Storytelling time 📚

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In today's issue:

🎯 The 95:5 rule - why your ads aren't converting (and the fix) 

📊 Quick wins - 5 minutes of your time for 3X CTR

🔍 Expert tips - four experts feeling generous this week

WHAT’S HAPPENING

🛍️ Amazon launches "Haul" - sub-$20 marketplace to compete with Shein/Temu, ships direct from China in 2 weeks

📊 Shopify drops new "Items Bought Together" report - use it to create bundles & upsells

🤖 AI shopping assistants from tech giants (Anthropic, OpenAI, Google) could reshape how we optimize stores for bots instead of humans

👀 Meta simplifies metrics: "Views" now unified across FB/IG for all content types

🚫 TikTok partnering with Amazon, NFL and more big names despite it’s ban - maybe because Trump switched his stance on the app.

💰 Amazon maintains price supremacy: still 14% cheaper than rivals across 15 categories, Walmart closest at 5% gap

TACTICS

🎯 Why Your Ads Aren't Converting (And What Actually Works)

Have you heard of the 95:5 rule? It was proposed by marketing Prof. John Dawes and posits that about 95% of your customers are not looking to buy right now.

Also, people buy off memory, not search - they need to have already seen your brand to buy from you. 

So, your main job should be to get your brand name out there, not invest in direct response ads (you should still do it, but less). 

Don’t take it from us. Nik Sharma describes why Waterboy, the Austin-based hydration brand, is crushing it: “They win because people already know them from TikTok. When their ads pop up, folks think "Oh yeah, that brand!" instead of "Who are these guys?"

Enough talk, here’s your playbook:

It’s all about the story

• You need a brand story that actually means something to your audience

• Make it timely – why should they care right now?

• Example: Born Primitive knew their audience (patriots & veterans) would care about D-Day veterans visiting Normandy. They funded the trip and dropped a limited edition package. Boom. Instant connection.

Find Your People

• Most important here is how old they are

• Use that information to build content they prefer. Usually, the older they are, the longer they like it. 

• Don't obsess over format (static vs video) – focus on message (built off your story)

Play the Long Game

• Getting your name in people’s heads can take time. 

• In the early days, direct response (Meta) can keep you afloat as long as you have product-market fit.

• But scaling past that? You need brand recognition

• Remember: good brand ads will convert warm audiences, but conversion ads won't work on cold ones

Takeaway: Stop thinking campaign by campaign. Start thinking about how to live rent-free in your future customers' heads. That's where the real money is.

Want to know if you're on the right track? Ask yourself: "If I stopped all ads tomorrow, would people still remember my brand next month?" If the answer is no, you know what to work on.

GET MORE RELEVANT TACTICS

QUICK WINS

1. Italics for ad CTR

In what may be the easiest win in eCommerce, scientists found that ads with “extreme italics”, i.e. slanted more than 35 degrees, drove up to 3X higher CTRs. 

2. Switch to the new reels format (says Meta)

Quote from Meta reps:

"Following the recent increase in height allowance to a 4:5 aspect ratio for single image ads on Facebook Feed, we are now updating our ads aspect ratio guidance and proactively recommending this new 4:5 portrait format as the new best practice for you to use going forward (instead of the 1:1 square format) for all Facebook Feed single image ads."

3. Translate to Spanish

We’ll let Marin Istvanic explain this one:

If you can’t get Spanish audio on your videos, subtitles should work fine. Overall, AI should do most of the heavy lifting here.

AD

• See which competitor pages drive the most traffic

• See top competitor keywords

• See competitor ad copy, keywords and budget

Early Checkout readers get an exclusive 2x free trial, click here for yours.

EXPERT TIPS

✍️ 10 copywriting frameworks, by Chase Dimond

🎒 3 learnings from a guy running a community of 7-9 figure founders, Philip Pages

📺️ You’re not paying enough attention to YouTube, by Sean Frank

⏲️ Pinpoint when people click on your TikTok videos, by Marin Istvanic

With ❤️,

The Early Checkout Team

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