The Perspective #6

Welcome to the sixth edition of The Perspective by Oddit!

Twice a month we send out actionable tips for creating brand-first and conversion-optimized customer experiences from the best in DTC.

In this edition 🗞:

• Brand-first breakdown with Tovala

• 5 questions with Oddit Co-founder Shaun Brandt

• The power of separating your copy and hero image

• A playlist for office naps

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If you missed our last three editions, you can read them here! 

Brand-First Breakdown: Tovala

Tovala is a smart oven and meal service making it easy to cook at home.

We're breaking down their checkout process step by step. Let's jump in!

Step 1:

Suggestions to execute:

• Add a simple underline to the selected stage, and remove the top notification – it’s getting lost and pushing the content down.

• Make your guarantee pop– cuz it’s a great guarantee.

• Make sure the ‘order meals’ action doesn’t feel like it’s taking them to the next step. It should say ‘order Meals ONLY'

Suggestions to test:

• Tighten up this content to take up less vertical space and move your action further up the page.

• Combine steps 1 & 2. The purchase journey is currently longer than it needs to be.

• Callout the flash sale a second time directly below the action.

Step 2:

Suggestions to test:

• Tighten up your flash sale callout and make the text pop more!

• Tighten up your image header and remove dead padding/white space

•  Clearly callout pricing above the selector.

• Place your actions together in a 1-2 punch and ensure their overall styling/UI is the same. Currently, they look completely different.

• Bump all of the ‘sales’ content below the actions.

Step 3:

Suggestions to test:

• Simplify the product image carousel. And tighten up your whitespace and padding. As well, consider adding the GIF of the oven scanning items here.

• Pull your product title and reviews callout up top where it’s clearly visible.

• Simply by tightening up the content here, we can reduce its height by 40% and bring the action up higher.

• Just like the last step, move your action above secondary content.

Step 4:

Suggestions to test:

• Remove the accordion functionality and instead surface all relevant info.

• Add oven price, and shipping info directly on the line item.

• Make your product heading more clear.

• Pull in the ability to change date right here, and surface the first charge date.

If you enjoyed these tips, reply to this email and let us know. We love feedback :)

Founders Five 🖐

Founder: Shaun Brandt is one of the Co-founders here at Oddit. He's founded many companies including Versett, Federal Moto, and Kulin Co, and has a deep background in branding, design, and UX.

For this Founders 5, we let Taylor, our other Co-founder, ask Shaun the questions. They've been buddies since childhood (proof below) so let’s take it back to the 90’s

Taylor:  Your first venture into entrepreneurship was a self-produced reality travel show – after that failed miserably, tell us a bit about how your next venture came to be.

Shaun: While the show failed (financially), it taught me two key things: (1) how to manage cash flow, and (2) I discovered I was really good at applying my creative skillset to any scenario.

We scored the music, we learned animation and video production, and we edited and wrote scripts – all things I had never even thought of before. When the pressure is on, it's amazing what you can do. It really led me towards creative direction, and my first agency (Versett), which launched a few months after we got back from the show.

Taylor:  From the time between your first agency, all your other ventures (including multiple agencies, brands, and even a basketball-themed hot dog shop), and now Oddit, what are the top 3 things you’ve learned through the years that you applied to building Oddit (and to your customers)?

Shaun: It's actually crazy how much I've taken from the restaurant industry when it comes to DTC and Oddit – here's 3.

(1) Oddit has almost entirely grown from word of mouth, social media, and a positive rapport with customers – talk to your customers (and listen), and take care of them, and they'll be your best marketers (invest in your CX!). (2) There's plenty of room for everyone – treat your competitors more like peers and less like enemies.

The hospitality industry is amazing at this. They all work together to make the scene better and help each other out. (3) Don't be afraid to pivot and make quick decisions and changes. The space moves fast – you have to be on your toes and can't be afraid to trust your gut.

Taylor: What have been the biggest challenges in launching and scaling a productized service?

Shaun: The hardest part, in the beginning, was solving product consistency when our design team all has different skill sets and backgrounds.

But as we've grown, the biggest challenge is keeping the product focused. I would say 85%+ of our customers want Oddit to take on more work for them (like an agency), and it's tough to say no. You want to make customers happy (and make more money!).

Taylor: Where did you get that hideous scar on your chest?

Shaun:  You pushed me into a desk in Mrs. MacGregor's science class in grade 8 (1999). And if memory serves me correctly, you didn't even get detention because you sweet-talked your way out of it.

Taylor: What are the top 3 things you consistently see DTC brands doing wrong that take very little effort to fix?

Shaun:  A. 9/10 brands we work with struggle to describe what they do simply. The first thing our team does when we're trying to find that single punchy statement about their brand, is we go to their Instagram page and copy/paste the description.

The limiting nature of Instagram seems to bring the best out of brand's copy skills! Go look at your Instagram, and add that content to your homepage.

B. Social proof. A lot of brands tell us "we don't have many reviews so we don't know how to display it". If you don't have reviews, go get them. Don't rely solely on email triggers and automated review requests.

Personally, email customers, DM people on Twitter/IG/FB/etc, send product to friends or potential customers in exchange for feedback (a review). It takes time and it's tedious but its the 2nd most important thing your brand needs (The most important is a great product!).

C. A lot of brands spend a lot of time and effort on studio photos and renderings of products. These are great, but brands need balance. Humanize your product and make it feel real – pull in some UGC, or images of real customers using it.

Think of it like Instagram posts vs Instagram stories. Posts are more art directed and 'perfect', stories are generally more raw and off-the-cuff. Finding a healthy balance of these aesthetics is a great way to build a brand.

The power of separating your copy and hero image!

Classifieds 🔎

🔵 New brands we discovered this month: Wonder Monday, Two Dudes, and Simply Roasted.

🚀 Newsletter footer tip: Increase your conversions by surfacing a CLEAR and enticing offer. Read the full thread here.

💻 How 4 e-commerce brands are using product bundles to drive sales.

✅ The Oddit team is looking for great dev agencies to partner with. Reply to this email if you're interested in chatting!

Bonus

We've been putting together killer playlists for various moods.

This month we’re releasing: music for office naps

Give it a listen! (Only available on Spotify for now. Sorry, Apple peeps 😅)

Want your own brand-first breakdown? 🚨

Check out the essential and premium reports!

If you don’t find any value you’ll get all your $$ back. No questions asked.

The Perspective is written by Shaun Brandt, Taylor Davies, and Thomas Schreiber

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Oddit in the Wild

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• 🎧 Listen to our Co-founder Shaun on your favorite podcasts

  • Adspend: "The proven CRO playbook with Shaun Brandt"

  • DTC Pod: "Shaun Brandt, Oddit. Conversion as a service."

  • Marketing Millennial: "Brand-First CRO with Shaun Brandt"

  • Goodo Studios: “How to build a brand focused website with Shaun Brandt”