Have you worked with Influencers to grow your business? Or thought about doing it?

This episode spills the beans with a real-life case study on how Blenders Eyewear used "Influencers" to help them grow to mid 7 figures. We cover both the big picture of whether or not you should use influencers, as well as the nitty gritty behind the scenes of how to make it work.

Interview Highlights

• How do you track success?
• How do you find Influencers?
• How do you manage the process?
• How much do Influencers cost?

Links / Resources

• BlendersEyewear.com

As you know, Facebook changes quickly and this episode is designed to give you a flash briefing on what is currently working for our clients.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The current value of social proof (a Facebook hack)
• The Facebook Pixel's increasing IQ
• Large audiences and how they are changing the way you bid

Links / Resources

1. Foxwell Digital (Andrew's website)

My wife and I went on an extended working honeymoon through Asia for about 6 months and during that time recording episodes took a back seat. The good news is that we’re back and I have a bunch of solid episodes coming your way. This is our first episode in quite some time. Tune in to hear where we've been, what we have in store for the new show, and get to know my new podcast co-host, Andrew Foxwell. I'm excited to be back in the saddle and to bring you some of our best new training yet.

Links / Resources

1. Foxwell Digital (Andrew's website)

Drew Sanocki of Nerd Marketing joins Austin to discuss some advanced email marketing strategies for your ecommerce brand.

We go DEEP with some strategies that are working for 8-figure retailers including specific examples you can copy.

We also announce a very unique opportunity – [The 2-Day Brand Growth Implementation Intensive](http://www.brandgrowthexperts.com/intensive/) – a live event unlike anything you’ve attended before, hosted by Drew and Austin.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The big shift that turned Drew’s first big Ecommerce retailer around.
• The role email marketing has played in Austin’s Ecommerce career.
• The benefit of fixed costs in email marketing.
• Typical list management issues that Austin discovers while consulting.
• Benchmarks for desktop and mobile opt-in rates.
• Responding to pop-up concerns.
• Segmentation and targeting: sending the right messaging to the right customer at the right time.
• “Good dog” and “Bad dog” automated emails.
• The only thing holding companies back from succeeding with these strategies? They don’t actually implement them.
• Drew and Austin are hosting an intensive email marketing workshop.

Links / Resources

• 1Apply for a spot in Drew and Austin’s Intensive Email Marketing Workshop.
• NerdMarketing.com

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Want more results? Want to know how to get those better results through your Facebook ads, Instagram ads and other unique ways of retargeting to your audience?

Get a detailed step by step look at the process you need to go through to start retargeting for your ecommerce business. We'll show you how to use retargeting as an elegant tool to accomplish different goals at each stage of your sales funnel.

Michael is an expert in online ads and walks us through the terminology, how to use them, when to use retargeting and what you need to start doing when you're done listening to the show.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Advanced Retargeting Skills
• How to Think of your Funnel Differently.
• What TOFU, MOFU, and BOFU are.
• The right messaging to use in your funnels.
• How to better maximize social media ads
• Split your large list into several smaller lists.
• What is working right now for ecommerce businesses.

Links / Resources

• Search Scientist's Blog
• Traction by Gina Wickman
• OPTYMZER
• Click Here for the Transcript

Subscribe & Review

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The holiday season marks the height of competition for customer acquisition with the stakes rising as many online retailers rely on this time of year to make up for a lower sales year.

In this episode Erik Christiansen, CEO of Just Uno shares critical strategies on how to maximize your sales and prepare you for the holidays. He walks us through why it is important to focus on the concepts you have in place and not stop with one email but walking each customer through your entire sales funnel.

It’s important (especially in the holiday season) to shop your own website and go through the shopping cart experience – if you are not already doing it today have an exit offer before the customer leaves.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Boosting Conversions
• How to drive more sales over the holidays
• Take advantage of the new google algorithim
• Focus on your current strategies
• Difference between Pop-ups vs interstitials
• Think of your website no differently than you would a brick and mortar store.
• Ways to use engage with your customers
• What you need to know about Google approved “popups”
• Treat your desktop messages differently than your mobile messages

Links/Resources

• Justuno
• Shopify
• Example: Isle Surf

Subscribe & Review

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If you’re spending any money on Facebook, this episode is for you.

Andrew Foxwell goes deep into advanced Facebook advertising strategies that are working right now.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• What’s working right now on Facebook?
• What worked last year but is no longer working?
• The future of Instagram and how brands can use it
• Facebook video funnels and how to use them
• How much you need to spend to learn on Facebook
• What Facebook and Instagram will look like in 5 years
• How to create custom audiences that drive conversions

Links / Resources

• Foxwell Digital
• AdEspresso
• Facebook for Business
• Jon Loomer
• Jon Loomer Power Hitter’s Club
• Andrew Foxwell Twitter

Subscribe & Review

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What’s holding you back from reaching your goals? Chances are it’s you.

John O’Connor know how to help entrepreneurs and executives make major breakthroughs in their life. He shares some of his wisdom with us today.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to ACTUALLY get everything you want
• Foveal vision vs peripheral vision and how to use them to your advantage
• How to program your own mind in a way that ensures you’re successful
• Nootropic coffee
• Structuring your life for success
• The difference between Do. Have. Be and Be. Do. Have
• Why you need a coach
• How to avoid overwhelm and make decisions from a position of strength
• Why you should stop habits that are on autopilot

Links / Resources

• Kimera Koffee

Hear the wisdom corporate escape artist, Buck Rizvi has on growth vs fixed mindset, how to run 25 employees virtually from your own home office and the process of hiring those people.

How do you know when to keep moving forward on your current venture or business are you prepared for growth? When is it time to be done? Let go. Sell the business or just walk away?

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Why Buck believes in doing everything to maintain your reputation online
• How he’s started multiple mulit-million dollar businesses after the age of 40 years old
• Growth vs. Fixed Mindset
• How to hire people using something called “the frog-kissing method”
• When to start another business and when to keep pushing forward
• When to sell your business?
• Difference between running a 7 figure and 8 figure business
• Why he one time FedEx’d a $15,000 check to one of the most legendary copywriter’s of our time
• How he runs a team of 25 employees completely remote

Links / Resources

• Mindset by Carole Dweck
• Grit: The Power of Passion and Perseverance by Angela Duckworth
• Ice Age Meals
• I'm not Your Guru - Tony Robbins
• Sunbasket Meal Delivery

Ezra Firestone owns several seven-and eight-figure businesses. He shares his secret to dominating multiple markets, how to (instantly) upgrade your customers, and why you should never sacrifice your lifestyle.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to Implement Upselling
• Difference between Upselling, Down-selling and Cross-selling
• How you can use the above tactics to boost sales in your business
• 1 – Click Post Purchase Emails
• We go over Integrative Social Commerce and how it will change your online e-commerce business.

Links / Resources

• Smart Marketer
• Overcast App
•  SaneBox – Get Your Free Trial
• Evergreen
• Zipify
• Boom
• Bee Friendly

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available. 

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

107: ANALYTICS WITH YEHOSHUA COREN

 

 

Google Analytics ninja Yehoshua Coren is a master of both implementation and analysis, and discusses how to develop good Google Analytics habits in order to find actionable insights for your eCommerce business.

 

Why pay attention to Google Analytics?

Yehoshua points out that an eCommerce business owner can’t afford to not pay attention to Google Analytics, as it helps companies to think strategically about their goals, get good data to work with, and then dig into that data to gain insights. In short, you need data to set goals for improvement and then meet those goals by making thoughtful business decisions.

What should you be tracking for your business?

1. The conversion funnel: Know where people abandon their shopping carts.
2. Click-through rates on promo boxes.
3. Interactions with the customer support section and FAQ: A well structured customer support section can save money on phone and email support.
4. If you employ one-step check-out, track form abandonment and error messaging to figure out where you need to improve user experience for better engagement. (Note: To track errors, have your developers code directly into the file to send that data to Google Analytics.)

Good Google Analytics Habits

•  If your data looks wrong, it probably is wrong. Don’t assume that the numbers are always correct.
• Don’t waste time with aimless “data wandering.” Instead, come up with a hypothesis to verify against your analytics. This helps you to find insights.
• Don’t get stuck in Google Analytics’ standard metrics UI. Instead, pull out the data needed to create more meaningful metrics for your business and analyze it in a tool like Excel. Some key metrics to look at include: transactions per user, conversion rates by product, and revenue/profitability by channel.

And on a daily/weekly/monthly basis, he recommends the following:

Daily: Make sure nothing is out of whack. Check your Adwords spend and traffic. Look for strong changes in number of transactions or traffic sources. You can set custom alerts for some of these actions.
Weekly: Same as daily, and also spend a little more time looking at merchandising performance.
Monthly: Take a deep dive into landing page performance and measuring SEO.

What is propensity to buy?

Propensity to buy amounts to the following: how often are people viewing a product, how often they’re adding it to their cart based on that view, and how often they’re completing the purchase.
Yehoshua points out that an even better metric to look at is propensity for profit by product category or brand. He notes that the easiest way to take action on this data is to boost your ad spend accordingly to support those profitable products. He also recommends uploading your cost data (i.e. impressions, clicks and costs) to Google Analytics, and then using their tools to figure out where to invest your money.

Google Analytics is a wonderful tool, but it’s still just a tool. In other words, keep in mind that data in itself is worthless – there’s only value in how you use that data. It’s all about strategy and process, so figure out how to ask smart questions and find good answers.

Links / Resources

@AnalyticsNinja on Twitter

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe by clicking on either one of the subscribe buttons below:

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

“Profit in business comes from repeat customers, customers that boast about your project or service, and that bring friends with them.” – W. Edwards Deming

Today we’re going to be continuing our 3 part series on email marketing for ecommerce. This episode is going to focus on maximizing profit through generating repeat sales.

If you haven’t listened to the first two episodes I’d recommend you start there.

The Silent Power of Email Marketing Part 1: Generating Leads

The Silent Power of Email Marketing Part 2: Activating Subscribers

In this third episode, I’m going to be sharing 5 tips to help you gain more repeat customers.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Why you shouldn’t send an email until you determine what your ideal outcome is
• How to structure and build a win-back campaign
• What a VIP campaign can do for your bottom line
• How to cross sell your customers with complimentary products
• The power of an automated birthday campaign

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe by clicking on either one of the subscribe buttons below:

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

We're diving into email marketing this month, a topic that we all know we should focus on but rarely do.

You might have seen this but we recently sent out a survey and this was by far what you all wanted to learn more about so we're going to do a short series talking all about this over the next weeks (make sure to join the email list to stay up to date).

We'll talk about the 3 buckets of email marketing (prospects, subscribers, and customers) and how you should approach each segment.

Can't figure out how to turn a prospect into a subscriber? We'll dive into it around the 8 minute mark. Learn the framework you can use to create an irresistible offer and then how to get that in front of people. One of the best ways is a pop up.

We'll dive into the 4 different types of pop ups so you can figure out what is right for you.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The 3 buckets to focus on in email marketing.
• Ideas to better engage prospects.
• How to find your irresistible offer
• If you should use a pop up or not.
• 4 Different type of pop ups you can use.

Links / Resources

• JustUno.com
• Sumo.me is a really good value
• Optin Monster - By Syed Balkhi
• Bounce Exchange
• Optimonk.com
• ExitIntel.com

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe by clicking on either one of the subscribe buttons below:

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

We can talk about & analyze business all we want on this show, but at the end of the day the force of life is the drive for fulfillment; so start something that matters.

This episode is a celebration of our 100th episode together and we thought it was a perfect time to discuss how we were able to find and start something that mattered deeply to us, and how you can, too.

In this episode we open up about our process for finding and starting something that matters, the insights we've gained since our beginnings two years ago, and how this episode signifies major changes in the business and some smaller changes to this podcast.

It's one of the more authentic episodes we've done and we think it'll be able to help you figure out how to start something that matters...or recalibrate what you're already doing to make it matter more.

Thanks for joining us on episode 100!

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The two spiritual needs that humans need satisfied for lifelong fulfillment
• How to find something that matters before actually starting it
• How to actually start something that matters
• Why "finding a need and filling it" is the wrong way to go when you want to start something that matters
• Why the business you'll start won't be the business you have
• What we've learned in the process and how you can apply it to your business

Whether you're an experienced ecommerce store owner, or just getting started, knowing how to choose the best ecommerce platform for your business is crucial to your success.

When it comes to choosing a platform to build any business on, the best companies, like MVMT Watches, Heist, and Mizzen + Main, choose a platform based on what's best for them 5 years from now, not what's best today.

And if you're looking to start, or grow, an ecommerce business then making sure you have the right platform for your growth will be one of the most important business decisions you'll make.

Today's guest, Dylan Whitman of BVAccel, has been in the ecommerce space for 10+ years, which is like dinosaur years when it comes to ecommerce.

And when you consider his client list of Red Bull, Daymond John from Shark Tank, MVMT Watches, Heist, Mizzen + Main and more, then you know it's smart to heed his advice.

His past and present experiences with all types of ecommerce platforms will guide you in making the right decision for your business.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to choose the best ecommerce platform for your business.
• The differences between Magento, Shopify, Shopify Plus, and the other platforms available.
• How he would design his own ecommerce store based on the tests he's run for his clients.
• The next level beyond your virtual staffing foundation
• The biggest mistakes ecommerce store owners make and how to avoid them.

Links / Resources

• BVAccel's Website
• Dylan's Twitter
• Dylan's LinkedIn
• Ecommerce Influence Insider

It's not everyday that you can get advice for growing your ecommece business from someone who has built and sold a $20MM per year store by the age of 22.

But in this episode, that's exactly what we get. Mike Zhang is the original founder of Airsoft Megastore, an ecommerce site that was said to be generating $20MM in revenue per year at the time of it's sale in 2012.

What started off as a small eBay project for Mike ended up turning into a full-fledged ecommerce business, one that has garnered him numerous entrepreneurial awards including Bloomberg 25 under 25 and Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the year finalist.

He has a wealth of experience in ecommerce, and business in general, at the ripe old age of 25.

In this episode he lays out some of his best advice for growing your ecommerce business to where you want it to go.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• What it's like to get started in ecommerce at the age of 13
• How he grew Airsoft Megastore to $20MM
• How to incorporate systems into your business to eliminate wasted time and take your site to the next level
• What experiences he's taking from Airsoft Meagastore and how he's applying them to his new company, DripClub
• Mike's best advice to his 20 year old self and how you can use it when growing your ecommerce business

Links / Resources

• Mike Zhang LinkedIn
• Retail Ops
• Drip Club
• Ecommerce Influence Insider

Are you tired of the chasing down one-time transactions? Do you want more predictable revenue? Then a subscription ecommerce model might be what you need.

Just because you sell sunglasses or messenger bags or some other kind of apparel doesn't mean a subscription ecommerce model won't work for your business. In fact, it's quite likely that it will work for you...once you make a small mindset shift.

This is a special episode for us as it brings us back to our humble beginnings. Both of us planted our entrepreneurial roots and cut our marketing chops at Sean's company HUMAN Healthy Vending. Without this experience, we wouldn't have been able to successfully grow our business in the way that we have.

It's amazing how things come full circle now as we chat with Sean about how they've been able to take their healthy snack delivery business and apply the subscription ecommerce model to be able to grow 10x in just 9 months.

What's even more incredible is that they've taken an outbound sales team approach that you find in typical b2b/c businesses and applied it to ecommerce, which they credit much of their massive success to. It's a bit counterintuitive when you think about ecommerce in the typical way, but that's why this podcast is awesome.

It gave us a chance to learn of new, out of the box ways to grow an ecommerce company. 

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How and why they chose a subscription ecommerce model for their business
• Why content plays such a big role in their success and the detrimental risks you face not doing it in your business
• How to use an outbound sales team to grow a subscription ecommrece model business by 15x
• How to produce massive amounts of quality content without doing all the work yourself
• Why the "membership economy" is the future of ecommerce

How would it feel to go from working 14 hours per day 6 days a week to working 6 hours per day and not working Fridays? Working with a virtual staff can make that promised-land a reality.

If a self-proclaimed "micro-managing, pain in the butt boss" can do it, then so can you.

Virtual staffing is no longer considered a new concept thanks to Tim Ferriss's 2007 book "The Four-Hour Workweek", but knowing how to hire, train, and manage a fully functioning and efficient virtual staff seems like a new concept to many.

Lucky for us, Chris Ducker, the virtual staffing expert, joins the show to talk about working with a virtual staff, the type of mindset you need to build a virtual team, how to determine what your staff should be doing, how to take your business to the next level with virtual staffing, and much more.

Give it a listen and learn how you can go from 14 hour days to 6...and no Fridays.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to execute the "Three Lists to Freedom" exercise
• The one mindset shift you need to make to start working with a virtual staff successfully
• How building a virtual team has changed and where it's heading
• The next level beyond your virtual staffing foundation

Links / Resources

• Chris Ducker's Website
• Chris Ducker's Twitter
• Virtual Freedom Book
• Ecommerce Influence Insider

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

You might not be the right type of person to start an ecommerce business from scratch, so maybe you should buy an ecommerce business instead.

The amount of time, energy, money and sacrifice it takes to build a business from the ground up can be exhausting (we know first hand), so why not skip all of that and buy an ecommerce business that is already established?

To be honest, we never really considered the benefits of buying an already established business, but after talking with David Newell of FE International we've been convinced that buying an ecommerce business might actually be a better option than starting from scratch.

In this episode, David will cover the 4 main reasons why you should buy an ecommerce business, including a few reasons we never thought about and now have us considering it. He'll also cover the 6 areas you need to focus your due diligence process on so that you can make sure you're not getting hosed when negotiating with the seller.

Oh, and if you're thinking about selling this would be a great episode to listen to so that you know exactly how a buyer is thinking and the steps they're going to take (with the help of their broker) to make sure you business is legit and worth the investment.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The 4 reasons why you should buy an ecommerce business instead of starting one from scratch.
• How to know if you're type of person who should be buying
• The 6 key tenets to robust due diligence when buying an ecommerce business
• The biggest mistakes most first-time buyers make and how to avoid them
• How to find financing when you want to buy an ecommerce business

Links / Resources

• FE International
• David Newell on Twitter
• David's Advanced Guide to Buying

It's been about a year and a half since since we started the podcast and countless experts have joined the show to provide us with incredible insights into building a successful ecommerce business.

The question is, which ones should you be focusing on?

We thought it would be the perfect time take the thousands of ideas, tips, and tricks we've learned and flesh out the top 7 things we've learned about building a successful ecommerce business so that you can focus on the most important things now, while helping you better plan for your business's future. It was tough for us to choose just 7 so know that our recommendations here do not come lightly. [player]

Key Takeaways from the Show

• A breakdown of the top 7 things we've learned about building a successful ecommerce business
• The main difference between a real business and a job you created for yourself
• Predicting the end of most ecommerce businesses
• Why you're not as important to your business as you think (and why you want it that way)
• The traffic strategy that the biggest and best ecommerce companies use that you might be ignoring

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Today we're talking about risk and decision making.

In business and life entrepreneurs and must decide to take risks (or not take risks) and live with the impacts it has.

We're talking about an article from Bonobos.com CEO Andy Dunn called The Risk Not Taken and it's had a massive impact on our approach to risk and decision making and wanted to share it with you. Andy talks about everything from the role money has in risk to personal shame and embarrassment. It's something we all feel but rarely talk about in the conversation about entrepreneur-ism and life.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The role that risk plays in business and life.
• How to deal with the "Decision Elf"
• What to do when you feel like a fraud.
• The need to understand how well off we really are.

Links / Resources

• Andy Dunn

You finally found it…

…the answer to your ecommerce store’s growth problem and your video marketing conundrum.

At this point you know that video marketing is all the rage as YouTube and other video platforms continue to explode with opportunity to you grow your business. You know you should be capitalizing, but it feels like too big of a task to take on right now.

Video marketing requires a lot of effort to outline a video marketing campaign, write the video(s), film the video(s), edit them, upload them, promote them etc. Of course, you can always hire someone to do all that, but that gets expensive…and who knows if it’ll even work and show a positive ROI after all is said and done.

But there is a different way to do video marketing that could work very, very well for you.

It’s called YouTube Influencer Marketing and today’s guest, Emmanuel Eleyae of Satin-Lined Caps, has experienced the video marketing promised land…to the tune of $80k in revenuer PER month within just the first 9 months of being in business.

He was able to do ALL of this with YouTube and without creating a single video himself. In this episode he’s going to teach you exactly how he did it and how you can, too.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• What influencer marketing is and how works on YouTube
• The 3 stages to successful YouTube influencer marketing
• What makes YouTube influencer marketing right for your business
• How to measure YouTube influencer marketing ROI

Links / Resources

• Book on Positioning
• Emmanuel's Twitter
• Emmanuel's personal blog that documents his journey
• Satin-Lined Caps Website
• Emmanuel's Free Training Guide

If there's any online company that completely embodies the idea of an authentic online brand, it's Ugmonk. Customer loyalty to the brand is second to none and something all ecommerce brands should seek to emulate.

Jeff Sheldon, founder & designer, has taken a small side project and turned it into one of the most successful, most authentic online brands we've ever encountered or worked with.

His story is truly one of the most remarkable authentic online brand building stories out there today, and he walks us through the steps he took to grow his business from basically nothing to an "online household name" where customers rarely leave.

He explains to us how he created a loyal community of customers that rarely leave him, the early mistakes he made and how you can avoid them, how he built his authentic online brand without advertising, and his plans to take his business to the next level.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to create the most authentic online brand
• The early mistakes Ugmonk made and how you can avoid them
• Their shift in email marketing and the results it has produced
• How Jeff plans to grow Ugmonk moving forward & how you can use some of his ideas to move your business forward as well
• The one thing Jeff suggests you must do from the very beginning

Links / Resources

• ugmonk.com
• 1,000 True Fans from Kevin Kelly
• Klaviyo
• Ugmonk twitter
• Ugmonk Instagram
• Click Here for the Transcript

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Tommy Walker has written some of our favorite ecommerce content for some of our favorite sites over the past couple of years including ConversionXL and now Shopify Plus.

He has a wealth of knowledge about content marketing and shares with us his best strategies for establishing a system to generate a large amount of quality, effective content for ecommerce companies. He shares all in today's episode, take a listen.

Not every ecommerce company needs content marketing as a crucial part of their strategy. As Tommy puts it... I don't need an article about how to make my bed if I'm buying sheets online.

However, if part of your mission is to build a lifestyle brand surrounding your product then content needs to be a big focus for you as it builds community, loyal customers, and drives a lot of traffic when done right.

Tommy shares his personal 'code' (the one he's using for the Shopify blog he's now running) for successfully writing articles and hiring people able to create quality, effective content.

The key is to clearly define the audience you are addressing and what your brand stands for. With this in hand, you can hire great talent and give them the information they need to be able to write the content you expect in order to reflect your vision.

In this podcast we'll also cover an amazing workflow you can copy in order to manage content and writers just like Tommy does at Shopify. If you can run a system like this, you'll be able to consistently (and efficiently) knock out content that attracts great customers.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Why content marketing might not be right for your ecommerce company.
• How to hire writers for your content team.
• What you need to know about creating great content.
• Lifestyle brand vs Service oriented product.
• How to manage content production and independent writers.

Links / Resources

• Tommy on Twitter
• Shopify Plus Blog
• conversionxl.com 
• thrillist.com
• beardbrand.com
• Trello

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe. (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

We talk about building systems all the time, but how well do they actually hold up when you completely leave your business? It was time for us to "put our money where our mouth is".

We recently tested out how well our systems worked by sending by sending Austin to Asia and completely off the grid for 3 weeks. In this episode we talk about the results we experienced, what we learned, and what we failed at so you can make the necessary adjustments in your business and make your systems work for you.

Systems are vital because they provide the freedom to step and disconnect so you can live a life outside of your work and really enjoy what you're working on.

Ask yourself, what would happened if I left your business today for 4 days and didn't have any connection to internet or phone? What about 3 weeks?

If you get a small panic attack just thinking about it, then you need to create more and better systems. A business is only a business when you can step away and still make money while your gone and everything, for the most part, still operates seamlessly.

During this test we realized that it success comes down to mastering a few different areas including hiring, systemization, measurement, and shared vision. Of course there's more to it than just that so we'll cover it all in this episode.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• A breakdown of the mistakes we made, the good things we did and how you can use our experience to help you
• How the SOP's we've been developing over the past 9 months worked out.
• Why hiring an AMAZING team is crucial to success and some ideas on how to do it.
• How customization will prevent you from leaving your business and completely disconnecting.
• The misconceptions you have about your role and why you might not really be needed in your business (hurts, we know), but why you should want it that way

Links / Resources

• Interview with Andrew Foxwell
• The Amazing PooPourri Video
• Still using Mailchimp? Email Klaviyo today
• How to systematize.

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe. Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

If you're not driving more ecommerce sales with Facebook advertising then you're missing out on one of the best "demand generation" systems available to your business today.

Facebook advertising has been responsible for producing 2x, 3x, 4x even 10x returns on adspend for some of our clients...and if you're not getting that with what you're doing now, here's how you can start.

The person responsible for helping some of our clients see those kinds of returns is Facebook advertising expert and friend, Andrew Foxwell. Foxwell (we call him Foxy!) is one of the most revered Facebook marketers today.

He has worked with 8 figure+ businesses, a U.S. Congressman, our clients, and even us. This is episode is part two in a 2-part series that will teach you how to drive more ecommerce sales with Facebook.

Part one is an overview of Facebook advertising, what's possible, and we lay the foundation to becoming successful. In part two we'll dig in a bit deeper and show you how to sell for results with facebook advertising. 

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to structure Facebook advertising campaigns for success for your ecommerce store.
• The targeting power of Facebook and how to best use it to your advantage
• How to find the highest converting ad campaign in the shortest amount of time.
• How to a create large, highly-qualified "Lookalike" audience that generates sales on demand.

Links / Resources

• Facebook Advertising for Ecommerce Quick Start Guide
• Foxwell Digital
• Andrew on Twitter 

The man who stops advertising to save money is the man who stops the clock to save time.

If you're not driving more ecommerce sales with Facebook, you should be. If you are using Facebook to drive sales, you can do it better than what you're doing now.

Facebook advertising has been responsible for producing 2x, 3x, 4x even 10x returns on adspend for some of our clients. Most of the credit can go to Facebook advertising expert and friend, Andrew Foxwell.

Foxwell (we call him Foxy!) is one of the most revered Facebook marketers today. He has worked with 8 figure+ businesses, a U.S. Congressman, our clients, and even us.

This is episode is part one in a 2-part series that will teach you how to drive more ecommerce sales with Facebook. Part one is an overview of Facebook advertising and what's possible. We then lay the foundation to becoming successful. In part two we'll dig in a bit deeper and show you how to sell for results with Facebook advertising.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Why you need to be using Facebook advertising for ecommerce.
• The biggest obstacles to Facebook marketing success and how to avoid them.
• How to get 3x, 4x, 5x and up to 10x return on adspend with Facebook Advertising
• The first thing you need to do (or optimize) to succeed in driving more ecommerce sales with Facebook.

Links / Resources

• Facebook Advertising for Ecommerce Quick Start Guide
• Foxwell Digital
• Andrew on Twitter
• Mindset by Carol Dweck

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

If you've listened to parts one and two of this three-part series you should have a firm grasp on scrum, the methodology we use to help us do twice as much in half the time.

The final episode in this series will cover our personal experiences using the methodology, how we've modified it to fit our business, the things we're improving as we move along, and how we think you should apply it to your ecommerce company. Plus, we also have a special guest joining us, and he goes by the name "Master Splinter."

No, he's not a mutant rat.

The Scrum Methodology was originally designed for technical projects, but now it's being applied to business and it's been a smashing success for many.

Our own experience has been extremely positive. Our team is on the same page, we're doing the right things at the right time, and we're knocking out project after project weekly.

This episode is part three in a 3-part series about applying the scrum methodology to innovate with disciplined execution while getting twice as much done in half the time.

Tim Francis is the guest on the first two episodes in this series. He is a Scrum "master" so to speak and he taught us the ins and outs of the process. In the first two episodes of this series he outlines what scrum looks like and how you can use it in your business.

Part one is an overview of the methodology, part two is how to execute the methodology, and part three is a review of how we implement scrum into our business and how you can apply it to yours.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How scrum can help anyone do twice as much in half the time
• Why and how the scrum framework applies to ecommerce
• A complete breakdown of the 5 essential components of successful scrum implementation
• The most inefficient way to get projects done

Links / Resources

• “Get Twice As Much Done In Half The Time with Scrum” Process Map & Resource Links
• BOOK - Mindset the New Psychology of Success

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Getting twice as much done in half the time seems like a fantasy, but it can become a reality if you're using the scrum methodology.

If you're looking for the silver bullet to increase productivity, this could be it for you, it has been for us.

The Scrum Methodology was originally designed for technical projects, but now it's being applied to business and it's been a smashing success for many.

Our own experience has been extremely positive. Our team is on the same page, we're doing the right things at the right time, and we're knocking out project after project weekly.

Tim Francis is the guest on the first two episodes in this series. He is a scrum "master" so to speak and he taught us the ins and outs of the process. In this series he's going to outline what scrum looks like and how you can use it in your business.

This episode is part two in a 3-part series about applying the scrum methodology to innovate with disciplined execution while getting twice as much done in half the time.

Part one is an overview of the methodology, part two covers how to execute the methodology, and part three is a review of how we implemented scrum into our business and how you can apply it to yours.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How scrum can help anyone do twice as much in half the time
• Why and how the scrum framework applies to ecommerce
• A complete breakdown of the 5 essential components of successful scrum implementation
• The most inefficient way to get projects done

Links / Resources

• “Get Twice As Much Done In Half The Time with Scrum” Process Map & Resource Links
• Profit Factory
• Tim Francis Twitter

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

It seems like we're all looking for the silver bullet when it comes to getting more done in our business. Look no further. There is a methodology that will help you do twice as much in half the time.

Too good to be true? We thought so, too...until we implemented it. Now our team is producing more work, at higher quality, and in much less time. And so can you.

The Scrum Methodology was originally designed for technical projects, but now it's being applied to business and it's been a smashing success for many.

Our own experience has been extremely positive. Our team is on the same page, we're doing the right things at the right time, and we're knocking out project after project weekly.

Tim Francis is the guest on the first two episodes in this series. He is a scrum "master" so to speak and he taught us the ins and outs of the process.In this series he's going to outline what scrum looks like and how you can use it in your business.

This episode is part one in a 3-part series about applying the scrum methodology to innovate with disciplined execution while getting twice as much done in half the time. Part one is an overview of the methodology, part two is how to execute the methodology, and part three is a review of how we implement scrum into our business and how you can apply it to yours.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How scrum can help anyone do twice as much in half the time
• Why and how the scrum methodology applies to ecommerce
• The 5 essential components of successful scrum implementation
• The most inefficient way to get projects done

Links / Resources

• "Get Twice As Much Done In Half The Time with Scrum” Process Map & Resource Links
• Profit Factory
• Tim Francis Twitter

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Warren Buffett once said that, in business, he looks for "economic castles protected by unbreachable moats."

If the Oracle of Omaha was considering buying your ecommerce store, would he see an "unbreachable moat" surrounding your business?

Here are the 8 essential elements for an "unbreachable moat" in ecommerce so that you can create one to help you sell your site at maximum price.

In the previous two episodes, Jock Purtle of Digital Exits taught us how to value your ecommerce business and then how to sell it for max value.

He mentioned various ways to sale-proof your business (the moat), how to raise its real and perceived value, and then how to sell it.

In this episode we pull everything all together and help you build your moat based on Jock's recommendations AND from what we see our top 7-8 figure clients doing to build their unbreachable moat.

This is episode is part three in a 3-part series about valuing and selling an ecommerce store. Part one is “How To Determine What Your Ecommerce Business Is Worth” and part two is “How To Sell Your Ecommerce Store For Maximum Price”.  

Key Takeaways from the Show

• 8 things you need to do to sell your site at maximum price
• The risks of playing in the same sandbox as Amazon and how to survive the sand fight
• The only 2 functions that any business has
• How your site's potential impacts it's value (you might be surprised)

Links / Resources

• DigitalExits.com
• Free Ecommerce Email Income Projections Report
• Work the System
• Taylor Pearson

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

If you listened to last week's episode about how to value an ecommerce business then you're ready to find out what you need to do to sell your ecommerce store for maximum value.

Just like any other large sale there is a right and a wrong way to sell, and you definitely don't want to be leaving money on the table when it comes to selling your business.

We've had a few ecommerce companies come to us recently about selling their business. They've come to us with questions about determining value and how to sell it for maximum value, but we didn't' know how to answer their questions.

Because of our lack of expertise we brought Jock Purtle of Digital Exits onto to the show. He'll not only explain to us how to determine a store's value but then he'll explain to us how sell it for maximum value.

This is episode is part one in a 3-part series about valuing and selling an ecommerce store. Part one is "How To Determine What Your Ecommerce Business Is Worth", part two is "How To Sell Your Ecommerce Store For Maximum Value", and part three is "The 8 Essential Components Needed To Sell Your Site At Maximum Price"

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The sales criteria you need to know to know to sell your ecommerce store for maximum value
• Learn what a prospectus is and how to create an accurate for your business
• How to negotiate the best deal for your store
• How to problem-proof the sales process
• The best way to find buyers when selling your ecommerce business

Links / Resources

• The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Ecommerce Business for Maximum Value
• DigitalExits.com

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Have you ever wondered what your ecommerce business is worth? Do you know the right valuation criteria and process to make sure you don't undervalue your store, or price too high?

No worries, everything you need to know is right here in this post and episode.

We've had a few ecommerce companies come to us recently about selling their business. They've come to us with questions about determining value and how to sell it for max price, but we didn't' know how to answer their questions.

Because of our lack of expertise we brought Jock Purtle of Digital Exits onto to the show.He'll not only explain to us how to determine a store's value but then he'll explain to us how sell it for maximum value.

This is episode is part one in a 3-part series about valuing and selling an ecommerce store. Part one is "How To Determine What Your Ecommerce Business Is Worth", part two is "How To Sell Your Ecommerce Store For Maximum Price", and part three is "How To Prepare Your Ecommerce Business To Sell At Maximum Value"

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The most popular valuation methods used for selling an ecommerce business and which one you should use.
• The criteria for determining what your ecommerce business is worth
• How to determine the valuation multiple to use when valuing your ecommerce business.
• The biggest mistakes ecommerce business owners make when determining their store's value.

Links / Resources

• The Ultimate Guide to Selling Your Ecommerce Business for Maximum Value
• DigitalExits.com

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

The most successful ecommerce business owners understand the characteristics of abundance & scarcity thinking, and they know how to only think in terms of abundance.

Our largest and best clients use abundance thinking to lead them to more success, joy and fulfillment, while the others with scarcity thinking tend to have more failure, fear and discontent.

We’re talking about this today because it’s something we’ve been purposefully focusing on to help us maintain excitement, energy and joy while we build our business.

Plus, research has recently shown us that a person’s success is directly related to his or her mindset.

We now know that much of your success hinges on whether you believe that “there is always more where that came from” or “there will never be enough”...and the variations of them, i.e. abilities can be developed vs. fixed.

We’re going to discuss the characteristics of each kind of thinking, what we see most often in our top ecommerce clients, and then how you can apply it to yourself as you build your ecommerce business.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The difference between abundance thinking and scarcity thinking
• How our largest and best clients use abundance thinking to lead them to more success, joy and fulfillment
• The top 8 characteristics of abundance thinkers (and a bonus)

Links / Resources

• Episode 55
• No One's Gonna Remember You When You're Gone - Scooter Braun Article 

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Overachievers typically work just as much and just as hard as super-achievers but, unfortunately, they usually achieve much less.

The question is, do you know the single element that separates you from the other?

Last week's guest, Taylor Pearson, is someone we consider a super-achiever and he knows what it takes become one.

After reading 188 books on entrepreneurship he was able to identify the one single element that separates the best from the rest, and he's explained what that single element is, why it's mandatory, and the simple two-step process to mastering it.

This episode is a reading of his blog post.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The single element to becoming a super-achiever
• Understanding and implementing The Buffet Principle
• How to micro the macro (and what that means, exactly)
• The simple 2-step process the most effective individuals use to become super-achievers
• The difference between FOMO and JOMO and which one you should be

Links / Resources

• Episode 55
• Taylor's Blog Post

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

It's another in-depth fireside chat where we discuss the mindset you need to adopt about productivity and the how this mindset will help you do more with less.

Taylor Pearson, as he says it, is a “systems-obsessed entrepreneur, marketer, and philosopher” who has spent a lot of time helping companies during the growth phase by showing them what they should be focusing and what they should stop doing

Taylor says that he was “built to trudge” and he'll share some of his best ideas on how anyone can overcome shiny object syndrome to make sure you’re staying on task and most productive.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Taylor's new book competition
• Learn how to stay focused and overcome shiny object syndrome.
• Why the 80/20 rule applies to this conversation on productivity.
• How Taylor thinks about SOPs and how it can help you.
• How “black swans” affect the future of business.

Links / Resources

• Taylor's website
• Ecommerce Fuel live event
• Book - EMyth
• marksdailyapple.com
• Book - Art of Learning
• Book - Built to sell

Links / Resources

• Hiring analysis we mentioned last week
• Book - EMyth

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

It’s time to transition out of your small business mindset and begin to see your business as an organization, segmented by roles and filled by role-specific people.

Even though you’re just one person, you’re likely filling multiple roles in your business. Learn how to seperate them, how they all fit together and what to do once you figure it all out.

As we’ve been growing we’ve realized some conflict in tasks we were doing and how it impedes day to day workflow. By establishing roles and understanding who fills what role you can see what you need to be doing - and, more importantly, NOT doing.

By bringing definition to your business you’ll find the inefficiencies and create a better work environment for yourself and your employees.

This episode is really inspired by the book E-myth by Michael Gerber and we share some of the strategies that have been working best for us.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to identify the many hats you wear in your business and fitting them to the right role.
• Specific tips you can take action on that we’ve been implementing.
• The difference between fitting the role to the talent and fitting the talent to the role and which one is right.
• How to create an organizational chart that supports your growth and achieves your vision.

Links / Resources

• Hiring analysis we mentioned last week
• Book - EMyth

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Improving your hiring mindset, knowing what to hire for, and knowing how to hire only 'A' players are the keys to growing your business while gaining freedom at the same time.

The first step is to figure out what you're currently doing day to day...and what you shouldn't be doing at all.

After that you need to have the right hiring process to help you hire the right people to take over those tasks. From there it's automating, eliminating, and delegating everything that's not critical to the growth of your business.

And remember, even some of the things that you think are critical probably aren't.

Going through this worksheet will be an eye opener for you, and can help you drastically improve your hiring mindset, hiring process, and especially your business.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to have the right hiring mindset.
• The amazing thing that happens when you become comfortable with others being better or smarter than you at completing your tasks.
• The exact process we've gone through to hire only 'A' players to grow our business.

Links / Resources

• Let us know how we're doing! Podcast [at] ecommerceinfluence.com
• Episode with Tim Francis
• Hiring 'A' Players
• Book - Top Grading

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

We came to the somewhat-shocking conclusion that nearly 70% of our business comes from referrals...the easiest, cheapest, and most qualified acquisition channel in any business, including ecommerce.

When trying to grow your business you have to make some crucial decisions around client acquisition and where to focus. Referral marketing is often an area that is overlooked or taken for granted.

And if you're not getting at least 25% of your business from referral marketing then you're leaving a lot of money on the table.

It’s amazing what you can miss when you don’t analyze where your clients and your best ROI come from. When you do you can realize you’re missing out on some major wins.

In today’s show we’re going to share what happened when we realized that 70% of our business comes referrals, and how you can apply what we learned to your ecommerce store to ensure referrals make up at least 25% of your revenue.

Austin runs through an effective and simple referral plan that you can implement and we'll provide access to one of his referral marketing presentations that breaks down the "art & science" of referral marketing even further.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• What we just learned about our client acquisition
• How you can implement a similar referral model into your ecommerce business.
• Why gift cards aren’t devaluing your brand.
• How to start partnering with companies. (and why it makes sense)

Links / Resources

• Episode with Amy Africa
• Episode with Avinash Kaushik
• Talkable
• Klaviyo

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Having a business partner can be the best decision you ever make for your business, or it could be the worst if you don't know how to choose wisely.

We have now been formal business partners for over a year and recently we hit a rough patch in our relationship professionally and personally. 

But just like any great "real life" marriage that builds it's foundation on the principle of clear, constant, and honest communication we've been able to navigate rough waters and push forward to help our company grow.

With the experiences we've had in our partnership in recent weeks we decided it'd be a great time to open up our relationship, tell you why and how we chose to partner with each other, and how we've been able to make our "marriage" last this long and for, what we hope will be, many more years to come.

Use our experiences to find the right partner for you or improve the current one you have.

Key Takeaways

• What business was like before and after partnering and why we believe finding a business partner is best for your business growth.
• The 7 criteria you can use to help you choose the right business partner.
• 4 must-know tips to maintaining your partnership for the long haul.
• An on-air, non-scripted, authentic & honest assessment of each other in our partnership.

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

We start a business because we want more freedom...but we often find ourselves with quite the opposite.

There are a lot of easier ways to make money than starting a business, but we don't typically start a business for the money. We start them for the freedom a successful business can bring.

Yet we often find ourselves just trying to make it through the ups and downs, the highs and lows, the slow times and the overwhelming times, all of which make it feel like we're always in that dreaded "survival mode".

In this episode we're going to discuss when we, personally, are stuck in survival mode, what it feels like for us, and how to get out of it, including our best tips, tricks, and habits for maximizing your mindset so you can better handle your business, your family, and other personal obligations.

Having the right entrepreneurial mindset is what keeps us going forward, but sometimes it's easier said than done. We can help.

If you don't change your mindset...don't expect to see different results.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Where we’re at with Ecommerce Influence.
• Why mindset has such a critical role in the entrepreneurial journey.
• The most important piece of advice that Richard Branson gives and what that means for you.
• What you should eliminate from your life and why.

Links / Resources

• Article by Taylor Pearson that we mention

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

The "Tim Ferriss Effect" is REAL according to Mizzen+Main's founder Kevin Lavelle. So real in fact, that sponsoring Tim's podcast has been the single greatest decision he's ever made to grow the company.

Kevin Lavelle is the founder of Mizzen+Main, which manufactures American made, moisture wicking, wrinkle free dress shirts.

Happy customers include pro athletes, successful CEO’s, and notable celebrities such as Tim Ferriss.

Mizzen and Main received $1.2 million in funding last August and Kevin says he plans to use the new funding to raise brand awareness and grow sales of Mizzen+Main clothing online, via select retail relationships and creative pop-up shops and trade shows, amongst other things.

Kevin’s joined us to tell his story and teach us what he’s learned from his experiences buying ads in Esquire, getting $1.2 million in funding, and sponsoring The Tim Ferriss show.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• What to do if you're considering raising money for your ecommerce company.
• Why the "Tim Ferriss Effect" is real and how to test the waters of podcast sponsorship to see if it makes sense for you.
• What he's doing to grow his ecommerce business to $10mil+

Links / Resources

Mizzen and Main website Kevin on Twitter Kevin's Articles on Medium Tim Ferriss Podcast

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

The impending death of traditional retail has been predicted numerous times in recent past, but in 20 years of ecommerce in the US only two ecommerce companies of meaningful value have been created: Amazon and Ebay.

Ecommerce is no longer about throwing up a quick store and sourcing from Alibaba, hoping to ride the "ecommerce gravy train" to riches.

It’s about building a real business, a brand, that is going to last through the turbulence of an ever-changing internet and retail world and takes you into the next ecommerce world we’re heading into.

The problem is, "ECommerce Is A Bear"...a big gnarly one. One that can crush you.

Today's episode is a reading of an article by one of the smartest, most successful ecommerce brand owners, Andy Dunn of Bonobos.

In this episode he talks about four specific strategies to help you build a brand that can "fend off" the grizzly (a few of which we've been talking about a lot lately). It’s really a culmination, a summary, of what we’ve been teaching you over the past 70+ episodes of Ecommerce Influence.

"In two decades of e-commerce in the US, we have produced only two standalone e-commerce companies of meaningful enterprise value: Amazon and eBay. One went public in 1997, the other in 1998. We haven’t had an IPO of an e-commerce company that has gotten to a two billion of market cap in fifteen years, let alone double digit billions."

Links / Resources

• Sam Mallikarjunan, Hubspot – Why The Ecommerce “Gravy Train” Is Coming To An End, And How To Keep Riding It With Inbound Marketing
• The article we read in this show

Subscribe & Review

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Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

Follow on Twitter:

Follow @chadvanags

Follow @a_brawn

We all understand that hiring great people is critical to your ecommerce success, yet too many businesses have a revolving door of unreliable and subpar freelancers. You can stop that revolving door today because we’re going to teach you how to hire fantastic and reliable freelancers for your ecommerce company in only 4 simple steps.

An essential part of any business is the team that you surround yourself with. In the world of online business, specifically ecommerce, we’re seeing too many companies taking shortcuts and not creating a team that will last.

We’ve spent years making mistakes when hiring freelancers on Elance and Odesk, but along the way we’ve developed a system that has helped us hire ONLY 'A' players...and it has made all the difference.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The 4 steps to hiring 'A' players on Elance.
• The issues that commonly show up when hiring off of Elance.
• Why this is so important for ecommerce companies.
• We’ll cover the exact strategy we use to write an effective job description.
• The results we’re seeing from implementing this system in our business.

Links / Resources

• Top Grading
• Hiring A Players Article
• Example Google Survey
• Elance - The job hiring site we’re focused on.

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Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Does confidence actually mean you’re reaching a plateau? Is that uncomfortable feeling really the best place to be in your life and in your business? In this conversation we talk about the difference between confidence and courage why you need one over the other to get you where you're trying to go.

We've come to a place in our business where we've had to make some tough decisions, decisions that can take us from a place we're very comfortable with to a place of discomfort but has the potential for massive growth.

We want to share with you the mindset shifts we've been going through and hopefully you'll come away with some ideas for you, personally, and your business.

If you like this new kind of episode make sure to let us know on Twitter or email us at chad [at] ecommerceinfluence.com

Key Takeaways from the Show

Links / Resources

10x Talk Podcast - Entrepreneurial Addiction

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Austin & Chad!  

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Every single day 40 Super Bowls happen on YouTube, yet only 1% of companies know the formula to success with TrueView ads. Video is the closest thing to having a face to face conversation with your potential buyer without being there, and this interaction is your ticket to free traffic, higher conversions, and increased value per conversion...oh, and to stealing customers from your competitors.

Jake Larsen’s passion for video-making lead him to TV Advertising in LA, where he worked behind the scenes with FOX Entertainment on TV shows like 24, American Idol and House.

It was here that he started to notice a massive change happening in video advertising.

People’s eyes and ears weren’t where they used to be, they were shifting from TV to Online Video.

Jake started Video Power Marketing, a video production / advertising agency that helps people capture attention, drive traffic and increase sales using YouTube Advertising.

He has played with millions of dollars of ad spend figuring out the formula that makes getting an ROI on your ad spend possible, and he's been able to create automated money-making machines where $1 of ad spend goes in, and $7 in sales come out.

With all of his success Google asked him to be a YouTube Marketing Ambassador, which is awarded to only 10 companies in the world.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The 2 types of TrueView ads, their differences, and which one is best
• How to steal leads from your top competitors
• The formula for getting free leads using TrueView ads
• Why ultra competitive niches are where companies find the most success
• The one question you need to ask when building your first ad

Links / Resources

VideoPower.org

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Austin & Chad!  

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Have you ever wanted to take a just a week off from running your business? But you never take the time off because you're worried that you'll come back to a business ablaze with fires that stall your growth. Worry no more. Tim Francis is going to teach you how to develop systems that allow you to leave your business, sometimes completely detached, and come back to a company fully intact...and still growing strong.

Tim is an expert at developing systems that actually work.

In 2013, he began systemizing his main business, Tim Francis Marketing, and revenue grew by a staggering 50% in just 3 months, AND he cut his workload by about 20 – 25%...starting an incredible journey into mastering the art and science of building systems for businesses.

Realizing there was a huge need to help small business owners systemize their businesses, Tim decided to launch ProfitFactory.com in Fall 2014 to help other business owners create systems in their business to help them make more money while doing less.

We’ll walk through how to get started and how to decide which tasks to start eliminating, delegating, and automating...and why Tim says “You need to completely give up your email inbox!“

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to develop systems that start eliminating, delegating, and automating your business.
• How to hire the right assistant you can trust.
• The process to hire and onboard new team members.
• Common problems with system sheets and process documents.
• Understanding SRT and SCRUM for small businesses.

Links / Resources

• profitfactory.com/
• timfrancismarketing.com/
• Perfect Job Posting
• The site Tim uses to find assistans http://hiremymom.com/

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Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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The newest online "Gold Rush" is happening right now, and it's picking up steam. Pinterest is mysterious to some, to others its marketing potential is still to be determined. When you listen to today's episode you will no longer have any questions about the power of Pinterest marketing to bring more free traffic, generate more sales, and connect better with customers.

Anna Bennett is the owner of White Glove Social Media, co-founder of True North Marketing, and is THE Pinterest marketing expert. Just type into Google “pinterest marketing expert” she’s the top one that comes up...and google’s never wrong.

Anna is the author of Pinterest Marketing For Business Master Online Course and has been featured in Forbes Magazine.

Her goal is to help you create, improve or integrate the power of Pinterest to grow your business bigger and faster and to have some fun along the way!

Oh, and Anna dazzled as an international beauty pageant winner a few years back, pretty sweet.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How and why Pinterest marketing is more effective than any other social media channel for driving traffic and converting more visitors into customers.
• Why you need to incorporate Pinterest into your email marketing.
• How Pinterest ads work, and how to make them work for you.
• The types of brands that should be prioritizing Pinterest Marketing and why
• Why Pinterest users actually embrace branded content, unlike Facebook and Twitter users, and what that means for your ecommerce brand.
• How Pinterest earns an additional 30% in paid media for free

Links/Resources

• White Glove Social Media
• Anna's Twitter
• Pinterest Marketing for Business (Anna's Master Course)

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Austin & Chad!  

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Every entrepreneur goes through it. It could be because you're getting too many sales, or it's because you're not getting enough sales. It’s that horrible feeling of being stuck, that you just can’t get through the weeds and everywhere you turn it's another dead end and you're putting out fires. It's the wrath of entrepreneurial chaos.

This episode is a story from our past, but it’s a problem we've seen so many companies experience, and it's a story that you can relate to.

The best part is, once you understand the problem and realize that there is a way out, you can begin to implement the systems your company needs to emerge from the entrepreneurial chaos.

By talking through this story we’ll hit on several of the common problems and solutions that come along with starting, running, and growing an ecommerce business.

One of the biggest things we see ecommerce owners missing out on is setting up solid marketing automation from the very beginning.

It’s the piece of your business that will help you finally get to the point where you really are “making money while you sleep”.

We’re going to run through an example of how we’re doing this for a client of ours. It’s a model that we think you can easily apply to your business no matter what industry you’re in or the type of product you sell.

The Story We Told

#1 - A Passionate Beginning

#2 - An Overwhelming Growth

#3 - Staring Into The Eyes Of The Entrepreneurial Beast

#4 - Slaying The Beast

#5 - The New Normal

#6 - How You Can Too

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Austin & Chad!  

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If you're looking for qualified customers who are ready to buy, but you're not yet using Google Shopping, then you might be missing out on untapped traffic and the hottest potential buyers on the interwebs.

Brett is an online marketer, eCommerce strategist, and speaker.

The majority of his time is spent running his agency, Online Marketing Giant, and leading an amazing team of talented marketers at Classy Llama that specialize in search engine marketing, search engine optimization (SEO), web development, marketing strategy, and branding.

He has a passion for helping entrepreneurs grow their businesses through creative marketing efforts. As a certified Guerrilla Marketing Coach and eCommerce marketing enthusiast Brett is a frequent speaker at business functions across the US.

"If your SEO company says they can't tell you what they're doing because it's proprietary stuff - fire them. Proprietary doesn't exist any more." - Brett Curry

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Why SEO is not dead, it’s just evolved
• Why Google shopping is the premier product advertising channel for merchants
• Tips, tricks, and hacks to optimizing products for Google Shopping Ads
• How to make sure your SEO foundation is set up properly
• When to know if it's time to fire your SEO company
• How to preserve your SEO during a platform/site migration.

Links / Resources

• Classy Llama
• Llama Commerce
• SEMRush
• Google.com/merchants

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Despite the fact that ecommerce has grown 20% year over year, the ecommerce "gravy train" will be coming to a halt very soon for many ecommerce companies. If you want to keep riding then it's time to start investing in better experiences that provide value before asking for it.

Sam Mallikarjunan is the Head of HubSpot Labs and the author of the book "How To Sell Better Than Amazon".

HubSpot is an all-in-one inbound marketing and sales platform that helps companies attract visitors, convert leads, and close customers.

He is an expert ecommerce marketer and understand customer lifecycle marketing more than most thanks to his experience with inbound marketing at Hubspot.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The ecommerce gravy train is coming to an end.
• Why cart abandonment shouldn't be considered a bad thing...if you do it right.
• What closed loop attribution means and why you need to track it
• Why customers who abandon carts actually spend more than those who don't.
• What the greatest threat to marketing is, and why it's actually the greatest asset.
• How Berretta succeeds at selling firearms online, even though they can't sell firearms online.

Links / Resources

• Hubspot's State of Inbound Report
• Sam's Personal Site
• Sam's Twitter

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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We can think of very few things more important for an ecommerce business owner than determining what a customer is worth to an organization over their business lifetime, and there is no one better in the world at calculating customer lifetime value than Peter Fader.

Peter Fader is Professor of Marketing at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and the author of Customer Centricity: Focus on the Right Customers for Strategic Advantage.

His expertise centers around the analysis of behavioral data to understand and forecast customer shopping/buying activities and calculating customer lifetime value.

He works with firms from a wide range of industries, such as consumer packaged goods, interactive media, financial services, and pharmaceuticals.

Fader's work has been published in a number of leading journals in marketing, statistics, and the management sciences, and he serves on the editorial boards of many of them.

In 2009, Fader was named a "Professor to Watch" by the Financial Times.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Stop using weak proxies to determine CLTV
• Finding your growth through your customers
• Responsiveness is not customer centricity
• Why Apple is not customer centric, but Harrah's entertainment is
• What customer lifetime value ISN'T
• The "Holy Trinity" of customer lifetime value
• Raising your quantitative literacy
• Learn the "Buy Till You Die" customer lifetime value model

Links / Resources

• Buy Till You Die Model
• Peter's Wharton Profile
• Peter's Book

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously and we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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With costs always on the rise, and the "highs" from marginal success being short-lived, ecommerce companies need to moderate (maybe even eliminate) the pay per click addiction that could sink their business.

Tom Schwab is founder and owner of Goodbye Crutches, the largest online distributor of direct to patient Durable Medical Equipment focused on serving those who can’t bear weight and can’t bear crutches.

He definitely knows how to build an online business with an Inbound Strategy. Tom led the growth of Goodbye Crutches from a regional player to a national leader in under 3 years.

Tom is the leader of the eCommerce Hubspot user group, has been featured in many industry leading publications, and is often a guest expert on podcasts, radio shows, and more.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Creating content with a purpose
• How to monopolize the keywords in your industry
• Using inbound marketing to sell any product
• Breaking down the bias against inbound marketing

Links / Resources

• Inbound for Ecommerce 
• Tom's LinkedIn 
• Goodbye Crutches
• Inbound Marketing Book 
• Tom's Twitter

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe. Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes. Cheers, Austin & Chad!   Follow on Twitter: Follow @chadvanags Follow @a_brawn

Customer comparison shopping is inevitable online. With the likes of Amazon and other major retailers doing everything they can to steal your customers through pricing-cutting and comparison shopping you need to pull out all the stops to keep them loyal.

T. J. Gentle and Andrew Scarbrough are co-founders of PriceWaiter, a tool that allows ecommerce companies to keep more customers by providing simple and private price negotiations for online stores.

 Personalization in all aspects of the online buying experience is now one of the most talked about topics in ecommerce, and T.J. and Andrew are going to share how they’ve been able to 5x their sales thanks to their focus on customer personalization using the PriceWaiter tool.  

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Creating the benefits of a brick and mortar sales person online
• Eliminate price comparison shopping once and for all
• How to get around the nuances of minimum advertised pricing
• Selling in a true one to one way online

Links / Resources

• TJ Gentle's Twitter
• Andrew Scarbrough's Twitter
• PriceWaiter.com (Get 60 Days of Premium Service Free by Mentioning this Podcast)
• SmartFurniture's "Furniture Genius" Tool

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"According to leading neuroscientists, 95 percent of thoughts, emotions, and learning occur before we're ever aware of it. Yet, most marketing efforts forgo the vast subconscious and instead target the rational, conscious mind. If you want to get ahead of your competition stop selling to the 5% of your customers brains...when you understand how your customers' brains work, you can appeal to the powerful subconscious - and get better results for less money." (Brainfluence, 2012)

Roger Dooley is a consultant, entrepreneur, and neuromarketing missionary who combines knowledge of emerging phenomena like neuromarketing and social networking with decades of hands-on marketing experience.

He helps companies understand the implications of new technologies and techniques, and guides them in the implementation of practical strategies to adapt to them. Clients range from Fortune 500 firms to entrepreneurial ecommerce businesses.

He regularly addresses national conferences, and has been quoted frequently in the mainstream press on topics ranging from brain fitness marketing, web communities, and social networks, is a frequent contributor to Forbes magazine, and is the author of Brainfluence: 100 Ways to Persuade and Convince Consumers with Neuromarketing  

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Why facts are crucial to helping customers justify the purchase of your product, even though buying is primarily emotional decision.
• Using the understanding of the brain to do better marketing.
• Strategies for selling luxury goods versus utilitarian products.

Links / Resources

Roger's Personal Website 

Roger's Neuromarketing Blog 

Brainfluence - Roger's Book 

Rober Cialdini's New Book  

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers, Austin & Chad!   

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The reality is, nobody cares about your product. That may sound harsh, but your customers and prospects only care about themselves. In this episode David Meerman Scott teaches us what to do about that and what the Grateful Dead can teach you about marketing so you can reach your buyers directly to drive more revenue.

David is an internationally acclaimed strategist whose books and blog are must-reads for professionals seeking to generate attention in ways that grow their business.

His 2007 book "The New Rules of Marketing & PR" opened people's eyes to the new realities of marketing and public relations on the Web, and with over a quarter of a million copies sold in more than 25 languages from Bulgarian to Vietnamese, "New Rules" is now a modern business classic.

He has written a total of 10 books (3 international bestsellers), his most recent being "The New Rules of Sales and Service; How to Use Agile Selling, Real-time Customer Engagement, Big Data Content, and Storytelling to Grow Your Business."

He delivers keynote speeches at conferences and company meetings all over the world (41 countries / 7 continents) including Google, Ford Motor Company, Century 21, National Geographic, Hubspot and many others.

Oh, and fun note here: In Japan's go-go years, he was one of the first twenty-something gaijin (guy-gin) male models in Tokyo to specialize in the young businessman look.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• What the Grateful Dead can teach you about marketing
• Why people don't care about your product and what to do about it
• Differentiating yourself by asking the right questions to your customers

Links / Resources

• David's Website 
• Follow David On Twitter 
• David's New Book - The New Rules of Sales and Service 
• The New Rules of Marketing & PR 

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them.

We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers, Austin & Chad!  

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23 million out of 28 million companies that do less than $25 million in revenue are operating check to check, which means it's very likely that you are one of the the struggling 82%. Fortunately, there is a simple system you can implement to turn your business from a cash-eating monster into a profit-generating machine to ensure you're permanently profitable.

Mike Michalowicz (mi-CAL-oh-wits) founded and sold two multi-million dollar companies by the time he turned 35. Confident that he had the formula to success, he became an angel investor...

...and proceeded to lose his entire fortune.

Then he started all over again.

Driven to find better ways to grow healthy, strong companies, Mike created the “Profit First Formula”, a way for businesses to ensure they're permanently profitable from their very next deposit forward.

Mike is now running his third million dollar venture; is a former small business columnist for The Wall Street Journal; is the former MSNBC business make-over expert; is a popular keynote speaker on innovative entrepreneurial topics; and is the author of Profit First, The Pumpkin Plan and The Toilet Paper Entrepreneur, which BusinessWeek deemed “the entrepreneur’s cult classic.”

He is also a guest speaker at Harvard, Princeton, eBay, SBA and other organizations throughout the world and also hosts the Profit First Podcast.

In today’s episode we’re breakdown the Profit First Formula, the cash management system that will ensure any business will become permanently profitable regardless of size, industry, or how much debt it carries or how many years it has been operating.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Reverse engineering your way to profitability
• Why entrepreneurs never name themselves as top employees and why that's a problem.
• Why having a large bank account can be bad for business
• How and why standard accounting principles are flawed

Links / Resources

Mike's Website Link to Profit First Book  

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We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Quality ecommerce copy and product descriptions can increase ecommerce conversion rates anywhere from 30% to 100%. Writing subpar copy for your website is the equivalent of hiring a subpar, unqualified sales staff for a brick and mortar shop, and sales will suffer.

Joanna Wiebe is a co-founder and copywriter at Copyhackers, a company that helps you use copy to boost your conversions while enhancing your brand, even if you don’t like writing or you’re scared of the blank white page.

She’s been copywriting since 2004, and her 10 years of experience includes time as an agency and in-house copywriter, including time at companies like Intuit and Conversion Rate Experts.

Her work is often featured on some of the absolute best online marketing websites like KISSmetrics, Copyblogger, Unbounce, and ConversionXL.

Joanna promises to help you write more persuasive, believable and usable copy… sans pixie dust… so you can boost your website & email conversion rate.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How to sell a lot more using better ecommerce copy on your site
• Swiping copy from your customers to write faster and better copy
• When you know it's time to deploy or destroy your ecommerce copy
• The unique value proposition blueprint
• Finding the best copywriter for your business

Links / Resources

Copyhackers Website

Joanna's Twitter

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Austin & Chad!  

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Abraham Lincoln once said, "If I had 8 hours to chop down a tree, I'd spend 6 hours sharpening my ax," and this episode is all about sharpening your ax for 2015.

Join us for this quick 15 minute episode as we review the planning process that made our 2014 so successful, how we're improving it for 2015, and how you can use all or parts of our planning process to make 2015 your best year ever.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How we build our company's vision
• What we're doing to improve it for 2015
• How you can use this information to create your company vision and crush 2015
• The step by step process we went through to create this year's vision

Links / Resources:

• Building Your Company's Vision by Jim Collins
• Master The Rockefeller Habits (Book)
• Verne Harnish One-Page Strategic Plan
• Predictable Revenue

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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The company that is willing to spend the most to acquire a customer will win, and Ryan Deiss teaches you how to win by optimizing your customer acquisition with his 5 step Customer Value Optimization System.

Ryan Deiss is the founder of a number of online media/publishing businesses, most notably DigitalMarketer.com. He is considered the “King of Conversion” and is the creator of the funnel models used by 90% of today's “A” list online marketers, like Neil Patel of Quicksprout and Kissmetrics. He's also set up funnels for William Shatner.

His companies sell products and services in over a dozen markets to hundreds of thousands of customers on every continent in the world… except Antarctica (which, if you’re ever in Antarctica and you’re willing to buy something let him know so he can say he sold something there…he’ll refund you after the purchase ;))

Over the last 36 months Ryan and his team have:

• Invested over $15,000,000 on marketing tests…
• Generated tens of millions of unique visitors…
• Sent well over a BILLION permission-based emails, and…
• Run approximately 3,000 split and multi-variant tests…
• Combined, his companies have generated over $100 MILLION in online sales.

Ryan is also a highly sought after speaker and consultant.

He leads the annual Traffic and Conversion Summit, the largest conversion conference in North America where you can find out what’s working in digital marketing now. He is also the chairman of War Room, the elite mastermind membership where he leads and consults with the best and brightest in the world when it comes to growing businesses using the latest and greatest digital marketing strategies.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• Why he who spends the most to acquire a customer will win.
• What Bass Pro Shops and your ecommerce business have in common.
• How to acquire customers with lower prices without devaluing your brand.
• The 5 Step Customer Value Optimization System.

Links / Resources

• Ryan's Customer Value Optimization Process Blog Post
• Digital Marketer's Website
• Traffic & Conversion Summit

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Implementing truly data driven email marketing in your ecommerce business is no easy task...until now. Ed Hallen helps ecommerce companies easily implement data driven email marketing that actually works through his platform, Klaviyo.

He is co-founder of Klaviyo, an ecommerce-focused email service provider that provides you with better email through data-drive personalization and targeting.

From powerful A/B testing to automatic analysis of conversions, Klaviyo helps you maximize the impact of your email on key metrics.

He received his MBA from MIT, worked at Google, and led product management for Applied Predictive Technologies where he the guided product and technology vision for a team of 15 engineers and consultants.

Ed has used those experiences to create one of the most robust email service providers for ecommerce businesses, one that we recommended to all of our clients.

In today's episode Ed helps us understand all components in data driven email marketing.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• How you can market like Amazon in a one to one way.
• Crafting your message to a customer from day 1 to day 365.
• The 3 pillars of successful ecommerce email marketing.
• Which email campaigns you should start with and how to do it.

Links / Resources

Klayvio.com

Ed Hallen on Twitter  

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Austin & Chad!  

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Oli Gardner has seen more landing pages than anyone on the planet. As a result he has identified and mastered the 7 most important principles of conversion centered design to help you convert more visitors into paying customers.

He is the co-founder of Unbounce, an industry-leading landing page platform that allows marketers to build, publish and a/b test landing pages without IT.

With 17 years working in the field of interactive web design and development his career has taken him from small startup companies to the heights of Creative Director at the online entertainment powerhouse Bodog.

His roles ranged from Interaction Designer, to establishing and leading Bodog’s first usability team, to inspiring a team of user centered practitioners as the creative lead responsible for re-defining the vision of a billion dollar organization.

Oli is an opinionated writer and international speaker on Conversion Centered Design, and is widely respected, and feared, for gently telling it like it is when it comes to conversion optimization on landing pages.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• 3 questions to help you identify usability problems on your pages
• 7 principles of conversion centered design
• The WWWH quick-start exercise to writing landing pages quickly
• How to maximize your confirmation pages for secondary conversions

Links / Resources

• Oli Gardner on Twitter
• Page Fights Oli's
• Unbounce
• Landing Page Conversion Course

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Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Dane Golden is Vice President of Marketing and Client Services at Octoly, a YouTube brand management company where his mission is to enhance your web video ecosystem, YouTube channel, network videos.

For the last six years he has marketed, distributed, promoted, and produced online videos on platforms across the social video spectrum, creating millions of dollars in advertising and branding revenue.

Dane says that competition for your audience's time is simply too great, and says that you need to focus just as much time on audience development as you would spend on creating content. It's not enough to just have cool videos - you need great marketing, distribution and audience engagement.

Each week Dane co-hosts the top YouTube marketing advice podcast, "ReelSEO Tube Talk".

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The 3 pillars of a successful YouTube footprint that increases revenue.
• Why 50-90% of video views of your brand are on videos NOT created by you...so what's being said about you?
• How to ethically steal customers from you competitors through YouTube.
• Turning bad video product reviews into a positive while acquiring more customers at the same time.

Links / Resources

• Free Audit of Your Brand's YouTube Footprint
• Sigma Beauty eCommerce Case Study
• Octoly YouTube Brand Report for Automotive Industry

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them.

We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Google Adwords for ecommerce can be extremely profitable...or extremely wasteful, it just depends on what you're doing. Check out this episode with Mike Rhodes, one of the world's best Adwords experts, and improve your adwords campaigns or save a sinking ship.

Mike Rhodes is the founder of WebSavvy the largest independent AdWords-only agency in Australia.

They use data, not guesswork, to grow company profits, and if you qualify for an Adwords Account Audit, Websavvy guarantee a profit increase. Their sister company PPCsavvy offers AdWords training, courses & a lively interactive forum for you to learn more if you want to manage accounts for yourself or for clients.

Mike is often asked by Google to talk on their behalf at events & has even consulted to them on improving AdWords!

He also co-authored The Ultimate Guide to Google AdWords with Perry Marshall, now in it’s 4th edition having sold over 80,000 copies!

Happy clients include the likes of Forty Winks, Mercedes, Clark Rubber & hundreds more.

In this episode he'll dive into the specific ways in which you can get more ROI from Google Adwords for ecommerce and how to eliminate the wasted spend.

Topics Discussed:

• Creating better customer experiences with Google Adwords for ecommerce
• Using Adwords to improve your SEO
• How to use TrueView video ads for bigger returns
• The 10 questions to ask to help you determine the right adwords partner

Links / Resources:

• WebSavvy's Site
• PPCsavvy - WebSavvy's Training Site 

Subscribe & Review

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heers,

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It's no secret. Financial intelligence in ecommerce is a prerequisite for success. The question, though, is are you a pro or an amateur? And how do you know? This is an episode for both the seasoned pro and the amateur.

Joe Knight, Founder and Senior Consultant with the Business Literacy Institute, is a highly regarded finance and business literacy keynote speaker and trainer.

He trains managers and leaders at Fortune 500 companies such as GE, Comcast-NBCUniversal, Boeing, CVS Caremark, American Express, and United Technologies Corporation (UTC).

Joe’s unique ability to combine content with energy and humor make his keynote addresses resounding successes with diverse audiences including the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), Construction Industry Institute (CII); National Association of Broadcasters (NAB); The Association of General Contractors; and International Institute for Supply Management (ISM).

Joe is co-author of Financial Intelligence, a smart, no-nonsense business finance handbook for managers. The book has been heralded as “the Elements of Style” of finance by CFO.com. Financial Intelligence was featured in The 100 Best Business Books of All Time.

The Business Literacy Institute is dedicated to transforming all employees into business people. In today’s business environment, all employees must do more than just their job; they must actively contribute to the financial success of the company. That means everyone must understand how businesses measure success and how they themselves make an impact.  

Topics Discussed:

• Why business business and finance pros focus on the balance sheet and amateurs focus on the income statement.
• Why the best solution for a growing business is slowing down.
• The differences between finance and accounting and why that matters to your company's future.
• The dirty secret that financial professionals don't want you to know.
• The 5 key ratios you need to check daily, weekly, and monthly to determine if your company is healthy, or if you need to jump ship.

Resources:

• Financial Intelligence - Joe's Best Selling Book
• Business Literacy Institute

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Jon makes it clear, Facebook's not trying to screw you when it comes to ecommerce Facebook marketing. You might be screwing yourself, though, and he teaches you how to fix it and make it an extremely profitable channel.

Jon Loomer runs the most complete online resource of advanced Facebook marketing tips and tutorials, and his site is updated on nearly a daily basis.

His site was recognized as one of Social Media Examiner's Top 10 Social Media Blogs of 2013, and in 2014 he was again named to the list but as the #1 social media marketing blog. J

on's previous experience includes VP of Strategic Marketing for the American Cancer Society and the Senior Manager of Fantasy Games for the NBA, overseeing the entire life cycle of the fantasy games product.

He’s a wizard when it comes to ecommerce Facebook marketing, and today he’s going to teach us how ecommerce companies can use Facebook marketing to help them make the jump from $1 million to $10 million+ in revenue.  

Topics Discussed

• The number one component in successful ecommerce Facebook marketing.
• The biggest mistakes ecommerce companies are making in their Facebook advertising.
• Building custom audiences.
• Understanding "Look-a-like Audiences" and how to do them right.
• How to identify a great Facebook consultant from a bad one.
• The ONE thing to start on today...and then a few bonus action items to implement into your ecommerce Facebook marketing system.

Topics Discussed

JonLoomer.com Jon's Twitter (@jonloomer)  

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While online world has been spending more and more money on pay per click and other means of driving traffic, SEO for ecommerce is still responsible for a significant, if not a bigger, majority of revenue and it can't be ignored.

Todd Malicoat has over 10 years of SEO consulting experience, consulting to enterprise companies like PBS.org, Thomas Industrial, and many others.

He is a renowned international speaker, speaking at conference like SES, PubCon, and Dreamforce, and more, and he’s SEO faculty chair at Market Motive, the leading curriculum publisher for online marketing training.

Todd was been named among the top 50 Most Influential Marketers byInvesp.com, and Top 40 Most Influential in Search Marketing byGSInc.co.uk. He has been cited by Inc. Magazine, The Sydney Herald, Website Magazine, The New York Post, Infoworld, and others on search, reputation management, social media, and other web related issues.

On top of all that awesomness, he also runs an offshore charter fishing boat in Miami, FL. In this episode Todd is going to help us de-mystify the ever-mysterious, and ever-changing, world of SEO for ecommerce.

Key Takeaways from the Show

• The most important components of SEO for ecommerce
• Using PPC to improve your SEO
• The 3 biggest mistakes business owners make in SEO for ecommerce
• How to determine which SEO consultant is best for you

Links and Resources

• Stuntdubl.com (Todd's Site)
• Follow Todd on Twitter (@stuntdubl)
• 18 Questions Your CEO Forgot to Ask When Building Your Website 
• Market Motive Online Marketing Training 
• Gallant Fish PPC Service 
• Todd's Charter Fishing Service in Miami 

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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For any online business owner that is hesitating to make their ecommrce email funnel a high priority, this $10,000 dollar per day email funnel case study with Tim Paige should light a fire.

Tim is host of the extremely popular online business podcast “ConversionCast, the only podcast that gets to the heart of the metrics”. He is also the conversion educator over at leadpages.net, a dynamic software company that creates simple and beautiful software and web apps that allow businesses to grow large and devoted audiences.

Not only has LeadPages helped hundreds of online businesses exponentially increase leads and sales, one case study boasting $98,993 in sales, but they also practice what they preach, going from 0 to 15,000 customers in 12 months and getting a 10% email opt-in rate on their blog, double the average, by using the strategies they teach.

Tim talks with many successful online business owners to provide data-backed conversion strategies on his own show, and today he’ll chat with us about how Leadpages gets a 10% opt-in rate on their blog, what it means to the growth of their business, and how you can apply what they've done to your ecommerce email funnel.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Leadpages' stages of growth through email and their opt-in rate history
• Understanding "Content Upgrades", the little trick Leadpages uses to skyrocket their email opt-in rate
• Breaking down the $10,000 per day ecommerce email funnel
• The final answer to the lingering content marketing debate: "Does the ROI justify content marketing in ecommerce?"

Links / Resources

• LeadPages.net
• ConversionCast Podcast
• Tim's Twitter
• Lead Pages Webinar: Text leadpages to 38470
• MarketPlace

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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The attributes of your buyer persona are not why a customer buys, it's the situation they currently find themselves in and need your product to complete a "job." Scrap the buyer persona and apply the jobs to be done framework to your ecommerce store.

Chris Spiek is a Partner and Co-Founder at The Re-Wired Group, where he helps companies use the Jobs To Be Done (JTBD) framework to enable people to develop products that consumers love to buy and use.

He’s a technology executive with a background in Product Development & Innovation, interactive Marketing Strategy, Disruptive Innovation, Sales & Marketing Strategy, and Web Application Development Chris has been studying, refining, and applying Jobs To Be Done across a variety of industries for over 10 years including software, education, consumer-packaged-goods, healthcare, e-commerce, and more.

He has taught Jobs to be done to teams in small startups and huge Fortune 500s, including a few companies you might know, Mailchimp, Basecamp, and Intercom.

In this episode Chris teaches you how to apply the jobs to be done framework to your ecommerce store.  

Topics Discussed:

• How the Jobs To Be Done framework contrasts with the "buyer persona"
• Why there's no such thing as an impulse buy, and what that means to your business
• People "higher" products for a "situation", not because of who they are
• Using JTBD to add situational context to your online advertising
• How to apply the Jobs To Be Done framework to your ecommerce store today, and start seeing results immediately

Links/Resources

Connect With Chris On Twitter (@chriscbs)

The Re-Wired Group 

Jobs To Be Done Website 

JTBD Udemy Course 

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Cheers, Austin & Chad!  

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If you own the ecosystem and the ecommerce customer experience, you'll be able to withstand the onslaught of changes on rented land like Google Adwords and Facebook.

Ken Johnson founded Manpacks with business partner Andrew Draper in 2009, and he attributes most of their success to a relentless focus on owning the ecommerce customer experience.

Manpacks is considered the first American subscription ecommerce service offering men's essentials, shipping men’s basic needs like socks, underwear, razors, and toiletries on a quarterly schedule or on demand. Their primary customers are busy guys who want to cross these things off the to-do list while discovering new, better products to use.

Manpacks has been featured in The New York Times, The Huffington Post, NPR, ESPN Radio, NBC, Maxim, The Boston Globe, Inc., and The Tampa Tribune.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Owning the online ecosystem and the ecommerce customer experience.
• How Manpacks got such amazing PR when they first launched.
• How paid acquisition is different than the other channels.
• Why content marketing can be a mistake.
• Expectations have changed in the market when it comes to email.
• Assume that your customers want to hear from you.

Links / Resources

Ken's Twitter (@kenjonson)

Manpacks.com

Getting Real by 37 Signals (Book)  

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Austin & Chad!  

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Ecommerce conversion optimization is tough, time-consuming, and confusing, but our conversation with Peep Laja of ConverionXL will make it easier for you.

Peep (his unusual name, to most people, is actually pronounced ‘Pep Laya’) currently runs a unique ecommerce conversion optimization marketing agency called Markitekt where they make existing sites better, and build new conversion optimized websites for clients.

He’s been featured in numerous popular marketing and online business publications including Smashing Magazine, ProBlogger, KISSmetrics and many others, and also delivers trainings and workshops on ecommerce conversion optimization and internet marketing.

Peep runs the world’s most popular ecommerce conversion optimization blog, and he says that his blog that is written for smart people. No cheesy stuff, no “how to add a background to Twitter” nor “10 useless things that waste your time” type of posts, only well-researched highly actionable content.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• The two main levers in successful ecommerce conversion optimization
• The right "where" and "why" questions to ask when starting out with .
• The number one A/B split testing mistake
• Why statistical significance is not validity.
• Peep's step-by-step consulting process.

Links / Resources

• ConversionXL.com (Peep's Blog)
• Peep's Twitter (@peeplaja)
• His most recommended post about the 12 mistakes CEO's make in ecommerce conversion optimization 
• His post on finding the leaks in your site 
• Unbounce
• Copy Hackers 
• ContentVerve 
• GetVera 

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Trying to hire the best growth consultant for your company can be an arduous task, but it doesn't have to be according to Graham Hunter.

Graham is Head Instructor of Growth at Tradecraft where they train smart people to succeed in traction roles at high-growth companies.

He’s been a marketing consultant at Intuit, among other brands, he’s started an agency, he’s worked at larger agencies, and he has been the first employee at a few ecommerce and software startups.

Graham has done a whole lot of consulting and he takes us through some interesting topics as we discuss the the most effective way to hire the best growth consultant for your ecommerce brand.

We like to think of Graham as our Silicon Valley correspondent, as he’s got his finger squarely on the pulse of what some of Silicon Valley's best companies are doing to grow their business.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Why the terms "Growth" and "Marketing" have been separated by Silicon Valley
• Who should be your first hire and your second hire
• The number one marketing mistake growing companies make
• The qualities you need to look for when looking to hire the best growth consultant
• How to identify a great growth consultant through the questions they ask

Links / Resources

• Graham Hunter LinkedIn 
• TradeCraft 
• Graham's MarketingToolKit.org 
• Followerwonk
• Product Hunt 
• Screaming Frog 
• Webmaster Tools 
• Bing Link Explorer

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

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Austin & Chad!  

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In a mostly me-only world, Andrew Davis explains that creating partnerships with other brands is not only important, but necessary and extremely profitable for those who do it right.

Andrew got his start in the media business at a young age appearing in television commercials and voicing over radio spots for brands like Chevrolet, Six Flags, and McDonalds, and has also managed workshop production for Muppets From Space, Sesame Street, Bear in the Big Blue House and Elmo in Grouchland.

In 2001, Andrew co-founded Tippingpoint Labs and, for more than a decade, Andrew and his team changed the way content creators think, authentic talent is nurtured, and the way companies market their products.

He has marketed for tiny startups and Fortune 500 brands, and his novel combinations of old ideas that leverage new technology have been tapped by the Obama administration and Russian media moguls.

In 2012 Andrew released a best-selling book called “Brandscaping: Unleashing the Power of Partnerships”, which puts his common sense approach to work for you, uncovering why and how creating partnerships with other brands can dramatically boost your profits.

Today, he’s traveling the globe sharing his insight, experience, stories, and optimistic ideals through his wildly fascinating speaking engagements, guest lectures and workshops.  

Topics Discussed:

• Tips for creating partnerships with other brands
• Treat your content like a product
• Who has your NEXT customer as their CURRENT customer?
• Creating a content brand, don't create branded content
• Don't hire a celebrity to endorse your product, create one.
• Multiple case studies of very profitable brand partnerships

Links & Resources:

• Andrew Davis' Site 
• Brandscaping: Unleashing the Power of Partnerships (Site / Book)
• Andrew Davis Twitter

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Austin & Chad!  

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If Steve Jobs' favorite book was written by the thought leader for this way of thinking, then you may want to eliminate your buyer persona and replace it with the jobs to be done framework.

In an our efforts to provide more insight into creating buyer personas for ecommerce websites, we stumbled on to an interesting couple of posts that argue that buyer personas may no longer be relevant to your business and that the jobs to be done framework (aka JTBD) might suit you better.

According to one of the most prominent "jobs to be done framework" thought leaders, Clay Christensen (author of one of Steve Jobs' top books), the framework is:

"a tool for evaluating the circumstances that arise in customers’ lives. Customers rarely make buying decisions around what the “average” customer in their category may do — but they often buy things because they find themselves with a problem they would like to solve. With an understanding of the “job” for which customers find themselves “hiring” a product or service, companies can more accurately develop and market products well-tailored to what customers are already trying to do."

More simply put, the jobs-to-be-done framework helps identify customer attitudes and characteristics by framing purchasing decisions as a choice to “hire” a product or service to do a "job" versus making assumptions about customers through buyer personas.

One of the most fascinating topics we've come across in a while, and in this episode we try to break it down while also tempting you to eliminate your buyer persona and replace it with the jobs to be done framework.  

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Why buyer personas don't work
• How stumbling onto this topic might completely change our own business
• Being able to distinguish between a buyer persona and a JTBD framework
• Real world examples of JTBD in action
• Getting started with creating your own framework

Links / Resources:

• The Christensen Institute's Definition of JTBD & Website
• Jobs To Be Done Framework Article by Christensen in MIT Online Publication 
• Fill In The Blank Statements To Distinguish Between Persona & JTBD 
• Innovators Tool Kit Break Down 
• Medium's Database of JTBD Articles

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

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Austin & Chad!  

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Justin Winter grew his company to $20 million in 36 months through a few different ecommerce growth channels, and yet he still has one big regret.

He is the Co-founder & CEO at Diamond Candles, a bootstrapped, vertically integrated online home fragrance brand that hit a $12 million run rate in 18 months and is now well on it’s way to $20million in 36 months.

Diamond Candles was also recognized by InternetRetailer.com in 2013 as one of the 'Hot 100', which profiles select e-commerce sites that have broken new ground in some way other e-retailers can learn from.

Justin is an expert in marketing, business and product development, social media marketing, SEO, and growth hacking. He’s regularly featured in magazines like Inc Magazine, in top business forums like GrowthHacker.tv, and on top podcasts like Mixergy (and this one!).

Justin shares how he was able to achieve such massive growth with a modest initial investment and almost no paid advertising, and he’ll give us some strategies on how you can do it, too.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Why you need to be a specialist.
• Creating exclusivity to generate more sales.
• Optimizing your systems for $10 million+ growth.
• The three ecommerce growth channels he used to hit $20 million.
• His referral marketing campaigns.
• Direct to consumer offline sales training to generate online sales.
• His number one piece of advice for getting to $10 million+.

Links / Resources

• Justin Winter Personal Site (iamjustinwinter.com)
• Justin's Clarity.fm Page
• Sean Ellis Episode
• Klaviyo
• Bounce Exchange
• Curebit (Now Talkable)
• Blue Apron

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Austin & Chad!  

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The most successful ecommerce companies know how to retain their most profitable customers, and in this episode we give you the steps to create a best customer retention marketing plan for ecommerce.

We touched on this topic briefly in "Why Email Marketing Fails", and we felt that this topic deserved it's own episode because, according to Harvard Business Review, a 5% increase in customer retention or loyalty can boost profits by 25%-85%.

And out of the top 4 reasons customers never return to give you repeat business, number two is that they don't feel special, important, or valued.

We’re not playing tee ball anymore, so not everyone deserves an equal chance to feel valued and important, and not everyone deserves to receive the same special opportunity provided to others.

You need to create a best customer retention marketing plan for your ecommerce store and for your most profitable customers, and in this episode we'll give you the steps you need to take to start implementing today.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Some shocking statistics we found in one of our client's customer database
• The 3 main steps to creating a best customer retention marketing plan for ecommerce
• How to segment and analyze the customer data
• Best customer retention marketing ideas to implement now

Links / Resources

• Episode 024 - Why Email Marketing Fails
• Customer Segmentation Template

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

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Austin & Chad!  

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Alex Ikonn is the founder of Luxy Hair, a 7-figure ecommerce business that was built entirely through YouTube Marketing, making them one of Shopify’s Top 10 eCommerce Stores by Revenue in 2011 and 2012.

Luxy Hair is a customer-centric hair extensions ecommerce retailer. The business was born when his wife Mimi was looking for hair extensions for their wedding, but wasn’t able to find what she was looking for. When they realized how hard it was to find good hair extensions, they knew they had stumbled on to a business opportunity.

Alex and Mimi put up $20k, mostly on credit, to get their first supply and they haven’t looked back, posting 7-figure PROFITS annually.

In addition to Luxy Hair, Alex is the co-founder of Dreamers & Creators, a marketing strategy and execution firm for the entrepreneurial enterprise, and he’s a co-founder at Intelligent Change, where they make cool products that make people happier.

In this episode Alex chats with us about his incredibly successful ecommerce YouTube profit formula.  It's a step by step process that really clarifies how to create extremely successful content marketing.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview:

• The 4 steps in his ecommerce YouTube profit formula
• How to sell to customers using video...without selling in your videos
• Finding the balance between bad and over-produced video quality
• Understanding your limitations in ecommerce and when it's time to bring someone else on to take you to the next level
• His recommendations for other acquisition channels
• The number one piece of advice he can give for ecommerce CEOs trying to get to $10mil+

Links / Resources:

• LuxyHair.com
• LuxyHair's YouTube Channel
• Alex Ikonn's Personal Website
• Alex's Personal Email hello [@] alexikonn.com
• Back Pocket COO by Cameron Harold

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If you want to sell more products online, then you'll need to make your ecommerce copywriting sell to your prospects.

Ecommerce companies tend to think that because they only have to sit behind a screen, drive traffic, capture leads, and sell cool products they don't have to put in the extra time and effort into writing great, persuasive website copy and product descriptions that actually try to sell the customer.

According to KISSmetrics, quality ecommerce copywriting and product descriptions can increase ecommerce conversion rates anywhere from 30-100%.

More often than not, though, we see websites and product descriptions that provide only product specifications like size, weight, and inseam. We see descriptions that lack personality and storytelling, and worse yet, they pull the product descriptions straight from the manufacturer's website and use that for their copy.

The good news is, you don't have to hire someone to write for you. In this episode we'll cover the 8 techniques you can implement on your own today to make your ecommerce copywriting sell.  

Topics Discussed throughout the interview

• A quick follow up on last week's episode, "The 3 Types of Buyers"
• When you’ve written the headline you’ve spent 80 cents out of your dollar
• The 4 "do nots" in ecommerce copywriting
• The 4 "do's" to to make your ecommerce copywriting sell
• One of the greatest product descriptions ever created...we promise you'll want to buy a pair without even looking at them.

Links / Resources

• Amazing Pants Description
• Last Week's Epi - "The 3 Types of Buyers"

Subscribe & Review

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can easily subscribe by clicking here.

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Statistics show that website visitors are 64% more likely to buy a product on an ecommerce site after watching an online video, and if you don't currently use video to acquire more ecommerce customers then you're going to be left behind.

James Wedmore is one of the top video marketing experts in the business and is the founder of Video Traffic Academy: an online YouTube Marketing Training Program that has enrolled over 10,000 business owners and entrepreneurs all over the country.

He has been featured on numerous sites such as Entrepreneur.com, Rise to the Top, Mixergy and many more. He has been the Guest Instructor on 3 CreativeLIVE Workshops, and today, he hosts James Wedmore TV, his YouTube Channel that’s been viewed over 2.5 Million times.

His mission is simple: show business owners how to create and execute effective video marketing campaigns without spending a lot of time or money. Today he’s going to tell us how to use video to acquire more ecommerce customers for your business.

Topics Discussed throughout the interview:

• Two types of video for ecommerce.
• 4 key components of a great video for ecommerce.
• Why you should care about the first 5 seconds more than anything else and what you might be missing at the end of your video.
• The answer to your biggest question(s) about building a viral video.
• The easiest ways to get started with video.
• How to use video to build an ecommerce brand that competes with Amazon.

Links & Resources:

• James' YouTube Channel
• Bellroy Wallets
• Yolanda Sotolopez YouTube Channel (one of James' clients)
• James' Video Traffic Academy
• LiveWell360.com

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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In this Strategy Session we'll be talking about buyer psychology, the three types of buyers, and how to sell to them.

Here are the three main types of buyers identified by neuroeconomics experts:

15% - Spendthrifts

24% - Tightwads

61% - Average Spenders

The psychology behind each type is fascinating, and understanding each one's "buying mindset" will help you get closer to your customers, speak their language, and make more sales.

40% of people fall into wildly “irrational” categories, i.e. the spendthrifts and tightwads, which also means you're potentially missing out on a lot of sales because most ecommerce sites focus on selling to the average buyer.

Understanding these three types of buyers and how to sell to them, along with a few tweaks to your site and copy, you'll be able to capitalize on many more sales that might have otherwise been lost.

In this episode we break it all down for you so you can begin recapturing those buyers today.  

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Breaking down the three types of buyers and how to sell to them.
• Why evaluating what buyer you are can help you sell better on your website.
• When to use negative emotion messaging vs positive.
• How Dave Munson at Saddleback Leather redesigned his website for analytical buyers and the results he achieved.
• When should focus 100% on one buyer personality vs generalizing.

Links & Resources

• 3 Types of Buyers - Neuro Marketing
• Tightwads and Spendthrifts
• 10 Ways to Convert More Customers Using Psychology 
• Episode 19 with Dave Munson

Subscribe & Review

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Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Matt Bailey is an online business strategy consultant with a significant amount of experience, expertise and success when it comes ecommerce site navigation optimization.

His knowledge in online business ranges far and wide and he has taught Google employees to understand Google Analytics, consulted with Experian on how to present data and presented online marketing training to both Proctor & Gamble and Johnson & Johnson, successfully dismantling the complexity of online marketing into practical, understandable concepts for everyone.

He has 20 years of online marketing experience and has consulted with companies like Google, Hilton International, Gerber Life, Experian, Disney, American Greetings, Toys R Us, and more many more.

Matt also has a passion for education and developing online marketing professionals which he does through his teaching at Market Motive, withLynda.com, as adjunct faculty at Rutgers University, and even through his book Internet Marketing: An Hour a Day.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview

• Why and how to purposefully plan your ecommerce site navigation structure for most success - it includes Sales Training
• The thinking that get’s you to 7 figures is not the thinking that gets you to 8 figures.
• The strategy Matt uses to bring on new hires and get them to think about the job with the right perspective.
• Mixpanel vs Google vs Kissmetrics breakdown and recommendation - The answer isn't what you'd expect
• The most profit for dollar, but most underutilized, ecommerce marketing channel
• Getting B-level customers to become A-level customers
• A breakdown of the best email marketing strategy

Links/Resources:

Matt Bailey

Site Logic

AT Internet

Avinash's most important free reports for Google Analtycs  

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Finding and implementing the most profitable strategies to reduce abandoned carts is a recurring theme in our daily discussions.

We're always talking about it because everyone deals with it and there is a lot of misunderstanding about it. It’s also one of the most profitable places to spend your time working, so here's a quick episode on the 5 most proven (and profitable) tips to help you reduce abandoned carts.

Topics Discussed Throughout the Interview:

• Determining your real abandonment.
• Your abandoned cart email really isn’t good enough.
• How to correctly set up your Google analytics for setting goals.
• Focusing in on the welcome page.
• Using phone numbers to reduce abandoned carts.
• Testing the multi-step checkout.
• Do you really need a "view cart" page?

Links & Resources

-Reduce Abandoned Carts With Amy Africa  

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Craig Dalton grew award-winning iPad case manufacturer DODOcase well past 7 figures very quickly by timing product launches with major events, and he teaches you how you can do the same.

DODOcase is a San Francisco-based maker of protective cases for the Apple iPad that have the look and feel of a luxury, hardcover notebook.

Their philosophy is simple, make things locally and help keep the art of bookbinding alive by adapting it to a world of tablets and e-readers.

Within just a few months of launching they were able to sell over 15,000 cases without a big budget to develop, market, and promote their products and primarily through the timing of product launches with major events.

In 2010, they entered Shopify’s “Build a Business” competition and were the grand prize winners of $100,000.

With a $680 million dollar market for iPad cases they have huge opportunity to be the number one quality brand for this segment of the carrying case market, and today Craig’s going to chat with us about what they’ve been doing to on their quest to $10million plus in revenue.

Topics Discussed Throughout this Interview

• How DODOcase came into being and why predicting the trends helped them create a super successful niche.

• Using Craigslist street teams to help them successfully get the launch they needed.

• The power of using launches to build organic PR for products.

• Craig’s thoughts on Shopify and why they’ve stuck with it.

• What DODOcase does for email marketing that is working so well.

• Social media marketing, what Craig likes and dislikes when coming up with ideas.

• Capitalizing on the Google's launch of Google Cardboard (Craig's already sold 13,000 units) and how you can duplicate the process for your business.

• How Craig suggests doing PR outreach (that actually works).

Links Mentioned

• DODOcase.com

• Google Cardboard Product Page

• Craig's Twitter

• DODOcase - Twitter

• craig [at] dodocase.com

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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The use of native advertising in ecommerce is growing at an exponential rate, and so are the returns.

The best part about native advertising is that your competition is most likely not doing it, or doing it completely wrong, giving you the advantage if you take action now.

Native advertising in ecommerce is the future of advertising so pay attention to this episode and don't get left behind.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview

• Some unbelievable native advertising statistics.

• What exactly is native advertising and where do you find it?

• What native advertising in ecommerce is NOT.

• We cover some examples and how it can be effectively utilized.

• The biggest distinction between traditional ads and native advertising.

• How to create a successful native advertising campaign.

• Biggest mistakes when using native advertising in ecommerce.

• Case Studies on native advertising campaigns we've found that work.

• How to make native advertising work in ecommerce.

Links/Resources

• GE's Native Advertising Case Study

• Digital Marketer Native Advertising Case Study

• Why Apollo Astronauts Were Certified Badasses

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them.

We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers, Austin & Chad!  

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Amy Africa is the CEO of EightByEight Marketing has been in the forefront of web usability studies, web design improvement, and successful e-commerce for over 15 years.

She is one of the best web marketers today because she combines incredible direct marketing skills with proven web techniques and some contrarian ecommerce strategies, getting her hired by 92% of fortune 500 companies.

Amy has been widely published in industry magazines and e-zines. She’s an engaging, entertaining speaker, and has been featured at web conferences around the globe. Her depth of knowledge, backed by intensive field-testing and web user studies, has earned her the reputation of "a voice to be heard" on Internet topics ranging from site improvement, traffic building and SEO to analytics and email marketing.

Amy has pioneered many successful web marketing initiatives in navigation, email marketing, shopping carts and abandoned carts that are making her clients much more profitable.

The best part? She chats with us while on her private plane from the east coast to California.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview:

• Start focusing on adoption to cart NOT cart abandonment.

• Why you need to stop focusing on selling only online, start incorporating the phone to help online sales. It’s all about finding the easiest ways to create the largest profit.

• Sell where people want to be sold.

• Understand why and begin to implement the mobile to desktop shopping cart transfer.

• The importance of navigation.

• Why you can't treat mobile and tablets as the same thing when analyzing your business and customers.

• The "buy or die" abandon cart email strategy.

• The biggest ecommerce problem to avoid in 2014.

• Why conversion rate is an overrated metric and what metrics you should be focusing on.

• The type of emails that are working best for Amy’s clients.

• The 4 types of triggered email sequences to implement for the best results.

• How to find the "rat stuck in your snake".

• Using search on your site to help you sell more - "search is indicative of propensity to buy".

• Be willing to "sell your soul to the devil" to capture emails.

• Why you need to email more and ride out the "unsubscribe wave".

• Work your navigation like crazy.

• Creating a shopping cart that is user-based, not one-size fits all.

• Focus on evolutionary, not revolutionary when it comes to your site.

Links/Resources:

• AmyAfrica.com

• EightbyEight.com

• info [at] amyafrica.com

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!

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We've all done it at some point so no gets a free pass, but it's time for you, once and for all, to stop copying your competitors!

Jeff Bezos once said,"Don't focus on the competition, they'll never give you money."

We know that many listeners, including ourselves, have at one point copied some of our competitors website navigation, their design, copy, conversion tactics, and maybe even their business model.

In this conversation we're going to provide you with some of the most important reasons, and some very concrete examples, as to why you need to stop copying your competitors...and what you should be copying instead. Give it a listen to the end and you'll know what we mean.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interveiw:

• Why you need to stop copying your competitors - Even if it's "Nasty Gal" it might not be useful.

• Examples of copying gone wrong.

• The importance of data when copying.

• Should you redesign your website? (Check out the Chris Goward episode)

• When is it okay to copy.

• Two solutions to help you stop copying your competitors

• "Innovation makes the world a better place!"

Links/Resources:

• Chris Goward Episode

• Nasty Gal

• Clicktale v CrazyEgg copycat example

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

Follow on Twitter:

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While Analytics packages tell you what people are doing on your website, Qualaroo can tell you why they are doing it by capturing qualitative and voice of customer data. Or even more important, why they aren't doing something.

Sean Ellis’ is the CEO and co-founder of Qualaroo Insights, a qualitative insights solution triggered by onsite user behavior to collect visitor intelligence for driving faster conversion rate optimization.

Qualaroo is used by major companies like Shopify, Yahoo, Vimeo, Groupon, and intuit to help them gain better “voice of the customer” (VOC) intelligence that they can’t get from their analytics tool.

Additionally, Sean has been a marketing executive for huge companies like Dropbox, Eventbrite, and LogMeIn, he’s currently an advisor to Kissmetrics, and he runs a very popular marketing blog and community for startups called Growth Hackers.

In this episode Sean talks to us about how you can use qualitative insights to convert more of your visitors into paying customers, and how one of his experiments resulted in a 300% boost thanks to VOC.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview:

• What qualitative and voice of customer data means to ecommerce companies.

• Test 10 different ideas for one answer, but can get that answer via voice of customer.

• What is Growth Hacking and why does it matter?

• Growth hacking for physical product businesses.

• Sean’s experience as the first marketing hire at Dropbox (and why they grew so quickly).

• Effective referral marketing and how to translate it to ecommerce.

• 300% increase in conversion thanks to voice of customer/qualitative.

Links/Resources:

• Sean On Twitter

• Qualaroo

• Growth Hackers

• Kissmetrics

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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If you advertise and sell in a newspaper does that make you a "newspaper business"? No. That also means you are not an online business just because you advertise and sell online.

In this episode we'll discuss the 3 reasons why you're not an online business, balancing your online acquisition channels AND your online / offline channels and the dangers of not doing so, and how you can start taking your marketing offline to sell more online.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview

• 3 reasons why you're not an online business

• The three M's in marketing

• Balancing your online acquisition channels AND your online / offline acquisitions channels - and the dangers of not balancing between the two.

• Examples of over-reliance on acquisition channels.

• Finding your customers where they hang out.

• Driving online sales with offline promotions

• Referral programs

• Email collecting

• Plus much more

Links/Resources

• Pura Vida Bracelets

• Blenders Eyewear

• Dan Kennedy

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Crowdsourcing in ecommerce isn't exactly a new thing, but Jake Nickell of Threadless is credited with starting the trend, a trend that helped his company hit $30 million plus.

Jake co-founded Threadless in 2000, a company based out of Chicago that combines an online community of artists and an eCommerce website.

He started Threadless with just $1,000 of his own money and has since seen revenues go from $1.5 million in 2004, $6.5 million in 2006, and the most recent estimate puts revenues as high as $30 million in 2011.

Each week, about 1,000 designs are submitted online and are put to a public vote. After further review and some additional scoring and feedback, 10 designs are chosen, printed on clothing and other products, and then sold worldwide through the online store, selling about 120,000 t-shirts per month.

Jake made “crowdsourcing” an essential part of the business plan (even though he doesn't use the term any more because of the way it is now perceived), building a thriving community that consists of 2.5 million+ members that have helped him build his business from a $1,000 startup to a $30million dollar behemoth.

In this episode he’s going to talk to us today about his online path to $30million+.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview

• Becoming the "Coolest Dude On Earth"....seriously, Google that phrase. He ranks #1.

• How the idea of Threadless came about.

• Using crowdsourcing in ecommerce to hit $30 million+

• His focus on partnerships and how it's helping his company.

• Going 8 years without spending even a penny on advertising.

• The other ideas that failed while Threadless survived and thrived and what he learned from those experiences.

• Why Jake is focusing on what Threadless does best and sticking with those.

• Why he no longer likes or uses the term crowd-sourcing to describe his business model.

• His take on creating experiences for customers.

• What Jake would do differently if he started Threadless again today.

Links/Resources:

• Jake Nickell

• Threadless

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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There are a lot of reasons why email marketing fails. The question is, which is the reason why yours is failing?

Bad copy, uninteresting subject lines, failing to standout, not providing value are just some of the reasons why email marketing fails, and there are 4 kinds of bad online business emailers that only make the problem worse.

When done right, though, email marketing can have a huge positive brand and financial impact on your business. We've seen some companies implement great email marketing strategies where a majority of their emails get 10x the open rates and click-thru rates from their email community when compared to their competitors. The financial difference can be just as astounding.

In this episode we'll talk about why email marketing fails and what you what you need to do to find success with your email and increase the bottom-line.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview

• The 7-8 main reasons why email marketing fails.

• The different type of email failure profiles (the hammer, the discounter, the scattershot, the scaredy cat) You don’t want to be one of these.

• The #1 mistake people are making with email marketing. Here's a hint: Segmentation.

• How to make more sales by providing relevant offers.

• The value of defining your best customers.

• What can you learn from brick and mortar stores?

• Why you should treat email like a direct mail campaign.

• Break down of time to purchase data.

• The number one reason email campaigns fail - Segmentation

Links Mentioned

• Link to event in Austin

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Chris Goward, the Founder and CEO of Wider Funnel, is one of the world’s leading experts in website and ecommerce conversion rate optimization.

His company helps clients like Google, Electronic Arts, Iron Mountain, Magento, BuildDirect.com, and many others lift online results by up to 400% for lead generation, ecommerce, and affiliate companies by using the LIFT Model and the Kaizen Method.

Chris has presented on website and ecommerce conversion rate optimization at 100+ events in 30+ cities globally, including conferences like Search Engine Strategies, Search Marketing Expo, European Conversion Summit, and much more. He’s also been invited to speak on behalf of companies such as Google, Magento, Citrix, MarketingProfs, Unbounce and Optimizely.

In 2013, Chris authored “You Should Test That!“, his Amazon best-selling book that shows how leading companies are using marketing optimization techniques to dramatically lift their website revenue, and it’s recommended by highly-acclaimed thought leaders like Avinash Kaushik (also a guest on this show), Neil Patel, and executives from Microsoft, Dell, and Google.

In this episode Chris talks to us about ecommerce conversion rate optimization for companies looking to go from $1 million to $10 million in revenue.

Topics Discussed throughout this interview

• How Chris developed WiderFunnel.com in 2007 before website and ecommerce conversion rate optimization was a common focus.

• A high-level view of the 6 conversion factors you must pay attention to, a process called the LIFT Model - (we break down these 6 parts in the interview).

• The strategic framework for approaching ecommerce conversion rate optimization called the Kaizen Method.

• Radical site redesign vs Evolutionary site redesign.

• Best ways to collect qualitative data.

• Why we need to care about mobile and how to think about it from a ecommerce conversion rate optimization mindset.

• How to decide between a responsive or dedicated mobile site.

• Every business should have an ecommerce conversion rate optimization plan. If you don't you’re losing money and profits.

• The one action Chris suggests you take today to turn more visitors into paying customers.

Links Mentioned

• WiderFunnel.com

• ChrisGoward.com

• Connect with Chris Goward on Twitter

• LIFT Model

• Kaizen Method

• Radical site design vs evolutionary site redesign

• You Should Test That - Book

• Mobile presentation on Slide Share

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them.

We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!

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Before starting this show make sure to check out part 1 where we talk about the first 2 steps in this 5-step bulletproof ecommerce sales funnel.

Funnel’s are extremely exciting to talk about because after you're done building a bulletproof ecommerce sales funnel you can often see 2, 5 or even 10x growth. In this episode we talk about the remaining three pieces of building a bulletproof ecommerce sales funnel and what that will mean to the growth of your business.

We'll also walk you through an example of exactly how to set this up for your business. It’s great to hear conceptually but this real life example will give you the steps necessary to implement this funnel for your business.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview

• Why your core offer might not be the place you make your most profit

• What McDonalds can teach you about building a bulletproof ecommerce sales funnel

• You don’t have to live and die on the profits of a core offering

• How to increase number of transactions per customer

• A real example of a start to finish bulletproof ecommerce sales funnel

Links Mentioned:

• First Episode

• McDonalds Article

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

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Andy Forch and Richard Greiner are the co-founders of Huckberry, an online shop, journal and brand discovery site for guys with taste.

Their focus at Huckberry is to inspire their readers to lead more active, adventurous, and thoughtful lives while providing cool gear with inspiring stories and at insiders' prices.

They've built a large community of loyal followers where 40% of their visitors return to their site more than 10x per month and their email open and click thru rates are 5-10x the industry average.

A big reason for their success is that they're using partnerships as an ecommerce growth channel while building build their community, and in this episode we’re going to get some more insight into how they do this and what it's meant for the growth of their business.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview

• The “why” behind Andy and Richard's Huckberry community

• How they’re consistently getting 10x better engagement rates than anyone else in ecommerce

• How they're using partnerships as an ecommerce growth channel

• Huckberry's evolution and acquisition layer breakdown

• Huckberry's best customer acquisition strategies today

• The #1 mistake you have to avoid in business

• The incredibly valuable meaning behind "make your first pancake" in online business

Links/Resources:

• Huckberry.com

• Avinash’s episode

• Art of Manliness

• Huckberry Twitter

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we’re very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we’ll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!  

Today we're going to discuss how to build an online community for your ecommerce store, with special guest Andrew Youderian from eCommerceFuel.

Andrew has built an incredible community of ecommerce store owners that drives his business, and he discusses with us why it is necessary for the success of your online business and how you can do it, too.

We will walk through several examples of companies that are doing this well and take you through some specific action steps on how to build an online community for you ecommerce store starting today.

Topics Discussed Throughout This Interview

• Examples of companies building great online communities around their business

• The importance of personal touch, including personally emailing every new subscriber while you still can

• Who creates the community and how do you manage that?

• What can you learn from Red Bull about building a community

• The basics of getting started with communities for your business (here's a hint, start small)

• Why all good brands have an enemy

• How to build an online community using live events

Links Mentioned:

• eCommerce Fuel

• FeverBee

• Andrew's live event in Austin.

Thank You For Listening & A Simple Request

To get more awesome Ecommerce Influence content sent directly to your device and into your ears as they become available, you can subscribe on iTunes or Stitcher!

Also, ratings and reviews on iTunes (hopefully 5-stars!) help us tremendously a we're very grateful for them. We do read all of the reviews and we'll answer your questions or comments on future episodes.

Cheers,

Austin & Chad!