The TL;DR:

• Let’s Chat D2C: BFCM Guide!

• What I’m Thinking about this Week: Product filtering & sorting to improve the customer experience and increase conversion rate.

• The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Lily Comba, Head of Agency Partnerships at Superfiliate and CEO of Superbloom, a word-of-mouth marketing platform and sister agency.

• App Highlights: Loop Returns

• Upcoming Events: I’m off to Toronto 11/5-11/7 for Shopify’s Mid-Market Burst, and then I’m headed to Vegas 11/8 to speak at a conference! More details to come.

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Let’s Chat D2C - BFCM Guide

2022 BFCM Trends and Industry Statistics

Fact: Just like last year, the peak season for holiday shopping begins earlier and lasts longer than ever.

Why does this matter? To have a successful BFCM, you must plan extensively and much further in advance than you are used to (start planning yesterday). Almost with 100% certainty, I can say your competitors will release their BFCM deals BEFORE the actual BFCM dates.

Fact: In 2021, the share of online orders placed via credit card declined for the first time ever. Instead, customers used tools like buy now, pay later (BNPL). BNPL purchases increased 29% YOY.

Why does this matter?

Leverage Shop Pay Installments to help reduce abandoned carts and give your customers more payment flexibility (something that will be top of mind with inflation and a looming depression).

Promotional Strategies for Merchants

Fact: Shopify Checkout UI extensions are available to all merchants.

Why does this matter? All Shopify stores can now embed in-checkout and post-purchase offers. This is a substantial AOV driver you must have in place this holiday season. My recommendation? Rebuy.

Fact: Pure % discount offers are becoming less and less popular.

Why does this matter? You must brainstorm alternative discounting strategies that cut less into the margin, help increase AOV, and encourage product discovery. Here are a few examples to get you started:

• Daily Offers: Keep your customers returning by dropping a new offer daily.

• Buy X, Get Y

• Gift with Purchase (GWP): Even better, gate the gift behind a $ threshold to encourage higher order values. If you want to get crazy, have 1 or 2 gifts of increasing value that unlock at higher spend thresholds (i.e., you get this if you spend $50, but if you spend $100, you get this, which is even better).

• Bundles: Leverage a tool like Simple Bundles to increase your merchandising options without any new inventory or backend work.

• Tiered Discounting: Even if it’s a traditional % off, this encourages customers to spend more (i.e., Spend $100 and get 20% off, Spend $150 and get 25% off).

• Limited Quantity Exclusives

• Ethical Promotions: Donate a % of all sales to a cause or allow customers to choose whether they take advantage of your discount or donate to a charity.

One of my most successful tactics from the last BFCM was building the SMS list 4-6 weeks in advance by promising early access to BFCM deals. We sold out of some products just through the early access drop we gave to these VIP SMS subscribers.

YOUR PROMOTION DOESN’T STOP AT CHECKOUT. You want to make sure you are retaining these customers well beyond the holiday season, so use this as an opportunity to surprise and delight your customers with:

• A gift (either product or a gift card)

• Handwritten thank you cards

• Gift wrapping

• And more!

Shopify Product Highlights

Here are a few Shopify-specific product highlights you can leverage during the holiday seasons that I would pay attention to:

• Shopify Flow can help you automate routine business activities

• Leverage creators to push your holiday offers

• Shopify Markets can help you reach a global audience

• Do you have a retail store? Set up Google local inventory sync to help your last-minute shoppers discover products available in their area.

• Merchants get 11% higher conversion with Shop Pay. I’d be hard-pressed to find a brand that wouldn’t benefit from having this active during the holidays.

• With combined discount functionality, you can now bundle promotional ideas together, such as Buy X, get Y amount off + free shipping.

BFCM Support

Shopify support is on standby for all your BFCM needs. Don’t hesitate to reach out if you’re experiencing any issues!

What I’m Thinking About This Week - Product Filtering & Sorting

Help your visitors get to what they want

With Shopify 2.0, the search and filtering functionality has been drastically improved for Shopify merchants. Today, I want to focus on filtering and how that can help streamline the customer experience.

Filtering

Have you ever landed on a collection page with no filtering functionality? It’s not a great customer experience, especially in stores with many SKUs. Filters can include options such as:

• Color

• Brand

• Gender

• Price Range

• Type of Product

• Best For

• Materials

• Features

Depending on your brand, you’ll have specific filters that you can use as well. For example, as a shoe company, you should allow your customers to filter by size. If I’m a size 10.5, why would I want to see a shoe with only size 14 still in stock?

Sorting

Once your customers filter down to the products that they are looking for, allow them to sort by

• Avg. Customer Rating

• Price, Low to High

• Price, High to Low

• Best Selling

• Featured

This Week’s The D2Z Podcast

#80 – Influencer and Affiliate Marketing with Lily Comba

🎧 Listen Now 🎧

In this week’s episode, I sat down with Lily Comba, Head of Agency Partnerships at Superfiliate and CEO of Superbloom, a word-of-mouth marketing platform and sister agency. Specifically, we explored the following:

💰 Lily shares her extensive background in influencer and affiliate marketing, including her pioneering work with Thrive Market on influencer collaborations

📲 She discusses the challenges posed by outdated tracking methods and underscores the pivotal role technology plays in optimizing influencer and affiliate programs

😎 The evolving influencer landscape and the importance of upholding the integrity of influencer marketing

🚀 The role agencies play in providing consulting and formal support to brands navigating the creator economy

App Updates & Highlights - Loop

In advance of the holiday rush, prepare yourself for an increase in returns!

What is it: A return app that incentivizes exchanges & upsells over refunds
Differentiator: Loop will decrease your refunds by providing a personalized customer return experience that automates variant exchanges while influencing customers to exchange for higher-priced items on your Shopify store instead of choosing a refund.
Starting Price: $163/month
How we use it: By empowering customers to exchange an item with Loop easily, you’ll see an increase in customer retention, upsells (from customers exchanging for higher-priced items), and a decrease in refunds, which improves the efficiency of your acquisition costs.

Upcoming Events

I’m off to Toronto 11/5-11/7 for Shopify’s Mid-Market Burst, and then I’m headed to Vegas 11/8 to speak at a conference! More details to come.

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