You don't have as much control over where customers buy your products from as you would like. 𝗖𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹 (𝗼𝗿 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝘆𝗮𝗹) 𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗽𝗹𝗮𝘁𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗺𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴. We work with many businesses who sell across DTC, physical and digital retailers and Amazon channels. Unfortunately this creates a battle for demand between these channels, you have bottom of funnel marketing channels fighting for the same user demand across multiple sales channels. 𝗔𝘀 𝗶𝗳 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘀𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗶𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗱 𝗲𝗻𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵, 𝘄𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲𝗹𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱. Increasingly customers have preferred purchase channels and fighting those preferences is difficult. Amazon has a very loyal customer base, as do many high street retailers. When we create incremental brand demand, we have little control over where this demand is activated. And actively trying to change customer preferences is difficult and expensive. 𝗥𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝘂𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗯𝘂𝘆𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗔𝗺𝗮𝘇𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗧𝗖 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘆 𝗹𝗼𝗼𝗸 𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁, 𝗯𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘀𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘀𝗼 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝘁𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵. The click through URL of your paid ads has very little impact on where customers actually buy products, 𝟴𝟬%+ 𝗼𝗳 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗠𝗲𝘁𝗮, 𝗧𝗶𝗸𝗧𝗼𝗸, 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗧𝘂𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗶𝘀 𝗽𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗶𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁. These customers don't click on ads, so they don't care what your ad destination URL is. Top and middle of funnel campaigns generate demand which converts across multiple sales channels, even though none of that revenue is shown on your platform reporting. 𝗝𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸 (𝘄𝗵𝗶𝗰𝗵 𝟵𝟵% 𝗼𝗳 𝘂𝘀𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗻𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗶𝗰𝗸) 𝗴𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗗𝗧𝗖 𝘀𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝗴𝗲𝗻𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗱. Meanwhile the demand which bottom of funnel channels fight for is often at the expense of cannibalising demand elsewhere. Changing the click through URL does little. But you can nudge these behaviours in the direction you want if you show different behaviours. Creator content which shows purchases which take place in retail stores drive 3x stronger retail uplift than similar content which doesn't show the purchase process. You will still see large halo effects on other purchase channels, but this nudge behaviour is more effective than changing the Click Through URL. Humans still want to be part of a herd, I guess.
Ben Nealon
6mo
For me this demonstrates that marketing lives in the subconscious, that’s where decisions are made. Brands grow by being easy to notice, remember, and buy. Its about mental availability
Elmira Chubarova
6mo
Great insights, Dan! The challenge of multi-channel demand is very real. Emphasizing creator content to influence purchase behavior is a smart approach.
If you want to shift buying behavior, show the buying behavior. Don’t just tell people where to go, show people like them already going there.
Charlie Oscar
6mo
Brilliant breakdown 👏 This is a challenge we see across nearly every brand we work with, and it’s a mindset shift many marketing teams are still catching up to...
Very good insights! The fact that Amazon is also bidding on your brand is also not helping. Given they have a commission of 8-15%, that is how much they can spend to outbid you on your own brand and still be profitable. On top of that , I like to buy through Amazon because I know that if something goes wrong , it will be easy to deal with.
LI word count made me cut out a few supporting datapoint, so added below. When you run the numbers, these passive revenue impacts are often vast: • Meta Prospecting campaigns can drive up up to 𝘁𝘄𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵 𝗵𝗮𝗹𝗼 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝘀𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗹 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗱𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗗𝗧𝗖 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗻𝗲𝗹𝘀 (this is usually even larger in newer markets if you don't have an established DTC channel.) • YouTube usually drives the same revenue across Amazon and Retailers even when all traffic being driven to DTC stores. 𝗧𝗼𝘁𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 𝗱𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗻 𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝟯𝘅 𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗗𝗧𝗖 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 that Google can directly report.