Welcome to the 20th issue of Always Be Learning. The newsletter so good... you can't even notice that I haven't showered in days.

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Today's ABL issue is brought to you by beam.

I've struggled with sleep for YEARS. Tossing and turning all night. Taking hours just to fall asleep. And it always left me with less energy the next day.

That all changed when I discovered beam. I use their products almost every night about an hour before I want to fall asleep. Whether it's their Dream Powder or Dream Capsules, I know I'm going to get a solid night of sleep - without fail.

For all you hardcore ABL subscribers - I actually did my first marketing breakdown on beam back in June (they're pretty good marketers too!).

So if you've struggled with sleep like me, give 'em a look. Their Dream Powder is a great place to start. 👇

Today's Marketing Breakdown:

One principle that has always fascinated me is the 80/20 Rule - also known as the Pareto Principle.

The 80/20 Rule specifies that:

This rule applies to many aspects of life. Some examples below:

• 20% of criminals commit 80% of crimes.

• 20% of drivers cause 80% of all traffic accidents.

• 80% of pollution originates from 20% of all factories.

["But this is a marketing newsletter!" cried the audience]

That's where things get really interesting - when you start applying it to your business 👇

• 20% of employees are responsible for 80% of the results.

• 20% of a company's products represent 80% of sales.

• 20% of customers drive 80% of sales.

The list of applications to your business goes on and on.

I highly encourage you to run the numbers for yourself.

As a retention marketer, the main use case I'm always curious about when I start working with a new business is:

This 20% of customers is your bread and butter. You should study their behaviors inside and out:

• What's their AOV?

• How often do they buy?

• Are they on subscription?

• What products do they buy?

• What source did they come from?

It will take you down a rabbit hole of actionable insights when thinking about your marketing campaigns and KPIs.

It will reveal your ideal customer - all backed by data.

And the most exciting part?

You still have your other 80% of customers who could fit that 20% mold with the right upsell and cross-sell initiatives.

And all this does is raise the bar for your top 20% 😈

So give this analysis a shot and let me know what you think!

Bonus for all you data nerds like me: the 80/20 rule also applies to the top 20%!

i.e. 20% of your top 20% of customers drive 80% of the revenue that comes from the top 20% of customers. (Reread that a few times to comprehend lol).

With that knowledge, you can target the HIGH-ROLLER VIPs within the regular group of VIPs.

Could be worth looking into if you have a larger dataset of customers to work with.

Bottom Line:

Run the numbers. Identify your top 20% of customers and the similarities among them.

Think through how you can use that information to better inform your marketing strategy.

Remember, it doesn't have to be exactly 20% for this exercise to be useful. Maybe your top 15% generate 80% of revenue. Or maybe it's 30%. The exact number doesn't matter so much.

It's the process of finding your best customers and doubling down on what works.

Oh crap, forgot to include a gif in this newsletter... [quickly types into giphy]

There you have it! 1 marketing tip to help grow your DTC business.

Here’s what else I’m checking out in the DTC marketing world:

1. 12 formulas for writing engaging headlines

2. The story of Native deodorant - a DTC business we can all learn from

3. How Tesla is running the most effective modern marketing campaign in history - without spending a dollar on paid marketing

Last but not least... we've pivoted our TripleDouble slack community for senior DTC marketers into a FREE membership.

Which makes this community an absolute no-brainer for anybody who's serious about growing their business.

Just last week, I used an A/B test recommendation from one of our members on a popup form for SMS lead collection, and the results speak for themselves 👇:

Want in on this action? Submit your free application today and we'll get back to you asap.

Hope this has been helpful!

If you enjoyed it, please forward it along to your marketing friends.

See ya next Thursday,

Joe

P.S. Whenever you're ready, there are 3 ways I can help you:

1. Join the waitlist for my Email Marketing 101 course (click here).

2. Apply to join my free slack community of DTC marketing leaders (click here).

3. Sponsor my newsletter and get your brand or business in front of your fellow ABL subscribers (reply to this email).

P.P.S. And if you want to start writing your own newsletter on beehiiv, get started here!