📦 - For All The Doomsday Preppers

DTC 521 - TikTok Ban Tips, Amazon Bid History, and Cutting Ad Costs Monday, March 25, 2024 When productivity dies after 8pm. Good morning, Turns out TikTok Shops growth is outpacing ecommerce heavyweights like Shopify and Amazon. Last year TikTok Shops grew 400% YoY while Shopify grew 34% and Amazon just 8%. As we wait with bated breath on the results of the U.S. ban on TikTok, here are some tips on how ecommerce businesses can survive.👇 Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: - Feeling anxious about a potential TikTok ban? Here are easy-to-implement tips and why it’s important to ‘own’ your audience. - More tips on how to audit your Amazon account using bid history. - And…how to cut down advertising costs in half. You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Shore Seaweed, BlackHawk Garage Door, and Slice Mobile. 👋 BENCHMARKS 👀 How Do You Stack Up Against The Competition? Everybody says they’re great at email and SMS… But are they? And what does “great” actually look like? 🤔 Trying to Google 'email and SMS performance benchmarks' feels like a dead-end. No real answers, no real advice. That’s why [Klaviyo]( built [a report analyzing BILLIONS of emails and texts](. Now, you can [compare your stats against brands like yours]( and get expert tips based on performance standards. Keen to improve order rates? Need to drive more conversions from your welcome emails? Let Klaviyo be your guide. 🗺️ 📖 [Get the report]( to read up on: - Key ecom performance trends - Email and SMS campaign data BY INDUSTRY - Which four flows are driving the most revenue for your competitors - Where you need to improve (and how to do it) The answers you've been searching for have finally arrived. 👇 [Get The Report]( *Sponsored TIKTOK BAN SURVIVAL GUIDE 💰 Why It’s Important To Own Your Audience After the House passed a bill that could potentially ban TikTok from the U.S., it’s becoming a real possibility that the popular social media app could cease to exist. ☠️ For businesses that rely heavily on TikTok virality or TikTok Shops, this could have a significant impact on revenue. 📉 While the bill awaits Senate review, it is still a good idea for SMBs to look ahead and be proactive. Protect your brand reach so that if a ban does happen, you will still be able to reach your potential customers. Here are some tips on how to safeguard your audience: - Diversify your channels: If TikTok is your strongest social channel then it’s time to repurpose that content onto another platform. - Test your TikTok content on Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts to see what works best with your target audience. Growing your following on other channels will make you less reliant on just one - Communicate with your TikTok followers: Use your TikTok account to plug all the other online channels you are on so your fans can stay in touch with your brand. - You can say something like: ‘If you want to continue to support our business…’ or ‘Don’t miss our updates and follow us on x, y, and z!’ - Start collecting emails: If you don’t have a mailing list, it’s time to start one! Even if you have a huge social following, you are only ‘renting’ your audience rather than ‘owning’ it. The truth is any social media app can be banned or go under. Having control and access to first party customer data will give you a leg up on your competition. The takeaway? The value of ‘owning your audience’ has never been more important. This possible TikTok ban really highlights the importance of diversifying your channels. Owning first party customer data will be the key to success especially as we move into Q3 and Q4. 🔑 MMM+ 📊 Growth Doesn't Have to Be Fueled By Guesswork When it comes to profitability, you shouldn't be settling. You also shouldn’t be stuck ripping your hair out because of expensive, outdated, or incomprehensible MMM’s (media mix models). There ARE better options out there to [aid your growth and forecasting](. [MMM+ by Northbeam]( is MMM reimagined for the demands of modern marketing. With MMM+ you can: - 👀 Forecast incrementality. See cost curves per channel and campaign. - ⛔ Prevent diminishing returns. Squeeze the absolute most out of your marketing budget without wasting spend. - ✍️ Plan your omnichannel media spend. Forecast results for multiple KPIs before spending a dime. The cookies data you once relied on won't exist for much longer... Do you have a plan? Get [ahead of the curve with MMM+](. [Free Demo Available]( *Sponsored AMAZON TIPS 🛠️ Amazon Audit Tactics: Analyze Your Bid History Yesterday we talked about Amazon ad placements and today the [Pilothouse Amazon team]( will cover the importance of Bid History. Arguably the most important part of Amazon advertising is active bid management to follow performance. This is a simple one, but a quick way to see if campaigns are actively being managed is to ensure bids are actively being changed. 👉 Head inside an ad group inside Sponsored Product campaigns and click that “History” button to see the bid change history. Most bidding software will move bids somewhere between daily to weekly. Typically you’ll know these are automated software bid movements because they’re small changes made in the middle of the night. Ideally you’d also see some larger manual bid movements in here as well. Why so many bid changes? If Amazon is a second-price auction, why not just set a certain bid and let it go? There are a ton of daily differences in competition’s advertising: product relevance, ranking, customer reviews, buying intent, traffic levels, etc. These changing factors all impact conversion rate and average cost per click. As these metrics shift, bids need to be moved to maintain performance towards your goals. These are typically small changes that can be automated by some software for the day-to-day movements which should be combined with occasional human intervention (especially to higher spending campaigns) to make larger shifts and keep things on track. If you’ve been following along with this series, you’ll now be confident in your Amazon advertising’s branded vs. prospecting split, you’ll know campaigns are directing to the right placements, and can rest assured that bids are being actively controlled to match your goals. Stay tuned for the next one where we’ll dig into what to look for when it comes to product page optimization. Want the Pilothouse Amazon team to take a closer look? [Click here]( to get in touch. 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Looking to cut costs? Make sure your ad creatives resonate with your customer and hit all the right emotional notes. Can't view the image? [Click here]( ⚡ QUICK HITS ⭐ Optimize every aspect of your order fulfillment to focus on what matters most — your business and your customers. 130,000 ecom merchants trust ShipStation to get the job done. [Claim your 60 day free trial](. * 😴 Don’t lose sleep over ad creation. Expand your creative bandwidth with 24/7 help for any design task, landing page, UGC video ad, and more. While you rest, let [Sleepless take care of the rest](. * 📰 NEWS - Google [announces an ad placement partnership with Disney](. - Amazon [works on a secret AI search tool]( so they can become the source for shopping inspiration. - Reddit [shares soared 48% on the first day of trading]( and closed with a market cap of $8 billion. SPONSOR DTC 📥 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](. Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 💰 Rick Cadotte on [Four Sigmatic’s TOFU strategy after Meta challenges]( - 🍪 [AKNF 387](: How to extend the life of your cookies - 🪑 Dayne Rusch on [Vyper Industrial’s Eight Figure Shop Chair Journey]( - 📹 [AKNF 385:]( Why 3-5 second ads are crushing it on Meta - 💪 Dan Crosby on [BioSteel and Revitalizing a Hydration Empire]( - ✍️ [AKNF 383:]( Meta State of The Union 2024 Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight]( and [Frances Du](. Edited by [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. [Direct To Consumer]( Pilothouse, 1011 Government St., Victoria, BC V8W 1X6, Canada [Advertise with DTC]( | [Work With Pilothouse]( [Unsubscribe](