Why belief must come before benefits or pricing

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In today’s newsletter,

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Check out our DTC tool stack here

Let’s dive into it👇

If you're sourcing internationally, there's a 2% margin improvement sitting in your payment stack that most brands aren't capturing.

Here's what's happening:

You pay suppliers $50K-$100K+ monthly via bank transfer. Cash leaves immediately. You earn zero rewards. Payment takes 3-5 days to arrive. 🥱

The better play:

Pay those same suppliers by credit card with Melio. They receive funds in local currency (faster than wire transfers). You earn 1.5-2% cashback and defer payment 30-45 days. 🥱

The math:

That's pure margin improvement with zero change to your supplier relationships or product costs.

Plus you consolidate international and domestic payments into one dashboard. Better reconciliation, better visibility, less admin work.

It’s worth testing Melio if you're spending $20K+ monthly on international inventory.

Limited time: Make your first international credit card payment of $1,000+ in your vendor’s local currency and get a $500 gift card. Limited to 100 brands, ends March 31.

Let us know by simply replying to this email, and we’ll have an expert reach out to you and answer that, and you can also expect to receive some helpful resources.

IM8 scaled to 495K monthly visits without discounting.

How?

They load authority signals BEFORE mentioning product benefits or price.

Here's the sequence:

1. Celebrity + Institutions First

"Co-founded by David Beckham.”

“Trusted by the World No. 1 tennis player.”

“Developed by experts from Mayo Clinic and NASA."

2. Then The Claim

"92 nutrient-rich ingredients in one drink."

Now this feels credible because of what came before it.

Same claim from a Walmart brand? You'd probably scroll past.

3. Social Proof Everywhere

4. Price Comparison Last

Only after all this authority do they show the cost comparison vs buying individual supplements.

The result: By the time you see the price, you've already bought in.

But you probably don't have Beckham money or NASA partnerships right now.

Here's what you can stack above your product claims:

Post Credit: Nick Theriot

Think about the last thing you bought.

You didn't buy it because of the specs.

You bought it because of what you wanted to feel, become, or avoid.

Cody Wittick drove $350K in attributable revenue by nailing this principle: every purchase traces back to a desire.

The ad doesn’t say, "Contains 5 types of collagen for joint and skin health."

They say: "Move Like You Used To"

The desire? Feeling young again.

The ad doesn’t say "Supports sleep with natural ingredients."

They say: "Support Your Sleep. No Melatonin Needed."

The desire? Better sleep without the prescription list.

Your turn:

You can also A/B test your existing ad to test how well this works!

Post Credit: Thread by Cody Wittick on X

Bryan Porter’s brand was built on Amazon first.
For a long time, selling directly on their website felt impossible.

In the last year, that changed.
They’ve had multiple $1M+ weeks on DTC, a channel many Amazon-native brands never make profitable.

The shift came from leaning into a DTC-specific advantage.

Here’s the simple math.

Shipping 1 unit costs about $12.
Shipping 4 units together costs about $14.

Instead of competing with Amazon on single-unit pricing, Bryan designed the site to reward multi-unit orders.

Each step encourages one more item in the cart.
Shipping cost per item goes down.
Average order value goes up.

Post Credit: Thread by Bryan Porter

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