One Stop Shop

The start of the year signals two things: looking back at the past and preparing for this year. And for entrepreneurs such as you and me, it’s reflection and planning for our business while taking note of its “roller-coaster-like” nature. Because let’s face it, building your own business is like riding a roller coaster. One moment you’ve done really well for yourself, you feel like nothing could go wrong and you savor the moments that you’re on top of your game. And then the next thing you know, you’ve failed at achieving your goals for your business. You’re struggling. You’ve done everything you could but nothing seems to go right for your brand. You’re experiencing the dreaded “downs” in the ride. Sometimes, you can’t help but experience the challenges. After all, macro-economic outlook looks a little unclear. Many public markets around the world had a rough 2018. And if I told you to “buckle up and enjoy the ride!”, you just can’t relate to it, right? I mean, no one really enjoys the pain, the obstacles, t

After all, everybody loves to feel special. People like it when they’re valued. And customers are happy fans if you do random acts of unexpected kindness during your engagement with them. The surprise element is the cherry on top that helps you pull this off successfully and guarantees the delights of your customers. To help you do this, start with this simple two-step process: Prioritize which customers are more likely to engage with you. Technically speaking, you can’t make every single one of your customers super delighted by doing small, significant and surprising gestures to them. You need to prioritize by targeting new orders placed by: Regular, repeat customers that have higher than average Customer Lifetime Value with you; and, First-time customers that placed an order that’s 30% higher than your Average Order Value. These customers are likely to be more engaged, so they spend more money with you. 70% of emotionally engaged consumers are willing to spend twice as much on brands to which they are loy

The landscape of Ecommerce is changing. The competition is more in almost every market, because it’s so easy to get started. Paid ad acquisition is up significantly. Data privacy concerns - the likes that have continued to hit FB - is becoming more prevalent. Consumers are both overwhelmed and have so many options. Why should they pick you? We believe that the future is all about building a profitable brand that your customers will love. This will be the only way to stand out, be sustainable and hopefully grow.

Revenue and profit are sometimes used synonymously although they’re not exactly the same. If “revenue” is your total earnings, “profit” if your total earnings minus your total expenses. But what’s wrong with discussing profit, though? Now, don’t get me wrong. Money isn’t the end-game here. When it comes to building businesses, I also love discussing about email marketing tricks, customer loyalty techniques and product development - all of these are significantly helpful when it comes to crafting a sustainable brand over the long run. My problem is this: why is it that in some marketing-related articles that I’ve read, most case studies have an infatuation with discussing revenue without even mentioning the word “profit” in the write-up? In today’s podcast, I want to talk about why profit is not a dirty word. Don’t be embarrassed to talk about it. Don’t hold back discussing it. Let’s dive into the details. For example, check out this case study where a merchant spent $191k on Facebook ads that generated $374k

What do the brands like Zappos, Harley Davidson and Trader Joe’s have in common? It’s not their products. After all, footwear, motorcycles and supermarkets are vastly different from each other. It’s their amazing, efficient and feel-good customer service that allows them to stand out from the crowd and be noticed in a positive light in today’s nearly saturated and over-competitive market. Now, you can invest everything that you have into making your products different: get the best suppliers, hire the best designers and programmers and even pay the best marketers to promote your product for you. If you’re providing a bad experience to your customers, though, you can say Adios! to your profit. Studies show that 67% of consumers list bad customer experience as one of their primary reasons for switching providers. Think that’s not such a big deal? $1.6 trillion is lost by companies in the United States due to customers switching as a result of poor customer service. Here’s the light at the end of the tunnel: U.S

I’m talking about using segmented emails to kill two birds: growing customer loyalty and increasing your company’s profit. Sending emails to a segmented audience will increase click rates by 100.95%. This means that over time, click rates will increase on your emails as long as you’re sending them to a segmented audience. The more targeted and relevant the emails are, the more your customers will open them, and the more they’re likely to be engaged with you. More engaged customers = better relationship between customer and you. Now, that’s nice and all, but what does this mean? Customers will spend more as their trust in the relationship grows. Over time, loyal customers spend 67% more than new ones. The key here is using automated email marketing to grow customer loyalty via your rewards program - and once you’ve done this - focusing more on your most loyal customers so you can generate more profit over the long run. Before we start, I want you to know that I’m not pulling these tricks out of thin air. We go

Here’s a little secret for you: All the podcasts you’ve listened to so far? I had to do multiple takes to get them right. All the lessons you’ve listened to in those podcasts? I learned them first-hand from my personal experience of being an online entrepreneur in the last 12 years. Most brands love to show off their best features: perfect copy, outstanding visual identity, kickass content on multiple media platforms -- and this is okay. After all, the more polished and put-together a business is, the smoother the operations will be, right? But is this what most consumers expect - or even want - from online brands? Think about it. It’s like dating someone online. This person’s gorgeous, humble, smart, funny, wealthy and kind. Not a hair out of order, not a word out of line, not even a speck of dust in their apartment. They never make any mistakes. They’re perfect. Would you trust them? It’s the same with building an online brand. Most consumers crave for realness and authenticity. Because in a world filled wi

If I told you that I had 100 friends, and I can recommend your product to only 4 of them - only 4 people will hear my recommendation but there’s no guarantee that they’ll act on it - would you trust me and pay me to help you boost your sales? You wouldn’t, right? And yet, you and I know brands who use “influencer marketing” even though fake follower counts is a major issue and an “above average” engagement rate on sponsored posts is a measly 4%. Now, again, if someone told you that they’d help influence your sales by posting about your product on Instagram or mentioning it briefly in their blog post - even though there’s no specific link used to tag the sale as coming from them - would you pay them a hefty fee for their influence? It doesn’t make sense, right? After all, 76% of marketers say determining ROI on influencer marketing is their biggest challenge. And only 46% use actual sales as a way to calculate ROI. The tides are shifting. Those times when you considered hiring an influencer to use high-end cam

Purists name this special day as “Black Friday” and the cool kids are even tagging it the “Cyber Week” - it starts from Friday, and runs the full week. And for us entrepreneurs? We’re calling it a “Revenue-Rich Period”. Whatever name you’d like to call it by, there’s no doubt that this shopping holiday, which signifies the start of the Christmas shopping season, is something that you and your business should prepare for. Newsflash: it’s a very big deal. And before we dive into this week’s podcast, brace yourselves. I’m not here to talk about overly generic advice like “draft your emails”, or “stock up on inventory”. Nope, we’re here to talk about alternative ways that can make your Cyber Week the best week ever. I’m talking out-of-the-box, beat-your-common-sense, stand-out-from-the-crowd tips that can hopefully help you grow your revenue during this period. 1. Deactivate your “discount pop-up” lead magnet. Most online businesses use a pop-up that offers discount codes to first-time website visitors in exchang

In today’s world where flight booking and food delivery can be as easy as 1-2-3, you can start your own online business, right at your fingertips. Everything -- account set-up, company registration, visual identity design, inventory, and product creation -- can be done online! No need to sign a massive amount of paperwork, no need for a brick-and-mortar presence and no need to work for “the man”. Being an “online entrepreneur” is the name of the game. And everybody wants a slice of this sweet, profitable pie. Because it’s so simple to start an online business, here’s our problem: now, it’s become much harder to get attention and build traction for your start-up business. Skeptical? Just check out Shopify’s data which says that the average lifespan of a new merchant is 14-15 months only. Starting your own business is absurdly easy. Getting your first sale so you can build towards sustainability is the absurdly back-breaking part. And based from my own 12-year experience as an online entrepreneur, one way you c

Imagine you’re browsing the Internet and looking for a restaurant for a special dinner with your loved ones. You’ve found two restaurants with similar price range, similar cuisine and both establishments are relatively near to your house. There’s only one difference, though. Restaurant A has four 5-star reviews, three 4-star reviews and one 3-star review. Restaurant B has no reviews at all. If you’d choose Restaurant A, you’re not alone. 85% of consumers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. If there are no reviews for your products, your customers don’t have any recommendations they can trust. Aside from the social proof that product reviews & ratings provide, you can also use them as learning opportunities because they can highlight things that you can improve in the way you run your business and develop your products. These two reasons - social proof and feedback for improvement - represent why you need to work on getting fantastic product reviews. And in today’s episode, w

Everyone who’s subscribed to your email marketing list is different. Some may be people who recently signed up, while others may be people who’ve done business with you repeatedly. This is why you need to segment your email marketing subscribers. After all, sending the same email to a first-time customer and to a lapsed customer won’t help you achieve anything substantial, right? Do you remember the video we did recently, called “The Simplest Email Marketing Funnel”? The four absolute must-have email marketing segments are based on these steps in the funnel. We’ll even go beyond these steps and speak a little about lapsed customers at the end. In today’s episode, we’ll get right into these four email marketing segments, as well as the 4 E's relating to their end goals in order for you to have a better understanding on why these segments are important. Some of the best quotes from this episode: “These 4 E’s represent the end goal of your email marketing segments.” “A first-time customer is 27% more likely to b

Can you tell me what your main reason for doing email marketing is? Is it to send funny anecdotes and relatable memes to your customers? Is it to ask for feedback from your customers about your products and services? Is it because your competitors are using it so you need to jump on the bandwagon and use it, too? The answer: none of the above. You see, your email marketing may be nice and smooth. It helps you nurture a relationship with your customers. But if it’s not profitable… If it’s not giving you a positive ROI (return-on-investment), why are you still investing hundreds of hours and thousands of dollars in it? Your end goal in your email marketing should be profit. You can either reinvest your profit into your business, or you can use it to pay yourself a nice salary and splurge on nice things like champagne, your kids’ education fund, or a limited edition Marvel Funko Pop. Since profitability is incredibly important, we’re going to talk about the three quick and easy things you can do today to improve

Email is 40x more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. It’s one of the reasons why you’re busting your moves, investing thousands of dollars and consulting with the top firms on how to improve your email marketing campaigns, right? But if your business is a donkey, your email marketing can't do much more than putting lipstick on that donkey. Be mindful of the other things in your business that may need to be addresses first before you can improve your email marketing. In this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about the five things that you need to fix in your business so you can have an effective email marketing strategy. Some of the best quotes from this episode: "Think email marketing is all about emails? Here are 4 non-email things that can make or break your email marketing campaign’s success." "Sure, email is 40x more effective at acquiring new customers than Facebook or Twitter. But did you know that there are 4 crucial NON-email things that you also need to co

In this episode, we’re going to zero in on marketing-related softwares and apps. Is their promise of “use-this-app-now-and-get-profit-later” backed up with actual numbers that will contribute to your business’ growth? Or will it end up with you singing “Love The Way You Lie” while drowning your sorrows with Mountain Dew? Here are three ways to calculate if your marketing solution (app/software/service) is making money for your business. Some of the best quotes from this episode: "Here’s how you can get over Shiny Object Syndrome and actually find out if your marketing solution is making you money or losing you thousands of dollars per month." "Did you know you can cut down your monthly expenses by 15%? Sure! Just follow the tips outlined in this article..." "What if you could have 15% more profit? Use these three ways to calculate your marketing tool’s overall contribution to your business’ growth today." Learn with our FREE Ecommerce Academy: Conversio Academy Facebook Twitter I

What does the relationship between bees and flowers have in common with Brand Partnerships? Stop smirking. You know that’s not what I mean. I’m talking about mutually beneficial partnerships. In the first example, the bees get to eat nectar, and the flowering plants get to reproduce by distributing their pollen. In the case of brand partnerships, you get to find a like-minded brand that targets the similar customer demographic that you also target, allowing you to leverage this and grow your own audience without relying on Facebook ads alone. It’s not a new concept. Huge brands such as Apple & Nike, Spotify & Starbucks and even BMW & Montblanc engage in mutually beneficial brand partnerships. So what’s stopping you from doing the same? Ego comes into play. You automatically assume that any brand that targets the same type of customer must be your competition, right? Here’s a simple way you can go around this obstacle: find brands with values and beliefs that align with yours, and, here’s the trick

Do you hear that? That’s the hundreds of thousands of dollars invested by several business in both Google and Facebook advertising just to make sure their brands stand out. And yes, for every $1 spent on Google ads, an average of $2 in revenue is made. That’s right, users spend 33% of their time online on their social media platforms, so you can reach them when you invest in effective digital marketing campaigns. But the advertising market has already adapted phenomenally since everyone has taken to digital marketing to boost their brand’s identity. Advertising rates are more competitive, ad costs have increased, cost-per-click has gone up — and like ripped jeans and the ever-present hype for Apple products, this trend isn’t going to go away anytime soon. In the next couple of years, the best businesses that will survive will also have the best brands. Will you focus on building a brand that builds a long-term relationship with your customers? Or are you content with simply gaining a few Facebook likes every

Imagine you’re in The Matrix. You’re wearing a black coat. You have a slick hairstyle and set of cool shades to go along with it. And you’re asked to choose the blue pill or the red pill. The blue pill guarantees to give your Ecommerce business $200,000 total revenue every year. The red pill ensures that your business rakes in $100,000 in yearly net profit. Which pill do you take? If you take the blue pill ($200,000 total revenue), but you have no idea about your gross profit margin or the overhead expenses of your business, there’s a possibility that your business won’t be sustainable over the long run. Sure, $200,000 in gross revenue sounds like a dream come true. But if your cost of goods sold and operating expenses are $210,000 per year, you’re in the red. But if you take the red pill ($100,000 net profit) and your business raked in $50,000 net profit last year, you just doubled your net profit! You can either reinvest your profit into your business or use a specific portion of it to use for yourself. Eit

If you can choose between teleporting to different countries in a span of one day or learning more about how to be a better email marketer… How soon would you like to get started with your email marketing lessons? Now, in a world where information is practically everywhere on the Internet, it makes sense for you to turn to email marketing providers for more information about how to leverage email marketing in your business. However, there are two obstacles to these: Popularity: When you’re learning from them, your competitor’s most likely learning the exact, same thing. Wider audience: Since they’re catering to a general audience – from beginners to experts – you can’t find highly specific topics with details that you want to explore more. In this week’s episode, we’re going to discuss about the Picasso Method of learning about email marketing. Some of the best quotes from this episode: "Good designers copy. Great designers steal. Here’s how you can learn about email marketing, as inspired by Picasso.&qu

In this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about the five most important metrics that you need to monitor to guarantee that you’ll have a profitable email marketing campaign. Keep in mind that these metrics are specifically for gauging profitability. By focusing on these five metrics, you can find out if you need to tweak your email marketing campaign to ensure that the resources you’ve invested are giving you a healthy ROI or not. Some of the best quotes from this episode: "Think your email marketing campaign kicks ass? Not until it has these 5 important metrics to ensure its profitability." "Your email marketing campaign should generate a positive ROI for you. If it’s not, you’re doing something wrong." "If your gross profit margin is 25% and you’re running a discount promotion of 20% off, you’re making only 5% on that sale." Learn with our FREE Ecommerce Academy: Conversio Academy Facebook Twitter Instagram Music featured in this episode was "Celery Man" by Birocrat