The Unofficial TikTok Shop Podcast with Jordan West

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Holiday sales are just around the corner, and we all need to be prepared. One of the most common questions asked is how to structure sales and discounts, and what are the most effective strategies to crush it leading up to and during this Black Friday.

In this second episode of the Black Friday series, Jordan West talks about what kinds of discounts to give and how those discounts should be executed. This episode has massive value, so buckle up and listen intently.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Tried and tested strategies should be implemented, whether it’s Black Friday or not.
• Apply the Rule of 100. If the average order value is under 100, promote your discounts as a percentage off. If the AOV is over 100, promote your discounts in dollar amounts.
• Don’t make your customers do extra work of remembering a code for their discount.
• Sitewide discounts always win versus the use of coupon codes, but combining these strategies works even better.
• Make sure your margins are set up to always be profitable while discounting.
• Bundling products results in a higher average order value (AOV) which equals higher profits.
• Give your VIPs something special like exclusive discounts or gated launches. Don’t do this by email. You can use SMS or announce it in the community.
• Gated launches are when you password-protect your site, and only allow VIPs the password to access the site. 
• Your relationship with your customers should be balanced.

Today’s Sponsor

HelpFlow provides 24/7 live chat and customer service teams to 100+ eCommerce stores. HelpFlow's team of agents maximize conversion by recovering checkout abandons, integrating with cart recovery emails, and helping engaged website visitors overcome what's stopping them from entering the checkout process.

Website: HelpFlow.com

Download HelpFlow's Free Resource - How to Predict and Save Cart Abandons with Live Chat at https://helpflow.net/mindful

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

What would you do if you had a revolutionary product that solves a real problem, but had to compete with snake-oil equivalents? 

In this episode, Dr. Zack Abbott, Founder and CEO of ZBiotics, talks about the world’s first-ever genetically engineered probiotics and how they marketed their first product. He shares how they found an unexpected audience that embraced their one-of-a-kind product.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• When you are deciding about your packaging, consider what your target market would prefer and the experience they will have.
• Zbiotics are marketed as an aid to assist in preventing the effects of a hangover, not to promote binge drinking.
• A good marketing strategy involves having a good product and word-of-mouth.
• Podcasts are incredibly useful to market products and, in ZBiotics’ case, finding a new market segment.
• Use discount codes and trackable links to help track the efficiency of podcast channel use.
• ROAS is a good measure if you’re short-term focused, but not for long-term.
• It’s important that who you’re advertising to is in line with the brand that they see for themselves.
• Growth should be sustainable, and the customers retained well.
• Create a customer experience that people fall in love with.
• Create a great product and a brand that people will really like.
• Great packaging makes people proud of sharing the product they use.
• Every single interaction with the customers is important.

Book Recommendation: Secrets of the Power of Negotiating
https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Power-Negotiating-15th-Anniversary/dp/1601631391

Today’s Guest:

Dr. Zachary Abott is the Founder and CEO of ZBiotics.

ZBiotics Biotechnology company genetically engineering probiotic bacteria to perform specific beneficial functions inside the body.

Connect and learn more about Dr. Zack and ZBiotics here:

Website: https://www.zbiotics.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zaabbott/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zbiotics

Today’s Sponsor

HelpFlow provides 24/7 live chat and customer service teams to 100+ eCommerce stores. HelpFlow's team of agents maximize conversion by recovering checkout abandons, integrating with cart recovery emails, and helping engaged website visitors overcome what's stopping them from entering the checkout process.

Website: HelpFlow.com

Download HelpFlow's Free Resource - How to Predict and Save Cart Abandons with Live Chat at https://helpflow.net/mindful

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

Abandoned carts mean lost sales. No one wants that. Did you know that there’s a way to prevent that and, more amazingly, to predict when a customer is going to abandon their cart?

In this episode, Jon Tucker, CEO at Helpflow, divulges the amazing strategies that his company uses to predict and prevent store cart abandonment. He talks about how his software observes patterns and strategically partners potential abandoners up with live chat agents to increase conversions instead of losing the customer. This is a mind-blowing episode, so be ready!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Attribution is tough, but chat is harder. It’s more complicated than other channels.
• Focus on live chats as a sales channel.
• Helpflow predicts if somebody's going to abandon their cart based on their patterns throughout the site and engages with them through a live chat before they abandon. 
• A chat invite bubble should be low-pressure, informal, and have perfect timing. Focus on helping the customer instead of pushing marketing.
• People abandon because of questions they have. There’s something that holds them back or confuses them.
• Send an SMS or E-mail that would generate another engagement after a customer abandons a purchase. Ask if they have questions.
• Poor chat experiences will cause the conversion rate to go down. Response time matters a lot.
• Every business is complex. You should have your processes dialed in.

Today’s Guest:

Jon Tucker is the CEO at HelpFlow.

HelpFlow provides 24/7 live chat and customer service teams to 100+ eCommerce stores. HelpFlow's team of agents maximize conversion by recovering checkout abandons, integrating with cart recovery e-mails, and helping engaged website visitors overcome what's stopping them from entering the checkout process.

Connect and learn more about Jon and HelpFlow here:

Website: HelpFlow.com
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jontuckerusa/
Download HelpFlow's Free Resource - How to Predict and Save Cart Abandons with Live Chat at https://helpflow.net/mindful

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

Our world needs more sustainability, but let’s face it, it’s more costly at first. Is it worth it?

In this episode, Paula Maldonado, Founder of vegan fashion brand Dauntless talks about how consumers view sustainable brands and how most consumers are very supportive of them. She also shares what works in their marketing and how they negotiated their way into Macy’s. Listen up and learn more about the sustainable market.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• 8 out of 10 consumers are willing to pay 35% more on average for sustainable brands.
• Instagram is good as a photo library of your products.
• Email is an excellent way to educate customers.
• Stick to what is working.
• It’s each company's responsibility to make a positive impact.
• Be ok to say no to a deal. If it doesn’t work, then don’t do it, even if it’s something big. It will hurt your brand.
• Just because it looks pretty doesn’t mean it will work.
• Look at your cost and margins. Having a small team with the right people is effective.

TODAY’S GUEST

Paula Maldonado is the founder of Dauntless.

Dauntless is a cruelty-free and sustainable fashion label founded in New York in Bogota, Colombia, with a responsible modern supply chain.  

Connect and learn more about Paula and Dauntless here: 

Website: https://dauntless-clothing.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulamaldonado/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dauntless_nyc/

Today’s Sponsor

HelpFlow provides 24/7 live chat and customer service teams to 100+ eCommerce stores. HelpFlow's team of agents maximize conversion by recovering checkout abandons, integrating with cart recovery emails, and helping engaged website visitors overcome what's stopping them from entering the checkout process.

Website: HelpFlow.com
Download HelpFlow's Free Resource - How to Predict and Save Cart Abandons with Live Chat at https://helpflow.net/mindful

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

Holidays are around the corner, and that means the Black Friday Sale is too. The question is, should you start your sale, too? And when is the best time to do so?

In this episode, Jordan West talks about when you should launch your Black Friday sale and how to arrange your holiday marketing calendar. He also gives some tips on how to prepare for these sales. Listen up, and let’s get holiday-sale ready!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Black Friday is when people spend more of their money than ever.
• Release new products specifically for people who are in gifting mode. 
• Be the feature menu for your customers, let them know what they can buy as gifts.
• Potentially launch some of your other sales earlier.
• If your sales are very steady and you’re doing great without any discounting, then just keep on going. You don’t have to incentivize with discounts.
• One practical reason to run some of your sales earlier is fulfillment. You don’t want to be caught up in the holiday nightmare.
• Prepare for your holiday sale by building your lists. 
• Email, SMS, messenger subscribers, and having a mobile app, all of these are going to help you when you launch your sale.
• Just because everybody is doing Black Friday Sale doesn’t mean you have to.

Connect with Jordan here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-west-marketer/

Today’s Sponsor

HelpFlow provides 24/7 live chat and customer service teams to 100+ eCommerce stores. HelpFlow's team of agents maximize conversion by recovering checkout abandons, integrating with cart recovery emails, and helping engaged website visitors overcome what's stopping them from entering the checkout process.

Website: HelpFlow.com
Download HelpFlow's Free Resource - How to Predict and Save Cart Abandons with Live Chat at https://helpflow.net/mindful

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

It’s one thing to grow an eCommerce store from scratch but recovering after losing more than half of your business is another matter.

In this episode, Byron Walker, author and CEO/Founder of Survival Frog, takes us on a journey of how he bounced back from what looked like the end of his business.  He shares how this experience that seemed so dim turned out to be a story of victory and helped him learn what he wouldn’t have learned otherwise.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Instead of discounts, opt to give free products instead. The benefit for the consumers is the same, but it will cost you less.
• Not all revenue is created equally. You have to check what it adds to the bottom line if it makes you more money or causes you to lose money.
• You need someone with expertise to take care of your books. If your revenue is in the millions, it may make sense to bring on a fractional CFO.
• Cash Flow forecasting is key to ensuring you know whether or not your business will last.
• Bring in as many customers as you can, even at break-even in paid marketing, and then monetize it with a lifetime value at the back end. Once customers are in your company’s ecosystem, you can keep selling.

TODAY’S GUEST

Byron Walker is the CEO and Founder of Survival Frog. He is also the author of the book Small Business Turnaround Plan.

Survival Frog is one of the largest e-commerce stores selling Survival & Outdoor gear to consumers and organizations. Originally selling info-products, Survival Frog now sells hundreds of physical products and has nearly 1 million customers throughout the USA. 

Connect and learn more about Byron and his company here: 

Website: https://www.survivalfrog.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/walkerbyron/

Book: https://www.amazon.com/Small-Business-Turnaround-Plan-Profitability-ebook/dp/B08ZJWNCYD

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

We know that good customer service goes a long way in resolving customer issues, but did you know that with the right strategy, it can vastly increase revenue as well?

In this episode, Laura Koerber from Gorgias talks about customer communication centralization and how it makes customer service more efficient. She also shares how this strategy can help not only with customer relations but also increase revenue. Listen up and check this level-up eCommerce help desk.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Centralizing all communication with customers saves you time from going through different tools when responding to them.
• 90% of customers today expect to be responded to immediately.
• Not responding to customers quickly can cause losing the opportunity for your customers to return and purchase more items from your business.
• Customers are expecting an immediate response, but they want something personalized, too.
• When agents can work through their customer inquiries more efficiently, they can spend more time on customers messaging from other channels that haven’t placed their order yet. This can drive more sales.
• Be where your customers are.

TODAY’S GUEST

Laura Koerber is part of the partnerships team at Gorgias.

Gorgias provides an integrated helpdesk for e-commerce brands, making it easy to deliver personalized support and automation across multiple channels. 

Connect and learn more about Laura and Gorgias here: 

Website: https://www.gorgias.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laura-koerber/

Email: [email protected]

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

If your cost per click is high, you have a problem with your ads. But how can you solve it if you don’t know where to look?

In this episode, Jordan West talks about diagnosing and looking for problems in your poor-performing ads. Tune in to this short but packed episode, and let’s start increasing that ROAS!

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Before Return of Ad Spend (ROAS), there are a lot of steps that lead up to a purchase. 
• Once you learn the fundamentals, it doesn’t matter what platform it is on.
• If the cost per click is incredibly high, you have an ad problem.
• The offer is not a discount. It is what problem your product is solving, and how your product can make someone's day better. 
• Have an attention-grabbing headline.
• Your image is the most important part. It has to be high contrast and attention-grabbing.
• Make sure people go to the right landing page.

Connect with Jordan here:

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-west-marketer/

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

We often talk about marketing, but the operations side of the business is equally important.

In this episode, Adam Hanin, Founder and Operating Partner of Commerce12, shares his extraordinary experience in his business during the pandemic, as well as operation efficiencies for E-Commerce businesses. Listen up, and let’s learn about business from another angle.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Running a website has a lot of different compartments and things that need to be addressed. You need to know what you are doing, and the cost structure involved to do it well.
• When you’re dealing with products with high turnover, it leads to more work.
• Any deal that you do must be mutually beneficial. 
• There comes a time when all your experiences and skillsets accumulate, and you will be able to use all that to create something extraordinary.
• Everything is somewhat a path, and every day that you are going down that path, you are learning. Be ready for your moment because you don’t know when it’s going to happen.

TODAY’S GUEST

Adam Hanin Founder and Operating Partner of Commerce12.

Commerce12 is a company that creates innovative e-commerce solutions to scale clients’ businesses. They conceptualize inspired and brand-friendly websites, powerful direct response tactics, and ingenious marketing methods. 

Connect and learn more about Adam and his company here: 

Website: https://commerce12.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/adam-hanin-94756117/

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply

Send us a text

Knowing and understanding your business's finances is one of the most important things that when business owners neglect, often leads to disastrous consequences.

In this episode, Kristy Gaton, CEO of STARTbrands, talks about the importance of knowing and understanding the numbers in your business to make the right decisions. She shares the numbers that you need to know and focus on as you plan the next strategies for your business. Listen up, and let’s start looking at these numbers.

KEY TAKEAWAYS FROM THIS EPISODE

• Knowing and understanding your numbers gives you the vision to make decisions and pivot when you need to pivot. 
• Owning a business is the evolution of the art of knowing how and when to pivot.
• Important numbers to know about: statement of cash flows, profit and loss, and balance sheet.
• You can’t make the right decisions without knowing your number.
• When you are in an unhealthy state, you will be spending way more money, time, and energy trying to get back your health.
• If you are purpose-driven, it’s authentic. It flows, and it’s easy, but you have to know your numbers.
• If you are not a numbers person, bring someone into your life who will walk you through that.

Book Recommendation: Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One by Dr. Joe Dispenza
https://www.amazon.com/Breaking-Habit-Being-Yourself-Create/dp/1401938094

TODAY’S GUEST

Kristy Gayton is a keynote speaker, productivity expert, author, businesswoman, podcaster, mom of 3 boys, active CEO to STARTplanner and STARTbrands, and owner of a cozy home host with North Georgia Escape, where others retreat too. She has devoted her life to providing hope for individuals looking to achieve balance, success, and happiness within their own lives. 

STARTbrands is a collection of brands with products, communities, and resources that helps to balance and focus on all the demands of life through systems, tools, and knowledge to succeed. 

Connect and learn more about Kristy and her company here: 

Website:
http://www.startbrands.com
https://startwithkristy.com
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristydickerson/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startwithkristy/?hl=en

We love our podcast community and listeners so much that we have decided to offer a free eCommerce Growth Plan for your brand! To learn more and how we can help, click here:

https://mindfulmarketing.co/growthplan-apply

If you've been paying attention and your brand is ready to GROW, apply now to be the one new brand we take on this month!

https://mindfulmarketing.co/apply