If you've ever Googled "online marketing consultant," you already know the signal you're sending: you need strategic marketing help, and you're not sure whether to hire a person or a team. That's a meaningful distinction, and the answer depends entirely on where your business is and what you actually need right now.
This guide cuts through the noise. We'll explain what an online marketing consultant does, how their model differs from a full-service agency, what to look for, how pricing works, and the questions worth asking before you sign anything.
An online marketing consultant is a specialist who analyzes your current marketing performance, identifies gaps and opportunities, and builds a strategy to improve results across digital channels. Depending on their background and scope, they might focus on paid media, SEO, content, email, conversion rate optimization, or the full-funnel picture.
The key distinction from an agency: consultants operate at the strategic layer. They are typically brought in to diagnose, recommend, and advise — not to run campaigns day-to-day. Some consultants also provide execution, but their core value is expertise and objectivity. They are not tied to any particular platform or channel, which means their recommendations are driven by what's right for your business, not what they're set up to sell.
Common deliverables from an internet marketing consultant engagement include:
For growth-stage companies and DTC brands, the typical use case is someone who can function as a senior marketing voice without the cost of a full-time hire.
This is the question most brands skip past, and it leads to expensive mismatches.
A digital marketing consultant is the right fit when you need strategic clarity. If you're unsure which channels to prioritize, why your current campaigns aren't converting, or what your marketing org should look like in 12 months, a consultant brings the analytical depth to answer those questions. They are also the right choice when you have internal execution capacity but lack a senior strategist to direct it.
A full-service agency is the right fit when you need execution at scale. Agencies bring designers, copywriters, media buyers, analysts, and project managers under one roof. When you need daily creative output, multi-channel campaign management, or fast ramp-up across new channels, an agency has the bandwidth that a solo consultant does not.
The trap most growth-stage companies fall into: they hire a consultant, receive a strong strategy document, and then have no one to execute it. A plan that sits on a shelf produces zero results. Before hiring a marketing consultant, confirm that you have the internal team or an agency partner who can act on their recommendations.
The hybrid model — a consultant directing strategy while an agency handles execution — is increasingly common for companies that have outgrown founder-led marketing but are not ready for a full VP of Marketing. This approach gives you executive-level oversight without the overhead of a senior in-house hire. If you're evaluating whether that model fits your situation, it's worth reading our breakdown of what a fractional CMO does for B2B SaaS companies, since the two roles frequently overlap in scope.
Not all marketing consultants are equal, and the market is crowded with people who have run a few Facebook campaigns and rebranded themselves as strategists. These are the filters that matter.
Demonstrated results in your category matter most. Look for consultants who have worked with companies at your stage, in your revenue range, or in your vertical. DTC brands have different attribution problems than B2B SaaS. A consultant who specializes in one is not automatically equipped for the other.
Channel depth should match your actual needs. If your biggest gap is paid acquisition, you want someone who has managed significant ad budgets, not someone who dabbles in ads as part of a general practice. If SEO is the priority, verify they understand technical SEO, content strategy, and link acquisition — not just keyword research.
Look for a process, not just opinions. Good consultants follow a defined methodology: audit, prioritize, recommend, measure. If their pitch is entirely about their experience and contains no description of how they'll actually work with you, that is a red flag.
Ask for references you can actually call. Two or three client references in situations similar to yours is a reasonable ask. If they hesitate or provide names but no contact information, keep moving.
Pay attention to honest scope boundaries. A consultant who claims expertise in every channel is either a team or is overstating their abilities. The best ones know their lane.
Pricing varies significantly based on scope, seniority, and engagement model. Here is what the market looks like in 2026:
Hourly rates run from $75 to $300 per hour for most engagements. Execution-focused work sits at the lower end; senior strategic consulting commands $150 to $300 per hour or more. Specialists in high-demand areas like paid search or growth strategy often price above $250.
Monthly retainers are the most common structure for ongoing engagements. Expect $2,500 to $8,000 per month for a mid-market consultant providing regular advisory, reporting review, and strategic direction. Senior consultants working with larger organizations charge $10,000 to $20,000 per month.
Project-based fees are typical for defined deliverables like a full channel audit, a go-to-market strategy, or a channel launch plan. Project fees generally range from $3,000 for a focused audit to $25,000 or more for a comprehensive strategy engagement.
One thing to budget for that many brands overlook: a consultant's fee does not include ad spend, tools, or any execution costs. Their fee covers their time and expertise. Media budgets, creative production, and tooling are separate line items.
The intake conversation with a marketing consultant tells you everything you need to know, if you ask the right questions.
Ask how they measure success. A strong consultant will immediately discuss leading indicators tied to revenue — pipeline velocity, customer acquisition cost, return on ad spend — not vanity metrics like impressions or follower counts. If their answer centers on output metrics, probe further.
Ask what the engagement looks like week-to-week. How many hours are they committing? Who do they meet with, and how often? What decisions are in their scope versus yours? Vague answers here often indicate a lack of structure.
Ask what they won't do. Understanding the edges of their scope tells you whether you need additional resources. A consultant who is transparent about their limits is more trustworthy than one who claims to cover everything.
Ask for examples of strategies that did not work and what they learned from them. Marketing is inherently experimental. Consultants who can only talk about wins have either a selective memory or limited experience.
Ask what happens at the end of the engagement. A good consultant should be building toward a handoff — either to your internal team or to an agency — rather than creating dependency on themselves indefinitely.
EmberTribe operates as a growth marketing partner, not a traditional consulting firm. That means we bring the strategic rigor of a digital marketing consultant alongside the execution capability of a full agency team. For DTC brands and growth-stage companies, this eliminates the execution gap that makes standalone consulting so risky.
Our model works best for brands that have proven product-market fit and need a systematic approach to scaling acquisition — across paid social, search, content, and retention channels. We operate as an extension of your team, which means our recommendations come with the team to execute them.
If you're evaluating agencies alongside consultants, our guide on how to choose the best ecommerce marketing agency covers the evaluation criteria in detail, including the questions that separate strong partners from expensive disappointments.
We're also transparent about fit. If a standalone consultant is a better match for your stage and budget, we'll tell you that rather than oversell the scope of an engagement that won't deliver.
If you're ready to talk through where you are and what would actually move the needle, reach out to EmberTribe. We'll start with a diagnostic, not a pitch.
Most advertisers skip straight from campaign strategy to the Google Ads editor, writing headlines and descriptions directly in the platform. The result is often ad copy that looks fine in a text field but falls flat on the actual search results page. A mockup bridges that gap. It gives you a realistic preview of how your ad will appear to users, allowing you to evaluate messaging, formatting, and competitive positioning before a single dollar of budget is spent.
For growth-stage brands running five- and six-figure monthly budgets, this preview step is not optional. A poorly structured ad wastes impressions, drives up cost per click, and drags down Quality Score. A well-crafted mockup, on the other hand, helps you spot weak copy, misaligned extensions, and formatting issues before they cost you real money.
Before building your mockup, it helps to understand the canvas you are working with. Google Ads supports multiple formats including Search ads, Display ads, Video ads, Shopping ads, and Performance Max campaigns. Each format has distinct creative requirements and user contexts.
For the purposes of this guide, we will focus on Search ads, the most common format for lead generation and direct-response campaigns. A standard Responsive Search Ad (RSA) allows up to 15 headlines (30 characters each) and 4 descriptions (90 characters each). Google dynamically assembles combinations to find top performers, but what the user actually sees on the SERP follows a predictable structure:
Your mockup should replicate this structure as closely as possible so you can evaluate the full ad unit rather than isolated text fields.
Every effective ad starts with a clear goal. Are you driving purchases, generating leads, promoting a specific offer, or building brand awareness? Your objective dictates the messaging angle, the call to action, and the landing page you send traffic to.
Write your objective in a single sentence before touching any ad copy. For example: "Drive demo requests from mid-market SaaS buyers evaluating CRM solutions." This constraint keeps your messaging focused and prevents the common trap of trying to say everything in a single ad.
Before writing a word of copy, search for your target keywords and study what is already on the page. Take note of:
This competitive context is critical. Your ad does not exist in isolation. It appears alongside three or four other ads and ten organic results. Your mockup should account for this environment so your copy stands out rather than blends in.
With your objective defined and competitive landscape mapped, it is time to draft your headlines and descriptions.
Headlines: Focus on three categories of headlines to pin in positions one, two, and three:
Descriptions: Use these to expand on the promise in your headlines. Include specifics like pricing, time frames, customer counts, or results. Vague descriptions like "We offer great solutions for your business" waste valuable real estate.
Write at least three complete headline/description combinations so you can compare them side by side in your mockup.
Extensions are one of the most underutilized levers in Google Ads. They increase your ad's visual footprint on the SERP, provide additional click targets, and directly improve Quality Score and click-through rate.
Build these extensions into your mockup:
When you include extensions in your mockup, you get a realistic view of how much SERP real estate your ad will occupy versus a competitor running ads without extensions.
You have several options for assembling your mockup into a visual format:
Whichever method you choose, create mockups for both desktop and mobile. Mobile SERPs truncate headlines more aggressively and display fewer extensions, so your ad needs to communicate its core message in the first two headlines.
Your mockup process should include a budget framework, not just creative. Align your bidding strategy with your campaign objective:
Document your target CPC, daily budget, and expected impression share alongside your mockup. This gives stakeholders a complete picture of what the campaign will look like and what it will cost.
A mockup gets you 80 percent of the way to a strong ad, but real performance data closes the remaining gap. Google's RSA format inherently tests headline and description combinations, but you should also run structured experiments:
Run each test for at least two to three weeks or until you reach statistical significance, typically 100 or more conversions per variant.
Once your campaign is live, track these metrics to evaluate whether your mockup translated into real-world performance:
Your mockup is a living document. Revisit and update it as you gather performance data:
Even experienced advertisers fall into these traps:
Creating a Google Ads mockup is not extra work. It is the work that prevents wasted spend, misaligned messaging, and underperforming campaigns. By previewing your ad in context, refining copy against competitors, and building in extensions from the start, you set your campaign up to win from day one.
Start with a clear objective, research your competitive SERP, build a complete ad unit including extensions, and test relentlessly once you launch. The brands that treat mockups as a core part of their paid media workflow consistently outperform those that skip straight to the editor.
Google Ads invoicing can be a headache. As an advertiser, you must have a streamlined invoicing process to manage your Google Ads expenses effectively. Join us to deep into the Google Ads invoicing process and to discuss the importance of streamlining it. We will also provide you with a step-by-step guide on how to streamline your Google Ads invoicing and leverage the available tools.
When it comes to managing your online advertising campaigns, having a solid understanding of the Google Ads invoicing process is a must. With Google Ads, you have the ability to create and manage campaigns by bidding on keywords relevant to your business. But how does the invoicing process work?
Let's take a closer look:
While the Google Ads invoicing process may seem straightforward, advertisers often encounter challenges that can slow down their invoicing cycle. It's important to be aware of these challenges and find ways to address them effectively. Here are some common challenges:
By implementing effective strategies and leveraging available tools, advertisers can overcome these obstacles and optimize their invoicing workflow.
A well-optimized and streamlined Google Ads invoicing process can save you valuable time and resources. With automated invoicing and efficient reconciliation, you can minimize manual tasks and focus on more strategic aspects of your advertising campaigns.
Imagine a scenario where you no longer have to spend hours manually generating invoices, cross-referencing data, and double-checking calculations. By implementing a streamlined process, you can automate these tasks and free up time for more critical activities, such as analyzing campaign performance or brainstorming creative marketing strategies.
A streamlined invoicing process also allows you to allocate your resources more effectively. By reducing the time and effort spent on invoicing, you can redirect those resources towards other areas of your business that require attention, such as customer acquisition, product development, or expanding your marketing team.
One of the most significant advantages of a streamlined invoicing process is the improvement in accuracy and efficiency when managing your ad spend. By reconciling invoices promptly and regularly, you can identify any discrepancies or errors early on and address them quickly.
Imagine the frustration of receiving an invoice with incorrect charges or missing information. It not only wastes your time but also creates unnecessary confusion and potential financial discrepancies. However, with a streamlined process in place, you can minimize the chances of such errors occurring.
By automating the invoicing process, you can ensure that the correct charges are reflected in your invoices. This reduces the risk of overpayment and ensures that your financial records are accurate and up to date. Additionally, a streamlined process allows you to easily track and monitor your ad spend, helping you make informed decisions about your advertising budget and ROI.
Now that we understand the importance of streamlining the Google Ads invoicing process, let's explore a step-by-step guide to help you achieve this:
Streamlining your Google Ads invoicing process is crucial for efficient financial management and maintaining a healthy cash flow. By following these steps, you can simplify your invoicing procedures and ensure timely payments.
The first step in streamlining your Google Ads invoicing process is to set up automated invoicing. Google Ads provides various options for automated billing, such as automatic payments and monthly invoicing. By opting for automated invoicing, you can eliminate the need for manual invoicing and reduce the risk of errors.
Automated invoicing also ensures timely payments, as Google Ads will automatically charge your preferred payment method based on your advertising expenses. This eliminates the hassle of manually making payments and allows you to focus on other aspects of your business.
In addition to automated invoicing, Google Ads offers several billing features that can streamline your invoicing process. One such feature is budget orders, which allow you to set a specific budget for your advertising campaigns. By utilizing budget orders, you can control your ad spend and prevent unexpected billing surprises.
Google Ads also provides invoice notifications, which alert you when a new invoice is generated or when there are changes to your billing account. These notifications help you stay informed about your financial obligations and enable you to take prompt action if necessary.
Another useful billing feature is billing summaries. These summaries provide an overview of your advertising costs, including the amount spent, the number of clicks received, and the average cost per click. By regularly reviewing these summaries, you can gain insights into your campaign performance and make informed decisions regarding your advertising budget.
Another critical step in streamlining your Google Ads invoicing is to regularly review and update your billing information. It is essential to ensure that your payment methods, billing addresses, and contact details are accurate and up to date.
By maintaining accurate billing information, you can avoid payment delays or disruptions caused by outdated details. It is particularly crucial to review your billing information if you have recently changed payment methods or moved your business location.
Regularly reviewing your billing information also allows you to identify any discrepancies or unauthorized charges. If you notice any irregularities, you can immediately contact Google Ads support to resolve the issue and prevent any financial losses.
By following these steps and implementing best practices for Google Ads invoicing, you can streamline your invoicing process and ensure smooth financial operations. Remember, efficient invoicing not only saves you time and effort but also contributes to the overall success of your advertising campaigns.
Google Ads provides a range of tools designed specifically to streamline your invoicing process. These tools offer advanced features for budgeting, tracking ad spend, and generating detailed reports. Familiarize yourself with these tools to leverage their benefits and optimize your Google Ads invoicing.
Once you are familiar with the Google Ads billing tools, it's time to put them to use for efficient invoicing. Utilize the budgeting tools to set spending limits for your campaigns, monitor your ad spend regularly, and make adjustments as needed. Generate reports to analyze your campaign performance and identify areas where you can optimize your ad spend.
To ensure a smooth and efficient Google Ads invoicing process, it is essential to follow some best practices. Here are a few tips to help you:
Regularly review and update your account information, including payment methods, billing addresses, and contact details. This ensures that your invoices reach you correctly and prevents any disruptions or delays in payment processing.
Keep a close eye on your ad spend to prevent any unexpected surprises or discrepancies in your invoices. Regularly monitor your campaigns' performance, track your budget utilization, and make necessary adjustments to optimize your ad spend.
Stay informed about Google Ads' billing policies to ensure compliance and avoid unnecessary issues with your invoices. Familiarize yourself with their payment terms, refund policies, and any other relevant guidelines to maintain a healthy invoicing relationship with Google Ads.
Streamlining your Google Ads invoicing process is crucial for effective expense management and financial control. By understanding the basics of the Google Ads invoicing process, recognizing its importance, following a step-by-step guide, leveraging the available tools, and implementing best practices, you can streamline your Google Ads invoicing and optimize your advertising efforts. So, take the necessary steps today to enhance your invoicing process and maximize the benefits of Google Ads for your business.
First things first. We cannot talk about Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) without defining it. If you want a thorough explanation of what CRO means in practice, we cover that in detail separately — but in short, it refers to the systematic process of improving a website's conversion rate through data-driven decision-making. It involves certain processes, such as analyzing user behavior, conducting A/B tests, and implementing changes to optimize the website for better results. Easy, right?
But there is more. When it comes to CRO, it's essential to understand the customer journey and identify potential barriers that may prevent users from taking the desired action. By addressing these barriers and providing a seamless user experience, you can increase the likelihood of conversions.
CRO plays a fundamental role in digital marketing. It helps businesses maximize their return on investment (ROI) from their website traffic. By improving the conversion rate, you can generate more leads or sales without increasing your advertising budget.
Imagine if your website is receiving a significant amount of traffic, but only a small percentage of visitors are converting into customers. By implementing CRO strategies, you can unlock the true potential of your website and capitalize on the existing traffic.
CRO also ensures that your website provides a positive user experience, which leads to higher customer satisfaction and loyalty. When users find it easy to navigate your site, find the information they need, and complete their desired actions, they are more likely to become repeat customers and even recommend your business to others.
Becoming a successful Conversion Rate Optimization specialist requires a combination of technical skills and marketing knowledge. Here are some essential skills you should develop:
To enhance your skills and knowledge in CRO, consider enrolling in the following courses or earning relevant certifications:
While theoretical knowledge is important, gaining practical experience is equally crucial to becoming a successful CRO specialist. Here are two ways to gain hands-on experience:
Look for internship opportunities in companies that specialize in CRO. This will allow you to work closely with experienced professionals and learn industry best practices.
During your internship, you will have the chance to immerse yourself in the world of conversion rate optimization. You will be exposed to real-life projects and have the opportunity to work on actual client campaigns. This hands-on experience will not only enhance your understanding of CRO principles but also give you practical skills that can be applied in future roles.
Working alongside seasoned CRO specialists, you will gain valuable insights into the strategies and techniques they use to improve conversion rates. By observing their workflow and participating in team discussions, you will learn how to identify conversion barriers, conduct A/B tests, analyze data, and implement effective optimization strategies.
Study real-world case studies of successful CRO campaigns. Analyze the strategies and tactics implemented, the challenges faced, and the results achieved. This will give you valuable insights into the practical application of CRO principles.
By delving into case studies, you will gain a deeper understanding of the complexities involved in CRO. You will learn about different industries, target audiences, and unique challenges that CRO specialists encounter. This knowledge will help you develop a holistic approach to optimization and enable you to adapt strategies to diverse scenarios.
Besides, studying successful CRO case studies will allow you to identify patterns and trends that lead to positive outcomes. You will uncover common optimization techniques, such as improving website navigation, optimizing landing pages, and streamlining the checkout process, that consistently yield higher conversion rates.
Also, failure tends to be our biggest opportunity to learn. Examining unsuccessful CRO case studies is equally valuable. It provides an opportunity to understand the mistakes made and the lessons learned from those experiences. By analyzing the pitfalls and challenges faced by others, you can develop a proactive mindset and avoid similar pitfalls in your own CRO endeavors.
To be effective in CRO, you need to be proficient in using various CRO tools and software. Here is an overview of popular CRO tools:
When it comes to Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO), having the right tools at your disposal can make all the difference. These tools not only streamline the optimization process but also provide valuable insights into user behavior and preferences. Here are some of the most popular CRO tools:
A/B testing is a critical component of CRO. By conducting A/B tests, you can compare two versions of a web page or element to determine which one performs better in terms of conversions. Here are some steps to effectively use A/B testing tools like Google Optimize or Optimizely:
By mastering A/B testing tools and software, you can effectively optimize your website and drive higher conversion rates. Practice setting up experiments, defining goals, and analyzing the results to gain a deep understanding of your audience and make data-driven decisions.
Web analytics is an integral part of CRO. Understanding how to leverage web analytics tools will help you gain insights into user behavior and make data-driven decisions. Here's why web analytics is important:
Web analytics provides valuable data on user behavior, such as page views, bounce rates, and conversion rates. By analyzing this data, you can identify areas of improvement and make informed decisions to optimize your website's performance.
Google Analytics is one of the most widely used web analytics tools. Learn how to set up Google Analytics, create custom reports, and extract meaningful insights to drive CRO efforts.
Becoming a Conversion Rate Optimization specialist requires acquiring skills, gaining practical experience, mastering CRO tools, and understanding web analytics. By following these four steps, you can pave your way to becoming an expert in the field and help businesses maximize their conversion rates.
Most brands blame their ads when conversions are low. The real problem is usually the funnel.
Your sales funnel is the complete journey a prospect takes from first seeing your brand to completing a purchase and becoming a repeat customer. Each stage of that journey has one job, and when any stage fails to do its job, the entire system underperforms. More traffic will not fix a funnel with low conversion rates. Only diagnosing and optimizing each stage will.
Below, we break down how to evaluate your funnel stage by stage, identify the highest-impact areas for improvement, and run tests that produce meaningful results.
A sales funnel is not a single thing you optimize. It is a series of handoffs, and each handoff can be measured and improved independently.
Here is how to think about the funnel in practical terms:
When you encounter a performance problem, the key is diagnosing exactly where the breakdown is happening rather than making changes at the wrong stage. If 5% of visitors add to cart but only 25% of those complete checkout, the issue is at checkout, not at the ad level. Sending more traffic will only amplify the problem.
This diagnostic approach is what separates brands that grow efficiently from those that burn budget on symptoms rather than root causes.
The first step in optimization is identifying where the most significant drop-offs occur. This requires tracking metrics at each funnel stage and comparing them against benchmarks.
Benchmarks are critical, but they must be contextual. A 5% product page conversion rate might be strong for a brand with a $120 average order value (AOV) but underwhelming for one with a $20 AOV. Higher-priced products naturally have lower immediate conversion rates because the purchase decision involves more consideration.
When setting benchmarks, compare against:
The goal is not to hit some universal "good" number. It is to identify which stage of your funnel represents the biggest gap between current performance and realistic potential.
Your funnel will perform differently depending on where the traffic comes from. Visitors from Pinterest might add to cart at a higher rate than those from Facebook, while TikTok traffic might have a higher initial drop-off from the platform to the landing page.
These channel-level differences matter because they reveal whether the issue is the funnel itself or the quality and intent of the traffic being sent to it. If one channel converts well through the entire funnel while another drops off sharply at the product page, the problem may be a mismatch between the ad messaging and the landing page experience on that specific channel.
Segmenting funnel performance by channel also helps you allocate budget more effectively. Double down on channels where funnel performance is strong, and investigate the disconnect on channels where it lags. This approach is far more productive than treating all traffic as equivalent.
One of the most common strategic questions is where to send paid traffic. The answer, like most things in marketing, is that it depends and you should test.
In general, product pages tend to perform best for ecommerce brands because they place the visitor one step away from adding to cart. But this is not universal.
Send to a product page when the audience is warm or the product is self-explanatory. If someone has already seen your brand or the ad provides enough context about what the product is and why it matters, a direct path to purchase minimizes friction.
Send to a collection page when you have a range of products and want to let the visitor self-select. This works well for brands where the specific product match matters (apparel sizes, styles, or categories).
Send to a dedicated landing page when the product requires education before purchase. Complex products, premium-priced items, or subscription offers often benefit from a landing page that builds value before presenting the purchase option.
Send to the homepage primarily for brand awareness campaigns or when retargeting visitors who are already familiar with you.
The key insight is that the best funnel structure varies by audience temperature. Cold traffic often needs more context and education before being ready for a product page. Warm retargeted traffic can go straight to the point of purchase.
Once you know where your funnel is underperforming, focus optimization efforts on the levers that produce the largest gains at each stage.
If traffic volume or quality is the issue, ad creative is usually the highest-impact lever. Creative is what captures attention in the feed and determines whether the person who clicks through is genuinely interested in your product.
When testing creative, start broad. Test fundamentally different approaches: user-generated content versus polished product photography, lifestyle imagery versus direct product shots, testimonial-led copy versus benefit-led copy. Incremental changes like swapping button colors or adjusting font sizes are low-impact relative to testing entirely different creative concepts.
Strong ad creative does not just drive clicks. It pre-qualifies the visitor by setting accurate expectations about what they will find when they arrive at your site. This alignment between ad and landing page is one of the most overlooked factors in funnel performance.
If visitors are arriving but not taking the next action (adding to cart, submitting a lead form), the landing or product page is the constraint.
Key areas to optimize include:
If add-to-cart rates are healthy but checkout completion is low, the issue lives in the checkout process itself.
Common checkout friction points include:
Each of these friction points is addressable, and the fixes are usually not tests. They are improvements that should be implemented directly. As one of our growth specialists puts it: fixing obvious problems is not a test. A test is comparing people in an ad versus puppies.
Once the obvious fixes are in place, structured testing is how you unlock the next level of funnel performance.
Every test should start with a clear hypothesis: "We believe that [change] will improve [metric] because [reason]." This structure forces you to think critically about what you are testing and why, rather than making random changes and hoping something works.
Meaningful test results require sufficient data. As a baseline, plan for at least 5,000 to 10,000 impressions on each variant and a testing period that covers at least two full weeks (capturing both weekday and weekend behavior patterns).
Budget constraints can affect how quickly you reach significance. If your daily spend only generates a few hundred impressions, it may take longer to reach reliable conclusions. Both time and volume matter. Neither is sufficient on its own.
Traditional A/B testing wisdom says to isolate a single variable so you can attribute any performance difference to that specific change. This is solid advice for mid-funnel and bottom-funnel tests where the sample sizes are smaller and the variables are more nuanced.
However, at the top of the funnel with ad creative, testing wildly different concepts is often more productive than incremental variations. The reason is practical: the difference between a good and great headline tweak is small, but the difference between a video testimonial ad and a static product image ad can be dramatic. Start with broad concept tests, then iterate within the winning concept.
The time between first touch and purchase varies significantly based on your price point and product complexity. A $30 impulse product might convert within hours. A $300 considered purchase might require weeks of retargeting and email nurture sequences before the buyer is ready.
If you evaluate test results too quickly for a high-AOV product, you will make decisions based on incomplete data. Extend your testing windows to match your actual funnel length, and use multi-touch attribution to understand how different touchpoints contribute to the eventual conversion.
Optimizing your funnel is not limited to your website. Retargeting campaigns across email, SMS, and paid social are essential for recovering visitors who drop off at various stages.
The most effective retargeting strategies are segmented by funnel stage:
Being present across multiple channels also helps mitigate the attribution challenges that have intensified since iOS privacy changes. When you touch prospects on Facebook, Instagram, email, SMS, and other channels, you maintain visibility even when individual platform attribution is incomplete.
Funnel optimization is not a one-time project. It is an ongoing discipline of measurement, diagnosis, testing, and iteration.
The framework is straightforward:
The brands that grow most efficiently are not the ones spending the most on ads. They are the ones that have built a funnel where every stage converts at or above industry benchmarks, compounding small gains at each step into significant overall performance improvements.
Every percentage point improvement in conversion rate at any stage translates directly into more revenue from the same ad spend. That is why funnel optimization, not just ad optimization, is the real engine of sustainable growth. For a foundational understanding of the mechanics behind these gains, our guide on what conversion rate optimization is covers the full discipline from first principles.
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In this post:
This is the question Halley, our Director of Marketing, wants to help you figure out.
If you don’t know what we mean by “cashflow runway,” we’re definitely not talking about planes, trains, or automobiles. We’re talking about creating a strategic way to fund your eCommerce brand—this is your cash flow runway.
A lot of business owners don’t look at this. They just look at their bank accounts and see their balance, and take this information at face value. What they’re overlooking is the timeline for how long that cash is going to last. This is especially important to think about when you’re thinking about ways to grow your eCommerce business — and aligning your cash position with a clear ecommerce growth strategy ensures your runway actually funds the right bets.
Your cash flow runway is a crucial component of growth that a lot of founders and store owners ignore. Don’t be one of them!
In short, your cash flow is how much money you have, divided by the monthly costs of running your business (sometimes referred to as “burn rate”).
So if you have $200,000 in the bank and it costs $50,000 per month to keep your business running, you have a four-month cash flow runway.
This is a simple formula for a very important piece of information! Your cash flow calculation helps you see where (and when) you’re going to need a cash injection from an investor like Clearco. With an investment, you’re able to focus on growth without worrying about running out of critical funds.
You should check your cash flow runway frequently. Is your burn rate increasing? Do you have the funds on hand to keep your store live for 3 months? 6 months? 9 months? If you’re constantly short on cash and short on time trying to keep up with your invoices and billing, you should consider seeking opportunities to inject your business with additional cash.
This is a tough question! If you’re running out of money and your cash flow runway has become a cash flow parking lot, there are still steps you can take to keep your business afloat. First, you should look at cutting immediate expenses to save on costs. You can also look at what inventory you have existing and run a sale for a product you have a lot of inventory for to get a quick injection of cash. And, finally, if you qualify for funding from reputable eCommerce investors, like Clearco, we would encourage you to jump on the opportunity!
In short: it depends. The answer comes down to how realistic your goals are in relation to the channel fit. In other words, the less proven a channel is for a business, the more they should expect to spend on that channel before they start seeing positive returns.
There are so many digital advertising channels and, if you’re not careful, it can be easy to overspend on strategies that just aren’t working for you. There is such a thing as growing too fast, and that often comes from investing in too many channels that aren’t bringing returns
Maybe you're investing in Facebook, TikTok, Pinterest, and Snapchat, but in reality, you should only be investing in one. Usually, for our eCommerce clients, we recommend advertising on Facebook. Facebook (which also includes Instagram ads) is a powerful platform for testing and selling products. It’s a great starting point for testing a lot of messaging, position, and pricing. Ha.ving one solid platform that can give you valuable insights into how your funnel is performing gives key findings that can be used to expand to other channels. This approach also gives you early benchmarks to test against when you’re figuring out your advertising budget.
Before embarking on any new marketing initiative, you should consider what the impact would be if it:
If the result of those scenarios is that the business goes under or is irreparably damaged, don't do it. That's not experimenting or taking a risk, that's gambling.
If you’re curious about strategic ways to turn your cash flow runway into a growth runway with sustainable growth systems, book a discovery call with our team to get started!
Ruth Even Haim, Co-Founder at StilyoApps, and John Tedesco, CEO at Drip, joined EmberTribe's very own founders to chat about opportunities and challenges facing eCommerce brands, how to use customer feedback to build better SaaS products, and what it takes to be a good leader.[
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The following interview excerpts from episode two of Founders Forum have been edited for length and clarity. You can download the full transcript here.
In this interview:
Josh: All right. Welcome to our second episode. And this is just a series where we get a chance in a round table format to dive behind the scenes and talk to some founders and executives, and really just help our community of entrepreneurs level up wherever they are. Learn from other's mistakes. Copy people's wins and take it from there. So Ruth, why don't you take it away? I'd love to introduce you first.
Ruth: Nice to meet you all. I am Ruth. I'm the co-founder of StilyoApps. We develop apps for eCommerce in general, mostly for Shopify, and Reconvert currently serves over 30,000 Shopify merchants from all sizes, providing post-purchase upselling and retention tools.
Josh: Fantastic. Thank you for joining us and John over to you.
John: Hi, I'm John Tedesco. I am the CEO of Drip. Super excited to be here. Thanks for having me on. Drip is an email and SMS marketing automation platform serving eCommerce merchants, helping them build their brand and grow their revenue. We've got over 7,000 customers across the globe, 80 employees, and we've generated over a billion dollars in revenue for our customers over the past couple of years.
Josh: Well, we're thrilled to have both of you, on this episode and I figured where we could start is the last year. At the time of this recording, we're looking back on a year of a pandemic, which has been a very interesting time in our space, which we're lucky and fortunate that we've had a lot of success in our space during this time period.
Josh: As you're looking forward, and John we’ll start with you as you're looking forward into 2021. What are some of the challenges, but also some of the opportunities facing direct-to-consumer eCommerce brands as they're trying to grow in scale?
John: Yeah, so I think as you look at 2020, the methodology for the consumer around online purchasing has now been permanently altered for the positive for D2C brands. And I think the greatest indication of that has been kind of, you know, when you see groceries and grocery shopping, which used to be the most tangible hands-on type purchasing now being done with, per service providers, Instacart, et cetera.
When, you know, when you used to have to touch produce, when now that has crossed over to online, then I think the world is open for all services and goods to be transacted online. So, and again, we talk about, you know, 10 years being fast-forwarded over the last year with, COVID. So I think online as being a method or the primary method, actually not shifting from a, from a certain minority purchasing to the method of purchasing has now opened up the playing field.
John: The challenges I would foresee is a lot of noise, a lot of competition, a lot of complexity. And so it's really going to be hard for brands, harder for brands to stand out and differentiate what their unique selling proposition is and to get a cut through the noise and get into the mind share of these consumers who now have a plethora of choices. And so I think the ability of a brand, whether it's brands like Drip or D2C brands themselves to have an authentic and meaningful value proposition, is going to be critical, in general, because that's the core. And then the ability to amplify that through all of the channels possible to get in front of their audience is going to be critical to success.
Josh: Absolutely. Yeah. Ruth, what's your take on this upcoming year’s challenges and opportunities?
Ruth: So I really agree with what John said about basically the fact that eCommerce has grown so much this year creating so much more competition, and this will force brands to focus more on retention and not just on selling and getting new customers in. But actually just making the most out of each customer, each existing one, by creating an actual relationship and just building something that is more than just a store that is selling to customers.
Josh: Definitely. Yeah. I think one thing that we're seeing, you know, on the media buying side is just as these platforms continue to get more expensive and there's more competition. Like there's more opportunity, but there's more competition and these brands need to start looking beyond customer acquisition and they need to be looking at repeat purchase rates and the whole post-purchase experience.
Josh: Reconvert does this in spades, but what are some of the ways that your brands are making use of the tool and how does that kind of impact, I guess their overall unit economics of acquiring new customers?
Ruth: So we see two different roads that stores usually go in. So basically upselling and cross-selling on the thank you page, getting the customer to buy again before they even left the store. And for a lot of people, it sounds like something that is not very realistic. Like most customers would finish the purchase and they already bought, but it's not actually true. A lot of customers are like warm customers when they get to the thank you page. We can see people going from basically a 0% thank you page all the way to a 5% conversion rate for people who are really doing it well. And this just increases the bottom line for a customer that ideally already returned the investment on the ads or however you got into the website.
Josh: Absolutely. Yeah. I mean, I think what you're highlighting and underscoring there is just that you can't ignore these intermediary steps in the funnel; every piece counts to your bottom line and in an increasingly competitive space, you have to make use of things like a thank you page or things like an upsell sequence. So all of those touchpoints matter. And I think we're seeing that even more this year, like you're saying, John, I've been hearing for years, that email is dead, and yet all I'm seeing is more and more email, especially in the eCommerce world. So talk to us a little bit just about maybe those post-purchase sequences, how your customers are using drip to continue engaging with their clients.
John: Yeah. So, email's dead, long live email. I think at a high level here taking a step back a lot of what direct-to-consumer people think about as kind of a channel. But in reality, the power of direct-to-consumer is owning the customer relationship. And in the old days, you'd put the product on a shelf, at the Targets or the Best Buys or the merchant, they own that relationship. The customer came to that store, that brand, and they checked out and they had that data on that customer.
So email and direct ownership, you know, that is that identity. Now that relationship is directly with the brand. And while you may use a channel for paid media acquisition, once you capture that email address, you can start a direct relationship.
John: I think the second piece is we really have to be careful that we don't lose the humanity in the entire process here. Like we should be trying to replicate physical world relationships in a digital world. So when I hear things about sequences and funnels, and this is the challenge of our industry and we have to kind of, you know, cause we're in it all day long and we program it in the platform, we should really be thinking about a relationship we're trying to build with the customer. How would you act in a physical world and then how do I replicate that in a digital world? So, the initial purchase immediately, our customers should be asking, how was that first?
John: You know, how was that initial [experience]? Did it meet your expectations? Because that's really the trajectory for that customer relationship going forward. If it's negative, it's an opportunity to understand and salvage it. If it's positive, now you're starting to build a path in which you can have repeat purchases or have them move towards a loyal customer base. And so when you think about all of that, then you work backward and say, what information do I want to capture digitally to then feedback into my business? The outputs will be greater lifetime value, greater repeat purchasing, shorter CAC, but really think about that relationship because at the end of the day here, if you have a loyal customer base, which will generate, you know, the industry 60 to 80% of your lifetime revenues, that's also the foundation in which you create, um, word of mouth, influencer, marketing, et cetera.
And so for using Drip, what we're helping our brands do is, map out that customer journey in a digital way to help them capture this information and then really put them on a path towards better understanding. And then again, either giving them products, they want recommending products, or if it's a suboptimal experience, how do you capture more data? How do you contact the customer? And that is the information we're just helping them power digitally through the platform.
Josh: That's really good. I love that point just about focusing on relationships and then these tools, either the ones that you're building or that we have available to us in the industry should be amplifying and extending that relationship. And so I think what I'm, what I'm getting at, even from the other end of this is if you have a bad experience, these tools will only amplify about experience. So it's important to get that.
John: You know, when you have another human or you're facing another human, you would act very differently. If you can read the body expression, you can see their face. You know, you can see if they have a return in their arm or not. You know, you're just losing all of those signals. And the key is at the end. I think, you know, we sit in our offices or our home offices and look at screens all day and we forget that there's another human on the other end of the line. And that's why the biggest challenge I think, is in the digital side, is this loss of customer intimacy.
And that's why communities and voices and being embedded, no matter whether you're a service provider, like Ruth or I, or you're the brand itself, you got to remember there's another human at the other end, who cares about, or wants to care about kind of what you're doing. And that's kind of going back to the bright, bright, greater brand positioning, but I think sometimes you would get so lost in the tools. We forget kind of the bigger picture of what we're trying to accomplish.
Josh: Hundred percent. That's great. Let's actually take that angle and flip it on its head. So that's great advice for the DTC brands who need to maybe dig in a little bit more to that qualitative insight from their customer and to get closer to the customer.
Josh: But Ruth, I want to go over to you just as a, as a founder and as like a creator of this product, how have you been able to speak to potential customers? Like let's talk about user research and getting that same insight into your end users of your product. Like, how did you, you know, how did you start with that? How did you get good feedback from those users in the early stage and how that maybe directs your product roadmap?
Ruth: Um, so to be honest, our approach with market research is maybe a little different than a lot of other, um, SaaS brands. We started off, my brother and me, who's my co-founder - we started off being Shopify merchants ourselves, and Reconvert and all of our other products from our personal needs. We built it because we felt like there was something missing that we wanted to create. We also still have, even though we're not merchants ourselves anymore, we still have a lot of friends who we use kind of a small feedback group for any idea that we have.
Ruth: And when it comes to new features in existing products, it's even easier. With our support guys...whenever a customer asks for a feature, they have a list where they actually write down any feature requests and we count them. We see how many times each feature request was made. And then we decide what to work on next, according to how much time it would take to develop and what is the marketability of this feature? Is it something that is going to help us reach new customers? And what is the value this gives to merchants? Is this something that is going to give them so much value that they are going to want to stay with us even longer?
Josh: Yeah. That is highly practical. And I lost you there for a minute. So I want to just make sure I recap that and anybody listening can catch this is that you've really blended a highly, just practical, sensible approach to using the sun product. Does it add value to what I'm doing as a merchant, but then you're also pairing that with a data-driven approach of tickets. So let's actually take a look at this objectively and not fall in love emotionally with a feature set that we think is cool, but let's also hear from the people who are using our products in the trenches and yeah. And be sensible about it that way. So it's a great blend of both like the qualitative, like is this work when I use it, but also the quantitative of how many people are asking for this. It's great. Yeah.
John: To piggyback off that if you have me. Cause I think what's great about Ruth is from when she was a Shopify merchant, she has a deep understanding of the problems her target customers are facing. And so, that proximity is so critical and I think sometimes you can get it.
So I think it's a statement of data, but that qualitative piece, what we do at Drip is, many times we'll adopt a customer, particularly for new employees who have not been in the eCommerce sector and particularly on the product teams and the benefit of seeing the day to day, what they do in the app, but also what their work environment is, their challenges are how much they move through the app and outside of the app.
John: Cause many times it's around business process. That's also going on at, with the marketer or the person using the product is to understand that entire, their day to day will help you build a better product as well. And so that intimacy and not just seeing the output, the exhausts through data and metrics or tickets, but also just realizing when a customer is using your product or platform, what else is going on in their world, whether there are other apps that are up simultaneously, you know, stay in for 10 minutes and then out, or they have two hours. And then of course there's the data and the metrics that also help sort out opinions from fact. So that's always helpful.
Josh: Really tactical follow-up question to that. So besides a ticketing system, are you guys using any sort of tools or processes to track all this and kind of be able to take a high-level view of all these different stakeholders in your case, John, or all these different users in your case, Ruth, are there any kind of practical tools that you guys could recommend to our listeners?
Ruth: Yeah. So for us, we don't have any kind of tool to actually follow up on specific requests. We do use segment and mixed panel, to actually follow up on adoption of new features that we released. Cause we want to understand, okay, so X number of customers ask for that, but how many actually are using that after we released it? And we just make sure to follow up on any kind of usage metrics of these features and the value that they are providing the merchants.
So we don't just release things because they're cool or pretty. We actually give them the value that they are looking to get from the app.
John: And I'm plus one on that we use a mixed panel to get the usage, you know, the qualitative product usage data. And then we combine that we have lots of places in the app where customers can give us, you know, you know, thumbs up, thumbs down and feedback, feedback, NPS type, qualitative feedback. And again, the challenge on all of that, depending on the scope, you’ve got tens of thousands of customers. Because again, when you have, you know, you can have a sea of data, but you don't have necessarily insight. And so that's going to be a challenge for any, um, kind of SaaS leader. Who's looking at that feedback loop? It's almost too much data at times.
Josh: For sure, for sure. I want to switch gears now, to leadership and particularly I'm interested in leadership kind of in this remote era. So John we’ll start with you. You’ve been a leader in a number of SaaS and MarTech organizations over the years. What have you taken with you just from a general leadership principle of growing and scaling a team, but particularly, I guess with this remote flare, like in the last year, what are some things that you picked up to try to keep the culture coherent and consistent and to deliver a good experience to your team?
John: Yeah, so I think one of the principles that I've always appreciated is, around the power of focus as a leader. The tighter the focus, the greater the overall benefits to the business. There's a saying for startups...most of them will fail due to indigestion, not starvation. Over time I've seen that focus allows a greater excellence or chance of excellence, knowing your target customer more precisely than you do building a product that then meets their pain points.
John: So whether it's the company priorities, our values, our customer messaging that, allows people in a noisy world or a world of distractions or a world of anxiety and mental health, you know, aloneness...I think focus has just been more powerful. So I've appreciated it, you know, through my career, the power of focus.
Josh: Definitely. Yeah. I can say from experience, we've been a distributed team since 2015 and that's one of the challenges that comes up time and time again, is how do we make sure that, or our conversation isn't just transactional, but how do we create that space for people to relate on a human level?
John: I think companies that started that way or have been working in that model for a longer time. When you're meeting in person, there's a lot more inefficiency, I guess. And so when it comes in and like, you know, everyone's distributed, there's been a magnifying glass on what is the purpose of meetings? You know, so that's a great place in which to do it. And so for a lot of companies, they have to undo, how do we communicate? How do we drive outcomes? What's the purpose of us getting together?
And so people just shifted many, you know, bad meeting habits into bad zoom meeting habits, which gets to the fatigue piece, but I've found that companies that have been remote for a long time have built-in better systematic communication methods, better check-ins. And they've been much more time-efficient for the employee and consistent across the entire organization from onboarding to ongoing. I think companies that didn't have that luxury of having remote as a primary mechanism have those inefficiencies just had a magnifying glass in the last year.
Josh: That's a great point. Yeah. And Ruth, I'd love to turn this question to you as well. And with specific reference to, I guess, your military experience, cause I know both you and your brother, you come from a military background. So how, if at all, has that entered into your leadership style?
Ruth: So actually it's funny that you ask that because one thing both of us agree on because of our military experience is that we never want to work with people who don't want to be there because this is something that happens in the military when it's mandatory, people are there and you don't always have a way to motivate them. You can't incentivize them, you can't fire them. You basically have to kind of create motivation out of nowhere. And these can be very difficult and frustrating.
So one of the things we feel very strongly about is that if someone wants to work with us, they will do their job and in the best way possible. And we have a lot of patience for learning processes for human problems.
Ruth: Um, we always tend to say yes, even if it's not the most comfortable thing for the company at the moment, I never want my employees to feel like they are employees first. I always want them to know that we see them as people first.
Josh: I love that because it beats the transactional communication that we've been talking about, but it also just reemphasizes that you're human first and we care about what's going on in your life. So it's prioritized us in the meeting. Let's prioritize this in the agenda. Let's plan on talking about it because it's important. It's important to us. It's important to you.
Josh: I'd love to kind of wrap up and just hear from you. What are some of the podcasts you're listening to, the books that you're reading, the blogs that you frequent? It doesn't have to be super aligned with leadership or entrepreneurship. It could be totally out of the box and just a guilty pleasure that you have, but what are some resources that you could share with our audience and recommend?
Ruth: I really enjoy Y Combinator that you mentioned before. And basically whenever there's something new that I need to learn, another place the businesses is going, that I feel like I don't know enough about, I search on YouTube and I just listen to other founders talk about it. That's the main resource I use for mindset and for basically the new ideas on where to take the business and how to go at and how to manage it.
John: Yeah, I'll add...I think there are lots of, you know, business podcasts. TheSaaSter is one for sure. Seeking Wisdom With David Cancel out of drift is another one. So I think there's, lots of those, but I think the most exciting ones are... a lot of the ones there's like how, as a founder, you're really a leader as you talked about it. And so what is leadership? How do you become a better leader?
And I think to some of Ruth's points around, being a whole leader, the whole self, and being in tune, the stronger you are mentally and understand who you are emotionally, the better you're going to be a leader, which means the better you're going to lead others and your company is going to be successful.
John: So I think, um, podcasts like The Reboot from Jerry Colonna. He is a former VC, but he talks about the whole self as a leader as is really going to be helpful for founders as they go on that journey to understand who they are and realize also that they are human in this process because many times there's the perception of what a founder has to be and in defeat and tireless, always be positive and all that stuff, but in reality, they're human too.
John: Sometimes the best ideas are orthogonal. They're not direct, you know, it's the intersection of ideas and creativity that occurs there.
Josh: Yeah. Brilliant answers from both of you, you know, Ruth from your part, just being able to listen to other peers, just leveraging YouTube for the resource. It is the second-largest search engine in the world and maybe not over-indexing on thought leaders, but also listening from people who are in the trenches and just talking about it openly.
And then your point about getting outside of the echo chamber of business books or business podcasts, and borrowing ideas from other industries or other disciplines can be incredibly effective.
Josh: I want to thank you both for joining us and we'll have plenty of notes here in the show notes for where they can find both of your tools. I hope that people can reach out and keep the conversation going. But thank you both for your time today.
There's no question here—we love advertising with Facebook because the platform continues to provide tools for eCommerce markers to reach an ever-broadening audience.
In 2015, Facebook launched Dynamic Product Ads (DPAs), a way for companies to get their ads in front of people who had visited and/or interacted with their Facebook page or website in the past. In 2017, Facebook expanded on this advertising format by launching Dynamic Ads for Broad Audiences (DABAs). This tool dramatically expands the potential reach of Facebook ads, helping eCommerce businesses improve ad performance.
DABAs expand on the concept of DPAs. However, instead of showing your ad to people who have previously interacted with your company, with DABAs, Facebook expands that audience to those people who have searched for a similar product or service to the ones you offer and/or who have interacted with a company similar to yours.
Obviously, this changes the dynamics of these ads from simply "preaching to the choir" to exposing your product to those who want what you are selling, but haven't yet heard of your company.
When you're not preaching to the choir, your ads can pop-and-lock their way to reach expanded audiences.
DABA campaigns aren't limited to Facebook feeds alone. They can appear on any of the Facebook platforms, including Instagram and Audience Network. They can be single-image ads, carousel ads, and collection ads. In addition, these ads are available across devices, including PCs and laptops, as well as mobile traffic.
With more than 2.5 billion registered users on Facebook and another one billion on Instagram, the potential of this marketing tool is difficult to ignore.
DABA campaigns are a great tool for reaching new customers aka top-of-funnel traffic. This ad tool considers the user's interest, behavior, and demographic data when deciding what ads an individual user will see. This can be beneficial when introducing a new product or a new marketing campaign. You can get your product information in front of potential customers who have already expressed interest (via their actions) in a product like the one you are promoting.
To make the most of your DABA campaigns, we suggest the following Best Practices:
1. Make sure that you write your ad to appeal to new customers. Since the goal of DABAs is to attract new customers to your eCommerce business, you want to write your ad to draw in those people. Don't assume in your ad copy that the reader has any knowledge or preconceived notion of your product or business.
2. Use demographics to fine-tune your audience. While Facebook and its subsidiaries have more than four billion registered users, it's not likely that all of them will have an interest in your product (unless you’re selling pizza—we imagine that’s a pretty universal sell 😋).
For example, are you interested in marketing to customers overseas? If not, you can limit your ad placement to US users. Are you looking to drive business to your local eatery? If so, then you'll want to hone your demographic information even more, so that only people within driving distance of your restaurant see your ad.
3. If you're using product sets, make sure to include a good number of products in each set. Facebook uses AI with DABAs to "learn" about its site visitors' preferences and extrapolate what products might interest them tomorrow...or next week. By including a large number of products in your set, the Facebook algorithm has room to work its magic and match a broader number of potential customers with products.
4. Exclude your current customers. Since you are looking for new customers with your DABA campaign, you want to exclude the people who have purchased from you in the past. We suggest those who purchased in the last 30 days. This function is found under "targeting". You exclude these people because you don't want your numbers to be skewed by people who already know and like your products.
5. Engage in ad testing to see what's working. Ad testing (which is an umbrella term for split tests and lift tests) will show you if you should replace some of your existing prospecting campaigns with DABAs.
Setting up a marketing campaign using DABA isn't difficult. It just takes a few steps. The good news is that you only have to do most of these steps once.
Dynamic Ads for Broader Audiences can dramatically transform your business. However, it does take a little bit of time and effort to set up.
At EmberTribe, we've been optimizing social media advertising like DABAs for our clients for several years and can do the tedious legwork for you so that you can concentrate on what you do best—interact with your customers.
To learn more about using Facebook ads for eCommerce and how to make dynamic ads for broad audiences work for you, book a call now!
Here at EmberTribe, we are continually running different tests and helping our clients find their best approach for their growth marketing. This is not a cut-and-dry approach because every brand and their target audience is different.
When it comes to some of ourbest-performing ads, you will notice they are all very diverse and customized for the brand they represent.
Here are some key ad creation concepts that are currently working to boost engagement for some of our clients.
Get a look inside how we develop ad angles, experiment with creative, and generate ads that get results with these 9 components of a high-performing ad.
This ad may not necessarily seem like a show-stopper, but it’s pulling in 80% of this client's email leads. Between the alluring look of the image with the message overlay and the direct call to the customer within the first two lines of the ad copy, people are drawn to stop.
The copy is direct and engaging for the people it’s supposed to be engaging for. The people who aren’t within the target audience will just scroll right by (which means fewer wasted clicks for the client).
You don’t need to target everyone. In fact, you shouldn’t target everyone. Pinpointing a very select audience is the best way to create the kind of ad that is going to speak to the right people.
Targeting the middle-of-the-funnel crowd worked well for Casa Pilates Equipment. Rather than shoot for those at the very beginning of the buyer’s journey, this ad is jumping right into that mid-point, where the targeted audience has beyond beginner knowledge about yoga and may be looking to add some equipment to their home studio.
Adding the title “My Self-Quarantine Savior!” resonated with the users who were feeling stuck at home. The copy stays focused on the buyer, clarifying how the Casa Pilates team is there to help, how customers are happy with the great service, and how the machines are made to be durable investments.
This ad worked well for remarketing purposes, targeting the crowd that was already somewhat familiar with Casa Pilates Equipment.
For this ad, the client clearly had an edge—they had their product on Kelly Ripa and we were able to include this 50-second clip of her raving about it. This was paired with a very short, interest-piquing quote from Kelly (“This is quite possibly the greatest thing ever”) and a quick two-liner about the product.
If you have a high-quality asset, like this video, you don’t have to try to add competing text. We let the asset shine on its own and it quickly became a high-performer for this client.
Essentially, you want to get out of the way and let a video like this do all the talking for you.
This ad is another one that might not seem like much at first glance, but all the elements are working for it.
These are top-sellers on the site and the ad plays blinking text that is just enough to catch someone’s eye as they are scrolling past. It is a great ad for a top-of-the-funnel lead because it showcases these products and offers a simple introduction to the brand.
“The best yard games for any age” is a title that communicates plenty of other game options. The text itself on the image “NEW GAMES, NEW ARRIVALS” is a call to novelty, which is often a great tool for piquing interest and getting the click-thru.
This example is the top-earning ad for this client.
A 10-second smack-in-the-face video of images with text overlay is very attention-grabbing for just about anyone, but really speaks to the Bulletprute audience.
We know that we're targeting a very cut-and-dry audience that is after quality and wants to know what they're getting for the money. Knowing your audience well is a huge asset that is crucial for a successful campaign.
An ad trying to evoke sadness, joy or excitement just wouldn’t go over nearly as well with this audience. This ad feels inspirational and gritty but places a lot of focus on the product's durability and value.
Including the link within the ad text offers a double CTA that often works well.
This product is targeting a very specific type of hair (3-4C curls), so the video of it in action offers a lot of impact. Showing the brush gently and easily slide through the thick, healthy hair is a huge selling point.
Anyone with this type of hair is familiar with how much the small bristles can get caught and tangle the hair. The thick nature of the product is a huge selling point and this ad centered in on that value. The ad copy backs this value with the 100% satisfaction guarantee promise.
This is a story-telling ad with a powerful video that reveals the story behind Combat Flags. Telling the audience about the company’s “why” often makes a big difference in how customers perceive the value.
There are a lot of people who make similar kinds of patches, but Dan is a veteran who creates patches from retired fatigues. His mission really sets apart his brand.
In the past, he was able to get traffic by just including product images. But, this story-telling ad really took the attention to the next level. People want to know about the companies they are supporting. They will choose a good story over a generic one just about every time.
This stunning image showcases everything beautiful about beachwear. The women pictured are in a natural element and look like they are just walking through the seagrass near beach dunes. From their hair to their outfits and surroundings—nothing looks contrived or overdone. They look comfortable and happy—which are huge selling points for swimsuits.
The ad copy mentions “luxe” which is then repeated in concept by the title, “Inspired by the lush textures found in a Moroccan market…”
This ad appeals to an unusual product value for this industry and it uses an authentic (but polished) approach that is very appealing to those in its target audience.
Don’t be afraid to let the focus fall directly on the product. This appealing image is very reminiscent of the flat lays that are popular on Instagram. It lets the coffee speak for itself. And, the audience targeted here is one seeking out simply good brands and love pour-over coffee.
The “FREE Shipping over $25” is an offer that is likely to pique some interest. Many free shipping promises start at $35 (Target) or higher, and $25 doesn’t sound like an unreasonable amount to spend on coffee to someone who will go through a few bags in just as many weeks.
Getting an offer into the ad can sometimes get a click-through. In this case, the product looks good, plus interests leads to check out how many bags they need to buy to get to the free shipping.
Are you trying to up your ad game? Our growth marketing agency team could help.
We work with clients spanning all industries to pinpoint their audience and increase their traffic through paid social. We focus on the metrics to find the growth marketing ads that work best for you.
If you're ready to outsource, we can help take the load off.
Talk to us today about how to get better results with your ad spend.
If you have a store on Shopify, you are in it to generate sales.
One of the best ways to drive revenue is through email marketing to your Shopify customers. Email marketing is a powerful tool for retaining customers and keeping them engaged with your brand long after the initial purchase.
A valuable feature of Shopify is that each time customers create an account at your eCommerce site, they are agreeing to receive messages from your store. That lays the foundation for using Shopify email marketing as a direct connection to your customers - one that you own and control entirely.
Unlike social media or paid ads, which customers may scroll past without noticing, emails are delivered directly to their inbox. Email marketing also provides an exceptionally high ROI. For every dollar you spend on email marketing, companies report an average return of $42 - a figure that consistently outperforms every other digital channel.
If you are looking for D2C (direct-to-consumer) email marketing templates to help ramp up sales, here is what you need to know.
Before diving into the specific templates, it is worth understanding why email deserves a central role in your Shopify marketing stack.
You own the channel. Unlike Facebook or Instagram, where algorithm changes can cut your reach overnight, your email list is an asset you fully control. No platform can throttle your access to subscribers who opted in.
Segmentation drives personalization. Shopify's native data - purchase history, browsing behavior, average order value - allows you to segment your audience and send highly relevant messages. Personalized emails generate transaction rates six times higher than generic broadcasts.
Email fuels the full funnel. From upper-funnel awareness through lower-funnel conversion, email meets customers at every stage. Welcome sequences introduce your brand, post-purchase flows build loyalty, and win-back campaigns re-engage lapsed buyers.
Timing is automated. The most effective Shopify email marketing strategies rely on behavioral triggers rather than manual sends. When a customer takes (or does not take) a specific action, the right message arrives automatically at the right moment.
There are many Shopify email marketing templates you may choose to test with your customers. However, the three most important Shopify emails you need in your toolbox are:
We are going to break down the purpose of each of these message types, provide examples, and give you free customizable email templates to use for your Shopify store.
The welcome email is your first formal introduction to your customers. They might have found you through an ad, through social media, or via organic search, but up until this point you have not had the opportunity to speak directly to your audience. With emails, you can send highly personalized messages to people who have entered your funnel.
This email should introduce your brand, define your unique selling proposition, and nudge people to become customers.
Key metrics to watch: Open rates for welcome emails typically range from 50-60%, far exceeding the 15-25% average for regular marketing emails. If your welcome email open rate falls below 40%, revisit your subject line and sender name.
Subject: Welcome to our family!
Janna, thanks for joining our community!
We believe in using only carbon-neutral raw materials and sustainable products to create a diverse line of distinct and colorful jewelry that will make you look great.
Check out our new springtime collection and get 10% off your first order.
SHOP NOW
Subject: Welcome to our family!
[FIRST NAME], thanks for joining our community!
We believe in [UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION].
Check out [PRODUCT or COLLECTION] and [OFFER] for your first order.
[Call-to-action button]
After a purchase, you should always send a thank you to your customer to solidify the relationship and reassure them that their order is being processed.
This email message should also include order and tracking information.
Order confirmation emails have the highest open rates in eCommerce - often exceeding 70%. Now that you have your customer's attention, you have a prime opportunity to upsell related products or offer an additional incentive to attract repeat business.
Subject: Your order confirmation
Lindsey, thanks for the order! We will process it as soon as possible and let you know when it is shipped.
Here is your order summary:
View your order online. If you have any questions about your order, please contact us.
Customers that bought this often purchased these items.
It is not too late to add them to your purchase and get them delivered together with no additional shipping charges.
If you order from us again, please use the discount code SUMMERTIME10 for 10% off your next order. Remember, shipping is always free!
SHOP NOW
Subject: Your order confirmation
[First Name], thanks for the order! We will process it as soon as possible and let you know when it is shipped.
Here is your order summary:
[LIST ORDER DETAILS]
View your order online [Include a link]. If you have any questions about your order, please contact us [Link to contact information].
Customers that bought this often purchased these items.
[LIST COMPATIBLE ITEMS]
It is not too late to add them to your purchase and get them delivered together with no additional shipping charges.
If you order from us again, please use this [OFFER] for [EXCLUSIVE BENEFIT], and remember [UNIQUE CUSTOMER SERVICE CALL OUT]!
[Call-to-action button]
When an item ships, you should also send a shipping email with an order update and tracking information. It is another effective touchpoint to seek additional sales.
Subject: Your Order Has Shipped
Logan, your order #1234567890 has shipped.
It is scheduled to arrive on May 3rd via UPS. Use tracking number 0000000000000456 to follow its journey to your door.
We want to thank you for being a loyal customer and offer you this exclusive discount code for your next order. Use code IMAHAPPYCUSTOMER to get 10% off your next purchase.
Subject: Your Order Has Shipped
[FIRST NAME], your order [ORDER NUMBER] has shipped. It is scheduled to arrive on [DATE] via UPS. Use tracking number [TRACKING NUMBER] to follow its journey to your door.
We want to thank you for being a loyal customer and offer you this exclusive discount code for your next order. Use code [UNIQUE CODE] to get [OFFER].
It is frustrating that so many shoppers select items and put them in their shopping carts but never complete the sale. More than 8 out of 10 online shopping orders were abandoned in recent years, according to industry data. These are prime targets for remarketing.
Think of the abandoned cart email in two stages. The first should be sent within an hour after the abandonment occurs. It should remind shoppers that they did not complete the sale. The second should occur a day or two after the first email to remind them again and offer them an incentive to convert.
Subject: Your cart is waiting
Trina, are you still thinking it over? We noticed you left some items in your shopping cart. Do not worry, they are still waiting for you!
Click here to keep shopping
Subject: Your cart is waiting
[FIRST NAME], are you still thinking it over?
We noticed you left some items in your shopping cart. Do not worry, they are still waiting for you!
[CALL-TO-ACTION]
Subject: Items in your cart are about to expire
Trina, those items you left in your shopping cart are about to expire. If you are ready to make your purchase, act now!
Still not sure? If you buy within the next 24 hours, you can use the special discount code 5OFFTODAY to get a 5% discount on your purchase.
USE DISCOUNT
[FIRST NAME], those items you left in your shopping cart are about to expire. If you are ready to make your purchase, act now!
Still not sure? If you [ACTION TO TAKE], you can use the [SPECIAL OFFER] on your purchase.
[CALL-TO-ACTION BUTTON]
If they have not acted after the second email, they are probably not going to convert on this purchase for the time being, but at least they have entered your funnel.
The difference between a mediocre abandoned cart sequence and a high-performing one comes down to timing and escalation:
Even modest recovery rates translate to significant revenue at scale. A store processing 1,000 abandoned carts per month that recovers just 10% is reclaiming 100 orders that would have otherwise been lost.
Launching email campaigns is only the beginning. To continuously improve your Shopify email marketing, track these core metrics:
For a deeper understanding of how email communications flow and impact deliverability, review our guide on email flow fundamentals.
Another effective email tactic is targeted at lapsed customers. It can be as simple as letting customers know you have missed them, highlighting a product or new promotion, and adding an incentive to entice them to re-engage.
You may also want to use email marketing for:
Consider pairing your email strategy with SMS marketing for time-sensitive offers and transactional updates. SMS open rates exceed 95%, making it an ideal complement to email for abandoned cart recovery and shipping notifications.
For brands exploring the ideal format for their regular newsletters, our analysis of newsletter length best practices provides data-driven guidance on keeping subscribers engaged without overwhelming them.
EmberTribe is an eCommerce Digital Marketing Agency that gets results. We use email marketing as part of our proven growth system that has driven hundreds of millions of dollars in eCommerce sales. While email marketing is an important part of your growth strategy, it takes a comprehensive marketing strategy to achieve greatness.
If you are ready to significantly increase conversions and revenue for your D2C eCommerce site, contact us at EmberTribe today and let us help you grow your business.
Search marketing is one of the highest-ROI channels available to growth-stage brands, yet most companies lean too heavily on one side of the equation. They either pour budget into paid search and watch traffic vanish the moment spend stops, or they commit entirely to organic SEO and wait months for results that may never materialize.
The best-performing brands do both, and they do both strategically. Below, we break down exactly how SEO and SEM work independently, where each one excels, and how to build a balanced search marketing plan that compounds over time.
Search marketing refers to getting your website and web pages to rank prominently on search engines like Google and Bing through both paid and unpaid methods.
Ranking well is non-negotiable. Studies consistently show that the vast majority of web users look no further than the first page of search results. With billions of active websites competing for attention, the gap between page one and page two is the difference between visibility and obscurity.
The strongest search marketing strategies combine both organic and paid methods. Organic growth tends to be more cost-effective over the long run, but results take time to build. Once you have established authority, though, those rankings tend to hold. Paid advertising, on the other hand, delivers immediate visibility but disappears the instant your budget runs out.
Understanding this dynamic is the foundation of any balanced search marketing plan.
Search Engine Optimization is the discipline of earning high rankings on search engines through organic, unpaid methods. It requires a combination of content quality, technical rigor, and off-site authority building.
There are three primary pillars of SEO, and each one plays a distinct role in how search engines evaluate your site.
On-page SEO involves everything that lives directly on your web pages. This includes the content itself, how keywords are used, heading structure, meta tags, and image optimization.
The most important factor by far is content quality. Google uses sophisticated machine-learning algorithms to evaluate whether your content genuinely serves the searcher's intent. The algorithm looks at how closely your content aligns with authoritative sources in your field, how long readers stay on the page, and whether the content format matches user expectations.
To optimize on-page SEO effectively, focus on these fundamentals:
A popular planning approach for on-page SEO is the topic cluster model, where pillar pages link to related cluster content. This signals topical authority to search engines and helps users navigate your site more effectively.
Technical SEO covers the behind-the-scenes elements that affect how search engines crawl and index your site. This includes page load speed, mobile responsiveness, site architecture, HTTPS security, XML sitemaps, and structured data markup.
Technical SEO mistakes are some of the most common barriers to ranking. A site that loads slowly or renders poorly on mobile devices will struggle to rank regardless of how strong the content is. Google has been explicit that Core Web Vitals and mobile-friendliness are direct ranking factors.
Off-page SEO is primarily about backlinks, which are links from other websites pointing to yours. Search engines treat backlinks as votes of confidence. The more high-quality, relevant sites that link to your content, the more authority your domain accumulates.
Effective off-page SEO strategies include guest posting on complementary sites, creating linkable research or data assets, and building relationships with industry publications. The key is quality over quantity. A single backlink from a well-regarded industry site carries more weight than dozens of links from low-authority directories.
Without genuinely valuable content, none of the technical optimization in the world will move the needle. Google's algorithm has become increasingly sophisticated at distinguishing between content that was created to rank and content that was created to serve the reader.
The brands that win at SEO consistently are the ones producing content that their audience would seek out even if search engines did not exist. This principle should guide every content decision you make.
Search Engine Marketing uses paid advertising to place your web pages at the top of search engine results pages. We call this a rent-to-own approach: you pay for prime positioning while building the organic authority needed to hold those positions without ad spend.
Through platforms like Google Ads, you bid on keywords and phrases that represent your business. When a user searches for something matching your keywords, your ad competes for placement at the top of the results page. You only pay when someone clicks through to your site, which is why this model is often called pay-per-click (PPC).
When you set up a Google Ads campaign, you select target keywords, set a daily or monthly budget, and create ad copy that appears in search results. Google runs an auction for each search query, weighing your bid amount against your ad's Quality Score, which factors in ad relevance, expected click-through rate, and landing page experience.
This means that simply outbidding competitors is not enough. Brands that invest in high-quality landing pages and ad relevance can often win top placements while spending less per click than competitors with weaker ads.
SEM is particularly valuable in several scenarios:
The trade-off is clear: SEM delivers immediate results, but those results are directly tied to your budget. Stop spending, and the traffic stops.
It is worth noting that a meaningful percentage of users deliberately skip paid ads in search results. These users prefer organic listings, either out of habit or because they associate organic results with greater trustworthiness. By relying exclusively on SEM, you miss this segment entirely.
The honest answer is that the right balance depends on your specific situation. It depends on your industry, your goals, your budget, and the time horizon you are working with.
SEO is the better investment when you have more time than budget. If you can commit to producing high-quality content consistently, building backlinks through outreach, and keeping your site technically sound, then SEO will deliver compounding returns over time. Once you earn a top-three organic position for a valuable keyword, the ongoing cost of maintaining that position is a fraction of what it would cost to hold the same visibility through paid ads.
SEO is also essential for building long-term brand authority. When your brand consistently appears in organic results for industry-relevant searches, it reinforces credibility with potential customers in a way that paid ads cannot replicate.
SEM is the better choice when you need results now. If you are launching a new product, entering a new market, or running a time-sensitive promotion, SEM gets you in front of the right audience immediately. It is also valuable for testing. Before investing months of effort in SEO content for a given keyword, you can run paid ads to validate whether that keyword actually drives qualified traffic and conversions.
SEM is also a practical necessity in highly competitive verticals where organic ranking timelines stretch into years rather than months.
The most effective search marketing plans use SEO and SEM together as complementary strategies rather than competing alternatives.
Here is how the combination works in practice. You use SEM to drive immediate traffic and conversions while simultaneously investing in SEO content and technical optimization. As your organic rankings improve, you can gradually shift budget away from paid keywords where you now rank organically. Over time, your cost per acquisition decreases because a growing share of your traffic comes from organic search.
This is the rent-to-own model. You pay first for positioning, and you eventually own that positioning through the strength of your content and domain authority. Brands that execute this strategy well often see their overall marketing ROI improve significantly as organic traffic begins to supplement and eventually replace paid traffic for key terms.
Building a balanced plan requires more than simply running SEO and SEM in parallel. It requires coordination between the two.
Start by understanding where you stand. Identify the keywords you currently rank for organically, the keywords you are paying for through SEM, and where the gaps exist. Tools like Google Search Console, SEMrush, and Ahrefs can provide this data.
Classify your target keywords by purchase intent (informational, navigational, transactional) and competitive difficulty. High-intent, high-competition keywords are good candidates for immediate SEM investment. Lower-competition, informational keywords are often better served by SEO content that builds topical authority.
One of the most underutilized advantages of running both channels is the data feedback loop. Your SEM campaigns generate real conversion data that reveals which keywords, messaging, and landing pages drive revenue. Use this data to prioritize your SEO content calendar and allocate resources to the organic keywords with the highest proven revenue potential.
As your SEO efforts produce results, systematically reduce SEM spend on keywords where you have achieved strong organic positions. Reinvest that budget into new keyword opportunities or higher up the funnel where organic coverage is still thin.
Track search marketing performance as a combined channel. Monitor total search traffic (paid plus organic), blended cost per acquisition, and the ratio of organic to paid traffic over time. The goal is to see the organic share increase steadily while overall search traffic and conversions grow.
SEO and SEM are not competing strategies. They are two sides of the same coin, and the brands that treat them as a unified system consistently outperform those that pick one or the other.
If you are early stage with limited organic authority, start with SEM to generate traffic and revenue while you build your content foundation. If you have been running ads for years but have neglected SEO, now is the time to invest in the organic side before rising CPCs erode your margins.
The goal is a search presence that delivers both immediate results and long-term compounding value. That only happens when SEO and SEM work together.
Over the last few years, much has been written about the decline of text. In 2018, The New York Times boldly asserted (in print 🤔) that we were living in a post-text world.
For a society that considers written language to be one of the greatest human accomplishments, it may seem like a far-fetched concept—but the numbers don’t lie. Americans are trading in text for audio and video in every format available.
According to Edison Media Research, over 100 million Americans listen to podcasts monthly, and they tune in to an average of six podcasts each week. YouTube reports that people watch a billion hours a day on their service. In 2020, Netflix pledged to spend $17 billion on content—up from $15 billion in 2019—and Apple estimated they would spend $6 billion.
The abundance of content is likely the culprit behind our ever-narrowing attention spans. When Microsoft conducted a study measuring people’s attention spans in 2000, the results showed the average person can focus on any one thing for about 12 seconds. Fifteen years later, that dropped to 8 seconds—just under the 9-second attention span of a goldfish. Yeesh. Good for goldfish, I guess.
If a picture is worth a thousand words, a video can communicate a novel in a few short minutes. A well-executed video helps consumers instantly understand your product’s purpose and benefits.
Get all the value of great video content without any of the stress.
Videos connect with the consumer on an emotional level and help foster trust in your brand. Best of all, videos perform. Diode Digital found that online videos are 600% more effective than print and direct mail combined. According to Optinmonster, 83% of video marketers say video helps them with lead generation, and 80% say video has directly helped increase sales.
Videos are incredibly easy to access and view. Whether they’re consumed from the couch or a crowded train, watching a video feels like a break for your brain, not a challenge. They’re often education masked as entertainment, and perhaps that’s why they’re so effective. On average, consumers retain 95% of messages they watch in a video compared to 10% they read in text. Merely mentioning the word video in an email subject line can increase the click-through rate by 13%. And according to Hubspot, featuring a video on your landing page can increase your conversion rate by 86%.
Video has always been a popular medium, but the advent of social media and the ease with which users can share content is the real secret sauce behind its newfound fame. Videos on social media generate 12 times more shares than text and images combined. Once content is shared, advertisements are perceived as personal recommendations, creating a far greater chance for conversion.
The majority of consumers (73%) claim they have been influenced by a brand’s social media presence when making a purchase, and an overwhelming 83% are more interested in purchasing a product or service when they've received a recommendation from a friend or family member. Considering today’s (virtual) circle of friends and family is larger than ever, the possibilities are endless.
In the past, utilizing video was a marketing strategy small companies felt they couldn’t afford. Today, they can’t afford not to. By 2022, videos are projected to make up 82% of all consumer internet traffic. The good news? Creating impactful videos is far more affordable today than it was 20 years ago. It’s well within your grasp, and if the research is right, you’ll receive a significant return on your investment.
EmberTribe now offers full-service video packages that bring your brand into the 21st century, in style. Contact us for more information.
TikTok’s easy-to-consume video content is being watched by millions of people every day from all around the globe — and it’s relatively simple to understand why there’s growing popularity for TikTok ads. And if you've been keeping up with the news, video content is the future of digital marketing.
If you’re curious about advertising on TikTok but don’t know where to start, then we’ve got you covered! We’ve done the dirty work for you (we mean research), and put together this guide to give you all the things you need to understand TikTok ads like never before.
Understanding how campaigns are structured can help you set up better target audiences, design better materials, and spend your budget effectively. TikTok allows you to organize your ads using three levels: campaigns, ad groups, and ads.
These levels will help you in expanding your reach, improving your ad’s overall performance, and achieving your goals. But, first things first — to get started advertising on TikTok, you will need to have a TikTok For Business account.
Click Get Started once you’re on the TikTok Ads homepage.
You must provide your business details because your account has to be approved by a TikTok representative before you can start creating your ads.
Once you’re done filling out the form, a representative will get in touch with you within 48 hours to set up your account.
Note: TikTok Ads is currently only available in certain regions (other than the USA) but you will be able to sign up for a TikTok ad account directly if you’re located in India, Vietnam, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, or Thailand.
You will have access to the TikTok Ads dashboard once your TikTok advertising account is up and running. Click on the Campaign button at the top of the page and then click Create.
Note: You may have more options available to you depending on where you’re located.
The campaign budget is unlimited with a minimum of $50 by default. But, of course, you can set a daily or lifetime budget limit. This means that your ad groups will stop once you've reached your spending limit.
What’s the difference between daily and lifetime budget? Setting a lifetime budget would allow your ad campaign to reach as many people and as soon as possible. A daily budget, on the other hand, would allow your ad campaign to steadily penetrate your target market over a certain period.
After setting up a campaign, ad groups come next.
To get the best results among international audiences, choose Automatic Placement. Doing so will allow your ad to appear on TikTok partner apps including BuzzVideo (Japan), TopBuzz (US and BR), Babe (Indonesia), and the News Republic which, as result, will reach more people and drive more traffic.
If you choose Select Placement, you can manually choose where your ads appear.
Depending on your campaign objective, you can choose from two promotional types: app install or website. Some campaign objectives set this by default.
When the Automated Creative Optimization option is turned on, the system will automatically generate combinations from your images, videos, and ad texts. This means that you will get ready ad combinations.
Customize your audiences in your ad group targeting. You can use your customer’s contact data, website traffic, app activity, or ad engagement or by uploading IDFA & GAID. You can also create a pixel-based audience or lookalike audience (users who are similar to your clients).
Once your audience targeting is complete, you can configure the budget (no less than $50) and schedule for your ad group.
You may be able to customize the bidding and optimization of your ad budget spend. The higher your bid, the more likely your ad will be seen by your target audience over your competitor’s ads.
Note: Once your ad group is created, the following settings can’t be changed anymore:
Once your ad group is configured, you can proceed to upload your new ad.
TikTok Ads supports two formats: videos and images. If you opt for images, TikTok will group them into a video for you.
Technical requirements:
You can upload your photo or choose one from the pre-selected images from your video.
Once you have finished creating your ad, you can use TikTok’s ad preview tool to see how your ad will look on mobile devices.
The ad text will be shown above your ad. TikTok supports 12-100 English characters. Reminders:
TikTok Ads now offers 22 calls-to-action you can choose for your ads depending on what is applicable for your ad:
TikTok offers several options for paid advertising, and they are as follows:
The ad that appears in TikTok’s native news feed on the For You page (similar to Instagram story ads). In-Feed videos appear in the feed as a part of the video queue when users are exploring content.
The ad appears when TikTok users open the app and completely take over the screen for a few seconds to create images, GIFs, and videos.
The ad appears on the Discovery page and encourages users to participate in user content creation challenges about the campaign hashtag. Challenges usually last for about 6 days.
The ad appears as branded lenses (similar to Instagram or Snapchat filters), stickers, and other 2D/3D/AR content for TikTok users to use in their videos.
Luckily, you can checkout support pages and creative tips on TikTok for any ad you want to run. TikTok also supports a suite of creative tools for the ad platform:
Video Template is a tool that makes creating video ads faster and easier than ever before. With this tool, you can simply create a video ad by selecting a template and uploading your existing photo assets, text, and logos.
To help you choose the right background music to create beautiful video ads, TikTok Ads Manager offers the Smart Video Soundtrack tool. You will be able to upload videos with one click, and the system will automatically select appropriate music material based on your videos.
You can also change the music and adjust both the video volume and music volume for your ads. You can even try different background music to test their effect on ad delivery performance.
Automated Creative Optimization helps in managing your ads by automatically finding high-performing combinations of your creative assets - or in other words, takes the creative heavy lifting off your shoulders and into the hands of a clever optimization AI. With this tool, you will be able to upload images or videos, write some ad text, and select your call-to-action (CTA) buttons.
TikTok’s system will then automatically combine your creative assets into multiple ads for your campaign which will be explored, evaluated, and optimized continuously to find the optimal combination for your campaign. The best creative, then, will be presented to your target audience based on the tested combinations.
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