Common Thread Collective

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an e-commerce store.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

We needed a social media management agency.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Common Thread Collective has been helping us with social media management, specifically with Facebook Ads; I provide the content to them, and they manage our channels. They rebuilt our social ad campaigns by prioritizing how much money we were spending and our receiving ROI.

What is the team composition?

We usually work with five members of their team, including a project manager that is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

They were referred to in an e-commerce forum.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $300,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

They’ve helped us scale our Facebook spend and grow our revenue by 15% over a year. In addition, their team has been able to maintain a marketing efficiency ratio that meets our goals. Overall, they’ve exceeded our expectations, and we’re 100% satisfied with their work so far.

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great at project management; we talk about our budget every week, and they’ve done a good job maintaining that. In terms of communication, we use email and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

They have amazing Facebook industry knowledge and high-level experts who produce interesting content. Additionally, they have a custom tool that we can use to see benchmark data, which is very helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — we don’t have any complaints about their work.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re clear on your goals so they can get you where you need to be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a partner at a venture capital fund that invests in e-commerce software and brands. I also own a loyalty platform for direct-to-consumer merchants. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

I worked with Common Thread Collective for video ad production twice, once for a direct consumer brand that sold supplements and another for a solar panel marketplace. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Common Thread Collective created several videos for several advertising campaigns we were running. They handled every aspect of the production, from the initial scriptwriting and casting to the final video export. Common Thread Collective provided their cameras for the filming, and once the filming was completed, they edited everything together to form a video ad. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Brendyn (Senior Creative Strategist), a creative team member, and a producer. 

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

I knew of Common Thread Collective because I used to own an agency in the industry. I’d always admired their work and staff, so when I needed work done myself, I decided to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $35,000–$40,000 with Common Thread Collective. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Common Thread Collective from June 2019–March 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I am very satisfied with the work Common Thread Collective provided — they provide the best production value for the price. 

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was okay; we usually communicated via email. We also had a few Zoom meetings and phone calls to discuss the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m really impressed that Common Thread Collective can produce really high-quality work that is a great fit for emerging brands that want to punch above their weight. Also, they take feedback well. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t notice anything for them to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As with any creative endeavor, I’d advise customers to come to the table with a clear picture of what they’re looking for in a partnership with Common Thread Collective. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of West Willow, and we are a direct-to-consumer e-commerce brand. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

We needed help in making our media buying more efficient across Facebook, Instagram, Google, and other platforms. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Common Thread assists us in developing a media strategy. We’re a seasonal business, so it’s important to properly phase out our media spend across the year leading up to the holiday season. They work on Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads.

Common Thread’s growth team manages the strategy, creative content, and media buying across several channels. We have weekly check-ins where we go over performance and opportunities. They also present creative content, and I give them my feedback before publishing those in our accounts. 

After iOS 14’s rollout, we had to take a hard look at our strategy across media, spending, and our goals. They’ve pushed us to be more efficient in terms of our spend-to-revenue ratio. They are optimizing our spending for profit rather than customer creation, which is my goal.

What is the team composition?

I work with a media strategist, a media buyer, a creative, and a senior-level director.

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

I found them through a Google search. I was searching about Facebook ads, and I read a compelling article on their blog.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $150,000–$200,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Thanks to Common Thread’s work, we’ve seen an increase in sales, revenue, and profit. 

Making new ads every week requires a lot of creative bandwidth. Common Thread efficiently does that for us while using proper brand guidelines — that has been helpful to our team since it allows us to focus on other tasks across our business. 

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

Common Thread is well adept at project management. They provide consistent updates, and they have a proprietary tool that has all the information we need. Their tool has helped keep us on track with our ad spend, revenue, and forecast. 

We use Frame.io to manage their creative work, and that has been helpful in providing feedback in a consolidated way. 

I’m in daily contact with them about our performance. I feel like they’re an extension of my team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Common Thread uses data from their large portfolio of clients to create actionable insights while keeping everyone anonymous. They’ve got dozens of clients who have billions in revenue, and they’re able to get a good cross-section of the market. They’re able to have their finger on the pulse when it comes to what’s going on. 

Additionally, such insight is helpful when there are uncertainties in our data as it provides a good benchmark for our performance. Common Thread focuses on the smaller side of startups, and they have a good understanding of data — that’s a value that you can’t find anywhere else.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, we struggled to find the right team to manage our account on a day-to-day basis. It took some initiation from my end to get those things solved. Ultimately, they’ve resolved everything from a team perspective, and everything is going well now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you have your targets and priorities laid out. They can help you best if you know what you want to achieve. 

Going with them with a blank canvas is not going to work in your favor. However, if you tell them your goals and current situation, they will be able to help you. Lastly, make sure that your goals are realistic. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I worked for a natural personal care products company that sells direct-to-consumers (D2Cs) and through retail. When I was there, I was the director of user acquisition so I was responsible for growing online product sales, and I owned different marketing channels.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

Historically, our business had been driven almost entirely through Facebook and other paid social and paid search advertising efforts. When I came, the company had just recently launched into retail so the company’s products were suddenly available in Target, Walmart, and other stores. 

Since we were facing a new business landscape where we were distributing online and in-store, we thought about how we could drive business growth through our paid marketing channels. As a result, we needed somebody who could help us scale our advertising channels from a buying and account strategy perspective. On top of that, we needed somebody to help with content creation and optimization of our creative advertising.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Common Thread Collective managed our paid advertising efforts on Facebook, Tiktok, and Pinterest. The team helped us with our advertising account structure and buying strategy. Additionally, they developed reporting and analysis regarding our paid marketing channels. Specifically, we monitored how we were performing, we checked how we were forecasting, and we checked whether we were hitting our goals.

They also developed creative strategies from a concept perspective and developed landing pages, too. Moreover, they created marketing and advertising campaigns to put our new products through.

What is the team composition?

My core team was composed of three people from Common Thread Collective, including a creative strategist. Another person was in charge of our overall strategy, and the other one was in charge of media buying and optimization. There were also more people working in the background in charge of developing creative ads for us.

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

Since I worked in the retail world, I was new in the D2C industry and paid growth marketing. Due to that, I needed to educate myself and get really smart in that area.

When I saw Common Thread Collective’s content, thinking, and resources on their site, I reached out to them because I knew they were knowledgeable about what we needed. Overall, we went through a pretty long process of proposing and modifying the scope before starting the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

I worked with them from July–December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

The team hit the targets that our internal team had set. With their help, we were also able to hit our business goals.

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

Common Thread Collective was proactive; they offered suggestions without having to be asked. Additionally, they were comfortable working directly with me.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed that they thought of our business growth from a true value perspective as opposed to just maximizing spending and return on specific channels. Overall, they really helped us think through the success that our business needed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their creative strategy and execution could still be further improved. On top of that, their creative operations process could still be smoother, faster, and better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent about your business targets. I did that in our partnership, and it really helped us to be successful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at an e-commerce platform in the fashion industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

We were trying to onboard a marketing company to assist us with our conversions and social media.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Common Thread Collective are currently helping us with SMS and email flows and retention. They’re also managing our Facebook and Google shopping campaigns, along with social media advertising through multiple platforms. To jumpstart the project, we gave them all the documentation to our Shopify store and access to Google Analytics so they could start digging and give us a better scope of the engagement.

What is the team composition?

We work closely with an email marketing specialist, an account manager, two buyers for paid advertising for Google, Facebook, and Instagram, and a creative account manager.

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

They were referred to us by several local companies in our area. We chose them because they deployed a good project scope and communicated well with us — it was a no-brainer.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $350,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the director of e-commerce for Buff City Soap, a physical retail soap company that has an e-commerce presence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

Our e-commerce division had never run paid advertising of any kind besides boosted posts, so we needed to build a program from the ground up. As a privately-owned company, we had some pretty lofty return on ad spend (ROAS) expectations. We needed to hit that metric on a consistent basis and scale our e-commerce performance for the first time ever.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Common Thread Collective provided media buying services across our Facebook, Twitter, and Google accounts. They were in charge of the day-to-day account setup of our social media platforms. On top of that, they ensured that our budget was allocated correctly, and they adapted our target sales based on the season we were running. They helped with creative planning and copywriting, too.

The team also spearheaded our basic direct response e-commerce marketing strategies, which entailed running ads and making purchases on a 30-day conversion window. Moreover, they tested the post-purchase upsell tool pretty extensively, where they built specific funnels to see what worked best. More importantly, I saw that their team deployed their playbook on scaling from scratch.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with one media buyer, and he handled our Facebook and Instagram accounts. There was also another person who managed our Google account.

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

I was familiar with Common Thread Collective for quite a bit because I followed Taylor (CEO) on Twitter. Despite that, I vetted 15–20 agencies since I previously ran a small media agency myself. As a result, I understood the principles of media buying. I also had a very decent repository of beautiful brand content and had an idea of the metrics to look for in our engagement.

We looked at their resources, track record, and more. After that, we chose our top five companies. It then became a pricing consideration at that point. Common Thread Collective didn’t offer the cheapest services, but we saw that they’d be able to offer us the best value for our money. We also developed a personal relationship with Taylor, their media buyer, and their account manager, which really sealed the deal for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We probably spent $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2020–September 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

Common Thread Collective ran their best practices from their playbook, which we had iterated on and tweaked based on our specific needs. As a result, they kept us above a 3.5X ROAS the entire time we worked together. Their work also enabled us to increase our 12-month lifetime value because our average customer consistently spent around $180 annually. It was really solid at a $10 cost per acquisition (CPA) — it was in the sweet spot of what our business could support.

One of the big challenges we faced was our sale days every Tuesday and weekend. There were a lot of limitations on how much we could scale and how we should spend our weekly budget. Despite that, we had a consistent struggle in getting more budget from our finance team because Common Thread Collective’s had a strong performance. They did their job well and put me in a spot where I had to ensure that the finance team was giving me enough budget for their work. Above all, we appreciated that they suggested creative solutions we needed to develop based on the data that we had. 

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided us with weekly updates through Slack or email, which made it easier for us to go back and forth with each other. We also had weekly calls with them. However, we didn’t interact with them on a daily basis.

We appreciated Luke’s (Growth Team Lead) professionalism during our partnership — he was a good person. He was always on top of things, and he was very organized. More importantly, he helped us stay on track the entire time we were together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were trustworthy; I talked to Taylor pretty extensively and he knew their services well. On top of that, they were well-versed in all aspects of e-commerce; they understood it as a channel and how it aligned with our overall business.

In fact, they had multiple marketing experts that focused on different disciplines, so they were able to put together strong resources across all channels. Despite working on different verticals on daily basis, they were able to keep up with all the data and trends presented to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Towards the end of our engagement, I was getting a lot of pressure from my superiors on continuing to push performance up. It was a weird stakeholder structure for the company and a lot of decisions were made that I wouldn't have made, but they had to be followed through. As a result, I received a lot of pushback during those moments, and I think we could've been a little more collaborative towards the end. I talked to the team and they were able to address that. Overall, it would be water under the bridge at this point.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very diligent in getting a lot of creatives and building a creative system to feed your ad testing as often as possible because Common Thread Collective would implement rigorous creative testing for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of Dorsal Bracelets. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

Common Thread ran our paid media efforts, including our ads on Facebook, Google, and Snapchat.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During our engagement with Common Thread, they created new ads on a weekly basis and sent them to us for approval. At first, we’d send them content from either our in-house team or other content creators, and their designer would chop it up and turn it into an ad. We then put the ad on our accounts. Ultimately, the goal was to increase our return on ad spend. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with two different teams while we were engaged with Common Thread. We were initially at a mid-tier team with one media buyer, and then we moved up to their growth team with five people. The growth team included an ad buyer, a designer, a strategist, and a manager. 

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

When I was trying to grow my business, I did some research on ad agencies around the country. Common Thread was one of those companies, and I spoke with around five people from their side. Ultimately, I felt that I connected with them the most, so I went with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $100,000. The price was dependent on the ROI they produced and a variety of other factors.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership lasted from September 2019–November 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We increased our revenue through our paid media efforts. 

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was great, especially in the beginning. We were a young company at that time, so it was great to work with a team that was super organized and on top of everything. We used Slack and Google Drive to manage the project. For our weekly calls, we used Google Hangouts. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of my favorite things about working with them was the workflow. Having that weekly call where we could see them face to face through the computer was good. Moreover, they always had new ads for us to approve or deny; they always worked on new creative materials. Then, the team always updated our ad account on a weekly basis. Overall, I truly enjoyed our workflow; the Common Thread team truly felt like an extension of our brand rather than simply an agency. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Towards the end of our relationship, Common Thread was in a stage of rapid growth. At that time, they were hiring a bunch of people, so our team composition changed frequently. That was a problem because every time someone new came into the team, it felt like they didn’t fully understand our brand as much as the previous teammates. 

Over time, things became murky, and we didn’t see eye-to-eye on some of our ads and messaging. Eventually, there were just too many new people coming in, and the service seemed to be overpriced at that point. Given that, we decided to end the relationship there. That being said, we definitely left on a good note. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The most important thing you can do is to communicate with the Common Thread team as much as they communicate with you. If you’re not telling them everything that goes through your mind, then they won’t be able to figure it out for themselves. In other words, communication is the best way to get the most quality out of them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general manager of climbOn Performance Skincare, a skincare company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

We hired Common Thread for website development and marketing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Common Thread served as our digital agency, and they also helped us build a new website. On top of that, their team handled some advertising campaigns for our brand. 

They built the website from scratch on Shopify. We requested a basic e-commerce website that could help us sell our products; it had product pages and talked about our brand. They did take photos of our products, but they also bought stock photography.

For digital marketing, the Common Thread team handled our paid social media ads. They also wrote some copy for our site pages and provided a bit of maintenance service. 

What is the team composition?

We interfaced with 3–4 members of their team, and they hired a subcontractor to code the website. 

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

They were a referral. 

How much have you invested with them?

We paid them about $15,000 a month, so our total spend was around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from March–December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

We didn’t have many metrics that showed success. For one, our conversion rates stayed the same. Our advertising efforts did bring more traffic to the website, but it didn’t pay for itself; it wasn’t profitable. 

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

Our budget was fine since we had Common Thread on a monthly retainer basis. However, they were frequently late with deliverables, and their punctuality wasn’t the best. Our communication was ok; we had a Slack channel and conducted weekly calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They didn’t do anything that was above average. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The Common Thread team did several things with below-average quality. Ultimately, I didn’t feel that they spent plenty of time on us as a client. In fact, they spent little time on our account.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of an online cosmetics store.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

We needed their growth marketing expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company has been looking to improve our customer acquisition methods, so we’ve engaged Common Thread Collective to handle our paid advertising efforts, mainly on Facebook and Instagram. I mainly supply the content they deploy, but they also write copies for our ads from time to time.

What is the team composition?

I work with three resources from their team, including a media buyer, a project manager, and a social media manager.

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

I’m a follower of their CEO’s Twitter and Youtube accounts, so I’m no stranger to the quality of the work they produce. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $65,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Common Thread Collective cooperates with us to thoroughly understand and deliver our ad spend targets and revenue goals. We’ve seen steady growth in our Facebook marketing pipeline, and their team exceeded our past metrics in ROI and customer acquisition. These positive results prove that hiring them is the right choice for my business — I won’t be able to accumulate those metrics on my own.

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Slack and weekly calls and manage our project using Google products. Common Thread Collective is a detail-oriented partner that objectively resolves any challenge we encounter. I’m pleased to be working with a team that understands what we’re trying to accomplish before executing any solutions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Common Thread Collective is a proactive team, and they have our best interests at heart — their attentiveness always assures us that we’re in good hands.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to think of anything they can improve at this point. We appreciate Common Thread Collective’s services and high level of involvement in this project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Always communicate with the resource in charge of handling your account and establish trust from the get-go to give their team enough confidence to take on any tasks.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Hope Outfitters, and our company designs and manufactures our own clothing. We then donate the profit back to different charities, primarily e-commerce and retail businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Common Thread Collective?

We hired them to help us manage our new customer acquisition and retention strategy for our online business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Common Thread Collective manages our media buying efforts. They help us develop strategies for different types of ads and perform our media buys for us to ensure that we’re getting the right customers to our website.

They’re also handling our retention services and provides us with strategy consulting. Their focus is on keeping our existing customers informed about what’s going on in the company. On top of that, the team implements our social media marketing strategies, specifically on Facebook.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with a media buyer and a retention strategy team composed of three members.

How did you come to work with Common Thread Collective?

I was always updated with various e-commerce trends. As such, I listened to some of the information that Common Thread Collective put out and saw that they had significant capabilities and understanding of the e-commerce industry. From there, I wanted to try working with them and see how well they’d manage our account.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership began in May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

For every $1 that I invest, I see at least $3 in revenue, so that’s great. Common Thread Collective has a lot of expertise and they have a training platform that we’ve been able to leverage, especially during times when we want to deep dive into specific topics that they’ve developed. They also manage a large number of accounts, and their experience with different businesses allows them to effectively support us. Above all, they employ a high-touch engagement model.

How did Common Thread Collective perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job, and they're very proactive about following up and scheduling things, making sure that things are approved on time. We use Slack, Zoom, and email to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They do their best to know and understand our brand. On top of that, they don’t move reactively. Instead, they’re always proactive in finding ways to expand our brand through engaging existing and new followers. Based on that, they have a deep level of knowledge, which allows them to be an extension of our brand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re doing an excellent job. They may have areas to improve, but in comparison to other companies we’ve worked with, they’ve been significantly better.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more that you’re willing to educate and engage with their team, the better they’re going to understand who you are. As a result, they’ll be able to represent you and drive your business objectives and goals forward.