DTC Podcast — Bonus: How Nate Lagos Quadrupled Original Grain with Persona-Based CRO (Nov 19, 2025)

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This episode spotlights Nate Lagos, the new CMO of Adapt Naturals (formerly of Original Grain and Dugout Mugs), and his strategic use of persona-based Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) to drive sky-high growth, especially at Original Grain. The discussion delves into Nate’s journey, his approach to customer segmentation, actionable CRO tactics, maximizing LTV, and lessons that apply to any DTC marketer.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Nate’s Journey into D2C & Marketing Leadership

• Baseball beginnings: Nate grew up outside Boston, prioritized baseball, then segued into marketing in college ([01:41]).
• Freelance gigs in college led him into e-commerce; joined Dugout Mugs, then Original Grain—"both sell things made out of wood that were highly giftable" ([02:06]).
• Now, as CMO of Adapt Naturals, he’s transitioning into supplements, bringing his customer-focused, data-driven methods ([01:27], [02:46]).

2. How Nate Quadrupled Growth at Original Grain

• Joined Original Grain in year 7/8, business had plateaued; helped the founders kickstart another substantial growth phase ([02:50]).
• Key strategies:
  • Upgraded creative quality: Better content to reach new audiences.
  • Core messaging & persona refinement: Deep personalization for major customer segments.
  • Iconic partnerships: Jack Daniels and other major brands gave massive exposure ([03:45]).
  • Growth stats: Quadrupled the company in 4 years; 100% growth one year, 80% the next ([03:00]).

“We ended up quadrupling in size from my first year there to my fourth...on the back of a lot of great product, a lot of great marketing tactics, from upgrading our creative quality to a lot of refining our core messaging and Personas that we were selling into and then some great partnerships as well.” – Nate Lagos ([03:00])

3. Meta Ads: Reluctant Dependence & Testing for Success

• “Big Meta guy”: Saw Meta as “the biggest and baddest advertising platform that’s ever existed,” despite a “hate to love it” relationship ([04:21]).
  • “I've spent, I probably spent 100 something million on there...and they do not care about the hundred million or so I've given them.” ([04:36])
• Creative is the new targeting: Shift post-iOS 14. Success now hinges on creative and deeply understanding personas ([08:08]).

4. Persona-Based Marketing at Original Grain: Detailed Walkthrough

• Recognized two main customer personas:
  1. Men buying for themselves — “rugged, tough guys”
  2. Women buying as gifts — wives, girlfriends, moms (majority of customers, especially during gifting holidays)
• Further identification of sub-personas:
  • Men: accomplishment-focused, milestone-focused, self-care (“pick me up”) ([05:45], [07:14])
• Used reviews and expert customer analysis (with Tether Insights) to unearth customer motivations ([07:14]).
• Practical segmentation: Website and ad messaging tailored to major and sub-personas; landing pages and ad creative aligned for granular resonance ([08:31]).

“The more specifically we can speak to the audience, the better...ramping up that kind of complexity, because it was based on a bunch of good customer research, was definitely the right move.” – Nate ([08:31])

5. CRO: The Game-Changer

• First real foray into CRO came after noticing traffic up 90% but only 50% revenue bump ([09:29]).
• Partnered with IntelliGems for self-serve split testing on Shopify.
  • Early over-enthusiasm: “I emailed him three days later with 17 different split tests set up and I was like, hey, I think there's a problem.” ([10:00])
• Focused on split-testing:
  • Pricing, offers, on-site messaging
  • Start on site, expand to ads post-proven website results
• CRO’s impact: “A 10% uplift in conversion on a price or a messaging test...improved performance across the business.” ([10:44])

6. The Creative Volume Debate

• Asked about the recent debate (Charlie Titchener vs Jordan Maynard) on whether you need constant new ad creative.
  • Nate: Quality over quantity. “Produce great creative, period. If you can produce a lot of it, great. If you can't, that's fine. Just make it good.” ([12:25])
• “Setting a quantity goal is wrong for anything in life. What else in life do we measure by how many times can I do this?” – Nate ([13:06])

7. Digging for True Customer Motivation & Competitor Analysis

• Don’t just ask “Who’s your customer?” but also: “Why are they buying? What’s your product replacing in their life?” ([14:12])
• For watches, competition isn’t just other watch brands; it’s any gift for men: “golf clubs, dress shirts, bottles of whiskey...” ([14:48])

“A woman is just trying to show how much she appreciates her husband. There's a million different ways she can do that. But that's the motivation that I'm competing for.” – Nate ([15:34])

8. Shifting to Consumables: New Challenges, Bigger LTV

• New role as CMO of Adapt Naturals, moving from high-ticket/occasional gifts to consumables with recurring usage ([15:47]).
  • Mindset changes: The core tactics (CRO, persona research, creative) stay, but LTV and forecasting take the spotlight ([16:57]).

9. Best Offer Ever Run: The “Better Than Black Friday” Sale ([18:24])

• November 1st–Thanksgiving: Black Friday discount + $50 future gift card.
  • Result: Drove earlier holiday buying, enabled ad scaling
  • Best cohort LTV—30% higher than any other
  • High retention: “a ton of people who were acquired on that deal came back for the following Valentine's Day or Father's Day” ([19:12], [00:00])

10. AOV & Pricing Advice: Don’t Fear Higher Prices or Premium Bundles

• Encourage higher-priced offers and bundles; let your wealthiest customers spend ([20:54]).
  • “10% of your customers are rich. Give them a chance to give you more money.” ([21:44])
  • “We started to roll out some thousand dollar bundles and some fifteen hundred dollar bundles and all of a sudden we start getting orders for 1500 bucks.” ([20:54])

11. Managing Remote Teams and Leadership Style

• Loves remote work; believes most people are more productive outside the office ([24:35]).
• “If there's someone on your remote team who you think is taking advantage of it and slacking off, you should fire them whether you work remotely or in office.” ([25:54])

12. Why are Marketers Prone to Conspiracy Thinking?

• Shared joke: Pattern recognition. Marketers see and create patterns—parallels between branding and “manufacturing reality” ([27:17]).
  • “If the content is convincing enough, you can get people to believe whatever you want.” ([28:33])

13. Nate’s Copywriting Rituals & Frameworks ([29:04])

• Two creative modes:
  1. Analytical, AM research-driven—review mining, psychology, customer analysis
  2. “A couple whiskeys, go outside, maybe start a fire, and just start taking notes...thinking about my customers in a way that I haven't”
• “70% super analytical and responsible, 30%...where I think most of the flavor comes from is whiskey.” ([30:07])

14. If All Marketers Saw Your Billboard…

• “Do one thing remarkably well over and over and over again.” ([31:15])
  • “There are a lot of different ways to grow your business…do one thing really, really well, really consistently until you get to where you want to go.” ([31:15])

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Persona segmentation: “The more specifically we can speak to the audience, the better.” ([08:31])
• Creative focus: “Produce great creative, period. If you can produce a lot of it, great. If you can't, that's fine. Just make it good.” ([12:25])
• Remote work demands accountability: “If you think your remote employee is slacking off, fire them. Doesn't matter where they are." ([25:54])
• On premium offers: “Give [rich] customers a chance to give you more money. Don’t turn them down.” ([21:44])
• On doing less, better: “Do one thing remarkably well over and over again.” ([31:15])

Timestamps for Critical Segments

• Nate’s Background: [01:41]
• Growth at Original Grain: [02:50]
• Persona Marketing Evolution: [05:45], [07:14], [08:31]
• CRO Tactics: [09:29] – [11:31]
• Creative Volume Debate: [12:25]
• Best Offer Ever (Better Than Black Friday Sale): [18:24], [19:12], [00:00]
• AOV / Pricing Discussion: [20:54]
• Remote Management Philosophy: [24:35], [25:54]
• Copywriting Rituals: [29:04]
• Single Billboard Advice: [31:15]

Further Resources

• Nate Lagos on Twitter: “If you're not following Nate on Twitter, you're missing out.” ([33:53])
• Nate’s own podcast – Tactical and Practical: Short, actionable solo episodes on ecomm tactics ([32:41])

Closing sentiment:
This episode is full of candid, actionable insight from a proven, forward-thinking CMO. If you want to supercharge your DTC brand through persona research, test-driven CRO, and focusing on what works—in ads, messaging, offers, and leadership—Nate’s playbook is a masterclass.