The Ecommerce Influence Podcast: Advanced Acquisition And Retention Strategies For Fast-growing Online Brands

What if you could double your business with Facebook over the next year? That’s exactly what happened for Oral Essentials when they doubled-down on their FB advertising and focused on scaling up. Oral Essentials CMO, Justin Maddahi, joins us today to discuss some of the game-changing tactics that have helped him grow the business with Facebook. He talks about why he’s shifted to nearly all user-generated content, how he approaches creative testing, and why he’s managing all aspects of Facebook in-house. If you’re trying to scale up your advertising, you won’t want to miss this episode. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 6:15 The birth of Oral Essentials and what separates them from other oral care brands. 8:11 Justin’s journey from science major to CMO. 9:48 Why Justin decided to expand the business beyond Amazon and start owning his own channels. 11:56 The Facebook tactics that helped Oral Essentials see massive growth, including what Justin says you must start doing right now. 13:00 Why shifting to user-generated c

If someone tells you the secret to success is working as much as you possibly can, they’re wrong. Successful, productive people don’t work more, they work on fewer things that have greater impact. Today we’re joined by productivity expert and ex-world champion poker player Chris Sparks, who is also the founder and CEO of The Forcing Function. Chris helps entrepreneurs identify what they truly want in life (step #1 to increasing your productivity) and then works with them to achieve their goals in the most effective way possible. We talk with Chris about how to figure out what you actually want, the importance of leveraging your unique assets, and why reflection is the missing ingredient to progress. Episode Highlights 6:44 Introducing Chris Sparks and how his obsession with productivity began at the poker table. 10:12 Why Chris decided to forego a job opportunity at Ford to become a professional poker player. 14:56 The double-down inspiration for Chris’ new book: Experiment Without Limits. 19:46 What sets Ch

Do you ever get into a rut with your marketing ideas? If you’ve been spinning your wheels looking for a new way to move some inventory and surprise and delight your customers, you don’t want to miss this episode. Meri Geraldine, founder of the sustainable jewelry brand Gardens of the Sun, joins us to share the creative way she moved $25K in product in just a few hours. Meri also talks about building an ethical supply chain, ingraining her personal values into the ethos of her business, and how she grew from a small Etsy shop into a full-blown ecommerce store. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 5:55 Introducing Meri and how she transitioned from working as a sustainability consultant in Indonesia to creating Gardens of the Sun. 9:18 How Meri’s quest to meet everybody in her supply chain led to the creation of a sustainable gold mining cooperative. 12:15 From an Etsy shop to a full-blown business. 14:49 The unexpected joys and challenges of growing a successful business. 16:38 How Meri incorporates her values into the

Hey advertisers, Facebook doesn’t care about you. It cares about its users. That’s why it recently launched a new tool called the Customer Feedback Score. Facebook is using this tool to crackdown on drop shippers and other advertisers whose products don’t deliver. Today we’re going to talk about where to find this tool, how to interpret the data it provides, and what you can do to improve your score. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 5:40 How Facebook is cracking down on drop shippers and shoddy products with its new tool. 8:25 Where to find you Customer Feedback Score in your account. 9:36 What you’ll see when you access your Customer Feedback Score and how to understand your score. 11:40 Reviewing positive feedback: what your customers want more of. 13:46 Identifying opportunities for improvement. 17:30 Don’t let your score drop too low or your ads, and your page, will be banned from Facebook. 18:55 As the big 3 ad platforms work to create better experiences for consumers, you’ve got to plan ahead and shift your a

Sometimes it takes a lot of failures before you make it big. Today’s guest is no stranger to failure -- he once invested $250K in a company that never even launched. But now, Josh Meyer is the CEO and co-founder of Brickell Men's Products, the fastest-growing company in Maine and the fastest-growing skincare company in the world. Josh joins us to talk about the challenges Brickell faced with their rocketship growth, why he’d never raise money for a business again, and his love-hate relationship with Amazon. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 6:44 Introducing Josh and his path to becoming the CEO and co-founder of the fastest-growing company in Maine. 9:45 How Josh runs a business based in Maine, while living in Florida. 12:23 The moment Josh realized Brickell’s success was real. 14:00 Lessons learned from a $250K business flop. 17:32 Some of the challenges of being a fast-growing company. 20:39 How Josh assesses Brickell’s success and growth potential, and why he doesn’t trust Google Analytics. 24:56 As you spend mor

When I ask business owners what’s holding them back from making their next big hire, you know what they tell me? Hiring sucks. I’ve heard this time and time again. Over the last month, I've gone through the process of hiring a marketing apprentice. I used an approach that’s helped me successfully hire many people over the years -- without stress. Today, I’m going to share my entire approach with you, so you can make your next great hire, painlessly. We’ll discuss how to create a job post that will attract great talent, how to conduct the pre-interview evaluation process, how to conduct a really great interview, and more. Episode Highlights 6:59 The first step in the hiring process: figuring out what you’re looking for. 8:05 Don't make this mistake when creating your job listing. 9:01 How to write a job post that will attract great talent. 12:44 Writing your post to attract the right people, repel the wrong ones, and make it easy to disqualify applicants. 15:03 Outlining the skills and responsibilities you’re

What would you do if your organic traffic dropped by 90% overnight? That’s exactly what happened to today’s guest earlier this year. Mike Colavita, founder of Fat Buddha Glass, joins us today to talk about his experience being on the receiving end of a big Google slap and how he's recovering from an organic search drop. He shares why his site was dinged in the first place and the changes they’ve implemented since then to make nearly a full recovery five months later. What at first seemed like the worst possible situation turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to Mike’s business. I know you're going to enjoy this episode! Episode Highlights 5:00 Introducing Mike Colavita and his entrepreneurial journey.  6:45 The birth of Fat Buddha Glass. 9:20 How to raise brand awareness when you’re banned from practically every channel. 12:10 The turning point from part-time business to full-time endeavor. 15:19 Finding new marketing channels through content partnerships and placements. 16:41 The dire e

If you’ve been wondering how to improve your Facebook ad creative, you’re not alone. Great Facebook ad creative really sets successful brands apart. But, there’s not a lot of information out there about the fundamentals of building a system to generate ongoing creative and how to test whether it’s actually working. So today we’re breaking it down for you. We talk about how to approach creative if you’re spending $5000 a week or $100,000, the questions to ask before you start testing, what’s working right now in terms of creative sizing, and some new tools you must start using. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 5:48 The amount of Facebook ad creative you need to be testing, and why it’s easier to create content now than ever before. 8:16 Clarifying the correlation between how much you can test and your overall budget. 9:28 A quick and simple way to pull together UGC and create an ad. 13:18 The most common issue businesses run into with putting together new creative. 15:22 A system for new creative development that wi

If you can sell water online, you can sell anything. Today’s guest, who has been managing social strategy in the direct-to-consumer space since he was 15 years old, helped Hint water make a killing when he was their Director of DTC business. Recently featured on Forbes 2019 list of 30 under 30, Nik Sharma is an expert at DTC marketing. We chat with Nik about what he’s invested in now, his thoughts on building a brand, and his insightful tips on how to write scroll-stopping ad copy. The DTC space continues to evolve and Nik is at the forefront. I know you’ll learn a lot during this episode just like we did. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 6:51 Nik’s fascinating career journey, starting at age 15. 9:07 How Nik successfully managed to sell water online with Hint. 12:14 The role of storytelling and the willingness to test new ideas in Hint’s marketing success. 14:50 The company structure that allowed Nik to accelerate Hint’s growth. 16:55 Changes Nik has seen within the direct-to-consumer space and the three things ri

Many business owners tell me one of the reasons they started their own company is to have the freedom to travel. However, as their business grows, travel becomes stressful and they feel like they have less freedom, not more. Today we’re helping you get that freedom to travel back by sharing our strategies for stress-free and productive traveling. We both have a lot of experience traveling and working, and we want to give you our tips for enjoying yourself, and getting stuff done, while on the road. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 5:08 The travel mindset and setting expectations. 6:59 The pace of business travel vs. ongoing travel. 7:59 A key thing to do on travel days that will help reduce stress. 10:47 In order to keep the freedom to travel as your team grows, you need to protect each other’s time. 13:42 The travel kit to put together to help you be more productive. 15:24 Andrew’s addition to his travel kit that’s been a game changer for staying calm on the road. 16:02 Tips for making the most out of long flights

The Golden Era of the direct-to-consumer business may very well be over. But there are still ecommerce brands out there who are crushing it and in today’s episode we explore some of the reasons why. Former Shopify Plus blog editor Aaron Orendorff has written a ton about ecommerce and the direct-to-consumer craze. Today we have a thoughtful conversation about what it means to build a ecommerce brand in the current climate, what some fast-growing, successful companies are doing to show up in a more unique way, and how a bigger picture process around customer acquisition is helping them succeed. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 7:00 Introducing Aaron Orendorff and his two distinct professional lives. 10:26 Aaron’s transition from Seminary to Shopify Plus. 16:03 Why the Golden Era of direct-to-consumer is over. 18:26 How do small ecommerce brands with limited products succeed at shifting categories to scale up? 24:18 Engineering AOV from the start to the end of your sales funnel. 28:58 Good loyalty program tactics. 29:

Some Ecommerce Brands Make It Big While Others Stall Out, It’s A Fact. But there’s really no big mystery behind why this happens. A few months ago I was interviewed on a podcast by my good friend Brett Curry on the Ecommerce Evolution Podcast. We break down what separates e-commerce brands that scale up versus those that plateau. After re-listening to the episode, I decided to share it with you. Brett and I talk about a variety of things, including average order value and lifetime value, and how that directly impacts your ability to scale up. We talk about demand generation versus demand capture: which is “better” and which lends itself to being able to scale. We talk about the roadmap to building a team and scaling up your business, how your role as a CEO changes as you grow, and much, much more. I had a great time chatting with Brett, and I hope you enjoy! Episode Highlights 8:25 Why I’m so passionate about dissecting why some brands scale and others don’t. 9:56 The KPIs that separate the businesses that c

Email is one of the most trusted ways to drive revenue in ecommerce. But I still see too many people leaving money on the table and missing out on low-hanging fruit. Today I’ll walk you through how to do a two-day email overhaul that will help you increase your revenue. We’ll start by making sure your email service provider and integrations are set up correctly, create a branded email template, ensure you have a great offer that’s capturing tons of leads, and identify the email flows to build that have the biggest financial impact for your business. This is the exact email overhaul process I’ve used with my clients to help them bring in $10K from email in just one week after set-up. Can’t wait to hear your results! Episode Highlights 5:06 How to ensure your email service provider is set up correctly. 6:20 The importance of tracking viewed products. 7:30 Other common mistakes Austin sees with ESP setup and integrations. 10:20 Creating an email template for your brand (without a designer). 13:45 Lead capture:

If you’ve been on Facebook in the past week, you’ve probably seen an ad from Buffy. What started as an idea to disrupt the bedding industry has grown into a multi-million dollar business. Today Buffy co-founder Shoaib Kabani joins us to cover a range of topics. We talk about everything from product development, to the importance of testing, how landing pages can improve your funnel, and what performance KPIs you have to be thinking about as you scale. , how he thinks about scaling up their business, what's worked for them. Whether you’re a business owner or an ecommerce marketer, you’re going to get a lot out of this episode. Enjoy! Episode Highlights:  4:49 How a desire to change the bedding industry led to the creation of Buffy. 6:21 The training Shoaib got from his start in consulting that’s helped him as an entrepreneur. 7:35 Developing the initial idea and concept for Buffy: providing value and values. 9:31 The process of validating the concept online, on social, and in person before going all in. 12:48

It’s our goal to help our clients succeed, but even the experts get it wrong sometimes. As we've seen in the first six months of the year, things have changed wildly within Facebook. Today, Andrew shares some of the advice he’s given that hasn’t worked out. And while he’s never intentionally led anyone astray, things don’t always go as planned. Andrew talks about five times his advice has failed on Facebook and the lessons learned from those mistakes. We hope by sharing some of the worst Facebook advice of the year we’ll prevent you from making any of these mistakes yourself. Enjoy! Episode Highlights:  3:02 Why we’re talking about failure. 6:11 Budget advice: what we’ve said before and how we’d correct it. 10:35 Creative is the most important part of the FB ad equation, bottom line. 13:15 The gut check question to ask yourself before you run with your creative content. 14:55 Honesty around product market fit when you have a very specific niche. 18:40 Campaign budget optimization: it’s still the Wild West. 2

Q3 is officially here. What are you doing to prepare for the second half of the year? For my team, the end of the quarter means it’s time to get out of the day-to-day grind and do some bigger picture planning. Every three months we do a quarterly business offsite, where we take a step back so we can review our goals, and set new ones, that will help us move forward in the right direction. Today we’re talking about the process we follow for our quarterly business offsite and how you can host one of your own. I’ll share the questions we ask to review the previous 90 days, how we capture ideas for improvements, and how we come up with our north star goal for the upcoming quarter. Enjoy! Episode Highlights 2:49 Why Austin’s excited to get off the grid and plan for a new quarter. 4:44 How to start preparing for your quarterly business offsite. 9:35 Questions to ask as you prepare for your offsite that will help your employees take ownership in the business. 12:35 A question that will help narrow in on the vision

It’s not always easy to maintain high-quality standards, especially when you want to sell organic, sustainable, and made-in-the-USA products. Costs get high and sometimes that means concessions have to be made. But sticking to your guns can lead to major payoff, especially when your customers have your back. Today we chat with Jen and Kevin Long of Noble Carriage, who share the amazing story of how they built their dream company selling organic and sustainable baby clothes. They share how they built and nurtured a supportive community, how this community helped them in the creation and launch of their own products, their challenging product sourcing journey, and how they’ve stood by their strict sustainability standards along the way. Enjoy! Episode Highlights: 3:23 A game changer quick win tip on A/B testing. 8:35 How the search for safe and sustainable baby clothes led to the creation of Noble Carriage. 10:26 How Noble Carriage engages with its online community of moms in a way that provides support a

Quizzes are powerful tools used by some of the most successful companies I work with. They can help you capture more emails, display personalized product recommendations to your customers, and increase your conversion rate. In today's episode, I'll share my tips on what companies can see the biggest gains from a quiz, who is killing it right now with their quiz funnels, and how you can build one for your business today. Enjoy! Episode Highlights: 5:46 Why the most successful companies Austin works with use quiz funnels. 6:47 The company or product type that’s a perfect fit for a quiz funnel. 8:13 If you have a lot of organic traffic, here’s an example of how a quiz funnel can turn visitors into subscribers. 10:44 The companies quiz funnels don't necessarily work well for. 12:51 Two examples of companies that are successfully using a quiz funnel. 15:31 What sets successful quizzes apart. 16:17 Figuring out the right questions to ask. 19:10 How to create your first quiz. 21:31 Austin’s recommended quiz buildin

Have you stopped to consider the next step in your entrepreneurial journey? Perhaps you own a six or seven figure business now, but where will you be in 10 years? Will you still be living in the grind? Or are your sights set on acquiring companies and building a portfolio? Today’s guest has done it all. He’s built his own business, was the CMO of Karmaloop, worked as a consultant, and now is the CEO of AutoAnything (just one of the businesses in his current portfolio). Drew Sanocki is back to talk about this journey and his recent entry into the acquisition side of ecommerce. Drew will share his insights on buying businesses, establishing company culture, hiring the right team, and why these days he’s more focused on creating alignment than hustling. Enjoy! Episode Highlights: 2:53 A quick win with Facebook’s new cost cap bidding. 9:55 The perspective Drew gained from a trip around the world and how it led him to think like a billionaire by focusing on acquiring assets rather than hustling. 13:14 How Drew ma

When you talk about scaling up in ecommerce, Facebook ads are often the first thing on most business owners’ lists. Today Andrew shares the exact steps he followed to help a client scale from $500/day to $15,000/day in ad spend in 30 days. He talks about what you need to do before you start scaling and the steps to follow as you grow. If you’re ready to dive deep into the weeds of your Facebook ad account, build new audiences, test new placements, and explore bidding options, this episode is for you. Enjoy! Episode Highlights: 3:22 Words of caution when you hear someone say there’s only one way to do something. 9:20 How to establish your baseline before you start scaling up your Facebook ads. 11:31 Preparing to address the creative gap as you scale. 13:32 What’s worked for Andrew when it comes to images on Facebook and Instagram. 15:50 Building your arsenal of audiences: what to test as your ads scale. 17:45 Andrew's thoughts on how Facebook creates value-based lookalike audiences and potential audience over