Hey legends!

Ever wonder how some brands seem to just get it when it comes to customer acquisition? They’re not just throwing money at ads; they’re building deep connections and converting browsers into loyal fans.

Today, I'm drilling down into Magic Spoon, the DTC cereal brand that’s completely reshaped a sleepy industry.

Their approach to performance marketing isn't just about selling cereal; it’s about creating a cult following and building a brand that defies traditional FMCG norms.

This is what I'm covering in today's edition:

• Unpacking Magic Spoon’s savvy Podcast ads strategy for high-intent audiences

• How they leverage Google Ads to capture demand and dominate search

• The secrets behind their email list building that turns curiosity into conversions

• Optimizing the post-purchase flow to drive up AOV and customer lifetime value

The Case Study

I thought Magic Spoon to be a quirky, creative and disruptive brand. They’ve done well by offering high-protein, low-carb, and sugar-free alternatives to childhood favourites.

Since its launch in 2019, they’ve grown rapidly and have reported over $100m in annual sales🤯. They’ve tapped into a nostalgic yet health-conscious consumer base in a very competitive market.

By innovating their product and executing on a clever performance marketing strategy, they’ve balanced out customer acquisition and retention well.

Today, I won’t go into everything they’ve done, but will surface things that I found were worth mentioning that can be easily implemented by other DTC and ecom brands.

Let’s get into it 👇

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PODCAST ADVERTISING
How to Tap Into ‘Trust-First’ Audiences Using Podcasts

Magic Spoon understands that investing in podcasts goes beyond simple brand awareness; it’s a portal to create a deeper connection with their best customers.

Digital marketing is saturated. Competition is insane this year with everyone fighting for the same feed and stories placement, so it’s easy for people to tune out traditional ads.

Podcasts foster a unique level of trust between the host and listeners. Their strategy focuses on paid podcast sponsorships over free influencer seeding for bigger names. They don’t pay influencers to promote their product. From what I’ve read, they instead just send them free cereal boxes.

How they’ve leveraged podcast ads to get new customers:

1. They partner with popular podcasts whose demo aligns perfectly with their target market. For them, they focus on podcasts in the health, wellness, entrepreneurship and lifestyle space.

2. They mainly tap into the host-read ads, which feel less like ads and more like a personal recommendation. They often use special links and codes (like magicspoon.com/TIM) to track how many people buy something because of the podcast.

GOOGLE ADS
How Magic Spoon Captures “Healthy Cereal” Shoppers on Google

While I think brand building generates demand, I’m bullish on capturing ready-to-buy customers via search engines, specifically from Google ads.

Magic Spoon has a robust playbook. And this playbook has them running over 400 ads on Google alone.

They prioritise direct response marketing as the key strategy to meet user intent.

They capture users at the exact moment they are looking to buy the products or solutions that will help them.

If someone is looking for sugar-free cereal or a keto breakfast, Magic Spoon wants to make sure they show up infront of them first.

Their strategy revolves around these 5 core areas:

1) Bidding aggressively on terms related to healthy eating, going into nuances like Keto, Low Carb and targeting direct competitors.

2) A key cross-channel tactic is podcast-attribute search keywords. After running a podcast ad, they bid on keywords combining their brand name + podcast host name (e.g. Magic Spoon Tim Ferriss Discount). This tactic captures people who have heard the ad and are now searching for the brand specifically.

3) Shopping campaigns are optimised in line with best practices.

• Rich product titles - Detailed product titles and descriptions make it easier for customers to find what they're looking for. For instance, instead of just saying "Fruity Cereal," they might say "Magic Spoon Fruity Cereal - High Protein, Low Carb, Keto, Gluten-Free, Zero Sugar." This helps attract people who are specifically searching for these features and makes the product more noticeable compared to regular cereals.

• Group bidding - Considering they have a range of options, they are segmenting their shopping campaigns by flavour, bundle or dietary category to allow for more granular bidding and budget allocation to their highest converting products.

4) For a DTC brand like Magic Spoon, which relies on subscriptions and repeat purchases, Remarketing Lists for Search Ads (RLSA) is invaluable. They are likely focusing on:

• Abandoned cart recovery - targeting people who didn’t purchase is added to the RSLA audience list. If they later search for anything related to “healthy breakfast”, “cereal subscriptions”, or even general grocery terms, Magic Spoon will pop up.

• Past purchases - Existing customers are super important. You can use RLSA to target anyone who is searching for “new healthy cereal” or “protein breakfast ideas”, they can show their ads for the latest drops or new offers.

• Product page views - Anyone who checked out their product page but didn’t convert is a great target for ads. The best brands typically offer a discount to encourage conversion.

5) Looking through their Google ads, it looks like they’ve structured their ads into core themes: health first, nostalgia, flavour + variety, trust signals and promotions.

6) They are running over 74 video ads, indicating that YouTube is a big part of their performance strategy. Typically, a discovery channel, but for Magic Spoon, they’ve taken the direct response route with the likelihood of trying to tackle discovery & traffic from the very first view.

EMAIL LIST BUILDING
Nurturing the Curious

Acquiring a new customer is just the first step. These guys excel at turning interest into something more long-term.

Magic Spoon actively builds their email list through:

→ Website pop-ups by offering discounts for first-time subscribers
→ Host giveaways like giving away a year’s supply of cereal
→ Have some gated content, like recipe books, that people can access in exchange for giving their email.

Once people are subscribed, they are segmented based on user behaviour.

If you’ve abandoned a cart, recently made a purchase or browsed specific products, you’ll get tailored content and promotions based on your specific touchpoint.

For example, their welcome series introduces the brand story and product benefits, while ongoing campaigns focus on new product launches, seasonal offers, and educational content about healthy eating.

Some insights from their email campaigns:

• They send about 2x emails per week

• 16% of their emails include promotions

• Subject lines are often 39 characters long

• They have 12 separate journeys segmented

INCREASING AOV
Post-Purchase Flow That Increased AOV Immediately

Most brands solely focus on acquisition and forget that there’s huge potential to increase revenue with smart post-purchase flows. Magic Spoon has this dialled in.

They leverage tools like Rebuy’s Smart Cart and create compelling upsell offers. Magic Spoon focuses on:

→ Presenting the customer with an immediate 1-click upsell/cross-sell opportunity for complementary products.

→ Offering larger bundles or a switch to their subscription model

→ Use personalized product recommendations based on the items people buy

→ Offer attractive discounts for subscribing right after a one-time purchase, capitalizing on the buyer's momentum.

Using this flow, Magic Spoon increased their average order value by 14% and got over 18,000 products switched to subscription!

FURTHER READS
Resources

Let me know how you found this breakdown below, and thanks for reading!

Talk Soon!
Dev 🤙

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