The Case

Here's the case for both Customer Acquisition and Action Streams.

Prices

Prices are likely to increase in the next year, due to cost of goods increases and/or tariffs. If your prices increase 20%, you'll likely see a corresponding decrease in units ... could be 3%, could be 20%. Higher prices mean lower rebuy rates, lower reactivation rates, and fewer new customers. Hint - in 2025 and beyond, you'll need customers. Prices will conspire against your efforts to increase customers. Action Streams are a way to address customers who show interest in your brand.

Paid Search, Paid Social

In project after project, these customers have lower long-term value. Not bad long-term value, but lower. When customers have lower long-term value, you need more of 'em to protect your future. As you need more customers, others figure out they need more customers. This drives up the cost of advertising, potentially driving down response. Action Streams will be a tool used to close the deal on infrequent buyers who re-engage with your brand via Paid Search and Paid Social.

Old-School Catalog

Will be a piece of the marketing puzzle among 60-84 year old customers who are Elite or Loyal. Customer Acquisition or Reactivation via print? Over. Done. Too expensive. Customers 18-59 could care less. Believe it or not, there are catalog Action Streams that can work with 60-84 year old customers. Your old hotline program falls into this category.

The Customer/Prospect Ecosystem

Paid Search represents a micro-interaction ... the customer wants a GREEN WIDGET, a highly specific micro-request. We've spent 25 years figuring out how to capitalize on a specific micro-request. We'll spend more time in the next 25 years understanding how the customer interacts with our brand and our competitors in the Customer/Prospect Ecosystem. Data from customer interactions in this ecosystem become highly important ... for instance, the 18 month buyer who suddenly visits your website ... that customer is responsive for a short period of time and requires an Action Stream to convert.

Events

Events "seed" the customer/prospect ecosystem. Since Nordstrom has few sales events, their Anniversary Sale in July/August means something. It's an event! In my world of Headphones, the CanJam events mean something. They become part of the marketing calendar. They generate interest and interactions within your customer/prospect ecosystem. Attention shifts to you. Attention shifts away from your competition. In the next five years, you will see a shift from "campaigns" to "events", with Action Streams replacing campaigns.

Sports

Sports represent the future of e-commerce events. Anything "in person" has to be pretty special in order to cause a customer to pay money for an experience. Modern retail is "not special" ... it's like the old County Stadium in Milwaukee. We'll invest in "real life" activities that build toward something (like Spring Training to the Regular Season to the Playoffs to the World Series in Baseball). As we build toward something, we'll use Action Streams to promote events in real life.

AI

As we shift from campaigns to events, Action Streams replace campaigns. Today your Action Streams are likely driven by humans. In the future a fusion of AI and your smarts will result in smarter Action Streams. Times are changing, we'll change with 'em.

The Easiest Starting Point?

Take all customers who have not purchased in six or more months, and segment them by whether the customer visited your website in the past month or not.

The Case

The end of old-school customer acquisition paired with rising prices and excessive digital marketing competition results in you, the reader, making the case for using Action Streams and Events to better relate to your customer/prospect ecosystem.

Who Do I Pay?

When a conference recently asked me to pay five-figures to speak to an audience of a few hundred professionals, mostly third-party service providers, I presented an alternate case.

• "Why would I pay five figures to speak to maybe 75 decision makers when I interact with my community of anywhere between five hundred and ten thousand professionals (depending on the content) on a daily basis at no cost to me?"

Let's just say the "alternate case" didn't go very far.

In fact, whenever I communicate the concept of building a community (i.e. best customer and prospect list) so you don't have to pay a third party for access to anything, I get the "Ed Bowling" response.

At a conference, a Marketing Executive looked me in the eyes and earnestly issued a memorable sentence.

• "I just want you to tell me what the next big thing is so I can pay for it to scale my business."

Come on. The marketing executive was not willing to do any work. None. She wanted me to tell her something for free, something she could throw money at so her business would thrive and she'd look good.

Her business recently announced that it was shutting down.

Do you want to know what offends so many of my readers? They're offended when I talk about the marketing brilliance of Headphones.com ... especially readers who advocate a "pay to play" style of marketing (i.e. give Google money, Google gives you clicks). Think about what they've done.

• 500,000+ registered community users (i.e. a prospect list), plus all the data of what each registered community user is interested in / reads / views, paired with an Action Stream of email/text featuring items/content that relates to the content the registered community user interacts with. You could do that, right? What stops you from doing that?
• Nearly 200,000 subscribers to YouTube reviews, content, and the weekly podcast (a three-hour show published live nearly every Saturday and then recorded for everybody else).
• At least a half-dozen hired in-house influencers who produce content ... hundreds of articles and videos. They know their products. Their editors/producers make it look professional.
• Mid-eight-figures in annual net sales of items that can be purchased easily on Amazon for the same price and delivered by Amazon days earlier. There is a disincentive to buy from this brand, and yet customers accept the disincentive.
• A 365 day returns policy (vs. 30 days on Amazon).

I mean, 500,000 registered users ... that's your prospect list, right there (plus your most active customers to boot ... they're teaching your prospects on your behalf). And you know exactly what they are interested in in-between purchases ... you can act upon it. Would you rather act upon that or act upon some rando who typed the word "WIDGET"? (and yes, the answer can be you'd like to do both).

All of that represents modern e-commerce.

None of that represents paying Google money.

None of that represents paying Facebook money.

All of that represents putting Google/Facebook to work FOR YOU, not the other way around.

Still ... here's the feedback I generally get.

You can build a team with modern in-house marketing expertise, paying them to do brilliant work building your own community (i.e. your own prospect list).

Or you can rent temporary access to your own customers and prospects, enriching Google/Facebook in the process.

You have choices. Who should you pay?

Cut Off

Have you take a longer view of customer data? In other words, you look at marketing campaigns, sure ... but have you looked at (for instance) customer acquisition counts over the past 10-20 years?

It's common for e-commerce brands to have decent performance over time, with new customers sometimes being down, mostly up a lot, with a positive trajectory over time.

Old-school catalog brands have experienced something quite different. Their new/reactivated buyer count trajectory might look something like this.

There are two trends you should observe here.

1. The long-term structural decline in new customers.
2. The dramatic impact of COVID in 2020-2021.

If a business leader mis-read what happened in 2020-2021 (and many did), the last few years have been humbling.

Some of you have been with me for nearly twenty years. You remember when I pleaded with you in 2016 to build new customer acquisition programs. The data suggests few of you listened. I remember giving two presentations in 2016 ... one at a conference in Dayton, one at a conference in Savannah. 

At each conference, one individual in the audience had that smug look before asking a question. In Dayton, the woman told me that customer acquisition ideas wouldn't work, then asked me "what else do you have for us today?" I wonder if she is gainfully employed in catalog marketing anymore? In Savannah, it was a business owner. Front row. He thanked me for my ideas, then looked at the audience and told the attendees that he didn't need any customer acquisition ideas, that he had been through ups and downs for thirty years and his print-centric agenda would stand the test of time. 

Sure it would.

In 2019 at a conference, the paper rep informed me that he would not let me take food off of his table. He told me that he would make sure print-centric brands continued using paper and the omnichannel tools that leveraged paper.

It's as if many of these professionals purposely ignored the check engine light, like Penny on The Big Bang Theory.

Many of you reading this are Business Owners. You are in your 50s or 60s and are looking for an exit. It shouldn't surprise you one bit that there isn't a market for contracting paper-centric brands. There is a market for e-commerce brands that have well-crafted digital customer acquisition programs, mostly fueled by brilliant social media efforts. These businesses have in-house experts who know how to generate attention, attention that leads to prospects, prospects who become customers, customers who become loyalists.

One other fascinating tidbit from looking at catalog brands over the past twenty years.

• Merchandise Productivity is UP over time ... by between 20% and 40%.

This is an amazing finding, one that speaks to merchandise smarts and marketing shortfalls. Merchandise brilliance manifests itself via comp segment merchandise productivity. Catalog brands have done just as good a job as e-commerce brands at generating more from existing customers. Marketing brilliance manifests itself via new/reactivated customer counts. A relentless dependence upon paper and trusted partners did not result in marketing brilliance.

So now, we're in a situation where marketing chops needs to be rebuilt. It's no different than my 2008 Lexus RX400h. It is a great car. It's an old car. Increasingly I have to spend thousands each year just to keep it on the road. Eventually, I'll be left with no choice but to start over with a new car. The easy decision is to spend another $2,000 and keep it on the road another year. The hard decision is to start over.

Hard decisions are coming for old-school paper-based brands who are now cut off from the modern customer acquisition ecosystem.

And You Thought Your Brand Had Nothing Interesting To Say?

Here's one for you (click here).

You'll tell me all the reasons why you can't sell widgets using this strategy ... then you'll grumble when it costs you 5% more to get the same results on Paid Social that you got last year.

Your future includes marketing activity that resonates with your community ... causing prospects to interact with your brand (hint - Action Streams). The days of thinking that the "Late February Sale - Hurry, Save 50%" will move the needle are over. Gone. Finished. If you believe the only thing holding customers back from buying from your brand are price incentives, you've seriously mis-understood your customers and the general competitive environment in 2025.

Kevin's Headphone Buying Guide

The emails come in on a daily basis now ... "here's what I think I need, what should I purchase?" So, today I write a Search-Engine-Friendly post to answer your questions. I do not make a penny from the links below, this is strictly a public service. For 90% of my readers, this is a "delete" day, I'll rejoin the fray tomorrow with content that better aligns with your interests.

In most cases, the headphones I write about below are units I've purchased or are units I listened to at CanJam.

Headphone Manufacturers - if you send me a unit I'll write something about it and add my commentary at the end of this post (contact me - kevinh@minethatdata.com).

Here we go!

Consumer Grade vs. Audiophile Headphones

If you visit Best Buy, most of the headphones you see are called "Consumer Grade". There is a sound signature that frequently skews to bass (like a Beats headphone). Consumer Grade headphones typically sell well, that's why you'll see them at Best Buy.

Audiophile Headphones do not sell as well. These headphones generally sound better, and are frequently more expensive (with the notable exception of in-ear monitors, which deliver fabulous sound at a fraction of the price). The sound signature of an Audiophile Headphone is often closer to "neutral" compared to a Consumer Grade headphone.

Most of what I discuss here relates to Audiophile Headphones, with the notable exception of Noise Cancelling headphones.

Noise Cancelling Headphones and Bluetooth

Your friends at Apple ushered in the Bluetooth era by removing the headphone jack from the iPhone. There is much debate about the quality of Bluetooth sound. If you have old ears like I have, the difference isn't huge. Regardless, information is lost when music transmits wirelessly from a device to a headphone. If you want the absolute best sound quality, you stay away from Bluetooth. If you want the convenience of noise cancelling headphones? You have to make tradeoffs. Noise cancelling headphones have a computer in them. This means a $300 noise cancelling headphone cannot have the sound quality of a $300 Audiophile Headphone. Factor in bluetooth as well, you come to the realization you are not getting great sound. Good sound? Yes, that's possible.

• I previously owned a Bose QC 25, now known as the Bose QuietComfort. These were nice when flying from Seattle to Boston.
• Popular models I haven't owned include the Bose QuietComfort Ultra and the Sennheiser Accentum. The Sennheiser Momentum 4 is also well-regarded.
• I've also owned a noise-cancelling earbud model, the Sony WF-1000XM5. I thought the bass was boomy and the details weren't there ... which is to be expected for a noise cancelling bluetooth earbud headphone.
• Apple Airpods Pro 2. You see these everywhere, and for good reason. For sheer portability, I've not found anything as handy as these are. They play a bit quiet for me, however.
• Apple Airpods Max. I found these expensive, not portable, and my ears sweated while wearing them. They fit in well with my Apple ecosystem and Apple TV. Their limitations and cost pushed me into Audiophile Headphones.
• Focal Bathys. I tried these at CanJam. You get the audiophile-style sound signature of a Focal headphone (at Focal prices, no less) with noise cancelling. These can also be used in wired mode.

Three Types of Audiophile Headphones

There are three common types of Audiophile Headphones.

• Closed Back Headphones.
• Open Back Headphones.
• In-Ear Monitors.

All three headphones have pros/cons. Closed Back headphones are private (good), but don't allow music/air to move freely (because they are closed), so they frequently don't sound as good as open back headphones.

Open back headphones sound fabulous, with one notable exception ... a general lack of bass. You also need a private setting because everybody in the room will be able to hear what you are listening to (the headphones are open, so sound just comes out). Soundstage and imaging are generally good with open back headphones ... not as good as a quality pair of stereo speakers, but good. Open back headphones can be good for gaming, in that users can pinpoint the sound of guns or people walking, etc.

In-ear monitors go in your ear. They bypass your pinna, and as a result they can sound both more intimate and less spacious. In-ear monitors generally have better bass than open back headphones.

Will I Need Amplification?

Many headphone hobby enthusiasts enjoy amplification as much as they enjoy their headphones. Still, your devices already have a digital to analog converter (DAC) and generally have an amplifier. Unless you are using a 300ohm-ish open backed headphone, you likely won't need a DAC/Amp.

There are individuals who genuinely believe that they can hear significant differences between DAC/Amp setups. My ears are old, I don't hear anything more than a 2% or 3% difference, and that difference is likely placebo. If you hear a difference, good! If you don't hear a difference but still want a DAC/Amp, go down an inexpensive route and be happy. Ultimately, a DAC/Amp should allow a clean conversion of the digital signal to analog, and then provide enough power so you can clearly hear sounds without noise.

I've enjoyed two models.

• HiBy FC4 (plugs straight into your iPhone or laptop usb). Portable.
• Fiio K11 R2R (desktop).

My favorite model is the Qudelix 5k. This little miracle can be used in bluetooth mode or via a wired connection. Most important, the unit has what is called "parametric equalization", or "peq". While nerdy, this style of equalization allows you to customize any frequency between 20hz and 20,000hz to your preference. If a headphone has a problem, you can fix the problem. If you don't think the headphone has enough bass, you can not only fix the problem but fix bass at the exact frequencies where you want changes to happen. To get the most out of the Q5k, you'll want to learn as much as you can about the frequency curves of every headphone (click here). That website (squig.link) allows you to equalize your headphones to the sound signature of other headphones. This is an incredibly useful function, one that will save you a lot of money. If you have FOMO of a model (maybe you want to buy a $200 iem but only own a $50 iem), you can use the Q5k to change the sound of the $50 iem to sound directionally similar to the $200 iem. You'll learn you don't need a collection of 24 headphones, you can instead make 2/3/4 headphones sound like hundreds of headphones!

Kevin's Exploration of Open Back Headphones

I've tried many open back headphones, and have settled on one (1) model.

• Meze 109 Pro.
• This is my favorite headphone of all time. Acceptable details. Acceptable bass. Acceptable sound stage and imaging. Not clinical sounding. Sounds amazing with music or movies. These are $799 new, I got an open-box unit for $629, you can find used models for just over $400.
• While I haven't tried it, Meze now offers a cheaper alternative, the 105 AER that enthusiasts believe sounds similar enough to the 109 Pro to save $$$ and still leave you happy.

I've tried or owned many other open back models.

• Maybe the greatest open back headphone of all-time, the Massdrop x Sennheiser HD 6XX is $199 and is essentially identical to the Sennheiser HD650 that sells for double the cost. This open back headphone probably requires modest amplification. The headphone specializes in vocals (try Bonnie Raitt "I Can't Make You Love Me", her voice is amazing on this headphone). It has muted treble and very little bass (but just enough bass to matter). If I were advising somebody to purchase a first open back model, I'd start here.
• Sennheiser HD560S. These sound good ... more bass than the 6XX, a bit screechy in the treble, but overall they present music clinically. These are allegedly good for gaming. You listen to these to study the music, to evaluate the music.
• Sennheiser HD600. A more clinical version of the 6XX, they are beloved by audiophiles who prefer the Sennheiser sound signature.
• Sennheiser HD599. Another good first step into open back headphones. A bit more musical than the HD560S.
• HIFIMAN Edition XS. Many enthusiasts love the snappy music produced by planar magnetic headphones. I tried these at CanJam, they weren't my cup of tea but I can see how other people would really enjoy them.
• Focal Clear MG.  Pricey. Heard them at CanJam. Nice details. In my opinion, diminishing returns hit hard ... meaning going from a $199 HD6XX to a $1,499 Clear MG is a 7.5x increase in cost but maybe a 25%ish (your mileage will vary) improvement in sound quality. Always keep diminishing returns in the back of your mind.
• Meze Empyrean 2: $3,000. I heard them at CanJam. It felt like God reached into my head and touched my brain.

Kevin's Exploration of In-Ear Monitors

I've settled on three iems in my collection. It is important to get the right ear tips so that sound is isolated in your ear (these are my favorites). If you don't have the right ear tip, the sound will be thin and lifeless, with minimal/no bass. Also - diminishing returns hit hard with iems. My $159 iems sound 85% as good as my $399 iem sounds, and my $399 iem sounds 97% as good as the $999 iems I've tried.

• Thieaudio Hype 4. Just a fun sounding iem with enough bass to enjoy pop or rap music.
• Kiwi Ears KE4.  These are tuned to represent research on what an average listener prefers (it's called "Meta" tuning). As a result, these are quite boring. However, when paired with a Q5k, they can be adjusted to sound absolutely fabulous and lively.
• Meze Alba. These sound similar to my Meze 109 Pro open back headphone.

In-ear monitors span many price categories. You can get amazing sound for just $25. You can buy an iem that has a sound signature that does not align with your preferences, causing you to feel like you wasted money. Here are other iems I've owned or tried, ranked from least expensive to most expensive.

• Linsoul 7Hz Crinacle Zero:2. Just a stunning value at $25. They sounded so darn good. Kind of a v-shaped sound with less-refined treble (v-shaped means bass and treble are boosted). I gifted them to a friend. This is a GREAT place to start with iems ... for the cost of a pair of Jimmy John's subs, you're off and running.
• Truthear Hexa. It's hard to beat this for under $100. The Hexa has sub bass but not enough lower/mid bass for me. If you wanted to hear vocals or listen to podcasts or listen to books on tape, this is a great iem to own.
• 7Hz x Crinacle Salnotes Dioko. Some people like de-emphasized bass and a lot of treble. If that's you, here's your iem. I like bass and I don't like a lot of treble, so not for me.
• HIDIZS MP145. A really, really good iem. Really good. Comes with three pair of tuning tips, so you can have the iem sound good for vocals, sound neutral, or be filled with bass.
• Truthear Nova. Research from 5-10 years ago determined that the "Harman Curve" is what an average listener would like best. The Truthear Nova follows this curve as well as any other iem. For me, the Harman Curve is a bit thin in the upper bass and lower mids. For you? This iem might be perfect.
• Thieaudio Monarch MK iii. It's expensive, and is kind of a combination of my Hype 4 and the Nova, but with better details. Again, I found it modestly thin in the upper bass and lower mids. I tried it at CanJam.

If you were curious, to me, the law of diminishing returns with iems < $400 looks something like this ... you get A LOT of bang for your buck with iems.

Kevin's Exploration of Closed Back Headphones

For me, in-ear monitors offer a better value proposition over Closed Back headphones. Regardless, your mileage will vary. Here are units I've owned or tried.

• Massdrop x Meze 99 Noir.  Holy bass!  If you want a "thumping" experience, these are the headphones for you.
• Sennheiser HD569. An entry into closed back headphones. If you like the sound signature here, you know you'll like other Sennheiser headphones.
• Sennheiser HD620S. Tried these at CanJam. For the cost, I'd advise going the HD6XX open back route (save money, better sound quality) AND get an inexpensive iem. But if you have to have a closed back headphone, this isn't bad.
• Focal Azurys. Expensive, but the best sounding closed back headphone I've heard. I still think you can do better with iems at a third of the cost of the Azurys, but if you want the Focal house sound in a closed back form, this is a reasonable choice.

Can I Use Spotify For Music?

I have songs that I really enjoy. For those songs, I've purchased CDs, then converted the songs to a lossless format (FLAC or ALAC). I've compared ALAC (Apple lossless) to the same song on Spotify, and I can hear a very modest difference ... like 2% to 3% better (your mileage will vary). For some people, that modest difference means "everything". For casual listeners, the difference might be irrelevant.

There are listening tests you can take online, comparing 320mbps MP3 formats to lossless formats. I can tell the difference between 75% of the time and 80% of the time ... if I attempt twenty-five or thirty trials, the difference is statistically significant. But the difference is barely meaningful.

So, yes, you can use Spotify for your music listening needs. Or Apple Music or Amazon Music. Enjoy your music.

IEM Cables?

I generally don't like the cables that come with iems. There are two cables I purchase that I like.

• Tripowin Zonie.
• Tripowin Zoe.

DAP / MP3 Players?

I don't have experience with DAPs / MP3 players. Plenty of people on Reddit enjoy 'em. If you have a lot of MP3s / FLACs / ALAC songs, consider a music player.

Sources of Information

There are a handful of places I enjoy reading about headphones, watching content on headphones, or listening to shows about headphones. There are countless resources beyond what I outline here.

• Reddit's Headphone Subreddit.
• Reddit's IEM Subreddit.
• Jay's IEM Ranking List.
• Headphones.com Community Forum.
• Headphones.com Headphone Show on YouTube.
• Headphones.com Podcasts on YouTube (I like watching The Noise Floor). Yes, I am a nerd.

Have Fun!

Regardless what model you purchase, have fun with it! It doesn't matter that user GUMBOFORLUNCH on Reddit doesn't like a headphone. The headphone doesn't work for him. It might be perfect for you. Do not worry about cost ... as I mentioned above, the Zero:2 iem for $25 will be more than enough for many listeners, while some expensive headphones will not match your preferred sound signature, and others require the details present on a $1,500 headphone.

Do what makes you happy, not what makes somebody else happy, when it comes to headphones.

MineThatData Happy Hour!

We held our first MineThatData Happy Hour on Thursday Night - thank you to the 1,200+ people who interacted with the blog content ... sixteen requested a link, seven attended! A clear success! It's important that people get to be heard ... you can't do that with 773 attendees.

None of the attendees dropped off the video conference. Our conversations surrounded finding new customers, influencer marketing, paid social, community, the importance of reflecting your brand appropriately across different audiences, and of course ... attribution!

I'm thinking we should do another one in March. I'll be in touch in a few weeks to see if you want to participate. Between now and then, if you have conversation topics, send them to me (kevinh@minethatdata.com) and I'll be happy to weave the topics into the next Happy Hour.

P.S.:  One topic that came up that you should know about ... I was recently asked to speak at a conference, and I was asked if I could bring either $10,000 or $20,000 for the right to speak. Similar issues happen with the National Retail Federation (though they didn't ask me to speak ... I've seen their pitch deck). One of our attendees noted that it is discouraging that conferences are pay-to-play these days, and that it is very hard to network and hear different thoughts in an unbiased environment. I'm willing to provide an unbiased environment. So help us build a second event, and let's see if we can create something where we can talk about business challenges in a safe environment. Does that sound reasonable?

REMINDER!!

A quick reminder ... our first ever Happy Hour is Thursday night at 8:00pm EST / 5:00pm PST. Email me (kevinh@minethatdata.com) for a link if you wish to attend.

The link only lasts for 60 minutes, so I do plan on keeping this under one hour, FYI.