📦 - 100 Million Emails - Will Yours Get Lost?

Ad inspo, Influencer marketing, Reels > Stories, Connect with creators, BFCM email tips Monday, October 16, 2023 In this newsletter, you’ll find: - 📦 Where to find inspo for your next winning ad angle - 📦 Move over Stories, Instagram Reels are in - 📦 Why you should be optimizing for dark mode and making your emails interactive this BFCM Let’s dive in: 👇 🌐 IN THE SOCIAL SPHERE *Can’t view the image? [Click here](* You never know where you’re going to find your next winning ad angle. Look at comments, sort through questions, and check your reviews for common questions, objections, and use cases! INFLUENCER MARKETING 👀 Want to (semi-automatically) get an additional 3.59x ROAS on your Q4 marketing? * "This software's crazy. We get more done in a week than we used to in a month..." That's an actual statement by a fitness brand that did [influencer marketing on SARAL.]( With automations and AI, it makes influencer marketing a breeze. Here's what you get: - Automatically find the best-fit creators for your brand - Create emails and automatically send outreach (with follow-ups!) - Ship products in bulk, and make sure they post automatically! (no more "seeding and hoping") Most boring work can be taken away, so you save hours every week and get better results! The average brand on SARAL gets a 3.59x ROAS on their campaigns. Along with that, you build a creator community that can't stop talking about you. Skeptical? [Book a demo]( Curious? [Try it free]( INSTAGRAM 🎞️ Reels > Stories You heard it here first 📣: Instagram Stories are out. Instagram Reels are in. Why? 🤔 Because Instagram Stories are only viewable for 24 hours. And “Short-Lived” isn’t in the advertising world’s dictionary. In contrast, Instagram Reels are built to last. Straight from the platform's mouth, “Reels and Stories were built for different purposes.” [ Data from Meta]( reveals a substantial increase in daily Reels plays over the past month, skyrocketing from 140 billion to 200 billion, and an impressive 2 billion shares daily. 😱 But even more important for DTC’ers is Meta reports that more than [two-thirds of Instagram users surveyed]( purchased a product or service through Reels. What does this mean for your brand and creative strategy? It means it’s time to surf the Reels wave. 🌊 The [Pilothouse team]( says Reels are a portal to humanizing a brand and add a layer of personification and relatability for viewers. Meta validates what the Pilothouse team has been preaching for some time… humanized content rules over polished, highly produced content. Remember: If it quacks like an ad and looks like an ad, it's an ad, and the users pass it by. 🦆 So when you use Reel placements, make sure it looks like it belongs as a normal organic Reel. Not sure about Reels? [Listen to the data from an Instagram case study](: “When the custom haircare brand tested its usual video ad creative delivered across multiple Meta placements against a campaign that added specially designed ad creative for Instagram Reels to the same setup, it saw a 23% lower cost per acquisition when using both types of ad creatives together.” Case in point. Not utilizing Instagram Reels is leaving money on the table. 🤷 CREATORS 🤝 Effortlessly Connect with Creators!* Reduce search and communication time when finding Creators by receiving Creator Proposals directly. Here's how: 👇 LTK Marketplace opens doors to a curated pool of Creators and a staggering 30M shoppers, propelling your sales and amplifying brand awareness like never before. Helping to ensure your campaigns captivate the right audience effortlessly. Post brand campaigns to LTK Marketplace for interested Creators to send Proposals to collaborate for brands to review. This new feature is available to all brands leveraging LTK Connect at no additional charge! [Get Connected Here!]( EMAIL 📧 BFCM 2023: 5 Email Trends to Stand Out in a Crowded Inbox — Part Two Last week, we highlighted that over 100 million emails will be sent this Black Friday alone. We gave you a tip to get the ball rolling, but today we’re giving you a little more juice to make sure your emails are seen, interacted with, and deliver those ever so sweet conversions. Want to catch up before diving back in? Check out tip one — [Teasers, previews, and early-access sales](. Let’s get this show on the road with tips two and three. 2️⃣ Mobile and dark mode domination: ensure your emails are designed for mobile [57% of online shoppers]( use their phones to find Black Friday deals. If you’re not designing your emails mobile-first this year, whatcha even doing? What it means to have mobile-friendly emails: - Single-column layouts / responsive design - Large, bold font (the less text, the better) - CTA + offer above the fold - Big buttons with lots of space - Fast-loading images Another trend you may want to keep in mind is the growing use of dark mode (we’ve seen numbers anywhere from 34-82% of people checking their email with it). And because of its reported benefits, like decreased eye strain and improved battery life, it’s probs here to stay. 🖤 To optimize your emails for dark mode: - Use colors and fonts that will stand out on both a black and white background - Use images with transparent backgrounds - If you’re using dark fonts or images, add a lighter background + white score text - Test your emails! 3️⃣ Interactive, but in a “less Is more” kinda way Let’s face it: interactive emails just work. That’s why many brands go all out for Black Friday with GIFs, animated text, countdown timers, and dynamic content blocks. 🥳 However, with a move in recent years to more minimalist, mobile-friendly designs, interactive elements will be simpler this BFCM. A few pro tips if this will be your approach: - Test every email across multiple ESPs (lots of free and paid email testing tools you can look into!) - Be aware of file sizes. Hundreds of emails are being sent to your consumers’ inboxes over BFCM. They ain’t got time to wait for your cool GIF to load. - Make sure your animation enhances your offer, not detracts from it (i.e., it shouldn’t block or get in the way of any offer text or CTAs). [Click here to see examples (and gain some inspo 👀) of brands optimizing for dark mode and brands capturing attention with interactive elements](. SPONSOR DTC 📥 Promote your product to 160,000 digital marketing professionals DTC Newsletter + Podcast reaches a highly qualified audience of Shopify merchants, eCommerce founders, and digital marketers. [Talk to our team to learn more](. ⚡ QUICK HITS 🎁 [Holiday creative just in time!]( Use the same tool thousands of DTC brands rely on for quality content at scale. [(It's as easy as clicking here)](* 🧵 [Threads now has an edit option for your posts](, according to Mark Zuckerberg. When you post content, a timer will begin to count down from five minutes until the content of the post can no longer be changed. ✖️ [The EU opens an official investigation of X]( following the alleged distribution of misinformation about the Israel-Hamas conflict. X’s approach to content moderation could result in significant fines for the platform. 🎵 [TikTok and Disney form a partnership](granting TikTok users access to a portfolio of content spanning 100 years of Disney’s history. The tools will be available starting October 16th, 2023. 🪟 [Microsoft has finalized the purchase of Activision-Blizzard for $68.7B](. Microsoft offered some leniency after its initial proposal drew scrutiny from regulators concerned about Microsoft's advantage in cloud computing. 👀 Banter We’re willing to give ice cream for breakfast a go. 🤷 Have you heard our latest podcasts? - 👀 [AKNF 344](: Is Amazon Anti-Consumer? - 💤 [Pillows, Sleep, and the Journey of a DTC Founder]( - Larissa Hildebrandt and Henrie.com - 🚀 [AKNF Archive](: Rux Rockets to Meta Ads ROAS with the Pilot Test - 🌱 [Moss Amigos & Chia Pet Legacy]( - Jared Olivia on Becoming America's New Favorite Class Pet - 📊 [AKNF 340](: Google Ads Q4 Psyche Up + GA4 Gut Check - 👕 [Jacob Rokeach]( - Fractional CMO: How to Build an Apparel Brand in 2023 Don’t forget to [rate the DTC Podcast]( on Apple (⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️) Got an awesome DTC brand story to tell? Calling all brand-side founders and team leaders! Fancy joining us on the DTC Podcast as a guest? [Tap the link to toss in your application](. DTC Newsletter is written by [Rebecca Knight](, [Kelsey Hess](, and [Michael Venditti](. Edited by [Claire Beveridge]( and [Eric Dyck](. Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up [here](. NEED MORE DTC? 🚀 [Advertise]( in DTC Newsletter. 💰Check out our course on [Facebook and Instagram]( ads! Please note that items in this newsletter marked with * contain sponsored content. [Direct To Consumer]( Pilothouse, 1011 Government St., Victoria, BC V8W 1X6, Canada [Advertise with DTC]( | [Work With Pilothouse]( [Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](