Ditch the Discount, Says Brand Marketer

Since 2013 Cherene Aubert has managed, advised, and executed ecommerce marketing campaigns. She’s worked for agencies, merchants, and as a freelance consultant. Her D2C advisory firm, Growth Capital, helps scale premium, high-growth brands.

Experience guides her advice. Brands are too quick to discount slow-moving products, she says. Bundles or buy-one-get-one offers are often better. Higher-priced goods typically appeal to existing customers, not new ones. Influencers drive acquisition.

She shared those views and more in our recent conversation. The transcript is edited for clarity and length.

Eric Bandholz: Tell us what you do.

Cherene Aubert: I’m the founder and CEO of Growth Capital, a marketing agency for consumer brands.

I’ve spent a lot of time in ecommerce. I was head of strategy at Common Thread Collective, a D2C-focused agency. Before that, I held senior marketing roles at Ilia Beauty, a skincare company, and Bobbie, an infant formula brand — among others.

Bandholz: Describe an effective offer that doesn’t erode margins.

Aubert: It’s hard enough to get someone to buy something online. I’ve done a lot of market research for omnichannel brands, and, generally, a top discovery source is social media. But the number one sales channel is still physical retail.

So D2C brands must understand that consumers often buy online when there’s no other choice.

In beauty categories, products expire or are discontinued for many reasons. Perhaps the product breaks easily, or customers don’t like the finish. So we have to get rid of it.

The first reaction is often “let’s just discount this thing to move it.” But what you’re doing is making it accessible to new customers, but it won’t be the best experience. You’re selling a product that everyone hates.

A better option might be to offer a product everyone loves, then include the discontinued item for free. Customer expectations of that item are already low because we’re stating it has no value. Rather than 50% off a terrible product, they pay 100% for an amazing product, which includes the discontinued item that would be trashed anyway.

Testing offers requires nuanced thought about the customer experience.

Bandholz: What are the best promos for slow-moving products?

Aubert: Say you have a slower mover that’s a core part of your collection. This is where bundling can be effective. You’re positioning the customer to buy the one thing she wants and receive five other things.

In beauty, bundles might be everything you need for a five-minute face. In food products, it’s a sampler kit or perhaps a morning routine bundle.

Aubert: Start with what you’re trying to achieve. For example, are you looking to reduce your customer acquisition cost or, instead, increase average order value? Those two goals often pull each other apart. The more you reduce your CAC, the more your AOV goes down, and the more you increase your AOV, the higher your CAC goes.

Be very clear about the best customer experience and who the offer is for. Should new customers buy everything all at once? Or do they buy a trial product or an introductory kit to get them involved in the brand?

An introductory kit could be available via a pop-up or accessible through navigation. Higher AOV offers generally appeal to existing customers, reachable via email and SMS. Partnering with an influencer can be a good way to design higher-priced items. There’s unlimited opportunity for experimentation.

Brands should not be reliant on special offers. The aim should be full-price transactions for as long as possible.

External, direct-response ads work best for single products. A video ad with multiple products is really a brand ad and less of a direct response.

Channel selection depends on the product category and the business stage. TikTok is one of the best awareness platforms. TikTok Shop is not the most profitable channel, but it’s a way to get affiliate influencer content at scale. Often, the hardest thing for brands is generating a lot of content.

I work with brands that use influencer affiliates as their primary acquisition driver, and Meta for retargeting and AOV products. Meta often has better marketing efficiency ratios. Oddly, CACs on Meta are sometimes better on non-acquisition campaigns.

Bandholz: Where can people follow you, hire you?

Aubert: Our site is GrowthCapital.co. Follow me on X or LinkedIn.