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Welcome to the episode: we’ve got Jordan Gordon back on the mic — the guy leading email, retention and CRO at Pilot House, with 25 years in ecommerce under his belt.

Role‑Based Hook (for DTC growth/marketing audience):

For DTC founders & growth marketers scaling from $5M–100M in revenue, this is your CRO check‑list for Q4.

Here’s what we dig into:

• Why your headline conversion rate is a shaky metric — and why “direct conversion” gives you better signal.
• The one page type (your top product page) you can fix in time for Black Friday to move the needle.
• How to push “bundling and recommendations” tools to unlock +8–30% lift in AOV with zero extra ad spend.
• The eight choke‑points across homepage → category → PDP → cart/checkout you must optimize right now.
• Real copy & button tips: How a tiny phrase (“Feel organic again”) can flip the homepage from meh to go‑time.

Who this is for: DTC brand leads, ecommerce CRO/optimization folks, retention & growth marketers who already run advertising and now need to tighten the funnel.

What to steal:

• Run quick benchmark: Are you hitting 5‑7% Add‑to‑Cart, ~2% conversion, ~1.25% direct conversion in Shopify?
• Pick your top 3‑5 PDPs and make them ultra‑fast (under 3s load) using a tool/tech stack like Niche.
• Install a bundling/recommendation engine (like Rebuy) across the site and measure +8% lift in AOV by pushing “people like you bought this + add it” flows.

Timestamps

00:00 Highest Leverage CRO Insights for Q4

02:10 Benchmarking Add-to-Cart and Conversion Rates

04:45 Why Direct Conversion Is a Better Signal

07:00 Speeding Up PDPs with Niche for Instant Wins

10:05 Boosting AOV with Rebuy Bundling

13:00 The 8 Critical Website Choke Points

15:45 Optimizing Copy Around Key Conversion Areas

18:20 Homepage Strategy for High-Volume Traffic

21:40 What Big Brands Get Right on Their Homepages

24:30 Final Q4 CRO Checklist and Fast Wins

Hashtags

#dtcpodcast #q4ecommerce #cro #conversionrateoptimization #ecommercetips #shopifygrowth #blackfridayprep #aov #d2cbrands #onlinescaling

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