Thursday, June 1

📦 Subscription sales are slowing

📰 TL;DR - Subscription-based e-commerce appears to be slowing down. According to this report, subscription sales will only increase by 5% in 2023. An increase nonetheless, but certainly slow compared to previous years. Unsurprisingly, subscriptions increased rapidly during the peak of COVID in 2020 and 2021, so the drop-off from that is also making the slowdown look more dramatic. In total, subscription e-comm is about 3% of total e-comm sales.

💡 Insight - This shouldn’t exactly be shocking news. Everything e-comm shot way up over COVID, and now everything is trending down. I wouldn’t take this as an indication not to offer subscriptions, in fact, I’ve seen data indicating the opposite. Rather, I think the takeaway here is that subscriptions should be offered only when they most make sense. Things like food products, skincare, or pet supplies are used regularly and need to be replenished regularly, and I still see consumers opting into subscriptions, at least some of the time, for categories like those. Shopify has also leaned into bolstering subscription tech, so no harm in offering it.

➡️You can read the article here...

🔥 How to fix your funnel and increase ROAS

📰 TL;DR - Is your ad spend going down the drain? Fix your funnel with ConvertFlow. Their all-in-one funnel builder helps you optimize your website for conversions, AOV, and LTV.

💡 Insight - Post-iOS 14 and the gradual death of third-party cookies, you can no longer rely solely on traditional ad platforms like Meta and Google for growth. To succeed in e-commerce, you need to optimize your website for conversions, AOV, and LTV. ConvertFlow’s all-in-one funnel builder helps you fix your funnel and stop leaks, so you can maximize your ROAS.

➡️ With personalized shopping experiences, you'll turn more visitors into customers and grow your revenue. Plus, with one month free on all plans you can try ConvertFlow risk-free. Visit here.

📲 3 reasons to launch an app

📰 TL;DR - Ashvin Melwani over at wellness brand Obvi tweeted a thread about why he absolutely doesn’t regret launching an app — despite initial hesitation. He says the app has a higher conversion rate compared to web, double the LTV, and 10% higher AOV. That’s big! “ I never thought building an app could have the impact it has had on our business — which is why we were very hesitant with building it in the first place,” he says. “But after having done it — I can confidently say that it’s been invaluable.”

💡 Insight - With the continued rise in mobile shopping, building an app should be on your business bucket list. Those numbers prove it! But it’s also worth noting that building an app is no small venture — it takes money, tech support, and your valuable time and energy. There’s a reason brands usually wait until they’ve built momentum through web sales to launch an app. That being said, Temu for example launched in the US specifically with an app. If you’re a little guy, an app might not be the right call, but if you’ve already scaled up, it’s worth looking into.

➡️You can read the tweets here...

🤖 How customers feel about AI

📰 TL;DR - Shoppers aren’t too hot about AI for customer service, or so they think. A new survey finds 9 in 10 people prefer humans to AI for customer service, saying that humans are simply better at the job. Funny enough, they’re also split on when they can tell they’re talking to AI, with 54% sure they know when a chatbot is AI. Younger people are more likely to say they can tell. However, 59% are also perfectly comfortable using AI for something simple like processing a return.

💡 Insight - I think this needs a grain of salt. I can definitely see wanting a human for something more urgent and complex, like some kind of last-minute situation with an airline. But, for e-comm, I think what people want more than anything is service that is fast and efficient. And you know what can deliver that? An AI chatbot. I truly think even older shoppers are happy to interact with a little robot fella if it means they can find out where their order is now instead of in a few hours.

➡️You can read the article here...

🛠️ Things worth checking out

🍎 INSTACHAT - Instacart is rolling out a ChatGPT-powered search tool for natural language interactions. Read here.

🍳 FOOD AND BEV - Investment for food and bev brands is plummeting, but then again, what isn’t? Read here.

🤔 CHATBOTS STRATEGIES - Looking to implement AI chatbots? Here are three strategies.

🧺 LAUNDRY IS HOT - More brands are expanding their wellness and home care lines into laundry. Read here.

🎯 INSTAGRAM - Here’s a handy guide for zeroing in on your target audience on Instagram.

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