Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth

DTC Growth Marketer | Meta ads, retention & creative experiments that actually move revenue. Sharing real tests & teardowns daily. Open to collabs → DMs open

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

The product page audit I run on every new ecommerce client:

1. Hero image shows the product in use, not on white. UGC and lifestyle stills outperform studio shots for DTC almost every time.

2. Social proof needs to sit above the fold. If the visitor has to scroll past reviews and ratings to find a reason to trust you, most of them won't bother.

3. One CTA per viewport. If you're asking them to subscribe, learn more, and buy in the same section, you're splitting their attention.

4. Top 3 objections answered before the buy button. Shipping cost, returns policy, materials. Most brands bury this in an FAQ page nobody visits.

5. Page loads under 3 seconds on mobile. If your paid traffic lands on a slow page, you're paying for bounces.

6. Product copy describes the outcome, not the brand. "Premium quality crafted with care" means nothing. "Keeps coffee hot for 8 hours, fits in your car cupholder" is a reason to buy.

These six fixes take an afternoon. I've seen them move conversion more than any ad campaign change.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

I stopped trusting design reviews after I started running Hotjar on client sites. What looks clean to a design team and what actually converts are two different pages.

Scroll depth shows where attention dies. Rage clicks tell you where visitors are confused, and session replays catch the exact moment they leave and why.

Most product pages I audit have the same problem. Social proof, reviews, and objection handling all sitting below the fold. Visitors leave before they see any of it. The page passed every design review. It just didn't pass the customer.

Heatmaps are the brief. I'll take that over a designer's opinion every time.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Founder-shot iPhone video is quietly outperforming polished brand content on Meta for ecommerce right now.

We tested this across three DTC accounts last quarter. Identical product, offer, and audience on each. Only variable was creative. Founder walking through the product on an iPhone beat the studio shoot every time. One account saw a 40% drop in CPM on the raw footage versus the edited cut.

People scroll past anything that looks like an ad. A founder talking to camera in their warehouse reads as content. Meta picks up the watch time and rewards it.

If your CPAs keep climbing on polished hero videos, test a founder walkthrough before you touch targeting.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Most DTC brands I audit have the same gap in Klaviyo: order confirmation fires, maybe a shipping update, then silence until the next sale campaign hits their inbox.

That silence is where repeat revenue dies.

We rebuilt the post-purchase flow for a fashion client. Added a single email on day 7 with a usage tip specific to what they bought. No discount. Just "here's how to get the most out of this."

Open rate was 62%. Repeat purchase rate from that cohort went up 18% over 90 days.

Discount codes would have trained that customer to wait for a sale. A usage email built trust and the margin stayed intact.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Every ecommerce brand has an FAQ page answering objections. Almost none put those answers on the product page itself, where the customer is actually deciding whether to buy.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Your product page has a feature list, a lifestyle photo, and an add to cart button. So does every competitor's. The brands seeing 3%+ conversion rates changed one thing: the structure of the page, not the product.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Most ecommerce brands stop emailing after order confirmation. The easiest repeat revenue sits between delivery and reorder. One follow-up with a usage tip converts better than three discount codes. The customer already trusts you. Show them how to use what they bought.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Most welcome flows I audit in Klaviyo are four discount emails wearing different subject lines. No brand story, no explanation of what the customer actually signed up for.

Your welcome flow is the one window where a customer is actually paying attention. Most brands blow it by training people to wait for the next sale.

First email: tell them what to expect. Second: why you exist and who you built this for. Third: give them a reason to return that has nothing to do with 10% off.

When discounts lead the relationship, margin shrinks, repeat purchase rate flatlines, and you end up running promos every month just to match last month's revenue. The welcome flow sets the tone for everything after it.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Founder-shot iPhone video is outperforming polished brand content on Meta right now.

We tested across three DTC accounts last quarter. Same product, offer, audience. Only variable was creative. Founder walking through the product on camera beat the studio shoot every time. One account saw CPM drop 40% on raw footage versus the edited cut.

People scroll past anything that looks like an ad. A founder in their warehouse talking to camera reads as content. Meta picks up the watch time and rewards it.

Your CPAs keep climbing on polished hero videos? Test a founder walkthrough before you touch targeting.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

@Copytrigger So true Heather, if messaging is confusing it absolutely makes users get stuck and eventually drop off

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

I stopped trusting design reviews after I started running Hotjar on client sites.

Scroll depth shows you where attention dies. Rage clicks and session replays tell you exactly where visitors get confused and when they leave.

Every product page I audit has the same problem. Social proof, reviews, objection handling all sitting below the fold. Visitors leave before they see any of it. The page looked clean in review. The customer never scrolled far enough to care.

Heatmaps are the brief. I'll take behavioral data over a designer's opinion every time.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

@spect3ral MAP!

Lets have a look 🔥

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

CBO makes testing almost impossible on new accounts. The algorithm optimises for what's already working, so new creatives get starved before they get a chance.

I split Meta ad budgets into 3 buckets:

1. CBO Prospecting gets the most spend and looks for new customers at scale.
2. ABO Testing gets second most, where I test specific creatives with tight cut guardrails.
3. Scale CBO only gets budget when a creative proves itself as a clear winner.

Simple structure. But it keeps performance fully dependent on the creative, which is where it should be.

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

Absolutely, you couldn't be more correct. Ultimately static ads really have to come down to an extremely strong offer supported by a very strategically written creative.

From my experience the best resource to help understand this further is Eugene Schwartz' Breakthrough Advertising🔥

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

I appreciate this opening line so much. Too often people think Claude can completely replace them for certain tasks.

But without the right prompts and the right foundational principles applied to it, all you get is slop.

Claude is a multiplier, not a replacement. It amplifies whatever you bring to the table. If you bring shallow understanding, you get polished garbage. If you bring real expertise, it saves you hours.

Learn the skill first. Then let AI accelerate it.

[Dylan @FBA_Dylan]

I’ve decided that I’m not a good enough copywriter to use Claude.

If I can’t understand the material myself, what’s the point of writing it?

The last two days I’ve been spinning in circles thinking that Claude automation will speed up the process.

The result?

Constantly restarting scripts from scratch and leaving me farther behind than if I wrote the copy manually.

This even goes for simple prompts like breaking ad structures down.

As a copywriter, that should be my job.

I should understand WHY the structure works and how to apply it for my own brand.

Not to mention, Claude isn’t 100% accurate, not even for the simple stuff.

The next three copies I write will be 90% manual.

And honestly, I don’t care how long it takes, I NEED to learn the skill.

Learn first, optimize later.

I’ve wasted SO MUCH TIME writing native scripts using Claude, it’s ridiculous.

Which is probably why I feel like I haven’t been learning as much as I should…

Claude has been doing most of the thinking.

There are definitely ways to use Claude to speed up writing ads.

But for me, it’s eating me alive. My brain feels dumb.

Just my personal conviction, I know this isn’t what everybody preaches.

Anybody that has any recommendations, feel free to comment or DM.

Thanks for reading ✌️

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

@theperryecom Loving that CPR, assuming it maps back to your target!

Nice work Anthony!

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

@justinhanecom Love to see this!

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

@MatsMa68231 Simplification is brilliant

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

@williamkast_ @WisprFlow Was gonna say!! Cant imagine walking and typing!

[Markus Robberts | Ecom Growth @markusrobberts_]

@Simon__Rob Yea love it! How good would a breakdown be per ad category?🔥

Nice work Simon