The World's Best Email and Retention Podcast

The DTC Podcast Network
  • 5.0 (3)
  • Marketing
  • Updated Weekly

Welcome to The World's Best Email and Retention Podcast, or as we've been calling it, TWBERP. Dive into weekly episodes designed to help new and seasoned email and retention marketers make the most out of their email program. Get educated, get inspired, and get your notebook ready because you've got some work to do. Hosted by Pilothouse's Jordan Gordon on the DTC Podcast Network.

  1. 3d ago

    Ep 109: More Segmentation Research from Pilothouse's Email & Retention Lead

    Which email segmentation signals bring in more revenue? Jordan Gordon shares Pilothouse’s latest research on purchase history, Apple Privacy Opens, true opens, clicks, and bot activity. Expanding the buyer window produced the strongest revenue gain with a small engagement hit. Extending the true-open window added almost no revenue and dragged down engagement. Inside this episode of the World’s Best Email & Retention Podcast: How to test segment changes against your core mailable listThe revenue and engagement tradeoffs of Apple Privacy OpensWhy buyers and prospects need separate segmentsWhat recent site visitors reveal about campaign revenueHow evergreen flows can take on more of your campaign schedule In the analysis Jordan shares, 75% of campaign revenue came from subscribers who had visited the site within 90 days. He explains what that means for your flows and segmentation windows. Timestamps 00:00 Introduction and episode preview 01:22 More segmentation research 01:52 AI segmentation tools and campaign coverage 05:38 Deliverability on large, established lists 09:01 The engagement signals tested 10:01 Testing changes against your mailable list 11:28 Purchase history: more revenue, small engagement hit 12:24 Apple Privacy Opens: revenue and engagement tradeoffs 16:15 Expanding your buyer window 17:11 Separating buyers and prospects 17:41 True opens: almost no added revenue 20:03 What happens when you expand the click window 21:04 Bot clicks and campaign performance 22:09 Recent site visitors drove 75% of campaign revenue 22:31 Moving more campaign content into flows 23:27 Including visitors who haven’t clicked an email 24:42 Keeping site-activity windows tight 25:12 Non-clicking visitors drove roughly 20% of campaign revenue 26:09 Closing thoughts Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

  2. Oct 13

    Ep 108: I Got Marketed To

    A conversation about his son’s Hot Wheels sent Jordan down a Formula 1 rabbit hole. A Walmart purchase, Red Bull videos, and a Google search eventually led him to create an F1 account and download the app. In this episode of the World’s Best Email and Retention Podcast, Jordan traces the touchpoints that pulled him in and the opportunities to turn that interest into paid streaming. He covers word of mouth that your attribution tools miss, content that builds interest across channels, and a voting experience that captures email addresses without a discount. Plus, a look at F1’s app onboarding: push notification permissions, tracking consent, and clear controls that let users change their preferences. TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Email and CRO for ecommerce revenue00:29 Episode preview01:23 How Jordan got marketed to02:20 Understanding the customer persona06:13 The Hot Wheels conversation that started it06:42 Word of mouth your attribution tools miss08:36 Turning a recommendation into a Walmart purchase10:02 Red Bull videos and the YouTube rabbit hole11:30 Exploring F1’s business model13:49 Google search and the F1 website14:46 The path toward paid streaming15:38 Capturing leads without a discount17:08 App downloads and push notifications18:04 Walking through F1’s app onboarding19:30 Permission controls and subscription retention21:20 Final thoughts Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

  3. Oct 6

    Ep 107: 4 Digital Asset Reframes

    How much campaign content are you rebuilding every week? And how many steps do shoppers take before they can buy? Jordan Gordon walks through four digital asset reframes that change how your emails and site pages work together: • Email campaigns as homepages, with a fresh feature up top and reusable sections below • Homepages that combine discovery, product details, and purchasing • Collection pages with useful blog and video content beneath the products • PDPs that introduce your brand to shoppers landing there for the first time Using examples from Anthropologie and Grüns, Jordan explains how these changes can reduce campaign production work and shorten the path to checkout. For help with email, retention, and CRO, visit https://www.pilothouse.co and ask to speak with Jordan. 00:00 Driving revenue through email and CRO 00:29 Episode preview 01:23 Four digital assets to rethink 02:20 The problems with campaigns, homepages, collections, and PDPs 04:43 Reframe 1: Treat email campaigns like homepages 08:06 Anthropologie’s reusable email sections 09:05 Reframe 2: Combine homepage, collection, and PDP 09:35 Grüns’ homepage breakdown 11:03 Reframe 3: Treat collection pages like content pages 13:00 Reframe 4: Treat PDPs like homepages 13:56 How the reframes change your customer journey 17:17 Closing thoughts Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

  4. Sep 29

    Ep 106: Retargeting Done Right: Boost Revenue with Post-Purchase (Replay)

    From the archive: Jordan Gordon breaks down how to use the first purchase to encourage a second one. He walks through a post-purchase flow that starts with a relevant cross-sell, then introduces a broader offer that can also appear in paid ads and package inserts. The examples cover how to choose a product to feature, set an order minimum, and coordinate the offer across channels. The episode was recorded earlier in the show’s run. Some platform setup details have changed since then, so check your current tracking and audience setup before applying the tactics. In this episode: • Specific cross-sell offers and broader order-value offers • Why Jordan recommends introducing a different product category • How email, paid ads, and package inserts can support the same offer • What to consider when using a shared coupon code across channels 00:00 Why the second purchase matters 02:24 Where email revenue comes from 07:09 Four ways to grow email revenue 11:31 Building a post-purchase flow 12:57 Specific vs. broad offers 16:27 Cross-selling into another product category 18:26 Adding an accessories offer 19:25 Setting a minimum-spend offer 21:51 Coupon codes across channels 22:20 Bringing paid ads into the campaign 24:19 Adding an offer to the package 26:18 Recap Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

  5. Sep 22

    Ep 105: How Four Brands Solve Problems With Their Emails and Websites

    Four brands. Four different ecommerce problems. Four ways email and website design can help solve them. In this visual episode, Jordan breaks down how Lack of Color, Devon + Lang, DÔEN, and Netrition shape their emails, product pages, and category pages around the way customers actually shop. You’ll see how: Lack of Color uses large product grids to help shoppers find a highly personal style Devon + Lang treats its PDP as a shoppable homepage DÔEN reinforces exclusivity through editorial category pages and sold-out products Netrition organizes a massive catalog by product type, dietary goal, and discovery content Jordan also covers mobile email layouts, dark mode issues, PDP fold-one essentials, click-flow testing, product galleries, size guides, and dynamic email sections. This is a visual episode, so open the video for the full email and website walkthrough. Want help generating more revenue from your existing traffic and customer base? Visit Pilothouse and ask to speak with the Email and Retention team. Key Timestamps 00:00 How email and CRO unlock revenue from existing traffic 01:23 Four brands and four ecommerce challenges 02:50 Lack of Color’s product-heavy email strategy 07:09 What its product page leaves unclear 08:36 Devon + Lang’s shoppable-homepage PDP 12:31 Bundles, size guides, video, and product comparisons 15:00 How DÔEN sells high-priced apparel online 16:28 Why its email sends shoppers to a category page 18:53 Building an editorial category-page experience 22:39 Why DÔEN keeps sold-out products visible 24:36 How Netrition organizes a massive food catalog 28:30 Using discovery content, recommendations, and education 30:26 Shopping by category and dietary goal 31:52 Final takeaways Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

  6. Sep 15

    Ep 104: The 12-Point Klaviyo Inspection

    How healthy is your Klaviyo account? Jordan Gordon walks through the 12-point inspection he uses to assess Klaviyo accounts in 10 to 15 minutes. The inspection covers revenue, clicks, audience growth, campaign frequency, send volume, and flows, with a second check for every metric that can be distorted by attribution settings, privacy opens, or bot clicks. You’ll learn how to: • Compare Shopify revenue growth with Klaviyo revenue growth • Check whether Klaviyo’s attributed revenue is trustworthy • Compare Shopify sessions with unique email and SMS clicks • use Gmail performance to spot reporting or inboxing problems • Measure list growth without Apple Privacy Opens inflating the audience • Audit campaign frequency, headlines, and design quality • Evaluate your campaign-to-flow revenue split • Use your first welcome email as an account-wide health check Need help generating more revenue from your existing traffic and customers? Visit CHAPTERS: 00:00 Why email and CRO are the fastest revenue opportunities 00:29 The 12-point Klaviyo inspection 01:24 Introduction 02:23 How the inspection works 02:52 Revenue growth and attribution settings 05:49 Unique clicks and Shopify sessions 07:45 Checking Gmail performance 11:11 Measuring list and audience health 14:05 Forms, subscribers, and unsubscribes 16:02 Campaign frequency and creative quality 18:01 Send volume and campaign open rates 20:24 Flow revenue and welcome email health 21:54 The complete 12-point recap Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

  7. Sep 8

    Ep 103: Should DTC Brands Wait Until $10M to Run Paid Ads? | From the Trenches: Real Problems, Real Solutions

    Should DTC brands really avoid paid ads until they hit $5M to $10M in revenue? A viral Cody Sanchez take sparked that debate, so Eric Dyck sits down with Pilothouse’s Jordan and Raf for the first edition of The DTC Rundown: a rapid-fire breakdown of the arguments, strategies, and problems DTC operators are talking about right now. They dig into when paid acquisition actually makes sense, why brands can end up spending money advertising to customers who were already going to buy, and why healthier growth can sometimes make your marketing metrics look worse. They also break down what changes as brands move past the early growth stage, including the shift from capturing existing demand to creating new demand, balancing evergreen marketing with bigger campaign moments, and keeping Meta and Klaviyo audience signals clean enough to know whether you’re actually acquiring new customers. Plus, two real examples from the trenches show what happens when a website is designed around existing customers, an acquisition funnel creates too much friction, and a brand keeps using the same playbook long after the market around it has changed. Key timestamps: 00:00 Why email and CRO can unlock revenue without more ad spend 02:21 Should brands really avoid paid ads until $5M–$10M? 10:09 The hidden ad spend wasted on existing customers 12:02 Evergreen vs. campaigns as brands scale 20:06 Why clean audience definitions matter on Meta 23:23 What slowing growth actually looks like inside the numbers 31:04 When your website is built for existing customers 38:41 The conversion funnel mistake costing one brand sales Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

  8. Sep 1

    Ep 102: 0.25% CTR and Not in Spam: What Do You Fix Next?

    What do you fix when your email program has a 0.25% click-through rate and deliverability isn’t the problem? This week, Jordan breaks down a pattern he sees across larger DTC brands: daily campaigns, oversized automated flow systems, low engagement, and plenty of attributed revenue that makes the program look healthier than it really is. He walks through how to find your real click-through rate, strip out bot activity, identify which flow messages are actually generating revenue, and figure out where relevance can still create meaningful lift. Jordan also explains why attributed revenue rewards brands for sending more email, even when those sends may have little incremental impact. Then he gets into the fix: build a true control group, simplify bloated flow systems, concentrate automated messaging around high-intent windows, reduce broad campaign frequency, and measure whether email is actually increasing customer spend across channels. Key Timestamps: 01:23 The 0.25% CTR problem 03:20 How to find your real click-through rate 05:13 The 80/20 test for bloated flow systems 07:09 How to rule out deliverability as the problem 09:33 Finding the audience where relevance matters most 13:24 Why attributed revenue rewards sending more email 15:51 Building a control group to measure incremental lift 20:10 How to simplify flows and reduce campaign volume Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠ Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠ Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

See All (110)

Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
3 Ratings

About

Welcome to The World's Best Email and Retention Podcast, or as we've been calling it, TWBERP. Dive into weekly episodes designed to help new and seasoned email and retention marketers make the most out of their email program. Get educated, get inspired, and get your notebook ready because you've got some work to do. Hosted by Pilothouse's Jordan Gordon on the DTC Podcast Network.

Information

You Might Also Like