The Andrew Faris Podcast

Today's interview is with one of my very favorite people in ecommerce, Andrew Youderian. Andrew is the founder of E-commerce Fuel, an online community of 7-figure & higher ecommerce store owners. Ecommerce Fuel is the best-run online community I've ever personally seen, so I started by asking Andrew what makes great online community. From there, the conversation shifted to his unique perspective (as the head of a community of over 1,000 ecom store owners) on the state of the ecommerce landscape, how hard or easy things are right now relative to the past, and ecom operators' current & ever-complicated relationship with Amazon. We close by giving Andrew a taste of his own medicine: we ask him some lightning round questions, just like he does with his guest on The Ecommerce Fuel Podcast. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [03:31] What is E-commerceFuel? [05:30] Curating valuable content and fostering reciprocity in the EcommerceFuel Community  [08:10] Examining the success and DNA of the EcommerceFuel community  [10:17] The importance of time and trust in Building a successful online community [13:37] Impact from working in the community to building strong internal teams [15:51] Hiring strategies and the importance of test projects and feedback [22:53] Insights into the e-commerce landscape from a community survey [26:07] Discussing perspectives on Amazon and e-commerce with Bill D'Allesandro [28:00] E-commerce landscape and adoption of Amazon by small brands (pros and cons of selling on Amazon) [30:37] The nuances of selling on Amazon in the e-commerce landscape & navigating the challenges faced by entrepreneurs [34:23] The evolution and future of e-commerce [37:14] Lightning round with Andrew Youderian THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: More Staffing Hire incredible virtual professionals from the Philippines at a fraction of the cost of domestic employees with help from More Staffing. Head to www.morenow.co to get started. FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW YOUDERIAN Join Ecommerce Fuel yourself. Listen to the E-commerce Fuel Podcast. Follow Youderian on Twitter: @youderian. FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW FARIS Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewjfaris. Work with Andrew: www.ajfgrowth.com. Email Andrew (including about advertising on The Andrew Faris Podcast): podcast@ajfgrowth.com. MUSIC Intro Music: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Outro Music: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

You should be buying your Meta Ads with Cost Controls. I've believed that for awhile now, but in the last six months my conviction on this point has solidified to where I now believe advertisers are costing themselves huge amounts of money in both efficiency AND scale when they refuse to implement this incredible tool. In today's episode I'm explaining that belief with 6 arguments aimed at convincing you to see the light of Bid Caps, Cost Caps/Cost Per Result Goal, and Minimum ROAS bidding. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [01:19]What are cost controls? [03:58] Argument 1: Cost Controls make obvious theoretical sense [07:45] Argument 2: Humans are much worse forecasters than Machine Learning [13:16] Argument 3: Especially when human media buyers are running lots of accounts [14:37] Argument 4: Risk-free creative testing [20:12] Argument 5: Adjusting spend up and down with changes in Meta's Daily Active Users (DAU) [24:07] Argument 6: Risk-free scaling [29:15] Why people are annoyed at cost controls THIS WEEK'S SPONSOR: More Staffing Hire incredible virtual professionals from the Philippines at a fraction of the cost of domestic employees with help from More Staffing. Head to www.morenow.co to get started. FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email Andrew: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with Andrew: www.ajfgrowth.com EPISODE MUSIC Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

So your business is growing? That's great. But it also comes with complications. Every team member you add means another line of communication, another position description to right, another onboarding process to nail, and another person to loop into the systems & processes that make your business work. Panagiota Hatzis has seen all of this, and she's helped multiple organizations navigate growth to set themselves up for successful scale. On this episode, we talk about how good process helps you stay lean (and saves you money), how to recruit & retain top tier talent, how to think about compensation, and how to actually get everyone to use your task management software. Panagiota is a longtime human resources executive in the ecommerce space, including alongside me at Common Thread Collective, where she was the VP of Differentiation. Now she's the founder/CEO of Kati Kalo Consulting, where she's bringing deep insight into team dynamics, recruiting, onboarding, and process building to all kinds of growing organizations. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [03:48] Panagiota's educational background [06:17] What it takes for an organization to scale [09:46] Elements of a great process in scaling in an organization [20:16] Profit center vs cost center employee investment [23:55] How do organizations get better at retaining good employees? [26:13] Compensation in retention [31:58] Attracting great talent for an organization [35:29] Attract A-level employees in an organization [37:20] Founders impact on employees [41:21] About Kati Kalo Special thanks to this week's sponsor, More Staffing. Add incredible talent from the Philippines to your team with More Staffing at www.morenow.co. Work With Panagiota: Kati Kalo Consulting: www.katikalo.co LinkedIn: Kati Kalo LinkedIn: Panagiota Hatzis Follow Up With Andrew: Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Email me: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Follow me on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Music: Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

In this solo episode, Andrew gets incredibly practical. Want to better harness the power of Meta Ads for your business? Great. Here are 4 truths that most accounts he's audited have gotten wrong. TIMESTAMPS [0:58]: CAC is not ROAS [05:38]: Lowest Cost is not Highest Value [08:56]: AOV is not LTV [11:52]: Spend is performance Follow Andrew on Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email Andrew: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with Andrew: www.ajfgrowth.com Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Aaron Orendorff is the best B2B marketer I know, and it's not just because he's an elite writer (with a byline in the New York Times to show for it). It's also because he has a clear framework for what he's trying to accomplish in his messaging. That framework? Keeping customers from hell and taking them to heaven. He's thought about it in his posts as a marketing lead at Shopify Plus, Common Thread Collective, and now as the Head of Marketing at ReCart. In this wide-ranging conversation, Aaron and Andrew catch up about what they're seeing across the current world of ecommerce, how to approach marketing messaging, the specifics of a good SMS strategy, and a bunch more. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [06:12] Working for Recart. [09:33] Meeting Andrew. [11:53] Upside to good writing. [13:55] Writing for CTC, Havard Business Review, and other publications. [20:27] Lesson from content commerce. [24:33] Reason Born Primitive is successful. [28:04] Aaron's framework as a marketer. [33:01] Advertisers adopting Aaron's hell-to-heaven framework. [38:44] Factors that determine success with SMS marketing. [39:42] Conversational value of SMS. [42:19] The primary purpose of SMS. [43:32] Getting success in SMS. [45:08] Do most brands push hard enough on SMS? [48:04] SMS providers growth curve. [49:46] The E-commerce Playbook's spot-on prediction. [52:33] Problem in SMS. [54:24] Aaron's Recart article. Places to follow up with Aaron: Aaron’s Recart Landing Page: recart.com/shopify-sms-app Twitter: twitter.com/AaronOrendorff Places to follow up with Andrew: Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Your brand has great LTV, so everything is easy. Right? Not so fast. While growing a high-LTV brand is easier than growing a low-LTV brand, having a clear roadmap of how and when to generate growth AND profit can make all the difference between success and wasted opportunity. In this episode, Andrew talks about how to operate a high LTV brand, from planning where profit comes in your P&L to the specifics of how to run a Meta Ads account when you're forecasting high LTV. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [01:10] Observations on how to grow consumable CPG and other high LTV brands [08:50] Building your future P&L [11:57] Scaling with CAC in high LTV businesses. [15:14] Setting CAC Targets For Your Company. [16:58] Complications in setting targets with CAC. [18:51] Tracking long term customer value. [24:01] How much to spend on acquiring customers. [26:01] Importance of organic revenue in your business Mentioned in the podcast: "The 6 Biggest Factors In Retention, In Order" previous episode: Apple, Spotify. Places to follow up with Andrew: Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

There's just no one else quite like Isaac Medeiros that I know of in ecommerce. With a team of a ~dozen creators, 16 freelance scriptwriters, multiple YouTube & TikTok accounts, and now a Discord channel, Isaac has taken the content-driven approach to DTC to a whole different level. The result: a fast-growing, profitable DTC brand with a PNL that doesn't look like any others I know of in the space. I chatted with Isaac about what it really takes to build a machine like the one he has–and whether or not other brands should seek to copy his model (on this question, his answer may surprise you). EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [02:01] Isaac gives an overview of Mini Katana [03:17] Overview of Mini Katana's approach to YouTube organic [05:21] Mini Katana’s approach to generating first-party data [07:04] How Isaac got into organic social growth (Exploring his foolproof TikTok model) [09:11] Using Customer feedback to your advantage (iterate & innovate) [10:30] How Isaac solidified his cornerstone strategy for organic reach [13:55] Using TikTok for initial organic growth & pivoting to YouTube [16:30] Orchestrating a successful YouTube launch for your brand [19:53] Isaac shares his high-level tactics for growing on TikTok & YouTube [21:46] Isaac breaks down Mini Katana’s Team [24:28] Why Isaac's strategy isn't feasible for most brands (And what you should do instead) [29:02] What's next for Mini Katana? Places to follow up with Isaac: Follow Isaac on Twitter: www.twitter.com/theisaacmed Visit the Mini Katana Store: https://minikatana.com/ Visit the Mini Katana Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MiniKatanaStore Visit the Mini Katana TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mini.katana Mini Katana's Second TikTok video ever: https://www.tiktok.com/@mini.katana/video/6884345688302357766 Places to follow up with Andrew: Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Are you SURE you need that attribution tool you're paying for? I'm not. The closer I've looked at the performance of the brands that I work with, the more convinced I have become that third party attribution tools don't provide incremental insights at best and are overtly misleading at worst. Today on the show I make the case that you should carefully evaluate whether or not your attribution tool is actually providing you any value–and I'll tell you exactly how I do that with my clients. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [2:22] What is an attribution tool?  [4:33] Functions of attribution tools. [6:03] Rise of attribution tool as a result of iOS 14.5. [8:03] How to assign credits to ads. [10:13] You're bad at decision-making; machine learning isn't. [13:43] Why simple media mixes mean you don't need a tool. [16:51] Brands that may need attribution tools. [19:50] The relationship between consideration cycle & attribution. [22:39] 3 places to look instead of an attribution tool. [30:12] Is FB click attribution more accurate than attribution tools? [33:57] Why post-purchase surveys are useless. REFERENCES FROM THE EPISODE Taylor Holiday's "Never Turn Off An Ad" video. Twitter thread about attribution tools under-reporting revenue. Guide to UTMs for Meta Ads. Andrew's "Don't Diversify Your Ad Spend" episode: Spotify Andrew's "Don't Diversify Your Ad Spend" episode: Apple Podcasts PLACES TO FOLLOW UP WITH ANDREW Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Matt Bertulli has seen a lot: he's run a successful agency, raised venture money, and now runs two large and fast-growing ecom brands in Lomi and Pela Case. Which means he's thought a lot about how important it is to do at least one really important thing right: nail your customer experience. Matt joined me for a wide-ranging discussion on how to make sure you do that, how that creates value in your business, and how the visual design of Lomi creates ongoing value for the brand. Follow Matt on Twitter: @mbertulli Check out Lomi & Pela Case. Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means

Let's talk retention, but instead of pure methods and tactics, we're analyzing the "genetic" elements of high-retention brands and products. I've got 6 of them, and I put them in order of most important to least important. The good news? If these factors don't describe your brand or products particularly well, you're the one with the power to change them. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS [2:17] The category of your product [4:54] The customer & product experience [8:28] Product subscriptions [11:03] Sales & discounts [12:42] New product [14:40] Email & SMS Places to follow up with Andrew: Twitter: @andrewjfaris Email: podcast@ajfgrowth.com Work with me: www.ajfgrowth.com Music Intro: "Tell Me Mama" by The Devious Means Music Outro: "Rusty Little Scissors" by The Devious Means