Beyond the Basket - 23/10/25

Thursday 23rd October | #57 | Join Free

Hello, and welcome to Thursday’s Beyond the Basket. Are you ready for the wave of customer support tickets that hit during the Q4 rush? You should be, because as today’s feature shows, CX isn’t just logistical, it’s a loyalty driver. Plus, Amazon extends its holiday return window, and TikTok announces this year’s Ad Awards nominees. Let’s get into it. 👇 - Mike Callachan (BtB Founder)

In today’s beyond the basket:
💬 CX: How you reply this Christmas could decide next year’s sales
📦 Amazon extends holiday return window
🤖 Study finds ChatGPT traffic drives clicks, not conversions
🎥 TikTok reveals shortlist for 2025 UK Ad Awards

➕ Plus four longer reads on where UK shoppers actually convert, how TikTok turns culture into sales, why sustainable scaling matters, and how startups are building brands through vibe.

Your busiest weekend is also your noisiest, and how you handle customer questions can genuinely make or break it.

The second orders start flying, the messages flood in too: "Where's my parcel?" "Can I still get this by Christmas?" "Oh god, I put the wrong address."

Most brands see this as damage control, something to just get through. The smart ones? They see it as an opportunity.

Every quick, thoughtful reply is a chance to turn someone's worry into trust, their doubt into "yeah, I'll buy from them again."

Here's what matters: during the madness of peak season, customer support is often the only real human moment left in the whole buying experience. And when 89% of people are more likely to buy again after a positive customer service experience (according to Salesforce), suddenly those reply threads look less like admin and more like relationship-building.

The brands who nail this do a few straightforward things:

The goal isn't to have zero messages, it's to make every single one a reason for someone to trust you a bit more. Because during Q4, your support inbox isn't just admin. It's where people decide if they'll be back. One reply at a time.

Add the recipient’s name to your marketing email subject lines. We’ve seen a 15% lift in open rates when the recipient’s name is in the subject line. It’s a small tweak, but in a crowded Black Friday inbox, that bit of personal touch can make all the difference.

TL;DR: Amazon’s 2025 holiday purchases, made between Nov 1 and Dec 31, 2025, can now be returned until Jan 31, 2026. The policy applies to all orders (FBA, FBM, and Amazon retail) except Apple products, which must be returned by Jan 15.

Why it matters: The 92-day return window means sellers won’t be able to lock in Q4 revenue until February. It turns January, usually recovery time, into a full month of return management. For FBA sellers, that also means higher storage costs, delayed payouts, and more capital tied up in returned stock. Amazon says it’s about boosting shopper confidence; in practice, many sellers are seeing it as shifting financial risk downstream to them.

Selling on Amazon?: Treat January as part of Q4, not a reset. Keep cash buffers for delayed payouts and staff ready for the returns surge. Use January’s data to tighten product info, fix quality issues, and cut next year’s return rate.

TL;DR: A new academic study of 973 eCommerce sites found that traffic from ChatGPT converts far worse than Google Search or email, though it’s improving.

Why it matters: ChatGPT is sending shoppers to stores, but few complete purchases. Researchers say shoppers use it for discovery, not checkout, a trust gap that limits revenue impact for now. Still, rising conversion rates suggest shoppers are slowly warming up to AI-assisted buying.

Your move: Treat ChatGPT as a discovery tool, not a sales channel for the moment. Make sure product data is structured and accurate so AI results point to your store when shoppers start asking.

🧾 Source: University of Hamburg & Frankfurt School of Finance & Management, “Generative AI Traffic and Ecommerce Conversion Performance” (working paper, Oct 2025).

TL;DR: TikTok has announced the shortlist for its 2025 UK Ad Awards, recognising standout campaigns across branding, performance, creativity, and impact.

Why it matters: The awards highlight what’s working creatively on TikTok right now, and it’s not polished studio ads. The shortlisted campaigns (from brands like Asda, BBC, Lidl, Irn-Bru, and John Lewis) all lean into TikTok-first storytelling: lo-fi, personality-led, and built for community engagement rather than traditional brand polish. For eCommerce teams, it’s a snapshot of the creative strategies driving attention and action on the platform in 2025.

Your move: Watch the shortlisted campaigns and reverse-engineer what makes them click. Focus less on ad spend and more on story, authenticity, humour, and platform-native creativity still outperform high production value.

🗓️ Winners will be announced 13 November in London.

📄 See the full shortlist here →

Hosted by Omnisend - November 6, 2025 - Register here ›
A practical 45-minute session on how to keep Black Friday–Cyber Monday shoppers engaged without over-sending. Expect real examples of segment automation that saves time and boosts post-sale retention, useful for lean ecommerce teams heading into peak.

Curated deep dives, longer reads and analysis shaping the future of eCommerce and digital marketing.

How UK shoppers really convert on social
Sprout Social (6 min read) Read here ›
New data on which platforms actually drive ecommerce conversions in the UK, and where brands are wasting spend.

Culture to conversion: Inside TikTok’s B2B marketing playbook
The Drum (5 min read) Read here ›
How TikTok is pitching itself to advertisers by turning cultural moments into measurable sales stories.

How to scale your business without losing your sanity
Entrepreneur (7 min read) Read here ›
A grounded take on sustainable scaling, practical lessons for founders trying to grow without burning out.

Vibe marketing for startups
Salesforce (5 min read) Read here ›
Why emotional resonance now beats traditional brand positioning, and how smaller teams can use it to build trust fast.