August Retention Newsie 2

Author

Melanie Balke
August 28, 2025

Welcome to The Retention Newsie by The Email Marketers, the retention-building experts for 7-9 figure DTC brands.

Every month, we bring you the best case studies, trending news, and tips for retaining more customers while turning them into raving fans and increasing revenue.

This Week’s Inbox Rundown

  • Product descriptions… Yeah or Nay?

  • Free ad creative bible download.

  • Retention.com's new tool that identifies b2b leads.

  • SMS is still underpriced (see why).

Product Descriptions… Yeah or Nay?

Everyone "knows" that huge blocks of text hurt conversions. Yet we constantly see brands cramming every possible detail into their emails, hoping that more information will lead to more sales.

Time for some myth-busting…

Our team recently A/B tested product descriptions for a wellness brand. The results were not what we expected.

Products with no descriptions converted 97% higher than those with descriptions.

Yeah, we’re talking emails with product blocks like these:

Normal for a fashion brand? Yes. Normal for a wellness brand. Not at all.

And we're seeing this pattern across multiple DTC categories.

So let’s talk about why removing product descriptions works in the first place.

  • Decision Fatigue: Too much information forces customers to process and evaluate, creating mental friction that kills impulse purchases.

  • Visual Flow: Clean product blocks let customers scan quickly and make snap decisions based on visual appeal and price.

  • Trust in Imagery: High-quality product photos communicate value faster than any written description can.

Now for the real meat and potatoes…

The nuanced take is that all of this doesn't mean you should delete your product descriptions tomorrow. It really depends on so many factors.

For visually-driven brands (apparel, jewelry, home decor), try emails without descriptions. Let your photography do the talking.

For health and wellness brands, this now gets trickier. But at the very least, you should be testing:

  1. With and without descriptions.

  2. Short descriptions (1 liners) vs. detailed explanations vs. no descriptions at all.

  3. Outcome-focused vs. feature and outcome.

  4. Scannable bullet points vs. using reviews vs. icon-based benefits such as these…

The key insights here?

  • A picture can tell a thousand words.

  • Sometimes the best sales copy is no copy at all.

And don’t stop testing! 😉

Stop Wasting Ad Spend On Bad Creative

While our expertise at The Email Marketers lies in retention, we know how effective paid advertising can be for growth.

That’s why we asked our friends at Snowball Creations, an award-winning paid ads agency, to share some of their ecom ad creative secrets.

RB2B Launches Website Visitor Identification Tool

New B2B tool identifies 70-80% of your website traffic and sends visitor details straight to Slack.

Alex Hormozi's Record-Breaking $81M Book Launch

Hormozi's "donate 200 books" strategy generated massive day-one sales by reframing purchases as donations with value stacks.

Beanstalk Conference Returns in September

The largest disruptor brands event brings together CEOs, CMOs, and senior executives from 8-9 figure companies. Our CEO, Melanie, will be there. Reply if you want to meet up!

Texas' New SMS Rules Explained for E-commerce

SB 140 creates new compliance requirements for SMS marketing in Texas. Klaviyo breaks down what e-commerce brands need to know to stay compliant. 

SMS Is Still Underpriced…

SMS remains one of the most underrated marketing channels in 2025.

Here's proof:

One of our clients' July SMS performance:

  • Total SMS revenue: $100k+

  • SMS campaign revenue: $57k (21% conversion rate, $75+ AOV)

  • SMS flow revenue: $43k from automated sequences

And the best part? They have unlimited free SMS with their package and only have to pay for the platform fees.

If you’re wondering how SMS fits into your retention strategy, let’s talk. Book a quick strategy call with our CEO (Melanie Balke) to map a plan for your brand.