Join us at The Whalies • April 10th
Get Your Ticket
Check our DTC Holiday Gift Guide 🎁
Read Now
Want to take your brand from 7 figures to 8 figures in 2023? You won’t get there just by changing your ad account structure!
Here are the 5 keys to scaling your ecommerce business that your agency is not telling you.
People buy from who they like, but they return for people they trust. The days of faceless corporations are ending, and Creator / People lead brands are the future.
My mentor Ezra Firestone does an amazing job of conveying personality with his brand Boom, even down to his Product Inserts.
He originally partnered with Cindy, a model, to be the face of Boom. But after she sadly passed, he made the Boom ambassadors the face of the brand. They use their ambassadors on their main site, landing pages, e-mails, and in their FB Group. Really, anywhere they can to humanize their brand.
Another way to humanize your brand is to look at your buyer journey (ads, website, landing pages, and email flows) and see where you can inject personality.
As a marketer, nothing makes me cringe more than receiving a standard Shopify transactional email with no content built-in.
“Hey John, thanks for your purchase.” … That does not build TRUST!
“Hey John, our small team located here in Denver thanks you for your purchase! Jenna, our product manager, is reviewing your order right now.” … notice the emotional connection you’ll build?
Action Item: Take a look at your buyer journey, and figure out how to humanize your brand.
People want to feel a part of something. Community separates a store from a brand. The easiest way to build community is with a FB VIP Group.
Collin Wayne, who owns Redline Steel, does a phenomenal job with this.
Once a customer purchases, he puts them into a VIP group.
He posts regularly in the group, and, is super engaging,
Consistency in posting is key here!
.webp)
He even takes it to the next level…
For customers who buy five or more items from his store, he has a separate Facebook “Elite Group” he sends them to.
He is more interactive in this group, and gets feedback from his best customers on new product launches and even ads.
Large companies pay millions of dollars for focus groups, and he gets the same data for free!
He even sends everyone who has joined (thousands of people!) personally signed certificates once they join the Elite Group.
Talk about building a connection!
Action Item: Build a VIP FB Group for 1x purchasers, and post content in the group daily.
Most people know the Pareto Principle (80/20 Rule).
However, if you take it a step further and look at the top 20% of your 20%, you get your top 4% (64/4 Rule).
That means the top 4% of your customers want to generate a whopping 64% of your income... if you let them!
Shopify makes it very easy to find these customers in the Loyal Customers report. You can sort by transaction volume or dollar amounts, and also view their contact info.
Once you have their contact info, you can survey or meet with them. They are the most credible source of data you can get.
I recommend setting up 30 minute 1on1 interviews with these customers. This will allow you to get to know them on a personal level.
You should also profile and avatar the crap out of them so you can direct all your marketing resources at these people, and people like them. They are literally all of your Customer LTV.
(If you DM me on Twitter “1on1 Interview”, I will send you the exact script we use in our brands, and how to apply them to yours).
Action Item: Pull the Loyal Customer report in Shopify, and interview 1 high-value customer per week.
One of my biggest regrets was scaling Family Gifts Co. to $27M/yr and not taking the time to hire a great team. I pretty much built the whole thing on VA's, which was not sustainable.
This means getting a great COO, CFO, and CMO.
If you can’t afford them, go Fractional. Alternatively, you can also look for a Project Manager, Finance Manager, or Growth Partner.
Do not go cheap. This is a real investment in your future.
Action Item: Figure out what area is your biggest constraint (marketing, operations, or finances), and hire an expert to help you.
Even though you are going to eventually hire a CFO, you still need to understand your numbers.
A lack of cash flow is what kills most e-commerce businesses, not a lack of profit. You should understand how to play the cashflow game like the Obvi guys do so well.
This means, at a minimum:
Get to know your balance sheet, cash flow statement, and profit and loss statements.
Understand your gross margins and contribution margins, and how they impact your break-even CPA / ROAS. Review these on a monthly basis.
Get a daily email of your bank account’s cash in and out, a weekly cash flow forecast, and a monthly cash flow forecast, at a minimum.
You want a consistent daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly pulse to see how cash moves in your company.
Action Item: Study your business finances (Cash flow, P&L, and Balance Sheet), and product
finances (gross margins, contribution margins, etc.) to see what you can impact the most.
If you even take action on two of these items today, you will dominate the competition in 2023, recession be damned.
Want to take your ecommerce business to the next level? Book a call with one of our strategists and see how Triple Whale can help you scale revenue like never before.
.png)
© Triple Whale Inc.
266 N 5th Street, Columbus OH 43209
