Johann Van Tonder
@itsme_jvt
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CRO agency ceo | Clients incl Avis, Canon, Nike, Toyota | Building w/ Replit, Cursor, Arduino | Author, Kogan Page
London | Cape Town
Joined July 2008
We’ve been doing CRO w/ Canon EMEA for 8 years. Have all the opportunities not been exhausted? No, bcs everything is constantly changing: - consumer trends - economic landscape - competitive environment Over time it spreads through the org, becomes “the way we do things”.
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Same with free CRO audits. Waste of time. You get an opinion based on that person’s version of “best practice” It’s the antithesis of CRO.
Most free Meta Ads audits are a waste of time, especially if you're sales have plateaued. This is what you're likely to hear: 1. Your account is over- or under-consolidated 2. Your CPMs/CTRs/CVRs are too low/high 3. You need to do more [popular creative format that you've already tried 5x and it hasn't worked] And of course... 4. You've plateaued because you're not using my preferred account structure which is always right in every situation. Items 1-3 are observations. It's like going to the doctor and saying "my stomach hurts". They take your vitals. Your blood pressure is elevated. OK SO WHAT? In most cases the implied "so what" is account structure. I've consulted with dozens of brands. In 9/10 cases, account structure is NOT the reason a brand is stalled. Much, much more often, growth has stalled because new customer counts are down due to a budget allocation decision made 3-4 months ago. Usually, this is shifting dollars out of Meta and into Google. You won't know that unless you review Shopify data and media spend across all channels. Much, much more often, these channel allocation decisions get made because Meta becomes less efficient...because the brand's overall playbook has become stale. Do all the free audits you want, but don't expect to implement the findings and fix your business.
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@petergyang @grok Got an arguably better result after fighting with it through a few iterations:
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@evanlapointe See this a lot in CRO teams. They wanna talk about test wins, statsig and metrics. Snr stakeholders a level or two up can’t see the big picture value through that lens. It helps to map line of sight to biz objectives with visual frameworks like OST from @ttorres
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@JasonJh1319 Depends on ticket size as others said, also other factors like market. Removed it on high end homeware retailer to check value. Made no difference. Seems people who used it would’ve bought anyway.
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@JeremyNguyenPhD @takes12no1 Jeremy, would be interesting to hear more about yr approach if you’re willing to share what you’ve done. Sounds like you’ve done the hardest part.
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@morganlinton @petergyang Seems to be common use case. Had genealogy site in portfolio years ago, eventually sold to big ancestry brand. Digitized thousands records every month. High input cost, so mostly behind paywall. As ppl open-access their family trees, that info becomes available to AI.
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@TheAndrewCerami The “best of the best” are not on Twitter. I say this as someone with 15 years CRO experience.
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@theandreboso Bluesky feels different, but at the same time frustratingly so. Like FB in the early days “what I had for lunch”
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Make yr DTC business more attractive M&A target - good thread. Keep team lean, use agencies for continuity. Been there. Communicate this to yr agency partners from the start so we align on same goal. Important practical differences when optimizing for acquisition.
2. Key Person Risk Lean team = fewer people the acquirer can rely on after the sale. Therefore the founder / cofounders are seen as even more important. Agencies can be helpful here since they can provide continuity. But the lack of a management layer can cause concern. Unless you are happy to stay with the business for *years* post-exit (which some founders are), or to structure the deal with the majority as an earnout, you must de-risk this for the buyer. Put systems in place. Hire for key roles where possible and have a plan for the rest. Set things up in such a way that the buyer genuinely will not suffer after you’ve stepped down. Good bankers will help buyers to see how they can *improve* management and operations after the founders exit. Bringing stronger management capability is often a key value-add for acquirers (particularly private equity).
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Cool use of Deep Research 👇 Had genealogy site in portfolio years ago, eventually sold to big ancestry brand. Digitized thousands records every month. High input cost, so mostly behind paywall. As ppl open-access their family trees, that info becomes available to AI.
@michael_nielsen I used it to research my family history and my father discovered he was named after his grandfathers nickname - he never knew this. I also discovered I could join the Daughters of the American Revolution lol
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@IstvanicMarin Amazing how strongly personal connections feature in many success stories. Network = net worth.
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@C_Shelefontiuk Products have evolved, alongside consumer prefs. Think mirrorless cameras for ex. The purchase journey has changed substantially in some segments. Ways of working and cultural aspects have matured over time, it becomes a reinforcing loop.
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@johnhickey1970 @C_Shelefontiuk Going public was such a d!ck move, says a lot about him. @C_Shelefontiuk handled it well There should be a black list for agencies of clients to avoid.
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@lorenzocarreri Hehe “rabbit holes that mostly lead nowhere” - such a good description of CRO process
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@Maria_Amelie Could be a sign that they’re serious buyers. Checking details, taking pics for discussion and comparison. But yeah, decent thing would be to at least inform you.
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I like this: distribute all the profits among shareholders and employees every year. Nothing is retained. Small team, share of profit based on tenure. Nice.
@NedNguyen Technically nothing js held over, it’s all distributed every year. We spent the money we needed to spend during the year. What’s left are our profits and they are all distributed.
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