In this episode of The Orita Podcast, Aaron Schwartz chats with two retention heavyweights from New Standard Co., Marina Carroll and co-founder Eric Rausch, to find out how top brands prepare for BFCM and scale smarter with email, SMS, and push. From testing frameworks to “send less, earn more,” they share what works across fast-moving DTC and subscription brands alike.

They discuss:

• BFCM prep that pays – testing hero vs. long emails, pop-ups, welcome series, and frequency

• List strategy, not list “cleaning” – optimizing engagement tiers without torching revenue

• Flows that convert – cross-channel trigger logic for email, SMS, and push (and what to skip)

• Personalization, debunked – why “best product + best landing page” beats rabbit-hole segments

• Content calendars that move inventory – using click maps and product sell-through to plan

• KPI “love languages” – aligning goals (LTV, repurchase rate, churn) so teams row the same way

• Escaping the AM/PM treadmill – frequency tests that trade short-term blasts for durable growth

• Agency vs. in-house – when speed and bandwidth matter more than another standing meeting

Plus: Marina explains the “test fast, then go wide” BFCM play, Eric confesses his hatred of over-personalized welcome flows, and Aaron lobbies for inbox placement over deliverability vanity metrics. 📨

👥 Meet the guests

Marina Carroll, Retention & Lifecycle Lead at New Standard

Eric Rausch, Co-founder at New Standard

Host: Aaron Schwartz — Co-founder & Co-CEO, Orita.ai

🎧 Chapters [00:00] Meet New Standard: Who We Are & Why We Win [02:57] Retention, Reloaded: What’s Changed (and What Still Works) [05:49] Weird Roads to DTC Glory: How We All Got Here [08:27] The Gap We Saw—and Built New Standard To Fill [11:15] First 30 Minutes: Read the Room, Then Move [14:20] Hiring Killers: How We Build a Team That Ships [17:09] BFCM Warm-Up: What to Start Testing Now [20:12] Test Smarter: Subject Lines, Timing, and “Shorter Wins” [22:53] Send Wide, Not Wild: Engagement Tiers for BFCM [26:15] List “Cleaning”? Nah. List Optimization That Prints Money [30:37] The BFCM Playbook: Who Gets What, When [36:00] Flow State: Email + SMS (+ Push) That Actually Sync [40:10] KPIs as Love Languages: Align, Then Scale [47:04] Agency or In-House? Choose Speed, Not Ego

🌐 Check out Orita.ai for more episodes of The Orita Podcast—where we sit down with the most interesting operators, marketers, and founders in e-commerce to talk about what’s working right now. Hosted by the Orita team.

Orita uses machine learning to help brands send smarter, more profitable marketing—by figuring out who actually wants to hear from you and when.

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