Ecommerce Conversations
Practical Ecommerce
Ecommerce Conversations is the long-running weekly podcast from Practical Ecommerce, hosted by ecommerce entrepreneur Eric Bandholz. •• Listen in as Eric interviews in-the-trenches founders and executives who address the essentials of launching, growing, and sustaining an online business. Hear their successes, mistakes, and plans — addressing customer acquisition, web traffic, marketing tactics, on-site conversion, shipping, favorite tools, funding, obstacles, and much more. •• New episodes every Friday. Subscribe to the podcast here, and then read a condensed transcript at https://www.PracticalEcommerce.com/tag/podcasts.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Jan 8, 2021 • 31min
Entrepreneur's Hair Products Empower Black Women
In 2012 Vivian Kaye was a successful wedding decorator. But she had a problem. The climate in Toronto, Canada, was brutal on her hair. Kaye's solution was hair extensions, which were easy and attractive. Fast forward to 2021, and KinkyCurlyYaki, Kaye's company, sells hair extensions, wigs, and more — all to empower Black women with confidence and beauty.
Dec 18, 2020 • 30min
Entrepreneur's Page-builder Tools Attract Outside Equity, 100 Employees
Finbarr Taylor moved to the U.S. with a goal. "I moved from Scotland to Silicon Valley nine years ago with the express intent of starting a tech company," he said. "I'm doing it, and I'm having the time of my life. I'm in no rush to stop." Taylor's tech company is Shogun, which provides innovative page-builder tools that enhance ecommerce sites. He is co-founder and CEO.
Dec 11, 2020 • 30min
Gym Owner Shifts to Online Weight Training (and Thrives)
Perhaps no industry has been more disrupted by the internet than education. Online training is booming — from 1-hour courses to college degrees. Take Barbell Logic, for example. It provides one-on-one strength and conditioning training, entirely web-based. Matt Reynolds founded the company in 2016.
Dec 4, 2020 • 35min
Agency CEO: Adopt an 'Abundance Mentality'
Online selling is increasingly competitive, forcing merchants to selfish and shortsighted decisions. That's according to Corey Blake, CEO of MWI, a digital marketing agency. "When we have a scarcity outlook with shortsightedness," he told me, "We're scraping and clawing to keep it all. A better approach is an abundance mentality."
Nov 27, 2020 • 33min
Kuru, a DTC Shoe Brand, Solves a Pain
Selling shoes online is notoriously competitive. Zappos, Amazon, big-box retailers, shoe brands — all are vying for a share of the consumer footwear market. Nonetheless, Sean McGinnis's employer, Kuru, is thriving by focusing on foot pain.
Nov 20, 2020 • 36min
Beardbrand's Technology Stack: Platforms, Apps, Services
An ecommerce company is a collection of platforms, apps, and service providers. That's certainly the case with Beardbrand, the company I launched in 2012. James Wilson is Beardbrand's growth marketing manager. I asked James to describe our technology stack, hoping that the decisions we've made (good and bad) can help other merchants.
Nov 13, 2020 • 30min
ABF Creative, a Podcast Network, Is 'More Than a Business'
The mission of Anthony Frasier's company, ABF Creative, is to broadcast voices and stories from the African American community. He launched the company in 2016 from his hometown of Newark, New Jersey, having founded a tech conference and authored a book. To Frasier, ABF is much more than a business.
Nov 6, 2020 • 30min
Turn Off Your Phone, Says Agency Founder
Most entrepreneurs in 2020 are uber connected: phone, text, email, Slack — you name it. But to Arri Bagah, the founder of Conversmart, an ecommerce agency, always-on connections means non-stop interruptions. "It's a matter of taking control of my time — trying to be less reactive and more active," he told me. "Receiving all of those notifications prompts you to react."
Oct 30, 2020 • 34min
CopySmiths Founder on Content Marketing by the Numbers
Kat McKinnon's agency, CopySmiths, produces hundreds of blog posts per month for, mainly, ecommerce clients. She's developed a formula of sorts for getting those posts ranked in Google's search results. "You need between 1,000 and 1,500 words for a blog article," she told me. "Definitely not 600. Avoid 800, unless you're literally just answering a short question. You need a heading that includes a keyword. You need three to four subheadings, H2s. And then within those H2s, you need three to four H3s. H3s are very important."
Oct 23, 2020 • 31min
Manual Texts Recover 21 Percent of Abandoned Carts, Says LiveRecover Founder
Dennis Hegstad believes the best way to recover abandoned carts is via text messages. But his messages are not automated or bot-driven. Hegstad's company, LiveRecover, sends one-to-one texts from a real person to folks who have left an ecommerce checkout process without completing a purchase."It's peer-to-peer texting," he told me. "We'll send messages from a real person. It's not a drip campaign. About 55 percent get replies. Our total recovery rate on average is about 21 percent, which is really good."
