Ecommerce Excellence

As an eCommerce company selling products across multiple online channels (for example, Amazon, your own site, eBay, etc.) with a single SKU there are several challenges, says Michael Anderson, CEO of Etail Solutions.

You have to track inventory, account for different methods of fulfillment, maintain an effective supply chain, control the price, and have the correct content when each eCommerce platform has different rules and requirements.

It’s a very complex issue, especially for high volume sellers, and a person can’t make those decisions at the speed and volume required. Automation, says Michael, is the key. We get into all the details behind that, as well as…

• The power of “distributed order management”
• Creating a single source of truth – and why it’s vital 
• The most critical element in maintaining brand integrity
• The biggest obstacles to scalability and automation – and how to overcome them
• And more

As Editor-in-Chief at SaleCycle, Graham Charlton is part of the team that uses customer behavior and data on customers to help ecommerce sites to convert, retain or increase conversion rates.

Graham says there is one part of the sales process in particular that poses the biggest challenge – and the biggest opportunity to increase conversion rates for their clients. Some of what he recommends is quite outside the box.

We go into detail on that challenge and the strategies they use to turn it into more revenue, as well as…

• The right format for follow up emails to send to prospects
• How they convert interested customers who didn’t buy the first time
• A surprising way GDPR fits in with their marketing strategies
• The role of mobile marketing in boosting conversion rate 
• Best practices for cross-sell and upsell emailing

Rachel Johnson Greer, the founder of Cascadia Seller Solutions, is the perfect guide. She has helped more than 700 Amazon sellers boost their visibility and get more income. She is an Amazon seller herself – she even worked at Amazon for 12 years.

She talks about strategies you must adopt to draw people to your product lists… and make the sale. There are a lot of misconceptions out there, says Rachel, that are sabotaging businesses – and the owners have no idea. 

Another issue with many Amazon sellers is that they forget the fundamentals… and waste the time of marketing as a result. We dig deep into that, and also talk about…

• The three most important metrics to watch with your Amazon business
• Unexpected keyword tips that get you ranked highly – and it’s affordable
• How to make sure you attract only the “right” customers
• The habits she learned at Amazon – beyond the technical stuff – that she still uses today
• And more

When you do business online, your most valuable commodity is… data. But all the data in the world doesn’t mean anything unless you know how to analyze and use it to boost your profits. And, of course, you need to know what data is important in the first place – and how to collect it.

With his track record of bringing in $34 million in additional sales for his clients, Pawel Ogonowski is a man to listen to on this subject. He focuses on using data to improve the user experience – making it easy for customers to buy.

He walks us through the conversion rate optimization strategies he uses, as well as…

• What you can learn from how their interactions with clients differ from traditional agencies (and get better results)
• An easy way to determine your true value proposition
• Identifying the “bottlenecks” stopping your prospects from buying
• An unlikely source for some of the most valuable intelligence about your products
• And more valuable tips and methods on how to gather pertinent data and implement it to enhance  your business’ conversions and revenue

Too many companies are focused on the “latest and greatest” Google Ad strategies… while forgetting about the basic tactics that will have a much bigger impact on their ROI. By doing so, Alex Fredheim, founder of Ascendancy Digital, was able to double the revenue one client got from their Google Ads campaign during their peak selling season.

It’s not surprising. Ecommerce business owners might be good at what they do… but they’re not experts in niche techniques like Google Ads, so they are unsure how to gauge their agency’s performance.

It doesn’t have to be that way, says Alex, who shares how you can zero in on the quality providers in a sea of bad ones.

We also talk about…

• Keyword strategies that focus on revenue… not traffic
• The one question a digital marketing agency should answer to clients – or get fired
• The single biggest mistake ecommerce stores make with Google Ads
• Keyword categories to avoid with Google Ads (it’s not what you think)
• And more invaluable and up to date insights which will illuminate the path to profitable advertising for your ecommerce business

In the ecommerce world, email marketing remains one of the most powerful revenue drivers. But many online retailers are losing out because their email strategy isn’t as powerful as it should be in some of the most important elements of generating profits.

By focusing on email marketing strategy, Will Evans and his team at SellerFlows help clients increase lifetime value and average order value. When you get the same customers to buy again and again, you reduce your marketing costs and increase profits.

Will shares how he gets results for his clients through automation, as well as other techniques and tricks. If you have a Shopify store especially you’ll want to tune in to find out all about the email marketing tool that integrates perfectly with that platform.

We’ll also talk about…

• The must-have email flow for any ecommerce business
• Why marketing automation isn’t “set it and forget it”
• The automated email series with a 15% to 20% conversion rate 
• How post-purchase emails can boost lifetime value
• Up-to-date methods and pro tips on how to create optimized email flows which boost conversions in today’s ecommerce environment

Many ecommerce entrepreneurs fall into a trap, says Bill D’Alessandro, CEO of Elements Brands. They think a high Google ranking is a good gauge for the health of the business. And that if a majority of their sales come through Amazon… that’s a good thing – a sale is a sale, right?

Instead Bill looks at five other metrics that show if your brand has staying power or not… and whether it makes an attractive acquisition target if you choose to sell your business in the future for a big payday. In this episode we discuss:

• The types of products that keep customers coming back
• Why he won’t sell food or fashion – and other product categories to avoid
• A simple calculation for determining the value of your business
• What you must do now to sell your business for maximum profit 
• How to use what Bill calls your “contribution margin” to pragmatically keep track of your revenue versus your profits and to keep your team involved, informed and motivated

Ciaran Vipond’s ecommerce shop sells a very specific type of item, within the already specific niche of jewelry. We already know that purchases like this are a need… not a want. So, the product – and all the marketing – must appeal to emotions. For Ciaran’s product it’s nostalgia, pride, and a sense of belonging.

By linking people to their past… their heritage… his company’s marketing helps people connect to their products in a very potent way. The result is a target audience that feels more like a community than just a customer base. We talk about exactly how they do that, as well as…

• An email sequence that results in tremendous conversion rates
• The biggest mistake he made in hiring
• Why he’s concentrating on this marketing channel instead of Google or Facebook ads
• The types of emails that build long-term customer relationships
• And more invaluable tips regarding niche targeting to establish bonds with your customers that are sure to endure

In our Digital Age, it’s tempting to digitize your ecommerce business’ customer service department as well. Award-winning speaker and author Shep Hyken contends that, when you take away the “human touch,” you’ll find you’ve lost a key element that keeps prospects from turning into customers and customers from becoming repeat customers… not to mention turning into raving fans that tell the world about you and bring in more business.

But effective customer service is about much more than simply providing an 800 number or sending out surveys. The whole company has to be involved in enhancing the experience of buying and providing help if there are issues – not just a dedicated customer service department.

We unpack how to do just that, as well as explore…

• Simple things you can do now to boost your customer service
• What you can learn from honest customer feedback
• Chatbot dos and don’ts 
• One of the biggest mistakes ecommerce companies make with their customers
• Invaluable tips on how to stay ahead of the competition and truly become awesome

Too many entrepreneurs want all the bells and whistles for their ecommerce site… and the hottest digital marketing strategies to bring in traffic. But, says Arnout Hellemans, they often don’t get the results they expect… because they forgot to perfect the basic foundation of their site and marketing first.

Arnout outlines what many businesses are doing that prevents them from ranking highly in the search results, and losing potential customers midway through the shopping experience. The focus of the conversation is SEO – myths and best practices.

Tune in to find out…

• A quick way to check if your SEO efforts are ineffective
• How to avoid crawled but not indexed blog content
• Why marketing A/B testing can negatively impact your SEO efforts – and how to avoid it
• The hidden danger of JavaScript
• Invaluable insights into optimizing your web page ranking and standing apart from the crowd