Brady Cramm

Most DTC ad accounts aren't even doing the bare minimum to improve performance. What do I mean? There's one thing Meta recommends doing to both: a) Prevent ROI dropoff b) Keep CAC steady Creative refreshes. Our recommendation is heavy — 1x per week, or ~4x per month. Meta's recommendation is moderate — 2x per month. Most DTC brands aren't hitting even half of this — MAYBE 1x a month. This simple rule is one of the most neglected in ad strategy for ecommerce brands. Why? Usually from a lack of creative inbound — there's not enough creative to supplement the number of refreshes needed. I won't get into creative volume, but here's why creative refreshes are critical. Creative fatigue: it builds up when audiences are overexposed to the same creatives. It can drive up your CPA and make your ads less sticky, leading to higher ad spend for desired performance (or no spend if you're using cost controls). Meta prioritizes the "best" experience for users — this means new, new, new. You don't immediately have to jump to 1x a week for creative refreshes, but if you're not at least hitting Meta's recommended rate (bi-weekly), you're leaving easy results on the table.

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I rarely see brands do this for new product launches 👇 1. Landing page with new product offering 2. Email/SMS capture forms 3. Email/SMS flows triggering from landing page sign ups The conversions you'll see from this are insane 🚀

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When I was COO at an 8-figure DTC agency, I eliminated 80% of our agency's QA process. Here's why: Most agencies have a dedicated QA person catching mistakes at the end of projects. You think this person is increasing quality, and lowering your costs... but the truth is the opposite. It's costing you money and lowering quality. Here's what actually happens: 1. QA breeds complacency When someone else checks everything, people get sloppy. They know mistakes will be caught. 2. QA wastes your best talent. Usually the QA person is the highest skilled person. Your top performers should be driving value, not finding errors. 3. QA slows everything down Extra steps = longer turnaround times. 4. QA prevents skill development People don't learn from mistakes they never see. And rarely do QA’s look to fix the root cause of the mistake… they just want to fix whatever issue they found. Here's how to fix it: 1. Make everyone responsible for their own work Each team member should ensure 100% accuracy before handing off tasks. 2. Focus on process improvement When errors occur, fix the root cause. Gradually reduce formal QA as processes improve. This creates ownership and pride in output. 3. Shift mindset from "QA will catch it" to "get it right the first time" This removes safety net mentality. It will increase overall quality and attention to detail. 4. Implement cross-functional QA Have the next person in the workflow do basic QA Designers check copy, implementers verify design, etc. You can also have the team lead QA a small percentage of projects as you transition. 4. Reallocate your top talent Your best people are often doing QA. Move them to high-value client work instead. Warning: Don't eliminate QA overnight. It takes TIME to transition to this model. But the Result: Higher quality work, faster turnaround, and more efficient use of top talent. What's your take? Is QA helping or hurting your business?

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"If your DTC business doesn’t work with Facebook ads, it likely won’t work at all." This was the start of a tweet from Sam Ross that floored me, why? Because I 10,000% agree with it. To borrow Sam's words, Facebook is the most proven TC growth channel: ➝ "I see lots of DTC owners and operators say you need to test a ton of different channels (Pinterest, Snapchat, referrals, etc) to see what works. I couldn’t disagree more." His reasoning: Facebook is a litmus test for your brand, and "diversification" is a cover-up for "distraction." Here's my take: Facebook is the proven place you can pour in as much creative as you want without burning your budget away on testing — we use cost controls and push as much "diversification" as we can through creatives. Dollar for dollar, it's the best investment of your resources because you're not going to waste them (with the right setup). Thoughts on diversification vs. locking in on Facebook/Meta?

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🧪 CRO Hack No. #17 Call out your audience. (Who is this for) An easy way to address that is in the FAQ section in the PDP. SOLID way to increase conversions AG1 doing an amazing job.

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"We use Apollo.io email verification as the source of truth" Is what a lot of agencies and outbound marketers might say if they are starting with cold email. Apolla data is AWESOME for finding company info, but for emails it's really poor and can break your sender IPs overnight. This was me not long ago too! I interviewed Roman Hipp (co-founder of BetterContact) to learn more about contact data, how it works and how you can use 20+ data sources at once for 90% less than you would ever pay. This interview will be going live on my free Clay accelerator course in a couple of weeks, it's a really good watch especially if you are someone who is experiencing a lot of invalid contact bounces and you are scratching your head. This will bring solutions to light. BC have just launched a Make integration which means you can plug their API in anywhere along with a native into RB2B. Quite the exciting thing if you ask me ;) p.s. I added in some funny b-roll using OpusClip's AI-generated clip tool

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PSA: Turn off your standard welcome offer popups during BFCM. No one wants to sign up for email to get an offer lower than what you already have on the site. Conversion rate *should* be higher during this time. Worry about getting the sale (and their marketing opt-in) at checkout. BONUS: If you’re a Klaviyo user, you can now schedule sign up forms to turn on/off on the days and times you want ✅

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Email and SMS marketers LOVE chasing the big DTC accounts, but there's something incredibly satisfying about laying the foundation for a smaller eCommerce brand. No rocket science, no over-engineering—just getting the basics done right. ✅ High-converting flows ✅ Frequent campaign sends (sales and educational) ✅ Solid foundational technical work in place What do you like most about supporting smaller eCommerce brands? #emailmarketing  

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SEO Growth Loops: How Leafly and Weedmaps scaled their traffic on autopilot and how to apply them to your Dispensary. UGC signals have become more important than ever with forums like Reddit and Quora seeing massive traffic gains in the last algorithm updates. #Cannabis #CannabisMarketing #SEO #GrowthLoops

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Too many 7-9 figure DTC brands becomes victims of ‘black magic’ forecasting. Most of the time It’s at no fault of their own. Black magic forecasting is when either brand or agency are pulling numbers out of nowhere. They give out projections based on: - Complete BS - What sounds sexy to close the client - What sounds sexy to please the company That said - I’m not anti-benchmarks. It’s helpful to know them. However, when we talk about project planning outside the advertising world: In real estate In doing a home build In construction management The emphasis is on making decisions based on solid and realistic numbers. Not fake fairy tail ones that sound really awesome. If the real projections aren’t hitting certain standards: - Cost - ROI - Profitability Then the project doesn’t go through. No way. And it should be the same in advertising. If the financial benchmarks that we care about: - ROAS - CAC - Gross Margin Aren’t hitting our benchmarks, there’s no reason the project should commence.

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Your CAC is bleeding your profits dry. Here's the tourniquet: If I had to stop the bleed, without spending more on Ads, here's what I'd use: ☑ Fullstory for user behavior analysis ☑ Unbounce for landing page optimization ☑ ReferralCandy for customer referral programs DO's and DON'Ts ↳ never ignore customer lifetime value LTV ↳ it's about targeting quality, not just quantity ↳ focus on retargeting and abandoned cart recovery ↳ don't neglect post-purchase engagement ↳ spend more time on data analysis than ad creation You'll spot the leaks in the first week. You'll start patching in the first month. You'll see the flow improve in the first quarter. You'll have a profit-generating machine after a year. Cut your CAC. Start now!

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You’re 100% Using UGC Wrong. Here’s How to Actually Win with META Ads. If you're diving headfirst into UGC (User-Generated Content) for your META ads without testing, you're setting yourself up for failure. I've seen it time & time again after hundreds of account audits. Most brands think that throwing some influencer-style clips together is enough. Spoiler alert: it’s not. The Cold, Hard Truth about UGC: UGC isn’t a silver bullet. If your scripts, hooks, and angles aren't tested beforehand, you’re just gambling. Sure, UGC can be powerful, but only when you’ve done your homework. That’s where angle testing comes in—this is how pros build winning campaigns without burning budget. Our Proven Process for META Ads: Test Static Image Ads with Hooks First: Before you ever write a script, run static image ads to test different hooks and angles. This allows you to see which messaging resonates most with your audience—quickly and cheaply. Example: We tested 5 different hooks across static image ads for a recent campaign. One outperformed the others by 300%. We then built the entire UGC campaign around that hook. Craft Data-Driven Scripts: Once you have your winning hook, craft your UGC scripts. Your script needs to speak directly to the pain points your best-performing hooks revealed. Data from your static image tests should guide every word. Angle Testing with Iterations: Create multiple UGC variations based on the winning script, but with different angles and creatives. Test them in a controlled manner to identify which one hits hardest. Pro Tip: Start with at least three variations to capture a broad spectrum of audience reactions. Optimize Aggressively: As your UGC runs, pay attention to early indicators—watch time, click-through rates, and conversion data. Kill the underperformers fast and scale the winners. Proof that It Works: We recently ran this exact process for a DTC brand, and the results were staggering. After testing 8 hooks with static ads, we identified the top 2 performers and built UGC scripts around them. The final UGC campaign drove a 45% lower CPA and a 60% increase in ROAS compared to previous attempts. This wasn’t luck—it was strategic testing. Takeaway: Stop wasting resources on untested UGC. Use static ads to nail down your hooks first. Then, and only then, dedicate time to crafting scripts and testing angles. The data will guide you, and your results will speak for themselves.

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🔥 HOT TAKE 🔥 If you’re a DTC founder and your agency isn’t on a performance-based model, you’re likely overpaying for mediocrity. Stop funding their next fancy team retreat, and demand results.

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Spooky product update... practically steals competitor traffic by growing Conquesting Campaigns by 2-5x on Google--at the same efficiency (CPAs or ROAS)? Why Spooky? They're called "Ghost Ads"! And trust me, it'll scare your competitors to lose 200%-500% more of their converting traffic to your business. 😁 But that's why many of the largest, most sophisticated programs in each space are Early Adopters / 1st Movers on Traffic by Intent's approach & tech! This works specifically because of a very unique approach we're deploying. It targets your competitor keywords in ways that you can't without our software. And you'll see those keywords light-up as "covered" in your Ad Copy within Google's UI, even though it'll never show your competitor's brand name in your Ads... it's the only thing of its kind on the market! DM me or reach out at [email protected] to learn more. #paidsearch #googleadwords #googleads #googleadvertising #microsoftads #microsoftadvertising #bingads #ppc #sem #payperclick

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When you get the opt-in offer right everything clicks. Before: Brand had a shitty offer and a shitty optin rate. $5 off > 2% optin rate They were in the red on first purchase. Challenge: How can we get more optins and increase cart size on First Purchase? Answer: Share a stronger optin offer that also suits the business. 10% off bundles > 12% optin rate (6x increase) Better offer, more opt ins. yay. Also, Cart size increased 37%. The key to the puzzle is making the offer work within the constraints of the business. Not just throwing up $5 because it's easy. Better offer + traffic = more sales.

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DTC brands - It may not be comforting, but it's the damn truth. Why your email revenue is stuck ⤵️ ❌ Poor list hygiene ❌ Generic messaging ❌ Poor list segmentation ❌ Ineffective subject lines ❌ Inconsistent send schedules ❌ Over-reliance on engaged subscribers. Sound familiar? The solution isn't complicated. Yet, so many overlook it: ✅ Expand email reach ✅ Optimize for mobile ✅ A/B test consistently ✅ Segment your audience ✅ Focus on customer LTV ✅ Personalize your content ✅ Integrate email w/ other channels True brands build loyal customers. (Not just random subscribers) My point? If your email revenue is stuck, it's time to rethink your strategy.

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💰 Hey DTC founders—want to 3X your revenue from email campaigns? Here’s a 7-point checklist to drive in more revenue for your brand (and keep reading for a bonus tip). 🎯 - Deliverability First things first - make sure your emails land in the primary inbox, not spam or promotions. If customers don’t see your emails, they can’t buy! 🎯 - Consistency Train your audience to expect your messages and recognize your brand to build trust. Send at least 1 email weekly and on time. 🎯 - Frequency More emails = more revenue. So if you’re seeing good engagement, try sending 2 emails weekly. Just make sure you provide real value! 🎯 - Content Speaking of value, focus on nurturing your audience with helpful, engaging content. In most cases, we at Email Composed aim for 70% nurture and 30% sales-focused emails. 🎯 - Timing Send emails when subscribers are most likely to open them. Klaviyo’s Smart Send Time is awesome for this! 🎯- Copywriting When it comes to copy, short and sweet is the name of the game. Your audience prefers concise, engaging content—especially on mobile. And for the bonus tip, segment your audience, always! Segmentation is important for so many reasons, including targeting specific customer interests... Because let’s face it, generic emails resonate with no one. And lastly, always review your past campaigns, learn what worked, and do more of it. Ready to transform your email strategy and boost revenue? DM me to see how my team can help! Here's a look at the results we got when implementing these tips on a new client. 👇

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9/10 eComm brands I talk to struggle with attribution & don’t know if their ad spend drives an incremental impact on their store. This is something we’ve been battling with for the better part of 2024. It’s especially important for our brands that spend over $5000/day. Looking at the Facebook or Google ads manager has proven to be pretty unreliable... So one way to solve this issue is using post-purchase surveys which we try to set up for every client we work with. Asking people how they first heard about you will give you probably the most accurate representation of which channel is working best for you and which channel is wasting your ad spend. We track responses daily and use internal spreadsheets to track the total New Customer CPA which you can monitor while scaling the ad spend on 1 channel and maintaining your ad spend on every other channel. 3 questions I advise every eComm brand to include in their PPS are: ✅ How did you first hear about us? ✅ How long have you known about us before deciding to purchase our product? ✅ What are you most looking forward to from your purchase today? You have to do everything in your capabilities to understand the customer journey otherwise you might be easily lighting your money on fire.

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Here's 7 different tactics to help improve your CPM on Youtube... AKA how to improve your total ad revenue A thread🧵👇🏼 1. Geographic Location Listed on Your Channel - Where are your viewers (or your economic spending of your viewers) based in? Different locations produce different spending habits of advertisers. 2. Age of Audience How much buying power does your audience have? How much spending power do they have? Know your audience and view them through the lens of the advertiser. Would they want to advertise on your channel? 3. Niche or Industry Are you in a profitable niche on Youtube? There is PLENTY of opportunity on Youtube, but is there anything out there to show you that your niche is profitable in this space? 4. Seasonal Change in Certain Niches If you're wondering why your CPM goes up and down, maybe something you are looking at are seasonal changes within your niche. Example: maybe your a gym channel where January 1 roles around and you'll see higher CPM due to new year, new me type of season. 5. Types of Ads Placed on Video When you're monetized on Youtube, you're able to select what type of ads placed on your videos. We check them all because not every ad is pushed in total. More ads are more opportunity, let Youtube figure it out 6. Made for Kids Content If your content is for kids. Check the box. Plain as that. If you have a kids channel, you'll make less ad revenue due to the nature of child privacy laws. Don't sweat it though. If you can put out great kids content, you still have the opportunity to create income. 7. Videos Safe for Viewing The content of your videos can drive your CPM down. If you have questionable content in your videos, ads may not even be able to put in your videos. Examples are inappropriate language, adult content, violence, shocking content, harmful ads, recreational drugs, controversial issues, demeaning content, etc. Here's the bottom line and hopefully some encouragement. Ad revenue is important. There

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