Citizens of Soil’s 3-word 10X tweak

We listened to a podcast with the Citizens of Soil founders and had to get this bad boy straight in the swipe file. According to them, changing their headline to this 10x'd their D2C revenue overnight. Not bad, eh?

What's really interesting about this bit of copy is that the original headline was "Subscribe to refill."

And we bet, if you asked 100 copywriters about the headline, most of them would say it ticks all the right boxes. It's clear. It communicates the offer. It tells you exactly what you're signing up for. It's tangible.

And on paper, it should work fine.

And yet, it got absolutely steamrollered by the new headline.

The difference, we think, is that one asks you to do something administrative like set up a recurring order, remember to cancel if you don't want it... basically, it treats olive oil like a utility. Like a standing order of detergent or pet food.

But "Join the Olive Oil Club" invites you to join something that feels cool and foodie. It's something you'd want to be part of. It feels like it says something about who you are as a person.

We've talked elsewhere in the swipe file about how powerful opt-in identity can be. You see it with Huel, Lucy & Yak, Happy Tuesdays... and "The Olive Oil Club" is the same move applied to subscriptions.

You're not just subscribing to olive oil. You're saying "this is the kind of person I am".

Which is super smart, because research by Reed et al in the International Journal of Research in Marketing shows that when we buy a product or brand that aligns with our desired identity — AKA, who we want ourselves to be — we feel validated and are far more likely to become loyal customers and make repeat purchases.

Basically, one headline asks customers to set up a direct debit. The other asks them "are you the kind of person who loves olive oil this much? If so, you belong here.".

So if you have a subscription product (or you're just looking to increase repeat orders) ask yourself: how can we make buying feel less like a task and more like the customer is saying something about themselves?

It might not get you 10X. But it will make your copy resonate with your customers better. And doing that again and again is how brands grow fast.