The Weekly Sharpener #108

👋 Hey fam!  

I'm really excited to share this 👊 Monday roundup with you!

First off - welcome back! Are we a little late, yes? Did we want to give you a little time off before dropping 🔥 into your laps? Also, yes!

But now that we're back in this 2023 haul together - it's time to crush! We're excited to share what we're learning across all of e-commerce creative and how we think it can help your business. 

We're back with another episode of the Master Mind 🧠 this week Zoe Kahn (CX @ Chomps) and she breaks down how DTC brands should be thinking about customer experience. That can & will drive LTV + word of mouth, and some quick tricks you can implement today.

Next, we get an amazing 2022 Meta & TikTok ads recap from Tamir Vakil. Let us know which point you love the most and which one you think is the spiciest 🥵.

And then finally a quick look into the eternal question - to CBO or not to CBO? 

Thanks for spending a few minutes with us today, we appreciate you, and hope you find this valuable! 

Cheers,

Chase

Check out Pencil if you're ready to Create winning ads 10x faster with AI.

Special Tip: 

If you're selling to Millennials...you'll need a Millennial UGC model.

If you're selling to Baby boomers...you'll need a baby boomer UGC model.

The best way to sell to humans...is to show a human who looks and acts like them! (Courtesy of Sarah Levinger)

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Guest Content 🐐

From Tamir Vakil

10 Advertising lessons from 2022 after spending $100M+ on Meta & TikTok 

MEASUREMENT must go beyond platform signal and attribution. Use geo-lift tests, post-purchase surveys, and linear regression analysis as your best friends!

OPTIMIZATION - businesses that hit a plateau on ads should try more upper-funnel events. The algorithm goes after “the most qualified user to purchase", often times those are exiting customers or audiences who’ll buy anyways.

TIKTOK, has more incremental impact on businesses than most brands think, invest where your audience is spending most of their time (GWI can help find where that is!)

CREATIVE makes or breaks 80% of your ad account performance. Not the structure, targeting, or anything else. Creative is king, and it will continue to be in 2023!

CREATIVE STRATEGISTS are key, especially for brands with multiple channels and $1M+ monthly ad spend. Having a creative testing methodology will take your money that much further.

ADVANTAGE+ SHOPPING is the best product pivot I’ve seen this year from Meta, take advantage while you can and consolidate your account where possible!

OPTIMIZE LESS, think more. Learn to control the frequency of your account changes. Make more thoughtful changes, less often. It takes a few days to measure the impact, so if you optimize too often, you won't really know what's working. Spend the time elsewhere.

LESS IS MORE. If you have to cut budgets due to limited access to cash, avoid spreading yourself too thin. It’s better to dominate 2-3 channels where your audience is than trying to half-ass 5 channels.

INCREMENTALITY should be your #1 focus in 2023, there is a lot of noise and ideas out there. Everyone (including me) will tell you different strategies that work for them, but you have to test yourself and measure the incremental revenue of your advertising.

ATTRIBUTION<CONTRIBUTION. Demand capture campaigns look better on paper, but if you over-invest there, you might kill your demand gen. Remember that on average 98% of ads don't get clicks, the impact of your ads goes beyond clicks.

Why it matters: 

Thread of the week 🤌

Why it matters: How are you testing your ads to start the year? 

You want to be testing in a way that allows the cream to rise to the top. The comments on this one have a lot of great counter-thinking as well. 

Expert Strategy + Learnings

Some amazing learnings from thought leaders in DTC. 

Carl's CRO Tips 🙌

My fixes to this home page: 

> Top Bar Benefits

> Swapped image to show users how it looks once worn

> USP's bar to increase motivation

> Made value proposition more impactful

For more 🔥 follow Carl Weische from Accelerated.

Rahul's Paid Media Learnings 🤘

Coming up with new ad inspiration can be difficult. 

It's important to use TikTok for ad inspo in order to see what gets the most engagement and also understand the post-click experience. 

Here's how I currently organise my TikTok: 

1. Create a collection 

2. Engage with new content that will drive different ads to you 

3. Save ads into the new collection 

Follow Rahul from Reach Digital for more 🧠

Worth Your Time 💡

No explanation, just amazing content. 

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Fav Newsie's

• Nice Ads 

• Your Content Should Sell

• Eli's Newsletter: CX & Retention Learnings

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