Welcome to this issue of The DTC Insider newsletter. 👋

We strive to deliver the latest growth marketing news and trends in the DTC space straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

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Let's dive in!

Topics we'll cover today:
💠 The Near Future of Commerce
💠 Is Your Brand "AI Friendly"?
💠 From Health Struggles to Product Breakthroughs

Very soon, commerce won't happen through your web as much as it used to.

Consumers will use tools like ChatGPT to discover AND buy your products, with built-in checkout.

As Shopify President Harley Finkelstein has recently said:

Shopify already powers seamless buying experiences for major artists like Beyoncé on Spotify and creators like MrBeast on YouTube.

Now, it's clear where we're heading next: distributed commerce

What most brands currently do:
⤷ Spend resources to bring traffic to their website.
⤷ Optimize to push people through their funnel.
⤷ Use CRO to get more conversions.

But here's what brands will need to do ASAP:
⤷ Letting discovery and checkout happen directly inside these third-party experiences.
⤷ Showing up exactly where customers already spend their time.
⤷ Turning their online stores into proxies, not just destinations.

As you can see, this is a big change for commerce in general.

And brands today need to think platform-first, not website-dependent. 

--
Follow me on LinkedIn for more growth marketing content in the e-commerce space.

Would you like your brand to appear in ChatGPT (or similar) responses? 

Then, you're in the right place!

I've recently been educating myself on this topic, and while I'm no expert, I'd love to share what I've learned so far with you.

Let's dive in!

First off, we need to introduce 2 concepts:
→ GEO (Generative Engine Optimization)
→ AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) 

Here's a chart with more info on each:

How do you get your products to show up in AI search?

1⃣ Include schema fields 

Before you do anything else, your product pages need to include schema fields (price, availability, description, images, rating).

To check if they do, run the Google Rich Results Test on a product page. If the result is a green check, it's good.

If you're on Shopify, you can install JSON-LD for SEO or Schema Plus for SEO & JSON-LD. Both auto-push rich schema (product, reviews, FAQ, etc.) without code.

2⃣ Optimize like you're answering a question

ChatGPT is not Google.

This means it doesn't want keywords. It wants information to use in answers. 

So, what you need to do is write your product titles and descriptions like you're explaining them to someone else.

3⃣ FAQs and reviews

AI needs information, as I mentioned above. The more, the merrier.

So, by including FAQs and reviews, you're feeding tools like ChatGPT with rich information about your products, the top-asked questions, and what people think about them.

4⃣ Stay in Stock Or Get Skipped

ChatGPT shows live prices and availability. If your metadata says “$70” but your site says “$80”, you'll get skipped.

If you're on Shopify, this should be automated, though.

5⃣ SEO is still important

Tools like ChatGPT will split complex prompts into multiple simpler ones.

Here's an example:

 This means, the core SEO principles are still important:
→ Try getting into relevant industry lists
→ Online reviews (G2, TrustPilot)
→ Brand search and mentions
→ Website authority

6⃣ Test it

Ask ChatGPT what it knows about your brand and then optimize.

I hope it was useful!

I'll share more as I keep learning about this fascinating new era of commerce. 

--
Follow me on LinkedIn for more growth marketing content in the e-commerce space.

"Don't wait for perfection."

(This is one of the most underrated pieces of advice an entrepreneur can receive.)

In this episode of The DTC Insider podcast, Brian Roisentul sits down with Cleo Davis-Urman, co-founder of barrière, to unpack how they’re shaking up the vitamins space.

We discussed:
👉 How Cleo’s personal health journey led to the creation of Barrier
👉 The benefits of transdermal patches for vitamin absorption over traditional supplements
👉 The importance of collaborating with experienced partners in product development
👉 The role of customer feedback in shaping product evolution and strategy
👉 Gaining deeper insights through real-life interactions with customers
👉 Driving brand growth through social media, with a focus on TikTok
👉 Using technology to improve customer education and engagement
👉 Staying open to feedback and embracing iteration throughout the process
👉 Creating products that support self-care and personal expression
👉 Maintaining continuous customer interaction to stay aligned with their needs

Tune in:
📺 YouTube
🎧 Apple
🎙️ Spotify
🌐 Website

More episodes our listeners love:

💎 How BRĒZ is Disrupting the Beverage Industry with Aaron Nosbisch
💎 Bootstrapping a $100M E-Commerce Empire with Bear Handlon
💎 The Secret Sauce Behind BattlBox's Success with John Roman
💎 IQBAR’s Journey to 10,000 Locations And $50 Million with Will Nitze
💎 Supplement Brand Bootstrapped $10,000 and Built It Into Sales of $30 Million in Three Years with Ronak Shah

📰 Temu pulled its ads – here’s what happened next
📰 YouTube’s cross-platform takeover is putting pressure on creators
📰 Can brands like American Eagle appeal to Gen Z with Substack?

The DTC Insider (newsletter + podcast) reaches a highly qualified audience of DTC founders, directors, and marketers. Learn more about the sponsorship opportunities we offer for your business.

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