📦 - Good AI Answers Only Please

DTC 586 - Perplexity Profile, Ad Naming Convention, and Community Building Monday, June 24, 2024 Good morning, OpenAI’s former co-founder and chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, announced on X that he’s starting his own AI company, Safe Superintelligence Inc. The startup’s mission addresses many people’s fears about the mishandling of AI technology by prioritizing safety over commercial gain. Although Musk was quick to tweet out: “Any given AI startup is doomed to become the opposite of its name.” Here’s what you’ll find in today’s DTC: 💡 How the search landscape has been disrupted with new AI answer engines like Perplexity. 🧹 Learn how AI will transform how brands use SaaS tools. 🔍 Why following a consistent Meta Ads naming convention is so important. 🤝 And…three reasons why you need to start building a community now. You’re reading this newsletter along with new subscribers from: Busted Halo, Sobrietea, and Ghia. 👋 GROWTH 🧻 DUDE Wipes Cleaned Out The Competition [Watch the team]( behind DUDE Wipes share how they scaled their personal care brand with [Walmart Marketplace]( and [Walmart Fulfillment Services](. 📈 “[Walmart is] the largest retailer in the world but they really have a love and a feel for small businesses. They know what we need to do to be successful with the customers...” — Sean Riley, Founder and CEO, DUDE Wipes Sell your products on a marketplace that has a built-in audience of millions of shoppers who are looking for products like yours. It only takes a minute to [create your account](. ⏰ Walmart Marketplace makes growing your ecommerce business simple with: - Zero monthly or set up fees - [Competitive commission]( - Flexible, yet powerful solutions for fulfillment, ads, pricing, and more Join today to get New-Seller Savings—up to 50% off referral and fulfillment fees* for a limited time only. [Start Now And Save]( *Conditions apply *Sponsored SEARCH ENGINE 🔧 Why Perplexity AI Is Getting So Much Hype After the rocky rollout of Google’s AI Overviews, users are looking for alternatives to search. One solution that’s getting significant buzz is Perplexity. The platform emphasizes that they provide answers you can trust, which is a direct jab at AI Overviews for spreading misinformation. But before we get into that, here’s some stats to know: - Perplexity’s share of organic search is growing 39% monthly. 🚀 - The AI search engine has [reached a valuation of 1 billion](. - Their conversational search experience is multi-model, meaning it can generate text, images, and videos as answers to queries. - They just introduced Perplexity Pages, which help you put together a well-researched article or blog post that can [rank for AI Overviews and Featured Snippets](. Here’s how Perplexity works 👇 Users can type a query or statement into their search bar via desktop or the Perplexity app. Then, the platform combs through the internet and finds 15+ highest-quality sources to craft a detailed answer within seconds. Unlike other AI search engines, Perplexity has real-time access to the web, so these sources are up to date. Perplexity also provides a list of related topics and follow-up questions for those needing prompting guidance to learn more about your chosen subject. Perplexity founder and CEO Aravind Srinivas said in an interview, “Perplexity has been revolutionary since Day 1 since we always cite our sources, and this provides referral traffic to original websites, unlike other AI chatbots.” This makes it easier for users to verify information and ensure it’s accurate and not fake news. ✅ For brands, getting cited by Perplexity gives your site more credibility and potentially more traffic as users click through to see the original source of information. Brands that have invested heavily in content marketing through a blog or educational hub on their site will benefit greatly. The takeaway? Users are growing frustrated with Google’s changes to search and AI Overviews displaying incorrect answers sourced from Reddit forums. Other AI search competitors like Perplexity will grab more attention by winning over customer trust with vetted content. Brands that are cited by Perplexity could potentially see an increase in referral traffic, which could help with search rankings. Have you used an AI search engine? - [No, I haven’t]( - [Only AI Overviews]( - [I’ve used a few!]( If you select the third option, reply back to the newsletter and let us know which ones you enjoy using the most so far! EMAIL & SMS 🗑️ 📣 TRASH TALK — Toss Your Outdated SMS Strategies In The Garbage Mark your calendars because Yotpo’s declaring a National SMS Waste Day. Why? 🤔 To help you [clean up garbage SMS strategies](. On July 23rd, join Jeremy Horowitz, Managing Partner at Let’s Buy a Biz, Gabe Goldstein, GM, SMS at Yotpo, and Hilary Castleman, CRM Manager at Princess Polly, as they share how to take inefficient SMS tactics to the curb and increase ROI. [You’ll learn how to](: - Strategically use campaign flows over batch and blast methods - Maximize impact by being intentional with each touchpoint - Segment your audience and time campaigns wisely to enhance engagement [Save Your Spot Here]( *Sponsored META ADS 🔥 Why You Should Be Consistent With Your Ad Naming Convention Spicing up your ad naming conventions can help you better understand what is and isn’t working in your account based on creative angles, copy angles, products, and collections. If you’re running ads on Meta, the Pilothouse team has a hot tip to help you get granular with the data. Here’s an example of an ad naming convention: - Structure: - PH-PRS-CreativeAssetName-CreativeAngle-CopyHook-CopyAngle-ProductName-ProductCollection - Sample ad name: - PH-PRS-BlueTShirtTestimonialCGCVID-CreativeQuality-LovedBy1MillionCustomers-CopySocialProof-ClassicBlueTShirt-TShirtCollection By being consistent and using this type of structure over time, you can create different breakdowns, like the copy angle breakdown below. [Learn more about how to create custom breakdowns here](. In this account, the Pilothouse team has heavily scaled the limited edition and offer-focused copy angles. 💡 There is also room to expand with more back-in-stock copy in ads since the ROAS is 11% higher than the account average. The [Pilothouse Meta team]( also gets granular with creative by always including specific tags for images, videos, CGC content, and branded vs. unbranded content. Understanding what’s working at the account level can save you money as you continue to test. PODCAST 💡 Has AI Triggered a "Generational Cull" of Software Vendors? Wunderkind’s Richard Jones on the Outcome-Based Future of SaaS This week on the DTC Podcast, we had the chance to [chat with Wunderkind’s Chief Revenue Officer, Richard Jones](. This episode highlights the shifting landscape of SaaS in ecommerce and outlines a big shift we can expect to see coming down the pipeline… 👀 What shift? How AI will transition SaaS from human-centered workflows to outcome-based services. You’ll hear about: - Wunderkind's Unique Model: Learn about Wunderkind's managed service approach and outcome-focused business model - AI's Role in SaaS Evolution: How AI will transform how DTC brands use SaaS tools - The Future of Ecommerce Marketing: How AI-driven campaigns and identity networks can significantly boost ecommerce revenue If you're an ecom brand aiming to scale efficiently and stay ahead of the curve (who isn’t? 🤷), you’re going to want to ensure you’re up to speed with how AI is evolving in our industry. With nearly 30 years in the SaaS space, Richard’s insights are invaluable for anyone looking to understand the next big wave in technology. To keep learning you can… [Continue reading here](. 📖 OR [Listen Here]( 🎧 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE Community building is worth the investment! It’s critical to finding loyal customers who will purchase time and time again and provide you with helpful feedback. Can't view the image? [Click here]( ⚡ QUICK HITS 🫢 Some UGC is actually “Actor”-Generated Content. Learn how to spot the difference and how you can get truly authentic UGC that converts. [Grab a free copy of SARAL's guide](. * 💸 MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS - Market research start-up AlphaSense [raises $650 million at a $4 billion valuation](. - French start up Mistral AI [lands $645 million at a $6 billion valuation](. - Ecommerce accounting platform Finaloop [raises $35 million in a Series A funding round](. - AI software company Constructor [secures $25 million to develop applications for more personalized ecommerce search](. 📰 NEWS - Google Ads [plans to launch a new interface on August 30th, making it easier to use for beginners and experienced users](. - Reddit [makes updates to Conversation ads to maximize user engagement](. - Anthropic [releases Claude 3.5, and the new AI model is already outperforming GPT-4o on multiple benchmarks](. 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? - 🎤 Ex-Googler Ben Kruger on [New Side Hustle Selling Microphones]( - ⚡ [AKNF 413:]( How Over-Automation Limits Your Scale on Amazon - 🍬 Michael Fisher on [Rotten’s Go To Market Strategy]( - 🚀 [AKNF 411:]( Crushing the Drop Model on Meta Ads + Q4 Planning - 🍳 Cam Bush on [Hexclad’s Omnichannel Strategy For 9 Figure Scale]( - 🛒 [AKNF 409:]( Master Pre-Purchase Upsells with Aves - 🏆 Van Oakes on [How To Boost Your Sales with Strategic Giveaways]( 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. 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