Member Brief: “136 Days”—Inside Yotpo’s Brand Turnaround

Editor’s Note: While Yotpo is an advertising partner, Future Commerce wasn’t paid to write this brief, and Yotpo had no input into the content; though Eli Weiss did cooperate by sitting for an interview.

Executive Summary

The big picture: Yotpo, once criticized for high prices and aggressive tactics, has executed a swift brand turnaround in just 136 days.

Why it matters: This transformation offers valuable lessons for B2B SaaS companies facing similar reputation challenges.

By the numbers:

• 136 days since the launch of the “Frown Campaign” at eTail West
• 2 major marketing campaigns: “The Frown” and “Just Walk Away”
• Multiple former clients returning to Yotpo

Key strategies:

1. Addressing criticisms head-on with self-deprecating humor
2. Mobilizing senior leadership on social media
3. Clever, metamodern marketing campaigns
4. Repricing and repositioning as a mature, full-service option for scaling brands

The bottom line: Yotpo's turnaround demonstrates the power of visible hires, shifting cultural perceptions, personal conviction, strategic marketing, and the willingness to confront negative perceptions directly.

What to watch: Can Yotpo maintain this momentum and how will competitors respond to their new approach?

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Whether or not perception is reality doesn’t much matter these days. The way humans respond to online discourse and critique can often shape reality. And public perception of customer experience platform Yotpo was fairly tarnished just 136 days ago.

But that’s changed.

Yotpo, once maligned for high prices and aggressive sales and retention tactics, has executed one of the swiftest brand turnarounds in B2B SaaS memory. This briefing examines the strategy behind Yotpo's transformation, culminating in their "Just Walk Away" campaign, the psychology of the campaigns, and the intuition of the leadership team.

Metamarketing: The Frown Campaign

At the heart of this shift lies a potent mix: addressing criticisms head-on, smart brand marketing, and the power of personal conviction. We'll explore how Yotpo leveraged these elements to change the conversation, even as they entered more competitive markets.

As we unpack Yotpo's strategy, we need to consider its broader implications for B2B SaaS as a whole; because many (many) companies are facing similar challenges. Yotpo is just one of many quote-unquote ‘legacy’ eCommerce mega-SaaS platforms that have survived the platform wars, the Cloud era, and now the “Shopify Era.” But for all its benefits, the “Shopify Era” hasn’t been kind to the legacy players because the expectations have been lowered. SaaS is a commodity now, and the bar of expectations has been reset—both in terms of what SaaS delivers, what normative pricing should be, the size of teams that deliver the product, and dev vs. support; the list goes on.

This turnaround didn't happen in a vacuum. It coincided with the departure of one of Yotpo's most vocal critics from his own venture, adding an intriguing layer to the narrative. We'll also delve into the psychological factors at play, examining how Yotpo overcame the inertia of group signaling behaviors that often fuel critique and pile-ons in our industry.

So this isn't just a story of one company's rebrand—it's a case study in conviction, timing, and the power of smart, decisive action in the face of entrenched perceptions.

Pictured: Common criticisms of Yotpo from prominent individuals in eCommerce.

Yotpo lacked champions, and needed a “hero.” That hero, in the end, turned out to be Eli Weiss, a retention director at an ascendent beauty brand, who ironically, in prior roles had led efforts to move brands away from Yotpo when he had software decision-making authority.

Yotpo's approach to brand rehabilitation begins with a bold strategy: confronting negative perceptions directly. Rather than hiding from past criticisms, they chose to acknowledge them, often with a dash of self-deprecating humor.

The first visible, public, campaign was launched on February 27 at eTail West Palm Springs, with large billboard-style takeovers at the check-in desk and strategic placements around the conference show floor. That campaign, dubbed “The Frown Campaign,” was the first in a series of public visible efforts that cleverly acknowledged the meta-critique: brands frown at Yotpo. Yotpo is frowning back. It’s clever, if not metamodern.

To fully ‘get’ the campaign, you had to participate in the discourse.

Yotpo went on to place the same creative at the Harry Reid/McCarran airports, catching arriving passengers attending Shoptalk on March 16, 2024 and turned it into a giveaway to those who posted on social about it. (Full transparency, I inadvertently entered the drawing but donated my winnings as a charitable donation to the 1909 Foundation West Palm Beach.)

This transparency serves as a disarming mechanism, catching the critics off-guard and opening the door for reevaluation. Without this first campaign, the rest would be pointless.

On the Future Commerce podcast, I took note of the stark contrast of this campaign with their SMS competitor’s campaigns: “the Attentive [Shoptalk marketing] is just a yellow and black logo. Yotpo is people frowning. That's wild to me.”

Central to their strategy is the mobilization of senior leadership on social media. Tomer Tagrin, Yotpo's CEO, and other key leaders became active voices, engaging directly with customers and industry figures. Robin Lee, GM of the new Email product, became a central figure as well. In May 2024, Lee architected a live-streamed podcast that gave CEO Tomer Tagrin an audience with one of Yotpo’s most vocal critics, Sean Frank, the founder and CEO of Ridge and co-host of the Operators podcast.

This high-level engagement sent a clear message: Yotpo was listening, and change was driving from the top down.

Why does this approach work for Yotpo when it might falter for others? Two factors stand out. First, Yotpo's scale allows them to make a significant splash. With resources to back up their words with action, their promises of change carried weight. Second, their prior inaccessibility made this new openness all the more striking. The contrast between the 'old' and 'new' Yotpo was stark enough to demand attention.

Their strategy taps into our own psychological desire for ‘authenticity’ (as much as I dislike the word); a desire that is usually overcome by our unwillingness to dissent from the collective knowledge of the crowd. Weiss’ entrance, the business acknowledging past missteps, engagement in the discourse, and making metamodern self-critiques give others permission to engage in dissent.

By acknowledging past missteps, Yotpo allows itself to tell a story of growth and improvement—a story we're naturally inclined to root for. It's a risky move, but when executed well, it can turn critics into advocates.

A Key Coincidence, or Savvy Timing?

This week marked a fitting bookend to the official ‘end’ of the critical discourse around Yotpo when the brand launched a social media campaign called “The Email WalkAway Kit.” The campaign features customized Nike Air Force 1 shoes and branded socks in a branded box as a low-lift social media activation, encouraging businesses to leave their current email vendor.

The campaign cleverly combines tangible, branded merchandise with a bold message, challenging potential clients to reconsider their loyalty to competitors and explore Yotpo's offerings in the email and customer engagement space.

In a twist of fate—or perhaps savvy planning—Yotpo's "Walk Away" campaign aligned perfectly with a significant industry event: the departure of Moiz Ali, founder of Native Deodorant and one of Yotpo's most vocal critics, from his media venture, Limited Supply.

This coincidence added an extra layer of intrigue to Yotpo's narrative. “The Moiz thing is funny,” said Weiss to me via Google Meet. “Because we obviously had no idea,” he continued. “This campaign has been in the works for a month-plus.”

Regardless of intent, the effect is undeniable; especially given the duality in the nature of prior brand marketing campaigns. It created a media moment where the industry's attention was split between Ali's exit and Yotpo's messaging, amplifying the impact of both. The original intent—Yotpo positioning itself as a viable alternative to Postscript and Klaviyo—is underscored by Ali being an investor in the former and a vocal proponent of the latter.

“Just walk away,” says Yotpo.

This coincidence highlights the role of timing in brand transformations. Sometimes, external events can create a perfect storm for change, opening windows of opportunity that savvy marketers can exploit. In Yotpo's case, whether by design or chance, they seized the moment.

The Ali/Yotpo parallel also underscores a broader industry trend: the cyclical nature of reputations and the constant potential for reinvention. But in doing so, they buck the broader industry trend of marketing a product based on product, pricing, or promotion. “We're not saying that we're the best,” said Weiss. “I think a lot of campaigns are like, this company's garbage were great.

“We're not saying that at all. We're saying be open to the idea that other options exist.”

The Return of Former Clients

Another telling indicator of Yotpo's successful brand turnaround is the return of former clients. "I got it. Like, I got why people churned,” Weiss said to me. “I've churned as a customer twice. I understood why people disliked Yotpo. I was cross-sold while I was trying to exit a contract. Like, I got all of that, but that wasn't what I was getting internally.”

Speaking off the record, a source close to the brand told me that there are a handful of vocal brand founders that had previously left Yotpo and are now returning. Some, vocally criticizing the company on their way out, are now coming back into the fold because they’ve grown their business and “needed fewer point-solutions and more integrated platforms,” said the source, declining to be named.

This is a reflection of how business needs evolve over time. As businesses mature, requirements shift. What once seemed like an “overpriced, over-complicated” solution can become a necessary suite of tools for a growing operation. Yotpo's core offerings—reviews, loyalty programs, SMS marketing, and more—becomes more attractive as brands scale and seek to consolidate their tech stack.

A broader pattern in any ecosystem is bundling and un-bundling: the pendulum swings between point solutions and integrated suites. Early-stage brands often opt for best-of-breed point solutions, seeking flexibility and lower costs. But as they grow, the appeal of an integrated suite—with its promise of seamless data flow and simplified vendor management—grows stronger.

Yotpo's ability to recapture lapsed clients suggests they've successfully positioned themselves as worthy of reconsideration. It's a delicate balance, and Yotpo's success in this area may well become a blueprint for other SaaS providers in the space.

Finding Conviction

At the center of Yotpo's transformation stands Eli Weiss, whose personal conviction played a crucial role in reshaping the company's trajectory. Weiss's decision to join Yotpo, despite its public perception, speaks volumes about the power of individual belief in driving organizational change.

Weiss's approach was rooted in a fundamental reframing: choosing to see Yotpo not as its public perception, but as the team and potential he encountered firsthand. This shift in perspective allowed him to tap into possibilities that others, blinded by prevailing narratives, might have missed.

When I asked him about how he found the conviction to join Yotpo when he knew he’d face critism, Weiss looked away from the camera and pinched his brow a bit:

“The insight I had in every conversation with Yotpo was [that] the internal team, the culture, the M.O. was not at all what I was seeing externally.” he said. “Like any marketer, that gap? [That] feels like an interesting opportunity.”

This level of conviction is rare and powerful. It requires the ability to see beyond current circumstances, to envision a future that doesn't yet exist. More importantly, it requires a least a little courage to act on that vision, especially in the face of skepticism or outright opposition.

It also requires an understanding of how Yotpo got to be derided in the first place. When pressed on the economics of Yotpo’s pricing, Weiss addressed that the culture of the business was struggling to find balance:

“I understood that there's obviously a reckoning where you build a business semi-in-the-spreadsheets, and it gets to all the soft parts of it, and you start trying to bridge those two together.

“But I thought, I can be helpful in pulling them closer to the market.”

Conclusion

In the one hundred thirty seven days since eTail West, Yotpo have positioned themselves as a mature, full-service option for scaling brands, while maintaining the innovation needed to compete in highly competitive and evolving sectors like SMS and email.

But the true test will be sustainability. Can Yotpo maintain the momentum? Will their bold marketing continue to set them apart; can competitors adopt similar strategies? And how will they balance their newfound openness with the inevitable challenges that come with growth and change? These questions are unanswered as of yet.

Market forces and industry trends are powerful, but they're not insurmountable. Personal conviction, when paired with strategic action, can shift the course of even the most entrenched narratives.

In Yotpo's case, this conviction has been the fuel driving their turnaround, proving that sometimes, the most powerful tool in reshaping a brand is the unwavering belief of those leading it.

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