I wrote yesterday about the DTC “apocalypse.” Scary stuff if you’re selling products direct to the consumer.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
After watching countless DTC brands implode, patterns emerge.
The survivors share specific traits. Here’s what your brand needs to be one of them:
- Healthy Unit Economics Not simply good margins. Exceptional ones. Think 80%+ gross profit. Without this cushion, rising ad costs will eat you alive.
- Marketing Math That Works The most successful brands spend 25-30% on marketing while maintaining profitability. If you need more than that to grow, you’re buying customers you can’t afford.
- Natural Reorders Your product needs to be naturally replenishable. Think pet food, skincare, basics that wear out. One-and-done products face an endless uphill battle of forever needing to land new buyers.
- Customer-Driven Evolution Your very best product ideas, ad concepts and messaging should come from customer feedback. If you’re not mining those insights with post-purchase surveys, you’re flying blind.
- Speed-Obsessed Leadership Your team needs to move FASTER than established brands. That means quick decisions, rapid testing, and constant adaptation. No committees.
- Visual Proof Your product’s benefits have to be immediately obvious to the buyer’s dog brain in photos and videos. If you can’t show it working in 3 seconds, you’re fighting physics. (Ask Mr. Scott how that goes.)
- Performance Over Polish Your team needs to understand direct response principles. I love great design, but pretty ads that don’t convert are just expensive art.
In I Need That, we explore how needs evolve in real-time. Today’s DTC brands must evolve even faster.
Action for today: How many of these elements does your brand have? Knowing where you’re vulnerable is the first step to becoming invincible.
Need help evaluating your DTC strategy? Graphos Product has been guiding innovators for over 30 years. Reach out or just hit reply if you’d like to discuss your path forward.
Laurier
Product Payoff: When Allbirds launched, they had six of these seven elements. The one they missed — natural reorders — created drag. Adding socks, tops, hats and insoles was part of the solution. Quality shoes last too long for sustainable DTC economics!