WORKWEEK

On Valentine’s Day, it would have been too easy for me to write something mushy gushy lovey dovey to you. 

However, I’m not one to make my life easy LOL. 

As such, today we’re talking heartbreak. Things that break my marketing heart, specifically. 

* For you to please double check and avoid in your own Go-to-Market efforts…

💔: OVERLY QUALIFIED OFFERS

Apparis is spending good money to put 4 reasons why you wouldn’t want to click right their ad (this is an Instagram ad I screenshotted). I like this brand, and I come in peace. However… 

1️⃣. SHOP UP TO – meaning not everything is 60% off. That’s okay, this is a qualifier that can be kept. HOWEVER…

2️⃣. SELECT STYLES – I already knew it wasn’t 60% off everything – that’s what SHOP UP TO told me. Kill this. 

3️⃣. ALL SALES FINAL – bet they thought I wouldn’t see this. I did. Move this qualifier to the ad copy in the ad (not the ad asset as it is here, or to the landing page). Kill this from the asset. 

4️⃣. NO REFUNDS – the hits keep coming! Is their lawyer in Figma designing this? Move this to the ad copy (bury it) or to the landing page or to the FAQs. Kill this. 

😭: CUTE PET NAMES THAT AREN’T CUTE 

^ What is VIT? I think that is meant to be some sort of special name for VIP? Maybe it’s very important traveler because CALPAK is a travel brand. Maybe it’s a typo! We’ll never know!

VIP is better than VIT. Obvious is always better than contrived. I still love CALPAK and have purchased 5 times in the last 3 months and I’m no VIT because IDK what that is and I haven’t signed up for anything but I might want to be a VIP but not until they rename it or until I’ve cooled down. 

💔: 4 MINUTES AND 28 SECONDS TO READ A PROMOTIONAL EMAIL

I am a huge fan of putting the READ TIME in the pre-text of an email. Example:

READ TIME: 2 MINS

And, for what it’s worth, I love the subect line ^. BUT, on no planet am I going to open an email from Seed that has an almost 5 minute read time. For extra context, I’m not currently subscribed to Seed. I used to be, but I’m not right now. I kinda miss it.

So, a 5 minute promotional email doesn’t make me open and click and purchase and come back. And, the more emails I get from Seed that I don’t open… the more likely I am to never come back and to get scrubbed out. 

We have to be careful with our lists and know who we’re talking to. Your churned subscribers do not have 5 minutes to give you. 

🤬: RUNNING ADS TO SOLD OUT PRODUCTS

You know I go hard in the paint for Djerf Avenue. I love the brand.

Except, this his is painful to watch- spending brand $ to run ads that nobody is buying from. If a product is sold out –  you need to either turn off that ad or lead to a NOTIFY ME WHEN BACK IN STOCK page.

Please go check your ads managers right now and make sure there’s nothing running that is not possible to buy. Happens too often!

Even Sofia Richie Grainge can’t sell a product that is OOS! 

🖤: A SALE COLLECTIONS PAGE THAT HAS ITEMS THAT AREN’T FOR SALE

What is that shoe doing there without a strike-thru sale price? How can it be a sale favorite if it’s not showing as on sale? 

Merchandising is more important than almost anything we can do. I love Veronica Beard and luckily this is the QUICKEST fix in the backend. No dev required to change! 

Spend 10 minutes today looking at every single collections page from an incognito browser on your phone. Do it for me. As my Valentine’s present.