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High Ticket DTC: When Your Product Isn't an Impulse Buy
Premium product growth tactics from Sahand Dilmaghani of Terra Kaffe
Hey everyone,
Welcome back for another bite to chew on.
Let's talk about something that keeps a lot of DTC founders up at night - selling expensive products in a world built for quick conversion cycles and impulse buys.
A lot of marketing playbooks are written for stuff like fast fashion, $40 supplements, or $60 beauty products. But what happens when your product costs $1,000+ and takes months to convert?
We recently sat down with Sahand Dilmaghani, founder of Terra Kaffe (a super awesome - and premium - espresso machine), to dig into this exact challenge.
Sahand has built a $1,600 coffee machine brand competing against century-old European manufacturers - and he’s winning.
Here’s how…
On the Menu
Why traditional direct response rules don't apply
Building a word-of-mouth engine
How to create structural advantages
Want to catch our full conversation with Sahand? Watch the complete episode here:
Trust us - if you're thinking about scaling a premium product, you don't want to miss his insights on owning moments and building community.
If you like this episode, please head over to Youtube, Spotify or Apple and hit subscribe. We’ve got some huge guests lined up for Season 5!
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Rethinking the Direct Response Playbook
In the world of DTC and direct response marketing, a lot of brands live and die by quick conversions:
24 hours for impulse buys
7 days for considered purchases
30 days max for most sales
But premium products break all these rules. Your consideration window stretches into months. Attribution gets messy. This makes traditional performance marketing even more challenging.
"Some people fall in love instantly - it's all amygdala, no prefrontal cortex," Sahand told us. "But for most customers, it's a long journey." This isn't just about patience. It's about building an entirely different kind of funnel - one that nurtures relationships that can be counted in weeks, not days.
Think about it: when someone's considering a $1,600 purchase, it’s a serious chunk of dough. For most people, that’s a budget item - something they’d have to discuss with a spouse before buying.
That means they're not just evaluating your product. They're evaluating their relationship with your brand, your community, and your vision. There’s a lot more research and consideration that goes into it.
So every touchpoint matters that much more.
At Obvi, we've seen this play out with our larger bundles and subscription offerings. While not at Terra Kaffe's price point, the principle is the same - as the purchase size grows, the traditional DR playbook needs serious revision.
The Word-of-Mouth Engine
Here's what got our attention: Terra Kaffe gets up to one-third of their sales through word-of-mouth.
In today's world of skyrocketing CAC, that's like finding a cheat code.
Their secret? They don't just sell products - they own moments.
One of TK's investors put it perfectly: "From 7-9 AM, you own my house. We're all orbiting around your product."
This ownership of daily rituals creates natural evangelists. "When somebody in the neighborhood gets our machine, they become the king or queen of the cul-de-sac," Sahand explained. "Couples go to a dinner party, see the machine, and suddenly they're not even considering other options."
Their community-building playbook is refreshingly simple:
CX team runs an active Facebook group
Regular webinars with the founder and team
Direct customer access to product development
Focus on engagement over numbers
Community isn't just a marketing tactic - it's a fundamental business strategy. When you're selling premium products, every customer becomes a potential brand ambassador. Your job is to give them the tools and motivation to spread the word.
Here’s how serious Terra Kaffe is about this…
Sahand told us that many customers have his personal cell phone number. While he wouldn't necessarily recommend this approach, it shows their commitment to building real relationships.
Building Structural Advantages
When you're selling premium and high AOV products, you need more than just good marketing. You need structural advantages that compound over time.
Limited competition completely changes the game in high-ticket DTC. While most brands are battling dozens of competitors in crowded categories, premium products often face just 4-5 serious rivals.
This creates some powerful opportunities.
You can truly own the narrative in your category instead of fighting for attention. You're able to build deeper relationships with customers because you're not constantly competing on price and promotions.
Most importantly, you can focus on genuine differentiation and quality - something Terra Kaffe has leveraged brilliantly.
The feedback loops in premium products are different too. When someone spends $1,600 on your product, they're invested in its success. They want to tell you what's working and what isn't.
Terra Kaffe uses these relationships to constantly improve their product, creating a powerful feedback engine that includes →
✅ Direct customer relationships
✅ Real-time feature feedback
✅ Usage pattern insights
✅ Product development guidance
This creates a virtuous cycle - better feedback leads to better products, which leads to more passionate customers. It's the kind of advantage that's hard to replicate, ESPECIALLY for legacy brands stuck in traditional retail models.
Leveraged Constraints
Don’t just think about the challenges when it comes to premium products - high prices create longer consideration periods, but they also enable:
More touchpoints to build trust
Deeper brand relationships
Higher lifetime value
Natural word-of-mouth
Remember that every obstacle you overcome can also become an advantage over time.
Sum it up
If you're building a premium DTC brand, remember:
Traditional conversion windows don't apply - build for the long-game
Focus on owning moments, not just selling products
Turn your constraints into advantages
Build community before scale
Make every customer interaction count
The conventional DTC playbook was built for quick conversions and rapid-scale feedback loops. But premium products require a different approach - one built on long consideration, relationships, community, and genuine value creation.
Want proof? Terra Kaffe isn't merely competing with long-established European manufacturers. They're beating them by building something those legacy brands can't copy: a plugged-in, passionate community of true believers.
All the best,
Ron & Ash