Plus, My Cheat Sheet to AI Terms, Technologies & Platforms

The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: What are some distinctive Gen Z Shopping Behaviors, including augmented reality?
• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Making Sense of AI for Dummies.
• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Wyatt Shane, Partner Manager at Recharge, a subscription platform for ecommerce brands.
• App Highlights: Crossing Minds Conversational Search & Discovery GPT Spotlight, ReCharge Skip → Gift Shipment.
• Book of the Week - How to Think Like an Entrepreneur explores and tries to identify similar characteristics among successful entrepreneurs.
• Upcoming Events: Mark your calendars for the Transactional Email & SMS Master Class I’m hosting on June 28th with Malomo, where I’ll dive into how Electriq creates personalized transactional journeys that improve retention and increase LTV.

Random tip: Allocate a period of time each week to reading newsletters or blogs in your industry to keep up to date with what’s happening!

Let’s Chat D2C - Gen Z Shopping Behaviors

Searching on TikTok

TikTok currently has multiple beta initiatives that will put it right against Google regarding search dominance. Just look at Google Ads; any time someone searches a phrase/keyword on TikTok, you can bid on that phrase to appear first.

TikTok is the preferred discovery platform for Gen Z but historically has had a lower conversion rate with its ads platform. Now, TikTok Search will allow brands to capitalize on buyer intent. When users are actively searching for something on TikTok, they’re already expressing their interest in it.

An Insider Intelligence report showed that 43% of Gen Z adults use TikTok for product searches, while only 38% rely on search engines.

Livestream Shopping

Known for craving authenticity in marketing, tap into livestream shopping to drive more sales through platforms like TikTok. You can even enlist the help of your most closely aligned influencers to host the events, further connecting with your Gen Z audience.

Instagram just released broadcast channels where users can engage with content creators in real time, engendering the community and enabling commerce within the platform. It’s never been easier for creators to start their own businesses and monetize their audience and influence.

Augmented Reality

92% of Gen Z consumers want to use augmented reality tools for ecommerce, according to Snapchat’s survey of 16,000 users in 16 markets conducted by Global Crowd DNA.

Sixty percent of consumers said that AR experiences feel more personal, and over half of Gen Z would be more likely to pay attention to an ad that uses AR.

There are plenty of ways for brands to tap into AR. For example, makeup companies can use virtual try-on technology to allow customers to see what shades look like before purchasing. This can increase the conversion rate but also decrease the number of returns.

Google has also jumped into the game with its AI-driven virtual try-on (VTO) feature for Google Shopping. Even better, participating brands don’t have to take any additional steps to have their product accessible.

And VR adoption is just around the corner. Apple’s Vision Pro headset will be here next Summer!

AR & VR marketing will become increasingly important and provide significant returns for first movers and early adopters.

Quicker, more Easily Digestible Content

Youtube Shorts, Instagram Reels, and TikTok continue to gain market share, especially with Gen Z consumers. Create long-form content that can easily be repurposed into multiple bite-sized clips for these platforms.

TikTok boasts a 5.53% average engagement rate, Reels 4.36%, and Shorts 3.8%.

Social Platforms & Viral Trends

Gen Z is far more likely than previous generations to use social platforms to discover new products, so traditional merchandising tactics have fallen to the wayside in place of influencers and social content.?

What I’m Thinking About This Week - Making Sense of AI

If you’re anything like me, you didn’t truly understand what AI was outside of the Terminator movies and that, eventually, it will be the demise of us all. Well, unless you’ve been living under a rock in the past nine months, that’s all anyone can talk about!

I compiled an overview of some of my favorite resources, including Ben Parr’s newsletter,? with essential terms and platforms you must know!

Key Terms

• Large Language Models (LLMs): The AI models power many popular AI apps, such as ChatGPT. LLMs understand and generate text in a human-like fashion.
• Prompt Engineering: Identifying inputs–prompts–that result in meaningful outputs. This is what you enter into programs like ChatGPT.
• Machine Learning (ML): Development of algorithms and statistical models that enable machines to improve their performance with experience.
• Autonomous Agent: Given a goal or objective, an autonomous agent can create tasks for themselves and complete them until the objective is reached.
• Artificial General Intelligence: Essentially, artificial human intelligence, where AI is capable of learning intellectual tasks. This is still hypothetical but becoming increasingly more realistic.

Key Technologies

• ChatGPT Plus: Open AI’s popular AI Assistant.
• Midjourney: AI text-to-image generator.
• Tome: AI that builds presentations.

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#64 – Engaging with Customers, DTC Subscriptions, and Memberships

?? Listen Now ??

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Wyatt Shane, Partner Manager at Recharge, a subscription platform for ecommerce brands. Specifically, we explored the following:

?? The latest product updates from Recharge and how they can help merchants get more subscription customers and keep them.

?? How to go to market through agency partners.

?? Listening to your customers to inform your product development.

?? The relationship between subscriptions and memberships!

App Highlight: Crossing Minds Conversational Search & Discovery GPT Spotlight, ReCharge Skip → Gift Shipment

GPT Spotlight is ChatGPT for ecommerce, helping shoppers find relevant products through AI conversational search. It greets new visitors, helps them find relevant products for their needs, and seamlessly guides the user journey, even cross-selling complementary products. GPT Spotlight can handle the following:

• Cultural references
• Abstract prompts
• Implicit criteria
• Context and compatibility
• Negotiate and refine

You can also receive insights into top trends, searches, and customer requests, allowing you to make informed decisions around the website experience, merchandising, and product development.

I’m excited to see if Crossing Minds has plans to release visual search capabilities, where customers can search for products using images instead of text queries. Something like that would be great in the Shop App, where I could upload a picture of something I see that I want to buy and get matched to the product.

Recharge Skip → Gift Shipment.

Merchants can now allow customers to gift a subscription order instead of skipping it. Retain the extra revenue from that skipped order and potentially gain a new customer in the process!?

Book of the Week: How to Think Like an Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur seeks to build something from nothing. How to Think Like an Entrepreneur explores and tries to identify similar characteristics among successful entrepreneurs. This one is a quick, light read and provides some interesting anecdotes to consider as you embark on your entrepreneurial journey.

Upcoming Events

Mark your calendars for the Transactional Email & SMS Master Class I’m hosting on June 28th with Malomo, where I’ll dive into how Electriq creates personalized transactional journeys that improve retention and increase LTV.

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