eCommerce Podcast – Details, episodes & analysis

Join host Matt Edmundson on the Ecommerce Podcast as he delves into the world of SEO with Josh Piepmeier, founder of Meriwether. Discover insights on optimising your ecommerce strategy, the role of AI in content creation, and the importance of brand voice in SEO. Don't miss this engaging discussion on enhancing your online presence and driving revenue.

---

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

5:00 Introduction to Josh Piepmeier

10:00 AI in SEO Copywriting

15:00 Brand Voice in SEO

20:00 Creating Collection Pages

25:00 SEO for Small Product Catalogues

30:00 Content at Scale

35:00 Choosing an SEO Agency

40:00 Measuring SEO Success

45:00 Final Thoughts and Contact Information

---

Key Takeaways:

1. Human Touch in SEO Content: Josh emphasises the importance of incorporating a human element into SEO content. While AI can assist in generating basic content, he advises against relying solely on it for final outputs. Instead, he suggests that content should reflect the brand's unique voice and opinion, which can enhance engagement and conversion rates. This approach helps differentiate content from the generic outputs often produced by AI.

2. Strategic Use of Collection Pages: For ecommerce sites, Josh recommends focusing on creating specific collection pages that cater to various search terms related to the products. By understanding how customers use products and creating targeted collection pages, businesses can improve their SEO performance. This strategy involves using keyword research tools like Ahrefs to identify relevant terms and crafting content that aligns with customer needs and search behaviours.

3. Content Ecosystem for Smaller Catalogues: For businesses with a limited number of products, Josh suggests building a content ecosystem around those products. This involves writing blog posts that address common customer questions and concerns, thereby enhancing the authority and relevance of the site. By doing so, smaller brands can compete with larger competitors by leveraging content to boost their collections pages' rankings and overall site visibility.

---

If this episode of the eCommerce Podcast piqued your interest make sure to check out everything that gets done over here on the eCommerce Podcast, a space dedicated to eCommerce Wow!

Join host Matt Edmundson on the Ecommerce Podcast as he chats with Phil Carr from Upzelo about revolutionising ecommerce through innovative referral strategies and customer retention. Discover how Upzelo is transforming the way businesses engage with customers using cutting-edge technology.

---

Timestamps:

0:00 Intro

1:27 Phil Carr's Background

3:25 Sub Summit Experience

5:08 Introduction to Upzelo

9:17 Naming Challenges and Solutions

13:31 Referrals and Retention Strategies

19:42 Improving User Experience in Referrals

25:05 Wallet Pass Technology

31:29 User Journey with Wallet Pass

39:58 Strategic Use of Wallet Pass

47:19 Behaviour and Lifestyle Loyalty

54:08 Future of Retention and Loyalty

55:12 Matt's Question for Social Media

56:14 Connecting with Phil Carr

---

Key Takeaways:

1. Simplify the Referral Process: Phil highlights the importance of making the referral process seamless and frictionless. By integrating referral systems into smartphone wallet passes, businesses can enhance user experience and increase referral rates. This approach eliminates the cumbersome steps of traditional referral methods, making it easier for customers to share and for businesses to track referrals.

2. Leverage Technology for Customer Engagement: Phil discusses the potential of using wallet passes not just for referrals but as a dynamic marketing channel. By sending push notifications and updating pass details, businesses can maintain ongoing engagement with customers. This strategy allows for personalised marketing, such as exclusive offers or reminders, directly on the customer's device, enhancing customer loyalty and retention.

3. Innovative Loyalty Programs: Phil suggests moving beyond traditional points-based loyalty systems to more creative and meaningful customer engagement strategies. By rewarding customers for eco-friendly choices or lifestyle activities, businesses can align their brand with customer values and encourage positive behaviours. This approach not only strengthens customer loyalty but also enhances the brand's image and social responsibility.

---

If this episode of the eCommerce Podcast piqued your interest make sure to check out everything that gets done over here on the eCommerce Podcast, a space dedicated to eCommerce Wow!

In this episode of the eCommerce Podcast Host Matt Edmundson sits down with Qi Cao from ChargeBlast, to explore the dreaded, complex issue of chargebacks - a first on the eCommerce Podcast. Qi shares how chargebacks can often be caused by product and delivery issues or, as he calls it, friendly fraud, and how this can impact the financial health of your business. Matt and Qi suggest many different methods by which these risks can be mitigated including using ChargeBlasts own post-transaction solution that preemptively addresses chargebacks before they reach payment processors.

Key Takeaways:

1. Chargebacks Are Inevitable but Manageable: Chargebacks, whether due to legitimate reasons or friendly fraud, are a common challenge in eCommerce. However, they can be effectively managed by understanding industry-specific chargeback rates and employing strategies like ChargeBlast to reduce their impact on your business.
2. Proactive Communication is Crucial: Clear and proactive communication with customers can significantly reduce chargebacks. By being transparent about pricing, delivery times, and addressing any issues promptly, businesses can prevent customer dissatisfaction from escalating to chargebacks.
3. Invest in Customer Service: High-quality customer service, including offering 24/7 support or making it easy for customers to manage their subscriptions, can help reduce the likelihood of chargebacks. Satisfied customers are less likely to dispute charges.

If this episode of the eCommerce Podcast piqued your interest make sure to check out everything that gets done over here on the eCommerce Podcast, a space dedicated to eCommerce Wow! 

Do you want to create a magical customer service experience for your clients? In this episode, Vance Morris joins Matt to share his seven keys to turning your customer service into an amazing experience for your customers.

ABOUT VANCE

Vance Morris is the Service & Marketing Strategist at Deliver Service Now Institute. He is a former Birth Control Factory Security Guard turned Disney Leader, turned Bankrupt Out of Work Executive, turned Carpet Cleaner, turned Successful Entrepreneur.

Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:

• Deliver ServiceNow Institute is all about creating experiences for clients. They use the term “Disnify”, which is creating experiences out of the mundane. Every business has tons of things that are mundane that they need to do day in and day out to keep the business running. Disney has just created experiences out of each one of those touchpoints and so can you!
• Vance has come up with 7 Magic Keys to Disnifying your customer service. They are namely, creating the wow experience, focussing on the details, the employee experience, your service standards, the environment that you have your employees working in, the process and the magic of bringing it all together.
• Vance believes that with a little bit of care and thought, any business can create Wow experiences for their clients. Taking inspiration from some of the principles he learnt from his time at Disney, like anticipatory service, linertainment etc. he developed his 7 keys to Disnify your Customer Service. He says, if he can implement Disney style service in a carpet cleaning service, anyone can!

For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Offering productized services is a great way to make money while keeping your clients happy. 

In this episode, Rick West joins Matt and explains what productized services are and why you should offer them to your clients. You'll learn how productized services can help you streamline your business, provide better customer service, and make more money.

ABOUT RICK

Rick West is the CEO and Founder of Field Agent. Field Agent connects brands, retailers, and agencies with customers across the country and around the world to help you win at retail. His platform harnesses smartphones across the country, bridging the gap between you and your customers.

Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:

• If you're a B2B provider of services, there's no way that you can put your services on Amazon or Shopify. So, Rick and his team developed Plum, the first B2B marketplace with a cart where you can click, answer a couple of questions and go to a cart and check out with a cart just like you would Amazon or any type of retail, B2B engagement and buy their services.
• The barriers to any B2B services provider in productizing their services are usually time and tech resources. Rick’s team comes alongside and helps them by doing the tech lifting and concept lifting to create products and gives them a place to place these products, which is plum shop.
• A checklist is a great tool to productize something even without the technology and what marks the difference between a great and mediocre sales call.

For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

A lot of people think that they need to massively increase the price of their product in order to make it more valuable, but that's not always true. There are a lot of ways that you can manipulate the perception of your product to make it more appealing and increase sales.

Norm Farrar, the host of the popular Amazon podcast, Lunch with Norm, joins Matt in this episode to unpack whether perceived value can really be increased significantly or is it just an American Hype?

ABOUT NORM

Entrepreneur and businessman Norman “The Beard Guy” Farrar stands at the forefront of the economic mega-machine known as Amazon Marketplace. As a leading expert with over 25 years of product sourcing, development, and branding expertise, Norm is an advisor to many and is the host of the podcast Lunch With Norm, a Live Interactive Podcast For All Entrepreneurs

Throughout his career, Norm has sold over 100 million dollars in sales between his own products and services and the opportunities he has brokered for clients. Today, in addition to running a diverse catalog of companies including AMZ Club and PRReach (The world’s first video press release company), and he focuses on guiding individual sellers, brands, and manufacturers to worldwide dominance on Amazon, Amazon Podcast, and top-earning sales sites.

Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:

• Perceived Value is the customers' evaluation of the merits of a product or service, and its ability to meet their needs and expectations, especially in comparison with its peers. It is the overall customer experience from the second that they're typing what they're looking for into a search field.
• With any business venture, you need to have the resilience and become the authority figure to really succeed and grow. But you also need to build your brand’s perceived value so that people want to keep coming back to your brand and your products.
• It begins with competitor research and finding out what you can do to make your product stand out and what makes your product more value adding for the customer every single time and just doing it consistently.

For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Many are turning to Amazon as a way to start and grow their business because (when done correctly) it can be a really lucrative set up. But is Amazon the right platform for your business? Adam Shaffer breaks it down to help you make the decision.

ABOUT ADAM

Adam Shaffer is a technology pioneer. He has found success helping Amazon sellers through his company’s proprietary technology, services, and distribution platform. Ultimately, this has helped clients navigate the most complex waters of the largest E-commerce site in the world. Adam is also a pioneer in direct marketing and digital ecommerce of technology products and solutions to both consumer and commercial markets.

When he’s not working, you’ll find him spending time with his wife and daughters.

Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:

• Amazon is by far the biggest marketplace with $620 billion of merchandise getting sold in the US per year. For brands, in many cases, it's by far their number one channel. It's evolved quickly over the years and continues to. And so, you need to be really good at everything on Amazon, if you want to succeed, because the rules do change from time to time.
• Another key aspect to success on Amazon is Inventory Management. You need to always be shifting product up to Amazon and don't run out of stock. You definitely don't want to be overstocked. Nobody wants to have too much inventory and not turning it enough. But if you work your heart out with competitors to get somewhere on the ranking, you don't want to be out of stock on your product and all of a sudden lose all that ground.
• Phelps United is a third-party seller and an eCommerce brand accelerator. They help brands navigate and grow on the very complicated, but potentially lucrative channel, which is the Amazon channel and other marketplaces. They help brands with their Amazon strategy by doing a quick analysis of the marketplace and work on making sure that the content is just awesome and tells a great story.

For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

The creator economy is booming, and there are plenty of opportunities for those who know how to join in. In this episode, Tomer Hen joins Matt to talk about the creator economy and the best practices for successfully launching a personal consumer brand. 

TOMER HEN

Tomer Hen is a serial entrepreneur with over a decade of experience in the Digital Marketing industry. During this time, he founded the first mobile marketing school in Israel, created the first Israeli Mobile Marketing Summit, and has spearheaded notable campaigns with leading fortune 500 brands, including Amazon, Audible, and Mastercard. Backed by his expertise and a growing portfolio, Tomer was recognized as one of Forbes’s 30 promising entrepreneurs under 30. In 2011, Tomer founded MobCo Media, a user-acquisition and performance-driven intelligence company. With over 500 campaigns in more than 160 countries, MobCo has cemented its position as a front-runner in the ad tech space.

Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:

• Today, the world is becoming more and more authentic, and people are looking for authenticity. We have an interesting mix of technology and the internet. And self-expression and authenticity are the keys to unlocking this Creator Economy. The most successful creators are those who are themselves.
• There’s a huge difference between selling a product and building a brand. People choose to go after a brand because they believe in what that brand stands for and that it serves them in a unique way and makes them feel special and cared for.
• Creator Economy is about finding a community you want to serve and building a brand around them and not vice versa. It is not about making money. People are very sensitive about why you do what you do. And when you realise it's all about who you serve, and not what you sell, then that's the main advantage for your brand.

For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Hiring is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to scaling your business. Without talented people in place, hiring efficiently and finding top-notch talent proves challenging--to say nothing about what happens if they don't get along or have different skill sets that prevent them from working well together! 

In this episode we'll be talking with Yoni Kozminksi who can help you avoid these pitfalls by sharing his insight, processes and systems to find the right talent for your business. 

ABOUT YONI

Yoni Kozminski is an entrepreneur and business consultant with over two decades of experience in scaling businesses. Over the years, he has helped develop digital strategies for some of the world's biggest brands, including Mercedez-Benz, Mastercard, Sony, Medtronic Diabetes, Mondelez International, and more. His experiences eventually led to the creation of Escala and MultiplyMii - two companies that help businesses achieve massive growth. 

Besides being an awesome entrepreneur, Yoni is also a seasoned podcaster! His 'Successful Scales' Podcast is centred on questions related to growing, selling, acquiring, and scaling a business and what comes with it. If you're looking to take your business to the next level - you don't want to miss out on his wisdom!

Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:

• To build a business that stands the test of time, you have to invest in your culture and delegate accountability to your people instead of tasks. One of the number one mistakes that people make when building processes is they take a bottom-up approach, but it’s looking on the high level and understanding how everything integrates inside of your business that will help you succeed in building out an effective process.
• As soon as you get to the level where you start to feel stretched, that's when you should start enacting some of these processes, but you want to actually get to them sooner rather than later. Starting with a Word doc or an Excel spreadsheet and simply defining everything might be a great place to start. You want to build more time in your day so that you can focus on the things that are going to have the most impact in your business and in your life.
• When you look to build systems in your business, you must first consider where you are investing your time and then understand where you can give ownership and accountability. The perfect system is one that brings perfect harmony between people, process, and technology.

For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.

Black Friday is coming up and a lot of people are wondering what the best way to take advantage of the sales is. This bonus episode is going to answer all your questions about Black Friday so you can be fully prepared.

ABOUT CHLOE

Chloë Thomas is a globally recognised eCommerce marketing problem solver. Author of several bestselling books, keynote speaker, and host of both the award-winning eCommerce MasterPlan Podcast, AND Keep Optimising Podcast.

Here’s a summary of the great stuff that we cover in this show:

• There's a movement against the big blanket discounts that only last for 24 hours and things like this. Everyone now feels like they have permission to create the promotion that works for them. And then the second side of it is, as an industry we have got much savvier at organizing the operations side of it - changing the postage methods, changing the messaging on speed of delivery, working with our couriers, our 3PLs, our own inhouse warehouses - to be ready and to manage that bump when it comes.
• Black Friday doesn't have to be for everyone. If you've got good reason not to do it, don't do it. A good reason could be that it doesn't fit with your brand or it doesn't fit with your sales model or that you only have limited stock. There is a big customer intention to spend money on that day, whether you run an offer or not. So you will probably see a sales uplift even if you don't do anything.
• Use social proof to build and retain customer loyalty. Social proof comes in so many different flavors. You've got the overall score of the site; you've got actual quotes from actual customers to put in places. You can also take some control over what appears on the homepage and what is on your emails by including place that you've been featured or where you've been quotes. Tell your story too - how long you've been around, how many orders you've shipped, how many happy customers you've had. Reveal the humanity behind the business.

For complete show notes, transcript and links to our guest, check out our website: www.ecommerce-podcast.com.