Why sell a $12 product for $1.80?

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A $12 product sold for $1.80 sounds like a margin problem. For beauty brand rèphr, it is a way to find problems with a product before ordering more of it.

Customers try full-size prototypes, pay what they want, and give feedback after they have used them. Today’s deep dive looks at what that feedback can tell you, and what a steep discount cannot prove.

Today:
We break down rèphr’s product-testing process, show the Grüns motion ad we made with Claude, cover Google’s new ad-budget controls and reconcile one payout.

Imagine ordering a large batch of a new product, then learning customers dislike using it. Beauty brand rèphr has built a way to learn earlier.

Its Concept Store sells full-size prototypes before a main-store release. The deal is simple: customers pay what they want, use the product, then tell rèphr what should change.

The Puff Trio has a $12 reference price, but customers can choose $1.80, $3, $6, or enter another amount. That low price helps get prototypes into real hands. Customers still pay something, and US orders below $40 have a shipping charge.

Rèphr says the feedback request appears 60 days after shipment. That timing matters. A first impression might tell you whether a product looks appealing. Weeks of use reveal whether it actually works, what frustrates customers, and what they would change.

This is more than a survey for show. The Brush 25 page currently says the product is unavailable while it goes through a redesign based on community feedback.

A small test batch can expose problems before a much bigger inventory order. Customers feel involved in creating the final product. And rèphr can see which ideas attract interest while collecting specific feedback on how to improve them.

There is one limit: someone buying at 75% off does not prove they will buy at full price. This tests the product experience first. Full-price demand still needs its own test.

The first batch does not need to be a profit centre. It needs to stop you making a much more expensive mistake.

The How-To

Claude just made a type of ad much easier for ecommerce teams to test.

Its new Motion feature creates animations with code. In the launch video, Anthropic uses it for presentations: moving charts, text and explainers.

We saw a different opportunity: show shoppers how a product works.

So we built this 15-second ad for Grüns. Instead of putting “6g of prebiotic fiber” on a static image, the ad turns slow digestion into a playful traffic jam. The animation makes the product idea easier to grasp.

Think about the benefit your customers struggle to picture. You could show the mechanism, try a different visual style, or test another explanation without starting a new video shoot. That opens up creative ideas many brands would never have tried.

But there’s a catch. Ask Claude to “make an ad,” and you may get a script or attractive frames, not a video you can run. It needs to check the product claims, plan the scenes, build the animation, review the timing and export the file.

Below, we share the exact prompt we used to get from the Grüns landing page to the finished ad, plus six distinct styles you can ask Claude to create.

Ask Wispr Flow Notetaker one question across every meeting you've had and get an answer with citations back to the call. Pricing, deadlines, who owns what. Free to try on Windows and Mac.

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Google Ads adds channel-level budget controls
Google is rolling out new ways to prioritize channels and set best-effort spending limits on lower-priority inventory across Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Demand Gen. Check where your spend goes now before deciding whether to test Search partners or Display with a limit.

TikTok Shop sets its holiday campaign for November 11–30
TikTok says its Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaign will run across those dates. If you sell on Shop, plan creator content, stock, delivery promises, and offers for the full window, not only the four-day weekend.

Shopify opens Shop Pay checkout to AI shopping agents
Shop MCP lets compatible agents find products, build carts, and take buyers to Shop Pay checkout with approval. Check that your product titles, prices, descriptions, and availability make sense when an agent reads them.

Klaviyo makes Composer available to customers
Its AI marketing agent can analyze customer and campaign data and save repeatable workflows. If you use Klaviyo, ask where the biggest drop-off occurs between the first and second purchase before planning another broad campaign.

Pick one recent payment-processor payout and match it to the deposit in your bank account.

A sales report shows what customers paid. The payout shows what reached your bank after refunds, fees, and adjustments.

Why this works:

Your rep:

Report: “One payout reconciled.”

Revenue is not cash until it lands in the bank.

Imagine a Saturday where you're not catching up on the CRM you didn't touch all week. 

HubSpot's new self-updating CRM doesn't wait for you to log back in. Friday's calls are already logged. The deal that needs a nudge Monday morning is already flagged. The automation you set up once keeps running without you thinking about it. None of it needed you over the weekend. 

Customers are already seeing it pay off: 45% more deals closed. Finally, you start Monday caught up, not behind.

Get a Demo

Advertise to 40,692 E-Commerce Businesses

Promote your tool, service or upcoming event - Reach Founders

Imagine ordering a large batch of a new product, then learning customers dislike using it. Beauty brand rèphr has built a way to learn earlier.

Its Concept Store sells full-size prototypes before a main-store release. The deal is simple: customers pay what they want, use the product, then tell rèphr what should change.

The Puff Trio has a $12 reference price, but customers can choose $1.80, $3, $6, or enter another amount. That low price helps get prototypes into real hands. Customers still pay something, and US orders below $40 have a shipping charge.

Rèphr says the feedback request appears 60 days after shipment. That timing matters. A first impression might tell you whether a product looks appealing. Weeks of use reveal whether it actually works, what frustrates customers, and what they would change.

This is more than a survey for show. The Brush 25 page currently says the product is unavailable while it goes through a redesign based on community feedback.

A small test batch can expose problems before a much bigger inventory order. Customers feel involved in creating the final product. And rèphr can see which ideas attract interest while collecting specific feedback on how to improve them.

There is one limit: someone buying at 75% off does not prove they will buy at full price. This tests the product experience first. Full-price demand still needs its own test.

The first batch does not need to be a profit centre. It needs to stop you making a much more expensive mistake.

The How-To

Claude just made a type of ad much easier for ecommerce teams to test.

Its new Motion feature creates animations with code. In the launch video, Anthropic uses it for presentations: moving charts, text and explainers.

We saw a different opportunity: show shoppers how a product works.

So we built this 15-second ad for Grüns. Instead of putting “6g of prebiotic fiber” on a static image, the ad turns slow digestion into a playful traffic jam. The animation makes the product idea easier to grasp.

Think about the benefit your customers struggle to picture. You could show the mechanism, try a different visual style, or test another explanation without starting a new video shoot. That opens up creative ideas many brands would never have tried.

But there’s a catch. Ask Claude to “make an ad,” and you may get a script or attractive frames, not a video you can run. It needs to check the product claims, plan the scenes, build the animation, review the timing and export the file.

Below, we share the exact prompt we used to get from the Grüns landing page to the finished ad, plus six distinct styles you can ask Claude to create.

Google Ads adds channel-level budget controls
Google is rolling out new ways to prioritize channels and set best-effort spending limits on lower-priority inventory across Search, Shopping, Performance Max, and Demand Gen. Check where your spend goes now before deciding whether to test Search partners or Display with a limit.

TikTok Shop sets its holiday campaign for November 11–30
TikTok says its Black Friday and Cyber Monday campaign will run across those dates. If you sell on Shop, plan creator content, stock, delivery promises, and offers for the full window, not only the four-day weekend.

Shopify opens Shop Pay checkout to AI shopping agents
Shop MCP lets compatible agents find products, build carts, and take buyers to Shop Pay checkout with approval. Check that your product titles, prices, descriptions, and availability make sense when an agent reads them.

Klaviyo makes Composer available to customers
Its AI marketing agent can analyze customer and campaign data and save repeatable workflows. If you use Klaviyo, ask where the biggest drop-off occurs between the first and second purchase before planning another broad campaign.

Pick one recent payment-processor payout and match it to the deposit in your bank account.

A sales report shows what customers paid. The payout shows what reached your bank after refunds, fees, and adjustments.

Why this works:

Your rep:

Report: “One payout reconciled.”

Revenue is not cash until it lands in the bank.