The Invisible Hook

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🚀 The Invisible Hook: How the Best Brands Make You Stay Without Realizing It

Imagine this: You wake up, reach for your phone, and open Instagram without thinking. At the coffee shop, you tap your Starbucks app before even checking the menu. Later, you pop in your AirPods the moment you step out.

None of these actions feel like decisions. They’re habits. And that’s why you keep coming back.

Brands that win at retention don’t just convince you to stay—they become part of your daily rhythm. Let’s break down how they do it.

Step 1: The Seamless Trigger – When Using a Product Feels Automatic

Your brain is wired to follow triggers—cues in your environment that spark an action. The best brands don’t ask customers to remember them; they embed themselves into existing habits.

Your Move: Find the micro-moments in your customer’s day where your product naturally fits in—before they even realize they need it.

Step 2: The Effortless Choice – Remove All Friction: Most people don’t like making decisions. So they default to what’s easiest. Brands that retain customers don’t fight for attention; they eliminate the need for choice.

Example: Starbucks isn’t just about coffee—it’s a pre-wired ritual. Before caffeine cravings hit, people are already in line. Ordering something different requires effort.

Your Move: Reduce every barrier to using your product. Fewer clicks, zero confusion, and a setup so smooth that customers return because it takes more effort to leave than to stay.

Step 3: The Psychological Loss – Make Leaving Feel Like a Cost

People hate losing progress more than they love gaining rewards. Brands that create “soft penalties” for quitting keep customers locked in.

Example: Snapchat streaks. They don’t charge users to keep a streak alive, but the fear of losing progress? That’s enough to bring them back daily.

Your Move: Instead of offering discounts to keep users, create emotional investment. Progress tracking, exclusive perks, or even subtle social pressure—make quitting feel like a setback.

Great retention isn’t about aggressive marketing or spammy emails—it’s about making your product the invisible default in customers’ lives. The key is to embed it into their daily habits, remove all friction so returning feels effortless, and leverage loss aversion to make quitting feel like a setback. 

The best brands don’t just retain customers; they become so ingrained in routines that leaving isn’t even a conscious decision.

Together with Insense

Save 40+ hours on influencer sourcing and campaign management

You probably know that UGC video ads are high converters because they are full of social proof.

But get this: The #1 pain point for eCommerce brands is having the manpower to find, communicate, and manage collaborations with creators. 

Enter Insense.

DTC brands and growth agencies, like Fling, Solawave, and Ivy Beauty, use Insense to:

• Find creators in minutes; they apply directly to your campaigns from Insense’s vetted marketplace of 68K+ UGC creators and micro-influencers from 35+ countries across the USA, EMEA, APAC, and Latin America.
• Start collaborations immediately and source modular UGC content (b-rolls, hooks, and CTA variations).
• Launch campaigns quickly with brief templates for smooth and seamless communication and receive full content usage rights.
• Run diverse campaign types from UGC and product seeding to TikTok Shop to Meta whitelisted ads, and more.

And if you launch your campaigns now, you can get content within 14 days.

Book a free strategy call by March 21st and get $200 for your first UGC campaign.

🚫 Consumers Crave Discounts: How Coupons & Deals Drive Retail Loyalty
Insights from Valpak

In a competitive retail space, discounts and deals are more than just incentives—they directly impact consumer shopping behavior. Customers actively seek brands that offer real value, and those who fail to meet this expectation risk losing business.

• Shoppers Will Switch for Savings - 45% of consumers would change retailers for a coupon or offer, with low prices (65%) and great customer service (39%) also influencing decisions. Buy One Get One(BOGO) deals (72%) and markdowns (65%) top the list of most desired discounts.
• Personalized Offers Matter More Than Ever - Loyalty programs drive engagement, with 61% wanting customer-specific deals, 59% seeking birthday discounts, and 57% expecting seasonal promos. Shoppers want brands to reward their continued business.
• How Consumers Prefer to Receive Discounts - Retailers need to meet customers where they are: 59% prefer email offers, 49% like mail, and 35% opt for text messages. Social media ranks the lowest, highlighting the continued relevance of traditional channels.

Price-conscious shopping is now mainstream, and consumers expect retailers to deliver real value. Smart brands that prioritize discounts, loyalty incentives, and targeted promotions will not only attract but retain high-intent customers.

🚀 Quick Hits

❓ Will People Actually Remember Your Ads? Neurons AI predicts ad performance before launch, helping brands craft high-impact, memorable campaigns. TikTok, L’Oreal, and Google have seen 73% higher CTRs and 20% stronger brand awareness. Book a free demo today!

🔍 Bluesky has updated its app to include 3-minute videos, a "Chat Requests" folder, and new language options. Despite reaching 30 million active users, it struggles to compete with larger networks like X and Threads, showing signs of slowing growth.

📚 Google's AI-driven Search Max feature is expanding to more accounts, automating ad optimizations in Search campaigns enhancing ad relevance by using landing pages and AI-generated content to match expanded search terms, aiming to increase conversions with less manual effort.

🛜 Meta is encouraging advertisers to connect their Google Analytics with its advertising platform to enhance campaign performance and gain early access to system updates. Advertisers who integrate successfully have observed up to a 5% increase in conversions.

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