Checkout is one of the key points that make or break your conversion rate, but most brands have very little control in that arena How to create a more cohesive experience between your traffic sources and your sales pages "Optimizing" the happiness of your customers How personalized upsells can reward customers for making the purchase decision (within the purchase window) Discounting on an upsell can work really well because it’s not public- it’s a great way to reward a purchase, rather than incentivizing one “[SMS] is high risk and high reward.” Moving SMS from “one-to-many” communication to ..read more

How Felix Gray helps customers find the perfect fit by combining digital and in-store experiences 3 factors to work through: style, price, and brand equity Cross-selling for a product that generally lasts for years How different SKUs face different kinds of competition Building a website flow to help customers self-segment Maintaining brand standard across a ton of different channels Targeting paid ads when your product connects with a broad cross-section of consumers How Felix Gray segments customers to better understand repeat purchase rates (and offer better education) Establishing authori ..read more

Overcoming customer mistrust of loyalty programs Loyalty emails perform ~14x better than standard marketing emails Here’s the LoyaltyLion blog Building up a base of loyal customers is a great way to avoid a race to the bottom on price Different methods for rewarding loyalty and how to tie those into your brand values Rewarding existing behaviors that signal engagement Building a better value exchange for loyalty programs- not just data for perks You don’t need to have everything together when you launch your loyalty program- releasing new rewards and incentivizing new behaviors is exciting fo ..read more

How major players “pull the market up with them” Creating an Amazon-level experience through the entire customer journey Balancing fast shipping with environmental concerns and the core elements of your brand Distributing fulfillment centers geographically is a great way to get quicker shipping and a lower overall carbon footprint How to use storytelling in shipping Approaching fulfillment less as a cost center and more as a revenue driver that can build a better overall business How to use free and quicker shipping thresholds to improve AOV In-depth data can be a tool for understanding when ..read more

Iterating a product through some rough initial steps- the product itself might not necessarily be “there” but the right value prop and idea is an important start Retention for a product designed to last years “Acquiring an audience via content and then retaining them as customers” Content can be a powerful tool for keeping potential customers engaged over a much longer buyer’s journey Tortuga’s content needs to be tailored to a really specific, niche set of needs, which makes it great for onboarding post-purchase Educating customers on the ways that products interrelate is a great tool for cr ..read more

Diversifying ads to look native on newer social media platforms How Facebook advertising has shifted over the past few years (and what that means for brands) The experience of an ad vs conversion rate alone Why dropshipping is more of a struggle in 2020 Using different campaigns for different parts of the funnel is a powerful tool for both acquisition and retention How to use retargeting for upsells and cross-sells (and deciding which products to push in these ads) Signals that let you know if your ads are working Retargeting is expensive on Facebook, but CPMs on newer platforms like Snapchat ..read more

Why the customer portal is so important for subscription businesses Creating an education focus on the backend of a site The importance of keeping things exciting for a subscriber “Subscribers are really dictating how the merchant is creating the subscription experience” The three layers of retention and why CX platforms tend to get overlooked What actions can customers take beyond pause, skip, and cancel? (Hint: try a swap button) Tracking AOV over time More on tracking data in retention with Taylor Holiday Here’s the portal example from Atlas Coffee and here’s Cocokind’s membership model in ..read more

Balancing physical franchises and online sales Using 10-digit phone numbers vs short codes for SMS Replicating the in-store experience online  SMS becomes more scalable as your team figures out elements to automate but you need to really interact with your customers first to understand their needs “Growth is only as good as your retention.” How a short supply chain gives brands a much faster turnaround on their creative Combating subscription fatigue by staying relevant How Sanjay balances the needs of consumers and team members “The world is my swipe file” Being the top product in a cat ..read more

Amazon has incredibly low marketing costs for a business of its size because they’ve nailed down a competitive advantage in operations “You can only spend your way to growth for so long before you have to dig in and have a better understanding of retention, repeat engagement, customer lifetime value, like, LTV:CAC equation, and understand at what point and to what degree you’re going to actually turn a profit and be a sustainable brand.” Customer experience is the primary differentiator for brands, and being evidence-based and predictive in your approach helps to underline all the work that y ..read more

The biggest trends in email marketing right now Using email as a narrative channel- it’s a great place to build out your brand story for customers How to use popups without being intrusive or damaging your brand Most cart abandonment happens before the checkout flow, so you need to combine exit intent popups with intelligent targeting How to differentiate while customers are waiting to receive the product Three things that impact email signup popup conversion the most: content in a form (converts at about 1%), an offer (converts at about 5%), “spin to win” (converts at about 15%) Don’t rush i ..read more