The World's Best Email and Retention Podcast

If your store has hundreds — or thousands — of SKUs, your biggest problem isn't your product. It's discovery.

Jordan sits down with Julia Whatley, Senior Partner Manager at Rebuy, to break down how smart personalization turns an overwhelming catalog into a guided buying experience. From search-driven add-to-carts to post-purchase subscription upgrades, Julia walks through the full on-site journey and how brands are using Rebuy to lift AOV, drive repeat purchases, and build more intelligent relationships with their customers.

In this episode:
Why mega-SKU brands have a discovery problem, not a product problem
How one brand hit a 32% AOV boost and 20% bottom-line revenue increase
The full personalization stack — search, bundles, smart cart, post-purchase, and more
How to combine Klaviyo segments with Rebuy for truly tailored on-site experiences
The "complete the look" strategy and the psychology behind purchase behavior
What the winning brands of the next three years will have in common

00:00 – Intro & meet Julia Whatley, Senior Partner Manager at Rebuy
03:30 – The mega-SKU problem: why large catalogs create analysis paralysis
04:49 – KM Tools case study: 32% AOV boost & 20% bottom-line revenue increase
06:17 – Walking the full on-site journey: search, bundles, smart cart & more
12:49 – Bundle Builder: how 30% of Rebuy revenue flows through this one feature
25:47 – Secret weapons: Smart Links, geo-targeting & the Rebuy rules engine
30:55 – Klaviyo + Rebuy: why the integration is a need-to-have, not a nice-to-have
34:04 – The brands that will win in the next 3 years

Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠
Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast
Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠
Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

In this episode, Jordan breaks down 7 fixes you can implement today to improve your bottom of funnel and turn existing traffic into more conversions.

The throughline: you don’t need more traffic—you need to capture more of the traffic you already have.

What you’ll learn:
How to turn your PDP into a conversion driver (not a dead end)
Why small homepage changes can drive outsized revenue
The right way to structure pop-ups (including when to double or triple pop)
How to fix your abandonment flows to actually convert
Why most brands underutilize reactivation (and how to fix it)
The strategic mistake behind most underperforming funnels (trust vs. desire)

00:00 Why BOFU is more traffic
00:41 The fastest way to drive revenue today (email + CRO)
01:50 PDP fixes: keep attention above the fold & drive scroll
04:42 Homepage tweaks that actually move revenue
07:06 Pop-ups done right (timing, double + triple pop)
11:25 Abandonment flows: what most brands are missing
12:54 Reactivation: why 12 months matters
13:54 The full funnel stack (home → PDP → flows)
14:25 The big mistake: trust vs desire (and how to fix it)

Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠
Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast
Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠
Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

In this episode, Jordan dove into the data of 20 ecommerce brands to see what actually happens when you add email and SMS into the mix.

The result:
→ 3.3x higher median growth
→ More revenue from repeat customers
→ Stronger overall efficiency (MER, ROAS, P&L)

Email and SMS don’t just drive extra revenue.
They make your entire acquisition system work better.

In this episode:
Why retention drives disproportionate growth
How repeat revenue compounds over time
Why email unlocks more ad spend
The metrics that actually matter (and the ones that don’t)

00:00 Why Email & SMS Drive Growth
02:48 The 5 Metrics That Matter
04:42 3.3x Higher Growth Explained
10:01 What This Means for Your Business

Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠
Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast
Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠
Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

Most brands are producing content. Very few are turning it into authority.

In this episode, Jordan and Chris Panteli from Linkifi break down how content actually drives growth beyond your own channels—and why backlinks, brand mentions, and external coverage are becoming critical in both Google and AI-driven search.

If you’re only thinking about email, ads, and your website, you’re missing a major layer of the ecosystem.

We cover:
Why content + links still drive search visibility
How backlinks build authority (and why most don’t move the needle)
The difference between brand mentions vs links—and why both matter
How LLMs (like ChatGPT) decide which brands to recommend
The simplest way to start getting featured on major publications
How to extend your content beyond your own ecosystem

00:00 The cheapest revenue channel you’re underusing
00:41 The simple SEO formula: content + links
02:19 Meet Chris Panteli (Linkifi)
05:09 How backlinks actually drive traffic
08:26 How AI decides which brands to recommend
11:18 How to get featured (even for free)
15:26 Good vs bad backlinks (what to avoid)
21:16 Building authority across the internet

Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠
Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast
Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠
Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast

Most brands don’t have a testing problem. They have a targeting problem.

In this episode, Jordan is joined by Pilothouse strategist Chris Richards to break down why “marketing to everyone” is quietly killing performance — and what to do instead.

The reality: growth doesn’t come from more creative, more tests, or more spend. It comes from choosing the right customer and building your entire system around them.

We get into how to actually define personas, why most brands get stuck in “tactical spinning,” and how the wrong customer at the top of funnel can break everything downstream — from ads to landing pages to email.

If your performance feels inconsistent, this is likely where things are going wrong.

In this episode, you’ll learn:
Why targeting multiple personas at once weakens your results
How to identify the most profitable customer to focus on
The biggest mistake brands make when scaling “winning” ads
How to align ads, landing pages, and email around one persona
What metrics actually matter when validating your targeting

00:00 Why most brands struggle to grow
00:41 Why specificity beats broad targeting
01:53 What persona strategy actually looks like
03:14 Building personas from segments + behavior
04:34 Why you shouldn’t target everyone at once
05:33 Real example: choosing the right customer
07:52 The problem with “tactical spinning”
10:12 How the wrong customer breaks retention
13:04 How to measure if you’re targeting right
16:21 Aligning ads, landing pages, and email

Work with Pilothouse: ⁠https://www.pilothouse.co/get-in-touch?utm_source=dtc&utm_medium=podcast&utm_content=e&rPodcast⁠
Subscribe on YouTube: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@DTCPodcast
Subscribe to DTC: ⁠https://www.directtoconsumer.co/⁠
Listen to DTC Podcast: ⁠https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/dtcpodcast