Advertise on podcast: Optily Radio: Accelerate eCommerce Marketing

Leveraging marketing to bring new customers to your store is the first step, but applying data to increase your existing customers' lifetime value is a crucial follow-up. In this episode, we dive into RFM (recency, frequency, monetary) modeling and tactics from customer value optimization (CVO) evangelist Valentin Radu. Valentin Radu is the Founder and CEO of Omniconvert, a growth enabler for mid-size DTC eCommerce and retail companies looking to increase customer lifetime value and decrease customer acquisition costs. As well as being a prolific speaker on CVO, Valentin is also the Founder of CVO Academy, a platform that teaches eCommerce business leaders how to scale their brands profitably and sustainably. Valentin has generously offered a free year of instruction (worth $749!) to the first commenter on this podcast! Brendan Hughes, Optily's CEO, was on with us again to add his own years of experience in helping growing eCommerce brands scale. We covered off a lot in this one, but three topics especially stood out: The importance of measuring data and applying RFM modelingEducating eCommerce leaders to create customer-centric approachesPersonalization of ad campaigns based on customer segmentationResources: CVO Academy

User experience, according to Ciarán Harris starts with the very first interaction someone has with your business. It's on the brand to ensure every touchpoint is examined and optimized to ensure you capture as many interested users as possible. Ciarán Harris is the Co-founder of Each&Other, a Dublin-based award-winning global UX Design consultancy.  He is an award-winning Principal UX Designer, a seasoned technology leader, product strategist, and team creator, who has pioneered early technologies for mobile picture messaging, mobile gamification, and commercial IoT products. Among the topics we discussed were: What encompasses the user experienceHow to efficiently conduct user testingThe main annoyances to avoid on your site

Is customer service part of a company's brand or marketing? Mia Bobak says it's both. How you approach the pre-purchase interactions is so critical to a customer's purchase decision. And if there are any issues after they buy, how you go about resolving them can be the deciding factor between a brand evangelist and a 1-star reviewer. Mia Bobak is the Technology Partner Manager at Gorgias, where she collaborates with tech partners to strengthen “better together” relationships and achieve joint goals. Prior to Gorgias, Mia has experience building and scaling partner programs from the ground up. Adam Vaira, Optily's Client Strategy Consultant and Shopify store owner, joined to share his own insights from helping online businesses scale over the years.  Among the topics we discussed were: Turning your customer support into a profit centerHow to leverage automation most effectively to grow salesEfficiently tying together cross-channel inquiriesResources: Gorgias (2 months free for Optily Radio listeners!)OLIPOP Case Study

Shopify is built so that virtually anyone can launch their own eCommerce store easily. While customizable templates and a simple UI make it easy, the overwhelming number of apps and options can be a bit much for a busy store owner to sift through. Keith Matthews of Milk Bottle Labs, Ireland's top Shopify agency, spoke with us about what aspects of a store can really make a brand shine. Keith is the agency's founder and host of his own eCommerce podcast, the Milk Bottle eCommerce Show. Previously, he worked with several Blue Chip organizations, including O2, Telefonica, and Digicel. Brendan Hughes, Optily's CEO, joined the conversation, drawing from his extensive experience with eCommerce clients. Among the topics we discussed were: The value of project management for store building action itemsWhen a business can benefit from professional web developmentEmail automation for business growthResources: BasecampRewindKlaviyoOrderlyEmails and OrderlyPrints Loox

Search Engine Optimization is a long-term strategy that can pay off big. Sure, paid ads are great for quick wins, but growing your business is about the marathon approach. In this episode, we talk to two organic growth experts, Kevin Miller and Bridget Reed from GR0, a digital marketing agency specializing in SEO, about how eCommerce brands should approach SEO and Content Marketing.  Kevin is the Co-Founder and CEO of GR0 who started off in the tech and marketing world in the San Francisco Bay Area, with a few years at Google, before moving south to LA. He worked in Growth Marketing, invested in several companies, and freelanced in SEO before launching GR0 with Jon Zacharias in 2020. Bridget, GR0's Director of Content, started off as a freelance SEO consultant and is now heading up the content creation for Gr0, overseeing 200+ content writers in their network. Among the topics we discussed were: Setting realistic expectations for SEO strategyUsing generic language vs. brand-specific termsHow new brands can rankResources: Bite Toothpaste AhrefsSemrushKw FinderScreaming FrogGrammarlyClearscope

Influencer marketing also referred to as creator commerce, is a powerful tool to get your brand and products more visibility. Creators traditionally benefited from sponsorships by leading visitors away from their own sites and towards product pages on a brand's site. A higher bounce rate equating to more success didn't seem to make much sense to this week's guest, Rishabh Jain. His solution to this oddity in marketing was Fermat Commerce, a platform that enables creators to embed products and carts directly on their sites. He discusses the value that brand/creator partnerships have for both parties in making the user journey smooth for the customers. Kevin Stagg, Optily's Chief Marketing and Customer Officer and frequent guest on the show, joined us to discuss fixing this broken arrangement between creators and brands that results in a "wow" for customers, rather than frustration. Among the topics we discussed in this episode were: Online content communities inspiring purchasesBrands as content creatorsThe best way to create a partnership with a creatorResources: Fermat CommerceUpfluenceGrinCreatorIQMarine Layer

There's something rewarding about making a purchase you've worked towards--and there's research to back that up. Haggling can leave you with the satisfaction of locking in a good deal, while also making the seller happy to have earned a new customer. In this episode, we discuss a new app that's bringing haggling away from market stalls and into the Shopify store environment. Rosie Bailey is the CEO of Nibble Technology, an interactive chatbot that enables you to haggle for a product you're interested in purchasing. She discusses the power of instant interaction with your customers who might otherwise leave without checking out. Max Tomlinson, Optily's Marketing Automation Manager, joined the conversation to add his expertise in automating our own chatbot, email marketing, and customer inquiries.  Among the topics covered in this episode were: User retention and conversation rate optimizationIncreasing average order value through negotiationTargeting chatbot negotiation based on a variety of triggersResources: Nibble TechnologyNoneconomic Motivations For Price Haggling: an Exploratory Study, Research showing the 3 needs that haggling fulfills 

Is Magento a solution that you've considered for your scaling eCommerce company? We wrap up this first season of Optily Radio by talking to Robert Rand, Director of Partnerships & Alliances at JetRails, about this robust platform solution. Magento is definitely not for everyone, but for growing companies who need more customization and flexibility, it can be a great alternative to other SaaS offerings. Robert Rand is the Director of Partnerships & Alliances at JetRails and also hosts his own eCommerce podcast, the Jetrails Podcast. Prior to working for Jetrails, he helped co-found Rand Internet Marketing, a full-service digital agency.  Chris Machin is Optily's Director Strategic of Partnerships. Chris has nearly a decade of experience in partnerships, having worked with all the major platforms in eCommerce. The big topics we discussed were: Site performance impacting SEOAdopting third-party solutions to fill all eCommerce needsLooking at the long game when it comes to eCommerce and marketing Resources: Hyvä Themes

Is your Shopify store operating at full capacity? This week's chat with Chase Clymer, Co-Founder of Electric Eye, and Brendan Hughes goes into the process his agency takes with helping  Shopify vendors succeed. The past year and a half has been hard for brands--from lockdowns to iOS 14 and 15. Chase provides many insights into how eCommerce brands should respond to maximize growth. Chase Clymer is a fellow podcaster of Honest eCommerce and Co-Founder of Electric Eye, a fully remote eCommerce agency, that works with Shopify stores on design, development, and marketing to help them scale. Brendan Hughes is our CEO here at Optily and has decades of experience on both the ad buying and ad selling sides of the business.  Some of the themes we touched on were: Conducting an in-depth business audit with a new clientThe importance of market research and product/market fitBuilding out custom dashboards for analyticsResources: Klayvio: for email and SMS marketingTraction: Get a Grip on Your Business by Gino Wickman

Finding money to fund your marketing and inventory can be tough for early-stage eCommerce businesses. Revenue-based financing could be an option to consider. In this episode, Outfund CEO, Daniel Lipinski, takes us through the difficulties many founders have with traditional lenders and the motivation for starting a company that is now the top investor of eCommerce companies in the UK. Some of the topics we covered off in this episode were: The benefits of revenue-based financing over other funding optionsInconsistency with supply chains The results of a social spending experimentDaniel Lipinski is the CEO and Founder of Outfund. Outfund is a new player in the Fintech space, specializing in revenue-based funding for eCommerce startups. Prior to starting Outfund, Daniel was CEO of ParcelBright, a VC-backed logistics platform, which was acquired in 2016. Hilary Knox is a Chartered Accountant with over 20 years of experience in the finance industry, working in financial planning, reporting, and analysis for several companies across Ireland and Australia, including ten years at Vodafone.  Resources: Outfund's social media experiment details

Are your Amazon listings optimized to maximize conversions? In this episode, Emma Schermer Tamir, founder of Amazon marketing agency, Marketing by Emma, takes us through the key things to remember when building out a top-notch Amazon listing. Emma Schermer Tamir is the owner of Marketing by Emma which she founded in 2016. It’s an agency that specializes in eCommerce copywriting, especially for Amazon, but also for websites and landing pages.  Emma is a third-generation creative with over ten years of marketing experience in the US and abroad. Amy Coyle is our Head of Customer Success and has nine years’ in-house and agency-side experience in digital marketing and account management, across a variety of sectors including eCommerce, travel, hospitality, and event management. She’s worked for some big names in Ireland including, Wolfgang Digital, Pressup Entertainment Group, and Oracle. Among the topics we discussed in this episode were:  Basing your language choices around your target audienceAmazon SEO research, creativity, and best practicesAmazon sales only being finalized once the product is received and kept Resources: SEO research: Helium 10, ZonGuru

Do you truly understand your customers? A/B testing can only get us so far and doesn't provide insight into the "why" behind their preferences. This week's episode goes into the fascinating approach to creating customer personas based on mindtyping. Charles Chy is the CEO of MindCart AI, a startup that's building upon the cutting-edge technology developed by Dr. Howard Moskowitz for a whole swatch of industries with huge success. Charles Chy is the CEO of MindCart AI, a consumer insights platform built for B2C marketers who crave a deep, fundamental understanding of their customers. He’s also an advisor for Cheffe Inc, a smart cooking platform that provides guided recipes powered by AI, and is also an advisor for Soltech Solutions, an eCommerce company that specializes in plant lights for interior design. Kevin Stagg is our Marketing and Customer Director here at Optily. He’s got nearly 20 years of experience working with both B2C and B2B brands, big and small, including international companies like Microsoft and Ding. In this episode, we covered off topics including: - The difficulties in striking the messaging fit for new companies - Quantifying the consumer's thinking and mindset through testing - Testing the market before you enter the market Resources: Malcolm Gladwell TED Talk on Dr. Howard MoskowitzThinking Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahnema