Thursday, February 29

🗣 Looking for more qualified leads? Reach 24,000+ DTC Brands

🚨 In today’s newsletter 🚨

• Using Real-Time Data to Stay Ahead

• Giving Customers Their Preferred Payment Methods to Prevent Cart Abandonment

• Funnels Evolving: What’s Next for D2C Marketing?

Let’s get into it👇

GROWTH
#1 - Using Real-Time Data to Stay Ahead

The Rundown: In my view, ecommerce grows about 10% every year. For D2C brands, that means constantly optimizing prices, rankings, reviews and more to stay visible against the competition. Real-time data is key to reacting quickly.

Connecting with Shoppers: Real-time data lets D2C brands personalize to specific cities. Dynamic pricing and messaging hyper-localizes the shopping experience, which I think is critical.

Opportunities:

• Test pricing models locally using real-time competitive data

• Improve local search rankings by monitoring placements

• Respond quickly to consumer sentiment shifts in target markets

• Spend marketing dollars where acquisition costs are lowest

Impact: Compare revenue per customer, conversion rates and repeat purchases over time by metro area. How do the metrics stack up against benchmarks? In my opinion, this is an important evaluation.

What's Next: As competition increases, leveraging real-time external data becomes necessary in my view. Brands not investing risk losing visibility with D2C shoppers.

The Takeaway: I believe D2C brands should use data now to dominate locally first. Once you "own" key cities in a category, expand geographically leveraging real-time intelligence along the way. Speed and data mastery are what I see as critical to compete

➡️ You can read the article here...

RETENTION
#3 - Giving Customers Their Preferred Payment Methods to Prevent Cart Abandonment

The Rundown: New research shows that 70% of shoppers say available payment options heavily influence where they make online purchases. Unfortunately, cart abandonment happens more on brand sites compared to retailers and marketplaces.

Connecting to Customers: D2C brands must optimize their checkout process for mobile shoppers, provide multiple payment options, and make checking out quick and seamless. This will appeal to younger demographics who ditch the most carts, in my opinion.

Opportunities for Brands:

• Consider installment plans and popular digital wallets to supply flexible payment alternatives, which I think is smart

• Construct loyalty programs with special offers for subscribers at checkout, which could be a savvy tactic

• Team up with "Buy Now, Pay Later" partners like Afterpay and Sezzle for interest-free installments, which seems wise

• Allow crypto payments to bring in early tech adopter shoppers, though some may see it as risky

Measuring Impact: Monitor cart abandonment rates, average order values by payment type, conversion rates by traffic source, and loyalty program engagement over time, which provides crucial insights.

The Future: Frictionless one-click checkout via biometrics will expand. Cryptocurrencies and decentralized finance could also assume a larger role, or so the hype suggests.

Our Take: The simplest tactic for lowering cart abandonment is to ask customers why they aren't converting and then adapt accordingly. Small optimizations can make big revenue differences, in my estimation.

➡️ You can read the article here...

DTC Daily’s Monthly Spotlight:

Tools and Services

Need a Graphic Designer? Cost effective solution, instead of full-time employee: Delesign 

Get a Metal Business Card: My Metal Business Card

Use influencers to create UGC for your brand: minisocial

🗣 Have an upcoming event or tools you’d like to recommend to 24,000 DTC Brands? Click Here

RESOURCES
#4 - Things Worth Checking Out

AI - The rise of AI-powered virtual avatars in Chinese ecommerce

SOCIAL - TikTok still violating the government's law that bans eCommerce transactions on social media platforms

NEWS - FTC pursues lifetime e-commerce ban for AI scheme owners

PAYMENTS - How digital payments can take a global business to a local level

TOOLS - Elevate your ecommerce business with Magento and Zoho inventory integration

MARKETING
#5 - Funnels Evolving: What’s Next for D2C Marketing?

The Rundown: Traditional marketing funnels clearly don't reflect how modern consumers actually shop. With buying journeys growing more complex, direct-to-consumer brands desperately need some creative strategies if they want to have a prayer of serving and converting their most loyal customers.

Connecting with Customers: D2C brands already prioritize knowing their core consumer. But lazy assumptions shouldn't replace evidence-based insight. Regularly gathering first-party data on true preferences and pain points is a no-brainer for brands looking to optimize experiences.

Smart Plays for Brands:

• Test out non-linear customer journey maps that align closer to observed buyer behaviors. In my view, this is marketing 101.

• Develop tailored loyalty programs with personalized promotions to reward superfans. This is arguably the best way to spend your budget.

• Explore emerging channels like livestream shopping and influencer partnerships to reach consumers where they are. There's no good reason not to do this.

• Analyze performance data to double down on what’s working for your most valuable segments. This should be a priority - no questions asked.

Tracking What Matters: Monitor key metrics like repeat purchase rate, average order value from top-tier groups, referral traffic, and ratings/reviews to gauge the health of your superfan base. Brands ignoring these metrics are foolishly flying blind.

What’s Next: As third-party cookies fade even further, zero-party data and owned communities will only become more critical for leading direct brands hoping to convert and retain customers. Betting against this shift would be unwise.

Our View: The classic funnel still has a place, but modern consumers forge their own nonlinear paths. Savvy D2C brands will meet them where they are, not where outdated formulas predict. That's just common sense.

➡️ You can read the article here...