Hey y’all!
Hope you’re having a lovely week so far. It’s been sunny and in the 60s - 70s all week in Austin, which is pretty much the best possible spring weather in my opinion. This is what I feel like right now: 🌞 !
If you’re a brand founder/operator who’s in Austin for SXSW this week (or even just a local!), we’d love to see you at Willpower’s SXSW Wellness House event this Saturday, March 8th. The day’s programming is jam-packed, with a morning run sponsored by Huckberry, a wellness lounge by HyperIce, awesome panelists/speakers from 10-3, and then a pickleball party from 3:30 to 6:30 PM. You can RSVP & check out more info here.
And if you aren’t in Austin, we’d love to see you at Shoptalk! Make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this newsie to peep all of our upcoming events. 👀
In the meantime, I’ve got two great new episodes of the Equation of Excellence podcast for you.
Fabric of Success: Featuring Arjun Rastogi, Head of Growth at AsWeMove - In this episode, Arjun shares insights from his journey at VaynerMedia, covering customer acquisition, retention, and the power of proximity to profit. He dives into AI’s role in marketing, the future of membership models, and why customer service is a revenue driver.
Results Over Motion: Featuring Chase Mohseni, CMO of Heatmap.Com - This episode is packed with learnings from Chase’s journey from filmmaking to marketing. He and Rabah (CMO, FERMÀT) dive into leadership strategies, why clarity and empathy are game-changers in business, AI’s impact, the role of company culture, hiring techniques, and more. If you’re looking to level up your management skills and rethink how work gets done, don’t miss this conversation!
Now, onto this week’s newsie! 💃
What’s inside: how to actually make emails feel personal, Dropps’ journey to Target shelves, shoe clip-ons that move you at 7MPH, and more.
Cheers,
Lex 💚
🛒 Store of the Week
Remedy Skin
Remedy is a year-old skincare brand that’s making waves in the DTC space. Their founder, Dr. Muneeb Shah, is no stranger to the internet — he actually has 18 MILLION followers on TikTok! Remedy’s mission is all about enhancing natural skin health through clinically proven, accessible treatments. Their brand, packaging, and products are all thoughtfully designed to speak to skincare enthusiasts.
Much like Dr. Shah’s polished, charming, and informative online presence, Remedy’s online shopping experience seamlessly blends all things suave and smart to turn shoppers into brand advocates.
Let’s break down what makes this store so great!
Homepage/Hero → Great new product feature here for a highly requested product — a dandruff-reducing, medicated shampoo. High contrast CTA button on a clean & crisp background quickly draws the eye. Notice how the featured hero photo shows a younger gentleman who looks perfectly in line with Dr. Shah’s (and therefore Remedy’s) core social media demographic.
Homepage/Find Your Remedy → Love the copy (literal meaning and brand pun), visual product cards, and the overall “shop by use case” style module here. Excellent choice of models for product photography, and y’all know I’m a big fan of the quick Add to Cart buttons on product cards.
Homepage/Learn More About Us → Because this is a very founder-led, authority-led brand, it’s critical for Remedy to place its founding Doctor front & center. This section provides a quick overview of the homepage and also links to a deeper dive “About Us” page.
Homepage/For [use case] section → HUGE fan of this dynamic product carousel, which allows shoppers to scroll through Remedy’s various products to see which concerns they address and benefits they provide. Again, dig the quick Add to Cart button here.
Homepage/Second Opinions → Brilliantly titled UGC/social proof section. Very very smart to put a name with each of the customers’ faces to make them feel more “real”.
Homepage/Do No Harm → Another great medical pun + mission-driven section that puts some authority and scientific backing behind product formulation. Great for smart & wary shoppers to address purchase objections. Links out to an info-rich page on Remedy’s formulations.
Homepage/Skinpedia → Cool search bar style interface that allows shoppers to search how to articles and various informational blog posts on things like acne, stretch marks, skin cancer, and more.
Navigation/Shop → I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again — I love a visually rich navigation experience. This nav is basically a dupe of their homepage module, with some additional “New” and “Best Seller” product tags. I like how they don’t focus on the brand names for each of these products; they’re instead focused on guiding shoppers toward purchasing the right product for their needs with product-benefit-focused labeling.
Navigation/Bundles → Always a fan of bundle & save. A very easy AOV win. I like how each of these bundles has its own PDP that explains the benefits of using the products in tandem.
PDP/General → Really like the layout of these PDPs with giant imagery, a non-overwhelming yet informative volume of product description text, built-in cross-sells on the PDP, and swipeable before/after imagery. The breakdown of hero ingredients is also great, as it directly cites medical studies that back up claims associated with each ingredient.
Global/Claim for Free Shipping → Mini quiz collects information on shoppers for Remedy and allows for more effective retargeting/email marketing. Shoppers select their primary skin concern and enter their email address; they then get an email with a free shipping code. They can also enter their phone number for SMS updates after that.
This is a very strong example of a founder-led/authority-positioning-led company that’s still keeping its experience branded and beautiful. Big fan of what Remedy has going on here!
🛍 Product of the Week
Moonwalkers Aero by Shift Robotics
Ever think to yourself, “Wow, I wish I walked faster”? Great news — I have just the product for you.
Meet Shift’s Moonwalkers. These things put Heeleys to shame, lemme tell ya.
The Moonwalkers aren’t actually shoes; they’re shoe attachments that help “enhance walking speed and efficiency”. Strap these bad boys onto your regular shoes, and you’ll be walking about 2.5x faster than normal — around 7 MPH.
They’re lightweight, quiet, and durable, supporting wearers of up to 220 LBS. One full charge can get you about 7 miles of travel.
Convenience isn’t cheap though; the Moonwalkers Aero run for about $1200.
📖 Content of the Week
Operators Newsletter - Karly Craig’s “Why the Best Emails Feel Personal (Even When They’re Mass-Produced)”
Not only do I write newsletters, I read them too. 😉 The Operators newsletter is always one of my favorite weekly reads, but I especially enjoyed this week’s featured section from email marketer extraordinaire, Karly Craig.
Here’s Karly’s main thesis: most brand emails get ignored—not because email is dead, but because they’re boring. They focus on conversions over connections, treating email as a transactional tool instead of a relationship-building opportunity. But some brands do get it right.
In this piece, Karly breaks down two very different (but equally successful) approaches to email: Birddogs’ masterclass in entertainment-first marketing that hooks readers with humor, and We’re Not Really Strangers’ emotionally intelligent email marketing strategy that feels deeply personal.
This is a really awesome read and a super thoughtful exploration of what makes great email marketing so great.
🎧 Listen of the Week
Modern Retail Podcast: How Dropps got its eco-friendly cleaning products into Target
This brand-new episode of the Modern Retail Podcast is a great listen for any DTC brand that’s currently trying to break into retail — especially the big ol’ retailers like Target.
In the pod, Alastair Dorward (CEO of Dropps) breaks down exactly how Dropps is tackling a tricky challenge: transitioning to mass retail without losing brand identity.
Dorward’s candid discussion about product efficacy is refreshing, and he shares a great deal about the strategic packaging decisions Dropps made to see success on retail shelves.
This episode is packed with critical insights for any brand trying to disrupt a category dominated by legacy giants.
If you're running a DTC brand with retail aspirations or just want to understand how a purpose-driven company can scale without compromise, this episode delivers the goods.
🧰 Tool of the Week
Cavalry AI
I stumbled upon Cavalry this week and it looks pretty cool - especially for brands with lean teams or folks looking for a lightweight way to AI-ify their customer support function.
Cavalry isn’t just a chatbot, it’s an autonomous, AI-powered CX agent that can actually make decisions (based on parameters you’ve determined, of course!) It’s built specifically for ecomm, and is designed to handle complex customer issues without needing structured workflows or significant human intervention.
One of Cavalry’s main selling points is that its AI adapts to unique customer needs in real time while maintaining your brand voice across all customer interactions. They also offer completely white-glove onboarding, which means you don’t need to fuss with weeks of setup or model training. They’re currently used by some pretty legit brands like Dolls Kill, NAADAM, Pure Encapsulations, and PJ Salvage.
Have you used Cavalry before? Would love to hear your thoughts if so.
🌪 FERMÀT Funnel of the Week
Adornmonde’s World Sleep Day Funnel
This week's featured funnel showcases how jewelry brand Adornmonde cleverly connects their flat-back earrings with World Sleep Day (March 14th) to highlight a unique selling proposition: earrings comfortable enough to sleep in.
The journey begins with sleep-themed ad creative that drives to a dedicated landing page featuring eye-catching headlines like "BEAUTY SLEEP, MEET BEAUTIFUL EARRINGS."
Throughout the experience, Adornmonde emphasizes how their innovative flat-back design eliminates the discomfort typically associated with sleeping in earrings, allowing customers to "wake up looking put-together without lifting a finger."
The page strategically features their flat-back collection alongside customer testimonials that reinforce both style and comfort. After adding to cart, shoppers discover complementary pieces through a sleek sliding "Looks Great With..." menu that subtly enhances order value while maintaining the curated feel.
By leveraging FERMÀT, Adornmonde transformed a simple product promotion into a timely, narrative-driven shopping journey that perfectly aligns their unique benefits with a relevant moment. The platform's flexibility allowed their team to rapidly create and launch this specialized funnel without extensive development resources - ensuring they could capitalize on World Sleep Day with maximum impact and minimum effort.
Want to quickly build, launch, and experiment with seasonally relevant funnels like this one from Adornmonde? Click here to book a demo, and we’ll show you how. 🌪
🎉 Upcoming Events
👉 PS: Want to secure your spot on the guest list for future FERMÀT events in your city? Add your name to the VIP guest list here.
Willpower’s SXSW Wellness House
March 8 // Austin, TX
Join Willpower and friends for an exclusive gathering of the most influential Consumer brand founders, leaders, investors, and innovators shaping the future of wellness, consumer goods & e-commerce. We’ll kick the day off with a morning run and wellness lounge, enjoy panels from 10 - 3 featuring industry leaders (Super Coffee, Huckberry, True Classic, Nutrabolt and more), and wrap up the day with a pickleball fiesta. Please note: This event is only for leaders & operators of consumer brands.
No SXSW badge or wristband required!
The Ultimate Vegas VIP Penthouse
March 25 & March 26 // Las Vegas, NV
Step into the ultimate VIP penthouse experience at Shoptalk 2025—where luxury, relaxation, and once-in-a-lifetime moments collide. Mingle with the Mike Tyson & snap a pic, sip a signature cocktail, unwind with a pro massage, and try your luck at our claw machine packed with insane prizes. Escape the chaos of the conference floor and join PostPilot, Postscript, Nift & more for two days of pure Vegas magic. Space is limited—lock in your spot now! 🎉
