Sarah Levinger

Tether Insights

Founder

Alt Marketing School

Top 100 Trailblazers for 2023

SarahLevinger.co

Paid Creative Consultant, Consumer Behavior Analyst

KnoCommerce

Fractional Director of Growth Marketing

Storetasker

Top 20 Ecommerce Experts to Follow in 2023

Ad World Conference

Future of Advertising Track Speaker

Forbes

Read the article ➡️ https://bit.ly/3HW2BHu

Forbes Featured Performance Creative Agency

Halftone Graphics

Media Buyer, Creative Strategist

Agency Owner, Marketing & Business Consultant

After watching my agency clients struggle to connect deeply with their customers, I went on a 10 year long search to figure out what really makes buyers tick.

What I found was kind of shocking…

My gut feeling was right - it’s not always about how creative your ads are, how irresistible your offers seem, or even the strategy you've spent months perfecting.

Nope, the secret to truly connecting with those elusive customers and unlocking the potential to generate millions is...well, a bit deeper than that.

When you understand the real reasons behind customer behaviors, you're not just shooting arrows in the dark hoping to hit the target. You’re crafting messages that resonate, strategies that work, and connections that last. 

And that’s where the magic happens, where browsing turns into buying, and casual customers become loyal fans.

I’m here to guide you through this journey, translating complex consumer behavior into actionable, growth-driving strategies. 

It’s time you unlocked the full potential of your brand…using psychology.

Director of Growth Marketing

I’ve read over 250 books on consumer psychology. Most are useless 😅 But these 6 will turn you into a top 1% marketer:

1️⃣ Marketing to Mindstates – Will Leach
The most “plug-and-play” psychology book for marketers. Shows you how goals, emotions, and cognitive biases combine into “mindstates” — and how to write ads, offers, and CTAs that meet people in that exact state.

2️⃣ Thinking, Fast and Slow – Daniel Kahneman
Not a “marketing” book, but it explains why your customers say one thing on surveys and do the opposite in real life. System 1 vs System 2 = creative vs CRO in book form.

3️⃣ Predictably Irrational – Dan Ariely
Turns abstract biases into real experiments: decoy pricing, “free,” anchors, weird buying behavior. You’ll start seeing test ideas on every PDP you visit.

4️⃣ How Brands Grow – Byron Sharp
The uncomfortable one. Kills a lot of “perfect avatar” myths and forces you to think in penetration, distinctiveness, and memory structures instead of vibe-based targeting.

5️⃣ The Choice Factory – Richard Shotton
Short, punchy chapters. 25 biases, each with a practical application. Easiest one to go from “that’s interesting” → “I just changed this ad because of it.”

6️⃣ Alchemy – Rory Sutherland
This is where you learn to stop being a spreadsheet gremlin and start making creative leaps again. It’s pure “logic is overrated, perception is everything” energy.

I help DTC brands generate better ROI with psychology-based creative. 🧠 Talks about: consumer psychology, behavior science, paid ads. Founder @ Tether Insights

“Research your customer everyday.”
Ok…how? 🤔

“Get to know your customer better.”
Ok…𝘩𝘰𝘸? 🤨

“Know your customers better than they know themselves.”
Ok…HOW?! 😩

I can’t stand this advice on Twitter.

It sounds smart, but you can’t do anything with it. You can’t put “know them better than they know themselves” in a Notion doc and have it grow a brand for you.

Here’s what “knowing your customer” actually looks like in practice 👇

1. Read 10–20 customer reviews a day. Copy/paste the best phrases into a doc. Don’t “summarize”, steal their exact wording.

2. Listen to 1 sales or support call. Write down every time they say “I was worried that…” or “What I really want is…”.

3. Run 1 tiny poll a week. One question. One hypothesis. “What almost stopped you from buying?” is better than a 30-question survey nobody finishes.

4. Screenshot ads + comments in your niche. Your customers are already telling other brands what they love, hate, and don’t believe. Use it.

5. Tag what you find. Fears, desires, identity, situations, objections. Turn all those random insights into buckets you can actually build ads from.

(Basically, setup a boring little system you can repeat until their words are more familiar to you than your own copy.)

That’s “knowing your customer.”

THAT’S NOT THE END THOUGH!!!

After you LISTEN…here’s what to do 👇

1. Capture, don’t paraphrase.
Drop their exact sentences into a doc or spreadsheet.

One row = one quote. No cleaning it up. No “marketing-ifying” it.

2. Tag the emotion.
Next to each quote, add a simple label:
	•	afraid / frustrated / overwhelmed
	•	hopeful / relieved / proud
Just naming the feeling you see, don’t try and interpret it just yet.

3. Tag the situation.
WHEN does this show up?
	•	At checkout
	•	After a bad agency experience
	•	Late at night doom-scrolling
Context = targeting later so write it down.

4. Tag the identity.
Who are they trying to be?
	•	Good parent
	•	Smart operator
	•	Calm, in-control person
This is where your best hooks will come from.

5. Turn quotes into “Because → So → So that” lines.

For each big insight, write it in the following format:

Because they [feel X] in [situation Y], they want [outcome Z] so that they can [identity win].

(𝘐𝘧 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘮 𝘐 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘨𝘴, 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘢𝘶𝘵𝘰𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺, 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦: https://lnkd.in/gfSFnuTP)

Now you don’t just have “voice of customer” data floating around everywhere. You have testable ad angles:
	•	The fear angle
	•	The identity angle
	•	The relief angle
	•	The “everyone else is doing it wrong” angle

Listening is only step one. Labeling, structuring, and testing what you hear.

Tagging is step two. Labeling, tracking, and clearly understanding. 

That’s how “know your customer” turns into “this is an ad we can scale.”💰

A client came in last week with a stagnant ad account and a burnt-out creative team.

I got them on my new creative strategy system that only builds from real-time customer insights and within just a few days, 50% of their spend had shifted to ads built with the new OS! The team also told me they, "love checking the emotional dashboard" we created since it shows emotional trends, not just behavioral ones, which gives me all the warm fuzzies. 🥰

Clean your customer data. It will uncover where your ads will actually win.

Germans are 31% more likely to save money.
They retire with 39% more wealth.
They smoke less, exercise more, and are generally healthier than comparable countries (like the US).

According to economist M. Keith Chen this isn't because they're more disciplined, earn more, or because they're culturally more advanced...

It's because their language makes them think about the future...all the time. 😅

In Chen’s 2013 study (“The Effect of Language on Economic Behavior”), he found that languages that don’t clearly mark the future (like German, Mandarin, Finnish) make people believe and behave as if the future is happening 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸.

Ex: if you speak German and wanted to remark about the weather, you'd say: “It 𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴 tomorrow.”

If you speak English, you'd say: “It 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 rain tomorrow.”

That tiny structural difference in grammar is incredibly powerful. So much in fact, that it can predict:

✅ Whether you spend or save
✅ Whether you exercise
✅ How much you exercise
✅ How much you eat
✅ How far ahead in life you plan
✅ Even national GDP savings rates

If you change the way people talk about the future, you change the way the brain behaves.

👉 Here’s why this should matter to marketers:

Because of the way the English language works, if you're marketing to an English speaker, you can accidentally cause people to psychologically distance themselves from you just by 𝘩𝘰𝘸 you say things. Every time you say “feel better today,” “see results today,” “get improvements today”…you’re pushing the action you want them to take into the future.

𝘕𝘖𝘛𝘌: 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘴𝘦𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺'𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘶𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦. 𝘎𝘳𝘢𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴: 𝘺𝘰𝘶’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘵 (“𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭”), 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘢𝘵𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘢 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯’𝘵 𝘱𝘩𝘺𝘴𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘦𝘵.

The brain interprets it as: start feeling better 𝘭𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘳, not now.

📌 To fix this, bring the future closer so the brain understands what's at stake if no action is taken:

𝟭. 𝗧𝗲𝘀𝘁 “𝗳𝘂𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂” 𝘃𝘀 “𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂” 𝗶𝗻 𝗮𝗱𝘀.
“Your future self 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 you” → “Your future self 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬𝘴 you.”
Identity activates now, not later.

𝟮. 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗶𝗹𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗲𝗹𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝘁 𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗲.
“You’ll learn how…” → “Learn how…”
“You’ll discover why…” → “Discover why…”
Stop selling the future; collapse the timeline.

𝟯. 𝗨𝘀𝗲 𝗮 𝗻𝗼𝗻-𝗼𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗳𝗿𝗮𝗺𝗲.
“You’ll feel more confident when you do X.” → “Confidence kicks in the moment you start.”
If the benefit feels immediate, the brain treats it like a reward, not homework.

TLDR: If grammar can change national savings rates, it can absolutely change your conversion rate. Fix the words → shift the behavior.

Listen, we need to talk...😬

Your creative now has to pass two filters inside Meta’s system, not just one. Ads first get scanned through the:

 1️⃣ “Does this look like something people naturally engage with?” filter

Meta’s models now compare your ad to the patterns of organic content people stop for. If the creative doesn’t behave like the content the feed is trained to reward, reach gets throttled before the auction even matters.

AND THEN it gets pushed through:

 2️⃣ “How does this stack up against everything else in the auction?” filter

This is where most brands think the game begins, but if your ad hasn’t cleared that first creative-fit filter, it shows up to the auction already behind. (That’s why so many teams felt like they were pushing a boulder uphill in 2025...)

DTC is going to have to learn how to make micro-stories the way organic creators do, because that’s the creative style Meta’s prediction systems are currently rewarding. 

Anyone still running 2018-era UGC templates and wondering why their CPMs are melting is ngmi….

🎁 Don’t know who needs this, but here’s a prompt that will generate ad concepts based on 2 psychology principles: endowment effect and commitment consistency principle:

🎯 Objective
Create ad concepts using the Endowment Effect + Commitment–Consistency to push warm buyers over the line.
Make people feel like the outcome is already theirs, and that the next click is just finishing what they started.

⸻

🧠 Psychology Behind It

Endowment Effect
We value things more once they feel like ours—even temporarily. “Reserved for you,” free trials, and personalized previews work because the brain upgrades an item from “a product” to “my product.”

Commitment–Consistency
After a small “yes” (quiz answers, starting a trial, adding to cart), people feel pressure to act in line with that decision. It’s easier to follow through than feel flaky.

Together
Endowment = emotional ownership (“this is already mine”).
Commitment–Consistency = behavioral follow-through (“people like me finish what we start”).
Saying no now feels weirder than saying yes.

⸻

🛠️ Build Rules
	•	Create instant ownership: “your plan,” “your reserved seat,” pre-filled dashboard, saved cart, “we already set this up for you.”
	•	Surface prior commitments: remind them what they clicked, answered, or said they wanted.
	•	Tie it to identity: the next step is what organized / protective / ambitious people do.
	•	Make quitting feel off: wasted effort, staying stuck, leaving an upgrade half-finished.
	•	Position your brand as the obvious continuation—not a new decision.

⸻

✍️ Concept Template

Each ad concept should include:
	1.	Big Idea / Premise
How they’re already mentally “owning” the outcome + the commitment they’ve already made that naturally leads to your offer.
	2.	Narrative Angle / Hook
Visual or line that shows:
	•	this is already theirs (reserved screen, almost-complete checklist, “your results”), and
	•	the nudge to stay consistent.
	3.	Mechanisms in Play
	•	Endowment Effect → feels like theirs.
	•	Commitment–Consistency → following through feels like being true to themselves.
	4.	Best Formats
	•	“Reserved for [First Name]” UI mockups
	•	Pre-built dashboards or plans
	•	Quiz result pages (“Based on your answers…”)
	•	Checklists with one box unchecked
	•	Cart/booking reminders referencing what they already chose

⸻

✅ Output Instructions

Generate 3 ad concepts that:
	•	Make the product/result feel already owned.
	•	Call back to a belief, step, or micro-yes they gave earlier.
	•	Frame backing out as wasteful or off-brand for them.
	•	Present your offer as the natural final step.

Tone: confident, identity-driven, and nudgy—built to turn fence-sitters into “of course I’m in.”

2025: the year of AI.
2026: the year of compounded content.

No alternative text description for this image

Someone I greatly respect told me recently that the best business have a marketer for a CEO, an accountant for a COO, and a therapist as your CTO.

Finding the “why” might have been the single worst thing we could have ever told marketers to do.

Do not tell me that “organic posts don’t sell.” DO NOT COME AT ME WITH THAT NONSENSE because I just spent 3 hours going down a giant reddit rabbit hole about something called an "occlupanid" after seeing ONE POST from and organic creator…and found a whole community collecting, sharing, and BUYING those weird plastic things that come on bread bags. 🤣🤯😵‍💫

I am here for this content.
That is all.

Logical thinking is taught pervasively throughout all levels of education (from pre-schools to advanced PhDs) precisely because it is not the default brain setting for humans and therefore takes years of study to master even at a basic level.

Remember this, the next time your “no-brainer” offer flops.

There’s 3 levels to UGC scripting:

🚀LEVEL 1: Chat-written scripts
🚀LEVEL 2: Chat+human written scripts
🚀LEVEL 3: find wicked good posts from organic content, transcribe them using Gemini, building story arcs frameworks from them 

For example, I saw this “Edu-rage” piece of content that uses Serial Escalation (a comedy trope) and Rising Action to a Climax (a traditional story arc) to keep the viewer hooked.

To develop an ad/clip using this structure we use this formula:

1. Select a Topic: Choose a set of 5-8 common items/facts that people might argue over (e.g., brand names vs. generic names, common mispronunciations, product slang).

2. Record Reactions: Film a creator reacting genuinely, encouraging them to be expressive, loud, or overly frustrated by "incorrect" but common answers.

3. Structure the Flow: Arrange the questions so the host starts strong, makes a minor error, recovers, and then hits the most frustrating or debatable question at the end for the final dramatic reaction.

4. Insert Disruption: At least once, have the host stop the quiz to rant or talk about a related, funny non-sequitur.

(And if you want more tips like this…don’t follow me because the algorithm won’t show you my posts anymore thanks to FYP algorithms. Like/share so it knows you like this stuff. 😅)

10,000 e-commerce stores participated in an industry-wide BFCM study this year. 🤯

Out of those 10,000 stores:

→ 39,693 SMS messages were analyzed
→ 114,972 emails were captured
→ And 500 popups were dissected

…down to the pixel. 

I’ve been studying this report for a minute and can confirm: this year was weirdly different than any other BFCM we’ve seen. 😨

Wanna see the full report? Download it here: https://lnkd.in/gz-bC4gn
#AD

Open article: The Black Friday 2025 Mega Report: Inside the Data by recart.com

The Black Friday 2025 Mega Report: Inside the Data

Framework

Leading a boutique growth marketing team with deep expertise in paid social, creative strategy and ad production. We work with a few partners in a big way.

Atomic

Advisor

Uptick

Uptick is a post-purchase monetization platform that helps eCommerce brands increase revenue by displaying tailored, high-quality offers on the order confirmation page. Turning post-purchase moments into profit—without compromising user experience.

Rubix Agency

Goldbelly

- Led growth and creative strategy across social media, paid and organic (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube), and later on CTV/linear.

- Managed both in house team and agencies, optimized both short term ad creative as well as big swing ideas.

- Built whitelisting/influencer program from the ground up with over 500 influencers, resulting over 100M impressions

- My entire growth strategy was focused on incremental revenue and profitable CAC/LTV

Head of Growth

Managed Goldbelly's 8 figures paid social strategy. From media buying to creative strategy, ad production, influencer and creator partnerships, product launches and creative campaigns. I ran dozens of incrementality tests and scale the ad account to 8 figures a year.

Fractional Growth Strategist, Paid Social & Creative

Power Digital Marketing

Senior Director, Paid Advertising

• Managed two teams of media buyers and creative strategist overseeing enterprise account, ~20 team members total and $5-10M in monthly ad spend
• Served as account executive/strategic advisor for brands' C-suite/founders like Goldbelly, Snake River Farms, Aeroflow Healthcare, Aviator Nation, Cometeer and more.frame
• Key KPIs: revenue per employee, client/revenue retention, and EBITDA growth

Director of Paid Social

• Built and managed a team of media buyers. ~7 team members and $4-5M/month of paid social advertising spend (across Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)
• Onboarded and trained new team members while building scaleable processes
• Managed my own portfolio of ad accounts from A-Z (media buying, creative strategy with full funnel approach)
• Key KPIs: client growth, employee retention, team growth

Associate Director of Paid Social

• Managed paid social growth for 7-9 figures e-commerce brands.
• Responsible for $1-2M/month in ad spend
• Developed the agency's creative strategy team and overall approach to creative testing
• Key KPIs: client growth, CPA/RoAS

Performance Marketing Manager

Wayfair

• Managed merchandising, web experience and growth for various 7-9 figures home improvement categories: vanities, medicine cabinets, toilets
• Achieved overall 34% CVR increase and 17% increase in organic traffic through customer behavior deep dives, UX testing, and SEO optimizations
• Facilitated quarterly business growth plans and performance reports for ~50K products within owned categories based on historical data, competitive analysis and market research
• Established strategic partnerships with key suppliers and outside stakeholders to enable quick reactions to market trends

E-commerce Strategist

Foodie Authority

• Managed 10+ social media accounts and for hospitality clients
• Grew social media following for medium to large pages by 200%-350% 
• Managed local paid social campaigns to effectively generate brand awareness and leads
• Increased brands’ customer engagement by ~100% by producing high-quality content
• Utilized various analytics tools to track results and drive strategic marketing decisions for small businesses

Founder, Social Media & Creative Director

Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel

• Managed diplomatic security team and developed a training/onboarding program
• Applied security strategies for high-profile missions, ministers and ambassadors
• Managed relationships with government officials (State Department, Mayor's office)
• Created and managed content in collaboration with the Director of PR
• Planned and budgeted strategic projects and events with the Director of HR

Diplomatic Affairs Agent

Shakas Hawaii

• Managed social media channels (FB, IG), content calendar and brand strategy
• Increased engagement by 500% and account following by 250% in 4 months
• Built ambassador program featuring local influencers, resulting in an increase of
website traffic by 25% and revenue by 7%
• A/B tested email subject lines to increase engagement among existing customers
• Developed and launched new products in close collaboration with CEO

Social Media Marketing Associate

🚀 Paid Social & Creative Strategy | $100M+ In Meta & TikTok Ads | $250M+ In Revenue for DTC & CPG

My journey from videography to growth and entrepreneurship:

My marketing career (unofficially) started behind the camera, running a video production studio for local businesses, primarily restaurants. Within a few years I didn’t just learn how to make visually appealing videos, I learned how to make people FEEL certain emotions when looking at the content. And as it turned out, years later, I realized that’s exactly what great ads do too.  

But I also learned to that good creative alone isn’t enough. So I went deep into data and analytics during my time at Wayfair—like real deep—SQL, GA, MTAs, ads manager, incrementality, you name it. But it gotten too dry spending my days with data only. So I found my way to paid social because it gave me the best of both worlds, creative and data. I started mastering it because what’s point of great creative if it’s not creating value? I realized my life can’t be just an art project anymore (maybe later…)

I’ve worked both in-house at 9 and 10-figure brands as well as agency side where I helped dozens of 7-9 figure brands scale profitably, running media, creative strategy, and ad production. I learned that a $10M brand, a $100M brand, and a $1B brand all have different pain points that require very different strategies - but there are frameworks to identify blockers and unlock them. I know it because I tested and learned and saw real life results, without motos like “growth at all costs”.

But I also realized that the 2nd most important thing outside of scaling revenue s cutting losses quick. I’ve saved my clients over $20M by running incrementality tests that exposed wasted spend. This led to shifting budgets from Google to Meta, or from Meta to TikTok, or just lowering across the board and getting the same results. I’ve restructured dozens of ad accounts reallocating dollars to what actually works.

I’m known to share the uncomfortable truth, but with a roadmap to fixing it. Too many agencies look for a win to celebrate and miss the big picture, rarely taking big swings. And let’s be real, there are times where agency just doesn’t make sense so I helped my clients build their in house team. I believe the DTC community so small, and doing what’s right is far more important than cashing in the short term.

I live and breath food, beverage, kitchen, and home brands. I also know what it’s like to be in the founder’s seat because I co-founded two CPG brands myself. I spend every dollar as if it was mine, and that will never change. 

If you feel stuck on ads - hit me up and let’s chat, no strings attached!

taplio

The Battle

Sarah Levinger

Tamir V.

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance ScoreSarah Levinger's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

Sarah Levinger

Tamir V.

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Sarah Levinger's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance ScoreSarah Levinger's LinkedIn Performance