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The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: Supercharging your Reviews Program with Zero-Party Data and Product Attribute Data.

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: My GTM Sales Strategy for SCALIS!

• The D2Z Podcast: It has been a few weeks since my last newsletter, so I have 4 podcasts for you this week!

  • Mastering the art of building and scaling DTC brands

  • How customer experience drives retention

  • Building a global business

  • Scaling your business on Amazon

• App Updates & Highlights: Instead of a traditional app, this week I want to highlight Sunset, a business founded by Brendan Mahoney that I was recently introduced to. They help companies wind down — from the legal & tax filings, state withdrawals, and everything else required to shut down a business.

• Upcoming Events: I’m headed to NYC 9/17-9/20 for the Principled Business Summit, LA 9/20-9/22, SD 9/22-9/24 for Commerce Roundtable, Vegas 9/24-9/26, Dallas 9/26-9/29, and LA 9/29-10/3. Let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!

Quickly identify market opportunities w/ the #1 A.I. for asset selection.

Learn FREE

Let’s Chat D2C - Supercharging your Reviews Program

Every ecommerce website has a review program, but they could be doing so much more than just collecting 1-5 star ratings.

Incentivizing Detailed Reviews

To maximize the amount of data you capture, it’s important to incentivize customers to leave thoughtful, detailed reviews.

• Offer Discounts or Rewards: Give customers a discount on their next purchase or offer loyalty points in exchange for leaving detailed feedback.

UGC

Ask customers to upload photos or videos as a part of their review process. You can even incentivize them with store credit or special discounts in exchange for them uploading. This UGC will then live on your website and influence future visitors to purchase while also giving you the ability to share it in email, SMS, social media, etc.

Zero-Party Data

Zero-party data is data that a customer intentionally and proactively shares with a brand. This could include their preferences, feedback, product usage details, or reasons for purchase. It’s different from first-party data, which is collected passively through customer behavior, like browsing habits or past purchases. With zero-party data, customers are directly telling you what they want and need, giving you deeper insights into how to improve their experience.

Here’s what you can capture through review requests:

• Customer preferences (e.g., why they bought the product, how they’re using it)

• Product usage data (e.g., frequency of use, environment it’s used in)

• Purchase motivations (e.g., a gift, personal use, or solving a specific problem)

• Satisfaction with specific product attributes (e.g., fit, size, material quality, durability)

Your review request process should go beyond the standard “Rate your experience.” Instead, ask questions that can provide you with detailed insights about customer preferences and product attributes.

Ask Targeted Questions: Incorporate a few specific questions in your review requests that prompt customers to share information about their preferences and usage. For example:

• "What was the main reason you purchased this product?"

• "How do you typically use this product?"

• "Was there a specific feature that attracted you to this product?"

• "Who is using this product—yourself or someone else?"

Product Attribute

In addition to collecting insights about your customers, reviews can be a goldmine for product attribute data—specific details about how customers perceive various product features.

Ask About Product-Specific Attributes: When asking for reviews, include questions encouraging customers to rate specific product attributes. For example:

• "How would you rate the fit of this product?"

• "How satisfied are you with the durability?"

• "Did the color/size/material meet your expectations?"

• "How would you describe the product’s ease of use?"

By gathering feedback on specific attributes, you better understand how different features are perceived and can identify areas for improvement or marketing emphasis.

What I’m Thinking About This Week - My GTM Sales Strategy for SCALIS

As we approach our public launch on 10/15, I started our sales efforts about 4 weeks ago and have seen impressive results, including a 40%+ open rate and 10% response rate. Below I’m going to walk us through how I’m thinking about scaling our sales outreach and efforts over the next 3-6 months.

Target Market/ICP

Existing businesses on Lever hiring for 5 or more open roles a month. Why? Lever was acquired by Employ 2 years ago, and since the acquisition, it has been experiencing negative customer sentiment due to a lack of product development and poor customer service. The companies using them are already looking for alternative solutions but are familiar with what an ATS is and its traditional value props, so we can focus on our additional capabilities and features.

Value Prop

Our main value proper for these companies using Lever is providing extremely in-depth segmentation and filtering capabilities that allow them to reduce time spent reviewing applicants by up to 42%. Beyond this, we have a suite of talent acquisition capabilities that no other ATS solution has, quickly matching them with high-quality candidates.

Sales Channels

We can and will tap into various sales channels, but currently, our main focus is direct sales as we onboard some of our first logos, build out case studies, proof points, etc.

Pricing

50% off their existing Lever contract. Last week, we verbally agreed to our first $10K+ ARR deal with a business paying Lever $23K/year. We didn’t even expect to charge for the ATS and have recurring subscription SaaS revenue, but from my initial in-person sales meetings in NYC a few weeks ago, it was obvious that we could and should be charging for it. At 50% off, it’s still a no-brainer and allows us to get to profitability significantly faster.

Positioning and Messaging

I used Lever to scale my previous business, which I successfully exited, and now I've built SCALIS to address all of the pain points and friction I dealt with while using Lever. We have sales collateral (attached) that supports this, and we’ll continue to build out more resources as we scale.

Customer Acquisition Strategy

Our main customer acquisition strategy is outbound sales. Once we have more market penetration and some key logos using our product, we’ll transition into more inbound marketing, referrals, event sponsorships, etc.

Sales Process and Pipeline

I’m primarily using two different tools for outreach:

• Apollo: Apollo allows me to prospect for very specific criteria, such as “Director of People Ops in New York City at a company using Lever that is hiring for 4 or more roles per month” — from there, I enroll them into automated outreach sequences across email and Linkedin asking them to meet for coffee, lunch, or drinks (on me of course).

• 11X: 11X is very similar but leverages an AI sales agent to craft the outreach messaging.

I’ve created a travel schedule until the end of Q1 that allows me to be in each major city in the US with our ICP for at least 3-4 nights. I then create outreach sequences 3-4 weeks in advance to book in-person meetings for coffee, lunch, or drinks. I’ve found this significantly more effective, both in terms of response rate and the quality of the meeting and connection.

For example, I met with a Director of People Ops at a public company for a cocktail that was only supposed to last 45 minutes. We ended up there for almost 2.5 hours, and I took away extremely valuable insights on the product, endless new connections that she put me in touch with, and now someone I can reach out to at any time!

Sales Team Structure

It’s just me for now, but I’ll start expanding the sales team around February/March of next year.

Quickly identify market opportunities w/ the #1 A.I. for asset selection.

Learn FREE

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#118 – How to Master the Art of Building and Scaling DTC Brands with Bob Verlaat

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode, I sat down with Bob Verlaat, the entrepreneur behind several DTC brands, including Hears. Specifically, we explored the following:

💰 Streamlining product features for ecommerce

📲 The role of technology and AI in modern ecommerce

😎 Building and managing international brands

🚀 Human-centric brand management

#119 – How Customer Experience Drives Retention with Zoe Kahn

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode, I sat down with Zoe Kahn, VP of Retention at Audien Hearing and Founder of Inevitable Agency, to discuss customer experience in ecommerce. Specifically, we explored the following:

💰 Prioritizing customer education to reduce returns and increase satisfaction

📲 Leveraging technology, AI, and automation to improve customer service

😎 Managing online feedback proactively

🚀 Building a community to enhance loyalty

#120 – How to Build a Global Business by Solving Real Problems with Valerie Khayutin

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode, I sat down with Valerie Khayutin, CEO of Badesofa North America, to explore launching and scaling an innovative consumer product in a new market. Specifically, we explored the following:

💰 The genesis of a unique product that sells

📲 Ecommerce strategy and Amazon integration

😎 Consumer-centric marketing

🚀 Challenges of market expansion

#121 – How to Scale Your Brand on Amazon, Walmart, and More with Will Haire

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this episode, I sat down with Will Haire, Founder of BellaVix, a marketplace growth agency. Specifically, we explored the following:

💰 The evolution of marketplaces and how advertising strategies have changed

📲 Operational challenges around scaling on Amazon

😎 Full funnel advertising for marketplace success

🚀 Navigating pitfalls of policy violations, negative feedback, and product issues

App Updates & Highlights - Sunset

Instead of a traditional app, this week I want to highlight Sunset, a business founded by Brendan Mahoney that I was recently introduced to. They help companies wind down — from the legal & tax filings, state withdrawals, and everything else required to shut down a business.

They put together a guide on how to wind down your venture-backed startup. You can access it for free below!

Upcoming Events

I’m headed to NYC 9/17-9/20 for the Principled Business Summit, LA 9/20-9/22, SD 9/22-9/24 for Commerce Roundtable, Vegas 9/24-9/26, Dallas 9/26-9/29, and LA 9/29-10/3 - let me know if you’re in the area and want to connect!