Monday, July 31

#1 - 📦 Subscriptions are in their retention era

📰 TL;DR - A new survey of e-commerce subscriptions shows that brands are heavily focused on customer retention right now, rather than customer acquisition. The report from Chargebee found that 87% of businesses surveyed said retention was their top priority. The majority also said they believe that when customers cancel, there is a way to fix or manage it. Although another chunk had trouble identifying reasons for cancellations. Overall, churn is a huge concern.

💡 Insight - It’s really important to have an exit survey for any subscription product. If someone cancels, you need to ask why. One of the reasons I’ve canceled subscriptions before is that I was simply receiving too much product too frequently — so even before that survey, you can try offering customers a smaller subscription or less frequent delivery. Always give options before allowing a cancellation, you might be able to resolve the issue immediately. There also seems to be some fatigue with non-essential subscription products — things like household essentials are less prone to churn. Just ask my very long Pretty Litter subscription.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#2 - 🚨 E-commerce event for marketers, creators, and founders

Announcing OWN IT, the must-attend e-commerce event of the summer for marketers, creators, and founders at companies of all sizes — brought to you by Klaviyo.

The 3-day speaker lineup includes:

• Ty Haney, founder of Outdoor Voices tells her story about ownership and how to create super fans.

• Kim Kreuzberger, CEO of Cravings by Chrissy Teigen reveals how to keep customers coming back

• Cody Plofker, CMO of Jones Road Beauty teaches how to figure out the right acquisition channels for your brand.

• Nik Sharma + Moiz Ali of the Limited Supply podcast sit down with Kyle Cooke, founder of Loverboy to hear how he’s built a beloved alcohol brand in a notoriously traditional industry

Taking place August 15 - 17!

Don’t miss out. Register today!

📣 If you want to reach our audience of 10,000+ DTC store owners, tap here 

#3 - 🧶 Etsy’s reserve program is failing sellers

📰 TL;DR - Etsy has implemented a system that places a portion of sales income in a reserve fund. They say it’s to prevent fraud and make returns/refunds easier, but it’s frustrating the hell out of sellers. Rather than getting to access their funds, they sit in an untouchable reserve while fees pile up. The reserve can be triggered by having a sudden influx of orders, or being a new seller, or other reasons. If it happens, it appears you’re just stuck with it. This report found that it seems to happen more to people who ship without tracking info.

💡 Insight - It’s totally understandable that Etsy wants to have some protections from scam sellers, but under their system they’re just punishing small businesses. Sometimes I think Etsy forgets a lot of their sellers are small operations selling handmade goods — not dropshippers and established brands. One seller had $3,000 in reserve — that’s rent and groceries! For their part, Etsy said only 2% of sellers have a reserve fund. And good luck if you’re trying to hit Star status.

➡️ You can read the article here...

#4 - 🛠️ Things worth checking out

💸 PAYROLL - Claim your ERTC benefits! Lendio helps businesses to recover credits for 2020 and 2021 payroll losses. Up to $26,000 per employee. Get started for free.

💡 CUSTOMERS - Here’s a novel idea — hire your best customer! This brand did.

📆 EVENTS - Here’s a roundup of e-commerce conferences coming up for the rest of the year.

👀 SNBL - You’ve heard of buy now pay later, but what about save now buy later? Read about it here.

✏️ BTS - Here are some stats about how back to school shopping is going to play out this year.

#5 - 🚫 The 2 biggest product mistakes Amazon sellers make

📰 TL;DR - This article talks to an Amazon expert about the mistakes sellers make when choosing what products to sell. The expert, the co-founder of product sourcing company 330 Trading, said it’s these: trying too hard to create a unique product without actually testing if it’ll be successful, and expanding your products too fast. Rather, he suggests starting with something that has a proven track record. Do your research (there are places that specialize in this, like Jungle Scout) and see what your competition is up to.

💡 Insight - This is certainly sound advice and for people who look at Amazon as a make-money venture, this makes sense. Developing a new product takes a lot of time, money, and testing, and that makes it a hard place to start from. I think that’s why so many successful DTC entrepreneurs actually started as dropshippers or by making an already-popular product to learn the tricks of the trade. It’s an excellent way to learn the ins and outs of e-commerce, from marketing, to writing descriptions, to making a TikTok. If you have an amazing e-commerce idea but have never sold a thing, that’s a good place to start.

➡️ You can read the article here...