If you’re a long time reader of this newsletter, you’re probably familiar with my “see it, like it, buy it” (or SILIBI) strategy for Meta ads.
You can apply SILIBI to your email content strategy, too. It’s quite effective. But if that’s the only content strategy you’re running in email, you’re missing out on potential sales.
There are a few reasons you should expand your email strategy beyond SILIBI:
Before we get into it, I want to thank this week's sponsor: Lifecycle PLM. Lifecycle is a modern PLM platform built for today’s fashion teams - connecting design, development, and production in one intuitive workspace.
From AI-powered tech packs to streamlined sampling and vendor collaboration, Lifecycle helps brands move from concept to delivery up to 40% faster.
Lifecycle PLM is offering my readers 15% off their first year of Lifecycle Pro–just book a demo and mention this newsletter.
Eventually, you run out of product. Let’s say you launch four collections per year, and each collection contains 25-30 products. If you feature one product per email and send four emails per week, you have about five weeks’ worth of content.
But most brands don’t feature a single product per email, because showcasing multiple products improves your odds of conversion. And let’s face it: not all products are winners.
Expanding into new content formats gives you additional reasons to email your subscribers that don’t feel forced. Because you can tell when a brand is really reaching for “product stories”...
Not every subscriber is “in market”. SILIBI works so well for Meta ads because you are targeting a pool of millions of folks who are ready to buy.
Meta has access to a huge data pool. You have access to your own email file, which is probably between 10-100k subscribers. If 5-10% of the file is “in market” on a given day, you’ll “wring out the sponge” quickly.
Some of your emails need to speak to subscribers who are engaged, but not “in market”. These subscribers want to learn more about what makes your brand and product unique. They need words, not just pictures.
Email = free opportunity to meet objections. Email is your opportunity to address the concerns that prevent new customers from converting. On Meta, you need to pay for impressions to do this. In email, it’s free!
Now that I’ve convinced you to mix up your email content strategy a bit, here are some content frameworks you can use, featuring examples from real brands.
Feature Real Customer Stories
If your brand or category has a strong emotional component–like jewelry, children's clothing or special occasion-wear–highlight real customer stories to amplify this.
Sometimes you’ll receive these stories unprompted, but you can always put out a call for stories to your email subscribers or your social followers.
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Here are three signs your brand needs a Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) platform:
- You're launching more than 5-10 new styles each season.
- You're working with multiple vendors and factories to produce your line.
- You're struggling with fit and quality consistency from season to season, or from vendor to vendor.
Consistent fit and product quality are two huge reasons that fashion customers churn. But as your product line gets bigger and your supply chain gets more sophisticated, it gets harder to deliver consistently.
How does Lifecycle PLM solve these problems?
Think of it as your fashion product development HQ - the place where every detail of design, sampling, and production stays organized and connected.
Lifecycle PLM lets you create and manage tech packs, sampling, timelines, and vendors in one connected space. With Lifecycle it's easy to see product progress, costs, and timelines at a glance
Plus, AI Design tools help you generate product concepts, Points of Measure, and material suggestions instantly.
If you're ready to stop losing time and money managing your product lifecycle in a spreadsheet, click here to learn more about Lifecycle.
Readers of this newsletter receive 15% off their first year of Lifecycle Pro–just mention DTC (fashion) Decoded when you book your demo.
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Guest Stylist
Ask an influencer, or even an employee, to style pieces from the collection and make it their own. This refreshes your content and, depending on the influencer’s following, adds an element of social proof.
Material Or Production Feature
If your product features unique production methods or high quality materials that make the product perform better, feel more comfortable, or last longer–talk about it!
Styling Guide
If you sell a full collection of apparel, show the reader multiple options for styling key pieces. People love this type of content and it encourages cross-category shopping.
Taking On Category Conventions
If you take a different approach to your product category, use a “myth busting” framework to highlight that. In this example, The Perfect Jean provides an alternative to denim that is expensive and uncomfortable.
Essentials Edit
This is a great way to reframe your best sellers, or a sub-segment of your collection. But you have to explain why each item is essential. Limit this to five styles max.
Feature/Benefit/Outcome
If you sell a fashion product that sells a problem, use plain text email to explore the classic direct response marketing problem/solution storytelling arc.
That’s it for this week. If you liked this email feature, reply to this and let me know, and I will put it into the content rotation.