The shortlist is the new SERP
😁 How to get picked by AI without playing the SEO volume game, BFCM year over year Shift, and more!
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In this newsletter, you’ll find:
😁 The shortlist is the new SERP
📈 BFCM Platform Breakdown: Spend, ROAS, CAC
🏆 Ad of the Day
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😁 The shortlist is the new SERP
People do not just Google “best vitamin C serum” anymore. They ask AI, then they buy whatever shows up in the shortlist, or they go verify it on Amazon, Reddit, YouTube, and “best of” roundups.
So the real win is not ranking your blog post.
The win is getting your brand included in the pages AI pulls its shortlist from.
Here’s the clean, non-draggy framework DTC teams can run.
1) Pick one buying moment, not a category
Most brands aim at “Best skincare.” Too broad, too crowded, too weak.
Aiming at the buying moment, AI can confidently match:
Best vitamin C for sensitive skin
Best protein for women over 30
Best electrolyte powder for runners
Best shampoo for hair fall
Best oral care kit for bad breath
This is where “entity positioning” becomes real. The brand becomes associated with a specific problem, not a vague market.
2) Build a 3-layer placement stack
Stop chasing every list. Build a stack that compounds.
Layer A, Decision Lists: the roundups that already rank and get scraped.
Goal: inclusion and correct category labeling.
Layer B, Proof Lists: niche creators, DTC newsletters, operator blogs.
Goal: language like “worked fast,” “non-irritating,” “actually tastes good,” “worth the price.”
Layer C, Echo Lists: small roundups and community posts.
Goal: repetition so the web repeats the same description of the brand.
This is the whole play. One cluster, repeated mentions, same narrative.
3) Hand editors a copy-paste “product card.”
If a placement requires work, editors skip it. Give them a clean card.
Include:
One-line promise in plain language
Who it is for
3 bullets that sound like outcomes, not features
Price anchor and size
One credible proof line, like orders, reviews, or a measurable claim
This is how the brand avoids getting described wrong, which is what poisons AI selection later.
4) Engineer review language like a marketer, not a nice brand
Stars are not the asset. Consistent wording is.
Ask customers one specific prompt per request:
What problem did it fix first
What made it different from the last brand
What they noticed after 7 days
Who it is perfect for
Those phrases get reused in reviews, screenshots, Reddit comments, and roundup blurbs. That repetition is what makes AI confident.
5) Measure one thing: shortlist density
Forget traffic. Track: how often the brand appears across the target “best of” cluster for that problem.
When density rises, paid ads get easier, Amazon branded search lifts, and conversion improves because the buyer arrives pre-sold.
Paid media can create the spark, but “best of” presence creates the permission. When the internet keeps describing the brand the same way, AI does not need to guess, it selects.
📈 BFCM Platform Breakdown: Spend, ROAS, CAC
BFCM platform results split into clear winners and underperformers. Some channels delivered efficient revenue at scale, while others saw rising costs and weakening returns, pushing performance teams to rethink where acquisition budgets should actually concentrate.
The Breakdown:
1. Spend - TikTok (+46.69%) and Pinterest (+46.93%) absorbed the largest budget increases, while YouTube and Snapchat saw reduced investment. Advertisers chased high-volume reach, but spend didn’t consistently align with downstream efficiency.
2. ROAS - Snapchat delivered standout ROAS (+27.85%), followed by Meta (+9.06%) and Google (+6.77%). In contrast, Pinterest (–36.58%) and YouTube (–12.10%) underperformed, showing that attention quality mattered more than raw scale.
3. CAC - Pinterest posted the steepest CAC increase (+38.85%), with Axon (+34.14%) and Microsoft Ads (+7.31%) also climbing. Snapchat was the only platform with improving CAC (–20.42%), positioning it as a rare cost-efficient prospecting channel.
Efficiency clustered around platforms with stronger signal feedback and higher intent. Meta, Google, and Snapchat enter Q1 with clear momentum, while Pinterest and YouTube require sharper creative and tighter targeting to justify continued investment.
🏆 Ad of the Day
What Works:
1) The monochrome “solar” gradient - The warm red-to-rose gradient mimics the psychology of sunset light, priming the viewer to feel radiance before reading the word “shimmer.” This uses affective priming: the emotional meaning of the color arrives milliseconds before conscious interpretation.
2) The applicator shown mid-drip - Seeing the wand with visible, glossy product triggers mirror-neuron responses tied to touch, glide, and texture. It makes the viewer imagine the sensation on their own lips, a form of subconscious pre-ownership.
3) Product centered with vertical elevation - Placing the tube upright with the applicator angled beside it mimics a pedestal composition, the visual language of prestige, tapping into status-signaling psychology: the product appears taller, prouder, and more essential.
This ad wins because it turns a shade update into a sensory event, weaving color psychology, embodied simulation, and subtle status cues into one coherent emotional message: this isn’t just shimmer, it’s light you can wear.
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