Small Tweak, Big Win

Your weekly dose of growth marketing news & tactics for DTC brands.

Author

Brian Roisentul
August 27, 2025

Welcome to this issue of The DTC Insider newsletter. 👋

This week I’m super pumped to be speaking on stage at the biggest e-commerce event in LATAM: eCommerce Day.

I’ll be hosting a live podcast on stage to discuss how brands can use AI.

It’s my first time doing this...wish me luck! 😃 

Now, let's dive in!

Topics we'll cover today:
💠 Small Tweak, Big Win
💠 Shopify Shipping: A Big Move for Merchants
💠 From Corporate Burnout to 8 Figures: The Story Behind Little Trouble

Small Tweak, Big Win

In a previous newsletter, I shared a quick win to boost your subscription take rate:
👉 Default the subscription option + highlight the benefits.

About a month ago, we rolled this out for a client. The results? 

✅ Enrollment rate jumped 12%

❌ Churn didn’t go up, it actually dropped 9%.

Why didn't churn increase?

Because we’re not tricking customers. We’re making this option loud and clear so they subscribe intentionally.

Now, let’s run the numbers 👇

📈 With a 21% take rate, that’s 33 new subs/month.
(Disclaimer: we're simplifying this for the sake of this exercise, but of course this will go up and down each month.) 

➡️ In 12 months → 396 new subscribers. 

💵 Avg. spend: $202/subscriber.

This means, $79,992/yr in additional revenue from this single tweak.

One tiny change. Nearly $80K unlocked. 🔥

As I always say, this isn’t some fad tactic or “ultimate trick” to boost revenue. Everyone seems to be chasing those lately, but you know what? This is marketing. This is what will always work.

If you’re already doing 7+ figures and want to recover 20-30% of revenue you’re leaving on the table (without spending more on ads):
👉 Click here to book your free Journey Overlay Analysis

You’ll get a one-page breakdown showing:
✅ Where you’re winning
❌ Where you’re leaking revenue
🛠 3 fixes to increase AOV & LTV immediately

Shopify Shipping: A Big Move for Merchants

On Monday, Shopify President Harley Finkelstein announced the launch of Shopify Shipping.

Why is this a big deal?

Because Shopify is finally bringing shipping in-house, instead of relying solely on integrations and third-party apps.

Here’s what this means for brands:

👉 Centralized shipping experience: Merchants can now manage labels, tracking, and fulfillment directly inside Shopify, without jumping across multiple tools.

👉 Discounted rates: Shopify is leveraging its scale to negotiate better carrier pricing, helping brands improve margins.

👉 Seamless customer experience: Fewer handoffs between platforms = less room for errors and a smoother post-purchase journey.

For years, shipping and fulfillment were the “messy back office” of e-commerce. Now Shopify wants to own it, making the merchant experience as streamlined as their famous checkout.

This move also signals Shopify’s ambition to go beyond being “just” your storefront and become the end-to-end operating system for commerce.

Now, brands can expect:
→ Higher margins through cheaper shipping.
→ Better retention through faster, more reliable delivery.
→ And less reliance on costly third-party logistics platforms. 

The Shopify Ecosystem Controversy: 

Let’s be real. 

Shopify has always prided itself on fostering a massive app ecosystem. Thousands of developers built businesses around features Shopify didn’t provide natively.

But…things are changing.
👉 Shopify Bundles
👉 Shopify Subscriptions
👉 Now, Shopify Shipping 

All of them are built-in features that used to be only available through apps.

So the million-dollar question is: is Shopify eating its own partners’ lunch?

On one hand, it makes sense: merchants shouldn’t need 10 apps just to get bundles, subs, or basic shipping in place. Shopify wants to own the “core experience” and make it as smooth as possible.

On the other hand, this is controversial. Some of the apps that helped Shopify grow are now competing with the platform itself.

The takeaway for brands:
→ Shopify-native tools will likely be good enough for most merchants.
→ Apps will need to find a way to differentiate by going deeper into advanced features and niche use cases.
→ And founders will need to choose between “simple + native” or “powerful + external.”

🔥 My hot take: This isn’t the end of the app ecosystem…but it is a wake-up call. Shopify is tightening its grip on the essentials, and the best apps will need to evolve, or get squeezed out.

Here’s the full announcement if you want to dig deeper.

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

Promote your Business to 11,000+ People in the DTC Space

Only 2 spots left for Q4!

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.

From Corporate Burnout to 8 Figures: The Story Behind Little Trouble

The more I speak with founders, the more I realize something simple (but hard to execute): 

👉 Knowing your customers is NOT optional.

The brands thriving in this tough context are the ones going above and beyond for their customers.

And this 8-figure founder is no exception. She’s been wearing MANY hats to build her brand from scratch.

The toughest one to let go?
You’ll hear it straight from her. 

Llisten to this episode of The DTC Insider with Dinah Chapman, founder of Little Trouble.

Check it out 👇

We discussed:
👉 Moving abroad while running a U.S.-based business
👉 Starting Little Trouble as a side hustle during corporate burnout
👉 Knowing when a side hustle becomes a full-time business
👉 Standing out in a crowded kids apparel market
👉 Challenges across growth stages: $0-$1M, $1-$5M, and beyond
👉 Operating with a tiny team while scaling big
👉 The critical role of customer service and human connection
👉 The pitfalls of over-obsessing about attribution vs. focusing on fundamentals
👉 Leveraging customer insights and zero-party data for growth
👉 What’s next: brand collaborations, wholesale, and product diversification

Tune in:
📺 YouTube
🎙️ Spotify
🍏 Apple
🌐 Website

More episodes our listeners love: 

Also Happening in the DTC Space

What did you think of today's newsletter?

Your feedback helps us create the best newsletter possible.

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

If you found this interesting, please leave us a review. It’d mean the world to me.

About The Writer

Brian Roisentul is the founder & CEO of BSR Digital, a growth marketing agency he started in 2013 to help e-commerce brands unlock hidden revenue by identifying misalignments between their marketing and customer behavior. He is also the host of The DTC Insider podcast, where he interviews thought leaders, founders, and directors in the e-commerce space.