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In this episode of the DTC Podcast, we talk with Ben Perkins, founder of &Collar — a men’s performance dress shirt brand that’s scaling smart by rigorously testing what works. Ben breaks down how they use Intelligems to uncover pricing and shipping threshold wins, and how they’re segmenting customers to align messaging and creative for maximum return.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• How a 4-way price test on a single SKU using Intelligems led to an extra $1.99/unit without conversion loss
• The impact of testing free shipping thresholds ($75, $125, etc.) on AOV vs. conversion
• How to define and target “recurring & required” customer personas for profitable acquisition
• Why your core SKU may deserve more focus (50% of &Collar’s sales are still from their white dress shirt)
• How to evaluate agency and team performance with contribution margin logic

If you’ve ever relied on intuition or competitors when setting prices or shipping offers, this episode will challenge you to test with precision — and scale what works.

Timestamps

00:00 – Price testing with Intelligems on &Collar’s best-selling dress shirts

03:00 – Founding story and early years of &Collar’s growth journey

06:00 – Post-pandemic market shifts and targeting “recurring & required” buyers

09:00 – SKU expansion challenges and focusing on the white shirt advantage

12:00 – Persona-based creative strategy and micro-segmentation for growth

15:00 – Discovering the $49.99 price sweet spot through A/B testing

18:00 – Testing free-shipping thresholds and increasing conversion rates

21:00 – Focusing on new customer acquisition and top-of-funnel strategy

24:00 – Always be testing: CRO roadmap and platform optimization

27:00 – Tracking profitability per visitor, product, and employee

30:00 – Long-term vision for &Collar and the road to a potential exit

Hashtags:

#DTCpodcast #Intelligems #AndCollar #PricingStrategy #ABTesting #EcommerceGrowth #DTCbrands #ConversionRateOptimization #ShopifyBrands #EmailMarketing #CustomerAcquisition #BusinessStrategy #Profitability #Ecommerce

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