Growth Newsletter #041

Influencer marketing on TikTok requires a different approach than Instagram and YouTube.

TikTok has a high variance algorithm—the impressions that a creator’s average post gets isn’t constant. If a video is good, you get boosted. It’s that simple.

Smaller influencers have more power than they do on other platforms. So it's worth taking a chance on smaller creators if they’re very talented and you believe in their ability to break out.

Here's a suggested strategy:

• Use an app like Swipehouse to find creators that fit your brand. Use data. Avoid trying to manually wing it with seemingly "on brand" influencers.
• Consider splitting your budget: Work with a few bigger creators (20%), but take bets on a large number of small creators (80%).
• Pay with gifts: For the smaller creators (less than 50k followers), you can send products in exchange for content and exposure. They’re likely running their TikTok account on the side, rather than relying on sponsorship income to pay the bills.
• Give them creative control: Give creators even more creative freedom than you would on other platforms. Due to the algorithm, they really need to hit an authentic nerve for videos to go viral.

A friendly PSA. Great product pages do two things:

1. Reassure and convert customers who were learning towards buying
2. Win over and convert those who were on the fence

Most product pages look the same for a reason. There’s a formula. Here’s how some of the top brands structure them (for desktop and mobile): 

Product images:

• Desktop: Left side of the page. People scan from left to right.
• Mobile: Front and center. People scan and then scroll down.
• Reasoning: You want them to see your product before your price.

Product name, details, add to cart:

• Desktop: Right side of the page.
• Mobile: Just under the image.
• Reasoning: Remove lengthy product descriptions above the fold. Keep it minimal—the goal here is conversion.

Full product description and reviews:

• Desktop and mobile: Just below the fold.
• Reasoning: If people are interested in your product, they will scroll. When they do, you want to hit them with copy that will convert. Reviews and testimonials are critical in this section—they add weight to the claims you’re making on the product page.

The subject line of your email is one of the most important elements.

If it's weak, your email won't get opened and the rest of the email is irrelevant to your subscriber.

There are three reasons people decide to open an email:

1. Self-interest: Offer them something that's going to help them.

• Example from Spotify: "Playlists made just for you"—save them time and effort.

2. Emotional interest: Spark positive emotion.

• Example from Typeform: "You're invited to the premiere"—make them feel special.

3. Relational interest: Get them to like you, trust you, and want to hear what you have to say.

• Example from Allbirds: "Leave a lighter footprint"—they like the brand and mission.

Consider leaning into one of these elements for each of your subject lines. As a result, you'll likely increase your email marketing performance.

We want you to delete contacts from your email list.

Two reasons to remove inactive contacts from your list:

1. Since email platforms charge per contact, inactive contacts on your email list cost you upwards of 50% of your email bill.
2. The higher your open rate, the more Google delivers your emails to inboxes as opposed to the Spam folder. You can increase your open rate by removing contacts who don't open your email. Pretty simple. That's the second benefit of removing inactive contacts: Those who remain see your emails even more.

So here's what you do:

• Once per quarter, duplicate your email list and search for contacts who've been inactive for over three months.
• Before you remove them, try a win-back email campaign that explains they'll be removed if they do not resume opening and engaging with emails.
• Once you have a cleaned list, test a new campaign for higher open rate and CTR.