Ecommerce Conversations

Last week host Eric Bandholz described the customer service voice agent he built for Beardbrand. The company is small and can't afford human phone support.

Using Grok Bot and the Grok Voice API, both from SpaceXAI (formerly xAI), he built a surprisingly realistic and effective phone agent in less than a day. The agent sounds natural and responds accurately to shoppers' support calls.

Yet for Eric, Grok Bot is more than a voice agent. It can drive productivity for himself and his staff across the entire business.

He offers examples in this episode.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/my-ai-bots-for-email-seo-reports-more

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Customer phone support has been a huge burden for Beardbrand, host Eric Bandholz's company, with its small staff. 

His solution was an AI voice bot, which he recently built in about a day. He used Grok Bot, xAI’s agent platform, and SpaceXAI’s Grok Voice API.

In this episode, he describes how he built the bot and his plans to test and improve it. He refers to his video at 

• https://www.practicalecommerce.com/i-built-a-voice-bot-for-customer-calls

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Alex Walser launched his North Carolina-based marketing agency, Savant Syndicate, in 2024. The firm manages advertising campaigns for ecommerce brands, with a focus on Google Ads.

He says YouTube ads provide the most upside, especially YouTube TV. "I'm more bullish on connected TV ads than traditional YouTube," he states.

In this episode, Alex addresses his increasing reliance on AI, Google Ads KPIs, and why he favors YouTube TV.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/agency-founder-touts-youtube-tv-ads

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com

Please enjoy this episode first aired in February 2023.

Zach Stuck is an agency founder turned ecommerce owner. The agency, called Homestead, runs marketing campaigns for direct-to-consumer businesses. And lessons from those campaigns drive his second venture: acquiring and launching his own brands.

His top lesson? A customer from paid acquisition has to be profitable on the first sale.

He shares his journey  — from running an agency to owning and operating ecommerce brands — in this episode.

For a transcript of the episode with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/profit-from-paid-acquisition-key-for-ecom-owner

For all episodes and embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

We asked Rok Hladnik, an ecommerce merchant turned agency owner, how to launch a new product line without confusing existing customers and diverting staff. 

He advised creating a new brand. "There's nothing wrong with applying learnings to a new company," he stated.

Rok's agency, Flat Circle, is based in Slovenia and serves ecommerce businesses worldwide. In this episode, he shares how AI is changing advertising, why product quality matters, and the appeal (and risk) of launching a new brand.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/your-next-product-could-be-a-new-brand

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts


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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Cheryl Sew Hoy says her company deals with poop. The Austin, Texas-based serial entrepreneur launched Tiny Health in 2020 to help folks monitor essential microorganisms in their digestive systems, which are critical for overall wellness.

The process once required in-person doctor visits with cumbersome stool collection. Tiny Health offers the same service with a streamlined home-based kit and a prepaid mailer for the lab analysis.

In this episode, Cheryl shares the importance of gut health and details of Tiny Health's launch, customer acquisition tactics, funding rounds, and more.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tinyhealth-com-sells-gut-tests-by-mail

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts


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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Many pro content marketers insist AI-generated text is inferior to humans'. But not Neville Medhora. He's a seasoned copywriter who claims AI is 95% as good as human writing, even for the most complicated work.

"It's a hard pill to swallow, but you've got to adapt," he says.

Neville is the founder of Swipe File, a curated library of promotional content, and before that, of Kopywriting Kourse, an instructional site.

He first appeared on the podcast in 2019. In this episode, he addresses AI content and adapting to change.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/copywriter-grades-ai-content-at-95

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Hal Smith says lowering clients' customer acquisition cost on Meta and Google is a focus of his agency, H Street Digital. He cites 5 performance levers, starting with the offer.

Hal founded the D2C-focused agency in 2020 after stints managing political fundraising campaigns. "I learned the importance of the right message," he told me.

In this episode, Hal shares his approaches to ad messaging, testing, targeting, and, yes, reducing CAC.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/5-levers-drive-cac-says-ad-pro

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com

Host Eric Banholz asked Kenny Trusnik, founder of the agency Forest City Digital, how an ecommerce startup can attract customers amid today's AI tumult.

"Focus on getting the product data as deep and clean as possible in a structured environment," he replied, adding additional tactics for LLM citations and referrals.

In this episode, Kenny shares those approaches, along with his agency's focus, underlying principles, marketing playbooks, and more.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see:
https://www.practicalecommerce.com/agency-owner-on-new-store-strategies

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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Practical Ecommerce helps online merchants improve their businesses with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. Founded in 2005, we're an independent publisher, unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. https://www.practicalecommerce.com 

Please enjoy this repeat of a popular episode aired in August 2024.

Mike Tecku first appeared on this podcast in 2019 as an Amazon marketplace seller. He then sold that business, a maker of floor mats, shortly afterward. He retired, became bored, and in 2022 launched Momentum, a direct-to-consumer nutritional shake producer. He and I discussed that venture last year in his second appearance.

He's back. Momentum Shake is flourishing, as is Tecku. He's evolved from the nuts and bolts of making money to achieving a purpose, building a team, and self-improvement. "If I'm not growing, I'm dying," he told me.

For an edited and condensed transcript with embedded audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/grow-or-die-says-momentum-shake-founder

For all condensed transcripts with audio, see: https://www.practicalecommerce.com/tag/podcasts

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The mission of Practical Ecommerce is to help online merchants improve their businesses. We do this with expert articles, podcasts, and webinars. We are an independent publishing company founded in 2005 and unaffiliated with any ecommerce platform or provider. http://www.practicalecommerce.com