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The Ecomcrew Ecommerce Podcast

An eCommerce podcast for store owners, hosted by 7-figure store owners Mike Jackness and Dave Bryant. We cover everything in eCommerce from Shopify, to Amazon FBA. From email marketing, to Facebook Ads. Never before has there been a podcast with store owners who are so candid. Subscribe to the Ecomcrew podcast today!
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Now displaying: August, 2018
Aug 30, 2018

Greetings from Montreal! In the midst of shooting course videos and planning new content, we sat down to record this podcast. Both of us have considerable experience selling on Amazon and over time we have refined our strategies to be able to derive the best possible revenue potential from the products that we sell.

This episode centers around a checklist of what Mike and his staff do in the days leading up to a product launch and immediately after that. Dave rounds up the discussion and adds his own inputs at the end.

To make things easier, we have broken down the entire process into three phases. So, read on and take note!

Phase 1: What to do before the product goes live

  • Build that perfect listing at the get-go. Create a really great title with a bunch of keywords that you want to rank for (mixing in some long tail ones). Use about 2-3 keywords in the title.
  • Put the start selling date way in the future to allow for sustained sales over a 10-15 day period through the launch sequence timing. This hack also lets you avoid accumulating bad data.
  • Set up Amazon PPC in advance.
  • Airship a dozen units. 10 of which are given to YouTube influencers to help with the actual launch. In Mike’s case, the rest is divided between the offices in the California and Philippines. Promotional videos and images are then created out of these products.
  • Make headline search ads. These require a minimum of 3 ‘like’ products. Product listing ads are usually added at a later date. Data for which products to target are taken from automated sponsored ads campaign.
  • Make sure products are already available for purchase. Once they are, you can then pick a launch date. Terran does this on a Monday so if there’s anything that’s needed to be corrected or fixed, that can be done within the next 4 or 5 days.

Phase 2: Preparing for the product launch

  • The goal is to produce equal results over a 10 to 14-day period. Look at the existing assets for the brand and map that out within this time period.
  • Break up the email list in preparation for running the email sequence for the launch
  • On the launch date, launch a Facebook ad to fans that can also be shared on other social media assets (i.e. YouTube). This Facebook ad goes to a landing page for this new product, so our emails and even ManyChat. This helps build social proof.
  • Start advertising to everyone else.
  • Turn on Amazon’s Early Reviewer Program.
  • Do Amazon Giveaways to get that initial traction.

Phase 3: Sustaining traction after the product launch

  • Send a ManyChat broadcast but at only do so at really opportune moments, like a product launch.
  • After gaining traction on Amazon, you can then focus on directing the traffic to your own Shopify store.

Other Useful Resources:

EcomCrew Premium

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Aug 27, 2018

Hello everyone! It’s Dave again bringing you what is perhaps our most special episode yet. Today we have Michael Jackness on the other end of the microphone. In these podcasts, we often hear Mike talk about his real-life experiences in running an ecommerce business. What many don’t know is that he got his start in digital marketing as an online poker affiliate business back in the early 2000s. On this particular podcast, Mike shares what it was like to start this kind of business and scale it to become a highly profitable company. Aside from the highs, he’ll also delve into the lows of being in this industry and reveal the reason why he finally decided to retire.

Mike had a personal interest in poker from an early age. His grandfather and uncles gambled and he grew to enjoy it as well. Gambling. He got started as an affiliate in early January 2004. While playing on an online poker tournament one night, he was also surfing online poker websites. While browsing within the site’s terms and conditions, he stumbled on the affiliate page. Essentially, the website was offering  $50 per person for people who can bring in 1-9 players in a month and $70 per person for those who can bring in more than 10 people.

Mike thought he didn’t know enough people personally to make money out of this venture so he gave away a book through a penny auction on Ebay. Around this time he reached out to PartyPoker and struck a deal that he would be paid $200 per person if he could have 200 people sign up on a monthly basis.

This was how PokerSource was born.

The company Mike founded with his cousin a friend would reach profits in the seven-figure range. The trio would move operations to Costa Rica in 2006 but would suffer a setback shortly after due to the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act. He would retire from the industry at the end of 2010, which is great timing as the infamous Black Friday would take place on April 15, 2011.

Other Useful Resources:

EcomCrew Premium

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Aug 23, 2018

If you’re new to importing products from China, wiring money to a supplier you’ve never met face-to-face can be a scary prospect. Well, you can rest easy because the likelihood of you being scammed out of hundreds or thousands of dollars is low.

But, resting easy doesn’t mean you can be totally lax or just partially involved. Scams might be rare in China but they do exist and in today’s episode, we’re going to talk about some of them.

To get you warmed up for the actual podcast, here are the highlights.

  • Two of the most well-known scams in China is a phishing scheme where you end up wiring money to a different entity altogether and receiving a low-quality version of the product you ordered.
  • Safeguard yourself and your business by getting to know your supplier. If it’s not possible to meet them in person, set up a video chat. By establishing a relationship with your supplier, you’re also building trust. Over time, you will eventually be more comfortable in doing business and reach a point where you can fully rely on each other.
  • If you receive an email from your supplier informing you that their bank information has changed, don’t wire the money out immediately. Call the supplier to confirm that the email is legit.
  • Communicate your expectations from the get-go. Tell the supplier that you intend to have an inspection for each shipment or order. Let them know what your tolerances are for manufacturing mistakes (e.g. 100 minor, 50 major, 2 defective). Make sure they understand that if they don’t meet these criteria, they won’t get paid in full.  
  • Another way to avoid receiving defective products is to provide your supplier with an actual sample. That way, they’ll know what materials a product should be made of and what it should actually look like.
  • Don’t leave any room for interpretation. The provisions of the contract with your supplier should be clear and both parties should have a good understanding of the conditions within it. It’s also good to have a paper trail of your communications with your supplier so you have something to go back to should problems arise.

Don’t be afraid to assert yourself when the situation calls for it. Being clear about your product and shipping expectations will save you a lot of grief in the end. For a detailed guide of avoiding scams, check out Dave’s blog post that’s linked in the Resources section below.

Other Useful Resources:

Free Course Videos

The Ultimate Guide to Avoid Being Scammed On Alibaba And When Importing

Asian Inspection

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Aug 20, 2018

The topic of today’s podcast is something that I talk about a lot. You’ve probably heard free plus shipping offers being mentioned across the board - from podcasts to webinars to course videos. It’s such an integral part of our marketing strategy that we feel it deserves its very own episode on the podcast.

So, here we are. For the next half hour or so I will be talking about how we have sold products and grown the business with the help of our free plus shipping offers.

Backstory

When we first started ColorIt back in 2015, we wanted to differentiate our coloring books from all the other options available in the market. We wanted a good quality product that adult coloring enthusiasts can enjoy.

To achieve that (and find out if our coloring books would sell at all), we needed consumer input. And getting genuine and constructive input meant we needed to get the product into people’s hands. So we had 10 of our designs printed on artist quality paper, added a hardback cover, and sent them out to people who only paid for shipping costs. Back then, this wasn’t a tactic that many people selling online knew about, let alone used. We had our “Aha!” moment and so did our customers. Our order retake rate was over 50 percent.

We’ve launched many free plus shipping offers for our different brands since then. We followed up those coloring books with three random markers. Currently, we’re building our email list for our outdoor brands Tac9er and Tactical.com by giving away credit card muti-tools. Our willingness to use this tactic, again and again, means that it works. It also means that you can replicate it in your own business.

In this podcast, I’ll be sharing with you tips on how to set up your own free plus shipping offer and provide some other real-life examples. However, the key points have already been outlined below.

What makes a great free plus shipping offer?

  • Choose a product that has a high perceived value, but you can get at places like AliExpress for a cheap price.
  • The item should weigh less than 13 oz (around 6 oz) so you can get your shipping cost as low as possible. For example, use a product that costs you $1 or $2 dollars to acquire and ship out but has a potential resale value of $10.

What are the things you need to set it up?

  • A product that’s closely similar to the product you want to sell
  • A special landing page with details about your offer, including an upsell option
  • A special follow up sequence for the product being sold

Other Useful Resources:

EcomCrew Premium

GIVE US YOUR 5 MINUTE PITCH AND WIN $50,000!

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

Aug 16, 2018

Hi, it’s Dave here. Mike is taking some much-needed time off at the moment so I’m taking the reins. Coincidentally, today’s podcast topic is something that I’m in the best position to talk about - selling on Amazon Canada. If the accent isn’t a giveaway already, I am Canadian myself and currently running my business out of Vancouver.

So, let’s start off with a question. Should you be selling in Canada? The answer to this is of course relative. But, if you are living in the United States, then Canada would technically be the “lowest hanging fruit” when it comes to expanding your business.

I’ve added some more advantages below.

  • The American market is increasingly becoming more saturated.
  • Advertising rates are significantly higher in the United States. They’re literally 2-3 times what they cost in Canada and almost all other marketplaces.
  • The cost of sale is also higher in America. In Canada, the average is around 3% while it’s typically above 10% south of the border.
  • You are a lot more likely to get higher profit margins in Canada because there’s less competition within the same niche.

Depending on your circumstances, these disadvantages may be relevant.

  • Canada has significantly fewer people living there than in the US. It has about a tenth of the American population.
  • It takes a lot of work to sell in Canada because it has its own tax and business registration regiment. If you’re new to selling online, it will be much easier to do so on Amazon.com.
  • Canada has a different currency, which can have specific ramifications for your business.

The Taxation Thing

In America, there is no federal tax. In Canada, you have to pay the equivalent of a federal tax called the GST/HST. This is typically 5%. While you can get this amount back at the end of the year, that’s an upfront cost you have to deal with right out of the gate. And this can be tricky since we mostly run cash flow dependent businesses.

You should also register for GST/HST in order to send your goods to Canada. There’s no getting around that. The good thing is it’s quite easy to do this. If you use a larger customs broker that handles shipments going into Canada, they can register the number for you. Most of them will do it for free or charge a small fee to get this done. Mike and I both use Pacific Customs Brokers, Ltd.

Here are my tips for starting to sell in Amazon.ca.

  • Start small and just enough to get your feet wet. Send a small shipment to Canada and work it up gradually to pallets.
  • List your products on Amazon.ca. Consider the language in the geographic area you’re targeting when coming up with your keywords.
  • Make sure to turn on Sponsored Ads for Canada.
  • Monitor the exchange rate every month.
  • When your sales start to get substantial, register for GST/HST. Canada has a record of everything you’re bringing into the country and assume you will eventually get a telephone call from CRA if you don’t.

The last thing I’ll leave you with is this: have a plan to sell internationally in order to sustain growth and profitability for your business.  Some of the insights above can also be applied in another marketplace so you already have a point of reference.

Other Useful Resources:

EcomCrew Premium

TransferWise

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Aug 13, 2018

When you’re just starting as an ecommerce seller, do you improve your Amazon listing first or get started on Facebook ads? There’s no right or wrong order here. The main thing to remember is that you need to plan out how you can get both done at some point. In this episode, we’re gonna tackle the Facebook side of things.

As you may recall, I had my good friend Dave Huss join me in a previous podcast to talk about building a Facebook audience. I’ve had the chance to sit and have a chat with him again. And this time around, we’ll be focusing on creating a Facebook page and being able to optimize it for engagement.

If you’re new to Facebook, find the quickest way you can earn from it. Remember, it’s always good to have another revenue stream outside of Amazon.

Here are some detailed steps you can follow.

ENGAGEMENT

1. Ask yourself why people should care about your page. Based on your answer, pick the best niche that represents your product. Don’t be afraid to go really specific, like creating a page dedicated to French cooking.
2. Select about 30 key/quality pieces of relevant content. You can use a tool like Buzzsumo to do this. If it's too costly a tool, you can do the research yourself.

BUILDING THE MESSENGER LIST

3. Post or schedule posts 2-3 times initially. If you don’t see traction on your posts within a couple of days, change something up.
4. Boost some of the posts to your core audience.
5. Try to get people to like the page.
6. Do a giveaway to get people on your Messenger list.

Other Useful Resources:

MyEcomcrew

Online Merchants Guild

Growth Scout

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Aug 9, 2018

If you’re that person who listens to one podcast a year, this is definitely the episode you should listen to. Together with me are Bernie Thompson and Paul Rafelson, members of the Online Merchants Guild (OMG), a non-profit organization that is working to change the law governing online sales tax collection.

This podcast episode focuses on the aftermath of the South Dakota vs Wayfair case and how it has invariably created the so-called economic nexus. This essentially means that the state can now require online sellers to collect state sales tax for online purchases, even if the seller doesn’t have a physical presence (e.g. an office or a warehouse) in that state. In South Dakota, the economic nexus threshold has been placed at 200 online purchases or $100k in revenue.

Undue Burden

We believe, that while the ruling can affect all online retailers, it will hit small ecommerce businesses the hardest. This is why we are campaigning to raise funds so we can fight this thing in court. Our plan is to sue all state tax commissioners and seek a declaratory judgment on this issue that will relieve small ecommerce businesses of this undue burden. We plan to steer the conversation towards viable alternatives, specifically compelling marketplaces like Amazon to collect online state sales tax for online purchases on behalf of third-party sellers.  

Help us fight this cause and move the needle towards creating a more sustainable industry for everyone selling online. Please sign up using the link below.

https://onlinemerchantsguild.org/choose-your-level-of-support/

Hopefully, together we can make some real progress on this issue.

Other Useful Resources:

MyEcomcrew

7 Figure Seller Summit

Episode 136: Online Merchants Guild

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Aug 6, 2018

In this episode, I sat down with “Paid Traffic Guy” himself - Dave Huss. Dave helps online entrepreneurs bring in new customers by leveraging paid traffic and using retargeting to recover lost sales through Growth Scout. He’s also an ecommerce entrepreneur with brands in the arts and crafts niche that have a massive following on their respective Facebook business pages.

And this was the focal point of our conversation. Dave gamely shared how he was able to leverage Facebook as a marketing platform for his products. His brands’ business pages have 150,000 and 90,000 fans respectively.

Here are Dave’s best tips for building a following on Facebook and creating consistent engagement with the target audience.

  • Figure out who your actual customers are. Create an avatar that embodies the key characteristics of your target demographic.
  • Identify the “places”(e.g. social media platforms) they’re hanging out in.
  • Find a model for your own social media campaign. Take a look at your competitors, focus on brands that aren’t that well known but have a strong social media following. See which aspects of their strategy can be applied to your own campaign.                                                    
  • Test your products on your best-engaged fans, the people that care about what you’re doing. Aim to reach the same people on multiple channels - social media, email etc.
  • Run like campaigns.
  • Spend time creating and curating engaging content.
  • Build a content library using a scheduling tool like MeetEdgar to ensure that you have posts that are constantly in rotation.
  • Incorporate videos in your social media posts. If you don’t have the capability to create your own videos, look for cool and relevant ones on tools like Buzzsumo.

At the end of the day, Dave reminds us that “...The Facebook page is not really for selling stuff. I really want to put that point across especially for Amazon sellers...The Facebook page is for building trust and engagement with your ideal customer…”

Other Useful Resources:

MyEcomcrew

7 Figure Seller Summit

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

Aug 2, 2018

In this podcast, I’m joined by Mads Singers, a business coach who owns a management consulting firm specializing in ecommerce entrepreneurs. He also owns a VA company in Davao, Philippines.

When you’re a seven-figure Amazon seller, it’s tough staying on top of every little business detail. And if you’re anything like me, you experience separation anxiety whenever you need to hand over work to someone else to do. But as Mads explains, delegation is a necessary evil. As a business owner, you need to free your time so you can focus on big-ticket items.

Here are some highlights from our discussion.

Taking genuine ownership of tasks

It’s always better to give employees genuine ownership of their tasks rather than an SOP they have to follow every time they do a task. Genuine ownership means giving your employees your vote of confidence and empowering them to take a process you have and improve on it.

“Deer in the headlights”

Mads employs the DISC behavior framework with his clients to help them understand themselves as well as the people they work with. Understanding your employees’ individual traits and characteristics will allow you to assign them the right type of task.

“Now, because someone sells themselves really well, doesn’t mean they’re going to be great for that job. And being able to see through that personality and understand is this person really good at could be immensely important.”, explains Mads.

What tasks should you delegate?

  1. Things you hate doing
  2. Things you’re not good at
  3. Things that take up a lot of time for you to do
  4. Low-priority tasks

Other Useful Resources:

MyEcomcrew

Mads Singers Management Consulting

Thanks for listening to this episode! If you enjoyed listening and think this episode has been useful to you, please take a moment to leave us a review on iTunes.

If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below. Happy selling!

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