Service

I’ve shared before how I grew up in a house that depended on the success of a retail business to support the family.

What I’ve maybe not drawn as direct a line to is how much it’s stuck with me.

My brother and I tried launching a DTC brand at one point, and, since launching Kno, have been serving brands. What I love about the SaaS side of this industry is the same thing I love about the retail side of this industry: the service.

This is very top of mind this week, given the tariff announcements.

Already, people are sharing the impact this is going to have on their businesses. A survey by the DTC newsletter that went out Thursday showed that 60% of respondents are going to raise prices, 40% are pausing growth plans, and 30% are going to cut costs.

So, how do I help?

I thought about cutting prices, but that likely doesn’t move the needle. The products we run are near the bottom of the list in terms of SaaS costs for most brands. Even a generous discount barely makes a dent in the broader challenges.

A $10–$50/month reduction might feel good, but does it truly help? Probably not.

In the DTC newsletter survey was another datapoint: 60% of respondents said they won’t feel the impact until their next PO or even 3-6 months from now.

For me, that’s time.

Time to help customers get more efficient by collecting better data to inform creative. Time to show how our products deliver higher ROI on every ad dollar. Time to prove how reviews can drive incremental value from each site visitor. Time to show stronger retention results.

The value from any one of these is worth more than a small discount, and we’re working hard to make them all better at KnoCommerce, Stamped, and Repeat. It also means working harder for and with our customers to help them see more value of what we’ve built while building faster to get more value accretive features into the market.

That’s motivating to me, and something I feel optimistic about us doing. Because it’s tied to that thing I love more than ever: the service.

If you’re using any of these tools, I want to make sure you’re getting everything you can out of them. Our teams are here to help with ideas, playbooks, and support.

I’m on parental leave at the moment, but drop a comment or reply and I’ll connect you with someone on our team.

I can’t fix the macro stuff. But I can make sure we’re doing everything possible to help you operate smarter, leaner, and stronger.