🚀 The 40x ROI Channel Your Competitors Are Ignoring

👋 Hey Fastlane Insiders,

It's Friday, July 11th, and half your team is probably already mentally checked out for the weekend. Maybe some are on vacation, maybe others are planning their escape from the office in a few hours.

But here's what I've learned from 400+ conversations with seven and eight-figure founders: the brands that truly break away from the pack don't take breaks from getting better. While their competitors are coasting through summer Fridays, they're quietly building the systems that will dominate Q4 and beyond.

It's not about grinding harder—it's about being smart enough to work on your business when everyone else has mentally clocked out. The relentless pursuit of improvement, especially during the quiet moments, is what separates the winners from the "we'll figure it out later" crowd.

And this week's edition is packed with the exact moves the smart brands are making right now:

🎙️ New Podcast Episode — The marketing channel delivering 40x ROI that most Shopify stores haven't discovered yet. While your competitors are still obsessing over email open rates, the early movers are crushing it with 80-90% message open rates.

💡 Knowledge Drops — Why your competitors are praying you ignore referrals (and the exact frameworks 7-figure brands use to turn customers into their best sales team), plus how to turn B2B into your most profitable channel in 2025.

🛠️ Tool of the Week — The revenue recovery system that identifies your anonymous visitors and turns them into buyers. We're talking about recovering revenue from the 98% of traffic you thought was lost forever.

The weekend's here, but the gap between the brands that coast and the brands that crush it is built on the moves they make when everyone else thinks it's time to relax.

Ready to build your unfair advantage?

Let's dive in,
—Steve

P.S. After you read about WhatsApp marketing from Jeremy, you’ll likely start looking at your phone notifications a little differently :)

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Here's something that might surprise you: while we're all focused on improving email open rates and optimizing Facebook ads, our customers have quietly moved to a channel most of us are completely ignoring. They're on WhatsApp—where 80–90% of messages get opened instantly—and your competition? Practically invisible.

I sat down with Jeremy Horowitz, CEO of CocoAI, who's spent years in private equity and Shopify app acquisitions. His perspective on this shift is eye-opening—and the numbers he shared blew my mind.

Here's what's wild: brands in Europe, LATAM, and the Middle East are already crushing it with WhatsApp. North America? Most Shopify stores haven't even started. That's why early adopters are seeing 20–40x ROI, and some are hitting 100x. Seriously—100x returns just for being the first in a customer's WhatsApp inbox.

Here's the reality: Shopify's domestic growth is plateauing, and smart brands are already looking international. WhatsApp isn't just nice-to-have in those markets—it's how commerce conversations happen. If you're not building your WhatsApp presence now, you'll be starting from zero when your competitors go global.

This window won't stay open. WhatsApp rewards first movers, and that edge compounds. In a year, this goes from unfair advantage to just keeping up. Your competitors are still chasing inbox placement while shoppers are already chatting—and buying—on WhatsApp.

The question isn't whether WhatsApp will become essential for your brand—it's whether you'll be ahead of the curve or scrambling to catch up.

Jeremy's extending a free 30-day trial of CocoAI exclusively to Fastlane listeners. No commitments, just results. If you're ready to test this for Q4 and beyond, this is your chance to get ahead.

Here's something that might blow your mind: while most brands are still burning cash on paid ads and praying for breakeven, the smartest DTC founders are quietly building referral engines that turn their happiest customers into their most profitable acquisition channel. And the numbers? They're making everyone else nervous.

Here's what they know that you might not: referral customers don't just convert faster and stick around longer—they cost 20-40% less to acquire than paid media customers. But here's the real kicker—most brands are leaving this goldmine untapped with those "set-and-forget" referral widgets buried in their footer.

The brands that are winning? They're weaving referrals into every customer touchpoint and seeing 5–20% of their total orders come straight from their own customers' recommendations. Some are even hitting 17% of their first-time customer growth from referrals alone.

The result? A sustainable, profitable acquisition flywheel that compounds over time. While you're fighting for incremental improvements on ad spend, they're building a growth engine powered by genuine customer love.

Here's the reality: referral marketing is moving from secret weapon to table stakes. The brands implementing these systems now are seeing referred customers with 23% higher lifetime value compared to other channels.

In 12 months, this advantage disappears when everyone catches on. The question is: will you be ahead of the curve or scrambling to catch up?

Inside, you'll find the real case studies—like how Myles Apparel doubled their referral conversions and Honeylove boosted customer LTV by 23%—plus the step-by-step 30-day implementation plan to get your engine running this quarter.

Ready to see exactly how 7- and 8-figure stores are building these referral engines? This playbook breaks down the 7 proven models, complete with frameworks, incentive structures, and the exact touchpoints that turn customers into your best sales team.

Here's something that might surprise you: while most brands are still treating B2B like an afterthought, the smartest Shopify teams have quietly figured out that wholesale isn't just a side hustle—it's their secret weapon for massive, predictable growth.

And the numbers? They're absolutely wild.

We're talking about brands that went from manual order processing to doubling their wholesale revenue in 12 months. Companies slashing 10+ hours of weekly busywork while their competitors are still playing phone tag with buyers. AOVs that are 5X higher than retail, conversion rates jumping 93% year-over-year, and some brands beating their entire annual B2B targets in just four months.

But here's the kicker—75% of B2B sales now happen online, and most of your competitors still haven't figured this out.

The brands that cracked the B2B code aren't just growing—they're completely rewriting the rules:

Here's what's happening behind the scenes: 70% of B2B buyers are now millennials. They don't want to call your sales team, send emails back and forth, or deal with clunky portals that feel like they're from 2015.

They want the same seamless, self-serve experience they get from their favorite DTC brands. If your B2B experience feels like a fax machine in a smartphone world, you're not just behind—you're invisible.

The brands winning this shift aren't just launching B2B stores—they're building systematic playbooks with unified commerce, real-time inventory, personalized catalogs, and buying journeys that make wholesale buyers feel like VIPs.

Most of your competitors are still stuck juggling manual orders and hoping their sales team can keep up. That gap is your opportunity—but only if you move before they wake up.

The brands that nail digital B2B first become the go-to supplier when business buyers are ready to place their next big order. And once you own that relationship with seamless, personalized experiences, it's incredibly hard for competitors to break in.

How fast will you move before your competitors lock up the biggest accounts in your space?

Here's a reality check: you're spending thousands driving traffic to your site, but 98% of those visitors are complete ghosts. They browse, they leave, and you have zero way to reach them again.

While most brands are playing the "pray they come back" game, the smartest DTC teams have quietly discovered Instant—the platform that identifies up to 50% of your anonymous visitors and automatically triggers the emails that bring them back to buy.

Liquid I.V., TRX, and Truly Beauty are using Instant to double their email revenue by sending 10x more abandonment emails than they could before. We're talking about brands seeing 48x ROI and recovering $1.3M in additional revenue from traffic they thought was lost forever.

The crazy part? Instant works in the background—no pop-ups, no forms, just identifying visitors others completely miss and turning them into buyers.

The brands implementing this now are building an unfair advantage while competitors burn money on traffic they can't track. Instant is so confident in their results, they guarantee a 4x ROI or your money back.

Setup takes 15 minutes with their one-click Shopify integration. You could be recovering lost revenue by this afternoon.

Ready to turn your anonymous traffic into revenue? Instant is offering Fastlane readers 50% off their first month.

Thanks for digging in this week. I know your inbox is packed, so the fact that you made it this far means everything.

Here's what I've learned after 400+ podcast interviews:

The gap between breakthrough brands and everyone else isn't talent or budget—it's speed. While most founders are still debating whether WhatsApp marketing is "worth it," the smart ones are already building lists and seeing 40x ROI. While competitors are stuck with basic referral widgets, the winners are weaving double-sided rewards into every touchpoint. While others are treating B2B like an afterthought, the sharp teams are quietly building wholesale engines that dwarf their retail revenue.

Here's my challenge:

Don't let this be another newsletter that sits in your "good ideas" folder. Pick one move from today's edition. Maybe it's setting up your first WhatsApp broadcast, sketching out a referral program that actually converts, scoping out your B2B opportunity, or grabbing that 50% off Instant trial to start identifying your anonymous visitors.

Give yourself 48 hours. Just one move. That's how unfair advantages start.

Your competitors are reading the same insights. The difference is who acts first.

Testing something from today's playbook? Stuck on where to start? Hit reply—I read every single message, and honestly, your wins and challenges shape what I cover next. Plus, there's nothing I love more than hearing about a breakthrough that started with a Fastlane insight.

And if this sparked ideas for another founder in your network, do them a favor and forward it along. The best operators I know are generous with what's working.

The brands building these systems today are the ones everyone else will be studying tomorrow. Make sure you're on the right side of that equation.

Keep finding your edge,
—Steve