Funnel Vision Issue #016

Welcome back to the latest issue of Funnel Vision, the weekly newsletter that puts performance creative & growth marketing in focus. Brought to you by the crew at Ready Set.

In this week’s issue:

🪐 Expert advice on running profitable Q5 campaigns
🗞️ Cautious consumer spending, ad-free social media, and other top news
👻 Insights from a scary-good ad that’s crushing this spooky season

Let’s get the vision.

Reading time: 6 minutes

How to transform the Q5 'black hole' into your brand's slingshot to 2025

What does Q5 marketing have to do with interstellar space travel? Quite a bit, if you think about it.

Many brands see the period between Christmas and mid-January as a revenue black hole: Avoid at all costs. Yet bold marketers understand Q5 has the potential to create exponential momentum. The kind that can power a brand well into 2025.

Here’s why:

• 70% of consumers plan to shop the week after Christmas.

• Unique consumer mindset powers spending in certain verticals.

• Rock-bottom ad costs are perfect for testing new creative concepts.

Q5 ecom marketing ain’t for everyone. But getting it right can slingshot you straight into a profitable 2025.

Here’s how to get it right.

Building a solid Q5 paid social creative strategy

There’s a common misconception that Q5 always means lower ad costs. This is not the case. There are category-specific patterns, and you need to understand how they affect your brand and product.

Two categories with distinct spend trends illustrate the point nicely:

1. Health/wellness and fintech CPM trend: Consistent costs through Q4 & Q5

2. Retail/consumer products CPM trend: Q4 spike → Q5 dip

The bucket you fall into determines your optimal creative strategy. In this case:

Bucket #1 (High Q5 CPM): Double down on proven winners. You likely have ample learnings from Q4 to inform your strategy.

Bucket #2 (Low Q5 CPM): Perfect time to test new creative concepts at a fraction of Q4 costs. Q5 is also time to fill your sponge.

🧽 Sponge theory: the ticket to sustainable growth

Think of your audience like a sponge.

• Fill the sponge during low-CPM periods with educational & UGC content and brand storytelling.

• Strategically wring out at key moments with targeted promotions and email/retargeting campaigns to drive sales.

🪐 Creative doesn't exist in isolation.

It’s just one step in the customer journey.

When ads align with the landing page experience, conversion rates improve significantly.

The landing page needs to “continue the scent” that the ad created by maintaining visual and messaging consistency. Next we’ll cover some tactics on doing just that.

Ninja-level landing page personalization 

Here's a stark reality:

• 90% of digital visitors don't identify themselves

• 85% don't enjoy their online shopping experience

Don't fall into the trap of pouring resources into acquisition while neglecting the landing page experience after the click.

Online shoppers fall into countless camps. These two serve as good examples:

1. Emotional buyers who need storytelling, affirmation, and connection before buying.

2. Rational buyers who know what they want and want a direct path to get it.

Getting the fundamentals of landing page optimization right is table stakes for Q5.

True ninja-level personalization is understanding which camp your buyer falls into and optimizing for that experience.

• In a physical store, a skilled salesperson reads dozens of subtle cues—your facial expressions, how many bags you're carrying, who you're with—to create a tailored experience. That doesn't exist online.

• Yet advances in personalization technology replicate this natural intelligence with the artificial variety. Clicks, mouse movements, where you came from, which browser you’re using, and countless other signals can be analyzed to create an optimized experience.

✅ Worth checking out: Our recent Screenshare partner ABTasty can help you get to that ninja-level personalization status.

The bottom line: Start with the fundamentals—matching ad creative to landing pages and maintaining offer consistency. Then graduate to more sophisticated personalization to give every visitor the experience they prefer, not just the one you think they want.

Get to the chopper email!

The next best thing to a sale is securing an email.

Think of it like this: Social followers are guests on your couch. Email subscribers are friends who are comfortable enough to open the fridge and grab a cold pop.

It’s a much more intimate relationship.

But here's the reality check – only 57% of emails in most databases are actually valid.

Mainly because the lifespan of an email is far shorter than you may think: 

• 3 months for B2B emails: Job changes, domain updates, and employee turnover drag the average lifespan of a B2B email down.

• 6 months for B2C emails: Personal emails last a little longer as people tend to latch onto them. But unsubscribes and the many disposable/throwaway emails people use for forms and offers brings the lifespan down.

(Keep in mind these are averages from aggregate email data across millions of records.)

Tips to build and maintain a valuable email list:

1. Offer strategic promotions to capture email addresses: 10-15% discount in exchange for subscribing.

2. Regularly validate your email list—aim for 2-3 times a year.

3. Consider using a separate domain for your marketing and transactional emails to preserve the deliverability of the core business domain.

✅ Worth checking out: ZeroBounce, another Screenshare partner, has what you need to get your email list validated and cleaned up.

Your Q5 power hour

These low-effort, high-impact action items (that take less than an hour each) can set you up for Q5 domination.

1. Performance creative audit

Review historical campaign data to understand spend patterns. Use this precedent to set clear campaign objectives—fill the sponge and test new creative concepts if CPMs are low, run creative optimized for performance if CPMs are competitive and your buyers are actively shopping.

2. Landing page quick wins

Review the creative-to-landing page journey to ensure it’s cohesive. Ensure promo codes are valid and that you’re clearly communicating shipping and return policies to your holiday buyers.

3. Validate your email list

It’s quick, it’s cheap, and it adds far more value than it costs.

Q5, let’s get it 🔥

The invisible quarter offers a golden opportunity to capitalize on (mostly) lower ad costs, less competition, and unique consumer behavior.

Don’t sleep on it. Your Q1 self will thank you.

💡 Good to know: Explore more winning full-funnel Q5 tactics in the latest Screenshare Session featuring a powerhouse panel of ecommerce experts. Watch here →

Need a partner to help maximize your Q5 potential? Reach out to learn how Ready Set can help you transform the “hidden quarter” into profit.

CLICKABLE LINKS 👆️ 

🫣 Current consumer spending vibe: wait and see. That’s according to the Federal Reserve, who say people are delaying large purchases until after the election.

📱 Major social media platforms including Meta, TikTok, and Snapchat test a monthly ad-free subscription. Is this the beginning of the ad-free social media era?

🙅 The FTC’s long-awaited rule banning fake online reviews and testimonials is now officially in effect.

AD OF THE WEEK ✨

In this section, we analyze high-performing ads and extract actionable insights you can use to power your creative.

To mark spooky season, this week we’re looking at a scary-good ad for body care brand Spongellé and their signature Halloween-themed body wash infused buffers.

⏱️ Length: 13 seconds
📺 Platform: TikTok

This ad combines seasonal marketing with ASMR-style content trends, while maintaining strong performance marketing principles. It successfully turns a basic body care product into an engaging, seasonally-relevant campaign.

Winning elements: Why this ad works

🎃 Seasonal integration without compromise. Rather than simply adding Halloween elements, the ad fully commits to the horror movie aesthetic—from the black and white filter to the "DON'T SCREAM" text overlay. The seasonal theme is woven throughout the product experience, including themed products like pumpkin-shaped buffers and ghost designs.

🧼 Sensory-rich content drives engagement. The ad leverages ASMR-style close-ups of product lather and suds, tapping into the massive popularity of "satisfying" content. These shots create an almost tangible sense of the product experience, making viewers want to reach through their screens.

🎯 Landing page synchronization. The ad maintains perfect visual and promotional consistency with its landing page—from the Halloween theme to the exact same discount offer and code. This seamless transition from ad to website reduces friction in the purchase journey.

What can we learn from this ad?

Transform everyday products into seasonal experiences. Instead of just offering a discount, Spongellé created themed products and matching content. Consider how your product can be reimagined through a seasonal lens, beyond just promotional overlays.

Layer multiple content trends. The ad combines horror movie aesthetics with ASMR elements and product demonstration. Look for opportunities to stack multiple engaging content styles that appeal to different viewer preferences while still serving your core message.

Create clear visual pathways to purchase. The ad makes strategic use of persistent promotional elements (the rotating pumpkin with "30% OFF") while maintaining the creative integrity of the content. This ensures viewers always know how to act on their interest, without disrupting the ad's entertainment value.

Thanks for reading!

Enjoy spooky season, kids.

Halloween is next Thursday. Stock up on candy now, or face the wrath of the neighborhood hooligans. You’ve been warned!

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