The Unofficial TikTok Shop Podcast with Jordan West

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It’s always amazing to see people bootstrap into something much bigger. To grow a company using limited resources takes a lot of creativity and determination. There’s a lot to learn from this kind of journey.

In this episode, Erica Rankin from Bro Dough talks about what it’s like to bootstrap a business to a level where you’re talking to investors. She shares what's working for her in marketing and the biggest mistakes she's made this year.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Bootstrapped companies understand how to and not to spend money.
• When you look back at the time when you were bootstrapping, you’ll realize that it was an important time for you to learn.
• Putting it all out there and being consistent is the secret when you’re using social media platforms.
• When you go online, see all the shiny stuff, and you’re not achieving the same level of success, it can be hard and very discouraging.
• Experiences are so valuable when people are willing to share them.
• Show up and build a community. The journey gets people on board and turns followers into fans and almost friends.
• Being on TikTok is all about getting exposure, building the story, and doing what your competitors aren’t. It’s putting in the effort and compounding the interest. 
• You’re not going to see the ROI right away, but it will come. 
• Do not make decisions too quickly. Do tons of research, figure things out, and reach out to advisers.
• Being scrappy and not spending tons of money where you don’t need to is the secret to successful bootstrapping.
• Automate, delegate, lay out your business, and put things where they should be.

Recommended Tool:
HootSuite https://www.hootsuite.com
Shield https://www.shieldapp.ai 

Recommended Podcast:
The Ed Mylett Show
Apple Podcast:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/the-ed-mylett-show/id1181233130
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/show/19TdDBlFkqh7uevYO0jFSW 

Today’s Guest:

Erica Rankin is the founder and CEO of Bro Dough, a cookie dough company that provides a healthier way to indulge in this childhood treat.

Connect and learn more about Erica and Bro Dough here:
LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericabrodough/?originalSubdomain=ca
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/brodoughcanada/?hl=en
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@brodoughcanada?lang=en 

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Your checkout is where all the money is. A bad checkout experience can mess up everything and your potential customers may not come back because of it.

In this episode, Jordan West talks about another conversion killer - the checkout experience. He gives tried and tested tips and tricks that work to optimize your customers’ checkout experience.

Listen and learn from this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

What exactly is checkout process optimization?
-It’s figuring out where in that checkout process are the biggest issues and solving them to improve user experience. 

Tried and tested tips to optimize your checkout process:

1. Allow guest checkouts. Don’t make people put in their information or make an account to go through. Recent stats show that when people have to create an account, it causes 34% higher abandoned cart rates.
2. Offer free shipping. If there is a point where you can offer free shipping, do it! Another great option is to offer tranches where at a certain spend they get discounted shipping and at a higher spend they earn free shipping. This can be great to get people to up the average order value.  A recent study resulted in a 37% uplift in conversion from free shipping.
3. Provide multiple payment and shipping options. Continue to stick with Shop Pay if you are on Shopify. You can get better credit card rates out there but the sacrifice in all of the functionality that Shop Pay has is not worth it.  Offer buy now, pay later on your website. There’s no reason not to accept all payments that are out there. Use Google’s auto-address. 
4. Have security badges. These will increase and keep your customers’ trust.
5. Have your checkout be designed for mobile. That’s where everyone’s shopping nowadays. 
6. Reduce as many form fields as you can. Don’t make it complicated. Just get the information that you need from people. Have the option of receiving emails and SMS messages, but don’t have the opt-in be checked automatically.
7. Offer live chat support within the actual checkout area. Have this and an FAQ to help customers without having to leave the checkout page.
8. Use the Rebuy app. Use apps like Rebuy to upsell within the cart itself. 

https://www.rebuyengine.com 

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Your products are what create your brand. You always have to believe that your product is different and nurture the relationships that you have built with the customers who already love your brand.

In this episode, Bryan Marville, founder of Worn Brand, talks about how they acquired customers and how they acquired a massive amount of customers with subscription box partnerships. He also shares what is working for them in 2022 when it comes to marketing.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Always believe in your product and improve them.
• Nurture your existing relationship with customers.
• Plan and forecast to be able to send products and discount coupons to customers. This will create a lot of customer relationships.
• Some partners are just looking for crap to put in the box for free. If that’s the case, just eject and get out of there.
• You can pair low-cost CPM with server-side analytics to get interesting audience insights. 
• Understanding the journey is where you are going to start optimizing your spending.
• Have a product that people want to come back and buy a second time and create variants of that product that will continue to do that.
• If you are starting over with new relationships with customers, you are going backward.

Recommended Tool:
Varos https://www.varos.com 

Recommended Podcast:
SmartLess Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/smartless/id1521578868
https://open.spotify.com/show/0Yzd0g8NYmn27k2HFNplv7 

Today’s Guest:

Brian Marville is the founder of Worn Brand.  

Worn Brand is a brand of high-quality socks with innovative features designed for work and outdoor occasions. 

Connect and learn more about Bryan and Worn Brand here:
Website: https://wornbrand.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryanmarville/
E-mail Address: [email protected]    

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There is so much potential to scale if you have a great product, the knowledge of how to drive demand, and the confidence to take the risks to go against what everyone else is doing.

In this episode, Jordan interviews Brett Swensen from Kizik. They talk about rapid growth and how to test long- and short-form creatives efficiently.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• It always starts with a great product. A product that you can get behind and people believe in is number one.
• You sometimes have to redefine the things that are already there for a long time to drive sales.
• You can have several hooks from a long-form video and test different elements of the video to determine which are performing well.
• You have to have that kind of belief that you can drive demand and build it.
• What’s working in short-form videos is authentic UGC. 
• Going against what everyone is doing and looking at unique ways where you can break through the noise are the best ways to scale.
• Leverage the creatives you have and make the most of them.

Recommended App:
Figma https://www.figma.com 

Recommended Podcast:
E-commerce Secrets Podcast
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/e-commerce-secrets-to-scale/id1532975989

Out Alive Podcast
https://www.backpacker.com/survival/out-alive-podcast/ 

Today’s Guest:

Brett Swensen is the VP of Marketing at Kizik. Kizik is a hands-free footwear brand for men, women, and kids.

Connect and learn more about Brett and Kizik here:
Website: https://kizik.com/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/wearkizik/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@wearkizik
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/brettswensen/ 

This month's sponsor is Triple Whale.  Triple Whale's powerful analytics platform clarifies your ad performance across channels, keeping you instantly in the know. Hit trytriplewhale.com/upgrowth and use our custom promo code provided on the link for 15% off today.

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Your site speed is a vital part of your potential customers’ experience. It can make or break your conversion, so it is important to put it as one of your top priorities.

In this episode, Jordan West talks about the number one conversion killer– your site speed. He shares why site speed matters so much to your conversion rate and your overall experience and how you can improve your site speed.

Listen and learn from this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Why Site Speed is a Big Deal:

1. User Experience. People are goldfish. If your site takes 3-4 seconds to load, people will think that the site’s broken.
2. Google Ranking. Google recognizes your site speed. If your site isn’t meeting core web vitals, you’re not going to rank for the keywords that you are trying to rank for.

Now that we have Shopify 2.0, things are running a lot faster and the code is a lot cleaner. 

How to Improve Your Site Speed:

• Move over to a Shopify 2.0 theme now.
• Optimize your images and videos.
• Rename your images with keywords.
• Weigh if it’s better to replace GIFs with static images.
• Remove unnecessary ones and also take out excess codes.
• Migrate over to Google Tag Manager. It will allow you to handle tons of different tags without hurting your code and slowing your store down.
• Minimize redirects and broken links. Use permanent redirects.
• Check your store speed performance. Do not trust Shopify speed indicators. 

This month's sponsor is Triple Whale.  Triple Whale's powerful analytics platform clarifies your ad performance across channels, keeping you instantly in the know. Hit trytriplewhale.com/upgrowth and use our custom promo code provided on the link for 15% off today.

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Quizzes are an efficient way to collect data, understand your customers, and help them find the best product for them.

In this episode, Gen Furukawa of Prehook talks about the importance of using quiz builders, the types of quizzes that work for brands, and the kinds of brands that quizzes work for. 

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Merchants must build direct relationships and understand who their end customers are.
• The premise of a good quiz is that there has to be an exchange of value. There’s no barrier to people sharing their information but they need to get substantial value back in return.
• Once you know what your hook is, you want to get an understanding of what data points you need to create segments or dynamic personal recommendations effectively.
• For clothing brands, some of the main use cases are style guides or fit guides. 
• Make sure that the quiz lives on your site instead of going to a subdomain you don’t want.
• Some brands use quizzes as an exit intent pop-up. 
• With Black Friday and Cyber Monday coming up, it is effective to use quizzes on your existing email list.
• The benefit of a quiz is that you’re able to ask more questions in an engaging way, then you can use conditional logic to dig deeper and make it more of a personalized experience.
• Challenges and goals are great ways to start, from there what matters most are gathering contact information and recommending a product.

Recommended App:
Canva https://www.canva.com

Descript https://www.descript.com

Recommended Podcast:
Fresh Air with Terry Gross
https://podcasts.apple.com/ph/podcast/fresh-air/id214089682 

The All-in Podcast
https://www.allinpodcast.co 

Today’s Guest:

Gen Furukawa is a co-founder of Prehook. They help Shopify merchants create amazing shopping experiences through quizzes and product recommendations.

Connect and learn more about Gen and Prehook here:
Website: https://prehook.com
E-mail Address: [email protected]   
Twitter: https://twitter.com/genfurukawa
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/genfurukawa/
See what the quizzes look like here: https://prehook.com 

This month's sponsor is Triple Whale.  Triple Whale's powerful analytics platform clarifies your ad performance across channels, keeping you instantly in the know. Hit trytriplewhale.com/upgrowth and use our custom promo code provided on the link for 15% off today.

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Authenticity in what you are doing is not only a great skill for building an organic and loyal community but can also increase your profitability exponentially.

In this episode, Ryan Rock of Fatboy Surf Club talks about their journey of how they moved from an apartment to a warehouse, how they’re getting an incredible return on ad spend on Facebook and Instagram, and the kind of things that they are doing to get those returns.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• It’s key to listen to customer reviews to be able to maintain what they like and improve.
• Make sure to make customers feel like they are part of your brand. 
• Repost what your fans tag you in to encourage future tags.
• Learn to scale sustainably.
• Check pre-sales to understand better what the demand is going to be like.
• Know your numbers on how much to spend to get to your next sales goal.
• Create a community of organic and loyal followers online.
• Your ads should focus on your cause.
• Be authentic and stay true to the things that you like and that your customers also like.
• Make sure that all your ducks are in a row so that you are ready to scale.

Recommended Tool:
Presale Manager https://apps.shopify.com/pre-order 

Recommended Podcast:
The Greatest Salesman in the World Podcast
https://thegreatestsalesman.com/podcast/ 

Today’s Guest:

Ryan Rock is a co-founder of Fatboy Surf Club. Fatboy Surfclub is an e-commerce apparel company based in LA putting the fun back into life and surfing. A portion of all their proceeds benefits the Save the Manatee Foundation and other ocean conservation organizations.

Connect and learn more about here: 

Website: https://fatboysurfclub.com
E-mail Address: [email protected]   
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fatboysurfclub 

This month's sponsor is Triple Whale.  Triple Whale's powerful analytics platform clarifies your ad performance across channels, keeping you instantly in the know. Hit trytriplewhale.com/upgrowth and use our custom promo code provided on the link for 15% off today.

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Using SMS this Black Friday season is a great opportunity to boost your sales. If you’re going to reap all the benefits of SMS, you need to make sure you’re following best practices to maximize value.

In this episode, Jordan West talks about SMS Marketing for Black Friday, what you need to know, and why you need to be running an SMS campaign for Black Friday. 

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE:

Why SMS is important for Black Friday:

1. Speed - messages get to people almost instantaneously.

2. Reach - not everybody checks their emails regularly but almost everybody reads their text messages.

3. Integration with E-mail Marketing Notifications - SMS works well in conjunction with email campaigns especially when you have a great deal.

Important things to remember in using SMS for Black Friday:

1. Plan your Black Friday Messaging. Make sure to A/B test your messaging. 

2. The whole point of a text message is not to tell everything on the text message itself but to move people over to your website. 

3. Know what type of messaging resonates with your customers and your target.

4. Make sure to use calls to action.

5. Try to add some fun, spicy elements in your SMS like extra promo codes.

6. Make sure you understand the timing of your messages.

7. Collect numbers in advance and segment your subscribers.

8. It is not recommended to use MMS due to the high costs associated. 

This month's sponsor is Triple Whale.  Triple Whale's powerful analytics platform clarifies your ad performance across channels, keeping you instantly in the know. Hit trytriplewhale.com/upgrowth and use our custom promo code provided on the link for 15% off today.

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Like the many serendipitous discoveries in the field of medicine, your product may solve a problem beyond what it was originally intended to. The only way to discover these uses is to get closer to your customers and understand their needs and desires. It can be a great opportunity for you to further grow your business and achieve success.

In this episode, Jordan West interviews Sean McGinnis of Kuru Footwear. They discuss the birth of Kuru Footwear and how its products have come to solve a problem that it was not originally intended to solve. Sean also shares how they got closer to their customers and made the relationship last.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• The more you talk to your customers, the more familiar you become with their lives, and the better you can help them.
• Direct-to-Consumer is the best pathway for getting close to the customer.
• If you want to understand how you can improve a product, it starts with the customers.
• You have to know how the customers are using your product differently to improve your marketing and product development strategies.
• Try to forecast accurately based on your best available data.
• Customers are searching for solutions all the time.
• The combination of different acquisition methodologies can yield various levels of profitability and overall demand for your business.

Recommended App:
Shopify Plus https://www.shopify.com/plus/ 

Recommended Book:
The All-in Podcast https://www.allinpodcast.co/

Today’s Guest:

Sean McGinnis is the President and Integrator of Kuru Footwear, a brand of shoes for men and women made to ease foot pain.

Connect and learn more about Sean and Kuru Footwear here: 

Website: https://www.kurufootwear.com   
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/seanmcginnis
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seanmcginnis 

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Doing things right from the beginning is always the most efficient means to success. While there’s a lot of potential in launching a product on Amazon, you need to be strategic in your execution to reach your goal.

In this episode, Jordan interviews Vincenzo Toscano of Ecomcy. He talks all about what it takes to get a listing from A-Z and all the little things that will make you an incredibly successful brand on Amazon.

Listen and learn in this episode!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• The pre-launch strategy, launch strategy, and post-launch strategy are the three phases you go through when launching a brand.
• The first thing to do is to identify if there is demand for your product on Amazon and see whether your product can compete in terms of pricing and features.
• Identify in which country you’re going to sell.
• Know if Amazon's right for your home country and once you’ve built some sustainable cash flow, use it as a backbone to support your expansion to other countries.
• Consider your budget for launching and do a long-term plan.
• You pay a 15% service fee to Amazon regardless of the kind of fulfillment you use but you end up paying 25-30% when you use FBA.
• Amazon makes sure that sellers provide quality service to customers.
• Your inventory capacity within Amazon warehouses is determined by your performance history.
• When you go out of stock on Amazon, you lose the momentum you’ve built.
• Once you launch on Amazon, you will most likely be at the bottom of keyword searches. Nobody will find you organically so you need to buy your way up with ads.
• Make sure that your products are good before doing Amazon. Use Vine to get good initial reviews.
• Doing things the right way will always be best.
• Work on your business, not your business.

Recommended App:
Monday https://monday.com/ 

Recommended Book:
The One Thing by Gary Keller and Jay Papasan
https://the1thing.com/book/ 

Today’s Guest:

Vincenzo Toscano is the CEO of Ecomcy, an Amazon brand management agency that specializes in successfully launching and scaling brands on Amazon. 

Connect and learn more about Vincenzo and Ecomcy here: 

Website:  https://www.ecomcy.com
LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/vincenzo-toscano-5411b289 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/vinctosc/
Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/vinctosc  

This month's sponsor is Triple Whale.  Triple Whale's powerful analytics platform clarifies your ad performance across channels, keeping you instantly in the know. Hit trytriplewhale.com/upgrowth and use our custom promo code provided on the link for 15% off today.