or scroll down to get the highlights

As Ecommerce store owners, we have a lot in common. We share a lot of the same tools, and the tasks that fill our days are similar. Put a few Ecommerce store owners together and a room and they have a lot to share with each other.

Even though we share our experiences with each other whenever we can, there’s one thing we don’t do enough. We don’t share our audiences. Every one of us has invested time and money building up audiences of people who are interested in our products.

And yet, we don’t maximize the ROI on this valuable asset.

Most store owners do their marketing in a silo. Do that, and you’re leaving a lot of money on the table.

I truly believe that collaboration is one of the most profitable ways you can set yourself up for long term growth. The time you’ll spend on this is an investment in the future health and profitability of your business.

Wondering how you can make it work for you? I asked our Ecommerce Coach, Tina to share her results after she focused on collaboration for a full year.

Listen here, or read on to learn how she organized a whole year of collaborations, and what happened in her tiny business as a result.

TINA’S  (ORGANIC) SECRET WEAPON
e-commerce coach Tina Bar-On shares the strategy that gained her 1610 new leads

If you’ve listened to the podcast with any frequency, you’ve probably heard me talk about the book “The One Thing.” It has been so helpful in my years of business, and I know that it has helped many of our members stay focused so that they can grow their e-commerce stores.

After reading “The One Thing,” our e-commerce coach Tina Bar-On decided that her one thing for the year would be to grow her e-mail list. Like many of you, Tina has a full time job in addition to her online store, so she had neither the time nor the money to rely solely on a paid ads strategy to build her list. So she chose a non-traditional strategy–she committed to collaborating once a month with a different store owner.

IF YOU TRY ONE NEW THING THIS YEAR, MAKE IT THIS ONE

Tina knows that using paid ads to gain leads can be a slog. It’s expensive, and the leads are often poor quality. Since Tina belongs to our huge Inner Circle community, she was aware of a few other shop owners whose customer base was similar to her own. And so she reached out to them to collaborate.

Tina sells fair trade home decor and gifts, and she knew that if she wanted a big, engaged list by the holiday season, she would need to start early. And so she slated ten collaborations throughout the year, all organized around events or special holidays, in one of three categories:

1. Blogger Partnership
Tina reached out to a blogger in her niche who had featured her store in the past. She asked if there was a way that they might work together further, and sure enough the blogger was planning to host a group giveaway for her readers that Tina was welcome to join. Tina’s only obligations were to contribute a gift card to be given away, a small participation fee, and to post about the event to her social media following. In exchange the blogger would hand over all email entries at the end of the giveaway.
Pros:
This was a low lift for Tina. The blogger organized the entire thing, and Tina was exposed to a big audience she wouldn’t have otherwise.
Cons:
It took some time to receive the e-mail addresses, and many of the leads had gone cold.

2. Partnered Giveaway*
Since Tina is an e-commerce coach in the Inner Circle, she was already familiar with several business owners in the group who had complementary products and  similar audiences to her own. In this type of giveaway, each store contributes an item or gift card to be given away, and each store promotes the event to their own email lists and social followings, in addition to sharing the cost of running a few ads to each store’s best cold audiences. At the end of the giveaway, the list is shared between both stores.
Pros:
Very high quality leads. Since each participating store is promoting to their existing customers, the leads are pre-vetted and warm.
Cons:
This method is time-consuming, and requires that both stores be willing to do the work to make it successful.

*Inner Circle members have access to a Partnered Giveaway training in the classroom

3. Gift Guide
As the holidays approached, Tina looped in 3 other stores with items she knew her customers would love, to participate in a Gift Guide. Each participating store uploaded a photo and description of their shop to a shared drive, and each store crafted an email to their own lists and social followings that introduced the other businesses, along with a discount code that could be used at any of the shops.
Pros:
Like the partnered giveaway, this event exposed Tina’s shop to her collaborators’ best, warmest audiences (including their best customers).
The discount code brought in immediate sales
Cons:
Leads weren’t directly shared between shops

When Tina first informed me this would be her focus for the year, I had no doubt she would be successful. And yet when I followed up, she was feeling discouraged. She wasn’t sure if the e-mail addresses she had gained were all that interested, or if it had been worth the effort. And so I asked her to go to her dashboard and pull the data into a doc for me.

THESE NUMBERS BLEW MY MIND

There is often a disconnect between the stories we tell ourselves and the story the data tells, and sure enough–when Tina looked at the big picture, her results were nothing short of stunning. In just one year she had gained:

• 1610 new leads
• 34 new customers with a $3 Cost per Acquisition (!!!) and 42 new orders
• $1600 in revenue (and counting)

And the best part is that Tina knows that these leads will continue to purchase over time, as she nurtures them further along her sales funnel. In addition, she knows she’ll be able to repeat these successful events with the same partners next year.

Tina says her biggest takeaway was that although this strategy involved a little extra work and a little bit of ad spend, she was gaining something incredibly valuable–her collaborators’ best customers. The high-value, repeat-purchase buyers that each of them had spent countless time and ad spend to find, were now her customers too. Tina made sales from every single one of her collaborations, and a whopping 23% of those new customers came back and made a repeat purchase.

DON’T MAKE THIS MISTAKE

As you can see, this strategy was extremely effective in achieving Tina’s Big Goal. And yet, I hear so many store owners in our community assert that partnerships aren’t right for them. Here are some of the most common objections, and why they’re unfounded:

• Your niche is too narrow
  I hear this one all the time–that your niche is so small that you couldn’t possibly find a store to partner with. But here’s what most people don’t understand: your customers have more than one interest! Find a partner who sells a product that you know your customer would love, and chances are your audience will be very similar to theirs.
• Your list is too small
  One of the things I love about this strategy is that it works well for e-commerce stores at all stages of business. Even if your mailing list or social media following is tiny, as long as you have proof of concept and a few sales under your belt, collaboration will work for you.
• Your price point is too high/low
  Again, your customers are multi-faceted! Don’t count yourself out because your prices are much higher or lower than your partner’s–as long as the giveaway prize is attractive to both audiences, price point is irrelevant.

If your One Thing this year is growing your mailing list, Tina’s collaboration strategy should be high on your list of priorities. And remember–this is a long term strategy. Don’t try it once, glance at the data and assume it isn’t working for you. Even Tina felt discouraged until she reviewed the entire year’s numbers.

If you’re already an Inner Circle member, know that we are working hard on a Collaboration Hub that will allow you to easily find other stores with audiences that complement yours. In the meantime, post to the group that you’re looking for a partner. I guarantee your perfect match is out there.

You can buy “The One Thing” by Gary Keller here: https://the1thing.com/book/

More organic growth strategies:
The Best Strategy for Organic Growth
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/the-best-strategy-for-organic-growth-episode-119/

Think Out of the Box for Organic Growth
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/think-out-of-the-box-for-organic-growth-with-suzi-dafnis-episode-101/

Massive Growth Organically? Yes You Can
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/massive-growth-organically-yes-you-can-episode-62/

New FREE Course coming September 22nd

GROW YOUR SALES

(without breaking the bank)

Conversion School is a step by step process to grow your sales, without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies, or discounting your products.

Works for Ecommerce stores at all stages.

Start getting consistent sales, and see significant sales growth every month.

or scroll down to get the highlights

Are you leaving money on the table?

Most store owners know that they should have an abandoned cart email. In fact, it’s so important that Shopify has made it easy by creating an automated email that gets sent out when someone doesn’t complete their purchase. Many store owners enable the automation through Shopify and leave it at that. Some might take it a step further, and create a branded, more personal abandoned cart email that’s sent from their email service provider.

These solutions are “okay”, but the truth is, you can do much better.

It might surprise you to know that a robust Abandoned Cart flow is one of the revenue generating email flows. It’s an opportunity for you to make more sales and be more profitable.

Last week I sat down with our Inner Circle ecommerce Coach and email marketing expert, Claudia Howard to get her best strategies for making more money using an abandoned cart flow.

Claudia works with hundreds of Inner Circle Members in Coaching calls. She’s also the lead Coach for our Reliable Revenue Coaching Group, so she’s able to see what’s working now, and where the opportunities are for store owners to sell more and make more money.

You can listen to Claudia’s strategies here on the podcast, or keep reading for a recap.

Tip #1 Start with the basics

When Claudia’s working with a member, she’ll by checking the framework of the flow to make sure the flow is set up properly.

• Information is synced from Shopify to Klaviyo
• Triggers and Filters are set up correctly
• Shopify automated abandoned cart email is turned off

Her next step is to check that the email template is “user friendly”

• Focused on a Call to Action that gets users to click back to their cart
• Personalized email, using the customer’s name
• Short, focused copy
• Easy links to address objections ( size charts, return policy, shipping costs)
• Easy payment terms if the store offers a “buy now pay later” option
• Headshot of the store owner for a more authentic experience
• Include a testimonial on each email

Use dynamic content to further personalize the template by using the visitors First Name, the product images from the cart, and a link back to their checkout page.

Don’t miss this important step:
Where needed, hide products from showing in the email – like Package Protection, Rush Order, etc.

Tip #2 Your Abandoned Cart Flow should have at least 2 – 3 emails

Don’t leave money behind!
Capture sales from your store’s visitors who start but don’t complete checkout.

Consider these scenarios where your visitors…

• Were interrupted
• Decided to switch devices to complete checkout
• Waffled about the price, shipping, or delivery timeline

In these situations, an Abandoned Cart Series kicks in to:

• Remind the customer to complete checkout
• Handle objections
• Sweeten the deal with a discount code for new customers

Try this send schedule:
Email #1 → send one hour after cart is abandoned ( no discount offered )
Email #2 → send one day after cart is abandoned
Email #3 → send 2 – 3 days after cart is abandoned

Tip #3 Be more profitable. Use a Split Condition for new vs repeat customers

It’s important to create different messaging for visitors that have never purchased vs acknowledging repeat customers.

This is a great opportunity to make more money automatically.

Remember, subscribers could go through this flow multiple times a season or year.

It’s a great idea to offer a discount to visitors that have never purchased. It gives them an incentive to buy, and you acquire a first time customer

It’s best practice to not offer a discount to returning customers, so they aren’t trained to abandon their cart.

Tip #4 Check your flow analytics today. You might be leaving money on the table.

Check your flow analytics using a 90 -180 day time period. Find the conversion rate of the last email in your abandoned cart flow. If the last email in your flow has a conversion rate of 1% or more, you can add ONE MORE email to this flow and feel confident that you will make more sales.

Tip #5 Avoid unsubscribes by adding this one very Important filter

I frequently see this filter missing on Abandoned Cart Flows

“Has not been in flow in the last XX Days”

Without this filter the abandoned cart flow could be triggered multiple times during the same session.
This is super annoying for customers not to mention causing spam complaints or unsubscribes.

Claudia recommends you set this filter at least 7 up to 14 days

Tip #6 The mistake you might be making

Turn off dynamic checkout buttons – these are conversion killers.

There’s a link created in abandoned carts that take people back to checkout. That cart link isn’t created when dynamic checkout buttons are used. Instead of going to the cart, your emails will contain a link to the homepage.

Learn more about this sneaky little conversion killer here

You can hire Claudia Howard to Supersize your abandoned cat flow here: https://www.storetasker.com/experts/claudia-howard

Inner Circle Members can book a Coaching call with Claudia to review your flow and get her expert advice on how you can make more money using email.

New FREE Course coming September 22nd

GROW YOUR SALES

(without breaking the bank)

Conversion School is a step by step process to grow your sales, without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies, or discounting your products.

Works for Ecommerce stores at all stages.

Start getting consistent sales, and see significant sales growth every month.

or scroll down to get the highlights

If you’re a store owner, using Shopify, this is for you.
Recently I was talking with our Inner Circle Ecommerce Coach and Email Marketing Expert, Claudia Howard who was sharing some abandoned cart strategies to make more money, and during our conversation she said something that stopped me in my tracks.

Claudia had just completed a demonstration for our Reliable Revenue Coaching Members. In the demonstration, she was working on a member’s Abandoned Cart flow. I had watched the demonstration, and we were recording a podcast episode to share some of the strategies with our audience.

Even though I had watched the demonstration, it wasn’t until we were recording the podcast that I realized the true impact of one small mistake in the settings of your Shopify store.

It’s totally a conversion killer, and many store owners don’t know about it.

Listen in or keep reading to hear about this sneaky little conversion killer, and then go check your shop’s settings.

The reason I’m sharing this here is that the store that Claudia was using to demonstrate the strategies had the setting turned on. And the thing is, this is not a new store. It’s an experienced store owner with solid sales.

This setting is so sneaky, that it’s possible that you might not know it’s enabled.

The mistake you might be making:

Turn off dynamic checkout buttons.

Here’s why Dynamic Checkouts are conversion killers:

• They can have a negative impact on your conversion rate.
• They take customers directly to checkout even if they haven’t completed shopping.
• It’s difficult for customers to get back to shop, add items, or review their items.
• Potential for even more abandoned carts.
• No cart link is generated for your abandoned cart emails.

The biggest problem with Dynamic Checkout:

Abandoned cart emails create a Cart Link that takes the customer back to checkout.
When the dynamic checkout buttons are used, there is no cart link for the email, so instead the link goes to the homepage, leaving the customer without a cart to check out.

Why you might have missed this setting:

This setting is a “sneaky” little conversion killer for two reasons.
Despite the fact that dynamic checkout buttons are only recommended for “one Product” stores.

1. This setting is automatically turned on, so you have to go into your theme and turn it off.
2. The location of the setting is theme specific, so it might not be immediately visible

Your next steps:

1. Find the dynamic checkout setting in your store, and make sure it is turned “off”.
2. Listen to next week’s Podcast episode, and you’ll be all set to make more money!

Listen to this podcast with another “money making” tip from Claudia
Get it done for you by an Expert: https://www.storetasker.com/experts/claudia-howard

New FREE Course coming September 22nd

GROW YOUR SALES

(without breaking the bank)

Conversion School is a step by step process to grow your sales, without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies, or discounting your products.

Works for Ecommerce stores at all stages.

Start getting consistent sales, and see significant sales growth every month.

or scroll down to get the highlights

Sylvie is sharing the story of how she used a templated event that she pulled from the “Get Sales Now” unit inside of the Inner Circle Classroom.

Last month Sylvie used the “Mystery Box” event (formerly called “ninja event). Her goal was to make some sales and get rid of some labels for products that she had discontinued.

You’ll love hearing how Sylvie used this event and ultimately had her highest sales day ever. In fact, her revenue for this event was more than last year’s entire Black Friday weekend revenue.

It’s a great story in itself, but the real story is about transformation.

When you hear what’s happened in Sylvie’s business since January 2020, you’ll get clarity about managing your expectations for today’s results while being able to see what’s possible for you in the future.

The real lesson is in understanding your sales potential if you stay consistent and focused on a few marketing activities instead of jumping from “idea” to “idea”.

When you listen, you’ll learn:

1. The reason that building an audience is the fastest way to scale
2. Proof that Marketing is more important than product and pricing
3. An example of how you can get sales fast, even if you don’t know where to start
4. How to make “scaling” your sales possible.

You can visit Eclair Lips here: https://eclairlips.com/

New FREE Course coming September 22nd

GROW YOUR SALES

(without breaking the bank)

Conversion School is a step by step process to grow your sales, without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies, or discounting your products.

Works for Ecommerce stores at all stages.

Start getting consistent sales, and see significant sales growth every month.

or scroll down to get the highlights

This episode is full of “aha” moments.

One of the most powerful things you can do for your business is to become what I call a “Marketing First” Store Owner.

It sounds fancy, but really it means that you prioritize marketing over all the other “things” that take up your work hours.

Today we’re talking about what a Marketing First store owner does – and how to stay on track

I invited one of my favorite Inner Circle Members, Melissa Davies, to join me today. When I think of a Marketing First store owner, a picture of Melissa pops into my head.

Melissa has generously offered to share her Sales Funnel with us, so you’ll get to see her actual numbers.

We’re going to talk about her funnel – and why she does this work, even though she has a successful store, and she’s really good at marketing

Melissa shared her Sales Funnel numbers for the last 30 days, and when I saw what she was doing, my jaw dropped.

We talked about what she did to grow her audience and traffic massively since she’s been using the Sales Funnel, and then we talked about what her strategy should be to maintain these numbers.

We wrapped up with 1-3 action steps that Melissa can take right now!

The Sales Funnel framework works beautifully for store owners at all stages of business

I love it because it makes it easy to develop an effective action plan for each month.

You know exactly what your business needs NOW, and once you know, it’s easy to become a Marketing First store owner.

New FREE Course coming September 22nd

GROW YOUR SALES

(without breaking the bank)

Conversion School is a step by step process to grow your sales, without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies, or discounting your products.

Works for Ecommerce stores at all stages.

Start getting consistent sales, and see significant sales growth every month.

or scroll down to get the highlights

Did you know that your Returning Customer rate is like a thermometer for your business?
It helps you evaluate the health of your business, and when you understand this, you’ll use it to determine what your business needs right now.

Last week, I shared how I’ve noticed that store owners often are unclear about two metrics that kind of sound like the same thing, but they’re not

 Returning Visitors vs Returning Customers

On last week’s episode of the podcast, I shared that by focusing on your Returning Visitor metric, you can significantly increase your conversion rate. If you haven’t listened – you’ll want to go back and listen to episode 156.

This week, I’m sharing how you can use your Returning Customer rate to understand what you need to focus on in order to grow your sales in a significant way.

You can get the ideal benchmarks for Returning Customers, and some work to do.

To help you understand why your Returning Customer rate is a big deal, I’ve boiled it down to these 3 points:

1. Attrition. Eventually, even the best customers stop buying, and your pool of buyers will shrink.
2. New customer acquisition. Are you bringing enough new customers into your business to [at minimum] replace the customers you lose each month?
3. Are you bringing in enough new customers to create significant growth?

Go listen to the episode – it’s super short, and you’ll walk away with knowledge that will give you the power to get unstuck and grow your sales

New FREE Course coming September 22nd

GROW YOUR SALES

(without breaking the bank)

Conversion School is a step by step process to grow your sales, without spending a fortune on risky ad strategies, or discounting your products.

Works for Ecommerce stores at all stages.

Start getting consistent sales, and see significant sales growth every month.