Today, customers live in a complex buying world. They can purchase in traditional brick-and-mortar shops, as well as online, via social media, phone, etc. This allows a potential customers to make a purchase almost anywhere or anytime - but for shop owners trying to reach these customers, it means more distractions and new thinking in how to reach these potential shoppers.

This is where multi-touch communication comes into play. Multi-touch communication is reaching out to your customers via a coordinated campaign in different marketing types, like mail, email, ads or newer strategies like text messaging.

Why Multi-touch Marketing?
With a multi-touch campaign, you’re able to boost effectiveness by getting your message across several different ways at once. A good example is to start with a postcard promoting your brand or message and then sending out the same message via Text, Push Notification, or Email.

All three channels serve their own purposes, and when you are deciding on how to engage with your audience properly, there are pros and cons of each.

New Wave of Multi-touch Consumer Communications
Emails are great for sending out long messages (e.g., account details, full product descriptions, etc.). However, they’ve become common place and many consumers now ignore them. For example, research shows that 98% of all text messages are opened as opposed to 22% of emails.

This leads to the question, what outreach types are most effective in actually being read by your customer and leading to engagement or purchase.

A multi-touch medium like SMS will work whether or not your customer has a smartphone; it allows you to reach pretty much everyone who has a phone. SMS remains a fantastic medium for staying top-of-mind for your audience, leading to the evolution of business communications.

How to Do It Well?
Compared to other marketing channels, SMS marketing is one of the best customer engagement tools.

To get started, you need contacts and phone numbers. You also need to use a platform like SMSBump that will give you the ability to set up text campaigns and walk you through the steps necessary to be effective. You also need consent to send those your text messages, which differs based on where you’re located. Make sure you get consent, otherwise, sending text messages is considered spam and you will get in trouble for it!

Using Text/SMS to Engage with your customers - Step By Step w/ SMSBump

Let’s walk through how to set up an effective text campaign with SMSBump.

What is SMSBump?
SMSBump allows you to send texts to prospects who haven’t bought anything from you in a while, send discount codes, coupons, and even abandoned cart reminder texts.

You can use SMSBump in many ways, and we’ve already mentioned a few in the beginning. For instance, shareable links and SMS keywords allow for:

• Sharing via social media campaigns to drive text sign-up
• Keywords can be tied to coupons/campaigns to encourage users and purchases (incentivized purchases/text sign-ups)

To run successful text-based marketing, however, you must utilize three of the most effective tactics available at your disposal.

1. Creating Pop-Ups to Drive SMS Sign-Up
   Popup signup forms help you grow your contacts and receive approval from prospects to send them text messages that boost sales and consumer retention.

Once you have an SMSBump account, simply head over to SMSBump Dashboard > Subscription Form, select the popup form type, and enter the form editor. Here, you can customize your sign-up popup form for collecting contact numbers in different pages across your website.

You can customize your form text, appearance, the confirmation SMS, and each additional field you want. Furthermore, you can customize the pop-up behavior, which is unique for this sort of signup form in SMSBump.

For example, you can create an exit-intent popup that’s triggered whenever a user goes for leaving your store. You can pair this with a targeted popup that is specific for each category in order to make your offer personalized as per your customers’ interests.

Here’s how you can achieve this:

• First, you need to Enable the Set Delay feature and check the “Show when a visitor is exiting the page” option.
• Next, set the Frequency as per your requirement.
• Finally, select “Show on specific URLs” and paste the link of your desired webpage where you’d like the exit-intent popup to display.

It’s relevant, attention grabbing, and actionable.

2. Create Effective Text Messages
   With the help of Strength Meter, you can now craft more engaging text messages. It gives you guidelines on how to enhance your SMS by adding basic details like your store name, an opt-out option, a discount, etc.

Here’s how it works:

First, head over to Text Marketing from the SMSBump side menu and create a new message. When you scroll down to the text field, you’ll find the Message Strength meter right underneath.

Now, type in your message, add your brand name (SiteName), add your URL (collection, product, home, or landing page), add discounts (more into this later), and add an opt-out option. Make sure your meter strength is medium or powerful as the screenshot below shows.

As you can see, with the help of SMSBump’s Strength Meter, you can easily master the art of text messaging to bring higher ROI in no time.

3. Add Discounts In Your SMS Marketing Campaign
   SMSBump offers you three different types of discounts:

• Fixed amount
• Percentage
• Free shipping

Choose the discount type suitable for your promotion. While crafting a compelling text message, you’ll come across the discount option as explained above. Once you click on it, it will display the discount types. Select it, and make sure to check the “Unique code per client” box.

If you select the “Same discount for all clients” option, you’ll be able to set a standard discount for all your customers. If you don’t have predefined discounts, then you need to create one. Just head over to Discounts > Create discount code from the Shopify menu. Now, set the code, choose the type and value, and save your discount code at the bottom.

Once you’re done, check the “Embed the discount code in a link” option and hit the Add discount code button.

Tip: Consider including the discount code field in your actual message. This will boost your discount visibility and make it easier for customers to shop once they’ve received your text on a different device.

Finally, click the Review and Send Campaign button to send out your campaign. If you want to change some stuff, hit the Edit button next to your campaign overview. You can further track your discounts by visiting the Discounts page on Shopify. Here, you’ll find information regarding:

• Discount type
• What it applies to
• Usage limits
• Start and End Date of your discount campaign

Wrapping Up

Multi-touch communication is now considered one of the most actionable ways to boost brand awareness and generate more sales. With practice, it can be a great way to determine which marketing tactics will gradually yield the highest response.

As you can see, multi-touch marketing has become today’s norm. So, your next step should be to explore the available tools like SMS, and services like SMSBump to help you thrive and collect leads of the highest value.

If you found this article helpful, make sure to share it with your friends. Also, let us know if you have any queries or suggestions concerning multi-touch communication for increased sales and text-based marketing in the comments below.

Whether we realize it or not, social proof affects us all.

Imagine this: You’re invited to a fancy party. It’s the day of, what are you thinking about?

Most likely, you’re thinking through the party in your head. You’re wondering what to wear, when to show up, who is going to be there, etc.

You don’t want to be the first to show up, that would be awkward. But you don’t want to be the last to show up, you might miss people and the host might think you’re being rude.

You don’t want to be overdressed, then you’d stand out as “that girl or that guy”. You also don’t want to be underdressed - else everyone will look at you and wonder what you were thinking.

All these decisions have social implications, and although we’re unlikely to admit it, most of us want to fit in and be part of a group. We base decisions depending on others’ influences or perform actions based on commonly-accepted behavior.

This sort of human condition is very natural, and it applies to even consumer behavior for buying decisions. Simply put, we are influenced by what others do, and what others think. This also applies to making purchase decisions.

As a business owner, you’re probably thinking to yourself, “how can I harness this phenomenon to generate growth and boost my revenues?” Well, the answer is pretty simple: Social Proof.

The marketing landscape has changed dramatically over the last few years. From new, innovative technologies to increased customer skepticism, change is inevitable. It’s important to note that effective marketing strategies and customer buying habits are now much different than what they used to be.

In this article, we’re going to take a deep dive into social proof and show you how you can use them on your site to help to increase conversions.

Social Proof: What Is It?
Social proof is the psychological and social phenomenon that human behavior is impacted by the influence of the attitudes, beliefs, and actions of other people, be it online or in-person.

While positive social proof can influence someone to buy a new product or trust a certain company, the negative proof has the opposite impact. For instance, an empty restaurant at 8 pm on a Friday night makes us think perhaps the food isn’t that great. Or, the line wrapping around a nightclub makes us assume it’s a cool place to hang out with friends.

In the context of online notifications - Social Proof Notifications are a quick way to show the visitors on your site real activity and build urgency to purchase your products or sign up for your service. For example, if you see a “this product purchased” number that’s quickly going up in the corner of your screen, displaying those who bought a product you’re considering - it may make you think, “Maybe I should buy as well!”

We often don’t realize how our decisions are impacted by social proof. It’s something we gloss over seemingly. However, that’s exactly why it can be a powerful conversion tool.

The 6 Major Categories of Social Proof

We take a slightly different approach in how we segment social proof - we think about how different types of entities (people or authority figures) might provide different types of social proof:

• Consumers — social proof from your existing users or customers (e.g., case studies or testimonials). Studies show that the more similar someone is to us, the more weight they have in influencing us.
• Celebrities — social proof from influencers or celebrities (e.g., influencers who have purchased from you or visited your establishment). Often times, we make aspirational purchases (purchases that reflect the life we want to live not the life we actually live, because of influence from celebrities.
• Experts — social proof from credible experts in your industry (e.g., esteemed experts who have authority on the industry or product/servie you’re selling).
• Crowds — large numbers of users who provide social proof (e.g., “100,000+ websites use the XYZ social proof app to increase conversions). Humans are conditioned o follow the wisdom of crowds - if 100k people do something, it must be good/right.
• Friends — those who are friends of your site visitors or users (e.g., “100 of your friends like the XYZ Social Proof Software”).
• Certifications — a credible, third-party entity that certifies a rating based on some sort of predefined standard or metric (e.g., “USDA Certified Organic”) that guarantees a minimum quality.

So, now that you know the major types of social proof let’s show you different examples of social proof that boost your website conversions.

Social Proof Examples: What Are the Benefits and How to Boost Conversions Using Social Proof In 2019?

The question isn’t whether social proof will help increase conversions or not, but rather which tactics will you choose to leverage?

Below are some of the best social proof examples you can follow to boost conversions and grow your sales. Without further ado, let’s get started!

1. Recent Activity Notifications

More and more websites are starting to see the value of tools that allow for verified, real-time conversion updates. What these tools do is alert your visitors that other users like them came to your website and actually followed through and bought something. This type of social proof is invaluable.

For instance, ProofFactor’s (that’s us! We use ourselves as an example for obvious reasons, but there are many other options out there!) client 402andBeyond saw a noticeable increase in conversions after installing their Recent Activity notification. You can see how they mention “Jenn from Ashland, NE” just bought a black hood top below.

You immediately start thinking who this Jenn person could be, and when the Notification reloads every few seconds, it includes a badge of popularity to the website.

This sort of social proof popup is very common nowadays—companies like McDonald’s deploy the same conversion increasing methods in the real world.

For years they’ve updated their marquees to display the number of people they’ve served. When the company passed “99 billion,” they quickly moved on to “Billions and Billions.” These consumer updates aren’t quite of the real-time variety. However, they achieve the same end—alerting potential clients that this is a trusted brand preferred by many people.

2. Live Visitor Count

Showing the real-time stats of how many users are currently viewing the web page, or how many consumers are purchasing isn’t only an effective form of social proof, but it also adds urgency into the mix.

You can use a social proof tool like us (ProofFactor) allow you to display live visitor counts in a small yet attention-grabbing popup - allowing you to trigger the power of crowds as social proof!

3. Ratings and Reviews

Did you know that 63% of customers indicate they’re more likely to buy from a website if it has product reviews and ratings?

You should be using reviews and ratings to boost conversions on your product pages, especially if you have an eCommerce shop.

Amazon has built this as a key feature of their shopping pages - and I don’t know anyone that doesn’t at first glance at the reviews before making a purchase? Amazon focuses on have tons of reviews for products they sell on their website and displays them in a way that features a breakdown of all the ratings.

User reviews are everywhere on the internet as they are a great form of social proof. The vast majority of customers check reviews before purchasing things online, and they trust the accuracy of the ratings overwhelmingly.

4. In-Line Urgency Notifications

Ever been in the process of booking a flight? If so, you might have noticed a subtle yet actionable tool that airlines use to encourage people to make a quick purchase. As you slowly progress through the checkout, the website will alert you if there are any limited number of seats available on the plane.

As you can see, United Airlines is using “3 seats left” and “1 seat left” as social proof notifications that the flight you are looking at is a popular one. This prompts action on behalf of the user.

Similarly, when you seek out an item, and the inventory is reducing on eBay, you will see an in-line social proof notification right above the number of users watching the item.

5. Testimonials

Customer testimonials are probably the most commonly used form of social proof. According to research, 92% of users will trust recommendations from a peer, and 70% of prospects will trust a reference from someone who they don’t even know.

This is the reason why most big brands display customer testimonials on their site.

Testimonials can be displayed in several different formats as long as they highlight your product value through the voices of satisfied consumers.

6. Celebrity Endorsements

Celebrities and popular industry experts are great resources in terms of establishing authority, as well as proving your value.

Depending on your business, celebrity approval can come in the form of natural or paid endorsements. The latter would refer to formal contracts where you pay a public figure to represent your brand. Big corporations like Apple and Beats by Dre have been doing this for years.

Natural celebrity endorsement refers to instances where an individual approves of your product or brand publicly on their own volition. For instance, WPBeginner videos highlight some of the best industry experts who recommend free WordPress video training.

7. Media Mentions

Has your brand or product ever been mentioned in the media?

This includes magazine features, TV segments, podcast interviews, or unsolicited reviews. If possible, consider taking excerpts from these media mentions and paste them on your site to build authority. This is exactly what Freshbooks does on their homepage.

Another great example of quoting press mentions could be seen by Markhor, a top-notch leather shoes maker.

8. Case Studies

Case studies might be formal in nature but are often used to provide high authority social proof. Further referred to as long-form social proof, case studies leverage the scheme that consumers perceive long, in-depth reviews as being more reputable compared to brief excerpts.

Shopify, a well-known eCommerce software on the internet, highlights its consumer success stories as long-form case studies.

9. Trust Seals

By incorporating trust seals on your site’s checkout page, you can drastically increase your sales. For example, Blue Fountain Media did a split-test, and the result was shocking! They found that including a Verisign trust seal increased their conversions by 42%.

There are many security seals you can add on your website like McAfee, Norton, Better Business Bureau, etc. A study conducted by the Baymard Institute showed which seals consumers trust more.

10. Consumer Base

One incredible pervasive and effective social proof method is the use of client logos to prove positive adoption.

By displaying your existing customer base to the visitors, you’re essentially telling them that your offering is good enough for successful brands to use; thus, it must be good for them as well.

Basecamp does an excellent job of this by displaying the number of brands that signed up last week, along with the big name brands that are using their platform.

11. Certifications and Badges

If your company has certain industry accreditations or certifications, you can proudly showcase these qualifications on your site.

Most certifying and accrediting businesses have logos or badges that can be displayed freely on your site. Some have even been proven to boost conversion rates by up to 30%.

Pagely is a leading managed WordPress hosting provider that showcases an Amazon Web Services Partner Badge in their site header.

12. Platform Integrations

If your product integrates with third-party services, an excellent social proof you can implement is the logos of your integration partners. Doing this will help you put your product or service in the company of credible and familiar businesses.

Baremetrics does it well in their header by stating they are an analytics and insights platform for the top-tier payment platform Stripe.

Including third-party platform integration logos is probably the easiest way to borrow social credibility.

13. User/Customer/Subscriber Count

Your user, customer, or subscriber count is another valuable stats that brings credibility to your business.

A perfect example would be Akismet. It’s a popular comment spam filter that highlights they block over 7.5 million spam comments per hour.

We do the same thing on our website - showing how many notifications we show on behalf of our clients and how many emails we helped them collect.

14. Test Scores

Test scores from a third-party, independent source can be very helpful for easing a consumer’s concerns.

For instance, Google’s “Trusted Store” card provides a score based on criteria which are crucial to shoppers in advance of making a purchase.

15. Social Media Proof

As social media continues to become more mainstream, companies are utilizing social media statuses as “social proof” by displaying what their consumers are saying about them.

It simply doesn’t get more authentic than this. A popular email marketing service called Campaign Monitor displays tweet testimonials in their website footer.

16. Best Seller

Simply displaying consumers which product is your “best seller” works to boost conversions on that specific product. A customer who’s thinking about buying may be on the fence. However, when they see that it’s a best seller item, they’ll be much more likely to make the buying decision.

This is why Amazon calls out its best seller products with an attractive “#1 Best Seller” banner.

17. Number of Orders

Sharing how many orders you have had, or how many times your products have been sold can make a significant difference in generating even more sales.

A great example would be GoodReads. A book written by Dale Carnegie has an eye-catchy product description where they share the fact that over 15 million copies of the book have been sold.

18. Customer Recommendations

A powerful way to leverage your existing consumers for social proof is by surveying them, and then showing the percentage of users who would purchase your product again.

NakedWines does this perfectly by asking consumers who bought a bottle of wine to smash a rating and state whether or not they’d buy it again, and then calculating the overall percentage.

Here’s a nice touch: The copy next to the product image says that 89% of those who have tried the product will buy it again, and the company doesn’t blame them for doing so.

19. “Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought...”

Similar to “Best Seller,” you can also show users similar products that your consumers bought along with the ones they’re currently viewing.

This isn’t just a strategy for cross-selling your items—it’s a form of social proof that explicitly indicates that other people are also buying your products.

20. Ambassadors

To leverage your customer reviews better, you can let them create a profile and become ambassadors of your business. This shows customers that your product is so authentic that people not only love it, but they also promote it.

Sweaty Betty is a fitness apparel brand that calls out its ambassadors on each of their product pages right under the “Product Review” section.

21. Popular Posts or Products

Showcasing your popular products or posts proves that other people are highly interested in them. So, why not place those products in a prominent place on your site?

John Lewis boasts a particular section for their top sellers on the website’s homepage.

This is great, especially for those who are looking to purchase a gift for a loved one but aren’t quite sure what to buy.

22. Customer Showcase

Customers love to be featured, so why not feature your loyal, happy customers as social proof?

With a consumer showcase, you can showcase your clients’ styles, creations, and whatever they have been able to do by purchasing your product.

For instance, Modcloth has an amazing style gallery where they allow users to post photos of themselves wearing their products.

This is, in fact, more powerful than hiring professional models. Why? Well, after all, if their clothes can make real customers look this stunning, then surely they’ll look great on pretty much anyone!
The future of Social Proof
Social proof has been around for centuries, and it’s not going anywhere. The use of social proof is on the horizon, and for a good reason. It just works!

On top of that, Nielsen studies show that recommendations from our friends and family are the most reliable source of advertising, and two-thirds of people take the reviews they read online seriously.

If your mission is to take your digital marketing to the next level, it’s crucial to establish customer trust by using social proof, and the examples mentioned above should provide you with plenty of inspiration.

Welcome to ProofFactor's Entrepreneur Interviews - We've taken ProofFactor clients who are building business from the ground up and ask them the hard questions. Watch the video or read the transcript below to learn how to successfully navigate the challenges of starting a business.

Takeaways:

• Build a community - Social media is not an end all, be all - a community will help you thrive
• Face to Face still makes an impact - spend the time and energy to meet and talk to people
• You've been coached all of your life - why stop just because you're working. Find someone to help keep you motiavated.

John, thanks for joining us on ProofFactor's weekly podcast on entrepreneurship. We want to learn a little bit about what you're doing, what you're working on, and why don't you give us a little background and talk about what you're working on.

John: Sure, thanks for having me on here Val, it's kinda come full circle... I interviewed you a couple of months ago about hustle porn, which is a favorite new word, that I'm sharing with everyone and now here we are... Yeah, so I'm a professional speaker, author, and executive coach, and I work mostly with people to improve the team and improve their mindset. You being in the tech space, I think our mindset and how we lead is really the software that drives the hardware for us, and also the people we lead.

Tell us about how you got involved in that, what brought you to work on this?

John: It's an interesting career transition kind of a second career for me if you will. I was a college lacrosse coach for 12 years, I coached minor sport at small college level. And this is how you know, it's become a big business, when coaches are getting fired at a small college level, in minor sports... I was fired in 2004 on my birthday for not winning a National Championship. We had gone to the NCAA Final Four, two years prior, we had all Americans, academic All-Americans a road scholar candidate, the nationally ranked in top 10 each year. It just completely blind-sided us and I was probably due for change, I was kind of burning out. The change wasn't necessarily my idea. My boss fired me on my birthday and I kinda look at that as he didn't really give me a present, but he did give me a gift, and that was a gift of me kind of having an opportunity to recalibrate reinvent myself. And I look at that day. June 14th, 2004 really is the day I became an entrepreneur.

So I worked at broadcasting for ESPN Radio and I started writing and speaking out on my own and then a couple of years later, I made the break from broadcasting and became a "solepreneur."

Got it, very cooL! So tell us a little bit about what went into getting started on this, and I know you had the website, coaching groups, how did you start talking to potential clients, to help with the coaching? What was the process there?

John: Yeah, it's a great question because I think there's a common thread that we find with all people at various points in their life, but the common thread "being we go through life, K12 then typically for many four years of college". So you're looking at 17 years that you've had a significant mentor. If played a sport you've had some coaches. You've had a lot of mentoring, and a lot of leaders, coaching you. If you look up the word coach in the dictionary, the definition for coach and teach, are identical, and it's to provide instruction.

So we have this structure and this form of mentoring, formal and informal for all of our formative years. And then, we graduated. We get put out into the workforce and sink or swim. There is typically no formal or significant mentor or coach, in your life.

And I just found that a lot of my clients tend to be very type A personalities, hard-charging in leadership roles. Many who were former athletes, whether it's high school athlete, college athlete, professional athlete, whatever it may be, and that missing structure in their life, in business, is not having a coach. You look at the best of the best, whether it's Tiger Woods, Roger Federer, Michael Jordan, all these guys, they didn't just have a coach, they wanted a coach. These are people at the top of their game, the top of their profession, but they were smart enough and self-aware enough to realize that they can't see the picture, when they're trapped inside the frame, and they need an outside perspective who can help them if not get to another level they didn't know existed, at least stay on top of their game. That's really kinda where I come into the picture with most of my clients.

**That totally makes sense. I look back in my history, I was pretty active, mostly in a high school frankly, on a sports team and I'd say fairly competitive on a state level. I look back at the coaching that I had, and frankly, a lot of them were really formative to compete at the level of compeating at... And I look back and even just a lot on life, a lot of the lessons I learned from them, I still apply today, and I have mentors now, that I consider on the business side, but it's not the same thing.

And now having a coach would be actually really, really beneficial.

What I'm curious about is when you made that transition, how was the coaching within a business context, different then coaching in an athletic context...**

John: It's surprisingly similar. I get a lot of "REALLY"... People are shocked when I say that but I think fundamentals are fundamentals on anything, the fundamentals in anyone that performs at a high level and enjoys what they do. There are certain fundamentals, there's a certain mindset, routines performance rituals, whatever the case may be. And I like to say when people ask me this question or just kind of how different is your second career? Yeah, I just say I'm still coaching, I'm still recruiting, it's just my recruits are different and my office is a little different; working with corporate athletes. The only thing that really changes is the setting or the environment that you're working in, but leadership is leadership, and that's really how I got started in this career, and when I wrote my first book, it's called "The Coach Approach: Success Strategies from the Locker Room to the Board Room". And it's amazing, the parallels, and it isn't until you get out and you're kind of preaching the gospel and spread the word, whether it's speaking or writing, that people can start to connect those dots. Especially if they haven't been an athlete or competed anything at a high level, it's just kind of foreign territory to them and you take the unfamiliar and you make it familiar for them.

If you're a CEO of a company, you're leading a team, if you're a college coach, you're a captain of a team, your manager of a professional sports franchise, you're leading a team. Those fundamentals aren't different. You've got to develop some chemistry; Team morale is important. Just so many parallels. That's a whole episode in of itself.

I believe it, I believe it. So when you got started you, you were doing the broadcast on ESPN, you wrote your first book, but once you got that first book out, did you find that people were coming and asking [to work with you] or was it more of like recruiting process where you were trying to identify people that you thought had high potential, and maybe needed a little extra help?

John: Yeah, I think it's a little bit of both. Writing a book is some of the best expert positioning that anyone in any industry could possibly ask for. The word "authority" literally, the first half of that word contains the word author.

So writing a book really was a way for me to showcase my process, give people a sneak peak into what it's like to work with me, how I coach, what they can expect, and just sort of the principles that I live and work by.

I think everyone's life well-lived is worth being well-written about and everyone who's done anything significant ought to be writing a book.

So let's flip the script a little bit. One of the things that you do, is you help others think about their goals for the future what they're trying to accomplish? What are your goals what are you trying to accomplish?

John: So I think since I got into this business in 2008, the business has changed dramatically, and everyone thinks, "Well my business is different, I work in the tech space, it's totally different than any other industry" or "I'm an author that's completely different than any other field that you could work in." And that's a fallacy and the way I look at my business is I'm performer no different than musician, entertainer, and everything we do, no matter what business you're in, it's a performance. If you have a public facing brand, and you have customers, they wanna be intrigued, they wanna be entertained, you have to entertain them well before you can ever educate them on anything, that's just reality.

But things have really changed since I got into writing in 2008. And what I mean by that is... And how industries aren't all that different, the publishing industry really mirrors the film industry and the music industry. The playing field has been leveled. There's no gatekeeper, independent artists can get their music on Spotify as easily as Taylor Swift with the record label. An independent self-published author can get his her books out there on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Books A Million, every platform as easily as Stephen King... With that there's a lot of clutter in the marketplace... You're competing when you launch a book with roughly 60,000 other books that are released that very same week.

So how do you cut through the clutter is the key to it.

And that's changed a lot. So one of the changes and I've had to evolve or perish, one of the changes I've made as opposed to writing a full length book, what I'm doing is what a lot of musicians are doing right now. They're not releasing albums they're releasing singles. And they may release a single with a new video, every single month at the end of the year people can buy it as a bundle in the form of an album.

So what I find myself doing is I'm not gonna release a book a month that would be exhausting but I am releasing a small book each quarter for the remainder of 2019 and into 2020, that's how we consume things. Our attention spans have changed, but if we're interested, we'll binge watch something on Netflix.

But what we want is just a small taste first, and then we want the choice to choose to continue to consume more of it, right? So that's kind of the way I approach my work this year and next is bite-sized pieces that are easily digestible, but also still have great value, and solve a problem for people.

Yeah, got it. And you see the same pattern in the late night TV shows. We had people like Jimmy Kimmel and Colbert and all that stuff. They're over YouTube and now, people just watch the small little clip that they find funny as opposed to sitting down and watching, the 45 minutes, hour of their whole interview series. And that's actually been a very deliberate strategy that I've read about and how they're transitioning, over to really have this new cultures change, a little bit where one wants that little snippet of what's good, what's interesting just to meet and it like it's the same in publishing as well, so that's very, very interesting.

John: Yeah, I think the success leaves clues for everybody. Your best idea, and this is my number one principle, your best ideas will always come from outside your industry.

And an example I love to give is, if you take a look at the tip of the ballpoint pen, the inventor of the ballpoint or the inventor of a roll on deodorant the original, I think it's called ban brand. Roll on deodorant got the idea for roll-on deodorant, from looking at how ink is distributed on the tip of a ball point pen.

And there are examples after example, Southwest Airlines, got their competitive advantage, not because they had a big budget or they weren't in any major hubs, when they started out the lead a few planes they could get up and down, they couldn't compete against the big boys. Well on the weekend, Herb Keller, you may have heard the story, His friends invited him to a NASCAR race. He is not a Nascar fan, but what he found himself intrigued by, was watching the pit crews jump over the wall, change the tires, fill the gas, give the driver a drink of water, clean the windshield, and get them back on the road in a matter of seconds.

He walked away from that race and said That's what I'm gonna do with airplanes. We're going to get them up and down faster because we can't add more planes, we can't get into major hubs, but it will be more efficient.

And that was the competitive advantage and now I think the literally the only airline not in Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

So I think your best ideas always come from outside your industry, and it's very hard because we're in the day-to-day in our own industry and we need that outside voice that has a fresh lens. Different set eyes.

It's like you said earlier, when you're in the frame, it's hard to see outside of it, and sometimes have thoughts from the outside help you navigate and look at things differently; a different perspective can be really an official...

John: Yeah, so some of the informal mentors and coaches in my life and I think if you're a coach, you better walk your talk, you better have coached this. Some of the most influential people, in terms of helping me advance in my career, are completely outside of my industry. It's not other professional speakers or authors. I'm sitting down with and tapping into the great minds of some stand-up comics, musician, song writers, and they're all in the business of performance, and they give me a fresh perspective that I can apply to a completely different industry.

Let's talk about challenges, tell us a little bit about some of the challenges that you face and the obstacles and how were you able to overcome them?

John: So I think one of the challenges right now that I'm dealing with, and I venture to say a lot of people are, is online in social media. There's Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, they own that real estate, you don't own it, so they can throttle you down. I'm not talking about politics and "shadow banning" or de-platforming but they can control how many people view your post because it's their real estate. And it used to be that when you posted something on Facebook, all your fans on your business page would see it, all your friends on your personal page would see it, and now you have to pay to boost that post. I read something like 60% of the internet traffic is fake, like these bot farms and what have you. I'm not real familiar with exactly the terminology, but we've got to evolve.

I think that if you're a solepreneur that doesn't have a huge advertising budget, I think analog, is the new digital and personal outreach within your community or getting on an airplane and investing the money to travel and take a face-to-face meeting is sort of the next evolution. I think technology, they change the game for the better and the world is a much smaller place. But now, you don't quite have that organic reach that you used to. And I think investing in real relationships is sort of... As strange as it sounds because it's kind of old school, but it's the new frontier is actually the old frontier.

Everything old is new again!

So if you had to start over today, knowing everything that you know, what would you do differently?

I would invest more time, energy, and resources into building my email list. On the heels of your last question what I mentioned with social media, you hear people saying, "You know what, "I'm gonna take a break from Facebook" or "I'm sick of all the politics or just... It brings out the worst in people or I'm sick of cat videos and looking at people's food.

But you never hear anyone, so say "you know what, I'm gonna take a break from email." We live and die by our emails, we check it like 30 times a day, I think is a latest statistic. To invest in relationships, growing my list, earlier it's sort of an epiphany I had a few years ago. There's a little story behind that but just invest in growing my list, and building personal relationships. It is still a very personal medium one-to-one relationships with my readers, and subscribers. And the example I'd give you is I don't know if you remember anyone who's watching this remembers the app "ThunderClap"?

I don't remember it.

Okay, so ThunderClap - the webpage is ThunderClap.IT - But what it was, was you could set up an account, and you could post you could pre-schedule a social media post that would go out on a certain day, at a certain time on... It's not like Hootsuite or any of those other social media aggregators but... You could schedule the post to go out at a certain time, and date like for a product launch got it and you could invite all of your fans, friends, followers, LinkedIn connections, email subscribers, you can invite all those people to give ThunderClap permission to automatically schedule that same tweet or Facebook post to go out. Let's say, Tuesday at 9 AM. Tuesday is the day that all books are released, new books are released of the market, 9 AM is when people, typically in the East Coast, sit down to the computer and start work. It's literally like a ThunderClap.

It's all at once hitting a social media in the marketplace with your message.

So I share that with you because for my last book, launch April, April 4, 2017 I released my book Stadium Status, and I had this huge ThunderClap campaign, the former founder of the platform reached out to me. He said "This is probably one of the largest most successful book campaigns we've had since Tim Ferris's Four-Hour Work Week, I'm curious what your results were." I reached 27 different countries on every reached every continent, a couple million people. I used the unique URL for that one, and then I sent a separate call to action announcing my new book was available to my readers on the email list.

My email list at the time was maybe 6 or 7,000 people, only... And I sold exponentially more books to that small list than I did to 27 different countries every continent, a few million people via social media.

So that's why I share that story because I think it's a cautionary tale that a lot of people put a lot of stock in social media versus real, one-to-one relationships on an email list that someone voluntarily opted into. They want to hear from you on a regular schedule assuming you're entertaining and engaging, and it's a value to them. So yeah, I think email if I were to do it over, double down on email and spend far less time tweeting and posting and trying to build fans on real estate platforms, I don't own.

And the interesting thing is that I think a lot of entrepreneurs that get started by actually start on social media, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and a lot of that is because frankly... It just seems easy to work a lot of folks are there every day, and it's like, "Oh I'll just do posts on my business."

But in the end, it's like you maybe are reaching people, but if they have no connection to you, it's such a quick little instant thing and then they move on from that and they forget about you 'cause they don't have any reason to remember.

And earlier, having that real connection with someone and email really is a real connection - they had the option, they said, "I would want to learn more" as opposed to social media where it's more of us trying to jump in front of them, and hope that you can make some sort of impact on them, but it's not easy. So that's very, very insightful.

John: Yeah, I think another quick story related to that is, think social media is kind of a fun house mirror yeah, it doesn't accurately reflect anything in real life. It's an illusion of popularity, an illusion of engagement and why I say that is one of my friends is a comedian, he's a stand-up comic lives in another part of the country... The East Coast is not a home base to him, but he has an enormous social media following. He gets billions of YouTube and Facebook Live views, has a massive following on Twitter. And he came out here and did a date at a comedy club in Boston right and given all the promotion online surrounding all of his tour dates he sold 20 hard tickets, to that event - 20.

I think that's the illusion of engagement and it's not a critique of him, it's reality today online. Fans, likes, retweets, do not equal actual qualified prospects much less customers.

So along those lines, are there other things that you've found particularly helpful or advantageous as you build out your business?

John: Well, yeah, ProofFactor, obviously, we have to include that.

Alright!!

John: I'm not kidding, I really, really am enjoying and appreciate having that plug into my shopping cart and it does bring up a good point, and that is the whole concept of social proof in your business.

What do you do, what problem does it solve who do you work with, how do you work with them? And it's a subtle form of highlighting exactly those things, who bought what for me where are they, and why did they buy it? If you're buying my book, "Seeds of Success", you're very different type of reader than if you're buying "The Coach Approach", and there's the geography to all that as well, I think, plays a role. So it's been fun to seeing if it's been fun to see that amplify sales in my shopping cart as well. It's a shameless plug for ProofFactor but...

We love the fact that you find it helpful.

John: I'm not kidding, I really love it. So that's been a blessing to have connected with you and discovered that and I forget your question, at this point.

I went into evangelist mode for your product and I forgot the question, it was what's particularly helpful in my business?

Yes.

John: It's word of mouth, I think as I get a little older and a little wiser, than when I first got started, I put less stock in advertising, whether it's digital or print, or whatever it is, and more and word of mouth because there are so many fake Amazon reviews for example, you can buy followers on Twitter and Facebook, but what are people really saying? Like people who really opened up their wallet, cracked open their wallet, took out the credit card bought something, and you transform the results. Or change their life, where do they say?

Those are the voices that matter and I think to have that social proof in the form of legitimate customer referrals, and testimonials is huge. There's so much skepticism out there today.

Yeah, we all, in some way shape or form work in sales, Val. The Gallop company, they do these gallop surveys and survey all kinds of stuff. They're a research company, well, every year they publish a report the least trusted profession in America, and every year, as you can imagine what's the number one least trusted professional?

Val I don't know, I wanna think something like lawyer.

John: Okay, you're really close. So sales is at always number one, a lawyer is number two, politician is number three.

One thing about politicians are just recovering lawyers.

Constantly selling us stuff.

John: Yeah, those two are fairly synonymous, politician and lawyer. But it's always sales. And yeah, you think of the typical sleazy used car salesman - the cheap suit who is a fast talker, and that's the stereotype, but the reality of it is, if you're a business owner, if you work at a company in virtually any capacity, you're in sales, even if you're a custodian, you're the "Director of First Impressions" at your company. Someone's either gonna be sold or not sold based on their first impression.

I think that we have to look at that as this is a very distrusting society right now for a variety of reasons, and it's probably not getting any better any time soon. We need to find real ways to connect in an authentic legitimate way to build that trust, person-to-person. And it's not convenient, 'cause we love as entrepreneurs, we love to talk about scale, but you build your fan base one fan one customer at a time, and there's no shortcuts to that.

Funny storystory about sales. My fiancee when we first got together, when we started dating. She didn't know I had a sales background, and she found out pretty deep in our relationship several dates, to where she knew she liked me already, and she said, recently that if she knew that I had a sales background earlier, on, we might not be here today because she doesn't like sales people.

John: Well no one likes to be sold but everyone looks to buy stuff. That's just the reality.

So along those same lines, and specific advice for our entrepreneurs that are just starting out?

John: Absolutely I think the way to elevate and separate yourself from the sea of sameness, that we're all-in in whatever market you serve, whatever industry you're working, is positioning. What problem do you solve how do you solve and how can people work with you and to be able to demonstrate your expertise.

You may not write a full-blown book, but you can write a consumer guide, how to hire someone like you. So one of the things I publish as a consumer guide, and how to hire a coach, and you can make damn sure that every single one of those how-tos, I matched the spec, personally, and I'm not overtly selling in that consumer guide, but I make sure that it's helpful. These are interview questions, you can use when you're interviewing any coach. Not necessarily me, but I make sure I walk my talk, but in my case, the number one question is, who's your coach?

People should be asking that, and if you're an executive coach or a business coach, and there's any length of silence before you answer that, the answers is in the silence. It's not in whatever they say, because if that answer isn't top of mind they don't necessarily walk their talk. They're not invested enough to spend their own money on coaching, but they wanna take yours.

So to answer the question, I think it's publishing something.

Yeah, and that could simply be a brochure that helps people make a buying decision not necessarily with your product, but a buying decision. And then you match those specs.

Something smaller, is probably better because it's more digestible, but to be seen as different, and elevate yourself from a positioning standpoint, is huge. The second piece of advice that we give is take your business seriously, you have to, but don't take yourself too seriously.

You know, I've got a 13-year-old and 15-year-old at home today and they're at that age where Dad just doesn't cool. So taking myself seriously as an act in futility, with them, and I don't know that the marketplace is really any different. If you take yourself too seriously, you're not gonna be fun, you're not gonna be engaging. Playful much less interesting and people don't find you interesting and entertaining.

You're never gonna get that foot in the door, so don't take yourself too seriously, Have fun.

Anything else on your mind?

John: I'm curious if I could turn the tables back to you and I call this inexpensive experience. There's expensive experience where you go out and blindly sort of attempt to do something and you make a mistake, it costs you a lot of money and you might damage your reputation. Versus inexpensive experience, which is asking someone kind of the question you just asked me... What do you know now that you wish you knew when you got started?

And I'm curious what your answer is to that.

It's a million dollar question folks.

It is, and it's funny because getting started really is the hardest part, and I think that very early on, it's really challenging to know exactly where to get started, especially with the new business in a new industry. And if it's your first time doing especially, you just don't know, you don't know where to start.

And I'll just say to most people, the right advice is that it almost doesn't matter, just get started, start doing something, and naturally you'll get feedback on whether you're doing the right things are not. If you're doing the right things, and you keep do more of that if you're not doing the right today, you'll notice it because you're not connecting the customer, you're not engaging people, like you said, you're not really making those one on one connections and you'll figure that out really quickly and you'll start to adjust.

And it's like, it's like a sunflower follows the Sun across the sky.

John: It analogy. That's a great analogy.

**You going to start following and start going the direction of your customers and eventually you'll get there.

So if you're starting out you're new entrepreneur, you don't know where to start, just start anywhere, start talking to anyone - to customers - someone you think is gonna be a customer. From there you can figure out very, very quickly if they are or are not and if it's not just keep on doing things and eventually you'll get there.**

John: Yeah, I think people want a definition for entrepreneurship. The best answer I can give those and it's an experiment is really, and that's what you just described. Test something tweak it, re-test it, get feedback and then adjust and being able to do that, turn on to dime and adjust on the fly however you wanna say it? It's all an experiment.

I learned, talking about an experiment and listening to customers and feedback, I held a contest online to help title my new book and it's a book about entrepreneurship and I got a lot of really boring vanilla answers. And then one person... She's actually a dietician that lives in my community here, nutritionist, she gave the she gave the answer "You ought to name it, Entrepreneur AF... And I'll leave it to everyone to figure out what AF stands for - You can look it up on UrbanDictionary.dot.com.

I'm like, "You know what, I don't know that I wanna name my book that but I'll take an under advisement and then someone said that would make a great t-shirt and then someone else chimed in on that thread, and said, "Yeah, you really ought to make t-shirts like that", And then someone else said, "count me in on order. I'm an extra large my wife, co-owner of our business, she's a medium." People were telling me, giving me all this feedback before even created anything to looking at that. Like, "you know what, I'm gonna sell these t-shirts, it's an entrepreneur AF and get a really cool graphic done, and I'm just gonna include the book when I ship the shirts, it'll be a bundle, you'll get the book, it's not a long book, it's re-purpose content that I've already written but it's a cool slogan for a t-shirt, and I immediately resonated with every entrepreneur in my tribe.

And that's just an example of like, you think you're going one direction with something but then the market tells you otherwise, and it's sort of best of both worlds.

I'll make sure I make sure I get you one of them. What size are you?

Gotcha, so then tell us about where someone can learn more.

So I'm just gonna give you a one place - https://coachbru.com/ from there you can learn more, follow along and find all of my socials!

As you may have heard, there's been drama around Beeketing/Boostflow and Shopify. Shopify alleges that Beeketing and BoostFlow have been bad actors in the Shopify app store and Shopify has decided to ban and remove them from the app store.

That means you can insert a anchor link pointing to the new heading this way:

Shopify is taking even more drastic action by forcibly removing all Beeketing apps from Shopify stores that currently have it installed.

This is one of the most aggressive actions that Shopify has ever taken, and you can read Shopify’s official announcement here:

Shopify’s Statement Says:

After several months of working with Beeketing and their secondary company, BoostFlow, to resolve multiple violations of our Partner Program Agreement, including inadequate support for merchants and abuse of our marketing tools, we’re removing their apps from Shopify. Effective August 27, 2019 Beeketing and BoostFlow apps will no longer be available on Shopify, and their app functionality will be disconnected.

Beeketing's Statement Says:

All Beeketing apps will no longer be able to install since August 13th and stop working on Shopify stores starting from August 27, 2019.

We have to cancel all subscriptions on August 27, 2019.

Read more here: https://beeketing.com/shopify-statement

What does that mean for you?

There are a number of apps that were provided under the Beeketing umbrella that you’ll have to replace. ProofFactor has done a round-up of the best apps out there to help you replace the functionality. We’ve broken it down by the name of the Beeketing/BoostFlow app you are replacing. Without Further ado:

Sales Pop: ProofFactor Social Proof PopUp

Pros:

• A “Free Forever” Plan
• 5 star rated
• Fully Customizable
• Customer Service Focused

Cons:

• Free plan is fully functioning, but limited to the first 1k unique users monthly.

Try ProofFactor Now Completely Free for 6 Months

Countdown Cart: Countdown Timer by Hextom

Pros:

• Message and location is Customizable
• Template for easy Set up
• Premium Plan provides Geo Targeting
  Cons:
• No Free plan (7 day trial only)

Facebook Chat and Happy Messenger: Facebook Chat Box & Tracking by RoarTheme

Pros:

• A hidden gem - it has all the features you want, none that you don’t need (no bloat in the app!)
• Allows for both chatting and tracking of user behavior
  Free!

Cons:

• A relatively new app, but because it’s made by a theme maker, we know that they understand Shopify well

Personalized Recommendation: Simile | Similar Upsell by Scope Media

Pros:

• Quick and easy to set-up
• Algorithmic matching to find the most similar products
• Free plan with a long (30day) trial for paid

Cons:

• The algorithm isn't always perfect, there's some manual work
• Sync settings only customizable if on paid plan

Happy Email and Mailbot Email Marketing: Kit by Kit CRM

Pros:

• Built and maintained by Shopify, you can’t really go wrong with that
• Integrates with Instagram, Facebook and Tools like Yotpo, among others
• For the functionality it provides, easy to set up!

Cons:

• Support can be a little slow to reply due to such massive scale

Boost-Sales - Upsell - Cross-sell and Checkout Boost: Bundle Products by Thimatic

Pros:

• Another app by a theme maker (seeing a pattern here!?) so you know it’s well integrated into Shopify
• Great customer reviews points to responsiveness
• Allows for bundling as well and upsells/cross sells

Cons:

• No Free plan, $7.49/month
• Some users have reported challenges with applying discounts on top of bundles

Recover Cart Pusher:
PushOwl Web Push Notifications by PushOwl

Pros:

• Limited Free Plan Available (first 500 impressions) to get your feet wet
• Excellent 5 star reviews of over 1700 customers
• Integrations with review platforms and other players that you’d use for your store

Cons:

• Limited ability to segment audience or offer drip campaigns
• Free plan is very limited

Try ProofFactor Now Completely Free for 6 Months

We hope this helps you find an alternative to Beeketing! We are always here to help and happy to answer any questions to help you transition easily. Email us at support@prooffactor.com or message us on live chat at prooffactor.com

Welcome to ProofFactor's Entrepreneur Interviews - We've taken ProofFactor clients who are building business from the ground up and ask them the hard questions. Watch the video or read the transcript below to learn how to successfully navigate the challenges of starting a business.

Take Aways:

• Focus on your product - work as closely as possible with your customers
• If you have partners, make sure you trust them to work as hard as you and you trust their work
• Make a plan and stay hyper focused on it - don’t let shiny objects distract you.

Joey, thanks for joining us on ProofFactor’s video cast. We’ve asked entrepreneurs that we work with to talk a bit about what they've been up to.

Maybe you could tell us a little bit about your background and what you're working on.

Sure. Uh, my name is Joey, and I have a degree in Organizational Communication, which I only sort of use... much to my parents dismay. I've spent the last, 20 or so years working, bouncing between event production and technology. Like I used to work for the Austin Marathon, in small event production, I've worked for the Olympics on that (event production) side of things. Then I led a global support group Microsoft; I've done a lot of that kind of stuff. I did my obligatory stint at Dell that everybody in the Austin area has to do at some point.

So right now, over the last few years, we've been working on a company called Event Dog. And what we are is a platform for registration. So if you wanted to run an event, so if you want to do the“Capital 10k Run” or if you wanted to put on a Wing Festival, we handle registrations for those kinds of things.

How did you get involved in space? It sounds like you had some understanding from your work with the marathons. Was the transition or what motivated you to get started.

So it's pretty simple. My business partners own one of the biggest privately owned event production companies in the country, and they were getting really frustrated with all the solutions that were in the market because they've got 20+ years of experience of putting on events, and they knew exactly what they wanted. Over the years they have built various little tools that made their jobs easier. And they're like, “we need one umbrella to put all this under”, we can see what the better mousetrap looks like - let's build it.

And so I came aboard. I've known them for years, and we just like, “Okay, we're gonna build this thing that's gonna be hopefully better than what's currently in the market.”

So then tell us a little bit about the start of it. What went into starting EventDog? What process did you take? What you do from an engineering standpoint?

When we decided to do it we just started going really fast. We had a lot of just crunch sessions where we outlined what we liked and what we didn't like in the market - what we thought we could do to differentiate.

So the first step was just that proof on paper, that we knew better than everybody else, asking ourselves “How is our experience going to make a better product”? And that's before a single line of code gets written.

Once we did that, we just started building on it on. What we would do is we had road map like, “What's the core set of features” - and once we have that we kept iterating until we had a product that we could go to market with.

So you guys know the space, you had a really good sense of what is necessary and what you could do better than anyone else because you've been in space for so long and still be partners.

Yeah, through my experience and their experience, we had a really good idea of what the minimum feature set was gonna be.

We had a really good idea of what that thing was that we were gonna build and how to build this, so we can differentiate ourselves in the marketplace versus some of our competitors.

I’m not going to say it was easy, but it was probably easier than if we had just said “Okay, I have never put on an event before; I just want to come in and build something in this space because I see an opportunity.”

How were thinking about customers. And how'd you start getting customers and going about?

So when you have 20 years of experience in the business, it was really easy to get customers. Customer acquisition wasn't our number one concern.

Because my partners own a production company we had the luxury of getting cash flow with an internal customer - so we spent a couple of years of just eating our own dog food and building and building and building just for their company.

So that was really helpful. We were able to make a couple of mistakes and just say and learn, say “you know what? That's not working the way we thought it was gonna work” so we could veer off and do things a little bit differently?

Things like “You know, uh, wow. We thought merchandise would work this way, but it really should work that way.” So we have that luxury built in with having a customer who is also a partner.

Now we're just exiting that phase and we're getting into the “Let's grow, let's get bigger, let's get more customers in”

We're able to leverage, years and years of working with other events, working with other people, knowing different people in the industry, being able to say “Hey, we've known you for years. You use this system, we built something different. Let us show it to you”.

And we've already had a few wins in that regard with people are asking, “Hey, we see you're doing something over there, can we get in on it” We're like “Let's let's hold off until we get out of the gates”.

And now we've brought some more people in, and they're like, “Wow, we're really happy with this”.

We've already built up these customer testimonials based on that where they're like “OK, we like what you're doing well, like this approach to events that's a little bit fresher than what other people are doing”. So customer acquisition hasn't been our trouble yet. We're about to enter the phase where that's our main focus.

Right. And that's sort of an interesting thing because, you know, on the one hand, because you've been in the business a long time, I'm sure you all have deep networks of people to talk to and pull from. But it's interesting that you guys have been really disciplined and know that while the product might be OK for internal use, you want to validate it before actually going to market with it. You want to be a bit more careful that you don't just bring people on before it's really ready. Especially the people you work with already - they have expectations.

When we're looking at starting a company, generally things are like “Go, go, go, go, go! Get as many customers possible, get scaled” - but there really is a different way of doing it, where you're really trying to build out the product first.

Part of it is, having the luxury of that inbuilt customer. We don't have to go out and chase revenue because we had a customer, once we launched we were basically profitable from day one.

From the first transaction we took, we were basically able to be profitable from everyday forward, just because of being in-house. I know a lot of people don't have that luxury but we didn't take any outside money - we could have built this a lot faster.

We could've taken some money from investors and then hire a big team of developers, and just get it done. But I think we would have come up with a different product, we wouldn't have had the time, to incubate and build what we have. We would assume like even based on our experience, years of experience, we think “Okay, merchandise should look like this” but we found out that “Oh, no, it should look like that”. When you’ve got a team of 10 people and you're just going out selling it's much harder to scrap and say “Stop, stop, stop, let's pull this back, Let's build it differently” and then relaunch that section of the site.

So we didn't take money, we didn't take investment, we took our time. And that's been a luxury for us and It's paid dividends.

Yeah, yeah, it sure sounds like it. My last company way took pretty significant outside investment, over $10M.

When you do that, you have different incentives that come in because those investors were really looking tosee growth.

And they're expecting some sort of return on their investment. And oftentimes don't really understand the business - so they don't get the nuance of it. Wven if I look at your business tonight and I saw how you built a certain portion of it I might not know that doesn't actually work for the customer because I don't know the details of why. You're able to really build things out without having to focus on just selling. Focus on the customer and the product and that allows you to do different things. I think people think of taking outside investment and that it will solve all my problems. But it actually gives a different set of incentives and problems.

It solves problems A and B, but then presents problem C & D. So you just have to decide which problems you're willing to live with. We wanted problems A & B and not C & D. For some companies for some entrepreneurs, it makes a lot of sense to bring in that money.

We knew that we were coming into a mature market with six or seven really established competitors, and so we knew that we weren't gonna get a first mover advantage. We weren't gonna get that “Bang!” that you get from just popping into it like a disruptor - like a surprise attack, like “this category didn't exist and now it does”.
Whereas we were like, we're gonna be the dark horse. No matter what we do. Let's just do it organically.

So then tell me how you know during this process of starting to build this out. There's challenges you faced - how did you overcome those?

Any time you build a company, you're gonna have the challenge of “this is your little baby” and you're working 24/7 because there's things that people don't know and you need to figure it out.

But the surprising things for us were things like email and credit card processing. If you'd asked me in the beginning, “what are your biggest nightmare things gonna be”? I would have not guessed those two things.

Credit card processing. Because of the nature of our business, we're almost like an escrow company. People pay us a $100 transaction for some triathlon, $98 of that goes to the event, and so our margin is very small. So credit card fees are a big deal - the difference between 2% and 3% in credit card fees is a lot of money to us.

Because we're just working that gray zone; so when we’re small and we haven't done a lot of transactions yet it's very hard to negotiate a lower rate and the people who give you a low rate aren't reliable.

We went through a lot of times where, we would do a lot of transactions very fast and the reliability would be low. Now that we're doing millions of dollars of transactions, we're able to go in and negotiate and find really reliable credit card processors who’ll still give us a low rate.

Stuff like that - the nuts and bolts stuff, that's the stuff that catches you. It's not the way you designed it or anything like that; It's just literally these little utility things that you're like, “ughhhh”.

It's part of the fun. That's part of the fun of building a company, there's some unknown in terms of what challenges you’ll face and just sort of having the confidence that you can work through those challenges.

Looking back when you first started, knowing what you know now, would you would do anything differently.

I don't necessarily think that we'd do anything differently, because we have a philosophy about when you make a mistake - it's just an opportunity to learn something new. We don't dwell on our mistakes. We just are like, “What can we learn? Let's move on”.

And we've definitely had things that if I redesigned this differently, we’d be happier. If I had to go in and redesign I’d do it.

But that was a learning opportunity, and so I wouldn't change it. I think that the majority of what we've done, I'm pretty satisfied with the way that we've responded to it. And so there's not really a lot that I would change in terms of the big picture.

On the flip side is anything that over the years, you've found particularly helpful or advantageous.

The main thing that’s been really, really helpful is having partners who have their areas of specialization and being able to trust them like “Okay, I know they're doing what they do, and I'm not gonna worry about that.”

And we come together and say ”Okay, this what I've done, that's what I've done. It’s all good”. We don't have to worry about micromanaging each other as partners. That's been really good on. I’d say that anybody starting a business should have that kind of relationship with any partners that they bring on board.

I've seen situations where it's like, “OK, I've got the talent, they've got the money”, - but you have to have more than that.

These are these are partners you've known for 20+years that you worked with before. You knew the kind of work that they would put, and that kind of work that you would put forward.

They're definitely people that I completely trust. I mean absolutely. And I think the other thing that's been really helpful with us is that we make a plan and we stick to the plan. We try really hard to not get distracted by shiny objects. There's a lot of drudgery, in the day to day building of a website, and it's really easy to get distracted and say, “Oh, this feature would be really cool”. It's like, yeah, that'd be really cool, but it also is not gonna help us gain and maintain customers.

So being able to be super hyper focused on what are we working on right now - what's the next thing on our list and then I'm gonna get to the shiny stuff later. But right now, what is the thing that we've got a note, right?

What would that be your advice for the entrepreneurs?

If I were gonna have three pieces of advice - Finding partners, stay hyper focused and unless you have a really good a good reason, stay the course with what you're doing.

But then kind of on the flip side of that don't be afraid; if something is not working, and this is gonna cause problems, stop, burn it down. Start over.

If you've got if you have something that you know is not working, just burn it; Start over. Done.

A lot of people get very entrenched in what they’re doing “Oh, this is what I got to do because that's what I've done” If it's not working, then get rid of it.

How do you think about that?

That's a tough question, sometimes your customers tell you, for example “I thought this interface was rock solid, foolproof” And you've got customers saying, “Man, we're just confused”. We're doing thousands of transactions and so my customers are the event owners who have the people doing the transactions, and so they'll contact me and say, “You know what people are really? They contacted me because they can't complete transaction”. Okay, so there's something wrong. I built that wrong.

A lot of times you just it's a gut feeling. You just have to be like, “you know what? I really could have gone down, path A or path B, I really should have gone down path B. Just gonna get that feeling. And if you've been around long enough, you should learn to trust yourself.

So from that perspective, anything else in general on your mind?

To get into your [ProofFactor] product, we've got a core product, and we don't have to build everything. One of our one of our partners was wanted, social proof on the ste. And so we started looking around looking around, “do we build? Do we build our own, or do we find a company that does it and just integrate it?”

It would not have been very not to do our own, but that would have been an easy solution, right?

Especially because in our use case, our use case doesn't fit what most other companies use cases.

You know, we're collecting the sale information on one website, but we need to publish the social proof on third party sites from all over.

And as I was looking around out there we contact like five different companies in your space.

And I think I contacted all of them and said, “Here's my use case” and I think two of them wrote back “No, we don't do that” two didn't write back at all, and you guys were like, “huh, That's interesting. Challenge accepted.”

And and we did it and so now we've got this social proof as a feature option,for partners and it's a cool thing.

But, running into those couple that were like “No we don't we don't support your use case”. It would have been very easy for just say like, “you know what? Fine, We're gonna build our own”, but that would have distracted us from our road map but by being by persevering and saying let's find that company that will work with us We spent an afternoon looking and then on hour integrating versus a week of development on something that's not the core product.

if there's a widget, or a third party, something that will make your life easier? Grab it. You don't have to build everything from stretch.

Yeah, got it. This is a little off off the cuff question. But is there a story behind the name then?

When we look at events, you look at events. There's 2 major types of event, there's like moving events like a marathon or triathlon and then they're static events like a wing festival or, music festival.

But they're all events.

And when we started the company, we really wanted to be able to be good for all kinds of events, not just running or whenever sewing whatever the main competitors are, space is RunSignUp. Another one is IAmAthlete, RedPodium. These these companies, when they named themselves, they named themselves into a specific niche, right? Right. And so we didn't want to do that. Y

So we wanted to be clear, we were about events, and then Stacey, did research, and she's the marketing arm, And she was like, You know, people trust dogs more than they trust people. EvenDog. I went out and bought the domain.

There you go. That’s the story.

Yeah, I love it. I love that story because it partially it's like you guys are actually really think about where you want it to be, you know, not in a year, but in 5 10 years, looking at how we make this a little bit more fun and also play on the fact that you know, you're trying to be a trusted source for these companies. And, you know, dogs don't fit in perfectly, so I like that Nice.

Yeah. if you go to the website and you see the little event dog, the little mascot, his name is Ed. (Event Dog = ED). And people are like, Oh, is that really a pet dog? No, he's not a real dog.

People are really attached to that. Um they're like, “Oh, I love this name”.

So if you want to learn more, where could they go?

Check out our Site: EventDog
or on our Facebook
or our Twitter

Welcome to ProofFactor's Entrepreneur Interviews - We've taken ProofFactor clients who are building business from the ground up and ask them the hard questions. Watch the video or read the transcript below to learn how to successfully navigate the challenges of starting a business.

Takeaways:

• Even if you’re online - start by promoting it locally
• Word of mouth will take you far - best customers come from that.
• Do the research necessary - but don’t just sit at home, go talk to people and meet them.
  Trade-offs - there are a lot of them, especially if you’re a parent. Get good at evaluating them and knowning what you're willing to give up.

Hello! What's your background, and what are you working on?

I’ve been running 402&Beyond since Dec 2017, it started as an online business, but I did do “sip & shops” and parties in town to have ppl come and get together to try on the clothes. Sometimes I still like doing that, it’s very traditional. I still have people come in and out of my house to shop.

The online part worked pretty well, it got out there with some ads, but more when I switched over to WooCommerce it kind of blew up in Lincoln. So we went from an online boutique to also a brick and mortar back in August of 2018.

So the brick and mortar is currently right now my stress factor.

And you have both the boutique store and the website?

Correct

So you do more of the business through the boutique

I’d say it’s like 60-40 , I still do a lot online. The in store part has just a lot of things I need to worry about vs. online. The online I can mostly do myself.

When it comes to raising kids and starting a Brick and Mortar I had to choose between employees and a nanny for my kids. Right now since my kids are younger I choose to have employees, so I’m not there as there as much as I’d like to be...

I’ve always been into fashion, since I was little I had 3 younger sisters, and we’d pack up the family and drive an hour to the bigger malls in Omaha. So I’ve always been in love with Shopping, with the apparel retail side of it. I did do some modeling for a boutique, I saw some back ends of another one, and at that time I was like “oh, this is something I can do and I enjoy it”

Starting it was a lot more difficult, a lot more difficult than the thought process I had of it.

What went into starting 402&Beyond - both the store and the site?

When I started it, I started it online, I started it with a website, but I also wanted to get my name out there more. I had to do it locally so I teamed up with other women that had… not boutiques, but business. Like Sensy and Stella and Dot; other business that I wanted to promote.

How I chose to do it was the sit and shops and I would promote them, and on top also promote our clothes.

It gave them a chance to do their in house parties and things like that. That’s how the word go out in Lincoln which kickstarted the site.

The word online was a little bit more difficult.

I thought that I could just start this online boutique and it’ll be so much fun and all I have to do is post on facebook. I had no idea what their algorithm was, or what all of that was - until I was like “why aren’t my posts getting seen” - that took a lot of trial and error, and I still don’t have it fully figured out. It’s still trying to figure out the back end that you don’t even think about when starting a business.

How did you go about figuring it out? How have you attracted customers and grow 402&Beyond?

Still to this day I’d say word of mouth is definitely the best way to gain a new customer that is going to stick around.

When they hear about this great new boutique, that’s so friendly, and they come in... I never let anyone push products onto people. I want anything that anyone buys from my store to be something ppl absolutely love, a statement piece that isn’t just going to be just for tomorrow or something they will only wear once.

Me getting to know them, me enjoying meeting new people, it really broadened my reach and customer base in Lincoln.

Outside of Lincoln - I started with Facebook ads thinking that it would be an easy way to drive traffic, I can’t say that I’ve ever really had great success with it, it’s changing all the time, it’s… growing, everything changes.

Speaking of Facebook Ads - I know that you do or used to do things like shop on Instagram, can you talk about how social media plays?

I do have all of the social media sites, Instagram, Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter. But I can’t say that they get shared much, products or anything like that, on LinkedIn or Twitter.

Instagram is a good avenue, I feel like a lot of people from the website come from Instagram, but also Facebook, you have to keep up on that as much as Instagram.

I know that you used to (or maybe still) do live videos on Facebook and other social media to drive sales.

Yes - I do it - live on the IG stories work better than live on Facebook. I feel like my niche for moms and women that are fashionable has been a lot more accurate on Instagram than on Facebook.

On Facebook, I have a smaller group on the side that I tend to as much as I can - they get all the sales and items first, have first access to purchase etc. That smaller group and my IG are my niche, as opposed to my huge facebook following.

And I still don’t hit, I think my posts on Facebook still don’t hit the number of people that I think it has the potential to.

What are your goals for the future? What are you trying to accomplish?

We’re starting to bring in little items already; we’ve purchases sunglasses, keychains, I’ve always had phone cases.

In the future I’d love to bring “mommy and me” outfits in for mommy and daughter. It’s becoming a very popular thing, and it’s fun to do when they’re younger.

And also having a store that has both mom and kids clothing so that you can tackle both of them at the same time. Especially when it’s a place that’s online so you don’t have to worry about your kids running around - or if it’s in store where we have toys FOR the kids so you don’t have to worry about them there.

What are the biggest challenges you've faced and obstacles you've overcome?
I would say that the biggest obstacles are all the things online that are behind the scenes that you don’t even know about. Starting a website you learn a lot of terms, like SEO, and the algorithms that run facebook.

I had no idea what = backlinks even meant - that was something I never even got myself into. And I still don’t know as much as I would like to know, but I’m learning and it’s constantly changing - I still have to be on top of it because it’s going to change tomorrow.

If you had to start over, what would you do differently?

The way I went about purchasing the starting of my clothes - it was in December, and I started talking about opening a shop, and I didn’t do as much research as I would have liked to with wholesale stores right at the beginning.

As soon as February hit, we were in Vegas and we went to market - I learned a lot more about what to do, what not to do; what to bring in and what not to bring in. I think I would have had less struggles if I waited to go to market.

Specifically?

It was things like being able to see the merchandise before I purchase it - I want to see the quality of it. For example, I’m someone that doesn’t like to separate my laundry before I wash it, or dry clean only I never do.

I didn’t think about how I live my life day to day and how that impacts what I would buy. There were things purchased that were dry clean only that I wouldn't keep. Or the quality of it, I had things that I didn’t even want to represent because the quality was not there.

Now I touch almost everything that's in my store, that was a big learning curve that I think I could have prevented if I just waited a little bit.

Have you found anything particularly helpful or advantageous?

There are so many things out there - I love listening to podcasts but I’m not stuck on one. I love listening to anything from a woman that is empowering another woman. There is so much negativity around judging, even how people raise their kids, just everything. I want to be around and listen to people that want to empower the other person, that push people to do something that they might not otherwise do. I couldn’t say that I would have done this if I didn’t have a group of friends that pushed me to do it. That is always going to be my motivation factor, people empowering others.

What's your advice for new entrepreneurs who are just starting out?

Don’t rush into things, I mean I’m not an expert or know everything because I’m learning something every day, but you never know, it could be a business that takes you leaps and bounds, or it could be a business that fails in a few days.

At the beginning of mine, I don’t think I knew enough to start. If I would have taken it slow I would have learned a lot more before pushing things. My advice is to research things, and take it slow - and actually know the steps and goals that you want to have before you just do it.

Anything else on your mind?

It’s a fun being employed by yourself, but it’s scary.

When you have employees - with those employees comes risk, you want your customers to have an experience, but if that employee had a bad day, you don’t know what experience a customer is going to have.

Where can we go to learn more?

Visit 402&Beyond:
Online: https://402andbeyond.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/402nBeyond
Instagram: @402nbeyond
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/402andbeyond/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/402nBeyond
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/402-beyond/

Earning the trust of new visitors is key to driving more conversions, if someone trusts you, they’re more likely to buy from you. A customer testimonial is one of the most effective types of tool for generating trust. This article is going to give you some tips and examples to help you learn how to use customer testimonials as a social proof tool.

When you started offering a product or service onine, you did it because you though you had something to offer. You trust your products and service – you know that there is something about it that makes it special, a differentiator. I could be the product itself, if you hand pick and curate them for your customers. It could be that your site is easier to navigate or use than others, it could be your desigs – or if you provide a service, you know that you can do it better than others.

On the front page of your website, you likely have marketing copy that boast about your product or service advantages. You lay-out a convincing argument, replete with eye-catching copy, effective shots, and stunning videos.

It’s compelling stuff, but still not enough.

In today’s world, the internet provides anonymity, and as a buyer, you are inheritently cautious with new sellers. So, it’s crucial to turn the focus away from ourselves, the sellers, and onto the buyers, the consumer.

We’ve entered an era where consumers only trust the marketing content created by brands so much. While they will accept the validity of a good value proposition, they want confirmation from someone who they relate to more closely—a fellow customer.

We’ve alk about the importance of customer reviews in this context. A prospect vetting your brand will check your reviews.

You can, however, get a jump on the reviews by placing actionable testimonial content within your site. These are basically consumer voices whispering in your visitors’ ears, saying, “Yes, this is good stuff!”
Testimonials — Should You Use Them?
Most marketers prefer using testimonials; they are the perfect cross between reviews and case studies.

Like reviews, they are customer driven, short and relatively easy to gather. But like case studies, you are generally talking to the person providing the testimonial, so you can work with them to craft the testimonial to your liking. This allows you to provide an honest but specific message or highlight a specific benefit that might not come across in more generic reviews.

In fact, many websites these days collect testimonials to boost their leads. Regardless of the popularity of testimonials, the questions still remain: Do they help? If so, by how much? What will make them most actionable?

Let’s review.

Trust is earned with two crucial elements: integrity and effectiveness, both of which demand marketers (you!) put the interest of the consumer first.

Customers today are aware of unsubstantiated and exaggerated claims, and when the quality of information is in question, they’ll look to the quality of the source. As such, it’s far better to have someone else do the bragging on behalf of you—consumers, trade press, partners, etc.

Testimonials are a great social proof tool that offers candid human touch as opposed to marketing jargon. Customer confidence gets a boost whenever they see others like them have used a service or product and have actually benefited.

Here’s why testimonials are a must for websites:

• They are highly relatable: People tend to relate to their peers, and studies show that the more you can relate to someone, the more likely you are to trust them. Use testimonials from an individual who your target audience identifies with. For instance, if you’re selling to pet owners, ask if your consumer can mention what type of pet they have, or show a photo of them with the pet.
• They endorse the product: People want products that bring tangible benefits, and testimonials can showcase how a product worked in the real world.
• They back up your brand claims: If you boast about your brand being great or having the best offers, testimonials can substantiate this by saying how their own experience lived up or even exceeded your claims.
• They offer comparisons: Your customer may have tried several products before they found yours. With testimonials, you can show them how your products set you apart from your competition.
The Basics of Using Testimonials
Social proof notifications capture the attention of your visitors while creating urgency to purchase your products. Similarly, testimonials on websites can be just as effective—that is if done right. If you simply copy-paste a few vague statements from random people, they may seem valueless—this hurts your cause.

The key factor with testimonials is that they need to be credible. People realize that a customer testimonial, unlike a review on some third-party platform, is something you published with intent. When it sounds like a vague re-hashing of someone’s sales pitch, people don’t see it as legitimate.

Below are five essential testimonial tips you should consider.

• Be Specific: Your testimonials should be specific - “These guys are awesome” won’t have much of an impact as “Their social proof software boosted our ‘add to cart’ conversions by 25%”
• Short and Simple: Keep your testimonials short and simple. People won’t read through long blocks of text or watch 5-minute videos. For example, “When I installed ProofFactor’s social proof app on my pet shop, I started showing real user activity on my site and immediately saw that new visitors were more engaged – now I’m selling more than ever.” However, if you want to include more details, consider developing a full case study instead.
• Be Plausible: Testimonial statements should be plausible. For example, “pop up sales notifications helped me earn billions!” is the kind of statement that comes across as fake and will destroy the credibility of your whole site, actually decreasing converions.
• Edit the Testimonial: Inform customers that when they submit their testimonial, it will likely be edited for use as site content, but that you will not alter their opinion or feedback – just edit it for brevity and specificity. We also recommend giving the customer final approval of the testimonial before you publish it – you don’t want to be putting words in their mouth!
• Sound Natural: Everyone has a specific writing style, or “voice” – use the real voice of those providing the testimonial. Don’t over edit it to sound robotic or very formal. Remember, the consumer reading the testimonial has to be able to relate to the person who wrote it, and have a natural sounding writing or “voice” is a key part of that.

How to Get More Testimonials from Your Customers?
To collect more testimonials, you can start by making a list of your best customers. Consider the following:

• The consumers you pick must love what you do. These are your repeat clients. Clients who you delivered excellent results for. You have a good relationship with them.
• You know there’s a specific, detailed result your customers got – ideally it includes concrete data and numbers. You should basically already know what the customer is going to say before they say it – it will help you get you message across and you won’t have to guide the customer much

You may have plenty of satisfied customers, but you don’t want to keep asking for testimonials from those who just “like” you. Choose someone you know can make a specific claim, and only then ask them to do so when they provide you with the testimonial.

Note that there’s a difference between testimonials and case studies. A testimonial is a specific, shorter statement about the benefit your customer derived from your offer. The main purpose of a testimonial is to serve as social proof and create trust.

On the other hand, a case study is a complete story which shows how you helped an individual or business overcome a big problem. It is longer and more detailed. Case studies require more time to develop for both you and your customer. They work well when you need to elaborate on the relationship with the customer and explain more complex solutions.

Getting Testimonials:
To get testimonials, you should simply ask your customers – that’s it. If they know and ideally love what you do for them, they’ll gladly work with you on putting the testimonial together. Think about how you communicate with your customer regularly, and ask them that way (likely email). A simple 1 or 2 paragraph email will do. It should include:

• Thanking them for being a great customer
• “The ask”
• Where and how you’re going to use it + what’s in it for them
• An example so they know what to expect.

If they don’t reply the first time you email them, we recommend following-up 2 times, 3 days apart (this is what we do – sometimes ppl miss the emails or want to reply and forget – give them a chance to reply by following up!).

Here’s an example email that we sent. Feel free to use it as a template for your own email:

Subject Line: Hi from Val at ProofFactor – a 6% increase for AdLibertas? A thought + ask
Hi Adam,
Hope all is well! I was going through our customer list and wanted to thank you for being one of our longest customers! I noticed that since you installed ProofFactor, you’ve seen at 6% increase in email sign-ups for AdLibertas – congrats!

I wanted to ask if you’d be willing to provide a testimonial about how ProofFactor has impacted your conversions? We’ll use it on the front page of our website and we’ll link to you to drive you more visitors to your website too!

Here’s an example testimonial – would you be willing to write something like this?:

“I installed ProofFactor on Walmart.com. We used the “Live Visitor Count” and “Recent User Activity” notifications on our site. I was blown away by the customer response, we saw a 12% increase in conversions in just the first month. And I’m super impressed with ProofFactor’s customer service – Ann at Proof Factor has been helping us tweet the notifications to get even more conversions! I recommend them to my e-commerce friends!”

Thanks,
Val

Provide Guidelines
On screen, testimonials look simple. However, remember that most users aren’t used to writing, at least not for publication. Also, they may feel a little intimidated or assume it’ll be a time-consuming process.

Therefore, try to make it easier for them by providing some useful guidelines or example testimonials indicating what others may have written.
Build Trust
Always try to post a photo, full name, and site address or business name (if applicable). This gives your customer exposure and you more credibility.

Also, think locally, especially if most of your customers are nearby. By assuring readers the testimonial is from a local resident, you’re showing that your business is trustworthy and preferred by the locals.
Publishing Testimonials on Your Site
There are two ways you can use testimonials content on your site, and we recommend doing both!

So, the first is to create a page specifically for testimonials where you have a collection of them together. Add this page in the main navigation. For this type of web page, assemble a series of testimonials which cover the key benefits you offer and create a compelling case for the value provided by your offer.

For instance, this Florida roofing contractor has a series of video testimonials on their page.

Also, this Northern Colorado Gym has an amazing testimonial page that uses before and after photos, Facebook posts, video testimonials, and reviews copied from Google Places. There’s a strong Call-to-Action (CTA) and contact form on their page. Here’s a perfect Facebook testimonial:

The second is to take individual testimonials, then weave them into the content throughout your site. These can display on your homepage, product pages, About Us page, or Contact Us page.

It’s good to have them near CTA or alongside the description or a product/service. For instance, accounting software service FreeAgent utilizes short testimonials as they detail the benefits of their software on the homepage.

This is why we highly recommend using testimonials on the homepage, even if you have a dedicated web page in your main navigation.
Wrapping Up
An engaging and authentic testimonial is like a golden ticket. So, whenever you receive some good ones, consider using them. Maybe put them in emails, business cards, brochures, or on your marketing materials. This shows off how you’ve helped others transform their lifestyle.

You may even consider making good testimonials as part of your future marketing campaigns. They offer assurance to potential clients as a reliable, unbiased review. Therefore, make sure to collect them as often as possible to keep them fresh and relevant.

Avoid keeping the same old 3/4 quotes sitting on your website until doomsday. Each time you try something new, whether it is a new product or service, consider asking for feedback. Let your customers know they’re in good company.

Remember, you trust in what you’re selling, and you have several fact-filled and appealing testimonials on your website. As a result, your potential consumers will trust in your business and product too.

So, what are you waiting for? Get collecting today!

A good chunk of visitors will abandon your website and landing pages without converting, and that’s a fact. Maybe something else caught their attention. Or, perhaps your value proposition just wasn’t good enough.

Whatever the cause may be, the real question is how do you convert those abandoning visitors?

Today, many successful eCommerce business owners are employing Exit Intent Technology in order to reduce cart abandonments, recapture those sales, boost conversions, and generate more leads.

In this article, we’re going to break down the most effective strategies for exit intent popup with detailed examples to implement into any revenue-driven E-Commerce strategy.

What are Exit Intent Popups?

Exit Intent Technology is an advanced algorithm that identifies and reacts to website abandonment in real-time. Upon detecting exit intent (i.e., mouse movement to leave site) the algorithm triggers an incentivized popup quickly to convince the visitor to take a desired action.

Exit intent popups outline your offering into a simple, concentrated version of what you’re promoting. They boil down the analysis needed to make a decision. If done correctly, exit popups can offer significant uplift, as well as fulfill several revenue-based goals.

However, before we get into the pro tactics, let’s highlight some of the most common mistakes you should avoid.

Things to Avoid While Incorporating Exit Popups

Your exit intent popup shouldn’t be crammed with a bunch of content, navigation mechanisms, or calls-to-action (CTA). The best intent popup compels visitors to make an easy decision.

The Paradox of Choice

There is a common misconception that users prefer multiple choices. But in sales, it’s the opposite. According to research, giving too many choices may lead to Analysis Paralysis, overwhelming the visitor, and possibly resulting in a cart abandonment rather than a conversion.

Including too many call-to-actions (CTA) or decisions in your exit popup will confuse visitors. Your message should make one clear and concise point. If your target is to collect a newsletter signup, try not to invite users to check out your new arrivals as well or add another CTA that’s totally irrelevant to the goal at hand.

In addition, any CTA on an exit intent popup must state what exactly happens when a user clicks on it. So, instead of just saying “yes, no, ok, or cancel” on your CTA button, clearly state your goal: “Send me the latest updates” or “Yes, sign me up.”

Keep it simple: one exit popup, one clear decision.

Bad Design

A poorly designed exit intent popup is bad news for decision-making and conversions. UI issues and bugs aside, some offer so much content that they even require a scroll bar, or feature several anchor links as a target for different pages to send visitors to.

While anchor links and scrolling are ideal for lengthy web pages, exit popups aren’t.

Placing a bunch of navigation mechanisms or text within an exit popup is an outdated approach that’s likely to distract the visitor from the decision you are trying to convince them to make. Remember, if it’s valuable information but requires a scroll, it should have its own page, not a popup.

Now, let’s show you how to use exit intent popups to engage visitors and increase your sales.

6 Best Exit Intent Popup Strategies

1. Segment

Ask yourself the following questions when making a targeted offer with an exit popup:

Who am I targeting?

The more targeted your free exit intent popup is, the better the odds are of preventing website abandonment.

Make your messaging segment or context-specific instead of taking a one-size-fits-all approach. This involves making a conscious decision of what could work best for particular pages or audience groups rather than your entire website or all the users.

• Targeting by Cohort: Before crafting your copy, consider who the offer is aimed for. Are you targeting cart abandoners, first-time visitors, paid traffic, price-sensitive shoppers, or registered users? Use analytics data to get a better idea of your audience’s identity and act accordingly. Once you differentiate between referral sources, behaviors, and intent of individual audience groups, it will help you produce a more strong and relevant message.
• Targeting by Context: Take a context-centric approach instead of a user-centric one. Landing pages, blog pages, checkout pages, homepages, category pages, and product pages can all feature exit intent popups unique to that page. If someone’s abandoning the homepage, for instance, odds are they haven’t interacted much with your product or brand. In cases like this, triggering a welcome offer to those abandoners can change their minds.

It’s crucial to note that contextual targeting is not only limited to pages. Tailoring your target message based on device type, geo-location, or even local weather forecast are some of the most effective methods you can use to create messages that truly resonate.

What Actions Do I Want Them to Take?

Normally, exit intent popups aim to get visitors to complete a form, view content, or direct them to a particular page.

So, which direction is the right one?

Well, it depends.

If your aim is to promote a short message, then having the visitor either choose to read on or dismiss the message seems reasonable. On the other hand, if you want to gain a new subscription, providing a bug-free form with one straightforward CTA is essential.

2. Recommend

A very underused yet effective tactic is to use exit intent popups to upsell and cross-sell products. Displaying personalized recommendations in your exit intent popups is the best way to enhance recirculation and reduce abandon rates.

You can do this by implementing automated recommendation widgets into the exit popup, then customize the widget’s conditions to recommend based on the product the user viewed right before the abandonment.

3. Personalize

A surefire way to reignite engagement is to personalize your popups based on user interests and on-site behaviors. Consider personalizing and tailoring your message with dynamic variables like:

• Product affinities
• The user’s name
• Subscription status
• Real-time intent

Making a personalized reference strengthens the connection between you and your visitor, indicates that you understand their requirements, and can dramatically boost your odds of re-engagement.

4. Create Urgency

Creating a sense of urgency is an excellent way to call users to action and encourage instant decisions. Creating urgency with an exit intent popup means placing the visitor in a situation where they’ll feel like they’re giving up on something of value by choosing to click away.

To create urgency, you can incorporate appealing keywords (e.g., sellers, new, best, most popular, % off, etc.) within a given time frame (by last call, midnight, today only, only 2 hours left, etc.). This way, you’ll intrigue your visitors to seize the opportunity right away.

5. Optimize

Exit intent popups that feel easy to users are generally not the outcome of a quick and easy process. To create compelling popups, you must continuously be testing design, CTA, and content.

Constant iteration and ongoing A/B testing is key to presenting your message in the right context.

An effective approach to exit intent technology is to push several different variations at the same time and optimize the best performing combinations dynamically based on specific objectives or KPIs. Popups can be optimized according to your targets—whether that target is to enhance CTR, generate leads, or boost revenue, for example, is up to you.

6. Test

Businesses that deliver the most effective exit intent popups are the ones that constantly iterate and analyze. You need to pay close attention to your data to figure out what’s working and what isn’t.

A page may technically have an exit popup. However, that doesn’t mean that it should. Similarly, a message may work for one segment, while completely fail for another. What we’re trying to tell you is that just because an exit intent strategy worked for your competition, doesn’t mean it’s the right solution for you.

The only way you can deliver the best exit intent popups is via constant testing, analysis, and using data to obtain a better understanding of your audience base.

5 Common Exit Intent Popup Examples

1. Capture Immediate Sales

One of the easiest ways to convert an abandoning visitor is by offering them a coupon or discount. Just be confident, direct, and bold about it.

75% of abandoning site visitors intend to return to your website to continue the buying process, but less than 30% of them actually do. Consider treating your offer like it’s now or never.

A good amount of abandonments happen if your price isn’t right or the shipping costs are very expensive. Offering a discount or even a limited-time incentive on the order will help you secure a last second purchase.

Remember, while discounts can be appealing, you still have to keep your company’s best interests in mind. Try not to offer something that’s way too steep because it will compromise the value of your product or service. If you’re giving an exclusive discount, consider only offering it once.

Don’t forget that you’re giving an incentive for the customer to stay, not conditioning them to be rewarded for leaving your website.

2. Reduce Cart Abandonment

Each year, cart abandoners cause businesses to lose a significant amount of money in sales. Targeting these abandoners with an exit intent popup can drastically reduce shopping cart abandonments, boost conversions, and recapture lost revenue.

It can be beneficial to differentiate between checkout abandonment and cart abandonment while creating a popup for abandoners. Customers that added a product to their cart but have not yet proceeded to checkout can be targeted with an exit popup showcasing personalized recommendations or an incentive to sign up to your newsletter.

Customers who’ve already begun the checkout process can be targeted with free shipping, limited-time discounts, free returns, money back guarantees, etc.

3. Generate Leads

Gettings leads through exit intent popups can be surprisingly easy. The idea here is to offer something of value in exchange for something small and quick: the user’s email. There are several approaches you can take to get subscriptions: discounts, newsletters, and gated content are 3 amazing things to offer.

Offer Discounts

Offering first-time visitors a discount upon email subscription is a great way to reduce hesitation, establish a relationship, and encourage further involvement within your website.

As you’re obtaining a warm lead for retargeting, you can pretty much afford to make the discount offer a little steeper than usual. Make sure not to offer this sort of option too often as users will get used to it and move to leave the site just to get a discount.

Newsletters

Asking your visitors to sign up for a newsletter with a popup indicates they’re already interested in your product and offering and are loyal to your company to some extent. You can target these at frequent shoppers who’ve arrived from different social media platforms.

Promote Gated Content

Providing valuable information in exchange for a user’s email is an effective way to introduce them to your most useful content. Case studies and Ebooks are both fair game. Webinars and courses can be useful as you can deliver them step-by-step to keep your customers coming back for more.

With gated content, instead of having a single form field and CTA, provide a lead-generation form with a few fields filled entirely before the content can be downloaded.

Remember to keep your forms as simple as possible: 3-5 fields is the sweet spot.

4. Cross-sell and Upsell

Exit pop up images or messages present a unique approach to cross-sell and upsell. Businesses can also take advantage by recommending pages, products, or information that visitors are already interested in.

Products

Showcase products similar to the products that your visitors have shown interest in, and doing so will allow you to introduce shoppers to items they previously didn’t notice and drive them to explore further.

Pages and Information

Display a list of related pages from your site that visitors have already interacted with. If your exit popup is on a blog post, for instance, display a list of relevant posts that they’ve read through or commented on.

5. Reduce Bounce Rate on Your Landing Pages

There has been pushback to incorporating exit popups on landing pages as the goal of a landing page is kind of the same—to focus visitors on one offer and make it easier for them to come to a decision.

However, including exit intent popups on landing pages has shown value and can help highlight what you’re trying to promote on the page. If your page is selling flights, for instance, offering booking support and assistance in your overlay will help sway the mindset of indecisive consumers.

Another effective strategy is to find the most relevant advantage on your landing page and reshowcase it on the exit popup. Most landing pages highlight several benefits that entice users in a particular target market to convert.

Reframing the most crucial benefit from your landing page with embedded statistics will help validate your offering and appeal the user to revisit their choices.

Wrapping Up

Exit intent technology is an incredibly effective way to increase conversions, leads, and regain lost revenue. If done right, exit intent popups will appeal to many user segments in different contexts.

No matter your objective, it’s crucial to remember that your goal should never be to force a prospect into taking an unwanted action. Exit popups should entice the user to make one simple decision effortlessly.

Keep in mind that the only way you can produce the most effective exit intent popup messages is via constant analysis, testing, and using data to achieve a better understanding of your customer base.

The continued relevance of traditional retail in the digital age

Guest Author:

Jason Yeh CEO, Tape

One of the most fascinating storylines I’ve been able to watch unfold during my career in technology, first as a product lead in consumer internet then as a venture capital investor and now as an startup operator, has been the evolution of retail. As eCommerce began to explode in popularity through the mid-2000s, “experts” pushed a popular storyline spelling the death of traditional, brick and mortar retail at the hands of online shopping. The logic was sound as the myriad advantages over eCommerce were so easy to list: instant gratification, near limitless geographic reach, zero waiting lines, and no physical storefront costs (both real estate and payroll), among others.

Beyond that, the results over the last 15 years contribute to the narrative. Countless impressive direct-to-consumer (D2C) brands have built businesses with millions of customers following the eCommerce model. Amazon Prime alone has over 100 million loyal members today.

With all these truths listed out 25 years after Pizza Hut sold the first pizza online and 14 years after the launch of Amazon Prime, it might seem like the reality today in 2019 would be brick and mortar retail being on its death bed.

Rumors of traditional retail’s death, however, have been greatly exaggerated. In actuality, as the golden opportunity of selling online attracted more and more competition, advantages over traditional retail like decreased physical costs were met by challenges unique to eCommerce like rising digital acquisition costs and more difficult brand building.

To put the scale of competition in perspective, there is not just one online men’s haberdashery option, there are countless. There is not just one super stylized, online glasses brand, there are a multitude. There is not just one meal kit service, there are at least 10 that have raised more than $20MM. It sounds crazy writing all of this and that’s without mentioning the battles that rage in the pet category, socks, men’s sexual health, and toothbrushes (not a joke…).

These waves of digital competition for even hyper-specialized categories have driven companies to revisit brick and mortar on multiple levels.

The first level has been well documented. Skyrocketing costs for digital advertising and customer acquisition overall online made opening physical stores a reasonable strategy to diversify customer acquisition approaches and brand building beyond online methods.

Bonobos launched in 2007 with an online only offering of men’s clothing, but five years later opened their first standalone Guideshop to allow customers the ability to try before placing an online order.

Warby Parker was founded in 2010 trying to avoid physical spaces with their “Home-Try-On program”. In a few years, however, the advantages of brick and mortar began presenting themselves with pop-up shops being a core piece of the Warby strategy before eventually announcing their goal of hitting 100 permanent retail stores by the end of 2018 and even.

Just last year, Casper, which started the mattress-in-a-box craze, announced that they planned to set up 200 stores around the country.

Even the meal kit delivery service Plated is now extending its availability in Albertson’s grocery stores (the company that acquired them).

The next level involves the realization that physical world commerce experiences are superior both from the consumer’s and retailer’s points of view. In an outstanding retail experiences, a shop visitor immediately encounters greeters creating a great brand experience and a personal connection to the store. Being in the store, she’s able to touch and feel the products that interest her. As she shops, helpful store associates notice her hesitant look and approach her to aid the buying process. Finally, when she completes her purchase a friendly thank you for her business caps off the positive feelings woven into her buying experience.

Beyond the many surveys confirming consumers enjoy real world shopping better than their digital cousins and countless digital brands opening physical stores, advances in technology have further confirmed how important physical world strategies are to the success of retail.

Companies like Intercom and Drift give visitors to a digital storefront the ability to ask questions while shopping like they would turn to a sales associate in person.

When online shoppers exhibit hesitance, products like CartStack and Drip send a digital salesperson in the form of cart abandonment messages to encourage a sale.

There are even startups, like Hero that are digitizing the ability to examine products before buying by connecting in-store associates to online shoppers with live video streams.

Even my company Tape, which started focused on enhancing more enterprise sales processes, has found a customer base in eCommerce companies who like the ability to mimic sending a salesperson to interact with customers face-to-face in the form of mobile videos delivered directly to customers phones.

The trend it seems is for the best online retailers to maintain ties to traditional retail by incorporating physical locations in an omnichannel strategy while also designing their digital experiences in its likeness. In other words, Brick and Mortar is dead. Long live Brick and Mortar!

“My friends all thought I was some kind of 28-year-old entrepreneur genius. They didn’t know I was panicking every time I looked at my ATM receipt.” - A small business owner said when we asked if they fear going out of business.

The White House acknowledges Small Business Week this year by “honoring America’s entrepreneurs who take a risk on an idea, invest in their neighborhoods and create jobs for others.” America has been built on the back of small businesses and individuals who are willing to take the risks necessary to strike out on their own.

This “strike out on your own” mentality has been a part of the American dream but for every small business or entrepreneur that “makes it”, there are many more that fail. There are even conferences dedicated to failure as a business, which host people like Travis Kalanick (the founder of Uber) to talk about their previous failures.

But where entrepreneurship and sometimes even failure is glorified, as a serial founder, I know that people don’t talk enough about the mental and emotional pain that can come with running your own company.

Proof Factor, a company that creates e-commerce plugins to help small businesses sell more (and that I am a founder of) decided to find out how business owners actually feel. We commissioned a study that asked 610 small business owners in the United States if they’ve ever been fearful of going out of business, and if they have, how they felt and why they thought they would go out of business.

The results were shocking.

31% of entrepreneurs have privately worried that they might go out of business. For context, there are 30 Million small and medium-sized businesses in the US, we estimate that ~10 Million entrepreneurs have privately suffered through this fear.

Key Takeaways:

• The fear of going out of business is real, and, of survey respondents, it disproportionately impacts female entrepreneurs (40%) more than male entrepreneurs (23%).
• Social Pressure can lead to bad decision making, with one entrepreneur saying “I’m Doomed!”
• There are factors outside our control that can impact your business, with our survey respondents saying that a contributing factor is “Wage growth is higher than profit growth” and “Technology has replaced me”.

But all is not lost. As an entrepreneur, there are ways to manage through difficult times of your business, even if you think all is lost:

1. Talk to your employees - My biggest fear when I had to shut down my 30 person company was that my employees would hate me. In my mind, I had promised them the dream, and now I couldn’t deliver. I had sleepless nights thinking about what would happen once I told them. Once I told them, their reaction was completely opposite of what I expected, they were supportive, had excellent ideas on how we could turn things around and made sure that I got the help I needed to get through the difficult times. Lean on your employees, they are your biggest resource.

2. Be active about managing your stress - Stress makes it difficult to think through things clearly and can have a negative impact not just on the business decisions that you make, but long term health consequences too. Make sure you’re active with managing that stress - either through exercise, meditation, eating healthy meals and getting enough sleep or any of the other techniques available to you.

3. Acknowledge your circle of control and focus on that - You can’t control everything, no one can. Figure out the things that you can control, and focus on that. This will help you prioritize the most important items you can do something about, and let go of those that you cannot.

4. Know when to call it quits - Sometimes there is no winning hand. One of the entrepreneurs we surveyed said that he’d “rather take on debt than have to admit that we went under.” Don’t do that. Part of being a business owner is having to make difficult decisions, deciding to shut down is one of those decisions.

In the words of an entrepreneur, “the deck seems stacked against small business.” But if you decide to take the plunge, make sure to understand the challenges, and know that others are going through the same things as you. Good Luck!

What Is An Exit Intent Popup

An exit intent popup is a type of pop up system that tracks a user on your page and prompts a popup when it notices that your visitor is about to leave. That allows you to reach them one more time before they leave.

The pop-up can have multiple uses, but in all cases, exit intent popups can be an important part of getting the most out of your marketing.

By using an exit intent popup, you will be able to increase your conversion rate, which is important especially if you’re using paid marketing to help drive high intent traffic to your website.

When you do paid marketing, you have to think closely about who it is you’re trying to target. When targeting users, you generally start with a buyer persona and a customer profile to go after. If you're in a niche that is not crowded, you can be a little lose with your targeting and do some experimentation with relatively little exposure financially (because ads will be cheap). But if you’re in a competitive field, your competitors will generally be targeting the same groups of people. That means that you will be bidding against each other, and that will drive up the cost of each user acquired. That means you need to maximize each user that comes to your site - and that’s where Exit Intent Popups really shine. Exit Intent Popups increase conversion, decreases cost of acquisition and helps you make more money!

There are multiple ways you can use an exit intent pop-up, Here are a few:

• Abandoned Cart and/or Finish Checkout reminders - Annexcloud did a study and found that 50%-80% of carts are abandonded. Think about that, more than half of the people that are ready to buy end up not making a purchase. These are "low hanging fruit" and our numbers show that you can recover 20% of those abandoned carts with a well timed exit intent popup (if item in cart)
• Incentivize Purchase or Returns - You drive a high intent customer to your shop. They look at your product or service, but are about to leave. What do you do? Incentivize them to make a purchase or come back! Exit intent popups can be used to capture a high intent user before they're about to leave, while also making sure that you're not just giving away discounts to users who are willing to pay full price. The studies show that you can actually increase conversions by 3%-5%
• Capture Emails - As an online business, one of the hardest things to do is to drive customers to your website. Once they're there, you want to retain thse customers. Users of our "fortune wheel" exit intent game see up to a 10x increase in email collection over traditional email collection methods.
• Teach Customer Somethign Before they Leave - Is there somethign special about your product or service that might get a customer to rethink leaving? Maybe your company has a mission that your customers would care about? Or maybe you want to let your potential customer know about why your product is higher quality than others. It could be anything - but this could be your last shot at keeping them on the site.
• Ask for Feedback - Your customer is leaving - now would be a good time to find out why. Ask them for feedback right when they're leaving - find out if your product is not compelling, or if it's priced too high, or it has a perceptoin of not being high quality - anything. It can help improve future sales. Studies show you should expect about a 4% response rate.
• Play a Game or Mix and Match - Lastly - you can often find popups (like Proof Factor's!) that do multiple tings - they can be interactive, they can be games, and it can continue to increase your conversions - don't be hesitant to experiment!

How to Use an Exit Popup

Remembering from above, an exit popup is a type of popup used to keep a high intent user/customer on your page to try and convert them in some way before they leave. That means that, you have to think about what actions users take before they leave your site. The two most straight forward and obvious is based on how long they spend on your site, and if their system that tracks a user on your page and prompts a popup when it notices that your visitor is about to leave. That allows you to reach them one more time before they leave.

When you set up a exit popup, there are a few factors to think about

• Design - the pop-up should fit your site's look and feel. Check out the image below, 402&Beyond set up their exit intent pop up with their logo, their own text/copy that fits their messaging and a color scheme that goes well with their site.
  

• Goal - What do you want your exit popup to accomplish - do you want to increase sales? Do you want to grow your email list? Solicite feedback? Think about what you want your popup to accopmlish, and then select the right incentives (coupon, free shipping, raffle) to get users to do so.

• Set it up - Once you have your goals down, and the design right, set it up! There are factors like delays in the pop-up (you can set a delay, only showing the popup after a users has been on your site for x seconds), or you can make sure you only show it to a user every 30 days (so you're not annoying them).

• Launch and Experiment! - Once you're launched, keep track of your results and don't hesitate to experiment.

Now that you know more about exit intent popups - go try one out! You can use Proof Factor's for free (forever) to start experimenting on the budding plan (first 1k unique monthly users are free - no credit card required!). email support@prooffactor.com and mention this article and we'll double your free monthly uniques!

Good luck!

Over the past decade, hustle mentality has become synonymous with success.

This hustle mentality is the idea that if you want to succeed, you should “Always Be Hustling” and that, like industry titans Elon Musk and Jack Dorsey, you have to #HustleHarder by giving up everything outside of work to acheive success.

If you’re not responding to emails at 3am, you’re not working hard enough.

Proof Factor conducted a study to see what this is doing to entrepernuers across the country. What we found is that "Hustle Porn" is destroying the health of many entrepreneurs.

Jump straight to the results here

Or read on to get our take.

Do a quick search for “#Hustle” on Instagram, it shows 19+ Million posts that follow this recipe:

First:

• Pick 1:
  • Plain colored background
  • Background of a famous athlete, celebrity or movie character (bonus points if you pick Al Pacino in Scarface)
  • A picture of super luxury good (additional bonus points for a Lamborghini or a home on a tropical beach)

Second:

• Pick 1:
  • A famous quote by someone already rich and famous
  • A quote by an “I’ll teach you to be rich” guru that is likely not rich themselves, but loves to self promote
  • Make your own quote, as long as it involves the words “Hustle”, “Ambition” or a swear word

Third:

• Fill the caption with your personal story of how you’re making 7 figures a month by hustling harder than those around you and how I can too for the low, low price of 29.99 a month.
• Make sure to include something like: "Hit follow, share and comment to win a free 1 on 1 session with me to teach you how to be rich"

Scarface - possibly the most quoted movie when talking about “making it”. Don’t worry about the fact that the main character dies at the end (spoiler alert!)

“Hustle Porn” uses the power of social media to convince others to take risks not right for them, by pushing a lifestyle that isn’t just unreasonable, but downright dangerous for many people.

I know this because I was once part of this lifestyle - I’ve started several companies, I’ve raised over $10M from VC firms, and I took a very “non traditional” path to my career - always hustling. Guess what - I was almost personally bankrupt multiple times, I was burned out and had gained 30 pounds of unhealthy weight.

But, according to the hustle posts out there, thousands of online “entrepreneurs” are making millions of dollars from their own homes. Online gurus will teach you how to be rich and show off their own material possessions. This video below from one of these "gurus" has 70M views and literally starts off with “Here in My Garage, I just bought this new Lamborghini here...“

“Online Gurus” will teach you to be rich. Of course, they first have to show off how rich they are. Never mind that actual rich people are busy making more money, not shooting YouTube videos.

But for a large swath of entrepreneurs, owning your own company is a nightmare. I know because I’ve experienced it when I went through a business bankruptcy - we had 30 employees that devoted their time, energy and ambition to us as founders and the company. Telling them that we weren’t going to make it was heart wrenching. Seeing the disappointment on their faces, knowing that they had racing thoughts about how they were going to pay bills, and the stress of looking for new employment - it ruined me and I know it ruined many of them. The level of stress was tremendous…

But I’m not the only one.

Proof Factor, the ecommerce social proof plugin I’ve been working on, commissioned a survey of entrepreneurs and small business owners to see how prevalent the fear of going out of business was, and the mental impact of that fear.

We Found: 31% of entrepreneurs have privately worried that they might go out of business. For context, there are 30 Million small and medium sized businesses in the US, we estimate that ~10 Million entrepreneurs have privately suffered through this fear.

America is the land of opportunity, but that’s the equivalent of the number of people that have immigrated through Ellis Island over a 50 year span!

Ellis Island - a long time image of the American Dream. Imagine if all of those who immigrated through Ellis Island had the fears these business owners have.

How do survey respondents feel?

Some are having real physical and emotional issues:

• "I’ve been getting heart palpitations thinking about going out of business."
• "I’m Doomed"

Some are embarrassed and panicked

• "My friends all thought I was some kind of 28 year old entrepreneur genius. They didn’t know I was panicking every time I looked at my ATM receipt."
• "I don’t know what I’d tell my friends & family. I’d rather take on debt than have to admit that we went under."

And many others regret their decisions and just want it to end:

• "I just regret throwing so much time and money away"
• "Sometimes I want to go out of business."

The impacts are real, and, of survey respondents, it seems to effect female entrepreneurs more, with 40% of female respondents worried they might go out of business, vs. 23% of male respondents.

The question leads to why - what is it that’s leading to these issues. The answer is complex, and different business owners have different reasons. Here are a couple:

External Factors:

• "Technology has replaced me"
• "The rapid decline of disposable income across the middle class sector
  Wage growth is higher than profit growth"

Internal Factors:

• "No one wants what I’m selling"
• "Not enough paying customers to keep the lights on"

In the words of an entrepreneur, “the deck seems stacked against small business.” In this day and age, there are more opportunities to start companies, and more “gurus” encouraging you to do it. But unless you have the right business, tools and financial backing, it’s harder than ever to make it.

Does this resonate with you? Or do you want to write more about it? Reach out to me (founders@prooffactor.com) and we can talk through the survey results and share more data.

Survey Methodology:

Proof Factor commissioned 'Nonfiction' to conduct this study. Nonfiction Research's quantitative sample was collected over a four-day period in March 2019, totaling 610 completed responses.

An original sample was collected which was then weighted to demographic characteristics of the US population including but not limited to geography, age, gender, ethnicity, income, education level, job type, and political affiliation. Weighting is combinatory in nature, such that demographic characteristics are mapped to known American Community Survey (also known as the census) data rather than individually weighted in a vacuum.

Our approach also utilizes a technique called "known sampling" in which the identity of respondents is verified for accuracy.

Email Marketing Benchmarks

Every e-commerce store wants to increase their revenue, but are you taking advantage of the low hanging fruit? Good email marketing is one of the best ways to increase your revenue substantially. E-commerce marketing platforms like Klaviyo say that their top performing customers can get up to 40% of their revenue from email marketing, and that if you’re getting under 25% of your revenue from email marketing, you may be missing significant revenue opportunities.

Email marketing is exceptionally profitable; it allows you to engage with customers at a very low marginal cost (you’ve already done the hard work of bringing them to your site and getting their emails), retain existing customers and, over time, learn more about these retained customers so that you can send them emails that are much more targeted, and more relevant (with higher conversions), to your potential and previous customers.

How are you capturing emails

As you think about building out your customer emails strategy, you first have to start with the emails themselves. It doesn’t matter how targeted your emails are if you don’t have people to send them too! As you build a larger list, you’ll have more ability to segment customers, drive sales and keep your site growing.

However, in this day and age, users and customers really dread “another newsletter”.

Think about your own personal email address; how hesitant are you to give it out. If an online store asks for an email address, how likely are you to give it to them? The answer is probably… NO. This is especially true if the only “incentive” is to “join our newsletter”. There are few cases where a user or customer finds your content sooo compelling that they’re willing to sign-up for your newsletter. And if that’s the case (and it probably is - trust me) you need to think a lot more about what your customer DOES care about. Emails are getting more and more cluttered, how many newsletters do you think your customers are already signed up for (answer: a lot). Do you think they are excited to sign up for one more without getting something out of it?

Thinking about email collection

So, let’s think about email collection. What makes someone significantly more likely to give you their email? When was the last time you gave out your email to a website; was there a good reason for it?

Most likely, the site offered you something of value, something that you couldn’t pass up and you deemed it worthy of your email address. What was it?

Second, how easy is it for a site user (hopefully an eventual customer), to give you an email address? The corollary to this question is; if it’s a one step form, is that enough for you to provide them with a compelling follow-up email? The answer might be ‘No’, that you need more information about the user to really be able to show them an email that’s interesting to them. Information like first name, products looked at and products purchased. Or the answer might be yes, but you might have to bundle an incentive into the email so that they engage. There is a balance that you have to strike; the more information you request of your user/visitor, the less likely they are to give you their email; but the less information you gather, the harder it is to email them with relevant information.

Putting it all together - The Proof Factor Incentivized Email Collection Wheel (i.e. Fortune Wheel)

This is why, at ProofFactor, we created our incentivized email collection wheel, to help you increase your email collection to supercharge the emails that your sending. Customers are seeing up to a 10x increase in email collected over traditional “join our mailing/newsletter” pop-ups, so you’ll be creating substantial revenue out of your email campaigns in short order.

The Fortune Wheel:

• Asks users for emails at the best times possible
• Allows you to grow sales immediatelyand ALSO collect emails
• Incentivizes Email collection with coupons
• Is highly customizable design so it's a part of your site
• Best of all - it’s completely free

Get Going!

Any good email marketing plan requires that you take a methodical approach to re-engaging website visitors and previous customers. That plan starts with email collections. The more emails you have, the more leverage you have and the more revenue you can drive with those emails. Because email marketing is so highly profitable, it should be a major part of your revenue strategy. Get started today, and turbocharge your store!