-quality, indexable pages. Remove fluff and provide helpful information written by experts. 𝗨𝘀𝗲𝗿 𝗜𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗻𝘁: Ensure your content matches user intent. Google tracks user behaviour, so users will bounce back to search results if your content doesn't meet expectations. 𝗜𝗻𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗲 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗦𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗲𝘀: Focus on strategies that increase the number of people searching for your brand by name. This can include content marketing, building communities, and engaging on social media. These activities send positive signals to Google. 𝗦𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗟𝗶𝗻𝗸 𝗕𝘂𝗶𝗹𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴: Links remain a major ranking factor. Develop a sustainable link-building strategy, perhaps through digital PR; however, how long this lasts remains to be seen before it's abused and negated.

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Writing helps me: 1. Craft persuasive product descriptions on my Amazon listings. 2. Get people to fill out applications to join my Amazon and ecom community, Million Dollar Sellers (link in featured section). 3. Persuade creators and business owners to use my UGC marketplace, JoinBrands (link in bio).  It also helps in dozens of other ways. No matter what you do for work, it’ll help you too. Take some time to study and practice it.

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Stop keyword-stuffing your luxury skincare listings on Amazon. I just watched a $200 serum brand kill their reputation doing this... Their original listing: "Advanced bio-peptide renewal serum with patented cellular regeneration" Their "optimized" listing: "Anti aging face serum wrinkle cream for women men fine lines dark spots" The results? ✅ More traffic ❌ Wrong customers ❌ Angry reviews ❌ Brand damage ❌ Price perception destroyed Meanwhile, La Mer barely mentions "anti-aging" in their listings. Augustinus Bader doesn't stuff their titles. Tata Harper stays true to their voice. One of my luxury clients reversed their "optimization." Results after 60 days: • 40% fewer returns • 2.3x higher repeat purchase • +127% average cart value Premium skincare brands: 𝗬𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗻'𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗹𝘂𝘅𝘂𝗿𝘆 𝗔𝗡𝗗 𝘀𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲. What's your experience with this? #luxurybeauty #skincare #beautybrands

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What are some of your best landing pages you've seen out there for DTC brands?

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With more places, and strategies to advertise comes the difficult problem of prioritization. I put together this quick guide on the most profitable DTC campaigns that every brand should be running.

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I'm creating a new identity for GMass.   GMass has always been a generalist's tool for email campaigns, despite the conventional wisdom of "the niches are in the riches". Most competitors have niched down. There are tools geared towards just hard core cold emailers. There are tools geared towards just content creators. There are tools geared towards just for real estate agents. GMass's users run the gamut from cold emailers to influencers to church pastors and everyone in between. At parties, when people ask me what GMass is and I respond with "an email campaign tool that works inside Gmail", their next question is "Who do you serve?" and I shrug my shoulders and meekly answer "Evvveryyyone...?" So I'm going to lean into that and rebrand GMass as: The email campaign tool for everyone else. With the emphasis on "else".

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When you’re ready to start scaling your marketplace, you have three key decisions to make: 1. Decide *how* you’ll scale (new location, new category, or new user group) 2. Choose *which market* you’ll scale to 3. Decide whether you’ll need to raise funding and choose how you’ll go about it. Each one is a big, high-stakes call to make. In my latest article, I’ll do my best to help you arrive at the right decisions and create a scaling playbook that will help you reach your goals. Link in the comments! https://lnkd.in/dPCY6XM7

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I have a few successful companies now. My two favorites: 1. Million Dollar Sellers - A community for successful Amazon sellers. Link in featured section. 2. JoinBrands - A marketplace where entrepreneurs and UGC creators can find each other. Link in bio. But I’ve had: - A lot of failed projects in the past - Thousands of failures within those companies Whether you're building companies, improving your career, being a freelancer, or figuring out market, you'll have trouble. Probably a lot of it. If you want to win, get ready to lose.

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How to increase a DTC brand's bottom-line profit with a lower MER (All savvy DTC brand founders and marketers understand this, but most don't)... Absolute contribution margin dollars are far more important to profitability than MER. MER is merely a relationship between revenue and ad spend, whereas absolute contribution margin is the actual dollars that contribute to and increase bottom line profitability. Many brand founders find this counter-intuitive, but the reality is that if taking a lower MER allows you to scale ad spend and top line revenue enough to offset the margin decrease caused by the lower MER, the result can actually be an increase in absolute contribution margin dollars and thus an increase in bottom line profitability. Check out the example below. If the ad buyer for this brand feels confident they can spend more than $380,292 at a 2.5 MER, then dropping MER from 2.75 to 2.5 actually drives more contribution margin dollars and more bottom line profit. Find this confusing? It's okay - you're not alone. Consider sending me a DM to learn how my team of DTC-focused Fractional CFO's at Free to Grow CFO can help.

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Turn one event into 2.8+ million impressions? New case study w/ Vin Matano 🐝 and Demandbase out now! - Follow our DICE framework to maximize your event ROI so you don’t have to roll the dice with in-person content. D-esign I-deate C-apture E-dit - DESIGN your event content plan before the event. Factor the RSVP list, influencer partners, and key marketing messaging before the start time. This will inform the topic selection and shot planning during the event. The more homework you do upfront, the easier it is to hit a home run at the event. IDEATE on content topics and thoroughly prepare. Be intentional and formulate a concrete shooting plan. This can include video topics, storyboarding, branding, and questions for the participants. You want to focus primarily on execution during the event, so it’s key to get the preparation in order. CAPTURE your event in a versatile manner. Now that you have your content plan, you can focus on 1) DOCUMENTING the event and 2) CREATING original content at the event. You want a fair balance of both so you can produce versatile videos (short form, interviews, hype video, recap, long form) with original b-roll. EDIT your raw assets into usable content. Think carefully about how you want to distribute the content. Fast-paced short form is great for organic social while more cinematic shots can serve as promotional reel for future events and sponsor activation. DO NOT post anything raw. Create with audience enjoyment top of mind. - Watch the full video for a detailed breakdown. Hosting an event and interested in turning it into a content factory? Hit up EventShark 🦈

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How to start landing more DTC brands with content. (even if you’re never posted on LinkedIn before) 1. Identify the dream outcome of an existing client 2. Look at Slack to find the objections to achieving the outcome 3. Go to LinkedIn 4. Find a viral step-by-step structured post 5. Write your hook using this template: “X steps to [dream outcome] without [objection] in X days. Example: “9 steps to 2% CVR without a website redesign in 30 days” 6. Following the structure of the viral post, write the steps to solving the problem “1. [Step 1] 2. [Step 2] 3. [Step 3] etc...” 7. Write a 1-sentence summary that hammers the key takeaway “That’s how I’d help any DTC brand hit [dream outcome] without [objection] in only X days.” 8. Drive to a clear next step “P.S. If you’re struggling to achieve [dream outcome], shoot me a DM and I’ll share my thoughts on how to make it happen." --- Boom, you’ve now demonstrated your knowledge to future clients. You're a content creator.

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PMF for DTC: 1) Allow for free shipping and free returns. 2) Find a product you can sell 1,000 of with a return rate >= 15-20% lower than industry standards. 3) Take it from there.

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Your ad copy sounds like product manual! that's because DTC brands are more focused towards features than benefits. and customers don't care about features – they care about benefits. Benefits drives conversions. • Example of Feature-Focused Fluff: "Our 100% organic cotton t-shirts are made with a special weave for ultimate comfort and breathability." Zzzzzzz... So, what should you write instead? Focus on the transformation your product provides. How will it make your customer's life better? • Example of Benefit-Focused Copy: "Tired of sweaty, uncomfortable t-shirts? Our organic cotton tees keep you cool and dry all day long, so you can focus on what matters most." See the difference? The second example speaks directly to the customer's pain point (uncomfortable t-shirts) and offers a solution (cool and dry all day). people don't buy products they buy solutions to their problems. Show them how your product can change their life, and they'll be eager to click that "Shop Now" button.

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The best Ecoms grow differently than the rest. They're all running this new school ad playbook - Yes, profitable DTC growth is hard today. But there's still growth to be had. Post-90 days, all our clients are performing better. Better = more Contribution Profit E.g., Gross Profit - Ad Costs None of this bogus ROAS nonsense...I'm talking real profits. Here's our 5-part playbook - 1. Implement Blotout or Elevar - There's other options too - Just know these work 2. Pass more than purchases to ad accounts - Micro-conversions (views, add to carts, etc.) - Custom conversions (new v. return) 3. Consolidate Google & Meta structure - Less campaigns = better signal - Still separate brand & retargeting - Stop faking growth 4. Test new creative weekly - With an account structure to support it - And scaling Winners 5. Get out of the way - Too many agencies tinker - To justify their retainer - Or b/c the team is junior - It crushes momentum - It's like traders trying to beat the S&P - 9/10 can't do it - Spend your energy elsewhere. Good luck. Go get it 👊

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Should you buy Meta ads? Or just the stock? Of all the money ‘invested’ in Meta ads by DTC brands, would they have been better off just buying Meta stock? A friend who is an experienced investment banker focused on consumer brands told me about a conversation he had with an investor a couple years ago. “We don’t invest in companies like those because ultimately the largest economic benefit from the investment accrues to Meta, not the company and the investor.” By ‘those companies’ the investor meant DTC and ecommerce companies with a heavy focus on advertising and in particular advertising on Meta. From the investor’s perspective, there are a lot of places she could put her money. So, if a big chunk of the investors’ money is advertising and those ad dollars have more benefit to Meta than to the ecomm company, what’s the point? In other words, why not just buy Meta stock instead of Company A stock whose business model is predicated on buying services from Meta? I run a thought experiment with Allbirds to see the value creation from ads versus buying Meta stock. You can read the full post 👇 👇 👇 https://lnkd.in/eiakbfhb

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