Optimized | Growth Marketing Agency

Founder

UPTHRUST | Growth Marketing & Digital Product Studio

Digital Marketeer

Hi, My name is Alexander 👋. 

I am the founder of Optimized Agency. We're a small team of creative strategists, paid media experts & email wizards and helped numerous ambitious DTC brands launch and scale through high-performing creatives, paid media strategy and email marketing.

If you're a DTC brand struggling with creative content, profitably scaling your sales and looking to scale? We'd love to talk!

Last month we hit a record-breaking revenue month for a woman's health care brand we started working with in January.  
  
This is the exact playbook we used to take them from €20K/month to €300K/month, profitably.  
  
1. Systems for creative testing  
This brand had been running the same creatives for months on end. Big no no.  
  
We started with creative research.  
  
We went through their Amazon reviews, product reviews, organic social comments and sent out a survey to all their highest value customers (3+ purchases) to understand why people are buying and what product benefits they liked the most.  
  
We were able to identify 5 major pain points the product was solving. This served as the basis for our creative angles.  
  
Our creative strategist outlined a roadmap with the creatives we wanted to produce and test over the next couple of weeks.  
  
We had a mix of statics and UGC content, focusing on product demos and reviews.  
  
We were able to launch 3 new creative concepts every week and identified winning angles and creatives.  
  
From there we could feed our creative feedback loop and start iterating on our best-performing creatives to find even more efficiency.  
  
2. Account consolidation  
The ad account was a mess. A lot of campaigns and a lot of ad sets, spreading the budget and learning too thin.  
  
We restructured to:  
- Creative testing campaign, housing all our creative tests (20% of budget)  
- Prospecting scaling campaign (CBO), housing all our creative winners (70% of budget)  
- ASC campaign with dynamic catalog ads of different product categories (10% of budget)  
  
This setup allows the algorithm to learn and optimize a lot faster and spend more efficiently.  
  
3. Testing Landing pages & increasing AOV  
Once we identified winning creative angles and audiences, we started building landing pages around those angles.  
  
We built  4 listicles (5 reasons why) landing pages. One for each winning angle.  
  
Instead of focusing on single products we also built bundles of best-selling products, and launched them on our landing pages as ‘limited time only’ bundles.  
  
This increased both AOV and conversion rates.  
  
Finding breakthrough growth is no rocket science.  
  
It takes the right systems and people to:  
- Consistently crank out new creatives and apply learnings  
- Use the right setup to spend your ad budget as efficiently as possible  
- Have the right tools and systems in place to quickly build landing pages

Alexander Pauwelyn

Founder at Optimized Agency | Helping ambitious DTC brands lower new customer acquisition costs through performance creative, paid media and email 🚀

Is it possible to increase revenue by 200% and decrease acquisition costs by 30% in 30 days? 
 
You bet. But you have to execute. 
 
The core pillars we focused on? 
- creative strategy & output 
- post-click optimizations 
 
1. Creative strategy & output 
We tested different pain points and angles. 
 
We were able to identify 3 winning angles and rode the wave, doubling down on these angles. 
 
Our feedback loop allowed us to produce 3 to 5 ad concepts each week. Every week, we gained new learnings and insights, allowing us to make better ad creative and improve performance further. 
 
2. Post-click optimization 
Your landing pages and product pages need to be tailored to your pain points in your ad creative. 
 
Once we found winning angles, we built dedicated landing pages around those angles, increasing conversion rates even further. 
 
We also made some smaller CRO optimizations on the PDPs: product carousel images that sell the outcome, UGC imagery to make it relatable and lots of social proof. 
 
Scaling a brand profitably is no rocket science, but you need to put in the work. 
 
We're a small team of executors and knee deep into creative strategy, landing pages and offer testing. 
 
We have room for 2 more brands in Q2. 
 
If you're looking for a team that can help you profitably grow your brand, send me a message.

graphical user interface, text, application

Scaling your ad account doesn't have to be complicated. This is the account setup you need: 
 
4 campaigns is all you really need. 
 
- Main scaling campaign: this campaign holds all your creative winners and usually has 3 ad sets (broad, LAL stack, interest stack) - 60% of budget 
 
 
- Creative testing campaign: dedicated to creative testing only. Each creative test is a new ad set and uses broad targeting - 25% of budget 
 
- Retargeting campaign: focus on social proof & education. Convert people that added to cart or initiated checkout, but didn’t purchase. - 5-10% of budget 
 
- DABA campaign: If you have multiple SKUs it's a good idea to run a dynamic product catalog to broad audiences. - 5-10% of budget 
 
4. DABA campaign 
If you have multiple SKUs it's a good idea to run a dynamic product catalog to broad audiences. 
 
That's it! No complicated account structure. Try to consolidate as much as possible, have a testing - scaling setup and watch your performance improve.

In the last 8 weeks I audited 2 ad accounts that were in the hands of a bigger (Belgian) agency: 
 
- 90% of budget spent on traffic campaigns 
- running the same creatives for months on end 
- last in account changes dated back 3 weeks ago 
 
Your agency should help you with: 
- creative strategy and creative output 
- building landing pages and helping you optimize your website 
- testing different product categories and offers 
- guidance on strategic decision making and expansion 
 
If they aren’t doing this, they’re just pushing buttons and you’re never going to find profitable breakthrough growth. 
 
Rant done.

If you’re a fashion brand and you want to lower your customer acquisition costs and increase revenue, this is the playbook you need. 
 
1. Focus on AOV and margins 
Pull people in with your best sellers and higher margin products and upsell your lower margin products. 
 
Your margins will be different on each product. Understand your margins for different product categories, especially your best sellers and use this information to decide what products to push. 
 
Use in cart cross-sells, post purchase upsells and channels like email and organic social to push lower margin products. 
 
You want to maximize your ad dollars. Be smart about what products to push. 
 
2. Ad creative 
Category and collection collages are a must have. So many apparel/fashion brands rely on single image product shots as ad creative and it’s limiting your reach and performance. 
 
Group products together, display different colorways and collections, group best-selling products together. 
 
By showing different products, you’ll resonate with different people. If you’re only showing the blue version of a yoga pants, people can’t know you have a better selling soft pink and off white version as well. Product collages are THE BEST way to get your products out there. 
 
Focus on video: film unboxings, product hauls, try ons, closet swaps, ... show how your products look on people. 
 
3. Product catalog optimization 
Are you using plain white background product images? So is 99% of all the other apparel and fashion brands out there. You need to stand out. 
 
The easiest way to do this is to add custom frames to your product images. 
 
Go to ‘commerce manager’ in Meta and add a custom frame. 
 
Even better, use tools like Socioh to create custom product catalogues. Socioh will help you create stunning product catalogues and stand out in the feed. 
 
We’ve seen this double ROAS on product catalog ads and it only takes 30 minutes to set up.

Here's why you’re struggling to scale your brand and how to fix it. 
 
Last month, our team audited 15+ ad accounts. All of them were struggling to find breakthrough growth. 
 
Here are 3 things that were holding them back from scaling profitably. 
 
1. Running the same creatives for weeks and months 
Creative output should be your main focus. 
 
If you're not cycling in new creatives and focusing on creative testing, you're leaving money on the table. Period. 
 
2. Running 'generic' creatives 
A winning ad has a couple of things in common: 
- calling out a problem/customer need 
- appealing visual content 
- social proof (reviews, industry expertise, ...) 
 
Running creatives that are only visually appealing, for example, product photography, is not going to cut it. People will scroll past it. 
 
Include headlines, call out your target audience, include USPs, add reviews, etc. 
 
Try to explain: 
- Who is your product for? 
- Why should they use your product? 
- What problem is your product solving? 
- Why should they buy your product vs competitors? 
 
A simple product image isn't going to explain all of this. 
 
 
3. Testing offers & trying to increase AOV 
Increasing your AOV will give you more room to spend to acquire new customers. 
 
This doesn't have to be too complicated. 
 
Introduce bundles at different price tiers. Buy more = save more. Increase perceived value. 
 
Add in-cart and post-purchase cross-sells: you'll be surprised how many people actually buy additional products if you present it to them. 
 
Email flows: build out a post-purchase thank you flow. Again, introduce new product categories that are a great combination with the products they already bought. 
 
Looking to start scaling profitably? 
 
Start here: 
1. Focus on creative output systems 
2. Make better ad creative that speaks to your target audience 
3. Implement strategies that increase your AOV

Our team works with brands that spend €350K/month and brands that spend €10K/month. 
 
The process we use for both of them is almost identical, and it's yours to steal. 
 
Step 1: testing 
Test different variables to understand what's going to drive breakthrough performance. 
- Different problem statements to reach different audiences 
- Different landing pages 
- Different offers 
 
Taking big swings, see big results. 
 
Don’t focus on unimportant things like testing different background colors. Focus on angles, problems, audiences, ... 
 
Step 2: feedback loops 
Testing different variables is one thing. Understanding what's working and doubling down is your next step. 
 
Keep track of all your wins in a dedicated tracker sheet. Take note of what you've been testing, what's working and what will be your next steps. 
 
Let those learnings be your starting point for what to test next. 
 
Found a winning creative angle? Build a landing page around it. Example: a creative with a headline 'As a young mom, this is such a time saver.' -> build a landing page '5 reasons why young moms are using [Product X] in their daily routine'. 
 
Step 3: the right ad account setup 
Your ad account setup should facilitate your learning and scaling process. 
 
We always start with only 2 campaigns: 
- Creative testing campaign: this campaign houses all of your creative tests. Allocate 20% of your budget to this campaigns. 
- Scaling campaign: this campaign houses all of your creative winners. Graduate your creative winners to this campaign using your post IDs. Allocate 80% of your budget to this campaign. 
 
Sidenote: the biggest difference between a €500K/month brand and a €10K/month brand is scale. 
 
When your ad spend is growing, you need to grow your creative output, landing page testing, offer testing, ... as well. 
 
The process is the same. The scale at which you run these processes is different. 
Key takeaway: it doesn't matter if you’re a large or a small brand. You need to: 
- Focus testing: creatives, landing pages, offers, … 
- Have a feedback loop in place: test, learn, define next steps 
- Let the platform support and facilitate your testing and scaling approach

4 must haves for profitable customer acquisition: 
- a good product 
- a sexy offer 
- creative strategy & systems for creative output 
- consistent feedback loop

Harsh truth: If you aren’t acquiring new customer profitably, you're the one to blame.  
 
You’re probably not focusing on: 
 
- Systems for creative output 
- Keeping track of winning creatives to feed your feedback loop 
- Building landing pages around winning creative angles and audiences 
- Testing and building new offers to increase AOV and conversion rate

6 things that destroy your ad account performance (and how to fix them). 
 
1. Complicated ad account structure 
Having too many campaigns and ad sets will limit your learnings and algorithm optimizations. 
 
Consolidate as much as possible. Ideally you have 2-3 campaigns running in your account: 
- Creative testing: each creative test is a separate ad set 
- Scaling (ASC): graduate all your creative winners into this campaign (use post ID) 
- Remarketing (only 50K+ in spend - max 10% of budget) 
 
2. No creative rotation 
Stop relying on the same creatives for months on end. 
 
Aim to cycle in 3-4 new creative concepts every 2 weeks (below 100K in spend). 
 
Test statics, carousels, GIFs, video content, ... make sure you have a diverse range of creative formats. 
 
3. No creative research 
Start by understanding who your target audience is, what pain points/problems your product is solving and what benefits people like. 
 
Use this as a starting point for your creative production. 
 
Find a problem your product is solving > call this problem out in your creatives > frame your product as the solution. 
 
4. No landing pages 
Start testing landing pages. Build your landing pages around winning creative angles and audiences. 
 
Example: ‘5 reasons why 40+ women are using this anti-aging serum’. 
 
5. Daily tinkering in your ad account 
Avoid going in your ad account and making changes every day. This can throw campaigns, ad sets and ads back into learning. 
 
Give the algorithm time to learn and optimise. Just launched a creative test and it’s not hitting your target CPA after 3 days? 
 
Let it run. Give it at least 7-10 days. 
 
Also, stop increasing or decreasing budgets on a daily basis. Ideally, you’ll want to change budgets every 3 days. 
 
6. Giving the platform too many constraints. 
Stop setting constraints by focusing on audience testing. 
 
Give the algorithm the room to find winning audiences. Go as broad as possible. 
 
The days where you run a ‘20 second video viewers’ vs ‘20-45 women with an interesting baking’ test are over. Let your creative do the targeting. 
 
No fancy tricks here, these are optimizations you can start applying today. 
 
I’m pretty sure you’ll see an improvement in performance.

Creative Strategy 101 (if you're on a tight budget).  
  
Creative testing doesn't have to break the bank. 
 
Start with testing different angles with statics.  
  
Why? They're easier to create and easier to iterate on. 
 
You want to create statics that speak to different audiences. This way you can identify what audiences resonate and drive better performance.  
  
People can use your product for different reasons:   
👉 Moms might buy it because it's easy to use  
👉 Some people might buy it because it's eco-friendly  
👉 45+ women might buy it because it has certain skin-related benefits  
  
Now, create separate static images for each angle. Focus on different problem statements for different audiences 
  
Look at the date. Find what angle/audience performs best.  
  
Once you've identified a winner, it's time to double down.   
  
Start testing this angle with UGC content. Turn your statics into GIFs, turn them into carousels, ... 
  
Don't overcomplicate your creative testing. 
 
Start with identifying winning audiences and messaging with statics.

Simple creative strategy tip: 
 
Call out your target audience. 
 
We've shipped over 150+ creatives last month. 
 
The best performing ones are calling out the target audience AND the problem they may have. 
 
Pro tip: be a specific as possible. Example: 'Here's how [target audience] are fixing [problem statement]' 
 
Calling out your target audience and their pain points is an instant attention grabber. It works.

Steal the creative testing log we use to ship 200+ high performing creatives every month. 
 
I received a lot of messages after one of my previous posts on our creative strategy playbook. Specifically on the creative testing log we use to track all our creative testing efforts, learnings and next steps. 
 
I'm sharing a link to a Google Sheet in the comments for anyone that wants to duplicate it and use it with their own team. 
 
Let me walk you through this sheet: 
 
1. Date & platform - pretty self explanatory 
 
2. Variable testing: what are we testing? A new angle? Messaging? New landing pages? New audience? 
 
3. Status: in progress, completed, active - helps you understand what's running and what is completed 
 
4. Hypothesis: why are we testing this? Based on things we learn from research? Customer reviews? 
 
5. Test description: what are we testing?  
 
6. Test ID: give every test a unique ID in the sheet and in your ad account. Keeps things organized 
 
7. Start date & end date - self explanatory 
 
8. Outcome: did our test hit our targets? 
 
8. Key learnings:  what is the data telling us? What insights can we extract? 
 
9. Based on the outcome, what are the next steps? Are we making iterations? Can we use insights for net new concepts? 


The 6-step framework to fixing your unprofitable CPA in 60 days. 
 
1. Understand your target audience 
Spend hours going through your reviews. Read them all! 
 
Understand why people are buying your product, what problem it helps them solve and what product benefits they like. 
 
2. Tailor your messaging 
Call out these problems. Double down on that problem. Speak to your target audience. 
 
Use them in your headlines, your hooks, your ad copy, your emails, your landing pages. 
 
Agitate the problem. Double down on it. Show that you understand what they are going through. 
 
3. Focus on outcomes 
Show how your product can solve these problems. Show before and after imagery. 
 
Show how other customers are using your product and how it helped them solve their problem. 
 
4. Tailor your offer 
People love a good deal! Make sure they don’t want to miss out on yours. 
 
Running 20% off on your starter kit? Call it out! Use it in your creatives. 
 
5. Drive up AOV 
Create bundles of your best selling products and discount those bundles. 
 
You’ll increase AOV, which will give you more room to spend on acquiring a customer. 
 
6. Increase LTV 
Follow up on your new customers. Make them a returning customer. 
 
Offer cross-sells. They bought product X? Give them a reason why it would go great with product Y. 
 
It’s been 30 days since they purchased? Offer them a discount code to restock.

Creative Strategy 101: Benefits > Features.  
  
Nobody cares about your fancy product features.  
  
People care about ‘what problem does this solve and how will this benefit me’.  
  
Start providing solutions.  
  
1. Talk to your customers, understand why people are buying.  
2. Build creatives that call out your target audience and the problem you solve for them.  
3. Identify winning target audiences and creatives. Scale them.  
4. Build landing pages around these angles.  
5. Keep track of your learnings: what’s working, why is it working and how can I apply my learnings to my next round of creatives.

Here are 10 things to know if you want to test creatives more efficiently. Your performance will thank you. 
  
1. Use customer review mining to find the right messaging and angles.  
  
2. Creative assets don't need to be fancy to drive performance. Iphone shot content will perform just as well.  
  
3. Test new creatives in a dedicated campaign and ad set with 25% of your budget. This limits the risk.  
  
4. Let a creative test run for at least 7 days. Give the algorithm time to optimize.  
  
5. Use creative metrics to get the entire picture. Aim for a 35% hook rate, 12% hold rate and 1.5% CTR  
  
6. Graduate creative winners to an Advantage+ scaling campaign  
  
7. Find an angle that hits and create different creative iterations off that specific angle  
  
8. Gradually increase budgets by 20% every 3 days to avoid forcing the algorithm  
  
9. Analyzing performance, start with looking at last 7 day window. Compare against last 14 days and last 30 days to spot trends in performance and spend.  
  
10. Testing for the sake of testing doesn't work. Follow a framework and utilize a creative feedback loop to learn and iterate.

4 tools every brand MUST use in 2024 to help you profitably scale your brand. 
 
- Motion: analyse creative performance 
- Replo: build landing pages around winning creative angles and audiences 
- Knocommerce: post purchase surveys, understand what problems people are trying to solve and what benefits they like 
- Lifetimely: understand customer behaviour and make LTV projections

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