- Think Z
- Posts
- The In-Person Experience
The TL;DR:
Let’s Chat D2C: Taking advantage of the In-Person Experience with Shopify POS.
What I’m Thinking about this Week: The SCALIS Launch - Setting Ourselves Up for Success.
The D2Z Podcast: In this week’s episode, I sat down with Cade Proulx who oversees implementation at Sendlane, an email/SMS/reviews platform.
App Updates & Highlights: Sendlane
Upcoming Events: I’m headed to Recharge’s ChargeX in San Diego 4/29-5/1!
Let’s Chat D2C: Taking Advantage of the In-Person Experience with Shopify POS
Shopify has invested heavily in POS and makes it possible for brands to have a truly connected omnichannel experience:
Shopify POS Lite: This is a basic version included with all Shopify plans at no additional cost. It’s designed for simple in-person sales such as those at markets, pop-ups, or fairs. It supports essential features like inventory tracking, customer profiles, and processing payments on mobile devices (Shopify App Store).
Shopify POS Pro: For a more robust solution, Shopify POS Pro costs $89 per month per location and is ideal for brick-and-mortar stores needing advanced features. This includes staff roles and permissions, deeper inventory management, in-store analytics, and the ability to sell and accept gift cards and process returns and exchanges.
Enhanced Features: Both versions of Shopify POS integrate with Shopify’s ecommerce platform, ensuring inventory and sales data are synchronized across online and offline channels. This integration facilitates features like local pickup, email carts, and ship-to-customer options, which can enhance the shopping experience and drive sales.
Mobile Functionality: Particularly notable is the Shopify POS Go, a mobile POS device that integrates a card reader and can handle barcode scanning, making it a compact solution for dynamic retail environments. It's priced at $399 or $429 with a protective case
What if I Don’t Have a Retail Location?
An integrated online and offline customer experience is table-stakes in 2024, but brands that don’t have a physical presence are no longer limited to transacting just online with Shopify POS Go.
Pop-Up Events
Pop-up events can be a powerful tool for ecommerce brands looking to enhance their market presence, engage directly with customers, and boost sales. Here's how these events can be impactful:
Brand Experience and Engagement: Pop-up events allow brands to create a unique, immersive physical presence that can't be replicated online. They offer a tactile experience where customers can touch, feel, and try products before buying. This direct interaction helps build stronger emotional connections between the brand and its customers, enhancing brand loyalty.
Marketing and Publicity: Hosting a pop-up event can generate buzz and increase visibility. By choosing an attractive or strategic location and creating an event that attracts media attention, brands can gain significant publicity. Social media plays a crucial role here, as attendees often share their experiences online, further amplifying the brand’s reach.
Testing New Markets and Products: Pop-ups act as a testing ground for brands to experiment with new products and gauge customer reactions before a full-scale launch. They can also explore entering new geographical markets without the commitment of permanent physical stores, minimizing financial risks.
Increasing Sales: While ecommerce is convenient, the sensory experience of shopping in person can lead to immediate and often higher-value purchases. Pop-up shops also create a sense of urgency; the temporary nature of these events encourages consumers to make purchases on the spot rather than deferring decisions.
Gathering Customer Insights: Direct interaction with customers at pop-up events provides valuable feedback and data, which can be used to refine products and marketing strategies. This real-time feedback is more immediate and nuanced than online reviews or surveys.
Building Community: Pop-up events can foster a community feeling among customers who share common interests related to the brand’s products or values. This sense of community can be a strong customer retention tool, as customers feel a personal connection to the brand and among each other.
Partnerships and Collaborations: Brands often collaborate with artists, other brands, or influencers for pop-up events, which can attract a broader audience and inject fresh energy into the brand. These collaborations can increase the event's appeal and draw media attention, multiplying the benefits for the brand.
Incorporating pop-up events into an ecommerce brand’s strategy offers a dynamic way to interact with current customers, attract new ones, and create memorable brand experiences that reinforce customer loyalty and drive sales.
Deciding Where to Do Your First Pop-up
Picking where to do your first pop-up doesn’t have to be random. Instead…
Search in Shopify analytics for your #1 sales market
Find a venue within that market
Create a 25-mile radius around the location’s zip code in your email/SMS marketing platform
Send emails and texts promoting the pop-up
Incentivize your customers to bring friends!
Now you’re set! Just remember to take as many photos and videos as possible at your event — such a great opportunity for UGC! 🙂
What I’m Thinking About This Week: The SCALIS Launch - Setting Ourselves Up for Success
The SCALIS launch is just over 30 days away and I am chomping at the bits to have paying customers on the product! But, we don’t want to get too carried away and end up shooting ourselves in the foot by scaling too quickly.
Choosing Your First Customers and Setting Expectations
Your first customers can make or break you, and part of it is on you to set crystal clear expectations so that the customers you do launch with know what they’re getting into and are on the same page as you.
Be Your Own Customer
A week before we launch with anyone else, I will be using the platform as if I am a paying customer (we’re hiring for a few roles at SCALIS so we’re going to post those). I’ll also create an account as if I am a job seeker and go through the whole process.
We’ve obviously been testing continuously, but since I haven’t been super close to the product development, this exercise will give us a close look at how someone will interact with the product and what bugs there may be without having to onboard someone else’s company.
Customer Support and Service
While obviously not scalable, each of our early adopter customers has a Slack connect channel with us for real-time feedback, collaboration, and bug fixes.
We’ll also have a portion of the development team dedicated to bug fixes.
Assessing When You’re Ready for Scale
There are two major components to scale — technology infrastructure and customer support. We are limiting the product usage to 10 companies for the first month so that we can test in a low-stakes environment but also ensure that all of the stress testing we’ve done up until this point is accurate and we’ll be able to bring on millions of users, not just thousands.
Have a Clear Plan
Above all, have a clear plan, but know that it can change and shift and that’s not the end of the world.
This Week’s The D2Z Podcast
#102: Leveraging the Gen Z Mindset for Business Growth
🎧 Listen Now 🎧
In this week’s episode, I sat down with Cade Proulx who oversees implementation at Sendlane, an email/SMS/reviews platform. This one was one of my favorite episodes as we really dived into the nitty gritty of building a partner program and what the key factors are in creating a mutually beneficial relationship. Specifically, we explored the following:
💰 Sendlane’s new Implementation Program with agency partners.
📲 Process-building in growing companies while maintaining adaptability.
😎 Setting clear expectations and exceeding them.
🚀 New and exciting updates to the Sendlane program!
App Updates & Highlights: Sendlane
What is it: Email, SMS, and Reviews Platform
Differentiators:
Sendlane is the only e-commerce-focused ESP built on its OWN network; Sendlane.
Sendlane is the only platform with Multi-Store Functionality.
Sendlane is the only eCommerce ESP that utilizes contextual tagging.
Sendlane is the only eCommerce ESP that utilizes best-in-class email technology - MJML. Other ESPs, such as Klaviyo or Attentive, are on HTML5. Sendlane is the only ESP built offering free reviews! These reviews also are dynamic and can be leveraged across your SMS and Email funnel!
Starting Price: $500/mo
How we use it: Everything Email & SMS marketing!
Upcoming Events
I’m headed to Recharge’s ChargeX in San Diego 4/29-5/1!
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