Own Your Commerce

Patrick Campbell, Founder and CEO of the Boston-based ProfitWell, has helped thousands of subscription brands optimize every step of their subscription — from onboarding, marketing and pricing, through retention, churn, and even cancellation. Campbell is a firm believer that even after a subscriber cancels there is still a huge opportunity to retain revenue. If you’re a subscription brand looking to take revenue optimization to the next level, this episode is packed full of tips, advice and actionable takeaways from one of the leading voices in the subscriptions world. 

Some topics we discuss:

• Subscription churn and the meaning of “not all churn is equal.” 

Guest bio:

Patrick Campbell is the Co-Founder and CEO of ProfitWell, the industry standard software for helping companies like Atlassian, Autodesk, Meetup, and Lyft with their monetization (through Price Intelligently) and retention strategies. ProfitWell also provides a turnkey solution that powers the subscription financial metrics for over eight thousand subscription companies (it’s free and plugs right into your billing system). Prior to ProfitWell Patrick led Strategic Initiatives for Boston based Gemvara and was an Economist at Google and the US Intelligence community.

Links and resources:

• Profitwell 

Meet Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgins — two long-time beauty editors turned podcasters now breaking into their own entrepreneurial journey. The Breaking Beauty podcast features the latest in beauty news, product reviews, and culture through a beauty lens, with an impressive roster of guests from Makeup by Mario to Dr. Pimple Popper. In this episode, Co-creaters Dunn and Higgins and Own Your Commerce host Jay Meyers go deep in a passionate discussion about the latest tech, trends, and stories from the frontlines of the booming beauty industry. Ecommerce beauty aficionados, you won't want to miss this episode! 

Some of the topics we discuss are:

• Jill Dunn and Carlene’s Higgin’s exciting careers in beauty and how the Breaking Beauty podcast came to be. 

Guest bios:

Jill Dunn and Carlene Higgin’s are all about separating the greats from the gimmicks. Having interviewed the biggest trailblazing beauty founders for magazines for more than a decade — from Pat McGrath to Kat Von D — they've gotten to know many of the genius creators behind the most top-shelf beauty products, whether it sells every 30 seconds around the world, or whether it's the cult find them and their fellow beauty journos hoard by the sample.

Together in the Breaking Beauty podcast, they explore the inside stories behind these icons and icons-in-the-making (and just how did these people break in to the beauty business anyway?), straight from the mouths of the industry’s most inspiring gloss bosses. They’re big believers that with all the gutsiness and passion it takes to launch a powerful beauty brand, #foundersrule.

Links and resources:

• Breaking Beauty

Rokt might be the best-kept secret in ecommerce — brands can increase their revenue instantly by adding a simple plugin. As the CCO (Chief Commercial Officer) and a founding member of Rokt, Elizabeth Buchanan is on a mission to help brands unlock more revenue. On average, Rokt users see an instant 20-40 cents per transaction! Wondering if you could be getting more out of every transaction? You NEED to listen to this episode. 

Some topics we discuss: 

• Elizabeth’s Buchanan’s exciting 20+ year career in marketing and tech and how Rokt came to be. 

Guest bio:

Welcome to Own Your Commerce Season 2! We're kicking off with an episode we've been excited to share featuring Andrew Forman, Founder and CEO of Givz — the donation incentives app for Shopify. Founded in 2017, Givz is already disrupting the discount-heavy ecommerce space by giving brands the opportunity to offer donation incentives with purchases (Eg., spend a hundred dollars, get $20 to give to a charity of your choice). The amazing part is they are finding these sorts of offers actually can convert higher than traditional discounts. Today, forward-thinking companies work with Givz to grow sales and celebrate the personalized causes their consumers care about. 

Some of the topics we discuss are:

• Why discounts are so problematic for the long term profitability of a business.

Andrew Forman is the Founder and CEO of Givz, a donation incentives solution for Shopify. Prior to Givz, Andrew spent six years years in investment banking and was the treasurer of a nonprofit organization. He holds an MBA from Harvard Business School and a BA in Mathematics and Economics from Hamilton College. He lives in New York, is a proud father of two, and still tries to make time for recreational sports.

• Givz

Before building tools for ecommerce brands, Adii Peenar helped co-found the now popular WooCommerce platform for Wordpress. Since his WooCommmerce days, he's built, launched and successfully sold a Shopify app called Conversio; authored a book called Life Profitability; and now, has created a new product he refers to as "your extra head of operations." 

Cogsy turns data into accurate forecasts for businesses so they can make better decisions about inventory and free up extra capital. It actually does more though, giving customers accurate re-stock dates right on product pages when out of inventory. Cogsy couldn't have come at a better time as the holidays approach amidst a looming inventory crisis. 

In this episode we discuss:

• Adii Pienaar's fascinating career that started with co-founding WooCommerce.

Guest Bio: 

Adii Pienaar is the founder of Conversio. Prior to Conversio, Adii was co-founder of WooThemes/WooCommerce, where he explored what it meant to be an entrepreneur while learning about building software for ecommerce stores. He is the author of Life Profitability, and recently founded Cogsy, an inventory tracking management tool for ecommerce stores. 

Kelly Vaughn & Rhian Beutler bring nearly a decade of experience in the ecommerce and Shopify ecosystem to the new company they’ve formed called Govalo — a gift carding solution for Shopify merchants. Their solution couldn’t come at a better time as many entrepreneurs are experiencing supply chain issues that are threatening to interrupt their busy holiday selling season.

Govalo is more than just a gift card app though, they see gift cards as a key acquisition and retention strategy and have developed a unique solution to help merchants automatically offer gift cards when their products are out of stock. They way merchants are able to easily offer consumers an on-brand alternative for the gift they were hoping to get that special someone. Govalo only recently launched and they are already revolutionizing the way Shopify brands are able to offering gift cards and manage a looming supply chain crisis.

If you are a Shopify merchant looking for a solution to your holiday supply chain issues, or are just looking for a riveting and entertaining discussion at the forefront of the world of ecommerce, you aren’t going to want to miss this entertaining and thoughtful discussion. 

Topics discussed: 

• The current shipping and supply chain situation threatening many Shopify merchants this holiday season. 

Kelly Vaughn 

Kelly Vaughn is a developer and entrepreneur who brings over a decade of experience in ecommerce as Co-Founder of Govalo — the gift card solution for Shopify merchants. Before Govalo, she founded The Taproom, building custom development solutions for fast-growing brands on Shopify and Shopify Plus. She also co-hosts Ladybug Podcast & Commerce Tea podcast, and is the Author of Start Freelancing Today. 

Rhian Beutler

Rhian Beutler is the co-founder and COO of venntov, the creators of SEO Manager, Order Lookup, and ClockedIn. She loves search engine optimization, UX, Google Analytics, and has spoken about SEO all over the world. Rhian is passionate about small business success, and for over a decade, has utilized her background in SMB banking and retail operations to help merchants grow their business both online and offline. 

Govalo 

Blog post: What happens when this doesn't work 

Commerce Tea

The Taproom

Ladybug Podcast

Start Freelancing Today

venntov

SEO Manager

Order Lookup

ClockedIn

Kathleen Booth brings years of marketing experience to her role as Chief Marketing Officer at clean.io — the digital engagement security platform designed to help businesses control the third-party code that runs on their ecommerce stores. Over 8 million sites, including The Boston Globe, Caraway, and Barstool Sports, rely on clean.io to protect their user experience, revenue and brand.

Booth doesn’t hold back in this passionate discussion, warning the ecommerce world about the pitfalls of malvertising and other forms of ecommerce revenue loss associated with coupon extensions. 

The bottom line is this: any ecommerce brand running promotions could be losing as much as 10% of their revenue if they aren’t keeping what Booth calls “clean coupon hygiene.” For anyone selling online with promotions, this is not an episode to miss. 

Topics discussed: 

• The relationship between digital engagement security and coupon extensions.

Named by TopRank as one of the 50 Top B2B Marketing Influencers in 2019, Kathleen Booth also hosts the The Inbound Success Podcast as well as the Ad Ops All Stars Podcast. She is also an avid LinkedIn creator (#KathleenHQ) on topics relating to marketing and entrepreneurship. 

Booth spent the first 10 years of her career as an international development consultant, advising sovereign governments and international aid organizations on strategic communications for public sector reform projects. She helped launch Quintain Marketing in 2006 and grew it into a nationally-known digital marketing agency and HubSpot Platinum Partner. 

Today she is the Chief Marketing Officer at clean.io, a digital engagement security platform that provides over 8 million brands greater control over the third party code that executes on their websites, protecting their revenue, digital experience, and brand.

Jason Cottrell is the Founder and CEO of Myplanet, a software studio committed to reimagining what is possible in today’s commerce landscape. Headquartered in Toronto, ON, Myplanet specize in headless commerce, best-in-breed data infrastructure, and helping brands—from New Balance to Harry Rosen—tailor digital solutions that futureproof and grow their business. 

Join us for a dynamic discussion about the state of commerce, and what the future holds for brands and builders embracing the MACH Alliance (microservices, API-first, cloud-native, headless) ecosystem. Find out what winning brands are doing to succeed in a post-pandemic economy that relies more than ever on an air-tight digital experience. 

Topics discussed: 

• What it means for a brand to have a well executed digital experience. 

Guest Bio: 

Join CEO and Founder of Myplanet, Jason Cottrell, for an exciting discussion on the current state and future of commerce and the digital experience. Listen to industry-leading insights, key takeaways, and what brands are doing to win, or lose, in today’s competitive and rapidly changing commerce landscape.

Resources/Links:

• Myplanet

Join us for a dynamic interview with John Williams, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) of Amplience, the API-first, headless content management platform for enterprise retailers. John has helped power customer experiences for some of the world’s most innovative brands, including Mulberry, Traeger, and Crate&Barrel. 

Learn about why more retailers are moving away from monolithic platforms and embracing the MACH (Microservices based, API-first, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless) ecosystem. If you work in enterprise retail or B2B, ecommerce, or have your own platform or microservice, you won't want to miss out on some valuable insights from an ecommerce veteren who was doing headless commerce before it was a thing, and has been instrumental in helping brands build powerful customer experiences. 

Some topics we discuss are: 

• How Amplience helps power experiences for the world’s most innovative brands

John Williams is a highly energetic individual with an impressive track record of matching technological innovation with business strategy. He completed his MBA at Imperial College alongside an impressive full-time position as CTO at LBI, Europe’s leading digital agency at the time. John became Amplience’s CTO in 2010 and has proven to be a genuine asset who thrives in highly complex and commitment environments where precision execution, innovation and leadership are critical. 

Links/Resources:

Amplience

LBI International

MACH

Traeger

Crate&Barrel

Bold Commerce

What is headless commerce?

Join us for an in-depth interview with Cody Wittick, CEO and Co-Founder of Kynship about what works, and what doesn’t, for influencer marketers. Wittick got his start with QALO, the brand that created the silicone wedding ring industry, and has worked with influencers like Lebron James, Jason Aldean, Mike Trout, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as well as micro influencers across a variety of industries. 

Learn tips and strategies from an industry leader who wants you to judge his brand on sales, not clicks. In this insightful conversation Wittick reveals his influencer marketing mission, the steps brands should take today, and how to truly cut through the noise and drive measurable results. 

Some of the topics we discuss are: 

• What are we seeing on a macro level with influencer marketing? What's different today than it was 5 years ago? 

Cody Wittick began his influencer marketing journey at QALO, the brand that created the silicone wedding ring industry. From there he grew their influencer roster to over people including household names such as Lebron James, Jason Aldean, Mike Trout, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. as well as micro influencers within the industries of TV personalities, Crossfit, outdoor enthusiasts, and pets.