or scroll down to get the highlights

Unlocking Growth By Reducing Customer Acquisition Cost

Let’s dive into a success story that might just change the game for your e-commerce business. Imagine putting an extra $21,856 in your pocket over the last year. Intrigued? Let’s break it down.

In our last post Melissa, the owner of bikepretty.com, spilled the beans on her mission to reduce marketing costs by increasing organic traffic. Now she’s generously breaking down the nitty-gritty details that led to a whopping 44% reduction in customer acquisition costs (and some other big wins too).

Read on to get the details, or click here to listen to the episode

The Cost of Acquiring a Customer: Why It Matters

Let’s address the elephant in the room – new customers don’t (usually) fall from the sky, they cost money to acquire. And if you want your business to grow, you need to ensure a healthy balance of new and repeat buyers. If you’re like Melissa, meeting your revenue goals but wondering why the needle isn’t moving, you might be spending too much on acquisition to turn a real profit. If you’re unclear about customer acquisition cost, you can learn all about here.

Building On A Solid Foundation

The following strategies are best implemented by stores that have demonstrated proof of concept, meaning you’ve sold products to people who aren’t friends or family, and you’re doing so consistently–at least one sale per day over a period of months. If you’re not there yet, check out this podcast episode to learn what you should be focusing on at the stage of business you’re in now.

Melissa’s Game-Changing Strategy

Melissa’s journey began with a commitment to reduce both overall marketing costs and the cost of acquiring a customer. She recognized that paid social media ads were an effective way to reach new customers, but she also understood that you can’t control what you don’t track and measure. Here’s how she met her goal of reducing marketing spend to 15% of her revenue:

Sales Attribution: A Holistic View

Melissa took a holistic approach to tracking her return on marketing spend. Instead of looking at each platform (Facebook, Google ads, Etsy, Pinterest, etc.) independently, she combined them with the paid apps she was using like social media schedulers and email service providers, and looked at the overall impact on her business. This allowed her to see the interconnectedness of her marketing efforts–she might be bringing in new site visitors with her Facebook ads, but then Google was re-targeting them, and she was using email to follow up with the hottest leads. If Melissa had isolated any one of these channels, it might have looked as if her money was being wasted. But like a football team, each player was contributing to the sales funnel in its own way.

Customer Acquisition Cost Calculation

The real magic happened when Melissa started calculating her customer acquisition cost (CAC). By dividing her total marketing spend by the number of first-time buyers, she could pinpoint the cost of acquiring each customer. This simple yet powerful metric became her guiding light.

And what she found was that her cost of acquiring a new customer came down over time. Melissa suggests looking at results over a period of months, not weeks, to get a more accurate sense of whether or not your strategy is working.

Amp Up Your Funnel With Organic Traffic

After getting a handle on her numbers and setting a goal, Melissa got serious about lowering her cold traffic ad spend. Using an adapted version of our Build Your Funnel training, she crafted an organic social media strategy that boosted her traffic without taking all of her time. You can learn all about it HERE.

Color-Coded Analysis

Melissa’s meticulous approach involved color-coding her data in a spreadsheet as she tracked her numbers week to week. This visual representation allowed her to identify trends over time. Red lines indicated periods when the cost to acquire a new customer was high, while soothing blue hues marked lower/more successful times. The patterns that emerged guided her decisions for the future. Melissa noticed that while there were times that she spent more aggressively (red) those efforts inevitably led to weeks of blue/low-cost results. Like a flywheel, money, and energy up front produced results that continued to build over time.

Email Marketing Amplification

Melissa knew the potential of her email list, that it was the source of her most interested customers, and that the relative cost of sending emails is very low. So she intensified her email marketing efforts, sending weekly campaigns to her list of engaged subscribers. Ultimately email contributed a whopping 58% to her overall revenue, so Melissa was really making the most of the money she had already spent to get those subscribers on her list in the first place.

A New Way To Set Goals

Melissa is a coach in the Inner Circle, and so she knows how difficult most online store owners find annual goal-setting. Choosing a number out of thin air doesn’t feel all that actionable, and can even be discouraging. She suggests that instead, we choose specific metrics to focus on–do you need to acquire more customers? Get more organic traffic? Send more email? Examine this year’s data closely, and you’ll know exactly where you should be putting your focus to meet the sales numbers you want. More about goal-setting HERE.

The Results: A 44% Reduction in Customer Acquisition Costs

Melissa’s year-long commitment to tracking, analyzing, and optimizing paid off – literally. Her strategic approach resulted in a staggering 44% reduction in customer acquisition costs. But this wasn’t just a financial win; it brought clarity, direction, and a sense of control over her business.

The Real Deal Results

In summary, here are the 3 actions Melissa took to grow her sales and lower costs, and the results they yielded.

1st Action

Melissa set up weekly tracking for the metrics she wanted to change

Outcome

• Marking cost reduced to 15% of sales
• Cost of acquiring a new customer down by 44%

2nd Action

Melissa adapted the Sales Funnel training and applied what she discovered to her marketing strategy

Outcome

30 Day snapshot

• 2022 Audience: 433k
• 2023 Audience: 1.1M (154% increase)

Traffic

• 2022 – 34162 site visitors (43% organic)
• 2023 – 19,839 site visitors (84% organic)

3rd Action

Melissa shifted her advertising budget from the middle and the bottom of the funnel, and instead, used the $ to build the top of her funnel. She focused on building her email list, and used her Reliable Revenue plan to convert her “big pool of warm people” into buyers via email.

Outcome

Conversion Rate

• 2022  .66%
• 2023  .65%

Average Order Value

• 2022 $157.09
• 2023 $166.32 (6% increase)
  

Your Path to Lower Customer Acquisition Cost

Melissa’s journey is a testament to the transformative power of strategic tracking and optimization. Whether you’re a seasoned e-commerce entrepreneur or just starting out, the lessons from Melissa’s story apply. Take control of your marketing spend, understand your customer acquisition costs, and let the insights guide your path to success.

Ready to unlock real, sustainable e-commerce growth? Dive into the numbers, embrace strategic tracking, and watch as your sales and profits soar.

Related Links:

Check out Melissa’s website www.bikepretty.com

The Stress-Free Content Plan That Built a Huge Audience
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/the-stress-free-content-plan-that-built-a-huge-audience-episode-190/

Do You Know What It Costs To Acquire A New Customer?
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/do-you-even-know-what-it-costs-to-get-a-new-customer-episode-187/

The Powerful Work That Will Get You To Your Goals
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/the-powerful-work-that-will-get-you-to-your-goals-episode-159/

Become A Marketing-First Store Owner
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/become-a-marketing-first-store-owner-episode-160/

New FREE Course

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.

New FREE Course

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

Revolutionize Your E-Commerce Game: Melissa Davies’ Journey to Marketing Success

Have you ever found yourself staring at your bank account, wondering where all your hard-earned money went? We’ve all been there, scratching our heads and questioning if all that ad spend is worth it.

Let’s dive into the inspiring journey of Melissa Davies, the brilliant mind behind Bike Pretty, a collection of straw bike hats. She faced the challenge of skyrocketing marketing expenses but couldn’t afford to put a dent in her growth. What did she do? Melissa’s story is about to drop some serious wisdom on mastering the art of organic social media and slashing marketing costs (without compromising growth.)

Read on to get the details, click to listen to the episode

The Shocking Reality Check: Calculating Cost of Customer Acquisition

Melissa, a seasoned business owner, recently attended a mastermind session with Susan Bradley. The topic on the table – the elusive Cost of Customer Acquisition. Now, Melissa had been running her business for nearly a decade without ever crunching these numbers. Susan dropped a formula, Melissa plugged in the digits, and BAM…the cost was through the roof.

Sales were happening, but the advertising expenses were draining Melissa’s bank account as soon as funds came in. Melissa knew she had to fix the hole in the bucket, fast.

Setting the Goal: Slashing Marketing Expenses Without Sacrificing Growth

Melissa took a step back, surveyed her financial landscape, and set a formidable goal – cutting marketing expenses from 30% of revenue down to a lean and mean 10%. That’s not an easy feat, especially when your customers aren’t frequent flyers (Melissa’s customers either don’t purchase from her again, or purchase years later.)

Melissa set herself a specific target. She wanted to bring her marketing spend down to 10% of revenue. Ambitious? Maybe. Achievable? Melissa was determined to find out.

The Formulaic Approach to Organic Social Media: Melissa’s Three-Step Strategy

Now, here comes the magic – Melissa decided to pivot to organic social media (cue the collective gasps.) Organic social media? Isn’t organic reach dead?

But Melissa cracked the code and made it formulaic. She let go of the grand visions of a perfect social media world and embraced a structured approach.

Here are the three game-changing steps she took:

Step 1: Calling to Account – Tracking Every Marketing Dollar

Melissa got down to business and meticulously tracked every penny she spent on marketing. No more setting and forgetting ads on platforms like Facebook, Google, and Etsy. A simple spreadsheet became her best friend, helping her monitor weekly expenditures on various channels.
Why? Because those seemingly insignificant recurring spends can pile up, and before you know it, your hard-earned cash is disappearing into the void. Melissa took control. It’s not about throwing your money at Facebook or Google and praying they put it to good use; it’s about being the captain of your financial ship.

Step 2: Embracing Organic Social Media with a 30-Day Audience Booster

Melissa didn’t have a mint to throw at ads. Instead, she revisited an old friend – a Social Sales Girls training module called the 30-Day Audience Booster (available to Inner Circle members, you can learn more HERE. This training, curated by Susan Bradley and Patricia Manso, gave her a clear plan for daily posts on social media.
The goal? Three posts a day, and not just any posts. These were engagement posts designed to make people happy, inspire them, and build a community. Melissa didn’t have a massive following initially, but she leveraged the power of consistent posting. Silly memes, relatable jokes – she started with one post a day and worked her way up.

THE 30-DAY AUDIENCE BOOSTER FORMULA

Commit to posting 3 times every day. You’ll post 3 types of content:

1. Post an “inspirational” or “proof” post, that your audience is likely to engage with by “reacting, commenting, or sharing”
2. Post 2 product posts, and tag the products in your posts.
3. Share your posts to stories daily (and link product Stories to your products)

Step 3: Layering in Product Posts and Inspiration

Melissa was keeping her followers entertained, but likes don’t pay the bills. She knew she had to seamlessly integrate product posts into the mix– the dreaded “selling” posts. But she had a trick up her sleeve. Instead of judging these posts by likes or comments, she focused on link clicks – the golden ticket to organic traffic.
As she gained confidence, Melissa added another layer – inspiration posts. These weren’t just about selling; they were about creating a brand, a community. Beautiful bike tours, historical snippets, and fashionable outfits became the foundation of her fantasy bike lands.

A Stress-Free Content Batching Strategy

Melissa doesn’t have time to post 3x a day on the fly, so she started batching her content and planning everything out 28 days ahead of time. She dedicates about half a day each week to scheduling content, following the Audience Booster template. This was a lot of work up front, but as time went on she started using her analytics to see what worked best, and repeated those high-performing posts.

The Results: Melissa’s Triumph Over Marketing Costs

Ready for the results? Drumroll, please. Melissa not only achieved her goal of reducing marketing expenses to 12% of revenue, she decreased her cost of customer acquisition by almost half. Her ad spend is down 75% (saving her $21k+ per year) and her organic reach has increased 1,450%. The bottom line–Melissa took control of her marketing narrative. She turned the tables on those sneaky expenses, embraced the power of organic social media, and transformed her e-commerce game.

To re-cap

• Batch creating and scheduling content saves time and stress
• Reposting and repurposing existing content eliminates the need to constantly create new material
• Shift your mindset: treating social media as a volume game keeps you from getting bogged down by perfectionism or hesitation.

Your Turn

We asked Melissa what is the #1 piece of advice she would give to store owners hoping to get results like hers. Her answer was hands down the Inner Circle training “Build Your Funnel,” which is an exercise she does each month. She says it gives her a snapshot of where she is so that she knows what content she needs to make next.

So…what’s stopping you from taking the reins of your marketing destiny? Melissa’s story is a testament to the impact of a formulaic and strategic approach to organic social media.

Dive into your numbers, embrace the 30-Day Audience Booster, and start posting with purpose. Melissa Davies’ success story is your invitation to get organized with your social posting. The struggle is real, but so are the opportunities!

Related Links:
See Melissa’s website here: https://bikepretty.com/

Get Social Media Made Easy: https://classroom.thesocialsalesgirls.com/offers/PtLkpup2/checkout

Do You Even Know What It Costs To Get A New Customer?
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/do-you-even-know-what-it-costs-to-get-a-new-customer-episode-187/

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

Organic Results That Will Shock You
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/a-year-of-results-that-will-shock-you-episode-120/

Skyrocket Your Store’s Visibility
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/skyrocket-your-stores-visibility-episode-129/

Build a massive audience with a brand Video
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/build-a-massive-audience-with-a-brand-video-episode-162/

The TikTok Strategy That Exploded Sylvie’s Sales
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/the-tiktok-strategy-that-exploded-sylvies-sales-episode-106/

New FREE Course

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.

New FREE Course

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

Power-Up your traffic with Google’s Performance Max Ads

Have you dipped a toe into Google’s new Performance Max Ads yet? Heard of “PMax” but had no idea what it was? In this episode, we’re diving deep into the world of Google advertising and Performance Max Ads with our expert, Leona Griffin. Leona is Google-certified, leads a team who understands the intricacies of Google advertising, and is our Google Ads e-commerce coach in The Inner Circle.

If you’re an e-commerce store owner looking to grow your online sales without breaking the bank on ads, then this one is for you.

PMax vs. Smart Shopping

Performance Max Ads, or Pmax ads, are Google’s response to Apple’s iOS 14 update (which restricted advertiser’s ability to target their ideal customers,) and replaces Smart Shopping campaigns. Like Facebook’s Advantage+ system, Pmax ads use artificial intelligence to identify and target customers based on their behavior, rather than data, to overcome the privacy challenges posed by iOS 14.

This is GREAT news for store owners

PMax ads make advertising on Google Search, Gmail, YouTube, Display and Discovery a snap–allowing you to focus on producing great creative while Google’s AI manages placement far better than you could on your own. If you were frustrated or overwhelmed by Google Ads’ complicated system before, PMAx makes it really easy–eliminating the need for multiple campaigns, budgets, and endless spreadsheets to track them all.

Brass Tacks: Google Merchant Center

You may have dabbled in an SEO strategy before, with blog posts or optimized headlines. That’s great for driving organic, top of funnel traffic. But it’s nitty-gritty search-optimized product listings that will drive red-hot customers–those who are actively searching out your products with credit card in hand–that will allow Google to drive both organic and paid traffic your way. 

Google Merchant Center verifies and organizes your product data, ensuring that your store’s information (including product names, prices, sizes, and colors) is accurate and optimized for search. Think of it as the gateway to all things Google–it’s the way you tell their platforms exactly what you’re selling, so they can show your products to the customers most likely to buy.

3 Reasons to try Performance Max Ads

1. Superior Targeting and Placement
If you find the concept of a funnel overwhelming, Pmax makes it really easy. By consolidating various advertising formats, Google ensures that your budget is being spent where (and when) it’s needed most, whether retargeting site visitors or attracting new customers.

2. Maximize your spend across ALL platforms
Performance Max ads really shine at retargeting, helping you reconnect with potential customers who have previously visited your site. So if you’re already spending money on Facebook or Instagram ads, PMax ads pick up where Meta leaves off driving those visitors BACK to your site when they see Google’s retargeting ads as they browse the web. And PMax retargeting ads are super smart–their system is constantly monitoring your site visitors and showing them the appropriate messages at the right place and time, when they’re most likely to buy.

3. Increased Engagement
Pmax ads provide access to exclusive ad formats not available on other platforms, like video shopping ads, which integrate product listings beneath video content, enhancing user engagement. Google knows which type of ad creative each potential buyer is most likely to engage with, so it chooses from your ad creative to customize each viewer’s experience.

You’ve Got (G)Mail

One of the most exciting features of Pmax ads is within Gmail, a powerful channel for engaging potential customers. If you’re worried that too many of your site visitors are bouncing without leaving an email address…PMax can pick up the slack. Because Google owns Gmail, PMax ads can appear in users’ inboxes, showcasing products they’ve previously viewed, and providing another valuable touchpoint in the customer journey.

Who Should Use Performance Max Ads?

While PMax ads are clearly a great choice for product-based online stores, they’re also a great tool for other types of business. Because Performance Max contains so many types of ad creative, they can work equally well if you’re building a mailing list, hosting a giveaway, or advertising a service.

How Much Do PMax Ads Cost?

Leona advises starting with a budget of just $5 per day. It’s essential to approach Pmax ads as a long-term investment, as machine learning requires time to accumulate data and optimize performance. The key is to be patient and gradually increase your budget as you see positive results.

How Long Do Performance Ads Take to Start Working?

Because PMAx is an AI learning platform, it needs a significant amount of data to really figure out how to maximize performance. So we don’t recommend trying it for two weeks, then throwing in the towel. Leona recommends giving it 3 months minimum to start seeing results. At $5 a day, it’s still a fairly small investment and the reward for your patience can be huge.

$7 Million Results

Thanks to Leona’s excellent training in the Inner Circle classroom, our members have already seen great results from their Performance Max campaigns. Even those who had tried Google Ads before, or who were running campaigns that took a nose-dive after iOS14, have seen a big return on ad spend with the latest PMax ads. $7 million in revenue, to be exact, all from Google Ads!

Performance Max Ads offer e-commerce store owners a great opportunity to supercharge their advertising efforts on Google. With better visibility, better retargeting, and optimized engagement, Pmax ads can be a game-changer for your business. Just remember, patience and persistence are key!

Related podcasts:
Simple SEO You Can Do Today
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/simple-seo-you-can-do-today-episode-108/

Learn how to build an SEO Sales Funnel
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/how-to-build-an-seo-funnel-episode-161/ 

A Powerful 10-Minute Keyword Research Strategy
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/store-owners-get-results-from-this-powerful-10-minute-keyword-research-episode-177/

New FREE Course

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.

New FREE Course

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

It’s been a huge relief to not spend my time worrying about what I should post, or overthink everything as I compose a post.

I finally feel like I can just show up and be myself, without an agenda.

Recently I was thinking about how much more time I have to get my work done. I realized that I only think about my Social Media once a month, when I’m meeting with Katy, my Social Media Manager.

I’ve attempted to outsource my Social Media a few times in the past. It was not always successful. I realize now that I’m the reason it didn’t work well. The truth is, I was so happy to have someone doing my Social Media,  that I did a “dump and run”.

I handed it off, without a plan, without support, and without a clear strategy.

When I hired Katy, she helped me set her up for success. It’s worked beautifully. In fact, our Social Media gets better results every month. Katy creates content that has more impact on our growth than I ever did.

I want this for you too. I often encourage store owners to spend their time on the $100/hr jobs.
Social Media is important, but it’s just not a $100/hr job.

Once you have a strategy to measure your results, it’s super easy to create a plan that you can repeat every month.

But before you hire someone to manage your social media, you owe it to yourself to do a little work that will remove barriers, and set you up for success.

I’m sharing what I’ve learned. It will prepare you to outsource your Social Media.

Fact: Getting access to your existing images and videos is a common problem for Social Media Managers. They waste too much time “chasing” store owners for content, and that makes it hard to create effective content.

Take some time to gather all your images and video in one place, and give your Social Media Manager access. As you get new products, or create more video content, add them, so that your Social media manager has everything she needs at her fingertips. Canva is a great tool to store all your creative assets.

Get clear on the specific outcome you want. Set your Social Media Manager up for success by giving her clarity. Clarity on the work that’s to be performed, Clarity on how you prefer to communicate, Clarity on your goals. Clarity on how you’ll measure success.

Before you hire help, make decisions about what you want based on what the business needs. Ask yourself these questions:

• How many posts a week?
• What kind of posts?
• How will you help your Social Media Manager learn about your customer and your voice?
• What is your goal?
• What does success look like?
• How will you measure success?

Fact: Your Social Media Manager needs to know what “success looks like”. Everyone needs a way to see their progress. This is your opportunity to decide what success looks like for your business. When you both know what the expectation is, you increase your chances of reaching your goals.

I use Social Media for visibility. Because of this, we measure success by audience size. We measure the size of our audience every month using our total reach on all platforms. This metric demonstrates the ROI on our Social Media efforts, and leaves me confident that I am always filling my Sales Funnel with new lead.
If you haven’t built your sales Funnel yet, do it! Schedule a time to watch my free workshop, and I’ll show you how.

Fact: If you don’t have a Content Plan, you risk wasting time and money. Your Social Media Manager needs to know what’s going on in your business before it happens. The outcome you want is twofold. Get hours back every week. Offload Social Media without creating more work for yourself. You can do this successfully by creating a repeatable content plan that you can use every month.

We use the Social Media content framework that we teach in our course, Social Media Made Easy. (link to purchase) Once a month, I meet with Katy, and share the “topic” we’re featuring each week for the following month. Katy creates the content plan for the month using the framework. Katy creates the copy and selects the images and videos she’ll use to create our posts each week. I create a “reel” for each week’s topic. This is the only fresh content I’m committed to producing.

It’s a great system. I don’t get stuck in the weeds creating copy, and Katy isn’t chasing me for content. We meet once a month and I leave feeling confident that my Social Media will drive traffic, and be engaging.

New FREE Course

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.

New FREE Course

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

​How to get more organic traffic. A lesson on Keyword research

Ready for a lesson on easy SEO for Ecommerce?
Recently I asked our Inner Circle Ecommerce Coach,  Sarah, to show us how you can start getting more organic traffic when you implement her simple keyword strategy.

You can listen to the lesson in this episode of the podcast.


What is Keyword research?
It’s simply the process of finding the best keyword phrases to use on our site. It helps us determine the content to write and the best phrases to use to help our potential customers find us and learn more about our products and our brand.

Who should use keyword research?
All ecommerce store owners should use keyword research because it will help them make the best choices for product and collection titles. aIt will also help store owners find the most searched topics for their blog or article content.

Why is keyword research important to me?
Ranking for a keyword phrase in the search engine isn’t good enough, because the keyword phrase you are ranking for might not be getting any traffic. In order to maximize organic traffic, you should be using the phrases that people are actually searching for.
You’ll use your research to discover the exact words people use when they are searching, and you’ll be able to see the search volume for these terms.
In super competitive niches, it’s often necessary to find longer tail keyword phrases to try to rank for. For example, it isn’t likely that a small ecommerce store will rank for the term necklace. But, that same store may be able to rank for “beaded handmade necklace”. 

Ready to give it a try? Here’s where you start.
While brainstorming is a good starting point, keyword research is best done using a tool that can, at a minimum, provide average search volume. The three tools I use and recommend are Google Ads Keyword Planner, Keywords Everywhere Chrome Extension & Ubersuggest. You’ll find the links to these tools at the bottom of the article.
When you’re using one of these tools, start by brainstorming some starter phrases. These are  sometimes called “seed keywords”.  You’ll enter your starter phrases into the tool to come up with lists of possible phrases to use. 
Ideally, you’re looking for keyword phrases that have a decent amount of traffic, and with a low enough level of competition that you have a chance of ranking for that specific phrase.

The best way to start is to go as broad as possible and then see what comes up from that broad search.

You can also brainstorm multiple phrases you think buyers are looking for and your keyword tool will recommend additional phrases. 

Finally, if you’re using a tool like Ubersuggest or SEMRush, you can “spy” on a competitor’s keywords by entering their domain or one of their product pages to get ideas.

Want to see keyword research in action? Here are some examples:

For the store owner that sells high end dog collars
Questions to ask/brainstorm: what are they made of? Small dogs, big dogs, all sizes? Colors?

• Designer dog collars – 9900 searches/month – Medium competition
• Luxury dog collars – 3600 searches/month – Medium competition
• Luxury dog collars for large dogs – 110/Mo – Medium comp
• Fancy dog collars with bling – 90 Searches/Mo – Medium Competition
• Handcrafted dog collars – 40 Searches/Mo – Low comp – Good secondary keyword
• Designer bling dog collars – 30 Searches/Mo

For the store owner that sell bath bombs with surprise toys inside
Questions to ask/brainstorm: ingredients, what is the toy, colors

• Kids bath bombs – 0 Searches
• Bath bombs – 49,500/mo – Med – High Competition
• Bath bombs with toys inside – 1600/mo – Medium competition
• Bath bombs with surprise – 880/mo – Medium competition
• Bath bombs with surprise inside – 480 – Medium competition

For the store owner that sells collectible, symbolic jewelry
Questions to ask/brainstorm: What material? What type of jewelry – rings, earrings, necklaces…? Handcrafted? Colors? Gender? What makes it collectible or symbolic?

• Talisman – 49.500/mo
• Talisman necklaces – 720/mo – medium comp
• Amulet Necklace – 1600/mo – medium comp
• Talisman Jewelry – 590/mo – Medium comp
• Amulet Jewelry – 320/mo – medium comp
• talisman pendant necklace – 40/month – medium comp

I’ve found some keyword phrases, what’s next?

Once you’ve decided on the primary keyword phrase for your product, you’ll want to incorporate this into the product name & description, the SEO page title and meta description. (in Shopify, this is found at the bottom of the product creation page under “Search Engine Listing”). 

You should also use your primary keyword phrase in the alt text of your first image. Use the primary keyword phrase naturally in your description. Once or twice in a shorter description is fine.

Remember this:
Without some type of keyword research, you don’t know whether the terms and phrases you’re using are helping or hurting you in the search engines. 

Working on your SEO a little at a time, you may see results in as little as 30 days but expect it to take several months to see large shifts. Highly competitive keywords can take months, or even years to rank for. Start with long tail keywords for the quickest traffic wins. 

You should only use 1 keyword phrase per page of your site. You don’t want to try to rank multiple pages for the same keyword phrase. This confuses Google, which will ultimately decide which page to rank or none at all. 

Review a few keyword research tools and decide which is best for budget and time. For a demonstration of any of the tools or help with using them, Inner Circle members can book a call with Sarah, our Inner Circle Ecommerce Coach, specializing in SEO. You’ll find her booking information in your classroom.

Links to the tools mentioned:
Ubersuggest: https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/

Keywords Everywhere: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keywords-everywhere-keywo/hbapdpeemoojbophdfndmlgdhppljgmp

Google Keyword Planner: https://ads.google.com/intl/en_ca/home/tools/keyword-planner/

New FREE Course

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.

New FREE Course

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

Have you built your Sales Funnel yet?

If not, read on to see why every Ecommerce store owner should do this work. What follows is an in depth look at the Sales Funnel of a 6 figure store. It’s a great opportunity to see what’s possible for you when you build your Sales Funnel. 

If you prefer to listen, jump to the podcast episode

Recently, I sat down with Renee Harris, a long time Inner Circle Member with a successful shop that supports her family. Renee’s sales have been down over the past 2 years, and she had been spending hours every week, scrambling to get more sales.

In January, we released the Sales Funnel training to our Inner Circle Members and she decided to jump in and build her own Sales Funnel. 

Within minutes, Renee saw exactly what she had been missing, and why her sales had slowed.

Five months later, sales are up 28% and today she’s sharing the work she’s been doing that has changed everything for her.

Watch the video and don’t miss the last few minutes where Renee shares an app that has created radically loyal customers. It’s gold!

Here’s what Renee was missing:

• When Renee used her store’s data to build her Sales Funnel, she was shocked to discover that she was failing to keep the top of her sales funnel full.
• The good news was that she had been doing a great job of converting the people she had in her Sales Funnel.
• The bad news was that she only had a tiny Audience of 26,000 at the top of her Sales Funnel.
• We recommend that all stores set a goal to have 100,000 – 200,000 people in your top of funnel audience, and at only 26,000, Renee’s audience was just not big enough to find the customers she needs to grow her sales.
• Once Renee knew the cause of her slowing sales, she focused on building her audience every month.
• Building a big, warm audience at the top of your Sales Funnel is relatively easy, and using video and engagement ads makes it quick and affordable.
• Renee wanted to build her audience quickly, so she booked a call with Cathy, one of the Ecommerce Coaches in the Inner Circle.

Learn how to build a big top of Funnel Audience here: https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/build-a-massive-audience-with-a-brand-video-episode-162/

By February, Renee’s audience size had doubled, and her sales were starting to get back on track. She worked on building her audience every month, and by June, Renee’s top of Funnel audience had tripled, and her year to date sales were up by 28%.

Renee is back, and in control of her income.

Lessons Learned:

Neglect your Top of Funnel Audience, and your sales will stall.
Filling the top of your Sales Funnel is important for the long term health of your business. It’s work that every store owner should do consistently. It’s low effort work that has a big impact on your sales. You can watch your Audience grow when you build your Sales Funnel each month.
Building an Audience for your store is easy and affordable. When you do it consistently, you’ll see increased traffic and sales over time.

Tracking and Measuring gives you proof of your success.
Most store owners measure their success by sales. In reality, it takes time to warm up your audience and turn them into customers. When you build a Sales Funnel and update your data every month, you’ll be able to see your progress, and measure your success at every stage of the customer journey. Doing this will keep you on the right track, and help you stay motivated and excited to keep doing the work that leads to sales.

Adding more products is a short term fix. And it’s expensive.
When sales are slow, most store owners start thinking about how they can increase sales by offering more products. The truth is that this is an expensive way to grow your sales. You’ll be more profitable, and create lasting growth by finding more customers to buy the products you already have.

Ready to build your Sales Funnel?

See the Sales Funnel graphic our members us, and get the instructions in this episode of the Podcast

See Renee’s shop here:
https://hardlotion.com/

New FREE Course

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.

New FREE Course

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.