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#57 The Least Boring Weekly Newsletter
Good Morning readers!🌞
A warm welcome to 500+ people who have joined our community last week. If someone has forwarded this newsletter to you please subscribe to our newsletter and join our group of 8000+ other CMOs, CEOs, and marketers.
The Federal Reserve meeting may be the most important in determining the economy's fate. Will they raise or maintain the same interest rates? What decision will the feds make? Consumers' wallets 👝 may get tighter as interest rates rise, but will this affect D2C brands? Will D2C's growth be stifled? What if, on the other hand, interest rates remain unchanged? Will D2C firms see an increase in consumer spending and sales? Let us now wait for the decision of the fed.
Almund's newsletter will let you in on all kinds of tips for D2C brands and much much more.
Alright, so let's get right to it!
This newsletter is going to dive into :
🌏 Almost 6 in 10 US consumers shopped at a DTC brand in 2021
👌Everything Important For A Push Notification Strategy
🙎 BRAND of the week - Jerky
📜 Top reads for this week
👩🏻💼 Plenty of jobs awaiting you!
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WHAT’S COOKING, HUH?
Although direct-to-consumer brands are the darlings of venture capitalists, they may not be for everyone. Just over half of Americans almost six out of ten ( Which is awesome)🥳 have bought from a D2C brand at least once in the last year.
In a study of 1,185 adults in the United States, 65 percent said they plan to buy from a DTC brand at least once in 2022, down from 79 percent the year before.
In 2021, during the busiest shopping season of the year, 43% of respondents said they did not plan to purchase at a D2C brand. When asked why they don't shop at D2C brands, 23% said they can obtain better discounts and sales at traditional retailers, and 21% said they can find similar products at a more reasonable price at traditional retailers.🤔
For those who do buy at digitally native firms, 23% say they have better quality products, and 18% say they have better customer service and experience. ( Yes, definitely)
Even digitally-native brands recognize this. In recent years, D2C brands have increasingly partnered with retailers with large store footprints like Target and Walmart. Teaming up with retail giants also partially alleviates the hefty cost of marketing goods online — an ordeal that has only gotten pricier and more challenging over the years.
Some consumers, it seems, aren't easily swayed by modern marketing tactics from D2C brands, with 62% saying influencer marketing won't work on them. In fact, 25% of U.S. adults said seeing an influencer post about a product from a D2C brand makes them less likely to buy it. ( What do you think about this? 🧐)
Anything quick and free is enjoyed by consumers. This gives them a better experience. Fast and free shipping was mentioned by 40% of survey respondents as a reason why they would prefer a traditional retailer over D2C. You know how and where to pace yourself. So, Go for it🥳.
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SPONSORED
No-code Mobile App Builder Vajro Secures $8.5M in Series A Funding, Backed by Five Elms
Vajro, the leading mobile app builder in the Shopify ecosystem, has announced that it has raised over $8.5million in their first round of funding from Five Elms Capital, a Kansas-based growth equity firm.
Vajro launched in 2018 and operates in the Shopify ecosystem and is the highest-rated mobile app builder in the marketplace. It enables online stores and D2C brands to build native mobile apps without writing a single line of code. The company has over 2200 customers from 150 countries.
“Mobile apps have always been the big guy’s jam; the costs and time resources were prohibitive to small businesses to have a native mobile app. With Vajro, stores can build a mobile app for their brand at a fraction of the cost and in less than 60 minutes.”, said Baskar Agneeswaran, founder and CEO of Vajro.
What does Vajro do?
With Vajro’s cutting-edge technology, stores can use simple drag-and-drop functions to design and build their mobile apps. It also offers extreme levels of customization and personalization so brands can provide a consistent experience across channels. Products, images, and prices sync with Shopify in real-time so merchants can keep all their channels up to date.
Vajro doesn’t stop at building and publishing a mobile app; it’s more of an end-to-end console for store owners. Users can use push notifications and live selling (which the company calls Blynk) to engage better and sell more. In fact, Vajro was the first mobile app development platform to integrate live selling within the app. Vajro also supports over 70 integrations, the most in the space.
Future plans and growth
The company plans to use the acquired funds to fuel marketing, grow the team, and launch innovative features that will help the company outpace its competitors. They are also looking to expand to more platforms and launch new products to accelerate their growth curve.
P.S: If you’re interested in getting a mobile app for your store, give Vajro a try. It’s free for 60 days. Or, book a free, 1-1 demo here.
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Everything Important For A Push Notification Strategy
Let’s pick up where we left off!
In the last edition, we walked you through push notifications, the anatomy of a basic notification, and its benefits for your DTC business. But it’s time to take it up a notch. Today, we’re going to give you a breakdown of some of the most practical practices when deploying a push notification strategy, some critical metrics to track, and great success stories. So, let’s go!
When deploying a push notification strategy for your DTC brand, there are certain things to bear in mind before you start shooting these bad boys out to your customers. We can help you avoid mistakes that can cost you a customer.
🥱 Don’t Be General With Messaging
If you keep sending someone general information about your brand, such as ‘best buys’ or ‘popular items’, they are sure to turn off the notifications for good. If you have access to being on their phone screen any time of the day, send them personalized notifications.
Learn about their past purchases or items they recently interacted with to recommend products via these notifications. Ensure your platform has a back-end integration with your website or app through which you can access real-time customer behavior to send notifications that work.
🧐 Know What To Tell
If a customer has downloaded your app and has kept the notifications turned on, you already have their attention. Don’t use these push notifications to display pointless information and drive them away.
Instead, you can use this medium to show targeted messages that need urgent attention such as price drops, offer alerts, store updates, time-sensitive discounts, coupon codes, etc.
🔂 But Don’t Send Too Many
Receiving too many notifications can annoy your customers; no matter how much they like your brand, they might not wish to be bombarded with frequent alerts. Thus, it is ideal you set some basic guidelines when planning a push notification strategy.
Don’t send more than 4-5 push notifications per week, including alerts. Spend time learning about your customers—their in-app or website behavior and online engagement rates—and send only relevant information through these push notifications.
⏲️ It’s All About The Timing
If you send through push notifications about a time-sensitive offer on your website at 3 AM, you’re probably not going to get a lot of engagement.
Understand your audience and know their time zones. Figure out when they’re most active and send across messages then.
🎨 Notification Elements Are Important
Your push notifications don’t have to be a simple text with a CTA; there’s a low chance your customers will wish to engage with such a notification.
Rich push notifications will look great and allow for better engagement. These can include elements such as product image and name, information about original and discounted price, time-sensitive coupon code, and actionable CTAs. The more you let your customer know, the better.
👁️🗨️ Always Get Feedback
Push notifications are a different part of your content and marketing strategy. So, requesting customer feedback to know how they feel about these, what more they would like to see, or perhaps, what less can help them feel heard, thus, increasing engagement.
So now that you’re equipped with these hot tips when working on push notifications, we’re sure you’re ready to develop a strategy for your DTC brand.
Now if you’ve been reading our newsletter carefully, you would know we’re suckers for analysis (through and through)! So, it’ll be too off-character if we let you go without telling you more about the important metrics to track when working on a push notification strategy.
👉🏼 Opt-In Rate
This shows the percentage of subscribers who hit ‘allow’ for your push notifications. The higher your opt-in rate, the better your push notifications are performing. This is an important metric to track for email campaigns, newsletters, emailers, etc.
👉🏼 Opt-Out Rate
Obvious to the eye, this metric shows the number of people opting out of getting push notifications from your brand. If the figure has been increasing, you might wish to rethink your notification game.
👉🏼 Open Rate
Open rate is the number of people who clicked on your notification over the number of notifications viewed. A higher open rate means that your messaging and strategy is working. Now, all you need to do is work on creating an effective landing page to ensure conversions.
👉🏼 Conversion Rate
Yet another metric that allows you to understand if your push notifications are working or not. You can target users in different ways and learn through their engagement rates to strategize better.
👉🏼 Number Of Notifications
This metric is the number of notifications you should be pushing or wish to push for a fixed period of time. Since this acts as a control, you can set it for a week, a few weeks, or a month, and track your other metrics accordingly.
👉🏼 Platform Distribution
The key to a successful strategy is knowing your customers. Identify where your audience engages in your notifications the most, desktops, smartphones, or different devices, to tailor your strategy accordingly.
Strategy tips? Check.
Common mistakes people can make? Check.
Metrics to track? Check.
But enough with the talking! Let’s show you some of our favorite push notifications.
#1 Huffpost
With a great touch of personalized recommendation, HuffPost managed to pique the readers’ interest while delivering their content.
#2 Pura Vida
Ah, the classic! A well-executed abandoned cart notification can bring your customer back to your website or app and close that purchase.
#3 Four Square
Geo-targeted alerts and push notifications are much appreciated by customers. Send across recommendations, time-sensitive offers, or cross-sell to make the most of this situation.
With so many options available to get closer to your customers, push notifications can be the answer you are looking for. When done right, integration of a push notification strategy into your marketing plan can prove to be more fruitful than you would’ve ever imagined.
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BRAND OF THE WEEK is…
JERKY…
The Classic Jerky Company is a major supplier of high protein private label and national brand products🍲 . Pemmican Brand Beef Jerky, one of the oldest and best-selling national beef jerky brands in the United States, is one of the company's private branded protein goods. (Woah) 🤩
Chomps, a high-end jerky company, has received an $80 million minority investment from Stride Consumer Partners, a private equity firm.
According to CEO Peter Maldonado, who is also Chomps' co-founder, the health-focused snack firm is currently valued between $200 million and $300 million. 💰 Chomps is the first company to raise funds from outside private equity companies.
Chomps is taking advantage of a number of food industry trends. According to Beth Bloom, assistant director of food and drink at Mintel Reports, US demand for protein-rich and accessible foods is increasing, with meat-based snack sales expected to increase 9.7% in 2020.🤩
At the same time, customers are controlling their sugar (Woohoo) 🥳, sodium, and artificial ingredient intake and are becoming more conscious of environmental issues.
Chomps' jerky is available online and at over 18,000 stores nationwide🌎, including Trader Joe's, Walmart, and Whole Foods Market.🍴
“We see this, from a timing perspective, as an opportunity to strike while the iron’s hot. We have a huge opportunity in front of us to not only grab market share in meat snacks but in snacking in general”. Maldonado said.
As the saying goes, don't wait for opportunity; seize it.💪
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TOP READS FOR THIS WEEK
👟 Aerosoles footwear brand to be acquired by American Exchange
🧳 Luggage brand Monos raises $10M in Series A funding
👧👦 Hims & Hers to sell hair care products at Walmart
🚢 International eCommerce Shipper Passport Raises $39M
🐔 Vegan Fried Chick*n Brand VFC Raises $10.3M, Plans “Fast-Paced” US Growth
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In need of a job? We’ve got plenty awaiting you!
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CHOOSE SUCCESS below and have a great week! ‘Get that D2C business runnin’.
