Ecommerce and Retail - Can You Do Both?

It’s no secret that ecommerce has absolutely skyrocketed over the last couple of years. But what about retail? As shops are opening up again, more and more customers are craving that in-person shopping experience.

International retail executive and consultant, Stephen Rector, has extensive experience leading merchandise strategies in both retail and ecommerce. In 2017, Stephen helped establish Macy’s supply chain in China, creating a multimillion-dollar international expansion business. Now he works with several startups to accelerate growth for digital and in-store businesses. It’s safe to say that Stephen knows how to scale!

We’re very excited to welcome Stephen to The Ecom Show. Our CEO and podcast host Daniel Budai chats to Stephen about:

✔️ Stephen’s Journey into Retail and Ecommerce

✔️ Ecommerce Retail

✔️ Building Brand Awareness

✔️ Breaking Into Retail

Stephen’s Journey into Retail and Ecommerce

Like many marketers, Stephen didn’t study digital strategy and marketing at university. Instead, he studied Political Science and International Relations at the University of Missouri - Columbia. Writing papers and preparing and delivering presentations, although unrelated to retail and ecommerce, proved invaluable to Stephen’s communication skills. Stephen says that he’s been utilizing the skills he acquired at university throughout his entire career.

Whilst in university, Stephen worked full time in retail as a Manager in a music store. When he graduated, his experience attracted companies in...you guessed it, retail!

Since then, Stephen has worked in merchandising, branding, sourcing, and pricing, swiftly honing his skills in retail to ecommerce in the 2000s

Ecommerce Retail

Huge ecommerce stores have an interesting relationship with retail. Amazon, for example, implements ecommerce tactics for data collection in all their physical stores. Cameras and shelf stock collect buyer data, behaviour, and conversion rates.

Stephen also points out that many Amazon stores across the US don’t have a checkout. Instead, customers are automatically charged when they add items to their basket.

Amazon isn’t alone in its efforts to enter the world of retail. The Founder of Gymshark, Ben Francis, speaks openly on his YouTube channel about opening physical stores with gyms where customers can work out and try on clothing.

If you’re thinking about moving your ecommerce store to retail, make sure to continue using all that valuable data you’ve been collecting!

Building Brand Awareness

Stephen points out that it’s harder to get brand awareness in-store than it is online because retail is saturated with brands that so many people are familiar with.

Stephen advises that the vast majority of sellers need to build brand awareness online before even thinking about trying to get into a retail store.

And brand awareness building doesn’t stop once you get to retail. Stephen praises Casper Mattresses for having a fantastic ecommerce strategy and partnering with Target and Bed, Bath and Beyond. In order to scale, it’s clear that you need as many eyes on you as possible both online and offline.

Breaking Into Retail

Daniel and Stephen agree that building brand awareness online is the first step towards breaking into retail. Other than this, Stephen identifies the 2 biggest challenges of doing business with retailers:

1. Breaking through the wall to get through to them
2. Managing costs correctly

Getting through to retailers isn’t a walk in the park. Aside from online branding, use your network as much as you can. If you have anyone with retail connections - get in touch! You can also find specialists on how to enter retail relationships or partnerships on LinkedIn.

Evaluate how much it costs to make your merchandise before meeting your retailer. Your retailer will be aggressively pushing down costs on their end as much as possible. Know your stuff, and know your profit margin. Take a look at your competitors in your chosen store, their price point and category. What’s your differentiation? It’s all about presentation and profit.

TL;DR - If you’re thinking about going into in-store retail, your first step is ecommerce.

For more advice on retail, ecommerce, and merchandising strategy, reach out to Stephen on LinkedIn.

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Follow These 3 Steps to Succeed in Ecommerce

Innovation is the go-to word in ecommerce. Not only do ecommerce brands have to adapt to changing marketing trends, they also need to stay up to date with rapid technological progress.

Damiano Raveenthiran knows a thing or two about innovation. As the Founder and CEO of Startup Slang, Damiano has worked with design development services for over 2000 merchants including brands such as Dyson, Panasonic, and Glu.

We are delighted to welcome Damiano to The Ecom Show. Tune into episode 63 to hear our podcast host and CEO, Daniel Budai, and Damiano discuss:

✔️ Damiano’s Entrepreneurial Journey

✔️ Choosing the Right Marketing Agency

✔️ Using Innovative Technology

✔️ Startup Slang’s Checkout Boosters

✔️ 3 Steps You Need to Succeed in Ecommerce

Damiano’s Entrepreneurial Journey

Like most entrepreneurs, Damiano began freelancing. He’s always been interested in websites and technology, but it was only after he finished school that he began seeing how he could create a career in ecommerce.

After Damiano describes it as a ‘lot of trial and error’, he joined Fiverr as a freelancer in 2016. From learning how to build Shopify stores on YouTube, to developing his skills and experience on Fiverr, Damiano began earning 6 figures in his first year of joining the platform.

Damiano says he’s very grateful to Fiverr for getting him to where he is today. In 2017, he founded Startup Slang. What began as a design services platform evolved into the ‘full stack’ ecommerce agency it is today.

Choosing the Right Marketing Agency

There is a heck of a lot of marketing agencies out there. There are pros and cons of those who offer more specific services and those who have a more generalist approach.

Damiano says that any agency that has the full ecommerce supply chain will have some services that are better than others. Startup Slang, for example, began with design and development, so naturally, their design and development is the strongest in their stack. Coupled with Damiano’s focus on automation, Startup Slang had strong foundations for its evolution into a growth package for startups.

Damiano’s advice is to look at company structure. It’s not about knowing if something is ‘better’ or ‘worse’, it’s more about discerning whether their strengths are channeled towards the processes you’re looking for.

Using Innovative Technology

One of Damiano’s proudest ventures involves a furniture store. Furniture ecommerce, Damiano explains, is one of Startup Slang’s strengths. Once you solve problems for one store, you’ve solved most of the problems for the others.

Startup Slang connected one of their furniture stores in the US with a mobile game where users can design their own home decor. This allowed players to purchase in-game furniture using in-game currency. The app has about 3 million players per day, so it’s been a fantastic extra source of revenue for Startup Slang’s client.

Damiano’s case study gives a clear message to any merchants looking for agencies: look for agencies who have an innovative approach. Thinking outside the box in terms of marketing channels and technology really pays off.

Startup Slang’s Checkout Boosters

Talking of innovation, Damiano chats to Daniel about Startup Slang’s new checkout boosters.

When you run a marketing campaign, you’re going to have a lot of people that don’t go through the entire funnel. That is, there are a lot of abandoned carts.

Damiano noticed that many of his clients had millions of dollars waiting in abandoned carts. An ecommerce store has the option to send out abandoned cart flows via email and SMS, but that’s usually where the touchpoints stop.

Startup Slang experimented with calling up customers who abandoned their carts. An abandoned cart call generally had 3 outcomes:

1. Return to cart and completion of the transaction
2. Customer is upselled
3. The customer doesn’t wish to complete their transaction but they offer a reason for doing so.

Even if a customer didn’t complete their transaction, their reason for not doing so offered great data for sales funnel improvement. Startup Slang saw fantastic results for their merchants, even doubling conversion rates in many cases.

Watch this space for StartupSlang’s upcoming Abandoned Cart Caller app!

3 Steps You Need to Succeed in Ecommerce

Over the last 3, Damiano has worked with over 2000 merchants. It’s safe to say he knows startups, and he knows ecommerce. Damiano advices that failed ecommerce startups miss 3 crucial steps:

Knowing Your Product

If you don’t figure your product out, you’re doing a disservice to your brand and customers. Don’t start with anything else, not even your website, until you know your product.

Content

Once you know your product. Make sure your content - videos, photographs, text, design etc is top-notch. Use everything necessary to talk to your audience.

Conversion

Now we could talk about CRO until the cows come home. Once you’ve done the initial work of making sure that your customer/product experience is perfect and the content is really speaking to your audience then you’ll have a much higher success rate. Also - never forget good customer service.

Thank you so much for joining us, Damiano. If you want to find out more about ecommerce and web development, connect with Damiano on LinkedIn or visit https://startupslang.com/.

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Your Ecommerce Needs to Address the Seeker, Not the Customer

In the ever-evolving world of ecommerce, it’s time to go beyond customer satisfaction. You need to understand what your customer is seeking.

This is the philosophy behind Raj De Datta’s best-selling book, ‘The Digital Seeker: A Guide for Digital Teams to Build Winning Experiences’. Raj is the Co Founder and CEO of Bloomreach, a leading Digital Experience Platform for ecommerce. Bloomreach combines unified customer data with AI predictive decisions to create a winning digital experience for ecommerce customers, or should we say, seekers.

We’re very excited to hear Raj and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss:

✔️Bloomreach

✔️Understanding What the Customer is Seeking

✔️The Effect of COVID-19 on Ecommerce

✔️Using Customer Data Effectively and Responsibly

What is Bloomreach?

Raj Co-Founded Bloomreach in 2009. What began as a data-driven search engine evolved into a platform that utilizes the full spectrum of ecommerce data and customer personalization.

Raj splits Bloomreach’s multiple features into three pillars of the customer journey:

1. Engagement
2. Inspiration
3. Discovery

The engagement pillar focuses on personalized marketing campaigns. Bloomreach uses first-party data to personalize every email, SMS, and brand-customer interaction.

Next comes inspiration. Bloomreach inspires customers to buy. This is all about content - creating beautiful creative ads that seek to address deeper customer motivation.

The third pillar, discovery, is aimed at navigation. Once a customer has decided to buy a particular product, a couch, for example, Bloomreach helps them discover the right one for them.

Essentially, Bloomreach addresses what the customer is seeking.

Understanding What the Customer is Seeking

As a CEO of a company that powers nearly 25% of all ecommerce in the US and UK, Raj often has digital entrepreneurs call him and ask, “So what makes the winners win, and what makes the losers lose.”

So he wrote a book about it! The Digital Seeker is number 4 on The Wallstreet Journal’s business bestseller list. It’s safe to say that it's fantastic insight into what it takes to win at ecommerce.

Its thesis? Successful ecommerce and the best digital experiences are built for the seeker, not the customer. Winners don’t stop at customer satisfaction, they ask the question, “What is the customer seeking?”. 

People don’t buy dresses for the sake of buying dresses, they’re interested in expressing their style. If someone wants to buy some wood, it’s not for the sake of owning wood. Among many reasons, it could be to build a deck to entertain their friends, for example.

Ecommerce winners, Raj argues, study the underlying motivations behind customer conversion and build their digital experiences around them. The Digital Seeker is a guide on how to do exactly that. And of course, Bloomreach designs the customer experience around these principles.

The Effect of COVID - 19 on Ecommerce

It’s no secret that the COVID -19 pandemic has had a huge impact on ecommerce. Daniel and Raj discuss both its immediate impact and long term implications for ecommerce.

Raj describes the first few months of the outbreak as an era of ‘complete panic’ for ecommerce. People were worried about team members getting COVID, supply chains were breaking down, websites were crashing, international deliveries were seriously delayed, and ecommerce owners began to wonder what was going to happen to their cash flow.

In late Spring to earlier Summer 2020, Raj observed that people were beginning to realize that ecommerce was really taking off. Everyone was going online and ecommerce was struggling to keep up with this burst of customer interest and conversion.

As the pandemic continued, consumer behavior changed rather rapidly. At one phase, for example, everyone seemed to be interested in toilet paper, at another phase, it was egg and milk, at another, it was hair cutting equipment. The rapidly shifting spurts of interest were somewhat difficult to track. Two things seemed to define ecommerce during 2020: growth and unpredictability.

Daniel and Raj believe that the COVID-19 pandemic pushed ecommerce forward by 5 - 7 years. As of Summer 2021, we still don’t know when things will return to normal. One thing we can be sure of, however, is that ecommerce is here to stay. Not only has the industry seen incredible growth, but its sustainability has been well and truly established.

Using Customer Data Effectively and Responsibility

Now we can’t talk about ecommerce change without talking about Apple’s upcoming iOS 15 update. Raj for one is very excited about it.

Raj points out that the new update is not forbidding ecommerce stores to collect data, they’re stopping them from collecting data without permission and using it for spam. In other words, the iOS 15 update is one element in an ecommerce future that relies almost wholly on 1st party data.

Daniel and Raj agree that third party data is ineffective data. People don’t want to hear from stores they haven’t signed up to or even heard of. If anything, collecting data in this way is detrimental to brand reputation.

Another interesting point Raj raises is that generally Facebook users have a strong aversion to the data being collected. Spotify users, however, do not. The difference? Facebook uses its data collection to run ads; Spotify uses its data collection to recommend its users some fantastic music.

Spotify is a shining example of how customers are comfortable with data collection and usage as long as:

1. It’s collected with their permission
2. It’s used to create a good digital experience

The rundown? If you’re not using predictive AI technology in your ecommerce business you’re probably out of date. The scale of its reach has the potential to offer personalization to millions of customers. At the core of your ecommerce, you need to ask yourself, “What is my customer seeking?” and use that to choose an AI-driven platform that creates the best possible digital experience for your customer.

If you want to learn more about delivering a magical customer experience, connect with Raj on LinkedIn, visit www.bloomreach.com, and check out his book, ‘The Digital Experience’.

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Choosing the Right Attribution Model for Your Ecommerce Store

Attribution Models are becoming an increasingly popular way to track the customer journey and conversion rates. Due to the upcoming changes in data privacy, it’s crucial to understand and implement every tool in your digital marketing arsenal.

We’re delighted to welcome Sofía Vargas Sandoval onto The Ecom Show podcast to tell us all about Attribution Models and how to use them.

With over 7 years of experience as a Digital Marketing Consultant, Sofía has managed digital marketing strategies for teams all over Latin America, the US, and Australia. We’re very happy to say that Sofía is also Budai Media’s Senior Account Manager!

Join Sofía and our CEO, Daniel Budai, for episode 61 of The Ecom Show for a discussion on:

✔️Attribution Models

✔️Google Analytics

✔️ Understanding Email Marketing and Conversion

✔️ Facebook Messenger Marketing  

So What Exactly is an Attribution Model?

An Attribution Model is a rule or set of rules that determine the customer touchpoint for conversion.

For example, if you’re using Klaviyo and a customer arrives at your store within 5 days of opening an email campaign or flow, their conversion is credited to Klaviyo. Every Attribution Model is of course adaptable; some businesses will attribute conversion to Klaviyo when a customer arrives at their store up to 60 after opening their email.

Sofía advises that narrowing attribution windows does not make your conversion data more accurate. It’s unusual for a customer to convert as soon as they see one form of advertisement. It’s likely that they’ve seen your product or brand across several different channels before arriving at your store.

Daniel and Sofía agree that choosing the right attribution model for your ecommerce store is an ‘art’. Unfortunately, we can’t always attribute conversion to your customer’s ‘last click’, nor can you simply choose a random model and stick with it.

Take a deep dive into your data and analytics across your marketing channels before trying out different Attribution Models. It’s a long process, but it’s worth it.

Talking of analytics…

Tracking Omnichannel Marketing on Google Analytics

Google Analytics supports most ecommerce apps and cross-channel data tracking, making them a fantastic resource for understanding assisted conversions.

Sofía observes that when people monitor conversions on Google Analytics they go to their Conversion Tab without noticing that there’s an option called ‘Assisted Conversion’, where you can set up and test different Attribution Models.

Here you can play with different scenarios, compare your customer’s first click with their last click, evaluate time decay, and more. There are tonnes of options available for tracking customer data and analyzing their journey.

Understanding Email Marketing and Conversion

Now, it’s been made very clear that we can’t get enough of email marketing and Klaviyo at Budai Media. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t take a holistic approach to digital marketing.

If you only use Klaviyo analytics, you’re not going to get a full picture of your customer journey which won’t help you select the right attribution model. Still use Klaviyo analytics - they’re great! But take a look at your other traffic sources too.

Sofía observes that a few years ago the conversation around marketing revolved around inbound vs outbound marketing. Now, the conversation is about how you merge and sync outbound traffic strategies and sources for a holistic retention marketing strategy.

Facebook Messenger Marketing

With the upcoming iOS 15 update and data protection changes, Sofía highly recommends Facebook Messenger Marketing and ReCart.

Sofía says that the open rates for Facebook Marketing Messages are “amazing”. It’s easy for customers to subscribe with a simple click, and what’s more, Instagram will start allowing sponsored messages this year. If you want to maximize your conversion rates, keep your finger on the pulse for this one.

And the best part is? ReCart integrates with SMSBump and Klaviyo for that all-important holistic approach.

Connect with Sofía on LinkedIn or visit her website to find out more about Attribution Models and understanding conversion rates.

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Supercharge Your CRO With Octane AI

 Ecommerce is changing. Recent changes in data privacy, such as the upcoming iOS 15 update, mean that ecommerce store owners need to adapt quickly to keep up to date with their customers.

 Introducing Octane AI. The all-in-one platform for direct data collection and CRO via Shop Quiz, personalized Messenger and SMS automation, and Opt in tools. Octane AI is transforming the customer and merchant journey.

 Ben Parr is the President and Co-Founder of Octane AI. Thousands of Shopify and Shopify plus merchants use Octane AI to engage, convert, and retain customers through innovative data collection and a personalized shopping experience.

We’re delighted to hear Ben and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss CRO, personalizing your customer journey and:

✔️ Octane AI’s Origins

✔️ Octane AI’s Key Features

✔️ Engaging Quizzes for your Ecommerce Store

✔️ Getting Attention to your Ecommerce Store

Where did Octane AI Begin?

Ben Co-Founded Octane AI in 2016. Initially, Octane AI was primarily concerned with Messenger chatbots. Five years down the line, Octane AI’s main focus is now Zero Party Data.

Ben maintains that Octane AI’s founding principles remain the same:

“Helping customers and brand owners communicate is at the core of everything we do.”

Messenger Chatbots are still very important to Octane AI, but so are Shop Quizzes, personalized SMS automation, and omnichannel marketing. Like any digital entrepreneur, Ben is all about adaptability and evolution.

What does Octane AI do?

Octane AI does two main things:

1. Collects Data
2. Leverages Data

Octane AI uses Zero Party Data. That is, it collects data directly from customers via Shop Quiz, Messenger, and SMS communication. Ben warns against relying on third-party data. You don’t own third-party data, and it could be taken from you at any time. When you quiz customers on what products they’re looking for, you engage them in brand communication and collect direct data.

Octane AI then leverages this data to personalize the customer experience. Octane AI works perfectly with Klaviyo to segment your customers according to Octane AI’s data collection. This allows you to run targeted marketing campaigns.

Ben and Daniel agree that retaining customers is even more valuable than gaining customers. In Ben’s experience, the lifetime value (LTV) of customers who take quizzes usually goes up anywhere between 10 - 50% depending on the brand.

Shop Quiz Sounds Amazing - How do I Make My Questions Engaging?

Both Daniel and Ben say: Keep it Simple.

Your Shop Quiz doesn’t need to be 10 - 15 questions long. Keep it short and sweet. Ben’s advice is to imagine your ecommerce store as a physical store. When a customer walks in, what are they going to ask?

If you own a shoe shop, for example, it’s likely that your customers will ask about shoe size, width, material, or brands. So if you own an ecommerce shore store, it makes sense to quiz your customers on what shoe size, width, material, or brand they’re looking for. It’s really as simple as that!

Just one question can make all the difference. Ben gives another example of an ecommerce pet store asking its site visitors, “Cat or Dog?”. Just that one question drastically streamlines the customer’s journey towards conversion.

Getting Attention to Your Ecommerce Store

Ben has written an entire book about the science and psychology of capturing people’s attention: Captivology. So if you want a deep dive into grabbing your customer’s attention, we recommend checking it out!

Unfortunately, there’s no silver bullet for capturing attention. But Ben does have a couple of tips for us:

✔️ Know what attention stage you’re at

If you’re just starting out in your ecommerce business, capturing attention is a different ballpark to someone who already has brand attention and wants to cast their net wider.

If your aim is to attract new customers, your strategy will be different to the aim of capturing and keeping the attention of existing customers.

Capturing attention will also vary according to different sub-sects of customers. That’s why it’s so important to segment your marketing strategy using detailed customer data.

✔️ Know your product

Your marketing will vary according to your product and buyer persona.

Beauty brands, for example, tend to really benefit from influencer marketing. If you’re selling high-end furniture, on the other hand, your focus would be better honed in on SEO and online ads.

Don’t try to capture attention from everywhere. Know where you’re going to get it first.

So What’s Next for Octane AI?

Ben is always alert to new trends in ecommerce. He says it’s not long before we see the end of 3rd party cookies. Octane AI is paving the way for Zero Party Data and innovative data collection and customer personalization tools.

Octane AI is always evolving. On the 14th of July 2021, Octane AI announced a brand new feature: Conversational Pop-ups. These integrate with Octane AI’s Shop Quiz tool to create an interactive pop-up that gathers additional customer data and recommends products.

It’s really no surprise that the Shopify Team voted Octane AI as the Best Store Front App. And that was before Conversational Pop-Ups!

Connect with Ben on LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter; and visit Octane AI to supercharge your conversion rates.

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ReConvert: The Best App for Post-Purchase CRO

Shopify’s post-purchase thank you page has a 100% open rate. Not only that, it doubles up as an order update page. That means that your customer is very likely to return to this page several times to check their order status.

A great page right? Imagine all the post-purchase optimization you can do on that! The trouble is, that you can’t edit this page on Shopify by default.

That’s where ReConvert comes in.

Ruth Even Haim is the Co-Founder of StilyoApps and Creator of ReConvert, an app that allows you to customize your thank you page for personalized post-purchase optimization. Ruth has revolutionized the way we think about customer retention.

We’re very excited to hear Ruth and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss customer retention, upselling, and:

✔️ ReConvert’s Origins

✔️ ReConvert’s Key Features

✔️ Using Pop-Ups Correctly

✔️ Maximizing Multiple Marketing Channels

✔️ Ruth’s upcoming projects

Where did ReConvert Begin?

StilyoApps began as a small family business at the end of 2018. Ruth, and her brother Eric, both had their own Shopify store and noticed something: their thank you pages weren’t being optimized. As Shopify thank you pages are also used as order-update pages, they saw a lot of wasted potentials.

They decided to change this. In comes ReConvert. Ruth and Eric created an app that allows you to edit your post-purchase page any way you like. Add upsells, product recommendations, pop-ups, post-purchase surveys, and even videos!

It’s no surprise that Shopify quickly picked ReConvert as one of its star picks. The rest, as they say, is history! Ruth says that every happy customer is another great milestone for ReConvert.

ReConvert’s Features: Let’s Break it Down

ReConvert’s features fall into three categories

1. Communication with Customers

These include text, images, and videos. These act as branding tools to build customer trust and retention. You’re free to add personalized thank you messages and creative ads.

2. Receiving Information from Customers

Here you can collect customer data. Add a post-purchase and product comment widget for immediate feedback. You’re also able to collect customer birthdays and sync this data to Klaviyo, SMSbump, and a range of different marketing platforms.

3. Upselling

This is by far ReConvert’s most popular feature. Upsell and cross-sell with recommended products, customizable Call-To-Action buttons, and pop-up discounts with timers.

Talking of PopUps - How do I Use Them?

Ruth and Daniel both love a good popup - when they’re done well.

Getting too carried away with upselling and popups can ruin your customer’s experience and put them off your brand entirely. Ruth says that whilst you don’t want a popup every second you also don’t want to waste their potential.

Daniel ran a popup A/B test with one of his clients last year. He found that if a customer sees a popup immediately upon arriving at your site, they’re not going to be receptive to your offer. If a pop-up appears, later on, they’re far more likely to check it out.

Ruth and Daniel agree that finding out the average time a customer spends on your website is a great way to figure out when your popup should appear.

As for exit-intent popups? They’re a no-brainer: go for it. Your customer is leaving your site anyway so there’s nothing to lose from giving them one last chance to convert.

Maximizing Multiple Channels

So if you’re using ReConvert, do you need to bother with Email, SMS, and Facebook Messenger Marketing?

Ruth and Daniel couldn’t be more confident with this one: YES.

Ruth says that customer retention is crucial to brand success. So you shouldn’t limit yourself to one marketing channel. ReConvert isn’t a replacement for Email, SMS, and Facebook Messenger Marketing, it is a fantastic addition.

It’s very rare to make a sale from one channel. People use multiple devices and platforms. Your customer may have converted at your website because they saw your brand in social media ads, emails, SMS, and Facebook Messenger. Successful branding is all about creating patterns of familiarity.

Don’t rely on one channel: concentrate on integration. Omnichannel marketing is your best friend.

So What’s Next for Ruth?

Ruth doesn’t want to stop at ReConvert. Now she wants an app for the top of the funnel.

This will run complementary to ReConvert to complete your sales funnel. Its focus? Upselling before that thank you page.

And boy does Ruth know her popups and upselling! We’re definitely keeping an eye out for this one.

ReConvert is a powerful yet easy-to-use tool that does wonders for your conversion rates. We couldn’t recommend this app enough.

On the next episode of The Ecom Show, we’re welcoming another fantastic guest to tell us all about Octane AI. So stay tuned!

In the meantime, check out our other episodes to find out more about branding, conversion, omnichannel marketing, and much much more.

Connect with Ruth on LinkedIn and download ReConvert to revolutionize your CRO.

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Selling on Amazon in 2021. What’s Changed?  

Amazon is the largest online marketplace. According to Statistica, Amazon reached 200 million paying Prime members in the first quarter of this year. With 1.6 million active sellers, selling on Amazon is a whole different ballpark to Shopify, BigCommerce, or WooCommerce.

What can we learn from someone who’s earned millions of dollars for several ecommerce brands on Amazon?

Liran Hirschkorn is the Founder and CEO of Incrementum Digital, an Amazon Focused Marketing Agency. He’s been working closely with Amazon for the past 7 years. A lot has changed since 2014, and Liran has a lot of wisdom to impart.

We’re delighted to hear Liran and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss the importance of data-driven selling, adapting quickly to changes in ecommerce, as well as:

✔️ How Amazon has changed

✔️ How to stand out in Amazon

✔️ Using other ecommerce stores with Amazon

✔️ Developing a connection with Amazon customers

Amazon’s Fast-Paced Changes

Liran says that the Amazon sellers of today are a heck of a lot more sophisticated and knowledgeable than those of 2014. While advertising on Amazon wasn’t really important in 2014, you can’t do without it now.

In 2016 Amazon stopped allowing incentivized reviews. Even if your customer states that they received your product for free in exchange for their honest review, Amazon simply doesn’t allow it. This really mixed things up for Amazon marketers, because, as Liran points out, reviews are fundamental to making sales.

We all saw how Amazon sales absolutely sky-rocketed with the onset of COVID-19. Amazon gained 50 million new Prime customers and ecommerce soared.

It’s no surprise that Liran can’t overstate the importance of adaptability and knowing your data.

Reviews on Amazon: Are They Everything?

Short answer: Not quite, but they are important.

The more positive reviews you have, the more protection you have over your competitors. Of course, this depends on what you’re selling. If you have lots of competitors selling similar products to yours, reviews are going to be a lot more important than those for an original product.

But there are other ways to stand out. Liran says that creatives - specifically good images with infographics - are great for sales. Customers are unlikely to read a wall of text about your product, so highlight (in a few keywords) its best features in your images.

Talking of keywords that sell - make sure you know them. And we’re not just talking about one or two here, Liran wants an extensive list. Daniel and Liran strongly agree that Amazon is used as a search platform much like Google, so SEO couldn’t be more crucial.

Knowing Your Goals

When you decide to sell on Amazon, your 1st goal should not be to generate profit immediately. It should be maximizing sales velocity, engaging your customers, and working to generate enough reviews for people to consider your product.

A fantastic way to develop a relationship with your Amazon customers is to put inserts in their products thanking them for their purchase and providing incentive for them to leave a good review and/or head to your landing page. This could be an email or text sign-up to a coupon, giveaway, or a limited-time offer, whatever works best for your brand.

Selling Your Product on Multiple Channels

If you’re a Shopify seller, you might feel worried about launching a product on Amazon. Don’t be. You just need to do your research. Some products won’t do as well on Amazon as they do on Shopify, some will do even better! It’s just a matter of knowing which.

There are 200 million Prime customers who do most of their shopping on Amazon. At the same time, there are lots of people who don’t shop at Amazon at all. Being on multiple channels gives you the opportunity to appeal to different customer bases. With the right strategy, this will do wonders for your sales.

Selling on Amazon in 2021

Amazon favors new products. So make your first sale count. Liran cannot emphasize enough the importance of product research and knowing your data.

Liran recommends Helium 10’s tool X-Ray for checking branded traffic, understanding the best keywords to use, and digging into competitor data.

There’s still so much to learn about Amazon. Liran’s podcast, Ecommerce Mindset is filled to the brim with fantastic advice for succeeding on Amazon and Shopify. Check it out on Spotify and iTunes.

And while you’re on a podcasting kick, why not take a look at our other episodes for more expert advice on ecommerce? The Ecom Show has well over 50 episodes now, so you’re certain to find something perfectly suited to your business goals.

Connect with Liran on Linkedin and visit Incrementum Digital to keep up to date with Amazon’s latest advertising strategies.

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Think Small to Think Big: Developing a Growth Strategy that Works

To say Aistis is an expert in ecommerce growth would be an understatement.

Aistis Matulaitis, the Co-Founder and CEO of Kandy Agency, got into digital marketing when he was just 15 years old. What began as a side hustle turned into a passion. He now channels his digital marketing expertise into Kandy Agency. Kandy Agency helps ecommerce businesses diversify their streams of income, improve customer retention, and increase their revenue to 7 and 8 figures!

We’re very excited to hear Aistis and our podcast host Daniel Budai discuss how to build an effective ecommerce campaign using:

✔️Cost-efficient creative video marketing

✔️Offer testing

✔️Competitor research

✔️A good product-market fit

Research and Brainstorming

Kandy Agency is all about research. Data mining, review mining, competitor mining, the works. This is crucial to those all-important brainstorming sessions where marketing strategists propose different ideas and strategies for their client’s video ad.

Then comes the fun part - the shoot! Kandy Agency chooses their locations, models, color palette - everything, with the client’s buyer persona in mind. When it comes to the final cut, Kandy Agency hones in its focus by referring back to their proposed strategies for edits and re-edits.

Test, test, and test again!

Putting out different video ads is essential to A/B testing. When you don’t know what works best, you’re not going to be able to scale your ecommerce, simple as that.

Kandy Agency A/B tests several video ads per client. When they see what works best, it’s back to brainstorming.

Aistis says the biggest challenge in video marketing is not the shoot itself, or even the editing, it’s entering the first step of the marketing funnel: research. Once you’ve mined your data, narrowed your focus and come up with the best ideas for your videos, the rest is relatively simple. If you’re advertising on Facebook, you’ll get some great data on what works and what doesn’t that you can use to advance your digital marketing strategy.

TikTok vs Facebook

We’re all aware that TikTok is a massively expanding platform. With 1 billion users, it’s no surprise that Kandy Agency has started launching TikTok ads for their clients.

Aistis notes that creating TikTok ads requires a different approach to creating video content on Facebook. For starters, you have more stylistic freedom in Facebook video ads. TikTok ads, on the other hand, have a very distinct style. Keeping up with music trends, for example, is far more important to getting noticed on TikTok ads than it is to Facebook ads. If an ad works on Facebook it’s not going to necessarily work on TikTok, and vice versa.

The plus side to running video ads on TikTok is that all you really need is an iPhone. TikTok favors simple editing already built into the platform.

The Blue Ocean Strategy

Both Daniel and Aistis are massive fans of the Blue Ocean Strategy - creating an uncontested marketing space. Creating and capturing new demand is one of the most effective ways to scale your ecommerce.

One of Aistis’s favorite examples of a product that utilized the Blue Ocean Strategy is the false magnetic eyelash. Magnetic false eyelashes took a popular product (false eyelashes that are glued on) and modified its features. It appeals to people who already wear false eyelashes and to those who don’t because they find them difficult to glue on. By modifying one feature of an already popular product a whole new product was made - one that not only appeals to an existing audience, but also creates an entirely new one.

Aistis and Daniel agree that your product needs to be unique; it needs to be a problem solver, and it needs that ‘wow’ factor for your buyer persona. Kandy Agency it’s all about narrowing focus so that their clients are presented with exactly what works. Your ecommerce strategy should be no different.

Daniel’s best advice? “Dig into your niche as much as you can.” If you try appealing to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one. In other words, scaling your ecommerce is about narrowing your focus.

Digital marketing can seem like an absolute maze of emails, video content, and website optimization, but Aistis assures that these are all strongly grounded in three principles:

“When you have a good product, good content, and a good offer, you have every piece in place.”

We couldn’t have put it better ourselves Aistis!

Make sure to connect with Aistis on LinkedIn and check out Kandy Agency to discover even more ways to scale your ecommerce.

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Branding is fundamental to marketing yourself and your business. For this episode of The Ecom Show join Graphic Designer and Design Consultant Jerry Bravo and Daniel Budai to hear all about:

✔️ What branding is

✔️ What branding isn’t

✔️ Branding elements

✔️ Strategizing long-term brand growth

The Cambridge Dictionary defines branding as “the act of giving a company a particular design or symbol in order to advertise its products and services.”

Jerry disagrees. This may have cut it two years ago, but as branding develops, so does its definition.

That’s why Jerry prefers Tom Goodwin’s definition of branding:

“Brands are essentially patterns of familiarity, meaning, fondness, and reassurance that exist in the minds of people.”

Branding is not about logos, jingles, and slogans - it’s about what the customer feels when all these elements and more come together.

Map out your best branding marketing strategy with Jerry’s best advice on:

Brand Substance - The Essence of the Brand

Purpose

• Why the brand or the product exists
  

Vision

• Image of the brand for the future
  

Mission

• What the brand is known for

The purpose, vision, and mission are the core assets for any brand.

Brand Positioning - How the Brand is Positioned in the Market and for the Consumer

Values

• Guiding the behavior of the brand - its speech, marketing, and morals

Audience Persona

• Creating the most detailed audience persona. This will guide every aspect of your brand development.
• Brands can have multiple audience personas. If they sell multiple products, for example, they may want to develop different personas for each product.

Competitor Research

• This is crucial to positioning your brand.
• It’s very important to understand what your competitors are doing and where they are in your industry.

Differentiation

• This comes hand in hand with competitor research.
• Differentiating yourself from your competitors.
• Creating a unique brand affirms your position in the market.

Positioning Statement

• This goes hand in hand with your vision, mission, and statement.
• A concise statement that gives the brand direction.

Archetypes

• Based on Carl Jung’s 12 personality archetypes. Jung created 12 archetypes to describe innate models of personality that guide behaviors and human identity.
• Every brand will fall into one of these archetypes and use it to guide its brand substance and positioning.
• Disney, for example, uses the ‘magic’ archetype.
• Nike uses the ‘hero’ archetype in all its marketing. They address the consumer as a ‘hero’, the main character.

Brand Persona

Personality

• Comes hand in hand with archetypes.
• How your brand speaks and behaves in the market.
• How your brand addresses its consumers.
• Defining the personality of the brand enables you to use all its assets effectively.

Language

• Formal or informal
• This should be consistent with your brand. If you have an informal brand, you don’t want a formal voice, and vice versa. This creates a dissonance in the minds of your audience persona and your brand.

Tone of Voice

• This speaks to the core of your audience persona.
• Are you playful or serious? Poetic or blunt? The tone of voice is very important to developing a close relationship with your audience.

Brand Communication

Name

• Your front-line. Your name is the first thing your consumers will see and memorize the more they’re exposed to it.
• This has to be memorable and consistent with your branding assets.

Tagline

• Not all brands use taglines, but this is a good element to consider.
• Much like a catch-phrase. For example, Nike’s ‘Just Do It’.
• The more you use your tagline, the more your target audience will associate it with your brand without even needing your logo or your name.

Key Messages

• Define your key messages and how you will be using all your brand assets.

Brand Identity

Storytelling

• One of the most useful assets for constructing your brand - it creates an experience for your audience.
• Your brand’s journey.
• Storytelling to engage your audience persona. Its genre depends on your audience persona and your brand’s communication style.

Logo

• This is not a synonym of branding.
• A graphic representation of the brand.
• Based on your audience persona.

Typography

• Formal or informal.
• Very important to define as this will be in every aspect of your brand.
• This will influence your brand’s character and image.

Brand Persona

Color

• Often influenced by Color Theory - the theory that certain colors evoke certain emotions.
• If you put all brands into a color spectrum, you’ll often find that they’re grouped into certain colors in accordance with their brand substance and identity. For example, medical brands often fall into the blue spectrum, and this color is associated with cleanliness, formality, and trust.
• Color is very important to consider, as using an unusual color for your brand puts it at risk of being associated with a different industry.

Image Style

• Establishing an image style for every representation of your brand establishes consistency.
• Branding is all about consistency so as to make your brand familiar and memorable to your target audience.

Iconography

• Creating a brand experience through cohesiveness.
• Establishing icons that you will be using throughout your brand.
• If you’re not consistent with your iconography, you’re not allowing your audience to create patterns of familiarity.

Graphic Illustrations

• Graphic representation of the brand.
• It’s crucial to stay consistent. As always, not staying consistent damages your brand in the minds of your consumers.
• This doesn’t mean you have to keep the same graphic illustrations indefinitely, but make sure to keep any changes within your brand strategy as it evolves. If you change your graphic illustrations every couple of months, you’re not allowing your customer to associate certain graphics with your brand.

Presence

• How your brand behaves in the media - what values does it represent in blogs, podcasts, and shows, for example?
• For example, if your brand does a lot of charity work, it will begin to build an association with certain values.

Website

• Having a website is essential.
• In 2021, if your brand doesn’t have a website, you’re telling your consumer that you’re not 100% on the market.
• A portal of information for your brand. Where people can consult, see, and buy your product or service.

Social Channels

• How your brand behaves in social media.
• Very useful for establishing your brand image.
• Make sure that your social channels are consistent with your website.

Content

• Your marketing strategy.
• You must create a marketing strategy for your brand. If you do not create a strategy it will be impossible to define consistency.
• Just by defining your brand assets, you will start to see a marketing strategy.

Physical Space

• Not all companies have a physical space, but if yours does, you need to create a unique and tangible experience for your consumer.
• Your customer service must be top-notch.
• Consider using scent in your space. The smell is one of the closest senses to memory.

Fundamentally, creating a successful brand is about applying these elements well and applying them consistently. This allows your customer to experience those all-important patterns of familiarity and fondness - you just have to know the difference between being consistent and being static. That’s why Jerry and Daniel are so focused on brand development.

Developing your brand is developing your business. So make sure to connect with Jerry on LinkedIn for more wisdom on branding and graphic design.

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Agile and Adaptable Ecommerce: The Power of Omnichannel Marketing and the Nurturing of Customers Across a Variety of Platforms

What can we work from the marketing genius behind one of America’s fastest-growing cosmetics brands?

Margaux Vallino Reese has helped her company, Colorescience, reach new heights over the last few years, masterfully navigating through the perils of COVID in 2020 to not only stay afloat but thrive as well!

We’re thrilled to hear from both Margaux and our podcast host Daniel Budai to discuss the importance of adapting to circumstances that are out of our control, as well as:
✔️ The effects of COVID in ecommerce

✔️ Shopify vs. custom websites

✔️ Consistency in an omnichannel strategy

✔️ When to use an agency vs. when to hire in-house

✔️ Succeeding in the second half of 2021

The Rise of Ecommerce

For most online brands, COVID-19 brought with it a wave of new customers, including millions of first-time shoppers who were completely new to online shopping. Due to the nature of Colorescience’s business model, it was tougher to make things work despite having an online presence.

Colorescience sells many dermatological products with the help of physicians they partner up with, which was obviously disrupted with more and more people confined to their homes. Margaux explained the importance of “staying agile” and adapting to the circumstances, which was why they chose to pivot into more online sales during 2020 while still supporting their partners and giving them access to the same deals.

Choose Your Website

With the rise of platforms like BigCommerce or Shopify, brands no longer need to expend endless time, money, and other resources to maintain their website. Margaux realized that switching over from a custom website to Shopify would ultimately save time, make it easier to add integrations, and address the costly bottleneck of website issues that often occur with custom websites.

Now Colorescience is in complete control with their new Shopify website, which allows them to allocate their time for better use elsewhere on the creative side instead of fretting about website issues. Shopify also makes it a whole lot easier to optimize for mobile, which is essential when brands like Colorescience receive upwards of 80% of all traffic on mobile.

Omnichannel Consistency

Colorescience is unique in that it has various channels, including offline partnerships with doctor’s practices across the United States. It’s a careful walk along the razor’s edge to keep these partners happy when prioritizing the growth of their online presence and not cannibalize the business of these doctors helping sell their products.

Maintaining consistency in voice, style, and deals across all channels is crucial for big ecommerce brands, especially if you want to hold the trust of your community and partners.

Agency vs. In-House

Aside from media buying, Margaux and her team prefer to keep all reactive marketing in-house. A company needs to take ownership over its voice, brand, and creatives because, ultimately, no one knows the brand better than them.

You can hire for specific channels and use agencies to scale accordingly, but the true essence of a company comes from within!

Thrive in 2021

We’ve heard it before, but it never gets old… knowing your customer is the most important thing you can do as a business. If you don’t take the time to learn about your customers, you can expect they will eventually jump to other brands.

With the rise of customer acquisition, it’s more important than ever to focus on retention. Run surveys, give incentives, and never be afraid to ask the customer what they expect and want from your brand. The answers will make or break you!

Reach out to Margaux on Linkedin, or check out Colorescience for incredible skincare products!

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