eCommerce Evolution

Without good copy, you're sunk….or at best fighting an uphill battle.     I love all the new tools for eCommerce that we have at our disposal.  From AI tools, to automation, to personalization, augmented reality etc.  But here's the deal.  None of that matters if you can't tell a good story or produce copy that compels people to buy.  Often, she who tells the best story wins…   I review dozens of eCommerce sites each week and it's very clear to me that good copywriting is a lost art.     My guest on this week's episode is Julie Boswell, co-founder of AskaCopyExpert.com.  Julie was the director of marketing for Bill Glazer and Dan Kennedy at GKIC for 4 years.  Her copy helped fill seats at the famous Super Conference and Info Summit back in their heyday.     In this session we dive into the power of strong copy to boost eCommerce sales.     Here's what we dive into:  - How to write emotional copy that elicits a response - Common copy mistakes to avoid - Copy tips for better product detail pages - Email copy tips - eCommerce companies to emulate who understand good copy - Plus more

My guest on the podcast today has a unique perspective on both Amazon and on building your ecommerce team.   Nathan Hirsch built a wildly successful drop shipping business on Amazon in 2009.  He's since scaled that to multi-million dollar per year business.  in 2015 he launched freeeup.com to help online merchants find vetted outsourcers with eCommerce experience.    In this episode we dig into some Amazon news and trends to pay attention to and we provide some specific insights for building your ecommerce team.   Here's a quick snapshot. - How Amazon has changed since 2009 - Biggest mistakes he sees merchants making on Amazon - What Amazon changes should resellers be preparing for - Top hiring mistakes - Killer interview questions - Processes for properly vetting and hiring eCommerce rock stars

Few entrepreneurs achieve what Russell Brunson has. From selling "how to make potato gun" information in his college dorm to 40,000 paid monthly subscribers on Clickfunnels, his current SaaS platform, Russell knows how to make stuff happen. That's why leaders like Tony Robbins and The Profit's Marcus Lemonis speak at Russell's events and even go to him for marketing advice. In today's episode we cover: - What a successful ecomm funnels look like - Top ecommerce funnel mistakes - Why building a movement and building a brand should go together - How expert status can help combat the "race to the bottom" - Russell's incredible story of selling how to make potato gun information online in college to huge SaaS Business and events with Tony Robbins, Marcus Lemonis, etc. - Traffic sources Russell is most excited about  

There is an art and a science to selling.  Boring doesn't sell.  Neither does average.  Ryan Stewman is neither.  He's a 4x best selling author and the host of the very successful Hardcore Closer podcast.   You don't have to necessarily match Ryan's style to appreciate and benefit from the principles he teaches.  We uncover some gold on this episode to help you craft better closing product pages, videos, online ads and social media posts.     Here's a quick rundown of what we cover:   - 3 things you need to sell more today - The benefits of building a persona - Tips to sell more via video - How to craft emails that close deals and leave people wanting to see your next email - How to get into the sales state of mind - His recent weekend speaking to a group of MMA fighters - Plus more!   Warning - This episode does contain profanity.  Not necessarily excessive, but there is some.  Just a heads up.  The content is excellent.    Enjoy!

It's one thing to build a site, drive some traffic and close a few sales.  It's another thing entirely to build a lifestyle brand that resonates with your audience.   The story of Everyday California is a great one chock full of entrepreneurial insights.  My friend and long time client Chris Lynch and his business partner Michael Sammer started their business with just a couple of Kayaks and a beat up truck in La Jolla Shore near San Diego, CA. Fast forward 9 years and they have a super cool apparel line that's growing at 10x year-over-year online.  They have a license deal with Cherokee - the company that owns Tony Hawk's brand.  They're driving traffic through search and social and there's no slowing down in sight.     Here are some of the lessons we cover in this episode: - Keys to great design and building a brand that endures - Top traffic sources for their ecommerce store - Why they switched from Magento to Shopify Plus - A crazy Facebook/Instagram post that is raking in the sales - How to successfully diversify your business - When to pull the plug on a new initiative - Plus more!

As an eCommerce merchant you have to pay attention to Amazon and Google.  Google is likely one of your top traffic channels.  Amazon is either enemy or partner #1 or perhaps they’re your top frenemy.  In this episode we dive into recent Google and Amazon news and what it means for your business.  Here are some of the highlights:    Google: - Google Shopping - Google will roll this out on the display network, calling it Retail Shopping on Display.   -  Google Shopping Q1 2017 year over year growth outpaced Q4 Year over year 21% vs. 19%.  - Google Shopping/PLAs now 75% of non-branded retail clicks.   - Google shopping spend grew 32% in Q1 for year over year - Google AdWords phone and desktop spend increased 51% and 12%, respectively, while tablet spend fell 23%. - Similar Audiences for Search & Shopping  - Demographics for Search - YouTube TV - similar to sling box.   - Original content via YouTube Red.  6 Shows including shows feature Ellen, Kevin Hart, and Ryan Seacrest.   - 18-49 year olds spend more time on YouTube in prime time than watch the top 10 TV shows combined.   - YouTube Scandal - big brand ads placed next to neo nazi and jihadist content.  5% of top advertisers pulled ads.       Amazon: - Q1 earnings - Sales grew 23%. $35.7 billion in sales, $8billion in growth.   - AWS grew 42% to $3.66B  - Subscription services $1.94 Billion mainly Amazon Prime - 49% YoY -  Making prime sticky with original content - Manchester by the Sea won two oscars.  Best actor - Casey Affleck and Best Director. - Purchased the rights to Thursday night football  - Amazon Prime is closing in on Costco in terms of members.  Now roughly 80 million prime users in the US.  37% growth since last year.  In March of 2017 costco has 88.1 million members.   - Amazon Fresh pickup  - Amazon Go Store

When you talk to eCommerce merchants about the Google Display Network (GDN) or display ads, in general, they usually fall into one of 3 camps: 1. They feel it’s only effective as a remarketing vehicle. 2. They feel like people are more likely to get struck by lightening than click a display ad (had a guy say that to me once). 3. They’re intrigued but apprehensive because they’ve heard so many display campaign horror stories.   I’ve always been in camp 3.  Very intrigued and knowing it could work, but also knowing that the road to success with display ads (outside of remarketing) is more than a little bit tricky.     I first met Mike when we both spoke at Traffic & Conversion Summit in San Diego this March.  Mike has officially cracked the code for creating profitable GDN campaigns.  He is the co-author of The Ultimate Guide to AdWords and the owner of AgencySavvy.com.  He’s been actively managing AdWords campaigns since 2004.  Mike is the real deal as you will soon witness.  This podcast reveals the method behind the madness that produces GDN campaigns that work and scale.

Today's guest is Austin Brawner. Austin is the host of the Ecommerce Influence podcast and the Chief Fixer at Brand Growth Experts. Austin is a true expert at building marketing automation and triggered email marketing campaigns that deliver results. On this episode we cover some really important topics including: 3 metrics to help you turn interested visitors into loyal customers The difference between automated marketing and traditional email marketing The top triggered email sequences every eCommerce store owner needs Identifying and targeting the top 20% of your top 20% (your whales) Customer life cycle marketing Top email mistakes & much more!

Today's episode is about Shoppable Trueview, the dynamic of Google Shopping and YouTube video ads. In this solo episode of eCommerce Evolution, Brett answers several frequently asked questions about this marketing platform including: • The 5 best remarketing audiences to target, • How to structure your campaigns • What Return on Ad Spend and CPA performance should you expect • How to use Shoppable TrueView ads for top of funnel targeting, • 5 Keys to an effective video ad • & more! If you're new to Shoppable Trueview ads, or if you're using them already, this episode can help answer your questions and help you get the most from your campaigns.

Today's guest is Justin Christianson. Justin is President and Co-Founder of Conversion Fanatics, a top rated Conversion Rate Optimization company. Justin is also author of the best selling book "Conversion Fanatic: How to Double Your Customers, Sales and Profits with A/B Testing". He also hosts the CMO Roundtable podcast. In today's episode, we discuss the differences between split testing vs multivariate testing, little tweaks that can make a big difference, great split testing tools to use, common mistakes ecommerce sites make that lower their conversion rate, and look at a couple of case studies (one that led to an 1,892% boost in conversions!). Split testing is a must in marketing, and Justin shares some insight that could lead to more conversions for you.