The Ecom Show

The Ecom Show

Download on the App Store

The Ecom Show episodes

  • #91 Ronnie Teja from Branzio Watches: Scale Your E-Commerce to 8 Figures with SEO
    #91 Ronnie Teja from Branzio Watches: Scale Your E-Commerce to 8 Figures with SEO

    Ronnie Tejais the Founder of Branzio Watches. With over 15 years of experience in digital marketing all around the world, Ronnie knows a thing or two about building marketing strategies, building a business, and perseverance.

    Tune in to hear Daniel and Ronnie discuss:

    ✔️ Ronnie’s Path to E-Commerce

    ✔️ Discovering the Importance of SEO

    ✔️ Is SEO Worth the Time?

    ✔️ The Value of Email Marketing

    ✔️ Advice for Entrepreneurs

    Ronnie’s Path to E-Commerce

    Ronnie is a ‘self-taught’ digital marketer, leading online marketing strategies for businesses around the world. After moving to Canada, Ronnie harnessed his marketing skills in work for HSBC, BestBuy, and SoftwareKing.

    At 29 years old, Ronnie decided to invest his time in the watch market. Once he read that watch profit margins are ‘phenomenal’ he jumped right in!

    “My focus from day one was to find the supply chain, the suppliers, the ops, and run a team that is far more efficient than I could be as an individual.”

    Branzio Watches hire leading watchmakers and designers from around the world. Ronnie’s job is to harness global talent as efficiently as possible.

    “I’m a generalist who is surrounded by extremely capable specialists.”

    Discovering the Importance of SEO

    Ronnie learned all about SEO through networking. If you’re in e-commerce, Ronnie highly recommends going to the yearly Chiang Mai SEO Conference in northern Thailand.

    “You will be surrounded by some of the best people around and the friendliest people who are happy to talk about SEO.”

    The Chiang Mai SEO conference is especially valuable in bringing together so many perspectives on SEO from different spaces in digital marketing. Ronnie’s self-taught SEO knowledge was based entirely on Google Paid ads, but over the last 7 years, he’s acquired several websites in the affiliate space. Learning about SEO in the affiliate space showed Ronnie what he needed to scale.

    Ronnie favors a holistic approach to SEO. Networking with digital marketers across industries to explore how different platforms present different opportunities for SEO.

    Is SEO Worth the Time?

    To put it simply: yes. You just need to be patient.

    Just as you need to have a paid strategy, a social media strategy, or an influencer strategy, you need an SEO strategy.

    And if you’re worried about things taking too long? 4 years ago, Branzio Watches were getting 5000 visits per day, today they have around 2 million. And that's free organic traffic. That’s a lot of revenue. If you want to be an entrepreneur, Ronnie advises, you need to think of the long-term.

    While prioritization varies from store to store, Ronnie says that paid ads, influencers, SEO, and email should be at the foundation of any e-commerce business. No one element of digital marketing (such as paid ads) is a get-rich-quick solution. A lucrative marketing strategy uses multiple channels. And it takes time.

    The Value of Email Marketing

    “Email is basically like free sales.”

    Like Daniel, Ronnie is in love with Klaviyo. He’s even on their customer advisory board. 12% - 13% of total store revenue in Branzio Watches comes from email.

    “So always keep an eye on how to grow your email list.”

    A fantastic way to do that is through a quiz. If you’re looking for an example of what a great Shop Quiz looks like, Ronnie recommends checking out Beardbrand. Their quiz recruits 600 - 1000 subscribers a week.

    Advice for Entrepreneurs

    “Perseverance, man, you need to persevere, don’t give up.”

    Ronnie says that he truly found focus last year. He gave up drinking, started waking up at 5 am, and his life changed. He doesn't work 80 hours, he works a normal 30 - 35 hours a week, but his efficiency has skyrocketed. Ronnie isn’t a fan of the “100 hour working week” hustle culture.

    Ronnie advises that people often make the mistake of thinking that if they follow one golden rule they’ll get there. Everyone is different. Most entrepreneurs have two of three qualities:

    They’re very passionate about their idea.

    They’re in the right place at the right time.

    They put in years of work.

    If you’re truly passionate about your idea, you’ll see it through to the end.

    Check out Branzio Watches and follow Ronnie on LinkedIn for more great e-commerce advice.

    Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    20 min
  • #90 Francis Nayan from Stories & Copy: How to Use Storytelling to Make Your Brand Stand Out
    #90 Francis Nayan from Stories & Copy: How to Use Storytelling to Make Your Brand Stand Out

    Copywriting is one of the most important skills of e-commerce marketing. So let’s take a deep dive into high-quality copywriting and how to incorporate effective storytelling into your email marketing.

    Francis Nayan is a Direct Response Email Copywriter and Strategist for 7-8 Figure E-Commerce Companies. Francis specializes in automated behavior-driven emails that provide a steady stream of cash flow for e-commerce businesses around the world.

    Daniel and Francis would like to give a shout-out to Joshua Chin, Csaba Borázi, and the Chronus Creative Agency for helping them get connected. Thanks, folks!

    Tune in to hear Daniel and Francis discuss:

    ✔️ How did Francis Get Started in Copywriting?

    ✔️ How to Increase Conversions With a Personal Tone of Voice

    ✔️ How Do You Tell Stories in Emails?

    ✔️ How to Handle Customer Objections

    ✔️ How Long Should An Email Be?

    How did Francis Get Started in Copywriting?

    It all began in 2017. At the time, Francis was working as an English teacher in Budapest. He’d been in this role for one and a half years, and he wanted a change. When considering his options, Francis met a copywriter and an international meeting spot. Copywriting appealed to Francis as a career choice that would allow him to work remotely and travel.

    From his first client on Upwork, Francis would take on various projects from emails to blog posts and website content until eventually he was hired by an e-commerce email marketing agency. Francis particularly enjoys the ‘instant gratification' from email marketing - seeing how well your work performs a mere few days after launch. That’s when began ‘niching down’ and taking on e-commerce clients.

    Daniel and Francis agree that taking on feedback and understanding how customers are responding to your copy is crucial to professional development and success.

    How to Improve Conversion with a Personal Tone of Voice

    Authentic marketing has never been more important. Millennials and Gen Zs are particularly receptive to a personal and genuine style tone of voice (TOV).

    “Nowadays, the buyers are smart. They know what boring templated jargon build copy looks like. They don’t have to be in marketing to know what that is. We have to give the customers credit.”

    It’s important for the customer to feel like they’re having a one-to-one conversation while they’re reading your copy. Francis recalls one of his most important lessons from copywriting expert, John Carlton: pretend as if you’re talking to your friend at a bar. ‘Barroom copy’ reads more like offering advice to a friend rather than hard selling.

    Naturally, this TOV works best with advanced segmentation, personalized automation, and top-notch design. In Francis’s words, that is ‘smart marketing’. Smart marketing for the smart consumer.

    How Do You Tell Stories in Emails?

    It goes without saying that marketing emails are shorter than landing pages. So how do you harness storytelling in such short-form content?

    As Francis points out, e-commerce emails are limited to fewer than 500 words. Above all, stories show the transformation. To incorporate storytelling into your emails, you need to show how your product takes a customer from point A to point B. You don’t even need 300 words to do that. Most of this involves showcasing what makes your product unique and how it works better than that of your competitors. The more you demonstrate this transformation, the more you can simplify the copy.

    “When I say storytelling, it’s not necessarily having that long narrative, it’s showing the transformation.”

    It’s not just writing emails that promote a 20% discount, it’s showing the customer why they should use your discount code.

    If you are going to go down the narrative route, Francis and Daniel recommend engaging your customers with a story told over a series of emails. AndréChaperon calls this the ‘Soap Opera Sequence’.

    The ‘Soap Opera Sequence’ works best at around 5 emails with a call to action (CTA) on the third email. Customers will lose interest if the sequence is too long.

    How to Handle Customer Objections

    The best way to handle customer objections is to be upfront about them. Don’t hide the fact that there will be certain things your customers face, but that you have a solution to it. For example, “We realize some items will take some time to arrive. That’s why you can track your order every step of the way/we only charge X - amount for shipping.”

    Always mention potential objections in the footer or P.S. Or dedicate an entire email to one. For example, “Worried your item won’t fit? Here’s our exchange policy.” Just make sure that your customers know that their objections are being taken care of.

    How Long Should an Email Be?

    Francis says that this all comes down to testing. Generally, don’t make it too long. Don’t have 300 - 400 words of copy with 10 - 20 product blocks.

    The more expensive a product is, the more copy you’ll need.

    Francis prefers ‘short, punchy copy’.

    “People are just scrolling through their emails, and you want to stand out and get the point across pretty quick.”

    Use short concise copy that tells a story of transformation.

    For more fantastic advice on copywriting and marketing, be sure to follow Francis on LinkedIn and check out our episode with Csaba Borázi, ‘Why Copywriting is the Number One Skill in E-Commerce Marketing’.

    Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    29 min
  • #89 Dale Bertrand from Fire&Spark: How to Increase Your Reach with Authority First SEO
    #89 Dale Bertrand from Fire&Spark: How to Increase Your Reach with Authority First SEO

    Want to increase your organic reach? Let’s talk Authority First SEO.

    Dale Bertrand is an SEO Strategist, Keynote Speaker, Business Coach, and the Founder of Fire&Spark. Fire&Spark is an SEO firm that helps e-commerce and B2B brands leverage Authority First SEO to double or even triple organic search revenue.

    So, what is Authority First SEO anyway? Tune in to hear Dale and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

    ✔️ Becoming a Founder in Digital Marketing

    ✔️ What is Authority SEO?

    ✔️ Why Does Authority First SEO Perform Well on Google?

    ✔️ Purpose Driven SEO

    ✔️ Technical SEO

    ✔️ SEO Advice for E-Commerce Owners?

    Becoming a Founder in Digital Marketing

    Dale has a very technical background. After graduating from engineering school, Dale worked as a software developer for 20 years.

    In 2008, Dale decided to switch over to digital marketing. He began as a freelancer then founded his SEO agency Fire&Spark.

    Fire&Spark began as an office of 20 people in Boston. When the pandemic hit, they went remote and, like many agencies, never looked back. They’re now stretched across many time zones from Europe to the US.

    “We focus on SEO. We’re SEO all day, every day.”

    And many of Fire&Spark’s clients are in e-commerce. Dale and his employees especially love working with mission-driven e-commerce brands.

    Primarily, Fire&Spark focuses on Authority First SEO.

    What is Authority First SEO?

    Authority First SEO makes brand authority the core focus. This means improving a website’s ability to post high-ranking content. Naturally, Fire&Spark also focuses on the technical aspects of SEO, but the authority side of SEO really moves the needle. Authority First SEO can double or even triple your organic traffic.

    Dale identifies 3 fundamentals of SEO:

    1. Building a high-functioning website where Google can index your site.
    2. Keyword visibility: targeting the right keywords and search intent so that you’re offering information or a product that people are actually looking for.
    3. Authority: building authority on Google so that your content is relevant to search intent. The reason why Google should choose your piece of content over your competitors' content.  
    Why Does Authority First SEO Perform Well On Google?

    Dale says that Google search results used to be far easier to manipulate. When he was just starting in SEO, you could just put lots of keywords in an article or blog, whether they were relevant or not, and your content would be favored in search results.

    Now, those manipulations are useless. Google’s AI is a lot better at understanding search queries. For example, if someone types in ‘3D printing service’, they are looking for someone to manufacture parts for them on a 3D printer. If someone types in ‘3D printer’ into Google, they’re looking to buy a 3D printer. Google’s AI is now really good at discerning between the two. In other words, understanding search intent and queries.

    “Fundamentally, an AI search engine like Google is about predicting human behavior.”

    And the Google search engine is learning. It’s not just showing us the best results, it’s learning from what we click on. If we click on a website do we stay there? Or do we come back immediately to Google and click on something else?

    This means that Google is better than ever at classifying web pages and ranking which ones it should show.

    “At the end of the day, it’s all about making sure that you’re targeting the right search intent instead of keywords.”

    As a marketer, therefore, you need to know what your customers are searching for. Google’s AI is excellent at understanding what people are looking for and finding the right content. That content needs to be good enough to satisfy your customers' queries and make them stay.

    Your customers won’t just be looking for your product or service, they’re looking for information related to your product or service. Namely any relevant pain points and problems. Knowing what your customers are searching for is what Dale calls ‘customer intimacy’.

    Essentially, your authority on Google is improved with awesome content that your customers engage with.

    What is Purpose Driven SEO?

    Purpose driven SEO takes a top-down approach to SEO. Bottom-up focuses on all the technical signals that Google needs to see. Top-down focuses on your overarching marketing strategy.

    This involves a close examination of your brand. What is remarkable about your brand? Do you have a story? Do you have a social mission? Stories are very powerful from an SEO perspective. Telling a compelling story makes for a great purpose driven SEO campaign.

    Having a purpose is key to building authority content. It allows you to partner with like-minded individuals and organizations. This, in turn, creates more content via content partnerships and UGC (User Generated Content) because there’s a subject matter that you all care about. UGC is not created because customers want to help you sell more, it's created because they agree with your purpose.

    Google wants to see brands that are either already established or are building momentum. Purpose driven SEO is crucial to establishing your brand.

    What About Technical SEO?

    While Dale focuses on Authority First SEO, he also recognizes the importance of technical SEO. The difference today is that platforms like Shopify, WordPress, and HubSpot make the technical aspects of SEO relatively simple.

    The main technical focus, Dale says, should be on page speed. If your pages are too slow, Google can’t crawl or index your website.

    From there, it’s all about establishing authority with relevant content that your customers engage with.

    What Advice Does Dale Have for E-Commerce Owners?

    Dale acknowledges that there is a lot of competition in e-commerce. So you need to establish whether your website has a content problem or an authority problem. Sometimes you need to address both, but usually, the emphasis should be on one or the other.

    To establish SEO authority, carve out longtail keyword niches where you don’t have a ton of competition. If you already have some authority, make sure that you create content that addresses your customers’ pain points.

    Dale also advises against what he terms as ‘inefficient content’. Writing articles is the hardest way to do content. FAQs are very efficient in getting your keywords in and satisfying top-of-the-funnel queries.

    To learn more about SEO and driving traffic to your store, visit Fire&Spark and connect with Dale on LinkedIn.

    Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    36 min
  • #88 Chloë Thomas from eCommerce MasterPlan: 5 Trends to Follow if You Want to Win at E-Commerce

    We’re very excited to welcome Chloë Thomas to our 88th episode of The Ecom Show. Chloë is a keynote speaker, bestselling author, and Founder of the award-winning eCommerce MasterPlan podcast.

    Tune in to hear Chloë and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

    ✔️ How Did Chloë Begin in E-Commerce?

    ✔️ How Has E-Commerce Changed in 20 Years?

    ✔️ Trend #1: Zero-Party Data

    ✔️ Trend #2 Selling Where the Customer Wants to Buy

    ✔️ Trend #3 Why the Message Beats the Medium

    ✔️ Trend #4 Partnership Marketing

    ✔️ Trend #5 The Path to Net Zero

    How Did Chloë Begin in E-Commerce?

    Chloë’s e-commerce journey when she began working for a UK high street and catalog retailer. Specifically, optimizing their website and digital marketing.

    Back in the early 2000s, Chloë led the e-commerce for a group of mail-order brands. Building their first website, implementing their email campaigns, setting up Google ads, etc. From there, Chloë created an online marketing agency that she ran for 10 years.

    Now? She’s a globally recognized e-commerce thought leader.

    “I am incredibly lucky to get to think, speak, and write, on the subject of e-commerce.”

    How Has E-Commerce Changed Over the Last 20 Years?

    Chloë has been in e-commerce for almost 20 years. So it’s safe to say that she’s seen a lot of changes!

    The biggest change Chloë identifies is that the software has become more accessible. While the barriers to entry are lower, this has actually made things more difficult. E-commerce owners need to do a lot more to stand out from the competition.

    “The successful people are the ones who work out what they should do and actually deliver on it. So in many ways, nothing’s changed. And in some ways, everything’s changed.”

    This year, Chloë predicts that these 5 areas of change will guide the future of e-commerce.

    1. Zero Party Data
    2. Selling Were the Customer Wants to Buy
    3. Message Beats the Medium
    4. Partnership Marketing
    5. Embrace the Path to Net Zero

    Trend 1: Zero-Party Data

    Zero Party Data is data collected directly from the consumer. In other words, permission-based marketing. This is usually collected via shop quizzes or surveys. And Chloë is a big fan.

    “It’s marketing done well. As a pure trained marketer, I love it when marketing is done properly.”

    Chloë stipulates that zero-party data drives results for two key reasons:

    1. Personalization

    Zero-party data allows e-commerce owners to send out more personalized, content-driven marketing that resonates with their customers.

    1. Engages the customers

    Quizzes and surveys engage the customers. Neuromarketers have identified that if human beings feel like if they have had some input in the creation of something, they are more likely to back it. In the case of zero-party data, backing it is buying it.

    Trend 2: Selling Where the Customer Wants to Buy

    Chloë describes this trend as an amalgamation of several online shopping trends.Consumers are increasingly buying online. In games, on marketplaces, on social media, Messenger chats, WhatsApp. Consumers are making purchases from pretty much anywhere you can think of online.

    This opens up a whole new world of processes. Understanding what it means to sell on TikTok, WhatsApp, or Pinterest, for example, requires a deep understanding of the platforms. Every one of these channels has its process that e-commerce owners need to learn about and integrate into their stores.

    All these marketplaces open up or tap into a new customer niche. Vegan marketplaces are very popular, for example. Net-zero marketplaces are opening up. Recently, Chloë recorded a podcast episode with a company that’s creating a marketplace for disabled consumers. This is a huge untapped market for many online businesses.

    Chloë’s advice for keeping up with this trend is to have a tech stack that enables you to adapt quickly. Make sure your product information is in a format that allows you to fire it out to different places quickly. Keep track of your inventory system. Have a marketing team that's ready to twist and pivot.

    “The biggest lesson of 2020 was that if you had the right tech stack, life was a lot easier.”

    Trend 3: Message Beats the Medium

    In the world of the smart consumer, your marketing needs to be creative.

    Chloë says that there’s a consumer desire for connection. They want to know the story behind the product that makes sense to them. To know that their decision to buy aligns with their morals. Secondly, there is huge competition. To stand out, you need to be engaging with the consumer and have great creative marketing across channels. Your marketing team needs analytical creative people who understand great copy and design.

    Trend 4: Partnership Marketing

    If creative marketing is not your strong suit, Chloë advises investing in partnership marketing.

    In influencer marketing, the brand owns the right to use the creative marketing that their influencer creates.

    Anything you can do with someone that your customers trust is very powerful. It enables your brand to get in front of a good audience and get someone else to create creative marketing.

    Affiliate marketing harnesses partners who will promote your brand for a commission.

    You can also turn your customers into advocates through a loyalty program or a customer referral incentive scheme. The start of the year, Chloë, advises, is the best time to do it.

    Trend 5: Getting on the Path to Net Zero

    Increasingly customers are pushing for sustainability, government pressure is on, and as Chloë puts it,

    “Quite frankly, it’s the right thing to do for the planet.”

    E-commerce industries still have a lot of work to do on the path to net-zero. It’s something to start talking about and get excited about. Evaluate the impact your e-commerce has on the environment and work on reducing waste and your carbon footprint as much as you can.

    For even more fantastic advice on how to win at e-commerce this year, check out Chloë’s eCommerce Master Plan Podcast, her Keep Optimizing Marketing Podcast, visit chloethomas.com or follow Chloë on LinkedIn.

    Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min
  • #87 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

    #87 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

    We’re building quite the e-commerce toolbox here!

    For episode 87 of The Ecom Show, our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai takes a look at:

    ✔️ 3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

    ✔️ Entrepreneurship

    ✔️ Advice from Dan Kennedy and Tim Ferriss

    Let’s dive straight in.

    3 More Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

    VideoWise

    If you want to keep up with the rise of social commerce, VideoWiseshould be your go-to software tool.

    VideoWise allows e-commerce owners to connect their Shopify store with TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, and other social media channels to add product review videos and other forms of user-generated content (UGC).

    E-commerce owners are also free to upload videos from their libraries.

    VideoWise significantly increases conversion rates for e-commerce stores on both desktop and mobile. On average, if you have 250,000 website visitors, VideoWise increases your revenue by $20,000. That’s almost 10¢ per visitor.

    As for pricing, they only charge $49 per month and 2% of direct video sales. A direct video sale is when a customer converts within your product video. If they watch the video and buy your product elsewhere, this does not constitute a direct sale.

    Their analytical tools are also top-notch. On your analytics page, you can see the number of views for each video, average watch times, direct sales, and more.

    The Founder and CEO of VideoWise, Claudiu Cioba prides himself on being transparent about conversion. Take a look at what he has to say about honest attribution models in episode #74 of The Ecom Show: How to Use Video on Your Shopify Store Without Slowing Site Speed.

    VideoWise is an excellent tool for increasing conversions, engagement, and harnessing UGC without slowing down your website.

    Daniel highly recommends checking it out.

    FreeCashFlow.io Daniel cannot emphasize enough the importance of having a good accountant for your e-commerce, or even any business.

    If your e-commerce is in the US, Daniel recommends checking out FreeCashFlow.io. FreeCashFlow.io are absolute experts on bookkeeping and tax planning. Here are just a couple of examples of how you can save money with proper tax planning:

    Startup Cost Deduction This startup cost allows US entrepreneurs to claim a deduction of up to $5000 for any business cost up until the point their business is created.

    This includes product research, travel, and work with lawyers and accountants. You just need to keep your receipts and documentation.

    Home Office Deduction

    There are two ways you can claim a tax deduction from running your business at home.

    The first way is the Simplified Calculated Method in which the highest deduction available is $1500.

    The second method is more complicated but lucrative: The Actual Expenses Method.

    The actual expense method takes the square footage of your office space as a percentage of your total home. Your tax deduction can then cover whatever cost is included in that percentage. That includes rent, mortgage, or even repair maintenance. The biggest deduction FreeCashFlow.io has claimed for their client using this method is $14,000.

    For more tax advice, check out Daniel’s podcast episode with the Co-Founder of FreeCashFlow.io: Tax Planning and Deductions All E-Commerce Owners Should Know About.

    OptinMonster

    Daniel is a huge fan of OptinMonster. When he began his email marketing career in 2018, OptinMonster was the first pop up tool he ever used. And he’s still using it today!

    Despite testing many pop up tools over the years, (Privy, Klaviyo’s pop up feature, OptiMonk), OptinMonster always comes out on top.

    OptinMonster stands out with its multiple customization options. Including lightbox pop ups, floating bars, scroll boxes, exit-intent pop ups, and more.

    With its integration with Google Analytics, on-site retargeting and personalization, lead segmentation, exit-intent technology, purchase history, and advanced traffic redirection, OptinMonster is a great tool to use if you want to increase your conversions without spamming your visitors. Returning visitors, for example, will see a different pop up to new visitors. This provides a more personalized and optimized experience for your customers.

    At Budai Media, we see pop up conversion rates as high as 10 - 20% using OptinMonster.

    Check out our case study: Over $1.2 Million Generated Using Klaviyo Email Marketing to see how you can use OptinMonster pop ups to generate revenue for your store.

    Some Thoughts on Entrepreneurship

    Last week, Daniel asked his LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram followers a question:

    How many years ago did you launch your business?

    Over 100 people responded, many with their own stories to tell. Entrepreneurship is not always easy in the beginning. But once you gain some traction and success, looking back to your humble beginnings can be a beautiful thing.

    Daniel’s question put him in contact with some people he hasn’t spoken to in years. When you look for it, there is a thriving community of business owners ready and willing to help each other out.

    Reflections from Dan Kennedy and Tim Ferriss

    “The company that can spend the most to acquire a customer wins.”

    - Dan Kennedy

    Dan Kennedy is an absolute legend in direct response marketing, but Daniel believes that there’s more to acquiring customers than money. If you understand the buyer persona better than your competitors, you can still win. Even if you have less money.

    Gymshark, for example, began in 2013 as a relatively tiny competitor to other sports brands such as Nike, Adidas, and Puma. Its Founder and CEO, Ben Francis, identified a niche that his competitors had failed to fit. In other words, he sought to serve his buyer persona. While Gymshark is not as huge as Nike just yet, it grew exponentially over a few short years, valuing at over $1.45 billion in 2022. It’s safe to say that Gymshark hasn’t been suffocated by its competition.

    “What we fear doing most is usually what we most need to do.”

    • Tim Ferriss

    Now, this is something Daniel agrees with! Take a moment to think about your deepest fears. That’s the first step in addressing them.

    Daniel’s biggest fears are deep water and heights. And guess what he has planned? Deep diving, sky diving, and mountain climbing!

    Feeling the fear and doing it anyway is not only a huge confidence boost, it trains you to power through difficult situations.

    If you liked this episode of The Ecom Show, please feel free to leave any comments you have on our YouTube channel, contact Daniel on LinkedIn, or check out another episode!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    27 min
  • #86 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 Must-Have Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

    Let’s talk scaling, marketing, and friendship. (It turns out that there are friends in business).

    For episode 86 of The Ecom Show, our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai takes a deep dive into:

    ✔️ 3 Must-Have Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce

    ✔️ Friendship in Business

    ✔️ What Marketing Channels Should You Try This Year?

    ✔️Advice from Jeff Bezos & David Bebee

    Let’s go!

    3 Must-Have Tools to Scale Your E-Commerce 

    Recart

    Recart streamlines Facebook Messenger and SMS marketing with automated flows, opt-in tools, and software integrations.

    Take a look at how we made 18% of a print-on-demand store’s monthly revenue with Recart. Recart allowed us to connect a Messenger welcome flow with a popup, thus tripling our client’s opt-in rate. Generally, opt-in rates tend to be higher on Messenger than with email.

    For our client in pet e-commerce, we used Recart to triple our client’s monthly revenue from Messenger.

    Daniel highly recommends Recart for e-commerce owners, even if you’re just starting out. Their basic plan is very affordable and their pricing increases as your business grows.

    ShopifyShopify doesn’t need a big introduction. As the fastest-growing e-commerce platform in the last six years, over 2 million online stores use Shopify as of 2022.

    Unlike BigCommerce and WooCommerce, Shopify takes care of your website domain. This means that you don’t have to deal with any domain admin, but it also means that your website can be shut down by Shopify if your store inadvertently runs into any legal issues.

    Like Recart, Shopify is also very affordable. Its pricing begins at $29 and increases as your e-commerce store grows.

    Plus, Shopify apps allow you to integrate e-commerce software such as Zipify One Click Upsell, Reconvert, Klaviyo, and many more.

    Shopify themes are also a cheap way to improve optimization. They are by no means a single solution to conversion rate optimization, but they are helpful if you’re just starting out with a tight budget.

    We’re proud members of Shopify’s partner program. Take a look at how we can help optimize your Shopify store here.

    Octane AI

    Octane AI began as a Messenger chatbot platform. In 2021, they quickly realized how important zero-party data would be to e-commerce, and introduced two new incredible features:1. Shop Quiz

    Shop Quiz collects zero-party data (data voluntarily given by the customer) to personalize product recommendations and build a detailed buyer persona. 2. Conversational Popups Conversational popups allow you to collect email, SMS, and Messenger opt-ins by asking customers about their needs and preferences. And the personalization doesn’t stop there. Octane AI integrates with Klaviyo so that you can not only personalize your welcome flows, but also all future communications with your customers. If you want to learn a ton about your customers and drastically improve your SMS and email marketing and their shopping experience, Octane AI is the tool to use. Friendship in Business Business is not all about being cut-throat. Bob Iger, who was the CEO of Disney for 15 years talks about the importance of friendship and staying in touch with your emotions in his book, The Ride of a Lifetime.While conferences are often about serious networking, don’t be afraid to have some fun and make some friends. Thriving in business is a wonderful experience to share.

    Poll: What Marketing Channels Should You Try This Year?

    Last week, Daniel asked his followers: What Marketing Channel Will You Try in 2022? And the results are in!

    Over half of the respondents on LinkedIn said that they would try TikTok.

    It’s safe to say that TikTok is really hot right now. In light of the iOS 14 and iOS 15 updates, many e-commerce owners do not trust Facebook as much as they once did. Plus, TikTok is thriving as a Gen Z platform. It’s a very different user experience from Facebook and Instagram, and it’s easy to consume a lot of content in a short space of time. Daniel predicts that TikTok will be bigger than any other social media platform in a couple of years.

    Advice from Jeff Bezos and David Beebe 

    “It’s hard to find things that won’t sell online.”

    • Jeff Bezos, Founder & CEO of Amazon 

    If you’re just starting out in e-commerce, take some advice from someone who’s been in the industry for over 25 years. Almost anything can be sold online. It’s about putting in the time and work to learn how.

    “Content marketing is like a first date. If you only talk about yourself, there won’t be a second one.”

    • David Beebe, Founder and CEO of Storified Brands 

    Even when advertising your brand, try not to make everything about you. Talk about your clients and partners, interview other people in your field, engage with your audience.

    If you liked this episode of The Ecom Show, please feel free to leave any comments you have on our YouTube channel, contact Daniel on LinkedIn, or check out another episode!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    22 min
  • #85 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: Scale Your E-Commerce With These 3 Digital Marketing Tools

    #85 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: Scale Your E-Commerce With These 3 Digital Marketing Tools

    Our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai is back with more tips and tricks for scaling your e-commerce in 2022.

    This week, Daniel takes us through:

    ✔️ 3 Digital Marketing Software Tools You Need in 2022

    ✔️ 3 Marketing Personalities We all Could Learn From

    ✔️ An Introduction WhatsApp Marketing

    ✔️ Motivational Musings

    Let’s dive right in!

    3 Digital Marketing Software Tools You Need in 2022 

    PushOwl

    PushOwl is the most popular push-notification platform. And for a good reason!

    PushOwl is used by over 20,000 Shopify stores and it’s very budget-friendly. Your first 500 push notifications are free. From there, Push Owl is between $19 - $50 a month for up to 30,000 messages per month. Considering the return on investment (ROI) for push notifications, this is a great deal.

    One limitation of push notifications is that they do not work on iOS and iPhones. If the majority of your visitors are using iPhones (as opposed to desktop or tablets) it may not be worth your while to use PushOwl.

    Push notifications are fantastic for browse abandonments, abandoned carts, and shipping notifications. If using push notifications for sales events, namely flash sales, Daniel recommends only targeting your engaged customers. Take care not to spam your visitors, this will decrease your website conversion rate.

    Naturally, you should always ensure your customers have opted in for push notifications. PushOwl never sends notifications without your customers’ consent.

    If you have a Shopify store, Daniel highly recommends PushOwl as your push notification platform of choice.

    ReConvert If you’re looking to really level up your conversion rate optimization (CRO), ReConvert is the place to go.

    ReConvert allows e-commerce owners to optimize their post-purchase ‘Thank You’ page. Features include upsells, time-sensitive offers, product recommendations, and surveys. As we know, surveys are invaluable for collecting zero-party data. Plus, ReConvert integrates with Klaviyo. This means that you can set up personalized email flows (birthday flows, for example) based on data collected from your ‘Thank You’ page.

    Daniel also recommends filming and uploading up a ‘Thank You’ video to either your ‘Thank You’ page or post-purchase email. Genuinely thanking your customers (don’t use this video to upsell) builds trust in your brand.

    Another fantastic thing about ReConvert is its accessibility. Its visual builder is fantastic for setting up sales funnels and flows. Check out their video on how to set up post-purchase funnels for your e-commerce here.

    Klaviyo

    Klaviyo is the best tool for e-commerce email marketing. In fact, it’s our go-to toolat Budai Media.

    There are a few email marketing platforms out there, but Klaviyo’s data analytics sets it apart from its competitors. Its AI is advanced enough to predict not only your customers’ expected dates of next order but also their lifetime value. The most powerful email marketing is founded on close data analysis and advanced list segmentation.

    So what are the downsides? Klaviyo is expensive. More expensive than its two key competitors, Mailchimp and Drip. In this instance, however, you get what you pay for. Daniel advises that once your store revenue reaches $10,000 - $20,000 a month Klaviyo is by far your best option.

    Klaviyo’s help center is also very easy to navigate. Check it out here.

    3 Marketing Personalities We All Could Learn From 

    Dan Kennedy

    We’re off to a fantastic start with a renowned marketing strategist, Dan Kennedy. Kennedy has authored 32 books, including his ‘No BS’ series, ‘Why Advertising Fails’, and ‘Speak to Sell’. He has study groups in over 100 cities.

    When it comes to direct response marketing Dan Kennedy is your man. Check out his work on Amazon.

    David Ogilvy

    What couldn’t we learn from the “Father of Advertising” David Ogilvy? Ogilvy is revered for his highly successful advertising campaigns for Rolls Royce, Dove, and Shell in the mid 20th century.

    Ogilvy’s dedication to customer research and measuring market results led to his incredible success. Failing to measure your results, Ogilvy advised, is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Now that we’re in the digital age, it’s far easier to measure market results than it was in Ogilvy’s heyday. You can never have too much data analysis!

    Gary Halbert

    Gary Helbert is a copywriting celebrity and probably the biggest influencer on direct response copywriting. His AIDA model: attention, interest, desire, and action is to trace the customer journey across marketing channels.

    Helbert wrote a series of enlightening letters to his son on advertising, business, and psychology. They’re available online, and Daniel highly recommendschecking them out.

    WhatsApp Marketing Last week, Daniel asked his followers a question: Have you ever tried WhatsApp marketing? 

    To his surprise, the response was, overwhelmingly, “No”.

    WhatsApp marketing is much like Messenger marketing. It’s owned by Facebook, and it’s great for building trust with your customers. Daniel advises against using the same tone for Messenger and WhatsApp as you would for your emails. WhatsApp is for communication with your customers - don’t bombard them with sales messages and make sure that you are quick to reply to any inquiries they may have.

    Over the coming weeks, Daniel will continue research into the somewhat untapped world of WhatsApp marketing. In the meantime, check out SuperLemon and Sirenato get started on the platform.

    Motivational Musings 

    It wouldn’t be a Daniel Budai Master Show without a few of Daniel’s favorite quotations!

    “Quality is never an accident. It is always the result of intelligent effort.”

    • John Ruskin   

    Quality takes time and work. It can take years, sometimes even decades.

    “Be so good they can’t ignore you.”

    • Steve Martin   

    Never take being ignored personally, Just work on getting there.

    If you liked this episode of The Ecom Show, please feel free to leave any comments you have on our YouTube channel, contact Daniel on LinkedIn, or check out another episode!

    Watch this space for Daniel’s very own e-commerce playbook for a successful 2022 coming out very soon!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    31 min
  • #84 Valentin Radu from Omniconvert: How to Scale with CRO and Retention Marketing

    #84 Valentin Radu from Omniconvert: How to Scale with CRO and Retention Marketing

    For our very first episode of 2022, we are delighted to welcome Valentin Radu to The Ecom Show. Valentin is the Founder and CEO of Omniconvert, a multi-faceted conversion rate optimization (CRO) platform built for data-driven growth.

    When two CRO-obsessed retention marketers meet, we’re gonna learn a lot about scaling. 🚀 Tune in to hear Valentin and our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai discuss:

    ✔️ Valentin’s approach to CRO

    ✔️ What is blackhat CRO?

    ✔️ Why you shouldn’t spend everything on acquisition

    ✔️ How to increase customer lifetime value (CLV)

    Valentin’s Approach to CRO 

    Valentin says that the overarching narrative on e-commerce growth is changing. Acquisition marketing used to be the main theme for decades, but now the focus has shifted to retention marketing.

    “It’s okay to acquire customers, but what about the costs? What about the future revenue from them?”

    Essentially, your growth is going to struggle if your acquisition costs are too high. Growth never happens with a single tweak. You need acquisition, you need conversion, and you need retention. All three pillars are important.

    Omniconvert’s e-commerce growth focuses on conversion rate and retention rate. Their extensive use of website surveys and A/B testing allows e-commerce merchants to really get to know their site visitors and optimize accordingly.

    Valentin and his colleagues at Omniconvert are strong believers in interactive content such as surveys.

    “The most convenient and cheap way to understand what you should be changing on your website is to simply ask your customers.”

    What is blackhat CRO? Talking of interactive content, is there a bad way to make things interactive? 

    Yes. As there is ‘Blackhat SEO’, there is also ‘Blackhat CRO’. Essentially, blackhat CRO is conversion rate tactics that are used to mislead the user into clicking or buying. Aside from their unethical implications, they tend not to build trust or CLV.

    Both Valentin and Daniel are against having ‘Wheel of Fortune’ on your e-commerce website. This type of conversion trap is not going to help you establish an authentic relationship with your audience.

    As Valentin points out, we are migrating from clicks to relationships.

    Clicks mean very little if they come from customers who won’t convert and are not going to stay. Focus on building trust and retention.

    Why you shouldn’t spend everything on acquisition 

    Another reason why people are turning more towards CRO, email marketing, and increasing CLV is due to an incredible increase in competition.

    Valentin read recently that 44% of all the active e-commerce companies were launched in the last 12 months. There are 3.8 million new websites on the market than there were one year ago. Ads and acquisitions are far more expensive than they used to be.

    “The CPC [cost per click] on Facebook is 89% higher. The CPA [cost per action] on YouTube is 108% higher.”

    Spending all your money on acquisition is going to put you out of business. Building a relationship with your customers and increasing CLV has never been more important.

    How to increase your customer lifetime value (CLV) 

    Never assume that CLV is guaranteed. Even if you have an amazing product. It’s something you need to focus on and influence. Communicate with your customers.

    “Email marketing is the most undervalued channel that a brand has at this moment because it is very cheap, and it’s very effective. You have this opportunity to talk with customers that know about you.”

    Unlike ads, email marketing communicates with existing customers (or at least potential customers if they’ve signed up for a discount). Most of all, email marketing allows you to show your customers that you care. Instead of bombarding customers with discounts, Valentin strongly recommends asking for feedback. Doing so shows your customers that you care about them post-purchase.

    “You can’t improve what you don’t measure.” Valentin is also a strong believer in RFM segmentation: scoring your customers on recency, frequency, and monetary value. Do your surveys on your most valuable customers - find out what they bought and why they bought it. CRO and CLV require both quantitative and qualitative analysis.

    Don’t forget to monitor your customers’ Net Promoter Score (NPS) - how satisfied your customers are.

    “If you have issues in your customer journey, fix them. Don’t ignore them.”

    Measuring CLV is crucial to your success. Understand who your most valuable customers are. Those are the ones you need to retain (and acquire some of their buddies too!) Retention and word of mouth are the cheapest forms of advertising.

    For even more fantastic advice on CRO, customer retention, and improving CLV, visit Valentin on LinkedIn, or visit Omniconvert.

    Thank you for listening! We come out with new episodes every Thursday, stay tuned!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    37 min
  • #83 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

    #83 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

    Last week, our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai introduced us to 3 upcoming trends to look out for in 2022. And now he’s back with 3 more! Just when you thought you couldn’t get more prepared for next year.

    Join Daniel’s second Master Show for more fantastic advice on:

    ✔️ 3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

    ✔️ Timeless Advertising with David Ogilvy

    ✔️ The Best SMS Marketing Tool

    ✔️ Advice from the Best in Business

    3 More E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022Trend #1: Subscriptions 

    Subscriptions have taken off over the past couple of years, and Daniel predicts an acceleration in this trend next year.

    Subscriptions are already huge in software, SaaS companies make the bulk of their revenue in subscriptions. As of 2021, subscriptions are not quite as prominent in the e-commerce industry, but they’re rapidly rising in popularity.Parsa Saljoughian, VP of strategic finance at WHOOP, states that subscription-based businesses can retain up to 65% of their customers within 12 months.

    So, aside from high customer retention rates, what are the benefits of using a subscription-based model in your e-commerce?

    1. You’ll get to know your customers

    Subscriptions are a great way to collect zero-party data. Collecting zero-party data is the first step towards hyper-personalizing your marketing and product recommendations.

    2. You can build better incentives

    Since subscriptions allow you to really get to know your customers, you’ll collect enough information about their purchase behavior to build an effective VIP tier system, understand what incentives they respond to, and come up with some really solid offers and bundles

    3. Subscriptions are sticky

    In other words, they can be a hassle to cancel. When your subscriptions are low-cost, customers may often not feel the need to cancel their subscription if they take a break from your product or service for a few weeks or even months.

    So what are your next steps?

    If you want to build a subscription-based model for your business, Daniel recommends checking out Recharge if you have a Shopify store or adding the Woocommerce subscription extension if you’re with Woocommerce. Recharge can also be integrated with Zipify One Click Upsell for when you want to upsell a subscription.

    Daniel advises that thorough data collection and analysis is integral to a subscription-based model. Metrilo is a great tool to hook up your subscription-based data with your Google Analytics account.

    Otherwise, if you need any help with data analysis and building a subscription-based model, head over to thebudaimedia.com or email [email protected].

    Trend #2: Personalization

    As the iOS14 and 15 updates shook digital marketing to its core zero-party data and first-party data became incredibly important. And that trend isn’t going anywhere.

    Zero-party data isn’t collected by pixels or third parties. They’re collected through questions: permission-based marketing. Customer information is retrieved through survey questions, quizzes, or popups.

    Zero-party data revolutionizes the customer journey: direct questions collect customer information that third-party data would never be able to obtain. It allows e-commerce owners to hyper-personalize and customize every step of the customer journey.

    Personalized marketing, Daniel advises, is particularly effective with omnichannel marketing. It’s important to ensure that every marketing channel, be it website optimization, email marketing, SMS marketing, ads, etc. is connected. Omnichannel marketing is particularly useful during sales and promos. During Black Friday, for example, your site will direct visitors to email and SMS marketing. In turn, SMS and email marketing are fantastic for promoting Black Friday and creating urgency.

    Daniel highly recommends Octane AI for its Shop Quizzes, Conversational Popups, and seamless personalization and product recommendations across marketing channels.

    Thank you emails are also highly effective in optimizing personalization and expressing appreciation to your customers. According to Klaviyo, a post-purchase thank you email has an open rate of over three times the average email. So make sure that your copy is good and you grasp any opportunity for upselling. Klaviyo personalizes the recommended product feed, so do take advantage of that in your email marketing.

    Trend #3 Social Commerce 

    According to Statista, Social Commerce will have $46 billion in sales in 2022. That’s a 20% - 25% increase from last year.

    So what is social commerce?

    Social commerce is the process of selling products directly on social media. When people are scrolling through TikTok, Facebook, or Instagram, they usually don’t want to be taken to a website to buy a product: they want to buy within the platform.

    Keep an eye on your social media and your customers. Use Facebook marketplace if it’s relevant to your audience, or engage with shoppable Instagram or TikTok feeds if you have a Gen Z audience. Daniel advises that Pinterest is one of the fastest-growing selling machines right now, so do check out Pinterest for Shopify.

    Timeless Advertising with David Ogilvy 

    Whilst advertising changes all the time, there’s still a lot to learn from David Ogilvy’s 1959 Rolls-Royce advert. We’re sure you’ve seen this one:

    “At 60 miles an hour the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock.”

    This advert has withstood the test of time because Ogilvy did his research on Rolls-Royce customers. The fact that the electric clock is the loudest noise in the car is not relevant to anyone except the target customer. A customer who is highly interested in luxury cars.

    Ogilvy wasn’t a big fan of one-word headlines, but he had to take his hat off to the Volkswagen’s 1959 ‘Lemon. Think Small’ ad. This went completely against the grain in the US car market at the time, therefore promoting a novel perspective that humorously emphasizes functionality and affordability.

    Avis’s 1963 ad ‘Avis can’t afford dirty ashtrays’ is a great example of how you can position your brand next to your competitors. Avis points out that they’re “No. 2” in rent a cars. Unlike the No.1 in rent a cars, they cannot afford to treat their customers poorly. They will always provide a full gas tank, a smile, and a clean ashtray. That was their unique selling point, and it worked very well.

    The Best SMS Marketing Tool - According to You Guys! 

    Daniel recently asked his followers on Facebook and Instagram a simple question: “What is your favorite SMS marketing software tool?”

    On LinkedIn, Klaviyo came out on top, but Postscript and SMS Bump also won over a few votes.

    On Facebook, people mentioned Postscript, Attentive, and Klaviyo.

    At Budai Media, we’ve tried Postscript, Klaviyo, and Recart. Our favorite platform is SMSBump. It can be used in almost every country across the world, its segmentation and data analysis are very advanced, and it integrates seamlessly with Shopify, Klaviyo, Recart, and other fantastic e-commerce tools.

    Advice from the Best in Business Here are a few of Daniel’s favorite quotes from leading figures in e-commerce and marketing. 

    Jeff Bezos

    “There are two kinds of companies - those who work to raise the prices and those that work to lower them.”

    Daniel recommends that smaller companies without investors should aim to raise their prices. Larger companies with investors, however, should scale by lowering their prices.

    David Ogilvy

    “On average, five times as many people read the headlines as read the body copy.”

    Daniel recommends spending the same amount of time on your headline as you do on your body copy. Come up with at least 10 different variations of headlines and subject lines, A/B test as much as you can, and find out what works.

    Thank you for joining Daniel’s Master show! If you’d like to learn more about CRO, retention marketing, and scaling your e-commerce, visit Budai Media today.

    It won’t be long before Daniel releases his book packed full of actionable tips for scaling your e-commerce in 2022 - watch this space!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    32 min
  • #82 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

    #82 Daniel Budai from Budai Media: 3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

    For this episode of the Ecom Show, our CEO and podcast host, Daniel Budai, takes center stage with his advice for scaling your e-commerce in 2022. Let’s dive straight into:

    ✔️ 3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022

    ✔️ Fond Memories with E-Commerce Powerhouses

    ✔️ The Best Email Marketing Software

    ✔️ Advice from the Best in Business

    3 E-Commerce Trends to Look Out for in 2022Trend #1: Being Mobile First

    According to Statista and Neil Patel, 73% of all sales online happen through mobile phones. In 2021, the percentage increased by 13%.

    People are shifting towards using apps over websites. They are far more likely to use Facebook, Amazon, Twitter, and Gmail for example, on a mobile app than on a desktop website.

    People want to buy in the app, they don’t want to switch platforms.

    Gmail is the 3rd most popular mobile app. It’s no surprise that, as an email marketer, Daniel is particularly excited about Gmail and optimizing email marketing to a mobile-first approach.

    Daniel’s Tips for Going Mobile First:

    1. Check your site speed on mobile

    Speed is absolutely essential to conversion. No one likes anything on their mobile to be slow. Their attention span is short and they want to act fast.

    2. Check the percentage of visitors on mobile

    In B2C e-commerce, mobile is the winner. Check where your visitors are coming from to see how crucial it is that you optimize for mobile.

    3. Check Tapcart

    Tapcart is a fantastic platform for creating apps for your e-commerce store and business. It doesn’t require any complicated coding, it’s affordable, and it’s super easy to use.

    Trend #2: Supply Chain Issues

    This may not have been something you wanted to hear about. But the more you know the more you can do to address the problem. Let’s take a look at Daniel’s advice on how to optimize your supply chains.

    Europe, North America, and Asia - pretty much all over the world are having difficulties finding the right ingredients or materials for their products. These are mostly due to COVID-19 and varying restrictions and regulations between borders.

    According to Statista, 57% of e-commerce stores don’t fully understand their own supply chain. If you don’t know anything about how your product is made or how it gets to your customers…well, that’s a big problem. You need to be an expert in your supply chain in order to address any potential issues that arise.

    Here are Daniel’s tips for optimizing your supply chain:

    1. Make it possible for customers to track their product

    If you have a Shopify store, tracking codes are very simple and easy to use.

    Customers are likely to be more forgiving of delays when they know where their parcel is.

    2. Set expectations around shipping

    Be as transparent as possible about shipping times as cost.

    Put shipping times and costs on both your product page and checkout page. People are more likely to convert when they know what to expect.

    3. Use SMS and Email Marketing

    Keep your customers updated while they wait for their shipping. Lead them to your FAQ pages, consider upsells and discounts. This builds trust and confidence in your brand.

    Honesty is the best policy here.

    Trend #3 Conversion Rate Optimization Will Become More Important Than Ever

    iOS 14 and iOS 15 heavily disrupted Facebook advertising and email marketing analytics. Third-party data is on its way out.

    Daniel recommends keeping an extremely close eye on your data and conducting in-depth data analysis. It’s not worth spending lots of money on ads when you don’t know anything about your ROI.

    The best thing about conversion rate optimization (CRO) is that it allows you to track what works and what doesn’t in Google Analytics. Usually, the more e-commerce stores spend, the more CRO becomes important. Investing in CRO comes before ad investment.

    Fond Memories With E-Commerce Powerhouses

    Now we’ve covered the three trends you need to look out for in 2022, Daniel would love to share some fond memories he’s shared with some awesome friends and partners in e-commerce.

    Daniel’s first photograph is with Angie Meeker and the Optinmonster team in San Diego, California at the Traffic and Conversion Conference, 2019.

    Optinmonster is a fantastic popup builder and marketing plugin. We’ve tried out many popup tools at Budai Media but Optinmonster always comes out on top.

    Daniel’s next photograph was also shot in the US, this time in Boston, at the 2019 Klaviyo Conference. Daniel and Budai Media’s account manager, Ben Erdelyi got the chance to chat withHustler Marketing and their CEO Bostjan Belingar. Daniel sees a lot of brands and competitors in e-commerce that doesn’t even acknowledge each other. He prefers a more civil and collaborative approach. It’s a good thing to share and learn with your competitors.

    Daniel’s last photograph is with Ezra Firestone at the San Diego Traffic and Conversion Conference. Ezra is the Founder of Smart Marketer, and the Co-Founder of BOOM! and Zipify Apps. Check out his LinkedIn - Ezra shares a lot of useful advice and resources for e-commerce owners and entrepreneurs. Ezra’s email marketing course was Daniel’s first-ever course in email marketing!

    The Best Email Marketing Software - According to You Guys!

    Daniel recently asked his followers on Facebook and Instagram a simple question: “What is your favorite email marketing platform?”

    On Instagram,ConvertKit emerged as the preferred choice for bloggers, coaches, and consultants.

    On Facebook, Klaviyo proved to be highly popular for e-commerce owners. If you’re familiar with Budai Media, you’ll know that Klaviyo is our preferred choice too.

    If you’re just starting out in the online space, Daniel recommends MailChimp as the most affordable option for newbies. If you are in e-commerce and represent a bigger company, Daniel says that Klaviyo is your best option. It’s pricier than MailChimp, but Klaviyo has deep segmentation options, advanced data analysis, and great integration with Shopify. If you’re using MailChimp and you’re ready to move onwards and upwards in customer data and personalization, it’s very easy to move your list to Klaviyo.

    Advice from the Best in Business Daniel looks up to a lot of people in e-commerce and indeed in business generally. Here are a few of his favorite quotes:

    Henry Ford

    “A business that makes nothing but money is a poor business.”

    Daniel has seen a lot of aspiring entrepreneurs who are motivated only by money. These are the ones who burn out. Focus on creating value beyond money. Don’t forget your passions and principles.

    Jeff Bezos

    “If you can’t feed a team with two pizzas it’s too large.”

    When we’re talking about decision-making, Daniel recommends keeping team meetings to 8 members or below. No meeting should last longer than an hour.

    Thank you for joining Daniel’s Master Show! If you’d like to learn more about CRO, retention marketing, and scaling your e-commerce, visit Budai Media today.

    It won’t be long before Daniel releases his book packed full of actionable tips for scaling your e-commerce in 2022 - watch this space!

    Follow Daniel Budai:

    Daniel's LinkedIn

    Daniel's Facebook

    Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

    35 min

About The Ecom Show

From the publisher's feed

The Ecom Show is the official podcast of Budai Media hosted by Daniel, the founder of our team. Great discussions with the most successful eCommerce people—from owners to digital marketers. Let's…