🔁Repeat customers.
Meta launches AI video tools for ads, TikTok Shop adds CRM for repeat buyers, Performance Max gets audience exclusions, and more.
In this issue
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Meta leans into AI video, TikTok goes after repeat customers
Things that come in threes: musketeers, wishes, and…
Meta’s new set of AI tools: The new features could help you show up faster, scale creative more easily, and convert harder.
Here’s what’s worth your attention:
- Reels Trending Ads now cover key cultural moments so you can use what’s trending before the moment passes.
- AI video generation lets you turn single images into studio-style videos. Apparently, beta testers saw a 10% CTR lift and 8% CVR increase.
- Catalog Product Video turns product listings into video ads automatically, with Reels campaigns seeing 33% higher incremental conversions as a result.
Meta says that Partnership Ads running across Facebook and Instagram deliver 18% more conversions than Instagram alone. The new Partnerships Hub helps you manage them better.
Why this matters: The more creative variations you put in, the more the algorithm has to work with. And that typically means better personalisation and lower costs.
And TikTok Shop wants to go beyond the first date: New CRM tools, creator affiliate programs, and platform syncs show it’s serious about motivating repeat customers.
TikTok’s CRM lets you send targeted offers to past buyers. GMV Max adds a sweetener on top. Hit your ROI targets, and TikTok cuts your commission rate.
New LIVE billboard templates also lower the barrier to entry.
Overall, TikTok Shop has long been better at discovery than retention and the new tools aim to change that. Can retention be a part of your TikTok strategy now? Worth a test.
Tighter Performance Max controls and a lower bar for YouTube shopping
Audience exclusions are like road traffic updates.
You need to know where to avoid: New Performance Max first-party audience exclusions lets you stop wasting budget on existing customers and redirect spend toward new folks instead.
You also get full demographic breakdowns, a budget forecasting report that projects end-of-month spend, and network segmentation under “When and where ads showed.”
These updates can mean cleaner data, smarter budget decisions, and less wasted spend on customers you already have. It’s time to revisit your exclusions and reporting setup.
YouTube doesn’t want to leave anyone out: It’s dropping its Shopping Affiliate Program threshold from 1,000 subscribers down to 500.
To jog your memory, eligible creators can tag products across Shorts, VOD, and Live content and earn commissions when viewers buy.
Some creators have reportedly seen revenue grow significantly through shopping links alone, which should turn your head if you’re building creator partnerships
A lower entry bar means a bigger pool of creators to partner with. That niche creator you’ve had your eye on might now qualify.
Your marketing data is useless unless it becomes intelligence
Every team has data. Dashboards, spreadsheets, pixels firing everywhere. But raw numbers don’t make decisions. Intelligence does.
The gap between “having data” and “knowing what to do with it” is where most teams stall. Adverity’s free guide, From Data to Intelligence, gives you a practical four-stage framework to close that gap.
The maturity model: Data → Information → Knowledge → Intelligence. Each stage builds on the last, with specific challenges, opportunities, and dangers mapped out for you.
Plus, 7 key principles to guide the journey, like treating data as a strategic asset, not a cost center, and baking in governance from day one.
As Diana Gonzalez, Director of Revenue Operations at Riverside.fm, warns: “If you don’t do it really, really thoroughly from the beginning, you have to spend a lot more time fixing things down the line.”
Intelligence is what turns numbers into action.
Download the free guide and start building yours.
Do you want to turn your data into intelligence?
Why your best customers churn and what to do about it
You might expect your customers to drop off after their first purchase.
Perhaps it’s not for them after all.
But what happens when people buy three or four times, explore the range, then vanish?
Turns out, that’s not a fluke and Thomas McKinlay from Science Says explains why.
Confidence in a product category follows an inverted U-shape. Brand-new buyers are actually overconfident because they don’t know what they don’t know.
As they try more products, they may start noticing their knowledge gaps, which can diminish their confidence and make switching feel appealing.
The effect is real. So real, it’s been measured.
An analysis of 3.7M product reviews across nearly 30 years found that people were 4.5% more likely to switch makeup brands after reviewing between 2 and 10 products.
Of those who switched, 54% never came back.
That 54% stat is what you need to mark on your retention dashboard. You’re not losing these customers to a better product. You’re losing them to uncertainty.
The fix? Reducing cognitive uncertainty at the right moment.
For mid-journey customers, those who’ve tried a few products but aren’t category experts yet, send feedback surveys or benefit reminders before doubt sets in.
If you have a product range, recommend something new rather than repeating what they’ve already tried. It satisfies their exploratory instinct without pushing them toward a competitor.
The research also found that the switching effect weakens when people are prompted to reflect on their experience.
A well-timed email asking “how’s it going?” actively builds confidence and reduces churn.
And here’s a little bonus: Turn loyalty rewards into a small gamble.
Telling customers they’ll receive either a discount or a free gift on their next order adds anticipation that drives repeat purchases. Nice trick, eh?
30k+ social media managers read this newsletter. Do you?
If you do any work with social media, you know better than anyone: It’s hectic.
You’re too busy to sort through the noise—you just need the crucial updates, fast.
Geekout delivers exactly that: The week’s most important social media updates, emerging trends, and platform changes, all curated by industry expert Matt Navarra.
As Ben, a social media consultant, puts it: “It’s one of the most comprehensive social media wrap ups every week.”
Podcast ads are super trustworthy
If the guy who’s been talking to you during leg day for three years recommends a product…
…yeah, you’ll likely buy it.
Want to whisper into a prospect’s ear? This is the safest place.
68% of listeners trust recommendations from podcast hosts. Format matters too:
- 67% find post-roll ads effective
- 36% explicitly prefer host-read ads for their conversational tone
Unlike intrusive display ads or sketchy social feeds, podcast ads feel like recommendations from a knowledgeable friend.
The psychology behind it: Listeners invite hosts into their commutes, workouts, and morning routines. Over time, that one-sided relationship starts to feel… strong? And real.
It’s what researchers call a parasocial relationship. When a host reads your ad, they’re both delivering a message and lending you their reputation.
Make it work: Skip pre-recorded radio spots. Pay the premium for host-read sponsorships and let hosts ad-lib or share personal stories about your product.
Podcast advertising is exploding and the trust metrics explain why.
AI EDUCATION: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney… So many names, but what’s actually useful for you in your work? There’s a newsletter called The Deep View that exists to sift through all the noise and get you up to speed on what’s actionable with AI products, and it’s free. Join 512,000+ subscribers with one click and let AI empower you.*
BIG TECH: Uh-oh. Meta and Google have been found liable in a landmark addiction trial, ordered to pay millions for designing features that deliberately hooked younger users. The potential fallout includes teen bans, structural reforms, and serious damage to ad revenue.
OPENAI: Sora is effectively dead. But even before it was official, reports claim that agencies have replaced it with the likes of Runway or Google Veo. The lesson? A splashy launch means nothing if real teams won’t use it, so test every AI tool before recommending it to a client.
SEO: Google’s Spam Update ended up being quite the nothing burger. It wrapped in under 24 hours and, according to reports, the SEO community barely flinched. However, many experts claim this is just setting the stage for a new core update that may shake the SERP again. Yikes.
WHATSAPP: Heads up, a useful batch of updates just landed. You can now delete large files from individual chats, iOS users get dual-account support, and Meta AI can draft context-aware replies on your behalf. Cross-platform chat history transfer has also been simplified.
TIKTOK: …just launched “Watch it. Love it. Want it,” a campaign built on TikTok being your next storefront. Search activity is up 40% year-over-year, and Douyin cleared $500B in GMV in 2025. Western markets are expected to follow, which means product discovery should be a part of your TikTok strategy.
*This is a sponsored post.
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