Random list of observations about how ecommerce brands do marketing after a few (5?) months @privy lmk what I am missing :)

Two challenges every ecommerce brand has:

-Getting first-time customers
-Driving repeat customers

It seems like the basic playbook for increasing website conversion is:

- Run an offer to get someone to join your list
- Exit intent pop-up(s)
- Abandon cart (pop-ups on the site for when someone leaves items in their cart; email retargeting, text re-targeting too).

The name of the game is really: increase AOV and drive repeat business.

Find ways to increase AOV aka average order value aka how much someone pays you per transaction.

Easiest way to do this is to find your version of McDonald’s “do you want fries + drink with that”

... what products do you have that you can add-on and then bundle? Second path is to find ways to cross-sell customers in the future (ex: You bought @CROSSNET for the beach; 6 months later you buy CROSSNET indoor version).

Then it’s all about repeat sales. This isn’t groundbreaking. Repeat customers are better. Some brands do this via subscription, depending on the product (ex: I buy Athletic Greens, I’m on a monthly subscription).

You can also save a lot of customers on subscription plans by letting them “snooze” products (ex: I bought more than I need from Dollar Shave Club, so I snoozed my order for 6 months).

And some brands (well every brand should do this) drive repeat sales by building an email list, having an audience to market to -- and either coming up with new products or new offers to try and sell them on.

There are SO many direct response marketing lessons to apply to ecommerce:

- Have a tripwire offer to get someone to join your list
- Have a limited time offer to break even (or better) on your first sale
- Make all the profit on the back-end with cross-sells up-sells.

Content / copywriting / tone of voice / brand can be the biggest differentiator.

So many ecommerce brands have a strong POV because they are mission driven (the founder had a problem or there’s a cause that each purchase goes to, etc.)

Having a strong POV / picking a side is the BEST marketing asset you can have. This makes it easy to create content, video, blog, podcast, etc.

Even if you don't have a crazy story, the best way to build a brand is to “show your work in public” (ex: hey it’s me, I left my job to start this company, follow me on the journey)

User Generated Content aka UGC is just a fancy name for “social proof” or “pictures of your customers” -- and it’s one of the best marketing assets you can have. Especially in ecommerce. Unlike SaaS your customers can actually show you themselves using your product!

There are a bunch of ways to run campaigns to get UGC // incentive customers to do it -- but it can be as easy as having something in the box or email, asking people to post a picture with the hashtag (ex: StockX just sends a postcard; people always want to show off new shoes)

Influencers. They are a real thing. But now more brands are finding “micro-influencers” people that might not have 1M followers but maybe a few thousand...

There are platforms to find influencers, but it seems like the best way to find the right ones is to do it your own -- reach out to people you’ve seen / you follow. Best results come from giving away the product for free that an influencer can use to run a giveaway.

The key to being successful with ads today is creative. Targeting has become a commodity/become easy/the platforms want to handle all the targeting now
Creative is the variable for success -- the more you can test/iterate/try new creative, the more successful you’ll be.

It’s a secret weapon if you can build an audience // build hype pre-sales

Build a pre-launch list with VIPs, superfans etc. who can help get the ball rolling from a $ perspective of course -- but they can also be the catalyst for social/word of mouth/create UGC for your launch (so you get to sell stuff *and* get the content you need to sell stuff :)