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Crack Long-Form Blogs: Complete Guide & Experts' Insights 

Hey Hackers, has been nominated in HackerNoon's annual Startup of the Year awards in London, UK. Penny Black Please vote for us here: . https://hackernoon.com/startups/europe/europe-london-england-uk Read more about us below to understand why we deserve your vote. Meet Penny Black We are , the company turning your ecommerce packaging into a new, personalised marketing channel with a 100% open rate. Penny Black Brands work hard and spend money to acquire new customers but then struggle to retain these customers long-term. At Penny Black, we see an opportunity for brands to use the moment they have their customers’ complete, undivided attention – the unboxing moment – to emotionally connect with customers and encourage them to convert again. We’ve helped brands unlock a new marketing channel that converts 5x better than post-purchase emails and contributes to an 11x increase in repeat purchases. With our technology, ecommerce brands can use customer data from their store and customer data platform ( to send tailored messaging to customers through personalised inserts. Brands can also create segments so shoppers get a different experience every time they shop. including Klaviyo) My role My name is , Principal Software Engineer here at Penny Black. I am just one part of a whole team looking after our platform, management application, customers and operations. James Halsall On the technical side, our estate spans a huge variety of areas from serverless to containers to satellites, which are the little black boxes we deploy that bridge the gap between our physical printers and our cloud software platform. How we're disrupting the ecommerce marketing industry Traditionally, our industry has been dominated by digital channels, such as email, alongside a sprinkling of physical channels like direct mail. Penny Black is unique because it combines the best of both physical and digital marketing, as well as being delivered at the point that matters most: the unboxing moment. Direct mail has previously captured the physical element of marketing but usually needs more personalisation to meet high customer expectations. Whereas post-purchase channels, like email and SMS, can offer better personalisation but often get lost in the noise. We are changing the game by introducing a physical marketing channel that uses digital data to emotionally connect with customers. Our platform allows ecommerce brands to create dynamic artwork, personalise it, and then target customer segments using a huge variety of data points (including age, location, purchase history and more). Then, we allow brands to print these inserts, in real-time, during the pick-and-pack process. Ecommerce brands can then use the only IRL moment they may have with their shoppers to deeply emotionally connect and serve them a personalised experience that builds their customer loyalty. Standing out from the crowd What sets us apart from other startups in the ecommerce space is the multifaceted nature of our technology. Unlike conventional SaaS tools, our platform extends beyond software, requiring seamless connections with physical hardware such as satellites and printers. This all means brands can personalise and add personalised inserts into their orders directly within their logistics centres. We are also tasked with developing integrations for a diverse range of warehouse management systems (WMS), to make sure our solution seamlessly integrates into the existing processes of any logistics center. On top of this, we are dedicated to , working diligently to keep them at minimal levels. optimising print times In summary, our startup faces a more complex set of challenges compared to others in the ecommerce space. We are actively engaged in streamlining various aspects of our operations, presenting our team with both challenging and exhilarating problems to solve. Our predictions for the ecommerce industry in 2024 This year's been a bit of a rollercoaster for ecommerce brands. The COVID ecommerce boom has faded, and people are tightening their purse strings due to the cost of living crunch. Now, the real winners are the ones going viral on TikTok, building strong communities, or serving truly innovative products. It's getting trickier for ecommerce brands to shine and stand out from the crowd. On top of that, brands are cluing in on the magic of face-to-face interactions that got lost during the COVID rush. So, guess what? Ecommerce-first businesses are ditching the online-only approach and reopening physical stores to make shopping a memorable experience. Looking into 2024, we're betting more ecommerce folks will catch on that they've got to connect with customers both online and in the real world to stand out. New marketing channels, like personalised inserts, will allow brands to optimise what they’re already doing (like packaging up their orders) to stand out. Not only will small changes like this will surprise and delight customers, but also have a direct impact on long-term, sustainable revenue which is crucial for the year ahead. What word defines the state of ecommerce in 2023? Experimental Why we decided to participate in HackerNoon's Startup of the Year awards Here at Penny Black, we’re doing something different and for the first time! Being part of HackerNoon’s Startup of the Year awards means we can spotlight the incredible work we’re doing to shake up the ecommerce game. We’re not just another AI tool, chatbot or ESP - we’re serving new technology that everyone needs to hear about. Final thoughts Penny Black is honoured to be part of HackerNoon's Startup of the Year awards in London, UK. We're not your typical tool; we're introducing groundbreaking technology that's reshaping the ecommerce landscape. Your vote can help us shine a spotlight on the innovative work we're doing. Vote for us today here, and let's continue transforming the ecommerce game together. Thanks for your support! https://hackernoon.com/startups/europe/europe-london-england-uk . Connect with me on LinkedIn here

Vote for Penny Black in HackerNoon's Startup of the Year

হ্যাকারনুন এর স্টার্টআপ অফ দ্য ইয়ারে পেনি ব্ল্যাককে ভোট দিন

Stimmen Sie für Penny Black bei HackerNoons Startup des Jahres

Vote por Penny Black en la startup del año de HackerNoon

Votez pour Penny Black dans la Startup de l'année de HackerNoon

हैकरनून के वर्ष के स्टार्टअप में पेनी ब्लैक के लिए वोट करें

HackerNoon の Startup of the Year でペニー ブラックに投票してください

HackerNoon의 올해의 스타트업에서 Penny Black에게 투표하세요

Vote em Penny Black na Startup do Ano da HackerNoon

Голосуйте за Пенни Блэк в номинации «Стартап года» по версии HackerNoon.

HackerNoon'un Yılın Girişiminde Penny Black'e oy verin

Bình chọn cho Penny Black trong Công ty khởi nghiệp của năm của HackerNoon

为 Penny Black 评选 HackerNoon 年度最佳初创公司投票

The company's journey to IPO is impressive, but the long-term upside hinges on the success of its long-term bets like ads and the enterprise platform. Last week, Instacart filed an S-1 with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in preparation for their IPO. This is an incredible moment for the company that pioneered the online grocery delivery market. Huge congratulations to the team on this milestone — it’s an impressive outcome from an 11-year journey. This, along with the Klavio and ARM IPOs, has created fresh hope that the tech IPO market is en route to recovery. Interestingly, when a company announces it intends to go public, the law requires it to open up a firehose of information. One such document is . From analyzing this document, a couple of things stand out: Instacart’s 300+ page S-1 filing In 2022, the US grocery market was $1.1 trillion, of which ~$132B is online; of this, ~$29B ran through Instacart. In other words, , pointing to a market saturation risk. Instacart already has 22% of the current total addressable market (TAM) for online grocery The company lists out a long list of potential risks (which is required and therefore expected on an S-1), and — intense competition, heavy reliance on medium-size retailers who might be consolidating/getting bigger, profitability risks to name a few, etc. many of these risks seem non-trivial While Instacart has navigated rough valuation corrections and managed to have a profitable 2022, the company still has several challenges ahead as it starts operating as a public company. In this article, we’ll talk about the company is making to set itself up for success. where the US grocery market is, Instacart’s market saturation problem, and the long (but uncertain) bets US Grocery Market and Instacart’s Market Saturation Problem To understand Instacart’s market saturation problem, let’s start with understanding the US grocery market from a couple of different lenses. One lens is looking at the overall market and what percent of it is/will be online. The total US grocery market as of 2022 is $1.1 trillion. Of this, ). ~12% is online (i.e., ~$132B Of the $132B online grocery market, Instacart ran worth of transactions in 2022, i.e., . $29B they already have ~22% of the online grocery market Also note that the total US grocery is expected to grow modestly at , which is not surprising for a mature market. While the % of this market that moves online changes meaningfully, it is estimated to cap out at ~21–24% in the next 5–10 years. ~2.3% annually As an example, per Instacart’s own reporting (chart below), in 2027, the online grocery market will be $1.3B * 21% online = ~$273B (about double what it is today). Another lens to look at the market is share by retailer. About half of the market is owned by (Walmart, Costco, Kroger, Sam’s Club), about one-fourth by (Publix, Target, Albertsons/Safeway, H-E-B, Whole Foods), and the remaining one-fourth by small local stores (convenience stores, local grocery stores, specialty grocery stores, etc.). large retailers medium retailers In other words, large retailers hold a lot of sway, followed by medium retailers. Put these two lenses together, and you start seeing the key challenges Instacart is facing. First, the overall grocery market is not growing by that much, and Instacart is facing intense competition. While Instacart wants to and not redistribute existing value, this is much harder to do in a mature market like US grocery. “grow the pie” For Instacart to succeed, the company needs to of the highly competitive online grocery market . preserve/expand its share AND increase the percentage of grocery delivery that happens online Second, Instacart needs to make itself . Large retailers (half of the grocery market) have either already invested or are starting to invest in their own technology offerings. valuable enough that large and medium retailers stick around Grocery is also a high volume, low margin business, which has resulted in more consolidation lately ( ). Kroger and Albertsons/Safeway announced they are merging As more of the medium retailers beef up to become larger, Instacart runs the risk of losing them if they choose to in-house their technology and logistics investments. For Instacart to be successful long-term, it’s critical for them to solve these two big challenges, and the company is making long-term bets in that direction. Instacart’s Long (but Uncertain) Game It’s clear from the S-1 that Instacart understands these challenges and is willing to make long-term investments. We’ll look at a few of these investments, and what the outlook looks like for each. Building Customer Loyalty to Defend Its Market Customers often don’t have loyalty toward delivery platforms and tend to switch freely to the cheapest option. While Instacart has built features that make the user experience more delightful (e.g., showing you items you have ordered before), competitors have followed suit. Instacart acknowledges : this risk As the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and its variants subside, including the cessation of government stimulus, it is increasingly important to our business and its ability to grow for consumers to perceive long-term value from Instacart versus in-store shopping or less costly alternatives, particularly for lower income consumers. They are making investments to build loyalty — both through cheaper prices derived from operational efficiencies, and an . unlimited free delivery subscription Instacart+ Though Instacart+ has an impressive 5M members and accounts for , several competitors have equivalent products that do not require explicit payments. ~57% of transaction volume For example, DoorDash’s DashPass is offered for free with , and bundles free grocery delivery along with free eCommerce shipping. some Chase credit cards Walmart+ Instacart also has a similar deal today, pointing to a likely future where several subscriptions are provided to consumers for free, thereby eroding Instacart’s advantage from Instacart+. with Chase credit cards Take it with a grain of salt since it’s one person’s experience, but the last time I ordered groceries online, I compared prices on DoorDash and Instacart (because both are more expensive than in-store). I had free subscriptions for both through credit cards. The final amount turned out to be about the same, and I ended up ordering with DoorDash — because I use the app more often for ordering from restaurants. This points to another disadvantage Instacart has over more high-frequency/ubiquitous competitors. Overall, I still think Instacart will continue to be a significant player and at least defend the % of the online grocery market they own, but I’m not bullish that this % will increase. Scaling Up Advertising for New Revenue + Subsidizing Delivery Instacart ads generated $740M in 2022 revenue. Besides creating a new revenue stream (which Instacart definitely needs given its market saturation), this descriptive chart from Instacart’s S-1 perfectly captures why advertising matters for the company: For every transaction, Instacart collects fees from retailers and from consumers. It then pays out shoppers who pick up/deliver groceries; in this part of the funnel, from a $110 transaction, Instacart gets to keep $7. There is further “cost of revenue” including but not limited to technology/infrastructure, employee salaries, etc.; of the $7, Instacart gets to keep $4 “gross profit”, i.e., a low 4% profit margin. Now, add advertising to this. What Instacart keeps goes up to $7 “gross profit”, i.e., . In other words, it increases the company’s bottom line by 50%. advertising turns Instacart from a 4% to a 6% margin business This is a very similar strategy to how . Uber successfully used ads to subsidize their low-margin delivery & rides business While the ads revenue number is impressive, what makes this product strategically valuable is what ads in the context of Instacart can drive for advertisers. Let’s look at Uber briefly, and then come back to Instacart. In the Uber analysis, I wrote about the UberEats and Uber Rides app inventory — UberEats is high intent and in context (e.g., you are searching for restaurants and you see a restaurant ad) vs. Uber Rides which is more display ads-y (e.g., you ordered a ride, there’s a free canvas there, and Uber shows you an ad for something that could be relevant to you but not contextual). differences between Between the two, I was significantly more bullish on UberEats because the value proposition to an advertiser is clear — spend ads money with Uber and directly measure the transactions it drives (the link is much less defensible for Uber Rides app ads). For the same reason, I’m very bullish about Instacart ads. Specifically, Instacart is building their ads product for — classic examples of CPG advertisers are Procter and Gamble (makes Tide pods), Coca-Cola, Kellogg’s, AbInBev (makes Bud Light) to name a few. consumer packaged goods (CPG) advertisers Though CPG advertisers have some of the most sophisticated marketers in the industry, they have often struggled with measuring the direct effectiveness of their ads. For example, if you are Procter & Gamble and you want to increase sales of Tide pods, you don’t go run ads on Google, Facebook, or display. Because users don’t buy directly from Procter & Gamble, they buy from distributors/retailers like Walmart and Target. Therefore, CPG advertisers typically have to use more traditional marketing methods, like paying Walmart to show their products prominently in aisles. Another version of this is where a CPG brand spends ad dollars on behalf of some distributors, e.g., AbInBev spends ad dollars promoting Bud Light sales in a few specific bars. co-op advertising dollars While several top retailers have built sophisticated ad products for CPG advertisers (a new category of ad platforms called ), — if you are a CPG brand and you don’t sell directly to consumers, you need to rely on some sort of “estimated” measurement of how effectively your ads dollars are driving sales. retail media networks the two-hop problem still exists Their ad product , e.g., Procter & Gamble can specifically promote Tide pods when you are in the process of ordering from a Safeway near you. Instacart breaks that huge limitation. lets CPG advertisers promote specific items at specific retailers in a highly contextual format And more importantly, since the actual transaction happens within the Instacart app, Instacart can deterministically (without any “estimations”) say how much product sales were driven by ad spend. Irrespective of how mature or effective the Instacart ad product is today, the that very few other products have. ability to provide direct response advertising to CPG advertisers and measure sales outcomes with high confidence is a big moat There are a couple of advertising-related risks though. Instacart’s order numbers are flat year over year, and if this were to decline, that would hurt their ability to scale the ads products (sub-scale advertising products have a difficult time succeeding — e.g., Twitter). Also, with Instacart’s ad product, the company risks pissing off retailers who are essentially building their own ad products. Advertising often tends to be a zero-sum game, and if Procter and Gamble is spending directly with Instacart, that’s money not being spent on Safeway’s retail media network. Instacart could make the argument that it “grows the pie” for everyone, but I’m not confident this would land with retailers. My guess is that it will land in a place where Instacart agrees to some revenue share model with retailers. Overall, I’m bullish that the ads business will continue to thrive as long as it can keep up order volume. Instacart Enterprise Platform At the beginning of the S-1, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo articulates Instacart’s vision: Our vision is to build the technology that powers every single grocery transaction — working with the retailers that consumers know and love to invent the future of grocery together. And right now, that’s more important than ever. Note the language there — Instacart does not say that they want to be the primary platform for every grocery transaction. They say they want to build the technology that powers it. I have no criticism of the framing, and I think that’s a smart strategy, but I do think that the framing is a direct consequence of the market saturation problem Instacart is facing. Instacart knows that more online grocery orders cannot be their only future (or at least that there’s a ceiling on the addressable market with that approach). A few excerpts from the S-1 support this and also shine a light on how Instacart is thinking about going beyond online grocery: We (Instacart) believe the future of grocery won’t be about choosing between shopping online and in-store. Most of us are going to do both. So we want to create a truly omni-channel experience that brings the best of the online shopping experience to physical stores, and vice versa. With the business of grocery changing so quickly, many retailers need a trusted partner to help them navigate this digital transformation so that they can drive success both online and in-store. If the neighborhood grocer who has been serving their community for decades can’t find an edge, they may not be able to keep up. They are looking to address this opportunity with the — it’s essentially a Shopify-esqe offering but specifically for brick-and-mortar retailers, and supports a range of functionality across retailers’ life cycles. Some notable functionality includes: Instacart enterprise platform eCommerce: They provide white-label online storefronts for 550 brands (see screenshot of Sprouts’ storefront powered by Instacart). Fulfillment: actual delivery of orders; typically picked, packed, and delivered by Instacart shoppers, but retailers can also choose to pick and pack themselves. Ads: Power on retailers’ eCommerce storefronts sponsored products and display ads With this investment, Instacart is and , and with them long term (and not consider in-housing all of their online business). betting that they can use their existing position as retailers’ delivery partners expand that to be more strategic technology partners consequently get retailers to stick around It is a smart bet, but I think is nowhere close to a slam dunk (at least so far). Large retailers (Walmart, Kroger, etc.) control ~50% of the grocery market, and I’m skeptical that they would want to rely on Instacart’s enterprise platform as their storefront. Large companies like to minimize external dependencies because these tend to slow down product development heavily in the long term. Additionally, if I were running online grocery at Kroger, I would not want a distribution partner to also be my technology provider — because sooner or later, the partner is going to have a conflict of interest, and that won’t be a fun conversation to have. Even if I had no technical competency in-house, I would much rather hire from a long list of system integrators, or contract the work to an IT company (like Infosys, Wipro) to build an in-house system. Outsourcing tech for online grocery is likely more palatable for medium-sized retailers who are okay with strategic risk, but there have been indications that consolidation is coming (e.g., Kroger Albertsons merger), and it’s uncertain how many medium-sized retailed will continue to exist in the long term. Not to say this bet won’t be successful — just that these are non-trivial challenges that Instacart needs to address to actually make the transition to being a dual distribution + technology partner for medium and large retailers. Conclusion I think Instacart’s journey so far is nothing short of impressive, and they have clearly created a market that’s here to stay. Despite all the non-trivial challenges, I am bullish that Instacart will come out of this successful. Their ads business that caters to CPG advertisers’ direct response needs is a strong moat that can subsidize the delivery business. This, along with other operational improvements they are making, can improve their profitability and therefore at least maintain their market share of the online market (I’m skeptical about it expanding). The key uncertainty to me is if they can make the transition to a dual distribution + technology partner role for retailers, and that might meaningfully change the trajectory of what Instacart’s long-term valuation ends up being. 🚀 If you liked this piece, consider subscribing to Every week, I publish one in the form of a 10-minute read. . my weekly newsletter deep-dive analysis on a current tech topic/product strategy Best, Viggy. Also published more

Instacart IPO: Will It Win The Race Against Market Saturation?

ইন্সটাকার্ট আইপিও: এটা কি বাজার স্যাচুরেশনের বিরুদ্ধে রেস জিতবে?

Börsengang von Instacart: Wird es den Wettlauf gegen die Marktsättigung gewinnen?

IPO de Instacart: ¿Ganará la carrera contra la saturación del mercado?

Introduction en bourse d'Instacart : gagnera-t-il la course contre la saturation du marché ?

इंस्टाकार्ट आईपीओ: क्या यह बाजार संतृप्ति के खिलाफ दौड़ जीतेगा?

Instacart IPO: 市場飽和との競争に勝つことができるか?

Instacart IPO: 시장 포화에 맞서는 경쟁에서 승리할 수 있을까요?

IPO da Instacart: ela vencerá a corrida contra a saturação do mercado?

IPO Instacart: выиграет ли компания в борьбе с насыщением рынка?

Instacart Halka Arz: Piyasa Doygunluğuna Karşı Yarışı Kazanacak mı?

IPO Instacart: Liệu nó có giành chiến thắng trong cuộc đua chống bão hòa thị trường?

Instacart IPO：它会赢得对抗市场饱和的竞赛吗？

Product recommendations became increasingly popular after their introduction in retail by Amazon in 2008 and could provide a great value both for retailers and their customers. The hype led to the appearance of plenty of sometimes dangerous myths associated with product recommendations (mostly created by vendor’s sales and marketing teams). I.e. you might still see the product recommendation solution being presented as a fully autonomous magic bullet, which would increase one’s profits just after being installed on the website. In reality, things are way more complicated. The product recommendations could do both - boosting your sales and ruining the conversion. And it is challenging to measure the added value of it because most free analytical tools may mislead you here resulting in losses increase. In this article, I’d attempt to cover the most essential topics that need to be considered by a retailer while dealing with product recommendations and would provide some specific tips & tricks on how to get the most of your product reco. Start with workflows and campaigns, not the tools Product recommendations are collections of items proposed to customers for purchase. Product recommendations may differ depending on where the product suggestion is displayed, for example, a sales manager’s tablet or a product card, and the businesses’ goals, for instance, an increase in the average order value or an increase in the conversion or revenue. Before implementing product recommendations, it’s crucial to understand in which workflows they will be useful for the customer. In classic eCommerce business, recommendations look like product cards displayed on various parts of the website. For example, choosing a T-shirt on a brand’s website will entail other similar T-shirts being recommended and shown to the customer. Offline recommendations can be shown at the POS to a store employee, a sales manager on their tablet. Product recommendations can also be useful to a call center. When a customer calls, the operator can suggest products based on the customer’s purchase history and views. At the same time, product suggestions can always be fine-tuned to better fit specific business goals or an audience segment needs. For instance, recommendations can display only products with a discount (in order to increase the UPT, unit-per-transaction), only goods produced by a specific brand (for example, the one that generates the most profit), or only products that you have a lot of in stock. Here are some examples of what online and offline recommendations can look like: Online channels On the homepage — popular products; In the catalog — popular products from the category; In the product card — related or similar products; In the cart — related products or those most frequently purchased by customers. Offline channels In the call center — related or frequently purchased products; On the sales manager’s tablet — bestsellers and product collections; At the POS — related or promotional offers. What is crucial in all these use cases - your recommendations ideally must be consistent across the different touch points and communication channels. Just imagine the experience your customers may get when receiving different (or even contradictory) sets of recomended products consequently in your promotional email, eCommerce catalog and while talking with a call center representative during the order confirmation. If it is the case you might consider a solution, enabling you to centrally orchestrate your product recommendation logic across the touchpoints - i.e. a Customer Data Platform (CDP) or similar. The same logic applies to product recommendation algorithms variants on a different stages of the customer journey - i.e. it might not make much sense to promote cheaper alternatives in the product cart or checkout (we will cover it in more detail below). How to Evaluate the Efficiency of Product Recommendations Different combinations of the state and composition of product recommendations affect the metrics in various ways. This is true whether you’re looking at business metrics, such as the average order value or revenue, or proxy (or intermediary) metrics, such as page depth, click-through rate, and the number of times products were added to favorites or to the customer’s cart. Popular products with a discount on the homepage can reduce the average order value, but increase the conversion rate instead. The recommendation of similar, more expensive products in the product card can reduce conversion rate, but increase the average order value and overall profit. Information on proxy metrics (such as views) is collected faster, however, it doesn’t always mean the business success. For instance, one pharmacy retailer, as part of the experiment we launched on their website, added product recommendations to the cart page in order to increase the number of products in each purchase. During two days of testing, the company lost $30,000 relative to the control group. It turned out that customers started abandoning the cart in order to visit the product card pages from the recommendations and forgot to complete their orders. We saw the page depth increase, but in the end, the overall revenue decreased. These are the metrics most affected by product recommendations: Business metrics Revenue Profit Conversion to an order Average order value Number of products in the order Proxy metrics Visit depth Session duration Bounce rate Product card views Item added to cart, wish list, or comparison list To simplify the task of compiling a list of product recommendation campaigns, I would suggest cloning this and brainstorming solutions that will be useful for your business. I added a few options there as an example. Miro board How to Personalize Product Recommendations After determining the list of product recommendations and setting target metrics, you need to think about how to optimize the quality of your product recommendations. Product recommendations should help suggest the most useful items for customers. To do this, the product suggestions must be based on the following factors: Business goals — revenue growth, profitability, average order value, UPT, and sales volumes; Customer behavior — browsing history, items added to the cart and favorites, online and offline purchase history; Customer behavior of other similar customers. This way, product suggestions will be formed taking into account the interests of the business and the customer. The more data is taken into account, the more accurate the suggestions will be. If the customer bought a shirt offline, the mobile app will recommend them matching pants, because other customers who bought the same shirt loved these pants. As it often happens, the history of the customer’s interaction with the brand and the product range are stored in several systems: offline sales in ERP software, online sales in something like Shopify, and customer actions (e.g., adding items to wishlists) on another platform. In this case, we may not know that the customer who has just returned to the website already made an offline purchase an hour ago. , for example, used to send out email blasts to their entire audience on a weekly basis. Online purchase history, offline purchases, emails, SMS, and web push notifications were all stored in different systems. Crocs Eastern Europe As a result, their marketers did not have access to a single source of data that would enable them to send campaigns that took purchase history into account. Customers could receive emails that, for example, recommended Crocs that they’d purchased the day before. One of the golden rule of analytics sounds like “Garbade in - Garbade out”, meaning that if you’ll feed your algorithm with inconsistent or incomplete data, you’ll most likely receive unsatisfying results as well. There is no magic here (yet). To resolve this issue, the data should be centralized in a single system. It is possible to develop a repository that will allow the accumulated data to be used in marketing activities, but this is expensive. The most recent way to solve that bottleneck is the class of technologies named Customer Data Platforms. They provide a full scope of ready-to-use solutions for different industries. The technology allows companies to automatically upload data on customer behavior from an unlimited number of sources, cleanse and unify data, and get a complete history of customer interactions with the brand, on the basis of which you can launch marketing campaigns, including product recommendations. The accumulated data can also be used to train machine learning algorithms. Even businesses with tens of thousands of customers accumulate enough data in 3-4 months (with approximately a million customer action records generated over this time) to benefit from machine learning. Algorithms create a profile of the customer’s interests, find similar users and, based on what they bought, recommend the customer other products they may want to buy. This is exactly how . personal recommendations work in the Tom Tailor fashion brand Another bonus of centralization is cohesive omnichannel marketing. This is when online channels take into account the popularity of items offline, and product recommendations on the website and in campaigns are synchronized. Thus, data centralization significantly increases the quality of product recommendations. There are many services offering product recommendations. Their capabilities differ in the number of algorithms, whether they allow you to customize product recommendations or not, the tools they offer for measuring the efficiency of recommendations, and sources available for uploading the data in order to build a recommendation matrix. , , and provide companies with technologies allowing them to fine-tune product recommendations with ML solutions and take into account data from online, offline, and mobile apps. Bloomreach Insider Mindbox How to Evaluate the Efficiency of Product Recommendations The performance measurement tools differ depending on the channel in which the recommendations are used. At the same time, regardless of the channel, the principle is the same. Customers are divided into two groups. One group receives recommendations, while the second does not. If the sales are higher in the group that gets recommendations, then the customers found the recommendations useful. Online Channels When testing online, I recommend using Google’s tool. It’s free, it takes just a few steps to set up the experiment, and it doesn’t require programming skills to create the test. Optimize If you already work with Google Analytics, Optimize can use e-commerce data to evaluate experiment efficiency. One variant of the website will be the original version without any changes, whereas the other variant will display product recommendations for customers. For each individual widget, you need to set up your experiment, making sure that the data doesn’t mix, otherwise you won’t know which specific recommendation widget helps and which doesn’t. , received a 5.5% increase in revenue after the implementation of product recommendations. Incanto, a lingerie and swimwear store Experiments in email campaigns are configured in a similar way. One portion of recipients receives emails with recommendations, and the other without them. A/B tests are available in pretty much every email marketing platform. Offline Channels An offline A/B test with a control group works based on the same principle as an online test. This can be done when testing product recommendations within a call center. When a call is made, the operator’s software sends a request to the CDP, where the audience is already divided into two groups. In half of the cases, the platform displays product recommendations on the operator’s screen. In other cases, no recommendations are provided. Then, based on the CDP’s built-in report, the behavior of both groups is compared to determine where customers made more purchases. The same approach can be applied with POS software when the cashier sees recommendations to prompt the customer only half the time. When Product Recommendations Are Not Useful Product recommendations as a tool were invented by the Amazon Corporation to introduce customers to a product range. Automated product recommendations aren't useful for brands with a product range consisting of less than 100 products. In this case, algorithms will simply not have enough products to choose from. Therefore, the recommendations can be configured one time manually in the CMS. This will not only be cheaper as there is no need to buy third-party technology but also easier since once the recommendations are configured, there won’t be any need to support them. However, the situation differs when it comes to recommendations that have not been tested on a control group. Using the example of the pharmacy mentioned above (which implemented recommendations and lost $30,000 in two days) it would be fair to say that if recommendations are not tested, it could lead to the company losing money. If we take the example of a clothing store for kids under the age of ten, it took me three iterations of the experiment in a period of two months to achieve a revenue growth of +25% relative to the control group. How to Launch Product Recommendations If you decide to try product recommendations in your business, I suggest you follow these steps: Open your own website and try to understand in which situations recommendations could be useful to your customers. At this stage, I recommend making a kind of “wish list” of everything you think may work, starting from simple solutions, such as popular products on the homepage, to pop-ups with personal recommendations when a customer wants to leave the website. Arrange the resulting set of hypotheses according to the reach. The more people that see the recommendations, the faster you will get a statistically significant result in the tests. To create a list of campaigns, use the I provided above. Create a campaign list. Miro Mindmap template Metrics will help you understand which products you want to recommend and determine the criteria for success. My advice is not to overcomplicate this task in the beginning. Look at the revenue and page depth (also known as the “fast proxy metric”). For offline recommendations, it could be revenue and an average order value. Define metrics. or representatives of the product recommendation service. Developers will be able to tell you how long the implementation will take, and the service representatives will tell you how to quickly set up the desired campaigns. In services like Bloomreach, Klaviyo, or Mindbox, the most popular campaigns are provided out of the box. Feedback from your colleagues will also allow you to adjust the launch plan — certain stages can be implemented faster. Show this “wish list” to the developers Check that you’ll be able to coordinate your recommendations logic across different touchpoints and customize it to better suit some specific customer’s segment - i.e. brand lovers, heavy purchases and so on. Ensure manageability and customizability. to the product recommendation service. Data from online and offline channels as well as mobile apps will allow you to generate better suggestions and guarantee uniform marketing in all touchpoints. If you use a CDP, you can use the accumulated data for other marketing campaigns as well. Upload the history of the customer’s interaction with the brand and the product range For example, you can use Google Optimize for online channels, and a control group for offline channels. The distribution of the main and control groups can be 50/50, while efficiency can be assessed by revenue. Set up a testing tool. and adjust the product recommendations if they don’t work as expected. It may take up to 2-3 months before you receive the first successful results, and some widgets may cause a decrease in revenue. However, once everything’s up and running, you’ll see an increase of 5.5% in revenue, as the Incanto online store did. Monitor the progress of the experiment

When and How to Implement the Product Recommendation System

কখন এবং কিভাবে পণ্য সুপারিশ সিস্টেম বাস্তবায়ন করতে হবে

Wann und wie das Produktempfehlungssystem implementiert wird

Cuándo y cómo implementar el sistema de recomendación de productos

Quand et comment mettre en œuvre le système de recommandation de produits

उत्पाद अनुशंसा प्रणाली को कब और कैसे लागू करें

製品推奨システムをいつどのように実装するか

상품추천제도 시행시기 및 방법

Quando e como implementar o sistema de recomendação de produtos

Ürün Öneri Sistemi Ne Zaman ve Nasıl Uygulanır?

Khi nào và Làm thế nào để Triển khai Hệ thống Đề xuất Sản phẩm

何时以及如何实施产品推荐系统

It's no secret that a startup's success depends on its marketing strategy. Recruiting the right growth marketer for a startup is critical for the company's growth. Deciding who to hire can be difficult, but it's important to remember that a marketer's job is to conduct a conversion channel and escalate business growth. Every business wants to grow, but only some businesses take time to build a well-founded structure with a . If you study the growth of several successful companies, you will find that many have experienced growth marketers in their teams who have led to sustained success. Growth is only meaningful if it can be sustained over the long term. A growth marketer lays the foundation for this strategy, leading to long-term growth. growth marketer A growth marketer is responsible for recognizing growth opportunities for the company and guiding the team's efforts to cover opportunity gaps. A growth marketer determines goals and manages efforts to reach those goals. This article will discuss a growth marketer’s qualities and skills and explain the steps you need to take to hire a growth marketer. You need to understand the role of a growth marketer in your company and get familiar with the necessary skills they must have to identify the right growth marketer among multiple candidates you have. What are the qualities of a good growth marketer? Growth marketers have unique traits and qualities that make them excellent at their job. As the profession develops and technology becomes more complicated, the skills needed for a successful growth marketer become more valuable. Growth marketers are expected to be flexible individuals with technical and creative backgrounds and always looking for new and innovative ways to manage user growth. Some of the key qualities of a growth manager are as below: Analytical mindset Growth marketers need to build their brands for future success. That means creating an analytics framework that fits your organization's current and future sizes. A qualified growth marketer should "invest in good analytics and good reporting. These skills evolve as the company grows. Creativity Thinking creatively to target the right customers from a different perspective is what we need from growth marketers. They must always be creative in their strategies to deal with and execute market changes. Growth marketers are energetic and attentive to their environment. They use their creativity to create products and services, create fascinating ad copy, and create a steady sales funnel for the business. Communication A good growth marketer must connect with users. Businesses must use data and technology to prove that they care about their customers and are dedicated to winning their customer's demands. The only way to make this happen is to share and connect with your customers. A good growth marketer can see the customer from a different mindset which is the customer's point of view. Resilience and adaptability A good growth marketer must be resilient and adaptable. Growth marketers need to stay organized and multitask in a fast-paced environment. They need to respond to changing priorities without feeling overwhelmed or discouraged. Additionally, they should know when additional training is required and be willing to research to keep up with the ever-changing marketplace. Storytelling Growth marketers always understand the market. One of the most crucial qualities of a growth marketer is being able to tell a story. To keep their followers engaged, growth marketers should always be creative and create stories that are unique to the person reading them, one that is engaging, instructive, and relevant to their customers. How to identify the right growth marketer for your startup? Businesses hire growth marketers to help them stay competitive and maximize their profits. Hiring the right growth marketers is essential to a successful marketing campaign for growing your business. There are some critical criteria to consider to find the right growth marketer for your employees. First, identify your specific skills and abilities to market your business successfully. Growth marketers specialize in various areas, including paid , lead generation strategies, and website optimization. Also, ensure your growing marketers understand your industry, products, and services. By understanding the inside and outside of your business, they can contribute to the process and develop more effective strategies. advertising campaigns Some of the essential skills a growth marketer should have are: Optimization Content Marketing Social media marketing Basic design Google Analytics PPC Conversion rate optimization A/B testing Email marketing Great growth marketers are familiar with the latest digital marketing tools and technologies. As customers become more aware of technology's role in marketing today, it becomes more critical to understand the latest trends and use the right tools effectively. Try to find someone knowledgeable about the various technology options available. Some of these tools are: GrowthMentor Smartlook Google Search Console Fullstory Syften Zapier Hubspot Klaviyo Segment Keywords Everywhere Chrome Extension When interviewing potential growth marketers, ask about their success in partnering with other companies. A proven track record is a good indicator of the level of expertise and experience an individual brings to the team. Also, look for people whose personalities and work styles match your company's culture. Hiring people who align with the rest of your staff is vital in achieving excellent results and increasing productivity. How do you hire a growth marketer for your startup? Hiring growth marketers is often essential for business owners and entrepreneurs to maximize their potential for success. Simply put, a growth marketer is responsible for developing and executing strategies to increase a company's brand presence, build customer loyalty, and boost sales. When you hire a growth marketer to help your business succeed, there are specific steps you must take to make it happen. Follow the steps below to hire the right growth marketer for your startup. Create an ideal candidate profile​ Finding the best person for the role requires understanding what the role entails. You can create the candidate profile with your recruiting manager to define the job role, benefits, and required skills. Write a clear job description When you determine the requirements of the role, you need to understand the necessary growth marketer skills to be successful. Then you can create an adequate job description to advertise the position. Provide enough information about who you are When candidates apply for jobs, they decide about applying for the job based on what the company looks like, and they usually base their judgment on checking out your website and your referrals. So give potential employees more chances to get to know your company, how you work, and what your values are. Remember you need to let them know you have something for them too. Determine what you are expecting from this role There's nothing more annoying than an employer who doesn't know what they want. Some employers just put various unnecessary demands into the role, especially those that aren't usually related to the role. If the employer doesn't fully understand the role, how can a candidate expect the employer to understand their job and give them authority? Selecting the best candidate After taking all these steps, determine which applicants have the right skills for the job. Then you can from the selected candidates and narrow them down after reviewing the result. You can also set up an interview for the last step to evaluate candidates for the final step before hiring. take an assessment test Conclusion A business must continue to grow to survive. If you want to grow your business, there is always time to find a growth marketer. However, the best time to hire a growth marketer is when you have reached product/market fit (discovering strong demand for your product). Growth marketers are needed in the early stages of a business because it is an essential step in every business. Overall, hiring a growth marketer can bring incredible benefits to any business looking to grow. Growth marketers can help you create innovative campaigns, reach more customers, and generate leads. With the required skills and expertise, growth marketers can help any business achieve its goals and make a difference in its industry.

How to Find the Best Growth Marketer for Your Startup

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Comment trouver le meilleur spécialiste du marketing de croissance pour votre startup

अपने स्टार्टअप के लिए सर्वश्रेष्ठ ग्रोथ मार्केटर कैसे खोजें

スタートアップに最適なグロース マーケターを見つける方法

Como encontrar o melhor profissional de marketing para sua startup

Cách tìm nhà tiếp thị tăng trưởng tốt nhất cho công ty khởi nghiệp của bạn

如何为您的初创企业找到最佳成长型营销人员

Intentions and the Lady Mary Christian

While many businesses understand the importance of email marketing, they may not realize the importance of email design or other practices involved in e-mail marketing. In today's competitive marketplace, it is essential to stand out from the crowd, and can help you do just that, and not only that, as they offer a full campaign assist on Klaviyo. Codecrew is a growth marketing platform that helps you deliver more personalized experiences across owned marketing channels like email, SMS, in-app notifications, and the web. Klaviyo And the results speak for themselves—brands have made more than $3.7 billion in revenue through Klaviyo in the last year alone. What Is an Email Service Provider (ESP)? for example, like Klaviyo, is a service that enables marketers to send email marketing campaigns to a list of users (subscribers). An email service provider (ESP) The right ESP can be a healthy, low-cost investment for your business since it allows you to have consistent, 1:1 communication with subscribers. In other words, you can use an ESP to automatically email customers, prospective clients, and site visitors. This communication encourages traffic to your site, as well as brand loyalty. ESPs have the experience to properly configure your mail server. With , and configured, you will see a lower bounce rate as ISPs won’t automatically reject your emails. DKIM SPF DMARC Another benefit is that ESPs can keep track of unsubscribed readers so you don’t need to manually do so. Unsubscribed readers are automatically excluded from any email campaigns. Some ESPs will also unsubscribe a reader if a hard bounce is detected from that email address. Pretty handy and super important to prevent your emails from being flagged as spam. For Many Brands, Email Is the Main Channel of Customer Communication Email is a crucial part of any company's customer communication strategy. For many brands, it is the primary channel for announcing new products, sharing important news, and sending special offers and discounts. Email can also be used to promote customer loyalty programs, update customers about their orders, and share more information about the brand. In addition, email is an excellent way to send a nice seasonal greeting based on your audience's interests and what times of year are important to them. By taking advantage of all that email has to offer, you can ensure that your customers always have the latest information about your brand. Email design is important because... It can help you stand out from the crowd It can make your emails more effective It can help you build customer loyalty It can help you communicate more effectively with your customers It can save you time and money in the long run E-mail Flow Building Building an email list can be a great way to keep in touch with customers and create a database of potential leads. However, if you don't manage your list properly, it can quickly become unmanageable and difficult to use. One way to keep your email list organized is to create separate flows for each type of message. For example, you might have a flow for newsletter content, another for product announcements, and another for customer support. By segmenting your list into different flows, you can ensure that each message is going to the right people. Additionally, you can set up triggers to automate some of the work involved in managing your flows. For example, you could set up a trigger to automatically add new subscribers to a welcome flow. By taking some time to build out your email flows, you can save yourself a lot of time in the long run. Email Optimization Email optimization is the key to a successful marketing campaign. By ensuring your messages are clear, concise, and engaging, you can improve your open, click-through, and conversion rates. In addition, email optimization can help you save money on your marketing budget by reducing the number of bounced messages and unsubscribed. One of the benefits of email marketing is that it enables you to customize content. Emails that include a customer’s first name in the subject line have a higher click-through rate than those that don’t. The more emails are opened, the more information you can learn about your audience. This allows you to discover their needs and helps to develop strong relationships. By optimizing your email campaigns, you can ensure that your messages are working hard for your business. IP Warming , or IP warm-up, is the way you establish a reputation for a new IP or an IP that has not been used for some time. IP warming The warm-up process involves sending emails from the new IP, starting with small volumes, and gradually increasing the volume of emails each day or week according to a set schedule. This helps to ensure that the new IP is not flagged as spam by ISPs and that email deliverability rates are high. Without a proper IP warming strategy, your email deliverability could suffer, and your messages could end up in the spam folder. Therefore, it is essential to plan your IP warming strategy in advance with Codecrew's Klaviyo experts and to monitor your progress closely to ensure that your emails are reaching their intended destination. Email List Growth As the number of people using email continues to grow, so too does the importance of having a large email list. An email list can be a valuable asset for any business or individual, providing a way to stay in touch with customers, build relationships, and generate new leads. There are a number of ways to grow an email list, including purchasing lists, renting lists, or even building one from scratch. However, the most effective way to grow an email list is organically, through methods such as website signups, social media campaigns, and events. Organically grown email lists tend to be more engaged and responsive than other lists, making them well worth the effort. By investing in email list growth strategies, you can ensure that your list will continue to grow and remain valuable for years to come. Don't waste any more time struggling to figure out Klaviyo on your own. show you how easy and effective email marketing can be. Let Codecrew's Klaviyo experts

Why Is E-mail Marketing So Important?

My first paid writing gig was for a make-money blog. My client judged the uniqueness of my content by how logical my sentences were and what plagiarism score I got from Copyscape. That formed my idea about what unique content is. Read the first few ranking pages Extract the best points Perfectly reword them to pass the plagiarism checker. That was my bare and lackluster writing process until I decided to niche down in B2B content marketing and began to intern at Your Content Mart. It was then I realized everything I've written prior was nothing unique and everything the G&C founders call "Google research paper". Are you just realizing the same as well and wondering how you can write unique content pieces with original ideas? Well, this article got you. I'll share with you the 8 tactics I've learned about producing unique content that drives results. But before then… Let's lay a foundation with these 3 noteworthy facts about crafting unique content pieces that build authority: Fact #1: Writers are Not Subject Matter Experts Imagine getting wellness advice from someone who became a wellness expert after studying for only 5 days. I bet you won't stake your dear life on such! But that's what you do if you're into hiring freelance writers to write on subjects they have little to no experience in. You're simply asking them to read up and offer expert advice in 5 or fewer days. The result? Subpar and unreliable information. A writer's primary job is to collect data and ideas, transform them into readable content, and optimize it for the medium involved (in this case, search engine). This means that unless the writer doubles as the subject matter expert (SME) or the article can rely solely on publicly available information, the writer must interview an SME. Mind you, I'm not referring to contributory quotes or expert roundups. But leaning the article on the opinion and experience of verified SME(s). This synergy ensures you're saying something worth someone's time. Fact #2: If You Can't Make it Unique, Don't Write it I’ve noticed that this is a hard fact to admit. But prestigious marketers and CEOs won't hesitate to back off from a keyword because they lack enough data and ideas to help them stand out from the crowd. Why? Because they understand that content is beyond ranking for keywords. And that every piece of content is both a marketing real estate and the building block of authority. A marketing real estate because a piece of content can drive a pipeline of qualified leads for your business for years after producing it. As well as a building block of authority because it can engraft your brand in the mind of your target audience and turn them into superfans that preach the gospel of your business for free. Hence, never write a piece of content because you have something to say. Only write when you have something different and outstanding to say. I love the way Benji, the cofounder of G&C, put it in this tweet: Fact #3: Not all Unique Content Pieces are Created the Same Way There's no cut-and-dry route to crafting unique content pieces. There are different tactics you can leverage to craft one. However, the tactics you choose should be based on the keyword involved and what you believe will best appeal to your target audience. As promised, here are… 8 Tactics for Crafting Unique Content 1. Exploit Content Gaps 4,40000 That's the number of new blog posts published each day in 2022. While this may mean that the internet is now a choked ocean of information. In most cases, it presents lots of opportunities if you're ready to roll up your sleeves and work. How you may ask? By reviewing the first page of the SERP, you're likely to find: Cliches to avoid Misinformation to counter Shallow information to expand on. These are gaps you can exploit to craft content with a unique perspective. But how do you recognize the gaps when you barely know about the topic? Hence, emphasis on the need to interview SMEs. Only an expert will help you piece out the gaps and find a point of view your article can leverage to grab attention. Pro tip: It's best to review the SERP content before the interview. This is to help you gain the basic knowledge of the topic and ask targeted questions. 2. Customize Your Content To customize your content, use: One, your ideal customer profile details Rather than striving to write for just anyone, write for those that truly need your service. Define your ICP and tailor your content to suit them. Use details such as their challenges and desires to write highly targeted content that resonates with them. Deep customer insights set your content apart from the competing pages that lack them. Because these pages either guessed the details of their readers or wrote for a broad audience to catch as many visitors as possible. The SERP for the keyword "best SMS marketing software" shows this at the time of publishing this article. All the domains here are review and affiliate sites except Twilio and Klaviyo which are SMS marketing software blogs. SERP of this nature is an immense advantage for direct customer-facing brands like Twilio and Klaviyo. In this case, using your ICP details to inform your content will make you stand out to quality visitors that are likely to engage further with your brand. Two, patent data These are insights and data generated from research carried out by your company, or observations made from your working experience. If you sell an email marketing software for e-commerce, you can research the most preferred e-commerce store for different product categories and publish it. Such articles don't just draw people's attention but can generate lots of links. They can also be used over and over in future articles to validate your claims and show expertise. 3. Use Custom and High-Quality Multimedia Multimedia is to a piece of writing what an accessory is to a lady. They complement and visually enhance your article. They break up blocks of text and relieve your reader's brain from the strain of reading. Beyond the visual appeal, they add an extra layer of value for your audience. You can: Demonstrate practical aspects of your article with videos as did in this post or explain the whole article. The video can be a recording of yourself or an animation that can be created using tools like OpenToonz. Wistia Help lazy readers and visually impaired readers by embedding audio into your blogs. This can either be your voice record, a podcast discussion, or at the least a text-to-speech tool. Show statistics, and relationships, and summarize your message with infographics using tools like Venngage. Make your message memorable with relevant images. Use custom images by taking high-quality photos or design graphics with tools like Canva. Add humor with GIFs & Memes. You can find GIFs in Giphy apps or create one with Veed.io. Memes can be created on Canva or Kapwing. Show testimonials, processes, and steps with screenshots. Investing in custom, high-quality multimedia can give you an edge in SERP. This is one of Ahref's tactics for grabbing readers' attention. Ahref uses custom featured images in all their articles. Proof that it’s been effective is from comments like this: Source: Leadfeeder 4. Write In-depth Content The aim of in-depth content is not to impress Googlebot with word count. But to create the most informative and valuable content on the keyword. This is one attribute that made me develop a soft spot for all things Ahref. The first time I encountered Ahref was through their article on "search intent" which my mentor shared with me. It was so in-depth and detailed that I had to bookmark it. But as a habit, I read at least the first 5 articles on a keyword to be sure I'm bookmarking the best. The shallow and lean look of the other content made it easy for me to stick with Ahref. The reason is—I couldn't accept that anyone can deliver more value than I got from Ahref in fewer words. Merely scratching the surface of a topic can make your audience perceive you as "another one". Like Ahref, you want to stand out by having the holy grail resources on the topic. Learn to drill deep and answer all questions around every topic worth writing about. Need any ideas on how to drill deep into a topic? Answer the "people also ask" questions on SERP. Research what people are asking on forums like Quora and Reddit. Conduct a social media pool to get an idea of what your audience will like to know. Satisfy your conscience. Expand and clarify points whenever you feel the need to do so. Beware! Don't fluff up your content with irrelevant details. 5. Offer Freebies Nobody likes to miss a party where they're not only promised fun and good food but a gift to take away. Most times it takes beyond a great onsite experience to win readers. Think of a freebie they can take away. Chima Mmeje, the founder of Zenith Copy, perfectly addressed this point in a LinkedIn post. This is the article Chima cited in the post. Guru 6. Use Compelling Headlines Your headline markets your article. If it does a poor job, your unique content may never get the chance to defend it. Hence, your unique value proposition must reflect in your headline. It should outrightly promise your audience what you're offering that no one else does. If your content is in-depth, you can state it with words like "most comprehensive guide to.. ", "A-Z of…", "Exhaustive insight on…" If you're offering anything for free, your headline can say +free infographics, +free template. If you narrowed down your audience, you can pull in the right audience by stating who the audience is "...for B2B audience", "email marketing for—Shopify store owners". The point is, to leverage the specific ways your article stands out to call in your audience. Also, always ensure you're using compelling verbs that can evoke clicks. According to CoSchedule, it is from the rest. what separates the best headlines To ensure you're using compelling verbs, analyze your headline with tools like CoSchedule, Sharethrough, Content Row, MonstaInsight and so forth. 7. Leverage a Unique Structure This is not just about rearranging your headings to look different from similar articles. It's more about prioritizing readers' experiences. Such that it's easier to find the relationship between points, spot important details, and skim. Yes, skim! that 39% of visitors admit to skimming blog posts. Skimming of content is not a question of whether your content is good. It's not a factor you can control. Hence, it's wise to consider skimmers when structuring your content. HubSpot reports Need ideas on how to structure your content? Think of how to: Group long lists under similar headings. It could be based on features, audience type, or price. Break H2 into H3 and H3 into H4 and so on, when appropriate. Breakup long sentence lists into bullets (like I did with this structure idea section). Use H-tags in their correct hierarchy. Use quote blocks. Highlight an important message with  “side note”, “key takeaway”, “pro tips” when necessary. Use a table of content with jump links. Use tables for comparisons. Use charts and graphs for stats. Based on the format of the article involved, you might find more nuanced ways to structure your content to stand out. 8. Leverage Your Unique Voice and Style The method of conveying a message is as important as the value it holds. Letting your natural or honed style of writing seep into your content adds a subtle difference that sets you apart. More like lining a lace with luster satin, it adds glimmer and shine to your message and teases the reader. Source: Giphy Writing styles to weave into your content include: • Storytelling When a story is well told and relatable, it's hard to forget. It makes your audience the main character and endears them towards you. Even more powerful when it reveals your personal or customer experience and shows how the character moved from struggling to winning. So, how do you craft compelling stories? The Why, How and What framework is a great and simple framework that I've found helpful. However, I'm sharing this LinkedIn post by Chima Mmeje because I love the way she explained it. •  Analogy and Metaphor Analogies and metaphors add fun and color to your ideas, but they do more than that. They bring obscure ideas to life and help your B2B audience make sense of your industry jargon. When an analogy is creative and relatable, it makes the message remarkable and prompts organic engagement like the analogy of " " by Ross Simmonds of Foundation Marketing. album and mixtape The blog post had people commenting on how it resonated with them. And even earned another Twitter share for it. Always think of how to drive your point home by drawing a creative contrast between the familiar and the unfamiliar. I love how Ardath Albee, CEO of Marketing Interactions, said it. “With some creativity and a metaphor, you can really draw attention and have people think differently. Think comparison and focus on creating a mind picture for an instant ‘aha.”- Ardath Albee • Humor Many B2B marketers don't take humor well. This is because some think it doesn't resonate with B2B audiences. Others think it's a technical skill and if you suck at it, trying can be fatal. So, it's best to keep off. To an extent, these thoughts are true. But I believe they wouldn’t have arisen if people aren't taking humor to be more than what it is — HUMANIZING. Humor isn’t a rib-cracking one-liner along an article. It’s about thoughtfully injecting light stories and ditching dull words and sentences for livelier options. It is supporting your points with memes and GIFs. The aim is to put your readers at ease, warm them up and keep them digging on. Trust me, only audiences with rock-stiff faces wouldn't choose such an experience. • Conversational tone Writing in a conversational tone breaks the barrier between you and your audience. It changes the silent, boring, one-way transaction of a lecture room to an interactive session. Using “you” and “your” is a great way to make the reader the main character of the article, but it doesn’t make it conversational. A conversational tone is a good mix of “you” and “I” or “we”. In essence, don't just tell me about myself and what I should or shouldn't do. Tell me about your experience and opinions. You can also make your content pieces conversational by mentally engaging your readers. You can do this by: Asking questions intermittently. (I love to use questions to break off to solutions after stating a problem). Painting a picture and asking them to imagine. (I did that in the first paragraph of fact#1.) Use quizzes. See in their article on "search intent". how Ahref used a quiz Crafting Unique Content Seems Like a Lot of Work Yes, it is. However, look away from the hard work involved and focus on the reward—star content, more web visitors, and authority. Your journey starts when you insist on using original ideas. If you're not an SME, reach out to one. If you ever feel you can't write better than the existing content on search engines, maybe you don't need that article. But most times, there's always a chance to ride on. All you need do is leverage these tactics: Review the SERP content pieces to find gaps to exploit. Use insights about your audience and patent data to write customized content. Craft deep and detailed content. Visually enrich your content and offer more value with custom and high-quality multimedia. Use your USP and compelling verbs in your headline. Lure your readers with relevant freebies. Improve readability with a unique content structure. Convey your message with a touch of your personality by letting your natural or honed skill shine through.

8 Tactics for Crafting Unique Content That Grabs Attention and Builds Authority

This Slogging thread by  and Arthur Tkachenko occurred in slogging's official #programming channel, and has been edited for readability. Arthur Tkachenko May 5, 2022, 6:49 AM #Together4Victory: List of Email Marketing tools Arthur Tkachenko May 5, 2022, 6:50 AM Today I'm collecting a list of email marketing service providers, aka Mailchimp alternatives. And I already find a lot of cool solutions for small businesses Arthur Tkachenko May 5, 2022, 6:52 AM Let's start with a list of cool articles that I find during researching on Zapier https://zapier.com/learn/email-marketing/ https://zapier.com/blog/mailchimp-integrations/ https://zapier.com/blog/automate-email-marketing/ https://zapier.com/learn/automation-for-small-businesses/email-marketing-automation/ https://zapier.com/learn/email-marketing/best-drip-email-marketing-apps/ https://zapier.com/learn/email-marketing/email-marketing-list-automation/ https://zapier.com/apps/email/integrations it was one of the easiest way to find a great and reliable service. if it's listed on Zapier, it's probably cool, right? Arthur Tkachenko May 5, 2022, 6:40 PM Sendy Sendfox TinyLetter Mailerlite BUTTONDOWN Upscribe Palabra Friendly Froged Moosend Mailjet UnderSend MailMeteor EmailOctopus NoCodeLetters BirdSend ActiveCampaign AWeber ConvertKit Constant Contact Omnisend Getresponse Sendinblue https://sendy.co/ https://sendfox.com/ http://tinyletter.com https://www.mailerlite.com/pricing https://buttondown.email/ https://www.upscribe.net/ https://palabra.io/ https://friendly.is/automate https://froged.com/ https://moosend.com/ https://www.mailjet.com/ https://undersend.com/ https://mailmeteor.com Customer.io https://customer.io/ https://emailoctopus.com/ https://nocodeletters.com/ https://birdsend.co/ https://www.activecampaign.com/ http://www.aweber.com http://convertkit.com http://www.constantcontact.com https://www.omnisend.com/ https://www.getresponse.com/ http://www.sendinblue.com Arthur Tkachenko May 5, 2022, 6:42 PM There a lot of things to take into consideration. And as marketing and email marketing is a huge market for services - its not about pricing or the number of emails. below is a set of options that can help to differentiate plans Arthur Tkachenko May 5, 2022, 6:43 PM - Email Builder - Email Templates - Landing Pages - Segmentation & Personalization - Retargeting Audience - Email Analytics - Dynamic Content - Marketing Calendar - Behavioral-based Automation - Custom-coded Templates - Lifetime Value - Surveys - Single-step Automation Rules - Multi-Step Workflows - A/B Testing - Multivariate Testing - Send Time Optimization - Phone Support Arthur Tkachenko May 6, 2022, 3:41 AM it is worth mentioning solutions, having different core values for example, the companies below work good with eCommerce Klaviyo https://www.klaviyo.com/ Campaign Monitor (listed before) Encharge https://encharge.io/ Newsletter2go https://docs.newsletter2go.com/ companies/services focused on marketing automation Aritic https://aritic.com/ ActiveCampaign Drip https://www.drip.com/ GetResponse Automizy https://automizy.com/ Sender https://www.sender.net/ MailPoet http://www.mailpoet.com/ Elastic Email https://elasticemail.com/ Woodpecker - http://woodpecker.co Zoho Campaigns and many more flodesk https://flodesk.com/ peopcampaigns https://pepocampaigns.com/ mailster https://mailster.co/ sparkpost https://www.sparkpost.com/ Jilt https://jilt.com/ Autopilot https://www.autopilothq.com/ Keap https://keap.com/ Arthur Tkachenko May 6, 2022, 3:41 AM I'll continue to extend this list later, thr source will be located in this repository: https://github.com/LLazyEmail/awesome-email-marketing

#Together4Victory: List of Email Marketing Tools

The global pandemic in 2020 disrupted consumer behavior and how we interact with the environment. Due to the transition from physical to virtual interactions, the lockdown, and social distancing, consumers have developed a more complex habit when making buying decisions. What used to be a spontaneous buying decision has become a well-thought-out process, especially when choosing businesses to interact with. In the online world, the SaaS industry witnessed an increase in the number of new user journeys created. In the wake of the pandemic, technologies like video conferencing apps, grocery apps, telehealth apps, and e-learning apps recorded an increase in revenue that went as high as 165% compared to previous years. A recent conducted in July 2021 revealed that the use of social media increased by 56%, online services by 40%, and apps by 33%—and these numbers are here to stay. This, you can say, is good news for the SAAS industry as many companies recorded growth in sales. survey For example, Stewart Butterfield, CEO of Slack, announced that the company experienced a 15% spike in user growth in the first month of the pandemic. ** ** Zoom experienced a significant boom in 2020 as well. The social conferencing software recorded a 200% increase in app downloads, from 10 million in December to 200 million downloads in March. At its peak, the company recorded 300 million daily participants attending virtual meetings and a tripling increase in paying customers. With the increase in virtual migration, it was obvious that consumers were developing new habits and responding to marketing and products differently. For SaaS companies–and all other companies—this means developing new strategies to interact with consumers following the change in consumer behavior. To marketers, it means studying consumers and making sense of the insignificant decisions that influence buying.** ** Like most online businesses, SaaS companies rely on analyzing user data to monitor consumer behavior and predict trends. Because businesses are limited in their ability to know individual consumers, first-party data is collected to observe consumer behaviors and reactions to the brand. Then, the company collects this data to create marketing materials tailored to customer needs. With times and habits changing, a new challenge arose: consumer behavior and customer experience were changing. So how can SaaS businesses catch up to this change? In this article, we will take a deeper look into the meaning of customer experience, understand the importance of customer experience to brands, and delve into how to improve customer experience, Before we go any further, Let’s define the customer experience The customer experience (CX) is the sum of consumer interactions with a brand from the beginning of the buyer’s journey. Its history can be traced back to the 1960s when businesses with higher revenues stayed ahead of their competition because of the quality of relationships they built with their customers. It wasn’t until 1994, when Lou Carbone used the term “customer experience” in his article titled "Engineering Customer Experiences," that it became commonly recognized. ** ** In today’s 21st-century business, customer experience has been linked with the revenue a SaaS company generates. According to , companies with better customer experiences improve their income at twice the rate of companies with poor experiences. So with the changing market, it’s only reasonable that SaaS businesses develop a new approach to customer experience. Forrester Why customer experience matters A good customer experience builds an army of loyal customers. People with a personalized experience with your brand–especially at the first point of contact–want to interact with your brand longer. On average, consumers engage better with brands who deliver exceptional customer service, and in turn, they become life-long advocates for the brand by sending referrals your way. In addition, keeping a loyal customer reduces the cost of acquiring a new customer, which is 7x greater. Finally, there’s the reduced cost of marketing put into getting new customers, which is cut back also. Loyal customers: a high percentage happens due to a bad customer experience with the product. To decrease the number of churn customers, it is essential to prioritize customer experience and personalize the user journey of the customer when interacting with your brand. Reduce the number of churn customers: A good experience builds confidence. When brands give their customers a good experience, it is easy to improve your brand's image and build credibility. People can easily interact, promote, and buy because a brand is well-trusted. Builds trust: To stand out, a company must discover its competitive advantage. There are lots of other businesses out there with the same product and same features; the competition is tough to beat. That’s why most companies have moved to use good customer experience as their competitive edge to stand out from the crowd. Businesses are driven to stay ahead of the curve by investing in a personalized experience on and off-screen. Create a competitive advantage for businesses: Good customer service increases the number of sales from existing and referred customers. In addition, most people hesitate to change from brands where they feel cared for and prefer to stick with them. For the brand, this results in an increase in sales. Increase the number of sales: What makes a great customer experience People consider several variables when considering their experience with businesses. For example, to some customers, a seamless purchase experience is the definition of a customer experience; to others, excellent customer service is a great customer experience. Either one makes up a part of a great customer experience. A good experience involves personalizing each customer’s journey. For example, understanding your customers' pain points and improving aspects of your product to suit their needs better would make a customer stick with you. How to improve customer experience Improving the customer experience is a game changer in consumer relationships with brands and leads to increased revenue. As stated earlier, the brands with the best customer service are the ones customers love to relate to. Conversely, unhappy customers are challenging to maintain, and many low-quality customers will lead to a high churn percentage. Here are three ways to improve the customer experience: Master the art of building a customer-centric business Good marketing is all about building relationships with your customers. It starts by paying attention to your customers' needs and tailoring individual experiences. Building a customer-centric business requires an in-depth understanding of consumer behavior and how they interact with your product and brand. Customers today want to feel a connection with the businesses they interact with. With first-party data, you can track consumer behavior—while protecting their privacy, of course—to build better products and create focused marketing. Collect and monitor consumer data. Analytics provide a great insight into understanding the behavior of the consumer. Whether email marketing, social media ads, or website traffic, analytics help you track data daily, weekly, or monthly. Tools like help you onboard, segment, and analyze consumer data. is also excellent for monitoring consumer behavior. Klaviyo Mailchimp Manage customer emotion Many people decide if they will interact with your brand again based on the first interaction they have with it. When it comes to the customer experience, be specific about the emotion you want to evoke in your customers when they interact with your brand. Organizations focus on providing feel-good emotions to customers to convert them into long-term customers and recommend their products to others. Take, for example, Slack. The company focuses on making people’s lives simpler, more pleasant, and more productive, as stated in the company’s mission statement. We saw a clear result of managing customer emotions when Slack tripled its sales in six months. But how did Slack hone its emotional branding game? ** ** Branding and marketing expert, , attributes Slack’s growth to the company’s orientation: sincerity, competence, and excitement. Every marketing campaign released by the SaaS company focuses on creating powerful emotions in the hearts of its audience. Similarly, you can focus on building a solid brand by defining your brand's core values and managing customer emotions. Geoff Preece Final Thoughts The changing market is resulting in a lot of wasted marketing resources. Post-pandemic, SaaS businesses struggle with marketing and understanding their customers. However, with the right customer experience and tracking of consumer behavior, SaaS businesses can better understand the market and develop marketing that cuts through the noise. This article was first published here.

SaaS marketing: How to revolutionize customer experience post-pandemic.

Subscribers are like your buddies, amigos, the ones with whom you share your success, failures, updates, and what not! They are the peanut butter to your bread. Shaggy to your Scooby. Monica to your Rachel. Source: Giphy This is exactly why you must be loyal, friendly, add value, and make sure that you never let them go. This is important because, Subscribers can become your customers They help you build your brand They enable your brand to sustain So, here’s your handbook of building an authentic subscriber base which has 4 key mantras that you must swear by. Let’s begin. 4 Mantras To Swear By To Build An Authentic Subscriber Base 1. Be a thought leader: Go the depth when it comes to content creation Recollect some of the best content that you have subscribed to. As a marketer, my personal favorites are Hubspot, Copyblogger, and Content marketing institute newsletters because I get a lot of value from them. I get to learn something new every day and I get to follow the advice of industry experts! This is exactly what a good newsletter must do. Whenever you create content, understand that the subscribers are those who are already familiar with the industry. Source: Giphy The concepts are not alien to them. So, you should ensure that you don’t bore them with the basics and provide them with real value. You must go the extra mile while creating the content and also dive deep into the process. Create content that discusses New concepts and theories Explain a familiar concept in detail with minuscule details Publish findings from your research and experimentation Be a thought leader in whichever industry you belong to and make sure that you create diverse content - which we would be discussing next. 2. Diversify your content to resonate with every subscriber segment: The cross tree mantra Your subscribers are not like a one-pot meal. There’s no one-size-fits-all for all your subscribers. They vary immensely based on their demography, their interaction with your content, and their purchase patterns. This is why you must create clear segments for your subscribers and make sure that your newsletter resonates with them. Source: Giphy For example, if a subscriber has just discovered your brand, then, sending them a product demo in the first newsletter would be a bad choice. Similarly, if you have a subscriber who has been sticking around since your inception, then, writing to them about your brand may not be very relevant. This is why you must diversify your content and make sure that you segment and funnel your subscribers appropriately. The cross tree mantra of content creation and distribution: Educational and informational content >> blogs, infographics Promotional and apt for the buyer journey content >> web pages, product updates, feature announcements, company news, case studies, product demo videos Life long value add content >> webinars, ebooks, whitepapers, industry news, first-hand reports, etc. You must make sure that you segment your audience based on transactional, behavioral, and demographic basis and show the right content to the right subscriber at the right time. There are email marketing tools like BayEngage, Mailchimp, Klaviyo, and more that can help you with this. Whereas, tools like ActiveCampaign do not have this feature in which case you may want to consider some . ActiveCampaign alternatives 3. The magic of asking: Give your users an opportunity to subscribe -You might have done everything right. - Creating quality content. Check. - Mapping the right subscriber to the right content. Check. - Providing solid takeaways and making the visitors want to subscribe. Check. Source: Giphy But, what you might not be doing is helping your visitors subscribe to your content at ease without making it a hassle for them to hunt for that option. I have personally experienced this! Sometimes I instantly get hooked to a blog and would volunteer to subscribe to their content. But, the options to subscribe would not be apparent and I’d give up in a few attempts. So, it is always wiser to create opportunities rather than making your audience do all the hard work. How can you ask your visitors to subscribe? Leverage the power of well-timed pop-ups with attractive copies to make it irresistible for visitors to opt-in. This can be shown when they are about to exit your website, as soon as they land on your website, or after they spend some time You can also make use of real estate on your blog pages. Insert a catchy CTA in-between the paragraphs or make use of the spaces on the left, right, or below the article Social media channels can be a great way to identify your potential audience and ask them to subscribe to your newsletter 4. Sustain the growth and never let your subscribers down This is the most important mantra of all. You’ve done all it takes to build a strong subscriber base. But, if you are not consistent in your efforts to provide them value and keep them engaged, it might result in the demonic metric that you’d never want to see - unsubscribe. Source: Giphy Here are different ways in which you can ensure their loyalty to your brand Provide valuable content consistently Run contests and giveaways Make your content personalized and relevant Make your newsletters interactive (ask them questions, solve their concerns) The Final Mantra: Wrapping Up A strong subscriber base can do wonders for your brand. The key to building a strong subscriber base is in these four mantras. I hope this article is a handy guide that helps you navigate through your newsletter strategy. If you have any questions or would like to add something, feel free to share your thoughts in the comments.

4 Ways to Get More Authentic Email Newsletter Subscribers

A huge number of Magento merchants migrate to Shopify Plus. In this article, we review the key reasons for this so that you can upgrade your online retail with confidence. Why should I migrate from Magento? Magento has been a strong contender in the e-commerce world. As of June 2020, Magento 1 became officially obsolete. This means that support, security patches, and quality fixes that businesses relied on are now unavailable. It makes a vast amount of brands taking their online stores to Shopify Plus. For scalable growth, this migration can be the best choice. Reasons To Migrate To Shopify Plus There are 6 key reasons Shopify Plus is the preferred platform: 1. Time to market Migrating to Shopify Plus takes around 3-4 months while upgrading or migrating to a traditional platform can take 8-12 months. 2. Lower cost While license fees are lower on Magento 2 Enterprise than on Shopify Plus, these do not include hosting fees. So the cost of ownership on Shopify Plus comes out in total around 50% less than on Magento. 3. Ecosystem and integration Shopify Plus has a wide range of world-class technology partners - from reviews to search, payments, and shipping. Shopify’s ecosystem of pre-built integrations means allows quickly plug it into your existing tech stack. 4. Effortlessly secure Magento has security issues surrounding the platform. Shopify Plus has a closed backend ecosystem, which means that any attacks that happen are contained and managed quickly. 5. Flexible design Shopify has a fully customizable storefront; you can design and build whatever your brand needs. 6. Powerful automation Shopify gives powerful automation tools such as Flow, Scripts, and Launchpad. Things To Consider Before Migrating From Magento to Shopify Plus Theme Migration As Magento and Shopify Plus have different frameworks, migrating your existing Magneto theme to Shopify Plus is impossible. It will need to be re-coded on Shopify. But the theme's development cost of Shopify Plus is much lower than that of a Magento. Migrating over from Magneto, we would run their site through a UX and design exercise to capitalize on the migration investment. Code Migration Because the two platforms' infrastructure is different, migrating over customized code is not as simple as copying and pasting. Extension to App Migration Shopify Plus has an extensive ecosystem of technology partners. So if you have an extension to migrate over, there will likely be a solution ready to go. For instance, such partners as Klaviyo, Klarna, and ReCharge have integrations with both platforms. Custom apps with the required functionality can be developed and hosted separately to Shopify Plus. The development time and cost for custom apps are usually lower than on Magento 2. Data Migration There is an extensive library of Magento data migration tools out there. The two platforms handle data differently, but matching up the fields and transferring the data allows a seamless transition. Most data fields, including customer data and order data, can be migrated over with ease, however, with passwords it can be difficult. Data can be assigned to a certain client, so any order queries or customer services are seamless between the platforms. Migrating the data is a complex task so we suggest hiring experts for making it painless. Redirects Before you launch a storefront on Shopify Plus, make sure to create a map 301 URL with redirects. By doing this Google will pass over the ranking power to the new URL, and your users with saved links will still land on a relevant page. Higher speed Shopify Plus is a SaaS and it ensures the speed and website load time. Typically after moving from Magento to Shopify you will see an increase in page loading times and gaining high-quality organic traffic for SEO. Also, you can expect to see a much better conversion rate.

You Should Migrate Your E-Commerce Website to Shopify Plus Instead of Magento 2

HackerNoon Reporter: Please tell us briefly about your background. I have 10 years of experience in Digital Marketing. I spend my time using my expertise to get businesses and brands I believe in to get off the ground and do better marketing-wise with as little marketing spent as possible. What's your startup called? And in a sentence or two, what does it do? is the first and still the only safe social networking website for tween and teen girls. Juliette started the website when she was only 15 and since then it has helped millions of girls across the globe to find their voices and get them heard. MissOandFriends What is the origin story? Juliette Brindak Blake and her mom, Hermine Brindak founded Miss O and Friends 15 years ago when Juliette was 15. They wanted to create a safe place for her little sister, Olivia (the O in Miss O), and her friends to play online, and they did it! Miss O and Friends is a no-bully, non-toxic, place for girls to make friends, get great advice, read blogs from girls, and get published! The only global platform that’s truly by girls, for girls! It’s 100% safe for MissO.com users 24/7 because it is COPPA compliant, so everything is moderated before it goes live! No personal info is shared, ever! The website’s forum, the became so popular, the team decided to launch an app! Girl2Girl Wall What do you love about your team, and why are you the ones to solve this problem? I love that it’s a family-run website. I love that there is a very small team of women who run it and they are super passionate about what they do and that most of us have been here for decades. I love how everyone involved is so dedicated to the cause - safe internet for tween and teen girls. I solve the marketing problems with the marketing experience I have accumulated over 10 years while running other brands, geeking over email marketing, other day jobs but still keeping MissO.com as one of the projects I work on the side. If you weren’t building your startup, what would you be doing? I would be doing my day job and be more focused on writing. I love writing and I love marketing. More than that, I love teaching marketing. At the moment, how do you measure success? What are your core metrics? We measure success by the experience our girls are having on the website, the forums are super friendly, super active with young girls discussing topics they are curious about. What’s most exciting about your traction to date? Once you know the story about , you discover that all the girls in that header image are real. Disney and YouTube did a series on Juliette creating , partly fiction and party taken from her own life. The series was very STEM-focused and according to internal studies, 11% of the viewers (among a small testing group only) were more inclined to pursue STEM as their career. MissO.com MissO.com What technologies are you currently most excited about, and most worried about? And why? I love how the future is not bound by code. I love how new technologies like Webflow are becoming more common that you don’t really need that much knowledge about coding to create something today. I’m super excited about tools like Klaviyo, Iterable, and Drip out there making email marketing strong and so user-friendly. However, I am worried about some social channels like TikTok and the content it is mostly known for. Miss O and Friends aim to What drew you to get published on HackerNoon? What do you like most about our platform? I love the Hackernoon story. I love how it is run by a couple (and a few others). I have always believed in David Smooke’s publications, his work, and his fun but the dedicated attitude towards his work. Hackernoon is a respected platform and it’s an honor to be here. What advice would you give to the 21-year-old version of yourself? That was less than 2 years ago. I would tell her to slow down, stop worrying, and be truer to herself and everyone around her. Continue to be persistent and determined and what awaits her will come to her. What is something surprising you've learned this year that your contemporaries would benefit from knowing? You need confidence, experience, and the power of making others believe in you. If they believe in you, they will believe in your ideas. Vote for Miss O and Friends as . the startup of the year here

Miss O and Friends: Helping Girls Across the Globe to Find their Voices

A Snap Is Worth A Thousand Words (Podcast Transcript)

With these uncertain circumstances, companies need to adapt their next marketing campaigns to alleviate risk strategically. In a recent survey, indicated that the horrifying news of coronavirus has already changed their shopping behavior. polled last month claimed they are currently avoiding malls and shopping centers. 1 in 3 consumers 47.2% of US internet users Marketing channels, such as PPC, already see a decline in the budget. Google search ads lost 7% of their impressions from January 13, 2020, to March 9, 2020.  SEO, however, is seeing a strong uptick: brands like Daillyburn.com are seeing a 300+ increase in organic search visibility from January 19, 2020, to March 19, 2020. With these variations, there is a great opportunity for SEO professionals and content marketers to ramp up their impact, creating content that drives conversions now and establishes their brand long term. Savvy marketers are already making shifts in their strategies and investing more SEO. According to , the search term “SEO” and related terms have seen a spike in interest in the United States since February 2020. Google Trends Regardless of where in the world your business exists or what market you serve, the current COVID-19 pandemic has transformed and reshaped your business strategies forever. According to Sam Olmsted, Search and Content Director at Online Optimism: "During the Coronavirus pandemic, many companies may be reluctant to spend money on advertising, which means now is the perfect time to invest in SEO for your business. The top to survive Coronavirus are blogging, gaining press coverage, and cleaning up the backend of your site" SEO strategies In the unexpected reality that has revealed many SEO strategies over the last few months, businesses are adopting new ways to survive or entirely shut down and hoping to open again. Whichever side of the coin you stumble on, thinking about your marketing and SEO efforts has likely been a top priority. Are you still going to invest with limited funds in your pocket and where the world has seemed to stop rotating? Or are you planning and waiting to invest when the world for business comes back to normal. Maybe all of these questions are real and viable for business owners and companies these days. According to Will Cartwright, Co-Founder & CMO at : Supplement Manufacturing Partners Inc "SEO optimizations come in many forms. But some to focus on in these tough times would be to building backlinks and create better content than your competitors. Building backlinks is one of the strongest ways to grow your pages. They should be links from other high-authority webpages that are in the same industry as you for the best results" You might have seen a list of coronavirus symptoms and how you can keep yourself secure, but today but this list is a vital one for businesses; one that could change your outcome post-pandemic. Here are some of the best SEO tips to help your business survive COVID-19. Use of Google Trends and Exploding Topics to find New and Emerging Topics Finding new and emerging topics in this pandemic will be crucial in seeking traffic for new search demand. You can create the right piece of content for the right audience at the right time could make a difference between someone coming to your site or going to a competitor. But fleshing out a content strategy against the topics people are searching for is quite a difficult task. Since the main aspect of your SEO efforts is finding the right keywords according to search intent, using is important. For creating content, Google Trends should be the first priority you should reach out to understand the changes in search behavior. The data displayed in this tool offers information on how people are searching for different content in different industries. For instance, if you want to , you can just check its Google Trends. Google Trends know your personality type Because there has been a significant shift in search demand and trends in the last month, some of the keyword research tools like Keyword Planner may not have the latest data as these tools figure out the monthly search volume. On the other hand, Google Trends gives you the information about a specific period of time which is really handy these days with so many changes happening around the globe. Another really insightful platform is . This platform calculates data across search engines and trends across the website to formulate emerging topics. After that, they curate that data into an easily understandable interface, which you can drill down by time period and industry. Exploding Topics Consistently exploring the data can reveal new and changing opportunities to target for your business. Jayson Demers , Founder at suggested a small trick that will help your page to rank better with more keywords: Email Analytics "Here's a trick to make your already-ranking content rank even better in Google. Open Google Search console and open the report. Click , then select one of your top-performing pags. This will create a filter to show you only data for this page. Next, click and you'll see a list of all the keywords that are driving traffic to that page. "Performance" "Pages" "Queries" Next, go to your page editor (in Wordpress or whatever CMS you use) and edit that article so that it includes all (or most) of the keywords from the list in Google Search Console. Add them naturally, not in a spammy or weird-sounding way. You want them to read totally naturally. Doing this will make your content more authoritative and thorough to Google, and will help that page rank better and for more keywords. Right time to Market your Brand on Social Media Because the use of Social Media has witnessed a significant surge, make sure to market your brand on social media to show your online that you are alive and active. Customers always look out for your Facebook, Linkedin, Instagram Channels and Twitter for the most up-to-date news. If your social media is inactive, it will most likely harm you with losing your customers. during this pandemic Some of the news and updates you can share on your Social Platform includes: What are your crisis management strategies, what steps your company is taking to take care of employees and customers(sanitizing workstations, not letting sick employees work, ensuring employees wear gloves, etc.) What changes to hours or business policies your company witnessed? (for example, only letting one person into the store at a time) If you’re taking online orders and/or offering free shipping If you have private shopping or curbside pickup options Uplifting quotes or personal messages Using Visual Materials to Promote your Content Another method is using Visual materials like infographics regarding precautions to take to protect yourself from coronavirus with your brand logo and company name on the visual which can not only help customers to learn safety tips but also can boost your brand name and brand searches. Written content is undoubtedly useful but today visual materials such as infographics or videos are outperforming for content marketing and they will continue to be one of the most frequently used content marketing strategies in these difficult times. Because the human processes visuals 60,000 times faster than text, it is far simple for people to remember visual information than the same information in a written form. That is why marketing videos and especially infographics are all the rage now for increasing traffic to your website. Using Email Marketing to Engage and Nurture Customers , an email marketing platform that taps into a network of 30,000 businesses for insights, 22% of brands said they are spending more on ads. And 66% of brands that are spending more on ads are also seeing increased efficiency, with a reduced cost per 1,000 impressions (CPM) and cost per click (CPC). According to Klaviyo A small message or email these days can actually develop close relations with your customers. This is the golden time to get bondage with your customers where the . A positive and strong message like asking about how they have been holding up these past few days and whether they are ensuring to stay at home could mean a lot. Make sure not to send them messages constantly, this will leave your customers with a negative impact as if we are trying to cash-in the opportunity. whole world is locked down Move towards Digital Campaigns In a world where top businesses and companies are shut down, many entrepreneurs and business owners are much relying on digital strategies. Most of the companies during this pandemic already transformed their business online and making the most of digital campaigning. In fact, Larry Kim from just wrote, Mobile Monkey “One new customer closed their brick and mortar locations nationwide and found web traffic is up +150%.” I know what you must be wondering… You can market your business online during this pandemic by using Google or Facebook, Instagram for Business or LinkedIn Ads to direct your audience to: Well-researched and useful blogs and videos Online products with free shipping Virtual services you can offer Gift cards that can be used now or in the future Make sure not to be afraid to pause campaigns in this difficult time because of thinking about losing your customers. Many companies and businesses during this pandemic are knowing when to re-strategize and pivot, rather than continuing with a regular ad campaign that is not going to help with—or even offends—your target audience. Expert Quotes From Marketing Experts I interviewed some of the top Marketing Experts to give their insights to the story, some of the best tips include: Joanna from says "HARO (HelpaReporter.com) is a place where journalists and sources meet to help each other out. Journalists submit PR requests where they ask for an expert quote from sources who are registered on the network and are willing to provide their expertise for free. When a source's quote is approved publication, journalists also include the name, website, and social media profiles of the source." www.JoannaVaiou.com Andrew Ruditser, Co-Founder & Lead Technology Coordinator at says "One of the best SEO strategies for marketers to help advance their brand during a pandemic is to tweak your content and keywords to those that relate to COVID-19. Many people during this time are worried about their jobs, bills, health and could not have any interest in your products during this time, but that does not mean they aren’t spending any time online.. People are quarantined in their home, with not much to do but spend time online researching more about this pandemic and whats still to come" MAXBURST, Inc. Kodi Fletcher from says "Create a page that can be the go to resource. It can be for COVID-19 resources for your customers, it can be for your industry. Put some time into this page and make sure you link to this page from your homepage and share it on your social media and with your newsletter subscribers." Retention Media Christine Glossop, SEO Content Specialist from says "COVID-19 has changed the face of the business landscape—if you want to survive, you need to adapt accordingly. One of the key ways that Looka has adapted to the times is by turning our SEO efforts towards on-site tactics. Off-site SEO often relies on people outside of your organization for its success, whether that's people on social media posting your latest blog or another website accepting a guest post." Looka Kevin Miller, Founder and CEO of says "If you're in a strong financial position, this might be the perfect time to recruit some upper-level talent; some companies have been forced to part ways with marketers because of the pandemic, so you can offer a much-needed job and recruit some extra marketing muscle. If you're making it, but really need to come out swinging at the end, consider some refinements to your content strategy. This might mean just writing some more material for your marketing funnel since you have the time, or it may require trying a new or different approach" The Word Counter Jay Eckert, FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR of says "We’ve taken a hard look inward with our SEO strategy as brands struggle to adapt to the impacts of COVID-19 and Google’s core algorithm update in May. With the extra down time we’ve mapped the keyword competition and gap opportunities between our website and top 10 competitors and begun a focused content creation campaign to bolster our keyword strategy and make small wins within the keyword gap analysis to incrementally increase our keyword footprint." Parachute Design Group Inc. Tom De Spiegelaere, FOUNDER at says "Ride the wave and go with the trends. Now is the time to create content that will be useful for people in quarantine and companies who are trying to transition into an online setting. Get the keywords "at home", "quarantine" and "work from home" in your content. Create informational content that will help your readers deal with the pandemic. Release articles, tips, infographics, ads, online resources, and anything that will educate your audience further" tomspicky.com Final Wordings The current situation of the world is very unusual and millions of people are affected by this pandemic. The daily routine work has stopped causing business, lives, jobs and even relationships to end because of this deadly virus. However, life must go on, and remaining indoor will not only help save many people’s lives but end this pandemic. And, NOW is the best time to make the best use of SEO to build your brand.

Remarkable Marketing Strategies to Survive COVID-19

The market offers jillions of Shopify apps. It’s no surprise. But here’s the catch. You will have to find the best Shopify apps that fulfill the requirements of your eCommerce store. But how? Let us help. We believe there is no standard set of apps that are applicable to every e-commerce business. The one-size-fits-all theory might not work here. The reason is that the requirements and needs vary from business to business depending on their annual sales. The objectives of $1 million business would be different from that of $10M or $100M. So, keeping all this in mind we tried curating a list of the best Shopify apps that are best-fit for eCommerce stores with annual sales above $10M. We did our own research for the purpose. We contacted 20+ customers of Richpanel who use both Shopify as well as Shopify Plus platforms to run their eCommerce businesses that generated in between $10M and $100M in annual sales. But we didn’t stop there! We even interviewed  50+ such businesses using Shopify apps to procure solid, reliable information. As we mentioned earlier, after all the interviews, discussions, and research, we finally curated our listicle. Below are the10 best Shopify apps for eCommerce stores with annual sales above $10 million. Best Shopify Apps Used by Successful eCommerce Stores Richpanel Attentive Aircall NetSuite Klaviyo Yotpo Returnly Shipstation Recharge TaxJar 1. Richpanel Why hire more agents when a product can easily help your customers troubleshoot their problems? Richpanel lets you resolve up to 50% of customer support issues without having to involve an agent for every single process. By cutting down the overall customer support costs, Richpanel removes another roadblock, letting you scale up your eCommerce business. Richpanel is easily one of the best Shopify apps and customer service platforms that you can find on the Shopify app store and that’s primarily because of its robust solutions and features: A personalized self-service experience is what modern customers prefer. Gone are the days when self-service meant FAQs and long knowledge-based articles. The self-service software of Richpanel focuses on issue resolution. It helps you pull out the most relevant information and scenarios as per the customer journey stage and order status. Self-Service Software Richpanel also offers you an intuitive help desk ticketing solution that helps bring together customer channels, actions, and eCommerce data under a single dashboard. Help Desk & Ticket Management Save common replies and automate responses, view customer profiles, and track order actions via the internal ticketing system. What’s more? You can provide an omnichannel messaging experience to your customers, be it through Whatsapp, live chat, Instagram, Facebook, etc. and still handle them all in one place. Being one of the best live chat software for eCommerce sites, Richpanel helps you proactively support visitors and customers. Personalize interactions by segregating customers and visitors. Collect crucial data accordingly and set reply time expectations aided by taskbots. Live Chat and Messaging Richpanel and Zendesk Integration Integrate Richpanel’s intelligent Customer Service Platform with Zendesk. You can offer mobile and web support via Richpanel and simultaneously sync the issues and knowledge base in Richpanel with your Zendesk dashboard. The issues will then be reviewed and processed as Zendesk tickets. In short, the front end that your customers see is Richpanel’s, meanwhile, the agent console is Zendesk’s. Pros Intuitive UI Agile and Responsive customer support team Flawless automation capabilities Cons Limited integrations Pricing Starts at $65 per month. 2. Attentive Attentive is a Shopify app that provides personalized mobile messaging solutions for e-commerce brands. Leverage the patent-pending solutions of the platform to curate and manage a list of mobile subscribers. With this Shopify app, you can send automated messages to each one of your subscribers based on real-time data. Key Features : By using the mentioned feature, you can simultaneously collect two crucial sets of data of your customers; email addresses and phone numbers. Dual Collection Signup Units : Measure and analyze important customer data based on real-time reporting. Integrated Reporting and Analytics : Segment your customers as per the real-time data and optimize the campaigns powered by time zone targeting capabilities. Robust Segmentation : Reach out to your subscribers automatically with engaging messages triggered by their behavior. Triggered Messages : Attentive lets you integrate painlessly with reliable platforms like other e-commerce platforms, email service providers, help desks, and many more. Seamless Integrations Pros Extremely User-friendly Impeccable and insightful Analytics Cons Glitches in the link shortener Limited advanced A/B testing features Pricing Request for a quote 3. Aircall Integrate and connect with your business tools using the cloud-based call center software of Aircall. The app lets you integrate with all the popular CRM and helpdesk tools to help in the seamless functioning of the customer support system. Access the Shopify app from a desktop or a mobile, add numbers from 100+ countries, and draw insightful conclusions from real-time analytics. Key Features : Get all the numbers and user information from a single place, no matter where their location is. Virtual Call Center : Set up an intelligent directory that will automatically guide callers to their corresponding team on the very first try. Interactive Voice Response : Provide a personalized 3-digit extension to every individual on the team for effective conversation within the colleagues. Extensions Add users or new numbers with just a single click. Real-time Modifications: : Route your calls to teams who handle specific locations, languages, or any such traits as and when the situation demands so. Ring Groups : Activate integrations via the admin dashboard in a single click One-click Set Up Pros Seamless third-party integrations Ease of Use Cons Limited features for mobile application Lacks text messaging provisions : Starts at $30 per user per month Pricing 4. NetSuite NetSuite is a unified business management suite that is extremely popular for its cloud ERP solutions. Apart from ERP solutions the platform also offers CRM, Human Capital Management, and accounting solutions, etc. NetSuite is ideal for small and mid-size businesses and aids them optimize financial operations, manage customer relationships, and reduce IT costs. Key Features : Make quick and smart decisions by employing financial management combined with built-in business intelligence. Financial Management : Speed up the order-to-cash procedures by connecting sales and finance to pricing, return management, etc. Order Management : Structure, establish and execute supply chain management plans via a single collaborative platform. Supply Chain Management : Optimize the procure-to-pay processes for cost-certainty. Procurement CRM Deliver customized and interactive services to your customers through this portal. Customer Portal: Create search-engine-friendly pages to get high rankings. Website Search Engine Optimization: : Pros User-friendly Customizable dashboard : Cons Mediocre customer service Steep learning curve Pricey : Contact for a quote Pricing 5. Klaviyo Essentially an email marketing platform, Klaviyo delivers personalized experiences across various marketing channels like SMS, in-app notifications, and web. Klaviyo claims that around 67 brands move to their platform every day. Well, when that’s considered Klaviyo is indeed one of the best Shopify apps available. Key Features : Carry out personalized conversations and information exchange with customers using the eCommerce sign-up and pop-up forms. Forms and Personalization : Procure crucial customer/subscriber information in a single view. Customer Profiles : Update customer segments automatically. Segmentation : Save time by using predictive analytics powered by data science. Data Science : Automate prospect or customer communications by employing customer lifetime value, lifecycle stage etc. Automation : Pros Reliable in-built email templates Great customer support : Cons Clunky template builder Complex learning curve : Get Customized Quotes Pricing 6. Yotpo Amp up your business growth supported by the Shopify app, Yotpo which is a great eCommerce marketing platform. Yotpo provides you with a suite of tools to help you manage customer reviews, visual marketing, loyalty, referral, and SMS marketing. Monitor, control, and place customer content at key conversion points with the AI-powered solutions of Yotpo. Key Features : Drive sales through customer content. Collect and leverage reviews and ratings with the help of in-mail technology. Reviews and Ratings : Target and engage an extensively segmented audience with highly personalized SMS and MMS messages that make use of advanced automated flows. SMS marketing : Engage existing customers and procure prospects by creating highly personalized solutions or choosing powerful pre-built campaigns for rewards and referral programs. Loyalty and Referrals : Display photos, videos, or even reviews of customers across your site to boost product discovery and brand engagement. Visual UGC : Pros Intuitive dashboard Excellent support : Cons Expensive : Request for a quotation Pricing 7. Returnly Returnly is a post-purchase payment platform that lets brands facilitate smooth return processes. With such a Shopify app in place, you can enable customers to buy using their return credit even before the original item is shipped back. This process can help increase customer loyalty. Key Features : Automate the return and refund processes and facilitate a painless return experience for your customers. Automated Returns :  Let your customers get their desired item before they return the original one. Payment processes are carried out by the platform on behalf of the customers. Instant Exchanges : Keep your customers up to speed with the order and return tracking experience through real-time updates and SMS alerts. Tracking : Efficiently capture customer feedback on return experiences. CSAT and Analytics : Pros User-friendly Impressive UI : Cons Limited Integrations : Request for a Quote Pricing 8. Shipstation Shipstation is a shipping software that helps you import, manage and ship orders. Shipstation is a platform that is particularly suitable for merchants employing multiple selling channels. The shopify app integrates with more than 150 online marketplaces in order to provide an effortless experience. Key Features : Automate and sync orders across sources and track them at each and every stage of the shipping process from all the selling channels used. Order Management : Simplify your shipping experience. Generate discounted shipping labels, get the best rate, print labels or create multiple labels within no time, for all of your orders. Shipping : From customized shipping labels to returns portal to tracking page, the branded shipping of Shipstation lets you personalize the delivery experience of your customers. Branding : Monitor, track, and manage your inventory, be it from a remote location or the warehouse. Inventory Management Pros Detailed, insightful daily reports on order status Intuitive Responsive customer support Cons Feature limitation in lower-priced plans Limited shipment templates Starts at $9 per month Pricing: 9. ReCharge Manage your subscription business easily with the help of Recharge, a leading subscription management platform. Grow your subscriber count to an impressive number using the suite of reliable features the Shopify app offers you. Key Features : Provide a better customer portal experience. An extensively customized UI will let customers handle various aspects of their subscription with ease. Theme Engine : Visualize data and get a detailed analysis of the key performance indicators. Enhanced Analytics : Enable customers to add a one-time product so that your customers can easily include the particular product in their future subscription orders. One-time Products : Convert shoppers into your subscribers using Recharge Workflows. Make the most of discounted first orders, free trials, and sample products to woo your shoppers. Workflow : Employ supportive integrations to connect to third-party apps to simplify and enhance functionalities. Integrations : Pros Insightful analytics reporting dashboard Seamless integration : Cons Lack of phone support system Complex learning curve : Starts at $60 per month Pricing 10. TaxJar Conveniently automate your eCommerce sales tax aided by AI-powered solution of TaxJar. TaxJar is a platform that helps eCommerce businesses to track, monitor and manage sales tax in the most efficient manner. The popular app serves over 20,000 businesses across the world including some of the best-known names like Coco-cola, Dell, Microsoft etc. Key Features : Connect the ongoing process with marketplaces and carts instantly and generate accurate sales tax rate. API : An automatic electronic filing service for state sales tax. All you have to do is enroll.  TaxJar’s solution will then submit returns to the state based on the information gathered from eCommerce providers and marketplaces. AutoFile : Leverage the Nexus Insights dashboard to get a crisp yet detailed view of the status of nexus. Sales Tax Nexus : Get deeply insightful reports on sales tax collected by state and local jurisdiction. Sales Tax Reporting Pros Ease of Use Excellent customer service Cons Lacks Phone Support Clunky Interface Pricing Starts at $19 per month Well, the above was our list of the best Shopify apps. We have nitpicked the best ones suited for eCommerce stores with annual sales that go beyond $10M and listed out to you. Though the best, you can’t expect all the mentioned Shopify apps to work perfectly to fulfil your organizational needs. You will have to compare the goals and requirements of your business with that of the features provided by the app and see if they help you check the boxes. If they do, then your search ends there.

10 Best Shopify Apps Used by Online Stores Making Over $10 Million

No matter if you’re just starting out with your first store, or are running a multi-million dollar enterprise, every eCommerce entrepreneur has one question that never leaves their mind: “How can I drive more traffic to my website?” After all, traffic is the lifeblood of your business. More traffic means more sales and without it, you're doomed to failure. So, whether you’re looking to attract your first customer or your 100,000, generating more traffic always needs to be a top priority. But generating traffic isn’t always easy. Sometimes it can involve a pretty steep learning curve and it’s not hard to waste time and money on strategies that don’t deliver results. As a business owner, you need resources that can guide you through the process at lightning speed. That’s why we’ve put together a list of 8 proven strategies that help you boost your traffic and scale your business with ease. Sounds good? Then let’s jump in! #1 Use paid social advertising One of the most effective ways to quickly boost your store’s traffic is to get savvy with running ads on social media platforms. The beauty of these platforms is that, unlike traditional advertising like newspapers where the readership is broad and undefined, social media advertising allows you to laser-target the people who are most likely to buy your product. Here are 3 social media platforms you can use to your advantage: Facebook Ads Source: TechCrunch Facebook is the daddy of online social media advertising. The platform and what’s more, users are spending an on the website. boasts 2.4 billion monthly users average of 35 minutes per day Facebook’s powerful advertising platform allows you to show ads to potential customers based on their interests, age, behavior, location and more. And while most probably know a bit about Facebook ads, too many are leaving piles of cash on the table by not leveraging one of Facebook’s most powerful features: . eCommerce entrepreneurs Dynamic retargeting ads Dynamic retargeting is incredibly useful becauseit lets you serve personalized ads to people who’ve already visited your site. It leverages your Facebook Pixel’s behavior data to automatically create and retarget highly relevant ads for your audience. How effective are these ads? The research suggests that visitors served these ads . convert at a 5x higher than regular traffic ads Another key consideration to keep in mind when running Facebook ads is which ad format you choose - Facebook lets you choose between video, static images or a carousel of images. In tests we ran, we found video to be the overwhelmingly obvious choice when it comes to creating winning ads for dropshipping. So, it’s worth investing the time yourself, hiring somebody else or using a software tool to help you create eye-catching video advertisements. (Hint: does that for you) Sales Source Instagram Ads Source: No Reach Instagram is Facebook’s baby brother, but don’t let that fool you into thinking it’s any less powerful at driving traffic to your store. Instagram boasts over 500 million monthly active users and is the platform of choice for millennials - that means it’s ideal if your target market is aged between 15-35. Running Instagram ads is done through Facebook’s business manager, so you’ll be able to view the same helpful metrics as your Facebook ads. Instagram is all about visual appeal, so make sure your ads are able to entice people’s eyes with a stellar creative. Pinterest Ads Source: MarketingWeek Pinterest is a goldmine that’s often overlooked by dropshippers. But that’s a shame because the statistics don’t lie - 93% of its users say they’ve while 54% have bought an item after first discovering it on the platform. That’s huge. used Pinterest to make a purchasing decision Pinterest is a hub for niche groups, especially for those with an interest in DIY, home decor, hand-made crafts, and fashion. These passionate groups make Pinterest ideal for selling tending, visually appealing products. Pinterest lets you promote your own pins, boosting them to the top of your defined audience’s search results, and letting you get your products seen. Promoted pins look extremely native (i.e not like an ad) and so can be very effective at grabbing attention and luring new visitors to your store. #2 Dive into influencer marketing Influencer marketing is a great way to gain traffic to your site by expanding your reach to a whole new set of potential customers. Influencers have buckets of trust and credibility with their audience, and so by partnering with them, you’re able to leverage that sell more products. Influencers are trendsetters who have an engaged audience on platforms like Instagram or Youtube. They’re incredibly valuable because consumers take their advice and recommendations very seriously. Especially when it comes to shopping since it’s typically honest, unbiased and reliable. In fact, as opposed to celebrity endorsements! And according to Nielsen a whopping value word of mouth recommendations over any other type of advertising.  Yes, that did say ninety-two-per-cent. 70% of millennials prefer recommendations from their peers 92% of consumers So how to start advertising with influencers? Well, begin by building a list of potential influencers whose message aligns with your brands - you can browse hashtags in your niche or use the Instagram search function. Then simply reach out and start a conversation - some common approaches are: Sending them a free product to review Offering them a discount code to share with their followers Offering then an affiliate link to put in their bio Exchange products for quality photography/content Discuss prices for paid promotions or shoutouts with links to your store #3 Optimize your search engine ranking Source: Backlinko.com If customers are searching for your online store but can’t find you, then you’re missing out on a huge amount of free traffic. In fact, . the top 3 sites that appear for a google search absorb 75% of all search traffic That’s where search engine optimization comes in. SEO is a set of techniques that help your online store rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) making your website more visible to people who are looking for your products. It’s easy to see why stores that rank well in the search engines, see massive growth in their profit margins - they’re no longer having to allocate a large portion of their marketing budget to paid ads to get site visitors. There’s a lot involved in optimizing your search engine ranking, but here are some of the basics that you can start implementing today to beat out your competition for the no.1 spot: Start a blog that adds value to your audience & add strategic keywords to your posts Include external links to experts in your industry Include keywords in all of your product descriptions & images Create a web of internal links so Google indexes your site Build links to your site from other reputable sites Optimize your website to run at top speed Focusing on SEO won’t bring the instant returns of paid advertising, it’s more of a marathon than a sprint. But if you put in consistent effort, starting with even a few little adjustments can make a big difference to your traffic over the long term. #4 Leverage the power of GoogleAds Source: Gorilla360.com While you’re waiting around to get ranked in the search engines, you can use to quickly capture the attention of high-intent traffic by buying ad space. Google Ads Google is a pay-per-click advertising method - so that means you’ll only get charged when somebody actually clicks on your ad or watches your video. And while you can spend money quickly using Google Ads, you don’t need a huge budget to get started - new accounts even come with up to $75 in advertising credit to get you off on the right foot. It’s completely up to you to decide how much to spend. There are several ways you can use Google Ads to boost your eCommerce store’s traffic: You can appear at the top of the search page in Google’s search results You can advertise video promotions on YouTube and target your audience based on interests or demographics You can advertise with display ads in Gmail, on websites or in mobile apps Use Google shopping ads to display your products on the search results page As with any form of paid advertising, it’s critical to be able to optimize the performance of your campaigns to get the best return on your money. Google Ads is quite intuitive, however, it can take a little bit of practice to get proficient with them. Google offers its designed to help you get the most from your ads (and digital marketing generally) - it’s well worth checking out. own course #5 Develop a referral program Source: Harrys.com Referral marketing is one of the most cost-effective ways to spread your message, drive more traffic and generate more customers for your store. It’s so powerful because people trust recommendations from friends an insane amount. In fact, When referred by a friend, people are than if they’d found your store on their own. 4x more likely to make a purchase So, incentivize your customers and fans to share their favorite products with their family and friends and in return shower them with discounts or other benefits like free priority shipping, store credit or free gifts. A large part of Harry’s (pictured) success in growing into a 7-figure eCommerce business was down to their excellent referral program. Their pre-launch campaign encouraged people to refer their friends by email - the more leads they referred the more the rewards they got. Their friends also got 10% off their first purchase. It’s an excellent example of a win-win referral program that resulted in over 100,000 email sign-ups in the first week. #6 Draw in traffic with content marketing Source: Scotts Menswear Content marketing is about creating engaging, creative, informative and helpful material around the topics and issues that your customers care about. When you do this, you’ll not only attract customers to your business but you’ll win their trust too. And as any good marketer will tell you; trust equals sales. Your content can take many forms - it could be a podcast, it could be how-to guides, youtube videos or just good old fashioned blog posts. High-quality content positions your brand as an authority in your niche - just look at the blog over at (pictured) to get an idea of what we’re talking about here. Scotts Menswear doesn’t just please customers either - when executed correctly you can charm the search engines too which means you’ll get the traffic-boosting effects of better search rankings too. Use free tools like or to identify the best opportunities for your store to supercharge it’s search rankings. Content marketing Google’s keyword planner Keyword.io You can also supercharge your marketing efforts by combining content marketing with other tactics such as paid ads or influencer marketing. For example, instead of going straight for the hard sell by advertising a product, you can run some of your best content through Facebook ads to a highly targeted audience. Visitors will be introduced to your brand with content that interests them. That way they’ll much more likely to purchase when you hit them with a killer offer though a retargeting ad in two days’ time. Don’t think it’ll work or that it sounds like too much effort? Just remember that you’re reading your blog and engaging with our content right now! #7 Use Email to boost your traffic Source: SmatrMail Email marketing is one of the best ways to boost your store’s traffic. In fact, over say that email is their numero uno when it comes to driving customer acquisition, engagement, and retention. 80% of marketers Given that studies show that for every $1 you spend on email marketing, you can expect an you can’t afford to be missing out on your slice of the pie. average return of $42 Like all things worth doing, email marketing takes a little bit of planning to get right. You have to make sure that every email landing in your recipient’s inbox is value-packed and worth opening. Start by choosing your email platform - and are both great apps that are free for beginners and integrate seamlessly into your . Then start collecting emails - use a pop-up on your store to capture visitors’ emails in exchange for a 15% discount code. Klaviyo Ominsend Shopify store Also, make sure that you out a couple of basic flows in place as part of your email strategy. A flow is a marketing automation that sends emails based on certain actions. Spend a half-day setting up the following: A welcome email for new subscribers Abandoned cart reminders for shoppers who didn’t complete their purchase An upsell offer for people who made a purchase A request for review following a purchase Once you’ve established a workable list, it’s time to start sending emails to drive traffic to your store. Writing emails can often be a sticking point for many entrepreneurs so here are our top tips to help you get it done quickly and effectively: Subject line This is the key to getting email traffic to your site - if people don’t open your email they’ll never click your links. Here’s a useful formula to ensure good open rates: [Number or Question + Adjective + Keywords + Promise] For example, “The 3 Sharpest Men’s Watches You’ll Love”  or “How can an awesome watch upgrade your style?” Call to action (CTA) Your CTA is the gateway to your site - remember the whole reason we’re sending emails is to get our recipients to take action. Link every photo and important piece of text to your site and come up with a compelling CTA that readers just can’t resist. Here’s a few to get you started: Shop now Act now Shop now. Get 40% off Don’t delay, save now Shop our bestsellers Yes! I want one Claim your coupon See you hand-selected deals Get 50% off now Get free shipping now Content & Visuals Keep your written content short, snappy and to the point - readers aren’t interested in hanging around much longer than a few seconds. Equally, make sure that your visual content is high-quality. We rely so much on our eyes when buying a physical product, so this is your chance to put your goods in the spotlight with some killer photography. In Summary Adding these 7 tactics to your marketing toolkit should help you drive a serious amount of traffic to your store. With more traffic, you have more opportunities to convert those casual browsers into paying customers and that means more profit for you. Learning how to drive traffic using the strategies outlined in this post won’t only drive more traffic to your store - but it’ll transform you into a better all-round marketer and make you a more effective digital entrepreneur. And that’s a wrap! Got any questions about how to increase website traffic for your online store or how to master any of the 7 techniques? Did we miss any effective traffic generating tips? Share your questions and thoughts in the comments below! Previously published at https://www.salesource.io/blog/how-to-drive-traffic-to-your-shopify-store

How You Can Drive Traffic To Your Shopify Store

*Disclaimer: I have no affiliation with any of the companies discussed in this post There’s a timeless phenomenon in business where strong product teams struggle to market and sell their awesome goods. It’s a travesty, really. In a perfect world sales and marketing would not exist. People would be instantly matched with the products they need. Creators would instantly get their product in the hands of ideal customers. However… that’s not the world that we live in. Not only is it hard to find the solutions we need, but often we don’t know what we want or need in the first place. Thus, sales and marketing are an essential and complimentary counterpart to product teams. Which brings us to the main topic of discussion in today’s bite-sized marketing case study. I’d like to break down a company called It’s a good example of how a product-first company can improve their go-to-market at the Series A stage. Timescale. Caveat. I am not a developer so a lot of these product details are frankly over my head. What I do know, is how to market and sell products. And it’s very obvious that this company is product and tech first at the expense of marketing. Just look at their top level navigation on their website: Learn Pricing Github Docs Blog Support Get Started I mean, Github is in their main navigation! No shade to their core mission, but we build businesses to sell products, and I think we can do one better here. Really, I’d like Timescale to take a page from ’s book. Red Hat It’s a nice comparision because both companies sell and implement open source software to enterprise. Here’s the main navigation you see on Red Hat’s website: Products Solutions Services & Support Open Source The difference is huge. Now, what I love about Timescale is that their core value is simple, and communicated well. It’s a better way to run a database that uses time-series data. Boom. There we go. There are also a ton of high profile logos featured prominently on Timescale. This is also good. So where do we go from here? Here’s what I’d like to see on Timescale. First of all, Red Hat asks users to set up an account before they get access to anything. This is super important for lead generation for an in-house sales team. And, in helping users understand how best to utilize their new technology. And I especially want to highlight that “driving leads” to a “salesforce” doesn’t have to be a bad thing. It’s important to have a conversation with all users to nurture even freemium relationships. This is how marketers and sales teams educate users and open up the possibility of a sale. And after the close, this is how we can ensure continued success, , and referrals down the line. expansion revenue In software, onboarding is super important as a poor implementation can kill the deal. I’d bet $100 that is the case with Timescale as well. Perhaps even more so than “typical” SaaS companies. Moving on, I’d like to see Timescale package their product into more of a “solutions” forward approach. Red Hat does this well. It’s presented on Timescale’s home page as well, but sort of buried down the page. Not optimal. The key thing with showing solutions and not just technology is that these categories reflect the different buyer personas that are a good fit for Timescale’s technology. This shows people at a glance if they should be interested in the company and hooks them before they bounce. Finally, let’s talk about service offerings. To my understanding, a big part of how companies like Red Hat make money in an open source environment is through services revenue. This follows the tradition of predecessor companies like Oracle. A great (read: high margin) business model, even if Oracle doesn’t get a lot of love for it. Now, let’s talk a bit about growth channels. It’s obvious that these guys are selling to developers. And I don’t think it makes sense to try to market to any other job function. You simply need a certain level of technical knowledge to know that you need this tool. So, the name of the game for growth is to get this product in the hands of as many developers as possible who need to process time-series data. There is going to be a subset of the market that has a pressing issue with this problem and knows they need a solution. For those people, a few obvious channels come to mind. Google, of course. Both for Ads and organic search. There is a big play to be made here with content marketing. I like that they’re already running a blog that’s driving half the traffic to their website. Good moves. Youtube, as well. Especially for people looking for visual walkthroughs of code. Given their strong product team and technical talent, it makes sense to take an educational approach to video content that leverages the expertise of their team. It’s a low commitment to create content, and easy to keep up a frequent publishing schedule. Next up: Stack Overflow. I think they could command a strong organic presence here. But, I also discovered as I was looking into this, that SO offers advertising. Seems like a no-brainer channel to me. Also, Quora. For queries into time-series data, seems great. Needs a little bit of digging into search volume here but could be viable.For other channels that are not so bottom-of-the-funnel… LinkedIn. Developers in their target audience are for sure on this channel. Especially at bigger enterprise companies where a professional profile is expected. The tricky thing will be creating the right content, offers, and hooks to put in front of this channel as LinkedIn can be very expensive. Further, the LTV of their enterprise product has to support these high aquisition costs. If they are only making $500 LTV per sale, for example, LinkedIn might not be the best channel to focus on without a bigger war chest. Next up, conferences and events in the development space. Open source conferences for sure. Particularly any conference that might have enterprise-level attendees there. I’m certain there are dozens and dozens of events that have the right audience for their product. They should blitz event marketing as much as possible. Finally, sponsorship of coding courses related to PostgreSQL. Since this seems to be their core technology, it would pay to get into the core stack of developers early in their career. Later, when they go on to work for other companies, they’ll take their tool stack with them and sell into other organizations from the bottom up. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve recommended clients tools like HubSpot, Unbounce, Shopify, Klaviyo, X Theme, and more. It’s just how technical operators work. Overall, we want to do some fundamental things with this technology as a freemium and open source tool. First, get in the hands of as many users as possible as their go-to tool for time-series data. Second, find awesome applications in enterprise organizations, and shout those logos and case studies from the rooftops. Finally, find cool projects using Timescale and spread the word to anyone in the development community. I’ll close with this — congratulations to these guys for closing their Series A round and for successes so far! With a bit stronger of a marketing team to compliment their product chops, I think they’ll see a lot of success in the next few years. Originally published at AndrewIshimaru.com .

How to Market and Sell Open Source Software ft. Timescale & Red Hat

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