The Weekly Sharpener #116

Empower your customers and see your CVR šŸ“ˆ

šŸ‘‹ Hey fam!Ā Ā 

I'm really excited to share this šŸ‘Š Tuesday roundup with you!Ā Ā 

You're in for a treat from our friend Gold TetsolaĀ digs into the ways you can drive CVR by intimately understanding the psychology of your. What I love about his breakdown is it's a quick framework that can lead to game-changing insights about what matters to your customers.Ā 

We also dig into the top 5 tips you would need if just starting out on Facebook Ads.Ā 

Finally, we get some expert learnings about the delta in conversion when site speed is not your strength and how to start your ads to drive performance.Ā 

There's a lot to consume here so take your time and let the amazing content wash over you. šŸ˜œ

I hope you're thriving, your ads are scaling, and your LTV is going up and to the right!

Cheers,

Chase

The Weekly Sharpener #94_Is your brand part of the culture? If not, šŸ˜¬...

Check out Pencil if you're ready to Create winning ads 10x faster with AI. (šŸ¤« - we just launched amazing new pricing + packages!)Ā 

Special Tip:Ā 

If you want to acquire more customers for your CPG brand,

Call out your demographic in the hook of the creative.

ā€œCalling all dadsā€

ā€œVegans need to watch thisā€

This will target the perfect ICP (Ideal Customer Profile) for your brand from the masses.

Courtesy of Fraser Cottrell

Partner with us šŸ¤

Marketing agencies, freelance creatives, e-comm expertsā€¦want access to our generous revenue share and co-marketing opportunities? Become a Pencil Partner today! You can learn moreĀ here.

Guest Content šŸ

I'm excited for you to enjoy some amazing content from Gold Tetsola.Ā 

Using The Psychology of Control In Your Marketing

Hey, itā€™s Gold here. Iā€™m a Growth Partner for DTC brands and Iā€™m going to talk about the psychology of control and how you can use it to empower your customers and increase sales.

So buckle up and get ready to take your marketing game to the next level!

Exploring the psychology behind control

According to Julian Rotterā€™s social learning theory, there are two types of people:

  • People with an internal locus of control, i.e, individuals who believe that outcomes are the result of their actions (or inactions)

  • People with an external locus of control, i.e., individuals who believe that external forces dictate outcomes (damn you, fate!)

People with an internal locus of control are more susceptible to marketing that manipulates the human desire for control. Hereā€™s an example:

Let's say you're scrolling through your social media feed and you see an ad for a teeth whitening kit. You've always been a bit self-conscious about your teeth, and the ad promises that this kit will give you a brighter, more confident smile.

You might not consciously expect the kit to magically transform your teeth, but you're willing to give it a try because the potential outcome (a brighter smile and increased self-confidence) is really important to you. By purchasing the kit, you're taking CONTROL of your self-image.

People with an external locus may not respond similarly to the same ad. When they feel they donā€™t have control over a situation, they feel small, insecure, helpless, or afraid.

These are unpleasant emotions that most people donā€™t want to deal with. This is why itā€™s important for us to feel like we can exert control over a situation.

It makes us feel better about ourselves.

Okay, but how can we use control in our marketing?

There are three things you can do:

1) Empower customers through your messaging

Effective marketing empowers customers by emphasizing their control over their choices. The messaging should be worded with care to avoid giving the impression of helplessness.

Itā€™s important to highlight that the customers are the ones who make the decisions and that theyā€™ll have even more control over their lives through the use of your products.

National Car Rentalā€™s ā€˜Go Like A Proā€™ marketing campaign is a great example.

Through their use of language, they emphasize the customer is in control by positioning them as the do-er.

There may be segments of your customers who value doing things themselves instead of having things done for them. So use this as an opportunity to reflect this more in your messaging.

2) Empower customers through your website

One of the biggest reasons why ecom exploded is the immense control it gives to customers. The buying process is in their hands. Undermining a customerā€™s sense of control would mean having a confusing website. It can quickly cause customers to feel frustrated and abandon their carts!

Brands must design websites that:

  • Are easy to navigate

  • Have detailed product descriptions

  • Have a seamless checkout process

  • Offers customer support

The customer should feel in control from start to finish and never feel at the mercy of the company or product.

ProteinWorks is an example of a brand that empowers its customers through its website. Navigating desired products is made easy through many filtering options, product descriptions are engaging, checkout is easy, and live customer support is ready to help you with questions or recommendations.

3) Empower customers with social proof

Whether itā€™s including it in your ads or on your landing page, having social proof will contribute to the customerā€™s feeling of control.

People often rely on the experiences and opinions of others to guide their own choices. So when potential customers see that others have purchased a product and had a positive experience, they reduce their doubts and feel more in control of their decisions.

For this reason alone, I wouldnā€™t recommend sending people to pages with no reviews.

But here are some general social proof usage guidelines:

  • State how many people have bought or are using the product

  • Have four/five-star reviews from impartial third-party platforms like Trustpilot

  • Include direct quotes from your customers (if youā€™re doing this, try to choose reviews that describe more of the customer journey/tell a story, so avoid those one-liners!)

Make sure you follow Gold and reach out to him with any growth questions you might have. He's incredible!Ā 

You Need This šŸ’Æ

If you're a regular reader or listener of Pencil content you'll know we love Barry Hott. Well he's done something that is incredible. He's opening up his amazing brain to share his audit structure and methodology for ad accounts.Ā 

I can say that he realigned how I look at accounts and I know he can drive the same for you. Sharing because we think it's valuable and everyone should learn from a Titan of paid media.Ā 

Check it out šŸ‘‰Ā hereĀ šŸ‘ˆ

Thread of the weekĀ šŸ¤Œ

Why it matters: What I find most powerful in this 5 step process from Davie is ->Ā 

Reaching out to your community for help with your ads. That means asking experts to critique what you have done.

Remember, people have jobs and businesses that they are running. Crowdsourcing through platforms like Twitter is incredibly powerful for this. Check out this tweetĀ which shares a landing page.Ā 

However, you can do this on Reddit, Quora, or LinkedIn to get feedback from the network you are building + the community you are interacting with.Ā 

Expert Strategy + Learnings

Some amazing learnings from thought leaders in DTC.Ā 

Carl's CRO Tips šŸ™Œ

The speed of your Page is directly correlated to your Conversion-Rate:

2.4 seconds -> 1.9% CVR

3.3 seconds -> 1.5% CVR

4.2 seconds -> <1% CVR

5.7+ seconds -> <0.6% CVR

For more šŸ”„ followĀ Carl WeischeĀ fromĀ Accelerated.

Rahul's Paid Media Learnings šŸ¤˜

Iā€™ve studied 20 Brands that do millions a year in revenue, majority of which are our clients.

The main lever weā€™ve pulled is creative strategy.

This is what the top-performing brands all had in common:

1) Start with the problem The majority of the top performers started with an insight on the problem. Avoid talking about your features and talk about how you can actually help the customer.

FollowĀ RahulĀ and reach out toĀ Reach DigitalĀ to work with himĀ šŸ§ 

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