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Mastering Shopify Overcoming Common Challenges with David Abraham · Selling on Giants: The eCommerce Marketplace Podcast

0:04
SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of Selling on Giants, the podcast where we dive deep into the world of e-commerce with industry leaders and experts.
0:13
SPEAKER_00: Today we have the pleasure of hosting David Abraham, the CEO and founder of Blue Soft Design.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: David brings a wealth of experience to the table, having transitioned from a coder with a degree in information technology from Rutgers University to leading a digital marketing agency.
0:30
SPEAKER_00: Over the years, he has built BlueSoft Design into a leading e-commerce powerhouse with a diverse portfolio spanning numerous websites and industries.
0:39
SPEAKER_00: In this episode titled Mastering Shopify, Overcoming Common Challenges with David Abraham of BlueSoft, we will explore key takeaways for e-commerce sellers looking to optimize their Shopify stores.
0:51
SPEAKER_00: David will share actionable strategies for hiring the right expert, leveraging hitting Shopify features, and effectively scaling your online store.
1:00
SPEAKER_00: Listeners will gain insights into the importance of developing their own channels versus relying solely on marketplaces, along with practical tips to enhance their e-commerce operations.
1:10
SPEAKER_00: So without further ado, let's welcome David Abraham to the show.
1:15
SPEAKER_00: Awesome.
1:16
SPEAKER_00: So David, thanks for being on the show today.
1:18
SPEAKER_00: Before we get started, I'd love to learn just a little bit more about you and your background.
1:22
SPEAKER_00: Can you share your journey from being a coder to becoming a CEO and founder of BlueSoft Design?
1:28
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
1:29
SPEAKER_01: Well, um, so when I started out as a developer, I went to Rutgers University, majored in IT.
1:40
SPEAKER_01: And it actually took a little while to get to that point.
1:42
SPEAKER_01: I was flip-flopping between computer science and IT.
1:45
SPEAKER_01: I wasn't sure if I was going to stick with it, but I always loved coding.
1:48
SPEAKER_01: I always loved development.
1:50
SPEAKER_01: I always love building something out of nothing.
1:52
SPEAKER_01: Originally growing up, I actually thought I was going to grow up to uh build out video games.
1:57
SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
1:58
SPEAKER_01: Uh, that's where my love for tech kind of started before it naturally developed into computers and websites.
2:04
SPEAKER_01: And actually, when I first graduated college, I was engaged at the time looking for a position, and I couldn't find anyone to hire me with my skill set because I had a certain set of skills that lined up with certain people, and I couldn't find someone who wanted my combination of skills.
2:26
SPEAKER_01: So an opportunity came up at the time to temporarily start my own agency while looking for a full-time position that was gonna carry me.
2:38
SPEAKER_01: And when I started, I was a developer by trade.
2:42
SPEAKER_01: So I was building all the sites myself, and it was only intended to be a stopgap.
2:48
SPEAKER_01: And over time, the agency just started naturally developing and growing.
2:53
SPEAKER_01: And as the customer base started growing, I had to start kind of pulling away a little bit from the coding side of things and put on the managerial hat and start orchestrating all the people that now make up the organization.
3:08
SPEAKER_01: And just over time, it just became a really amazing natural development and became the agency that it is today.
3:15
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that's a beautiful story.
3:17
SPEAKER_00: And it's always amazing how many entrepreneurs start their gig as like this is temporary, I'm doing some consulting, and then before you know it, you're like, crap, I gotta hire people and organize this thing.
3:27
SPEAKER_00: So that is Oh, yeah.
3:29
SPEAKER_01: It's a great problem to have to need to scale up and grow and automate and to delegate.
3:35
SPEAKER_01: It's it's really a gift.
3:38
SPEAKER_01: Very thankful.
3:39
SPEAKER_00: I like that.
3:40
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and just one last question.
3:41
SPEAKER_00: As a certified Shopify expert and Google partner, uh, what do you find most rewarding about working with e-commerce businesses?
3:50
SPEAKER_01: So I like that each one kind of presents its own challenge to figure out.
3:56
SPEAKER_01: Everyone serves their own sector, has a different audience.
4:00
SPEAKER_01: And when I got into e-commerce, I kind of thought that it was going to be more on the straightforward side that you know, pretty much each business is just essentially just trying to make some revenue and get customers in the door and really grow.
4:18
SPEAKER_01: And it wasn't until I got into it that I realized how unique each business really is.
4:24
SPEAKER_01: And I I like to solve problems.
4:27
SPEAKER_01: I look at them, I look at challenges as just ways to springboard into success and springboard into the future and really develop as a business and really develop as a person.
4:37
SPEAKER_01: And each business that comes along has their own goals that they're trying to hit.
4:42
SPEAKER_01: And I find working with e-commerce very challenging, very rewarding.
4:47
SPEAKER_01: And it also helps that I feel that in most cases you can measure the success in black and white, in dollars and cents, and customers coming in.
4:58
SPEAKER_01: And I find it to be uh pretty rewarding overall.
5:02
SPEAKER_00: I love that, man.
5:03
SPEAKER_00: You sound very optimistic too.
5:05
SPEAKER_00: I think that's a common trait among entrepreneurs.
5:07
SPEAKER_00: It's like we don't have problems, we have challenges, we're gonna springboard to the next level.
5:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, so it's amazing and really great insights, David.
5:15
SPEAKER_00: I appreciate it.
5:16
SPEAKER_00: But on that note, our listeners have got to know you a little bit, but they are ready to master Shopify and overcome some common challenges.
5:24
SPEAKER_00: So, that being said, the first question I have about Shopify: what separates Shopify from other e-commerce platforms?
5:30
SPEAKER_00: And why do you recommend it to your e-commerce clients?
5:34
SPEAKER_01: So, Shopify, I love because it's such a I guess the right word would be manage platform, that Shopify themselves as a company are always on the at the forefront of the e-comm space.
5:50
SPEAKER_01: They just released their their version of their keynote, kind of like how Apple has a keynote every year with all the newest products and and things coming out for Apple.
6:01
SPEAKER_01: Their version of that they call additions.
6:04
SPEAKER_01: So they just launched the latest summer editions with hundreds and hundreds of new developments for the platform, things that other companies and other platforms are not even considering.
6:17
SPEAKER_01: So I like that Shopify has the resources for all different types of e-com businesses.
6:25
SPEAKER_01: Whether you're just starting out and you need a helping hand, Shopify themselves as a company has great support and all these tools that you would normally kind of have to MacGyver from other places and bring together on a website.
6:40
SPEAKER_01: Shopify just has them all built in.
6:42
SPEAKER_01: Or if you're an enterprise level agency that really needs the resources to scale and grow and expand, Shopify has the tools and the infrastructure available to help fulfill on that.
6:55
SPEAKER_01: So I like that Shopify is so well rounded, always thinking of the entrepreneurs and always developing the latest features and new things to bring to the market.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
7:07
SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't agree more.
7:08
SPEAKER_00: I mean, one thing I know about Shopify, just being in the marketing space, their uh their content, their blog content is robust.
7:15
SPEAKER_00: You can really find solutions to a lot of common problems.
7:19
SPEAKER_00: And I guess my question for you, you know, there's lots of different platforms out there, and the two I feel like that are the biggest is definitely Shopify, and it's definitely WordPress.
7:28
SPEAKER_00: If you're you know looking at them toe-to-toe, uh, what makes Shopify more appealing than WordPress?
7:36
SPEAKER_01: So Word Shopify is a lot more user-friendly and geared, you know, I feel like that their um their UI, their UX is geared more towards it's it's a little bit more on the simple side, but Shopify is also a lot more controlled than WordPress.
7:57
SPEAKER_01: So when you're working, the way that Shopify is kind of set up is that you have full control over the front end of your website, the customer-facing part, and you have controls over certain touch points with your website connecting with third-party marketplaces.
8:15
SPEAKER_01: But a lot of the technical, a lot of the back-end administrative things are all controlled by Shopify.
8:21
SPEAKER_01: So they take on the security, they take on the support, they take on the payment processing, they they take on all of these things and don't leave room for error.
8:30
SPEAKER_01: Whereas with WordPress, WordPress does have a little bit more creative freedom, but you have to be on top of the management and it's more susceptible to attack, it's more susceptible to being down.
8:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, there also takes a little bit more effort and a it takes more effort and resources to build off of a WordPress site and scale and develop it over time than it would with something like Shopify.
8:58
SPEAKER_01: WordPress is made up of all types of plugins and themes.
9:02
SPEAKER_01: And if you're not actively updating those plugins or themes, you could be susceptible to an attack.
9:08
SPEAKER_01: You can have different plugin variations that aren't compatible with others or certain versions of WordPress that can cause the site to crash.
9:18
SPEAKER_01: And with Shopify, they're kind of taking care of all this for you.
9:23
SPEAKER_01: All the plugins for websites are vetted.
9:26
SPEAKER_01: They have to go through a rigorous approval process and be tested on multiple different types of stores before they're available to the public.
9:33
SPEAKER_01: And you don't have to worry about updates or themes or Shopify just handles all this for you.
9:39
SPEAKER_01: It's very, very seamless.
9:41
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it sounds like, especially if you don't have a developer or the skills to code, it sounds like Shopify is uh the easier solution for a lot of these e-commerce brands.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: And thanks for that.
9:51
SPEAKER_00: The difference between WordPress and um I find the same thing.
9:54
SPEAKER_00: WordPress is challenging, and obviously we don't do as much as you do on WordPress and Shopify.
9:59
SPEAKER_00: Um, but yeah, I noticed that too.
10:01
SPEAKER_00: There's always updates, plugins breaking.
10:03
SPEAKER_00: Uh, you literally just need somebody on your team full time to just manage it.
10:06
SPEAKER_00: So I could see why uh why Shopify is a little more user-friendlier.
10:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh, but on that note, so when creating an online store, what are some crucial factors to consider when hiring an expert?
10:18
SPEAKER_01: So one of the things that's really, really important is you want an expert with vision.
10:27
SPEAKER_01: You know, you there are tons of I would say that web design has become more of like a commodity service.
10:36
SPEAKER_01: And you can very easily just find somebody online who will throw together a website, throw together, put populate some type of theme, throw your products up, call it a day.
10:49
SPEAKER_01: And you uh for some people it's simple, it's easy, they don't want any bells and whistles, okay.
10:56
SPEAKER_01: But with a real expert, someone who really knows what they're doing, who's not just looking at this as a website, but looking at it as a stepping stone to really scaling and growing up your brand.
11:08
SPEAKER_01: You want someone with vision, you want someone who's gonna build your website for the future that understands your goals and building the website right the first time so that you don't have to go and rebuild it three or four times over.
11:21
SPEAKER_01: You know, I kind of take a look at this, I kind of like to compare it to a handyman versus a contractor.
11:30
SPEAKER_01: Uh, a handyman will get the job done simple by himself, but you know, doesn't take into consideration everything.
11:39
SPEAKER_01: A contractor has different experts, brings everything together, you blueprints to build it out, really planning, really strategizing.
11:49
SPEAKER_01: You want someone who's gonna be a double-edged strategist, someone who's really gonna pave the way for success in the future and really take into account multiple things when building out the site, not just what's gonna look nice, but what's really gonna speak with your audience, allow you to easily expand, build upon it, and really at the end of the day, convert.
12:12
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: Well said.
12:13
SPEAKER_00: And I couldn't agree, but I love the Haneyman versus contractor analogy.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we do have a similar one at Bellavic.
12:19
SPEAKER_00: It's like uh you're a waiter or a doctor, but the same thing.
12:22
SPEAKER_00: It's like some people could just knock it out and they're gonna they're gonna do it.
12:25
SPEAKER_00: It's gonna be simple and they're not thinking long term.
12:27
SPEAKER_00: And something else I've taken away from this, which is really important when considering an expert, is that long-term vision.
12:33
SPEAKER_00: And uh we rebuilt our website uh mid-July.
12:37
SPEAKER_00: Obviously, we're not e-commerce, but uh they pretty much had to tear it down because we, you know, we didn't build it with somebody who was uh thinking more long term, and it ended up being an expensive project and everything else.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: But you know, now we're happy with the results.
12:51
SPEAKER_00: But I could see um, you know, not knowing that being your first time building your website.
12:55
SPEAKER_00: So that's really informative.
12:57
SPEAKER_00: Um But uh on that note, what are what are some of your favorite Shopify features that most users don't take advantage of?
13:04
SPEAKER_00: So I guess this is gonna be more like your long-term thinking.
13:07
SPEAKER_00: So what are what are some of these pieces that uh that your your your contractor's gonna catch, but your handyman's gonna miss?
13:14
SPEAKER_01: So the the beauty about Shopify is there's so many tools that are built in and they don't really emphasize all of them.
13:22
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes you really gotta go digging.
13:24
SPEAKER_01: So, like one of my favorite tools that people don't really take advantage of is Shopify has like um self-fulfilling returns where they have built-in return center that works with their new types of uh user accounts that you just have to enable.
13:42
SPEAKER_01: And uh if you go into the store settings, I think it's in the policy section of Shopify, it's just a toggle that you can turn on.
13:51
SPEAKER_01: And you can just you can set uh um certain return windows if you only want returns to be within a certain amount of days, if you only wanted to apply for certain eligible items, and you can choose whether or not you want them to receive a label or if you want to be the one to send it out to the label or for approvals.
14:10
SPEAKER_01: That's a straightforward one right there.
14:13
SPEAKER_01: Another one that people don't really pay attention to is the abandoned cart checkouts, which nowadays really comes enabled, built in by default with Shopify, but having emails go out automatically when someone goes and starts checking out and then they leave.
14:30
SPEAKER_01: Shopify is capturing that information.
14:33
SPEAKER_01: And there's a whole section of your abandoned card information under your orders in the Shopify settings, but you can go deeper into the settings and control the frequency of those emails, what people see when they send them out.
14:47
SPEAKER_01: And there's so many other built-in features.
14:51
SPEAKER_01: Now, Shopify started offering store credit and gift and their gift card features are very robust.
14:57
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot in there.
14:59
SPEAKER_00: That's amazing.
15:00
SPEAKER_00: Sounds like they're really building out.
15:01
SPEAKER_00: What I love is the uh the customer insight, which you know, being an Amazon marketplace agency, we don't always get those insights.
15:07
SPEAKER_00: Um, and abandoning carts is uh is a real problem.
15:11
SPEAKER_01: Um, the insights are actually a big part of our selling strategy because we align very closely with a lot of Amazon sellers, and that's really one of the biggest selling points when it comes to Amazon sellers looking to move over to Shopify is the level of control that you have over the brand, the insights that it gives you into your product information, how your customers are shopping, what what they're doing when they're on their site.
15:39
SPEAKER_01: And it it just provides you so much information that a lot of these marketplaces are not giving you by default.
15:47
SPEAKER_00: Couldn't agree more.
15:49
SPEAKER_00: And that's how, like, some like Amazon, that's how they maintain their value, is they just hold all that customer data to themselves.
15:56
SPEAKER_00: But it sounds like Shopify has a completely different model and it's more uh more open, which is great.
16:01
SPEAKER_00: Uh at the end of the day, I agree with you.
16:03
SPEAKER_00: Um, you know, if you're investing and you're trying to build your brand, Shopify is a great place to start because you have a lot more of that control.
16:10
SPEAKER_00: Um other uh Shopify features that we should consider or a brand.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: So we got abandoned cart, which is great.
16:18
SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have these the self-fulfilling returns.
16:20
SPEAKER_00: We know returns can be an issue.
16:22
SPEAKER_00: Is there a third you can think of?
16:23
SPEAKER_00: No, I'm putting you on the spot, David.
16:26
SPEAKER_01: No, it's all good.
16:27
SPEAKER_01: Uh just the the built-in marketplace uh sales channels.
16:32
SPEAKER_01: Shopify connects with a lot of sales channels.
16:37
SPEAKER_01: I actually got a nice tip the other day for those that are looking to get into TikTok.
16:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, I'm not sure if at this point this tip is dated or not.
16:47
SPEAKER_01: So take this with a little bit of a little grain of salt.
16:50
SPEAKER_01: But I know that last I heard there were many sellers on Amazon who were trying to get into TikTok shop and had a lot of issues with the approvals.
16:59
SPEAKER_01: Now, TikTok uh connects directly with Shopify.
17:06
SPEAKER_01: And when you connect your Shopify store to TikTok, Shopify helps bypass or streamline that approval process for TikTok and get you listed on TikTok shop.
17:17
SPEAKER_01: So Shopify can help shortcut you to the front of the line if you're trying to get started on TikTok.
17:22
SPEAKER_00: Wow, I did not know that.
17:24
SPEAKER_00: That's pretty awesome.
17:25
SPEAKER_00: So uh it's just a plug-in on the back end, pretty much set it up, punch in all your information, and you could simply, I mean, I'm I'm sure it's a little more comp, but that's pretty much the basics of it.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: You could be, you could have your TikTok shop just like that.
17:38
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, essentially, yeah.
17:40
SPEAKER_01: It's uh it's a plug-and-play sales channel in the sales channel section.
17:43
SPEAKER_01: They'll ask you for some information, submit the approval on your behalf, and once you're approved, you're good to go.
17:49
SPEAKER_00: Oh, that is amazing.
17:51
SPEAKER_00: I love all these features.
17:52
SPEAKER_00: And I know, like uh, I've heard many times Shopify is like a Swiss Army knife.
17:56
SPEAKER_00: So that that's pretty cool.
17:57
SPEAKER_00: TikTok, we're pretty bullish on.
17:59
SPEAKER_00: We do some advertising for our brand, so it's great that it integrates so so seamlessly.
18:04
SPEAKER_00: Um, and on that note, we're talking a lot about marketplaces.
18:07
SPEAKER_00: Uh, why is it important for e-commerce sellers to scale their own channels versus selling solely on marketplaces?
18:14
SPEAKER_01: So the key, and I kind of touched on this in the last question, but it's as a brand owner, uh, it's important to have control over your brand.
18:26
SPEAKER_01: It's important to have security.
18:29
SPEAKER_01: When the the key difference between Shopify and all these other marketplaces is that Shopify is not a marketplace.
18:36
SPEAKER_01: They actually do have one small part of them that's a marketplace, but they're primarily a web development platform.
18:42
SPEAKER_01: So they give you an opportunity to build your own presence.
18:47
SPEAKER_01: And when you're on these other marketplaces, you're essentially giving them all the control and all the power.
18:53
SPEAKER_01: And it's great to have these other marketplaces that are essentially building audiences on your behalf.
19:01
SPEAKER_01: So they're putting out all the money to do all the marketing, all the branding.
19:05
SPEAKER_01: Everybody knows Amazon.
19:06
SPEAKER_01: They're getting all the traffic, and you just got to divert that to you.
19:10
SPEAKER_01: But especially nowadays, marketplaces like Amazon are making it harder and harder for sellers to sell.
19:18
SPEAKER_01: I mean, there was just a news announcement today that shop that Amazon is launching um a version of the marketplace that's going to be uh promoting more of the Chinese sellers and trying to oust Timu and Xi'an.
19:34
SPEAKER_01: And I just heard the other day from one of my clients that even Etsy is making it difficult to sell now if you're not selling handmade goods.
19:44
SPEAKER_01: People are getting kicked off the platform there.
19:46
SPEAKER_01: Amazon's introducing uh low inventory fees and all types of new fees to squeeze out the smaller sellers.
19:54
SPEAKER_01: And it's the the less the more you rely on these marketplaces, the less control over you have, and they they can run you dry.
20:02
SPEAKER_01: And the key difference between scaling up on a marketplace and scaling up on Shopify is Shopify ends up uh being more cost effective, I believe, in the long run.
20:14
SPEAKER_01: Um, and it ends up being the most valuable sale that you can acquire.
20:20
SPEAKER_01: Because unlike these other marketplaces where you're spending ad money and you're acquiring a sale on Shopify, you're acquiring a customer.
20:30
SPEAKER_01: And that's a key distinction because you get to keep all that customer information.
20:35
SPEAKER_01: You get to keep and build a repeat customer that's going to come back again and again.
20:39
SPEAKER_01: You build subscriptions, you can build out your newsletters, you can use that customer information to target uh new audience, a new audience for what are called look-alike campaigns.
20:50
SPEAKER_01: There's a lot more you can do on that.
20:52
SPEAKER_01: Uh, and Shopify does take time to build and scale.
20:57
SPEAKER_01: It's not an overnight thing where you can just turn on and turn the switch because you're essentially building trust and awareness for something that people didn't know existed.
21:08
SPEAKER_01: So I like to tell our clients to work on funding the marketplaces and your own site side by side with the goal that your own site is going to end up becoming a force within the next few years.
21:24
SPEAKER_01: And you have that security in case there are any other issues with these marketplaces.
21:28
SPEAKER_01: If you get dinged or blacklisted or banned from these other marketplaces, your business doesn't disappear overnight.
21:36
SPEAKER_01: You have a secure channel that is all your own, that where you have the control and can invest in scale.
21:45
SPEAKER_00: There's some gems in there.
21:46
SPEAKER_00: I think some of my favorite, I'm gonna repeat them just in case our listeners didn't catch them.
21:49
SPEAKER_00: Uh, on Shopify, you're acquiring a customer, not a sale.
21:53
SPEAKER_00: That is huge.
21:54
SPEAKER_00: I've never heard a frame like that.
21:55
SPEAKER_00: You make it tough for me to argue if we were on a uh podcast where we were debating.
21:59
SPEAKER_00: Uh Um, and it it it is more I I think the biggest thing I take away is the ability to do retention marketing, which is what you mentioned, email and all that.
22:06
SPEAKER_00: And that's a big, you know, while Amazon and other marketplaces are trying to fill that gap, uh, Shopify gives you a lot more freedom with that.
22:13
SPEAKER_00: So I could totally see why you'd want to own the customer and the customer experience.
22:17
SPEAKER_00: So this was really valuable.
22:19
SPEAKER_00: And I love your uh acquiring customer is not a sale.
22:22
SPEAKER_00: That's a pretty good line.
22:23
SPEAKER_00: Noted.
22:24
SPEAKER_01: That's a big selling point.
22:25
SPEAKER_00: I bet, I bet.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: Oh, cool.
22:27
SPEAKER_00: Uh Amanda, what strategies do you focus on?
22:29
SPEAKER_00: So we talked about the back end and and you know why you Shopify and all the plugins and features, but now let's talk about scaling.
22:36
SPEAKER_00: So, what strategies do you focus on to help scale an e-commerce storefront effectively?
22:42
SPEAKER_01: So, our primary focus is mainly on the Google channels.
22:47
SPEAKER_01: So there is there are a lot of avenues you can take when it comes to scaling out of store.
22:53
SPEAKER_01: And there are different types of marketing strategies with different goals.
22:57
SPEAKER_01: So the two main goals that I see in the marketing space are either new customer acquisition, getting new people in the door, and customer retention, getting the people who are in the door to stay.
23:10
SPEAKER_01: And we kind of draw out this roadmap for our clients.
23:14
SPEAKER_01: And in the beginning, a lot of them are new to the space, building out their audience for the first time.
23:20
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of the time we start with that new customer acquisition.
23:24
SPEAKER_01: And that's the strategy that we primarily focus on ourselves and primarily in the Google space.
23:31
SPEAKER_01: So we do we offer two different types of services to our clients, one being paid Google Ads and one being SEO.
23:40
SPEAKER_01: And in a best case scenario, we try to do both of those services together.
23:46
SPEAKER_01: Both of them primarily focus on acquiring new customers and being discovered for the first time.
23:52
SPEAKER_01: But the reason that we like to do both of them together is because each service has what the other lacks.
23:58
SPEAKER_01: So for those that aren't aware, when you're doing a Google search for the first time, you get to the search engine results page, there's a lot of different things that pop up.
24:06
SPEAKER_01: The top few results usually say sponsored next to them.
24:10
SPEAKER_01: And those are the paid Google ads.
24:12
SPEAKER_01: And then underneath, you have what are called the organic results.
24:15
SPEAKER_01: And these are at results that you can't pay Google directly for, but those are the results that are trying to that we try to acquire with SEO.
24:25
SPEAKER_01: So Google Ads are great because you're pretty much paying to play, you're paying to be at the top.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: It's pretty quick.
24:32
SPEAKER_01: You start seeing results usually within the first couple of months.
24:35
SPEAKER_01: The downside being that Google Ads are not always the most sustainable, uh, because you're going to have some good months, you're going to have some bad months, and also becomes very expensive to scale because you're making in relation to what you're spending.
24:48
SPEAKER_01: On the opposite end, SEO is fantastic because it's a labor-based service.
24:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, you're paying to do to create content and optimize a site and monitor it and just continue to push out additional content every month.
25:04
SPEAKER_01: So it usually ends up being a fixed rate cost, but your traffic and your sales go up month to month.
25:11
SPEAKER_01: The downside being it's an investment and it's something that builds over time.
25:16
SPEAKER_01: And to build up that investment, you need to have sales sustaining that.
25:22
SPEAKER_01: So usually we like to do both of that from the beginning.
25:25
SPEAKER_01: And then there are other services that come in down the road for helping to build brand awareness, which help build trust with the company, and then the retention marketing.
25:35
SPEAKER_01: So there are things like social media marketing, which we don't necessarily do in-house, but it becomes very important down the road when you're trying to build up trust in the company, where you can target people based off of interest, not just based off of keywords.
25:50
SPEAKER_01: And that's something that's really great over there.
25:53
SPEAKER_01: And then once you start building up that audience, then you have email marketing that you can bring in down the road.
26:00
SPEAKER_01: And the important thing that we do for all of our clients, and really at the basis, before we do anything, is conversion optimization.
26:10
SPEAKER_01: Because no matter what type of marketing that you're doing, we kind of spoke about this in the webinar the other day.
26:16
SPEAKER_01: There's no point in getting the butts in the seats if your site's not ready to sell when they get there.
26:21
SPEAKER_01: You need to have a strong foundation before you do any type of marketing.
26:26
SPEAKER_01: So we make sure that the site is up to par, that it's built to sell, that it makes it, that it's easy to use, easy to navigate, highlights really what you want to get across to your audience.
26:37
SPEAKER_01: And then we start opening the floodgates.
26:39
SPEAKER_01: Then we start getting into the marketing.
26:41
SPEAKER_01: But that's just a quick overall picture.
26:44
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, of course.
26:45
SPEAKER_00: We know it takes time.
26:46
SPEAKER_00: And I mean, easier said than done, of course.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: But you're right.
26:48
SPEAKER_00: I mean, what I'm hearing a lot, you know, SEO is long-term and it's demand generation.
26:52
SPEAKER_00: And it's, you know, your SEO over time will come down to pennies per acquisition if you have a good article that lasts three, four, five years.
27:01
SPEAKER_00: Um, and you know, advertising, cooking with gas, you know, add more fuel to the fire.
27:05
SPEAKER_00: But once you turn that bad boy off, it's up.
27:08
SPEAKER_00: So it's kind of like uh it's a necessary evil, but uh it could be dangerous.
27:12
SPEAKER_00: And I guess I what I'm interested in kind of diving a little deeper.
27:16
SPEAKER_00: Uh, how do you envision SEO and ads?
27:18
SPEAKER_00: How do you envision just changing with AI?
27:20
SPEAKER_00: Like I noticed uh a lot of times when I search now on Google, the top of the search is just like it's all AI stuff, drop downs, it's not even really linking websites.
27:30
SPEAKER_00: Do you do you think e-commerce has that problem?
27:32
SPEAKER_00: And how do you think it's gonna affect your your strategies moving forward?
27:36
SPEAKER_01: So I definitely think it's something that the space is still figuring out.
27:40
SPEAKER_01: I think Google themselves are still figuring it out.
27:43
SPEAKER_01: I just saw an article today, I think it was like from Search Engine Lands or Search Engine Journal saying that they're continually they're continuing to make overholes and changes because they're trying to find the right combination of what works and incorporating AI search, but still being accurate and getting across what the user is looking for.
28:04
SPEAKER_01: So AI is not going away, and that's going to come into the strategy one way or another.
28:09
SPEAKER_01: I think that one way it's gonna come into play is um being able to identify what keywords are triggering these AI overviews, and some strategies might lean into them where you might there may we may discover what it is that that algorithm is looking for and be able to optimize content for queries that are going to trigger that AI overview.
28:37
SPEAKER_01: And then, or on the opposite end, you can have you can have an understanding of what's triggering that AI overview and completely target keywords that are going to avoid those AI overviews.
28:47
SPEAKER_01: Also, depends if Google down the road decides to attribute content because right now they're not attributing the content that comes up in those overviews to the source sites, which are a big problem.
28:58
SPEAKER_01: But that's also why it's important to do both Google Ads and SEO.
29:03
SPEAKER_01: SEO is not necessarily dead.
29:05
SPEAKER_01: And also the AI is mainly it's affecting those search engine pages, but there are also other key components to SEO that aren't all related to search.
29:15
SPEAKER_01: So with e-commerce, for example, organic shopping listings on the Google shopping area is a huge part of where people get their traffic.
29:24
SPEAKER_01: And right now, to the best of my knowledge, those AI searches aren't necessarily disrupting the Google shopping area.
29:32
SPEAKER_01: And not only that, but having well open your site optimized for SEO improves all different aspects of your site.
29:42
SPEAKER_01: It improves the user experience and the conversion, um, the the uh conversion rate of your current site and your current visitors, it can help improve your average cost per click on Google Ads.
29:57
SPEAKER_01: If you have a well-optimized site, a good user experience that people are staying, Google rewards that it also appeases other search engines, which surprisingly enough still exist.
30:08
SPEAKER_01: Not everything is Google, but you know, it still appeases those search engines as well.
30:14
SPEAKER_01: But I think that SEO is always going to serve a purpose, but it is important to do Google Ads and SEO together so that you can we can figure out the organic space, but still generate ads, still generate uh revenue from the ads, because really that's what Google's trying to push you to.
30:32
SPEAKER_01: That's where they're making their money, is that ad revenue.
30:35
SPEAKER_01: So we can't completely fight the monster, but they're over time, SEO is gonna find that middle ground, be able to learn to adapt with the times, just like it always has.
30:49
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
30:50
SPEAKER_00: I think it's what I love about being a digital, it's never the same, you know.
30:53
SPEAKER_00: And with AI, it feels like it's just speeding up even faster.
30:56
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and last question on this, you may not know, but I'll put it out there anyway because it popped in my head and I thought it was pretty interesting.
31:02
SPEAKER_00: Do you think there's any legal ramifications that Google may face uh with them not giving credit to the people who actually created the content?
31:10
SPEAKER_00: Or you think we're that's not that's probably not gonna be a thing?
31:14
SPEAKER_01: Honestly, that's a good question because I know that there are a lot of lawsuits going on now with the big tech companies, mostly to do with antitrust and things like that.
31:25
SPEAKER_01: And I feel like Google is probably gonna make that play where they say, Oh, if you're indexed on Google, you're in our terms of service, and by agreeing to honestly, now that I say it out loud, it's kind of hard to say because you're not necessarily opting into Google.
31:45
SPEAKER_01: Maybe there is some kind of maybe they incorporate some kind of differentiator if you're let's say set up on Google Search Console, where you're actively submitting your site to Google versus if they crawled you, maybe they're able to set up some kind of definitive line where if you are on Search Console, you're opting in to the AI tools and the search.
32:12
SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, I Google tries to walk that line between peasing the users but maintaining their bottom line.
32:21
SPEAKER_01: And right now, a lot of users, whether they're doing the right thing with Google, whether they're doing the wrong thing, are hurting with these AI overviews because they're losing a ton of organic traffic and there's nothing they can do about it.
32:37
SPEAKER_01: So I think Google does is not intentionally out to hurt people, but they do care about their bottom line.
32:44
SPEAKER_01: So there might be some lawsuits in the near future.
32:48
SPEAKER_01: I don't know how well they're gonna pan out.
32:50
SPEAKER_01: Google could play that terms of service play, but honestly, I'm just grabbing the popcorn and watching to see how things play out.
32:57
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
32:58
SPEAKER_00: I'll be with you there.
32:59
SPEAKER_00: That's too funny.
33:00
SPEAKER_00: And you know, part of that question was a little selfish.
33:02
SPEAKER_00: We've noticed uh that we're ranking uh inside Google AI stuff, and we saw a dip in our traffic.
33:07
SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, I want them on my website, not right in the contents only part of it.
33:12
SPEAKER_01: But I think attribution is not that far away.
33:14
SPEAKER_01: I don't think it's so crazy for Google to I I because they wanna they wanna simplify it, but if they can simplify it in a way and still give attribution and you know, because they want to serve the easiest answer possible.
33:27
SPEAKER_01: So if they maybe put in a byline of where they pulled in that review from, I know in some version there's like a little boxes on the bottom, like they're trying to incorporate something like that.
33:39
SPEAKER_01: And if they find the right balance of attributing and still making it easy for the customers or easier for the searchers, then they might it might be great, you know.
33:51
SPEAKER_01: But that's Google's problem to solve, unfortunately.
33:54
SPEAKER_00: We're just gonna deal with the repercussions and hopefully there's no blowouts.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: I'm with you there.
34:00
SPEAKER_00: Awesome, cool.
34:01
SPEAKER_00: Let me just look through these.
34:03
SPEAKER_00: I want to answer uh one or two more questions, and then we'll jump onto the other stuff.
34:07
SPEAKER_00: Shoot like six more questions.
34:11
SPEAKER_00: Uh we're gonna have to cut some of this out.
34:14
SPEAKER_00: But I want to find a couple more good ones.
34:22
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I got it.
34:31
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
34:43
SPEAKER_01: Um sure.
34:44
SPEAKER_01: Well, one of my probably the uh one of my latest clients was a big hurdle.
34:53
SPEAKER_01: I wouldn't necessarily was on Shopify, but they are a branded product.
35:00
SPEAKER_01: They're a one-type store, they sell tarps and they build up the brand through third party, they sell on Amazon, they sell on Home Depot, it's a branded product, and they wanted to sell on their own store, and they signed up for marketing services with us, but their uh Google ad account was banned because from years ago, and they didn't even know it.
35:24
SPEAKER_01: And it was for the most insignificant thing.
35:27
SPEAKER_01: It was they were trying out Google Ads once, like back in maybe 2020, and they had a free promo coupon, they were using free ad credit, and there was an overcharge of like ten dollars that they didn't pay because they didn't know about it, and because it lapsed, they got banned off the platform.
35:51
SPEAKER_01: And they this brand has so much potential because they already did a lot of the work for us, they marketed their own brand, they're just trying to sell it on their own channel, and we didn't have the means to market it and promote it.
36:04
SPEAKER_01: And SEO would would be was great because we were also gonna do SEO for them, but they're not really gonna see the impact that it has till down the road.
36:14
SPEAKER_01: We wanted to impress them right out the gate.
36:17
SPEAKER_01: And I had a conversation with them, and I said, Look, I can't promise because unlocking Google Ad accounts are not guaranteed.
36:24
SPEAKER_01: But we're gonna do our best, we're gonna reach out to Google, we're gonna fight tooth and nail to get back in.
36:30
SPEAKER_01: And it was about a month-long process, it was very tough, but somehow, with all the proof and all the back and forth, we got back in.
36:38
SPEAKER_01: And I couldn't believe it, they couldn't believe it.
36:40
SPEAKER_01: And within the first month, they hit the ground running.
36:43
SPEAKER_01: Within the first month, they were making like they were peaking at like four and a half or five X return on ad spend, which is pretty crazy for you know, someone who's just starting month one, you know, and they didn't start with the minimal budget, they're not spending tens of thousands of dollars.
37:00
SPEAKER_01: You know, our entry level isn't that crazy for you know an average brand, and they really hit the ground running and you know, still happy to this day.
37:09
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
37:10
SPEAKER_00: To that, I like that story, and man, happy clients make me happy too.
37:13
SPEAKER_00: So I'm with you there.
37:15
SPEAKER_00: Uh a great story.
37:16
SPEAKER_00: And I love uh the Google hurdle.
37:17
SPEAKER_00: I mean, uh, if it's anything like Amazon, it can like make you want to pull your hair out.
37:21
SPEAKER_00: So the fact you got it back up in a month sounds pretty impressive to me.
37:27
SPEAKER_01: That was a nice victory.
37:28
SPEAKER_00: Uh, take those, take those small ones.
37:31
SPEAKER_00: Uh, my last question for you how do you measure the success of an e-commerce store on Shopify?
37:36
SPEAKER_00: And and what are the key metrics sellers should consider?
37:40
SPEAKER_01: Well, it really depends on the goals of the business.
37:46
SPEAKER_01: Most often it's in dollars and cents.
37:48
SPEAKER_01: You know, we tracking is a very big part of the marketing campaign because obviously you need to show that you're bringing in results, but you also got to make sure that you're showing that the results that are coming into the site are specifically attributed to what you're doing.
38:06
SPEAKER_01: So being able to segment out the where the revenue is coming from is very important.
38:13
SPEAKER_01: But if someone's goals are to get more inquiries for wholesale or signing up for newsletter, it all depends on the customer's goals.
38:24
SPEAKER_01: So achieving their goal is number one, but there are also short-term wins, we call them KPIs, that we try to hit in the meantime until we get hit those long-term wins with something like, let's say, for SEO, you know, you're not going to be seeing those immediate results right away, but customers still want to know that they're heading in the right direction and in the right trajectory.
38:49
SPEAKER_01: So looking at certain metrics like your on-site conversion rate to see if whatever form your conversions take, that the conversion rate is going higher, seeing that your bounce rates are lower, your bounce rate is uh measured in the form of a percentage and it tells you how quickly people are coming to your site and leaving.
39:09
SPEAKER_01: So you actually want a lower bounce rate.
39:11
SPEAKER_01: Lower bounce rate means people are staying on the site longer.
39:14
SPEAKER_01: Uh, Google also has another number called engagement rate now.
39:18
SPEAKER_01: So a higher engagement rate.
39:19
SPEAKER_01: So looking at these metrics and understanding these metrics are very important to paint the overall picture.
39:25
SPEAKER_01: And then just, you know, the straightforward ones like the keywords that you're going after in the campaign.
39:29
SPEAKER_01: Are the keywords going up?
39:31
SPEAKER_01: Um, you know, are you ranking for other keywords outside of the ones you're targeting?
39:36
SPEAKER_01: Are you gaining more uh backlinks on your backlink profile?
39:40
SPEAKER_01: Um, all there are a bunch of different metrics that you can point to.
39:44
SPEAKER_01: But ultimately, at the end of the day, success really depends on what the customer is looking for and whatever form that takes, just making the customer happy.
39:55
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
39:56
SPEAKER_00: Customer is always right.
39:58
SPEAKER_00: Uh, and this is some really, really sage, I get it too.
40:02
SPEAKER_00: Sales, of course, the ultimate marker.
40:03
SPEAKER_00: But you're right, for longer-term things, you need to be talking about some of those softer KPIs, like your bounce rate and stuff.
40:09
SPEAKER_00: And you know, you took me back to my old SEO days, mentioning backlinks and stuff like that.
40:14
SPEAKER_00: So had a bit of a flashback cold emailing, old prospects.
40:17
SPEAKER_00: So uh so it's still irrelevant and that's still super cool.
40:20
SPEAKER_00: Uh on that one, I'd love to talk a little bit more about Blue Soft and kind of how you do business so our listeners can get an idea of what it's like to work with uh an agency like yourself.
40:30
SPEAKER_00: So to kick it off, how does Blue Soft design approach the initial consultation and assessment phase with new clients to understand their specific needs and goals?
40:40
SPEAKER_01: So if someone were to reach out to us for the first time, we start out with a consultation call.
40:46
SPEAKER_01: So that's essentially me jumping on the call with the client, getting a little bit of background on their business, some of the challenges that they're facing, what their goals are for the immediate future and the long-term future.
40:58
SPEAKER_01: And once we have that initial conversation, then I can kind of uh lay out the groundwork.
41:04
SPEAKER_01: The goal is to eventually hopefully get a customer who is all-encompassing for all the services, because all the services play an important part in the scaling up on Shopify and hitting that overall goal.
41:19
SPEAKER_01: So there are four different services that we offer as an agency.
41:23
SPEAKER_01: It's custom website design development.
41:26
SPEAKER_01: We actually manage the site for our clients.
41:29
SPEAKER_01: So either on the minimal level, if they just want us for consulting and you know, having any questions to actually performing the labor on the site itself, making all the changes, adding new pages, adding new features.
41:43
SPEAKER_01: And then there's the marketing side, the Google Ads and the SEO.
41:46
SPEAKER_01: So that initial consultation kind of gives us the starting point of are we suggesting that they start with the marketing because their site's in a good place and already optimized, or are we even taking it a step back and saying that before you're starting with a marketing strategy, you should really consider redesigning your website first.
42:05
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes the website is in pretty good shape and just a conversion audit will get it to the rest of the way where it's prepared for marketing strategy.
42:14
SPEAKER_01: And also during that, uh during that initial conversation, when it comes to the marketing strategy, ideally we want to offer both, but in some situations and some circumstances circumstances, uh not all marketing strategies will work for that uh brand.
42:32
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they might be in a restrictive category where SEO might be the best way to go.
42:37
SPEAKER_01: Sometimes they're limited on budget where they can't afford in the time being to really fund SEO and they focus on the PPC side.
42:45
SPEAKER_01: Maybe their average order value is too low for PPC because you know, if the average order value is$10, it's never going to make sense to really sell on Google Ads where it costs more to acquire a customer.
42:59
SPEAKER_01: You know, so it all depends on that starting point.
43:02
SPEAKER_01: And then after we kind of settle on where we're starting, uh, then we do an onboarding questionnaire with the customer to get a deeper understanding of what they're trying to do and kind of lay out the roadmap from there.
43:16
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
43:17
SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like it's very custom.
43:19
SPEAKER_00: That's what I love about uh your agency and agencies that are focused on good quality service, is like uh you don't get in the bed with somebody you can't add value to and um having this process of discovery really thought out.
43:32
SPEAKER_00: Um so I like that.
43:34
SPEAKER_00: So you do an initial assessment, then you you hammer out the contracts, and then you you onboard this customer.
43:40
SPEAKER_00: What is the so I'm I'm a brand, I'm gonna do the full scope.
43:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm saying, give me marketing, give me SEO, help me with my website.
43:46
SPEAKER_00: Uh what's the team structure look like?
43:48
SPEAKER_00: Do I have one point of contact or am I working with 10 people at your company?
43:53
SPEAKER_01: So we like to keep it as simple as we can, and there's a lot of moving pieces going on in the back end.
43:59
SPEAKER_01: It's a pretty Pretty robust system.
44:01
SPEAKER_01: But when you're working with us for the first time, I'm kind of more involved on the sales side.
44:05
SPEAKER_01: Once you start working, you start working directly with our project manager.
44:08
SPEAKER_01: Her name is Cindy.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: She's awesome.
44:10
SPEAKER_01: And she helps coordinate everything in the back end.
44:13
SPEAKER_01: So we have designers, developers, SEO and Google Ad managers, content writers, graphic designers.
44:20
SPEAKER_01: And she's kind of coordinating this all and presenting it in a way so that she's the only direct point of contact.
44:25
SPEAKER_01: It doesn't muddy everything by you having to worry about who's who and who's doing what.
44:31
SPEAKER_01: We like to present things in a very simple way.
44:33
SPEAKER_01: So, you know, like if, for example, we're doing a design project, uh, or we start off with uh web design.
44:41
SPEAKER_01: We there's three stages to that project.
44:44
SPEAKER_01: There's design, development, and launch.
44:46
SPEAKER_01: Design, we're mocking up the pages so you kind of see what they look like before we built it out.
44:50
SPEAKER_01: Development stage, we're building it to scale, and then we go ahead and launch it.
44:54
SPEAKER_01: So we have tools to present the mock ups and make it very easy for you to provide feedback on those mock-ups.
45:00
SPEAKER_01: Um, we have a whole review process that we follow when we present the site and for you to go through and make any final changes.
45:07
SPEAKER_01: And then on the marketing side, um, things get kind of simple because it's a little more hands-off for the client.
45:14
SPEAKER_01: Most of the work's going on in the back end.
45:16
SPEAKER_01: And then we like to encourage meeting with the customer once a month.
45:20
SPEAKER_01: And I serve as more of the technical consult for the business.
45:24
SPEAKER_01: So when it comes to like the marketing strategy sessions and going deeper into the analytics, that's where um I kind of come into play and I do one-on-ones with our clients and go over the numbers and suggestions.
45:38
SPEAKER_01: But there is also a level of automation with our agency, also.
45:42
SPEAKER_01: So a lot of automated emails that go out, um, just for streamlining things, making things cleaner and easier for the clients, making sure everything gets out on time.
45:52
SPEAKER_01: And then it's just following the pattern.
45:54
SPEAKER_01: You know, eventually we get into rhythm with the customers to kind of understand how we work.
45:59
SPEAKER_01: But uh, we're pretty it took us a long time to develop our internal systems, uh, a lot of uh late nights and hard work, but thankfully enough, you know, it works for us and hopefully it only gets better.
46:12
SPEAKER_00: Amen.
46:13
SPEAKER_00: It definitely will.
46:14
SPEAKER_00: I mean, process, process, process is what you're working towards.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty awesome.
46:18
SPEAKER_00: And I I love the the just the whole the whole onboarding and getting started process.
46:23
SPEAKER_00: Um, I guess my last question for you can you discuss how uh uh blue sauce partnerships with buy with prime and other certifications, bet certifications benefit your clients in terms of enhancement features and support?
46:37
SPEAKER_01: Absolutely.
46:38
SPEAKER_01: So Buy with Prime is a great uh partnership that we've built within the last couple of years.
46:44
SPEAKER_01: So, for anyone in your audience that isn't familiar with Buy with Prime, Buy with Prime is essentially an Amazon service that allows you to bring Amazon Prime benefits to your storefront.
46:55
SPEAKER_01: So it with Buy with Prime set up, someone can purchase something off your website, uh, check out partially through Amazon, and they get redirected back to your store.
47:06
SPEAKER_01: And it appears as if all the checkout happened on your store.
47:10
SPEAKER_01: So your customer is none the wiser, but all the fulfillment can be handled through the Amazon side.
47:17
SPEAKER_01: And Amazon handles customer support for buy with prime orders.
47:22
SPEAKER_01: Your customers get prime shipping, uh, and you get a nice buy with prime button on your store, which your customers resonate with automatically, they recognize that prime branding and automatically builds trust because they see Amazon.
47:39
SPEAKER_01: And the beauty about it is that even though, excuse me, even though Amazon is handling that checkout process, they still make sure that your store gets to retain all the customer information.
47:51
SPEAKER_01: So you're getting all the benefits of selling on your store, but you're combining that with the benefits that come with the trustworthiness and reliability of selling on Amazon.
48:02
SPEAKER_01: So it's a great match for those that are selling on Shopify, um, but also want to fulfill their orders and coordinate their orders with Amazon fulfillment.
48:13
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
48:14
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that's a great feature.
48:15
SPEAKER_00: And uh yeah, uh, what's your experience with your customers on it so far?
48:19
SPEAKER_00: Do they they love it?
48:20
SPEAKER_00: Are they are they looking to invest even more?
48:22
SPEAKER_00: Like, what's your opinion on it based on your what you know about the Shopify experience?
48:27
SPEAKER_00: Does it really gel well?
48:28
SPEAKER_00: And uh would you recommend it to brands who are in marketplaces and selling on Shopify?
48:33
SPEAKER_00: Or like is there a specific customer it works really well for?
48:37
SPEAKER_01: So our customers are still experimenting with it, and so far we've been hearing good things.
48:43
SPEAKER_01: Um, I think that the clients that are gonna benefit the most from it are the ones where users are not necessarily adding things to a shopping cart, but are looking for one-click checkouts for the time being.
49:01
SPEAKER_01: The buy with prime is a one-click checkout button.
49:05
SPEAKER_01: Um, I know that they were planning on adding cart support in the near future.
49:09
SPEAKER_01: I don't know necessarily if it's out yet, but buy with prime being a one-button checkout, you don't want to have like, let's say, you're selling groceries on an e-commerce store and someone wants to keep adding stuff to the cart.
49:20
SPEAKER_01: You don't want to have to keep buy, yeah, buy it now, come back, buy it now, come back.
49:25
SPEAKER_01: So things where people are usually buying high-ticket one items at a time is something that's a good fit for the buy with prime.
49:33
SPEAKER_01: But overall, we've been getting good feedback from our customers so far.
49:37
SPEAKER_01: They've seen a um a decent boost in conversion rates when they implement it on the store.
49:42
SPEAKER_01: Uh and uh whether it works or it doesn't work for your brand, I always encourage people to experiment.
49:50
SPEAKER_01: You're not set in stone.
49:53
SPEAKER_01: And e-commerce is all about experimentation because what works for one person is not necessarily going to work for you, and what works for you is not gonna work for them.
50:01
SPEAKER_01: So it never hurts to try.
50:03
SPEAKER_01: If you're already selling on Amazon, you're already fulfilling through Amazon, you can always give it a shot.
50:08
SPEAKER_01: And if it don't work for you, you can always just disconnect it and just fulfill through Shopify like you normally have.
50:13
SPEAKER_00: Amen with that.
50:14
SPEAKER_00: Nothing wrong with a little experimentation that makes us all smarter.
50:17
SPEAKER_00: This was super, super helpful.
50:19
SPEAKER_00: My last, my last questions for you.
50:21
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about the future of e-commerce and technology.
50:24
SPEAKER_00: Um, so what are some emerging trends you see shaping the future of e-commerce and how should businesses prepare for these changes?
50:32
SPEAKER_01: So I think one of the biggest in the near future, just because you can't stop hearing about it, it's AI.
50:40
SPEAKER_01: But using AI for personalization.
50:43
SPEAKER_01: And this was a point I also think I touched on in our webinar, also.
50:48
SPEAKER_01: But AI makes it easier than ever to send out personalized messages to tailor user experience.
50:54
SPEAKER_01: So whether they're personalized emails, whether it's personalized chat support.
50:59
SPEAKER_01: Um, there's a lot that you can do with AI nowadays.
51:04
SPEAKER_01: And you know, even Shopify now is launching their own AI assistant for sellers in the back end.
51:12
SPEAKER_01: I forgot what it was called by name.
51:14
SPEAKER_01: They just re-announced it.
51:15
SPEAKER_01: Maybe it was Sidekick, Amazon Sidekick, excuse me, Shopify Sidekick or something like that.
51:20
SPEAKER_01: But having AI help control personalization and really offering a tailored user experience to your customers is very key, like those um bespoke experiences, things like that.
51:35
SPEAKER_01: But AI is paving the way for the future and it's coming like a train.
51:39
SPEAKER_01: You can either, you know, let it hit you or ride the train, you know.
51:42
SPEAKER_01: So you gotta find ways to incorporate it into your strategy because you can find ways to have it really help you rather than hurt you.
51:53
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
51:54
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I can see that.
51:55
SPEAKER_00: And anybody like when TikTok came out, Instagram, Facebook, they were naysayers, it's not taking over.
52:01
SPEAKER_00: Social media doesn't mean anything.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: Think about it.
52:03
SPEAKER_00: If you're a brand now and you're not on social media, you're probably not a very big brand.
52:07
SPEAKER_00: So um, so I totally get it.
52:09
SPEAKER_00: AI is not going anywhere, and those are some great insights.
52:12
SPEAKER_00: Um, so thank you so much, David, for sharing your valuable insights and expertise with us today.
52:17
SPEAKER_00: It's been an absolute pleasure having you on the show and learning from your experience and mastering Shopify and scaling e-commerce businesses.
52:24
SPEAKER_00: Before we wrap up, could you please let our listeners know where they can find you and uh anything else you'd like to share with our audience?
52:32
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, absolutely.
52:33
SPEAKER_01: So, one of the best places to connect with me is on LinkedIn.
52:36
SPEAKER_01: I connect with everybody.
52:37
SPEAKER_01: I always try to post uh once a day or once every other day with some insights about the industry or some of the work that we've done.
52:45
SPEAKER_01: Uh, you can connect with us on our website on blue softdesign.com.
52:49
SPEAKER_01: And one thing I would highly suggest is that we do have a free newsletter uh that we send out once a month called The Blueprint, where we share some of the latest uh industry news, tips for site owners, and uh a lot more valuable information.
53:08
SPEAKER_01: And uh I believe there is a sign up on LinkedIn, and I believe there is a sign up on our website.
53:14
SPEAKER_01: And hopefully in the bottom of this video description, I could share a sign-up link as well.
53:19
SPEAKER_00: Beautiful.
53:20
SPEAKER_00: Yep, definitely.
53:21
SPEAKER_00: In this description, you'll find uh David's LinkedIn profile.
53:24
SPEAKER_00: We'll link the newsletter.
53:26
SPEAKER_00: And we also have Blue Soft Design uh social media so you guys will be able to find him wherever he is.
53:31
SPEAKER_00: You can start stalking him and consuming all his content.
53:34
SPEAKER_00: David, thanks so much for being here again.
53:36
SPEAKER_00: Have a wonderful rest of your day.
53:38
SPEAKER_01: Thank you so much.
53:38
SPEAKER_00: Well, thanks very much.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: We hope you found our conversation with David, a Blue Soft Design insightful and packed with valuable strategies to help you master Shopify and overcome common e-commerce challenges.
53:56
SPEAKER_00: If you enjoyed this episode and want to stay updated with more expert advice and actionable tips, be sure to follow, like, and subscribe to our podcast.
54:05
SPEAKER_00: Your support helps us bring the best content and industry insights.
54:10
SPEAKER_00: Stay connected with us on social media for updates on future episodes and join our community of e commerce sellers committed to growing their businesses.
54:19
SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep innovating and thriving in the world of e commerce.