div]:bg-bg-000/50 [&_pre>div]:border-0.5 [&_pre>div]:border-border-400 [&_.ignore-pre-bg>div]:bg-transparent [&_.standard-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pl-2 [&_.standard-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,ul,ol,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pr-8 [&_.progressive-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pl-2 [&_.progressive-markdown_:is(p,blockquote,ul,ol,h1,h2,h3,h4,h5,h6)]:pr-8"> _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 [&_>_*:last-child]:mb-0 print:block print:[&_>_*_+_*]:mt-3 standard-markdown">

Most eCom marketers are optimizing for the wrong number, and a real CFO explains exactly how to fix that!

Our good friend Abir Syed has a rare take on how to scale brands: he's run an eCommerce brand, built a performance marketing agency, and now runs a fractional CFO firm specializing in eCom. In this episode, he breaks down why MER is basically useless, what cohort profit actually tells you, and the three-pillar finance framework that gives marketers and CFOs a shared language for growth. Nate also gets uncomfortably personal about his own brand's cash flow situation.

You'll walk away understanding how to set real scaling targets, why over-revving your marketing engine costs you money, how to predict LTV decay as you shift from organic to paid customers, and what questions to actually ask your finance team.

00:00 Why selling out early isn't the flex you think it is01:45 Introducing Abir Syed — the CFO who hates accounting03:30 Why 80% of your business story lives in the finances05:30 The #1 thing to get right before anything else: inventory costing07:00 Why MER is a useless metric (hot take, but hear him out)08:30 How dropping MER led to 130% growth in one year09:15 Cohort profit: Abir's favorite metric explained13:00 Over-revving the engine — the hidden way brands lose money scaling16:30 Incrementality testing vs. the scaling target table18:00 LTV decay: what happens when you go from organic to paid acquisition20:00 Paid customers get stolen by ads — a concept that breaks your brain23:00 The 3 things a CFO and CMO should never fight about24:30 Pillar 2: Investing in the marketing engine (creative, tools, talent)26:00 Pillar 3: Cash flow strategy and payback periods33:30 Expense leverage — making sure every dollar has a job37:00 Nate's regret: not taking big shots during a 2.5-year hot streak38:30 The $100K YouTube deal that looked like a disaster until Q439:30 The one thing to do this week if you're looking at your numbers

👉 Join my community: skool.com/tether-lab

Guest: Abir Syed _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 [&_>_*:last-child]:mb-0 print:block print:[&_>_*_+_*]:mt-3 standard-markdown"> Twitter: https://x.com/Abir_CFO _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 [&_>_*:last-child]:mb-0 print:block print:[&_>_*_+_*]:mt-3 standard-markdown"> Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/abir-syed/ _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 [&_>_*:last-child]:mb-0 print:block print:[&_>_*_+_*]:mt-3 standard-markdown"> Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abir.cfo/ _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 [&_>_*:last-child]:mb-0 print:block print:[&_>_*_+_*]:mt-3 standard-markdown"> Website: https://www.upcounting.com/ _*]:min-w-0 gap-3 [&_>_*:last-child]:mb-0 print:block print:[&_>_*_+_*]:mt-3 standard-markdown">

CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

CoHost: Sarah Levinger Learn more at: https://www.tetherinsights.io/ Twitter: https://x.com/SarahLevinger Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.levinger/ Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

This headline formula works for every customer...confident or not!

This week, Nate breaks down a single copywriting structure he's tested across every brand he's worked with: "Our [product] is [adjective] and [adjective], just like the [customers] who use it." Sounds simple. The psychology behind it pretty complex though!

We dig into why this format hits differently, how it flatters the buyer who already sees themselves that way, and motivates the one who wants to. Plus: how to pick the adjectives that actually do the heavy lifting, why customer reviews are the starting point (not the finish line), and how the winning words from a headline test should be dictating your next photo shoot.

Timestamps 00:00 Intro — Q4 is closer than you think 01:00 The headline format Nate's used with every brand 02:00 Sara's first reaction to Nate's watch copy 03:00 The full formula breakdown with examples 04:00 Why it works for both confident and insecure buyers 05:00 Picking adjectives that aren't "good," "great," or "best" 06:00 Using Claude + a thesaurus to find rich descriptors 07:30 Flattery as a copy strategy (done right) 08:30 Rugged vs. polished — how headline tests changed their photo shoots 10:00 How winning adjectives should inform your entire funnel 11:00 Homework: write your own versions and test them

👉 Join Sarah's Creative Strategy Community: skool.com/tether-lab

CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

CoHost: Sarah Levinger Learn more at: https://www.tetherinsights.io/ Twitter: https://x.com/SarahLevinger Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.levinger/ Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

Get ready for a good show today...we're going through 7 pricing psychology tricks that work even on savvy consumers! Backed by real studies, from why discounts can make a painkiller feel less effective to a 1-cent pricing hack that made 25% more money on eBay.

In this episode, we break down the research behind charm pricing, price anchoring, credit card spending, partitioned pricing, and more — plus real test results from their own brands, including a $777 bundle that outsold a $699 control and a free-shipping test that flipped conversion rates.

00:00 Cold open: we've been sleeping on this topic 00:02 The most impactful lever most brands never test 00:03 The Price Placebo Effect: the energy drink study that messed with their heads 00:06 Why running sales year-round can quietly kill your product's perceived quality 00:07 The Nine-Ending Paradox: why $39 outsold $34 by 24% 00:08 Real case study: the $777 Jack Daniels bundle that beat the control price 00:09 The Phonetic Length Effect: why $999 feels bigger than $1,000 00:11 Personal price anchors and the IKEA "4 cups of coffee" pricing trick 00:12 The Credit Card Premium: cash bidders vs. card bidders in a real auction 00:15 Partitioned Pricing: the penny-plus-shipping trick that made 25% more 00:19 The Endowed Progress Effect: the car wash loyalty card study 00:20 Getting "got": a real-time example of a surprise upgrade offer

👉 Join my community: skool.com/tether-lab

CoHost: Nate Lagos Twitter: https://x.com/natelagos LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

CoHost: Sarah Levinger Learn more at: https://www.tetherinsights.io/ Twitter: https://x.com/SarahLevinger Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.levinger/ Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

We asked 28 marketers what single change in their ad account made the biggest difference — and nobody put creative at the top. What came back instead was account structure, cost caps, better data, and one answer that stopped us cold: doing nothing at all.

This episode breaks down the nine cognitive biases quietly running the average media buyer's decisions, from action bias to the expert's curse. We get into why excluding past purchasers dropped one brand's new customer CPA by 40% overnight, why "data-driven" has become a red flag on a resume, and why the last 20% of Meta optimization is worth less than the first 20% of your landing page. If you manage ad accounts, hire people who do, or spend your Sundays reorganizing campaigns you shouldn't be touching, this one's for you.

⚡ IN THIS EPISODE → Why excluding past purchasers dropped NCPA by 40% instantly → The two years an account crushed because nobody touched it → Why 85% optimized and understandable beats 100% optimized and muddy → "Data aware, human obsessed" — the hiring filter that should replace "data-driven" → Why measuring by product collection, not by ad, makes diagnosis ten times faster → The case for ignoring your weaknesses entirely and doubling down on strengths

⏱ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The no-phone morning walk that fixed our brains 01:20 The Twitter question that broke everyone's assumptions 02:30 A 40% drop in new customer CPA from one mechanical exclusion 03:45 What 28 marketers actually said — and why creative never made the list 05:50 Action bias: why you can't stop touching the account 06:45 "I haven't touched it in three weeks. Why would I?" 08:45 Illusion of control, and whether we should just let Meta cook 11:15 Complexity bias: one CBO campaign, one ad set, two record years 14:30 Metric fixation and the streetlight effect 18:20 Why "data-driven marketer" is a red flag on a resume 21:20 Managing by collection instead of by ad 23:00 The ad account is now a glorified folder system 24:30 Expert's curse: why 70 failed video ads should have been a signal 28:35 There's 100% more to gain outside the ad account than inside it 30:50 The self-serving spotlight — nobody wins an account alone 33:20 "Greed will kill your business faster than anything"

👉 Join Sarah's Creative Strategy Community: skool.com/tether-lab

─────────────────────────────────── 🎙 CO-HOSTS ───────────────────────────────────

Sarah Levinger 🌐 tetherinsights.io 🐦 x.com/SarahLevinger 💼 linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger 📸 instagram.com/sarah.levinger ▶️ youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

Nate Lagos 🐦 x.com/natelagos 💼 linkedin.com/in/natelagos 🎧 Tactical & Practical Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

Fewer ingredients. More sales. It sounds backwards — until you see the data. A study across 19 food-and-beverage experiments found people were 21.6% more likely to choose an identical product when it simply listed fewer ingredients. This week we break down why "less is more" is quietly one of the most reliable levers in DTC advertising.

We get into how this plays out in real ad accounts — why single-ingredient, single-benefit ads consistently outperform "kitchen sink" messaging, why competing claims cancel each other out in the buyer's brain, and where the rule breaks (spoiler: it doesn't apply to candy). We also map the white space for "clean" CPG, the psychology of un-dyed products, and how to apply ingredient minimalism to supplements, consumables, and honestly whatever you sell.

⚡ IN THIS EPISODE → The study: why 19 experiments point to fewer listed ingredients = higher conversion → Why simplicity wins at the front of the funnel — and where to hide your other benefits → The one product category where "more ingredients" actually works → The untapped white space in "clean candy" (and why the big brands won't touch it) → How to rewrite a multi-ingredient product into a single-benefit ad that crushes

⏱ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Why one specific benefit beats a full ingredient list 01:40 The setup: a tactic that makes people 21.6% more likely to buy 03:30 The quiz — guessing what actually moves the needle 06:00 The answer nobody guesses: fewer ingredients 06:40 The click-rate data (up to 44.2% higher) and why it holds 07:00 "Ingredients you can't pronounce" — how the angle evolved 08:00 The exception: why this rule breaks for candy and treats 08:40 The clean-candy white space no big brand has claimed 10:00 "Simply Skittles" — who's really buying, the kid or the parent? 11:00 Applying it to supplements: why competing claims fight in the brain 12:30 Front-of-funnel simplicity and the acute vs. chronic framing 13:00 The watch ad that sold with just two words

👉 Join Sarah's Creative Strategy Community: skool.com/tether-lab

─────────────────────────────────── 🎙 CO-HOSTS ───────────────────────────────────

Sarah Levinger 🌐 tetherinsights.io 🐦 x.com/SarahLevinger 💼 linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger 📸 instagram.com/sarah.levinger ▶️ youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

Nate Lagos 🐦 x.com/natelagos 💼 linkedin.com/in/natelagos 🎧 Tactical & Practical Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

This week we break down what might be the oldest example of influencer/offer marketing ever! We get into why a thing you find on the ground beats a thing you're handed, how a tiny wearable pickle pin turned one million people 🤯 into walking billboards, and the bigger lesson hiding inside the story: most marketers think marketing is fishing when it's actually hunting.

If you feel stuck on Meta, TikTok, or any platform you can't leave, this one's for you.

⚡ IN THIS EPISODE → Why a free thing you find on the ground converts better than one you're handed → The "free + shipping lead gen offer" — invented at a fair in 1893 → How to manufacture social proof so good people stop strangers to ask about it → Why "small, lightweight, and odd" beats expensive swag every single time → Marketing is hunting, not fishing — and why that one reframe changes everything

⏱ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 Building an office inside an RV (and why your habits slide without one) 01:00 The Q-tip shower thought we couldn't let go of 02:00 The oldest influencer marketing story ever — and the Heinz pickles vs. ketchup debate 03:00 27 million people, the first Ferris wheel, and the single best booth on Earth 04:00 How Henry Heinz got stuck in the attic of the smelliest building at the fair 05:00 "If you can't move as a marketer, what do you do?" — the part that hits if you're trapped on Meta 06:00 The cards on the ground: a free-souvenir lead gen offer run by kid micro-influencers 07:00 The reveal — a tiny green rubber pickle pin 08:00 The Red Bull trash-can trick and the psychology of "everyone's doing this" 09:00 Why a golden ticket you find feels better than a pamphlet you're handed 10:00 The hook that turned a pin into a billboard — and the crowd so big police were called 11:00 Free PR, Super Bowl-level reach, and a souvenir that keeps selling for years 12:00 Free consulting: what to give away at the Kentucky Bourbon Festival 13:00 Why "small, lightweight, and odd" wins (whiskey-themed fortune cookies) 14:00 The big one: marketing is hunting, not fishing 16:00 Selling vs. marketing — the difference nobody draws clearly 17:00 The strip-mall sign-twirler analogy that'll change how you build 18:00 Humans are simple — stop optimizing for a passive sales ecosystem

👉 Join Sarah's Creative Strategy Community: skool.com/tether-lab

─────────────────────────────────── 🎙 CO-HOSTS ───────────────────────────────────

Sarah Levinger 🌐 tetherinsights.io 🐦 x.com/SarahLevinger 💼 linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger 📸 instagram.com/sarah.levinger ▶️ youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

Nate Lagos 🐦 x.com/natelagos 💼 linkedin.com/in/natelagos 🎧 Tactical & Practical Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

You can launch 100 ads... Meta's still only going to let 2 or 3 of them win. In this episode, we went down a deep rabbit hole on Meta's new Andromeda update to try and figure out why the mechanism keeps starving 97% of your creative.

We also dive into what this actually means for media buyers and creative strategists. We get into why dumping more ad volume doesn't create more winners, why the algo is basically playing blackjack and doubling down after seeing a single card, and why "make organic content that works as an ad" just went from a nice-to-have to the entire game. Plus a real-time (slightly too honest) consulting session on whether to cut ad spend and go all-in on organic.

⚡ IN THIS EPISODE → Why only 2-3 ads ever carry your entire account — and the poll data that proves it → The 90-minute window quietly deciding which creative lives or dies → Why launching 100 ads at once is the worst thing you can do right now → The "drip feed vs. bulk post" debate — and why we both landed on the same answer → How a streetwear brand blew up with organic videos that secretly end in an ad

⏱ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The 2-3 ads carrying your entire account 01:00 We polled 100+ marketers on how many ads actually win 03:00 The bell-curve math that should work... but doesn't 05:00 Inside Meta's Andromeda update: thousands of robots become five 06:00 The 90-minute gate and the "Lattice Zipper" nobody's talking about 07:00 Meta's playing blackjack — and doubling down blind on every hand 08:00 Why launching 100 ads gets 90 of them killed 10:00 Drip feed or bulk post? The answer that changes how you test 13:00 The streetwear brand whose "organic" videos secretly sell 17:00 A free, slightly-too-honest consult on going all-in on organic 22:00 The last chapter of Meta is closing — what the new era means

👉 Join Sarah's Creative Strategy Community: skool.com/tether-lab

─────────────────────────────────── 🎙 CO-HOSTS ───────────────────────────────────

Sarah Levinger 🌐 tetherinsights.io 🐦 x.com/SarahLevinger 💼 linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger 📸 instagram.com/sarah.levinger ▶️ youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

Nate Lagos 🐦 x.com/natelagos 💼 linkedin.com/in/natelagos 🎧 Tactical & Practical Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

In this episode we break down 17 things every brand gets wrong about marketing to millennials, from the skinny-jeans myth to why "this will change your life" is the fastest way to lose us.

We get into why millennials aren't in their "prime spending years" the way marketers assume, how the sandwich generation actually makes buying decisions, and why peace — not aspiration — is the emotion that's quietly winning in DTC ad creative right now. If you're building a brand that needs to sell to the biggest consumer group in the country for the next 10-15 years, this is the consumer psychology you can't afford to skip.

⚡ IN THIS EPISODE → Why "millennials are 25" is costing brands money (the oldest is 45) → The peace angle that's outperforming aspiration in ad copy right now → How to say "we get it" without the disingenuous "we're tired too" → Why nostalgia is a cheat code — but only if you get weirdly specific → The price-transparency move that turns a $350 sticker shock into a yes → Why the ripped-guy supplement ad and the "skincare girly" UGC both backfire

⏱ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The accidental "Nate is a co-host" mixup that started it all 01:50 Rule #1: Stop putting millennials in skinny jeans — we're not 25 03:00 The myth of "prime spending years" (we own 3% of the wealth boomers had) 03:50 The most undertaught generation — and how to educate without condescending 05:20 Midlife reinvention, not crisis: the Aston Martin that got returned 07:20 What we actually want isn't the convertible — it's a three-day weekend 08:50 The "make me feel comfortable buying" shift that's working in copy 09:30 "It's okay that you're tired" — and the one line that ruins it 12:00 The built-in millennial BS detector and why "are you struggling with X?" dies on arrival 14:30 The makeup-ad take: stop making the women too hot 16:50 Nostalgia done right — Tamagotchis, Lego Batman, and baked-in references 18:10 The 3 ingredients every real community needs 19:00 Price transparency and the hidden-fee move that closes the tab instantly 20:30 Why Nike keeps chasing Gen Z and losing loyal millennials 21:30 The performative-everything problem (and why nobody wants to be Bryan Johnson) 23:30 Mega-influencers are dead — give us the 8K-follower creator instead 24:30 Rule #17: Your salad is not "the sigh of relief I needed today" 26:50 Why millennials will carry your business for the next decade

👉 Join Sarah's Creative Strategy Community: skool.com/tether-lab

─────────────────────────────────── 🎙 CO-HOSTS ───────────────────────────────────

Sarah Levinger 🌐 tetherinsights.io 🐦 x.com/SarahLevinger 💼 linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger 📸 instagram.com/sarah.levinger ▶️ youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

Nate Lagos 🐦 x.com/natelagos 💼 linkedin.com/in/natelagos 🎧 Tactical & Practical Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

What if the reason customers are abandoning their carts isn't price...it's guilt?

New research across 14 million e-commerce sessions reveals that the more pleasure-based items are in a cart, the higher the abandonment rate. (The solution for this is simpler than you'd think.)

In this episode, we break down the psychology behind practical vs. hedonic upsells, why cold traffic wants logic before emotion, and how messaging sequence is the most underrated lever in DTC marketing. Nate also just bought an RV and accidentally became the perfect case study for why practical add-ons are a conversion cheat code for e-commerce brands and direct response marketers.

Source: https://app.sciencesays.com/p/suggest-practical-items-to-reduce-cart-abandonment

🎉 Join the community: skool.com/tether-lab

CoHost: Nate Lagos

Twitter: https://x.com/natelagosLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/natelagos/ Tactical and Practical Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534

CoHost: Sarah Levinger

Learn more at: https://www.tetherinsights.io/ Twitter: https://x.com/SarahLevingerLinkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarah.levinger/ Watch me on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

In this episode, we get into the three layers of the job (tactical, exterior, interior), why "taste" is the hardest skill to teach, and the in-house vs agency debate that keeps getting it wrong. If you're a creative strategist trying to level up (or a founder trying to hire one) this is the framework we wish we had years ago. Plus: why the apprenticeship model dying is the real reason the industry can't produce great talent anymore.

⚡ IN THIS EPISODE → Why you can teach someone to be adequate at creative strategy, but not great → The 3-tier skill stack: tactical for beginners, business for intermediates, psychology for experts → The one skill that separates good copy from copy that actually moves people → Why an intermediate at your brand will out-perform an expert off the street → The real reason 40,000 people signing up for bootcamps still won't fix the talent gap

⏱ TIMESTAMPS 00:00 The skill nobody can teach (but every great strategist has) 01:30 Sarah cashes in $1,000 of free consulting from Nate 03:30 What an expert creative strategist actually knows (it's not what you think) 05:30 Where intermediates fall short — and the business knowledge gap 06:45 Copy that sounds cool vs. copy that moves people 08:00 How to actually vet creative strategist candidates when you're hiring 10:15 The Connor Rowan question every strategist should be asking themselves 11:30 Why the apprenticeship model dying is killing the industry 14:00 The agency vs in-house debate (and who actually wins) 15:30 The one piece of advice for anyone trying to level up right now

👉 Join Sarah's Creative Strategy Community: skool.com/tether-lab

─────────────────────────────────── 🎙 CO-HOSTS ───────────────────────────────────

Sarah Levinger 🌐 tetherinsights.io 🐦 x.com/SarahLevinger 💼 linkedin.com/in/sarahlevinger 📸 instagram.com/sarah.levinger ▶️ youtube.com/channel/UCKwfjt_7PU5N_2fTfHemXXg

Nate Lagos 🐦 x.com/natelagos 💼 linkedin.com/in/natelagos 🎧 Tactical & Practical Podcast: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tactical-practical/id1752915534