I was fortunate to get an invite to the first annual DTC Growth Summit, a new conference organized by Johnny Hickey of PerfectWhiteTee fame.
I love smaller conferences and meetups. When you attend big eCom and marketing conferences you (an in-house marketer) are often the product. Every talk is thinly veiled vendor sponcon, and then you walk through the hall of cold-pitching from yet more vendors.
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If you’re the VP of Innovation at a globally recognized brand and your job is to source vendors, then the big conference experience is great. On the other hand, if you’re the head of growth at a bootstrapped brand, you’re going to want some actionable, effective information in exchange for your time.
The DTC Growth Summit delivered. Although the focus wasn’t purely on apparel brands, the speakers made sure to point out when their advice was, and wasn’t, applicable to fashion. I really appreciated that–it’s rare! (outside this newsletter of course)
Here are nine of the most impactful, actionable tips I picked up at the summit:
Tip #1: In Apparel CRO, Focus On Fit
“Will this fit me?” and “what is my size?” are the two strongest, most common consumer objections to converting on a fashion brand’s website. When you start CRO testing, this is where you should focus.
Make sure your size chart is easy to find and provides meaningful information. A global size conversion is less helpful than bust, waist and hip measurements for each size, which is less helpful than garment-specific measurements for each size.
If you collect customer reviews, make sure to collect fit feedback. If consumers indicate that a style runs small or large (or some other idiosyncrasy), note it in bold in the product description.
Source: Paddy McLarnon
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Tip #2: There Are Six Sources Of Customer Insight You Should Prioritize
Your CRO roadmap should not be sourced from the shower thoughts of the executive team or a list of best practices on a blog that was published in 2016. Instead, prioritize research from these six sources:
- Customers reviews
- Post-purchase and on-site surveys
- Support tickets
- Winning ads (what features/benefits/problems are the focus?) and their comments
- Organic UGC captions and headlines
- Scroll and heatmap patterns on your website
Source: Paddy McLarnon
Tip #3: Optimize Your Product Images!
Based on Paddy’s aggregated data from dozens of clients, 70% of site visitors will click on your product images and 68% of visitors never scroll past the first two screen heights on mobile.
Your product images are valuable real estate. Enhance them with conversion-driving information like features/benefits, fit call-outs and social proof (including positive reviews).
Source: Paddy McLarnon
Tip #4: Novelty Sells The Click, Core Converts The Sale
But…which pair of underwear drove more clicks? If you’re a long time reader, the answer is obvious: the eagle crotch boxers.
To scale a fashion business, you need to build marketing strategy into your merchandising strategy. Product that is seasonally-relevant or trend driven and attention-grabbing is going to be a key component of your conversion rate optimization on Meta. Just don’t expect it to outsell your core.
Source: Jacques Spitzer
Tip #5: Find Your Green Lambo Moment
Jacques asked the crowd how many cars we saw on the walk over to the conference venue…and how many of those cars we remembered?
The human brain is designed to screen out most sensory inputs unless they are critical to survival. Or especially disruptive and thought-provoking…like a green Lamborghini.
To stand out in the sea of competitors’ ads, you need to create the “green Lambo”. This doesn’t mean that your ads have to be ugly (although that can work). But it does mean that you need to be eye-catching or emotionally resonant.
Source: Jacques Spitzer
Tip #6: Steal This Winning Headline
Here is a headline formula that’s risen to the top on Meta again and again:
Our (product) is/are (positive adjective) and (positive adjective), just like the (men/women) who wear them.
Here’s how this works in practice for Original Grain Watches:
Our watches are rugged & dependable, just like the men who wear ‘em.
Source: Nate Lagos
Tip #7: When Entering Wholesale, Start In-House & Start Small
Wholesale can be the perfect way to diversify revenue sources away from Meta ads, but you have to do it right if you want it to become a cash flow engine. This requires two things:
First: start with an in-house team of sales reps. If you work with a showroom too early, you risk those outsourced reps ignoring your brand in favor of the proven revenue-drivers on your roster. When you have 20-30 established accounts, it will give outsourced reps incentive to maintain and expand those relationships.
Second: focus on mom & pop retailers first, not majors. I went into more detail on this topic in my guide to fashion wholesale here. But major retailers (department stores, big box stores) across verticals can be a cash drain if you don’t have the experience to navigate their rules.
Source: Jared Mehr
Tip #8: You Should Send More Plain Text Email
Plain text email is under-utilized by brands across categories, but it’s especially under-utilized for fashion brands. We assume that the picture/video of the clothing sells the clothing (SILIBI!). That’s true, but it’s not the entire story.
Plain text email is powerful because so few brands use the tactic; it’s pattern-disruptive and more likely to land in the subscriber’s main inbox. It’s also more likely to start a dialogue, improving your deliverability.
What’s an easy place to start? Make the first email in your welcome series a plain text note from your founder. Use your “why” as a brand to set up a quick problem/agitation/solution story, and then introduce the welcome code (if you use one).
Source: Trayan Hristov
Tip #9: 10 Full Price Email Campaign Ideas
Sometimes it’s hard to think of three to five new, full price-focused email campaigns per week. Especially if you’re weeks away from a new product drop. Let the ideas on the slide above inspire you.
Source: Trayan Hristov
Even More Tactics & Inspo
Here is a full list of speakers from the DTC Growth Summit. I was impressed by the tactics and ideas that all of these folks shared. It’s worth your time to check out their X timelines and consider them if you’re in the market for agency partners.
Paddy McLarnon is the CEO of PM Digital. He shared a tactical intro to CRO that helped brands separate the signal from the noise and set up their first winning test.
Jacques Spitzer is the CEO of Raindrop Agency. He shared frameworks for writing and concepting ads that stand out from the competition.
Nate Lagos is the VP of Marketing for Original Grain. He shared research tactics, frameworks and AI Prompts for more effective copywriting.
Brett Curry is the CEO of OMG Commerce. He shared tactics for using Youtube to scale MOF & TOF in a way that actually drives conversions.
Jared Mehr built the Pura Vida wholesale business and is now a consultant helping brands enter and scale the channel. And that’s literally what he shared: how to enter wholesale and make money doing it.
Trayan Hristov is the founder of Thrivelia. He shared a crazy number of proven tactics for making email marketing more effective, including fashion-specific tactics.
Kamal Razzak is the CEO of MHI Media. He explained how to build a static ads creative engine and automate it with AI. Coincidentally, we’re also doing an interview with him in an upcoming issue of the newsletter because he specializes in scaling creative for fashion brands.
Raymond Johnston is a partner at Right Hook Digital. He shared a playbook for successful million-dollar new product drops.
Chris Lang is the founder of Fresh Chile and the CEO of MOVE. He shared tactics for turning organic social into a meaningful revenue-driver.