Scaling Sales: Growth Strategies Of The Fastest Growing Internet Retailers

Scaling Sales
Lessons From Fastest Growing Online Retailers
#tcs2016 @RolandFrasier
Roland Frasier

#tcs2016 @your_twitter_handle
Source: InternetRetailer.com

This is a sample of bold
text on a full color slide.
This is good for quotes,stats,
dividers,etc.
Big Mission

Big Mission Statements
• Honest.com: Create a non-toxic world that benefits the
next generation
• NatureBox.com: Be the “Netflix of food.”
• DollarShaveClub: Help guys live a smarter, more successful
life through grooming
• WarbyParker.com: Offer designer eyewear at a
revolutionary price while leading the way for socially
conscious business.

Our Bigger Mission
• DigitalMarketer: Double the sales of 10,000
businesses over the next 5 years.
• NativeCommerce: Associate 10 million people
with common interests in communities around
what they find fun and interesting by 2020 to
enable them to realize their personal passions.

What Is Your Bigger Mission?
• Is there a wrong you are righting or a big problem you are
solving through your business?
• How will what you are doing right the wrong or solve the
problem and change the world?
• Who will what you are doing impact?
• Is there a time by which you will accomplish this?

dividers,etc.
Charitable
Commerce

Charitable Commerce: Mixing Charity + Sales
• Honest.com: Supports GirlsWhoCode.com and others.
• AlexAndAni: Dedicated jewelry with sales proceeds to fight AIDS.
• DollarShaveClub.com: Colon Cancer Alliance.
• Toms.com: Pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair sold.

Warby Parker: BuyA Pair,Give A Pair

Is There A Good That You Can Do Through Your Business?
• Can you donate one of whatever you sell to the needy for every
sale that you make?
• Can you donate a monetary portion of whatever you sell to a
charity that already exists or that you create?
• Is there a charity that aligns naturally with your business that
your company can support through money, volunteering, etc.?

dividers,etc.
A Better
Model

Re-Inventing Models + Markets
• BlueApron.com: Eliminate inconvenience of grocery shopping. Make cooking easier. Cut
out middle-men. Subscription groceries.
• Honest.com: Eliminate inconvenience of shopping for hard to find natural baby
products. Subscription diapers + related products.
• DollarShaveClub.com: Eliminate inconvenience + expense of drugstore razor shopping.
Subscription razors + related products.
• PrimaryKids.com: Eliminate inconvenience of buying basics for kids clothing. Ignore
fashion trends. Focus on evergreen styles. Save costs of designers and inventory.

What Is Your Business Model?
• What unique thing can you do to not be just another “me-too” business?
• What thing that has “always been done that way” could be done differently
and better? E.g. BlueApron: measured ingredients.
• Would your business be better if you were fully vertically integrated from
manufacturing to distribution? QC + The 4 Models on the last slide cut out
the middlemen to save cost and provide better value. Could you do that as
well and then split cost savings between your margin and your customers?

dividers,etc.
Free Shipping
Speedy Delivery

Shipping To Compete.
• Target.com: Free shipping for $50 minimum order. $25
outperformed significantly so minimum lowered to $25.
• BlueApron.com + StitchFix.com: Free shipping.
• Choxi.com: Partnered with ShipStation.com, ShipWorks.com
+ SkuVault.com to offer best shipping options.

Source: Trendwatching.com
Amazon Dash + Amazon Prime Now

Drop-Shipper Management Strategy From Choxi.com
• Most Choxi.com flash sale products are drop-shipped and
not manufactured or inventoried by Choxi.com
• Choxi controls supply chain management with warnings
and penalties to late-shipping suppliers.
• Partnered with ShipStation, ShipWorks and SkuVault to
ship and deliver as quickly as possible

dividers,etc.
Personalization

Personalized Service Via App
• BlueApron.com: Choose plan, food preference, delivery day.
• StitchFix.com: Personalized stylist for women on the go.
Mobile app lets users upload pics in clothes they like and
personal stylists base selections off those pics.
• MakeUpGenius by Loreal: Try make-up on virtually.

Personalized Web Experience
• Personalized experience through interactive survey on site
• eSalon.com: Custom hair color blended based on user input.
Personal stylist + photo upload to assist in color selection
• Sephora.com: Virtual Artist app. Try on lipstick instantly.
• AlexAndAni.com: Chain station builder. Custom jewelry.

What Personalized Experience Can You Deliver?
Leverage your welcome survey and give
the customer the sense that offering their
information is key to a better customer
experience.

Use Personalized Email To Improve Conversions
• Choxi.com
• Emails are personalized based on page visit, click data and
aggregated data.
• Click to view a pair of Ugg boots online, but don’t buy.
Then, get an email with a link to shopping cart.

Use Personalized Email To Improve Conversions Like
Honest.com
• Emails are personalized based on page visit, click data and
aggregated data
• 3x higher conversion rate on 6 email welcome sequence
• We used BuiltWith.com to figure out that the tool that
Honest.com is using for this is…

Tool: RetentionScience.com

Source: RetentionScience.com

Use Dynamic Websites To Improve Engagement Like
Zulily.com
• Displays millions of different versions of its website
any given time
• Learns what you’re interested in and dynamically
tunes itself to you (mom sees kid’s clothes, chef sees
kitchen gadgets)
• Data analytics + shopping pattern analysis maximize
relevance, engagement, sales and repeat purchasing

Different Site For Each User Based On Data

#tcs2016 @your_twitter_handleHow Do They Do It? ConversantMedia.com

What Personalized Experience Can You Deliver?
• Can you survey your market to learn more about them and deliver
personalized experiences based on their answers?
• Can you allow your customers to create their own customized version or
mix of your product to their personal tastes?
• Can you use on-site behavior, buying history or aggregated data to serve
the most relevant offers, content and experience to your customers?
• What predictive tools could better personalize your customers’ experience?

dividers,etc.
Omni-Channel
“Omni-channel is viewing the experience through the eyes of your
customer,orchestrating the customer experience across all channels
so that it is seamless,integrated,and consistent.[It] anticipates
customers may start in one channel and move to another as they
progress to a resolution… Simply put,omni-channel is multi-channel
done right!”
-John Bowden,SVP Customer Care,Time Warner

O2O: Online To Offline Meets Offline To Online
• NeimanMarcus.com: Site features encourage users to connect with
in-store associates. Facetime style sessions.
• JCPenny.com/Julep.com/Nordstrom.com: Buy online/pick-up in-store
• Pier1Imports.com: iPad Equipped In-Store Associates Order Out Of
Stock Items Online. 30% Of Online Orders Originate In-Store.
• WarbyParker.com: Pop-up Stores, Yurts, School Bus Stores, Retail.

Omni-channel Online
• Honest.com: Big 5 Social Channels, TV, Retail,Amazon, App
• Uniqlo.com: Big 5 Social, TV, Owned Media, Retail
• DollarShaveClub: Big 5 Social, TV, Owned Media, Podcast Ads
• Etailz.com: Retail, Ebay,Amazon, NewEgg, Walmart, AliExpress

What Traffic Channels Do Your Competitors Use
• SimilarWeb.com Offers Great Insights Into Traffic + Channels
• First Run A “Competitors > Similar Sites”Analysis
• Then Run a Comparative Analysis With Your Top 4 Competitors
• Find Out What Channels They Are Getting Traffic From That You
Are Not,Then Go Get Those Channels

First LookAt The Traffic Overview
• This shows traffic from all sources and percentages by
competitor. Note missed opportunities competitors are taking
advantage of and plug in the gaps in your own traffic plan.
• Pay attention to the Source and Source Type: Direct, organic or
paid search, email, social or referral.

Add New + Existing Opportunities To Your Traffic Channel GridPROFITCENTERS
TRAFFIC CHANNELS
FACEBOOK GOOGLE HOUSE LIST
SLICK
DEALS
AMAZON POPDUST
SHARE-A-
SALE
EMAIL

Now Let’s LookAt Traffic Referrals From Other Sites
• This shows traffic that other sites are sending.
• Note the various sites that are sending referral traffic and the
percentages that each competitor is receiving from those sites.
• Identify sites that send disproportionately more referral traffic to
your competitors and shore them up.
• Identify sites sending referral traffic to competitors but none to you.

RUN AVERTICAL REPORT ON ADBEAT OR SIMILAR
COMPETITIVE INTELLIGENCE TOOL
• This shows how the fastest growers are running ads.
• Take note of the creatives that are performing for them.
• Identify networks and publishers they are using.
• Find the best opportunities for traffic that you are not currently
taking advantage of and add them to your traffic channel grid.

dividers,etc.
Social Commerce

Social Commerce Converts
• Shoppers who interact with a UGC photo are 2x more likely
to purchase.
• UGC photos increase engagement + amplify your brand
message organically increasing total brand reach.
• UGC photos raise on-site conversion by 12%.
Source: Pixlee.com

Fastest Growing E-Retailers Drive Traffic With Social
• Zulily.com: 7% Of Total Traffic From Facebook
• WarbyParker.com: 9% Of Total Trafic From Facebook
• Choxi.com: 10% Of Total Traffic From Facebook
• NatureBox: 21% Of Total Traffic From Facebook

Fastest Growing E-Retailers On Social Have…
• 2x Number of Facebook Likes
• 70% More Pinterest Followers
• 52% More Twitter Followers
• 22% More Instagram Followers
• 13% More YouTube Video Views

Remove Friction + Encourage Social Engagement…
• BlueApron.com: Mobile app encourages customers to post their
creations on Facebook, Instagram + Twitter and makes it fun + easy.
• Julep.com: #MavenUnboxing hashtag drove 20 million social users
over Christmas. Contests + Giveaways drive 900k social followers.
• CharlotteRusse.com: Uses #CharlotteLook hashtag + Curalate + Pixlee
• WarbyParker.com: #WarbyHomeTryOn hashtag increased shares 40%.
Warby comments on those posts increased conversions by 50%

CharlotteRusse.com drives social commerce with Curalate

AlexAndAni.com
• Asks Instagram followers to post pics of themselves
wearing AlexAndAni jewelry.
• Provide place to post to Instagram on AlexAndAni site
• Grew 77% last year
• Over 585,000 shares. Used Olapic Tool

AlexAndAni.com Generated 585,000 Instagram Shares
Using Olapic

Run A Social Analysis On SimilarWeb. Identify Network
Strengths,Weaknesses + Untapped Opportunities

Add Social Commerce To Your Marketing Mix
• Instagram: Add a URL to your brand’s bio that allows users to access a
shoppable gallery of your brand’s Instagram pictures.
• Facebook: Create a social storefront page tab to allow users to access a
shoppable gallery of your photos + status updates URLs
• Twitter: Drop in a URL that leads users to your product pages
• Pinterest: Add a URL to your brand’s Pinterest photo caption that will
allow users to access your brand’s product pages.

dividers,etc.
Search

The 25 Fastest Growing
Retailers Spend 4x More On
Paid Search

Organic Search: Desktop > 3 Competitor Domain Comparison
Keywords

Organic Search: Mobile
Keywords

Follow DigitalMarketer’s Content Marketing Strategies
• Great keyword research how-to at SEONick.com
• Content marketing is one of the fastest, most effective ways
to do SEO in the post Panda, Penguin, Hummingbird world.
• Pay attention to Russ’s session on the Viral Content Machine
+ Perry & Jayson’s session on The New SEO

dividers,etc.
Narrow Niche To
Broad Market

Master One Niche,Then Expand Into Related Niches
• DollarShaveClub.com: Razors > Own The Bathroom Cabinet
• Honest.com: Baby Products > Cleaning + Personal Care
• BirchBox.com: Women’s Products > Men’s Products
• NatureBox.com: Personal Snacks > Breakfast + Wine Boxes
• Amazon.com: Books > Conquer The World

What Niche Are You In Now?
• Are you in a very broad or narrow niche?
• How much of your current niche do you own?
• What is the natural expansion from the niche you are in to the
next broader niche?
• Survivalist (3MM) > Camper (40MM) > Outdoor Enthusiast (141MM)

dividers,etc.
Recurring
Revenue

Subscription Revenue
• More stable and predictable cash flow
• Helps predictability of inventory needs
• Higher valuation multiples
• Requires more care to engage customer with your product
and brand and not to overly focus on acquisition

Fastest Growing Companies With Subscription Revenue
• BlueApron.com: Food/Recipe Bundles
• DollarShaveClub.com: Razors + Other Bathroom Products
• eSalon.com: Hair coloring products
• Honest.com: Diapers + Other Bundles
• NatureBox.com: Snack Boxes, Breakfast, Wine (coming soon)
• NakedWines.com: Wine boxes

Subscription Commerce Lifecycle
Source: RetentionScience.com

Engagement Stage
• Email capture, half completed profile or
survey, free trial.
• Focus on educating prospects about your
brand, products and mission statement.

Engagement Stage Welcome Series
• Introduce Brand Values: Message from CEO to summarize brand values
& promises + set expectations for emails
• Testimonials + Reviews: Short, relevant, credible, easy to read. Include
name, city, age other customer info.
• Social Media Engagement: At least 1 email encouraging customer to
engage your brand through multiple channels. Use images and
screenshots of each social channel (not generic icons) to improve CTR.

Retention Stage: Activation + Re-Order
• Trying to make sure you retain existing subscribers
by providing value + reiterating why remaining a
subscriber is a good choice.
• Instead of purchase incentives/offers, campaigns
should focus on further engaging with the products
they subscribe to.

Retention Series
• New or updated product information: alerts for updates or
improvements
• Personalized recommendations: Tim Ferris Box letter
• Helpful Content: Tips, tricks, tutorials. More personalized based on
subscriber profile the better.
• Upsell/Cross-Sell Offers: Info on why + how upgrade will benefit
customer is key to conversion here.

Preventing Customer Churn
• Voluntary Churn: When the customer cancels
• Warning Signs: Pauses subscription, low email open and
CTRs, not returning to browse the site.
• Major Reasons For Churn: Not enough value or too much
focus on acquisition

Not Enough Value
• Box Subscriptions: Subscribers add value of all items in
box to see if they are getting their money’s worth or better.
• Full-size products, quality and/or brands all improve value
• Perceived Value-Adds: Relevant, high-quality content,
smooth customer experiences + well-defined customer
journey

Too Much Focus On Acquisition
• Be sure that the deals you offer for acquisition of new
customers are not so good that current customers feel
unappreciated.
• Free trial for a month is okay, but longer periods for very
low prices incite discord with existing customers
• Let existing customers know that you appreciate and
value them

How To Prevent Customer Churn
• Win back customers when they are at risk of churning
• Exit Surveys: As part of cancel process. List usual reasons or issues for
churn. Ask reasons for leaving. Send follow-up campaigns tailored to
each reason listed on survey.
• Exit Email: Sorry to see you go. Ask for feedback on ways to improve.
May provide insight on how to win them back.
• Send win-back email offers. Offers are a great way to get them back.

Give Rewards To Prevent Churn
• Celebrate Milestones: Special emails with treat or offer for
birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Thank your for being a loyal
customer email.
• Create A Reward System: Offer discounts and offers earned
through points for every item shipped, product reviews, referrals.
Offer special or double points for extra-loyal or long-time
subscribers.

Keeping Customers Engaged
• The key to customer retention is engagement.
• Create engaging, rewarding, tailored touches throughout
the customer lifecycle
• What can you do to engage your customers, reward them
and encourage them to consume your product and return to
your site?

What Is Your Recurring Revenue Plan
• Do you have a recurring revenue component to your
business model?
• What can you do to incorporate recurring revenue and
encourage retention to reduce voluntary churn?
• What can you do to reduce involuntary churn?

dividers,etc.
Be On-Trend

Are You Riding Current Trends
• Honest.com: Natural products
• Etailz.com: Eco-Responsible products
• NatureBox.com: Healthy living + snacking
• BlueApron: Cooking + Monthly Boxes
• Trendwatching.com: Track trends

2016
Trends

2016
Trends
Status

2016
Trends
You-
niverse

Is Your Business Model“On Trend?”
• What are the major trends are taking place in your
current market?
• What major trends apply to your target audience?
• Does your current business model and product
lineup match up to one or more of these trends?

dividers,etc.
Strong Customer
Feedback

Continually Iterating Data-Driven Products
• DollarShaveClub.com: RetentionScience told them Shave Butter buyers
were best bet to send free samples. 100% ROI on these people.
• Graze.com: Snack box product learns from your reviews and adjusts
snack mix to avoid the types of tastes you don’t like
• NatureBox.com: 5-10 new products/month. Customer + Data-driven
product iteration (Blueberry oats not selling, chocolate was, now sell
chocolate oats product instead and it sells much better).

Honest.com: Provide Value + Get Valuable Feedback
• Challenge: Babies are always growing requiring manual account updates
for accurate size on diaper + baby bundles
• Solution: Honest Baby App – tracks baby’s size, weight + change
frequency. Parents can update subscriptions, track orders and earn referral
credits through the app.
• Provides other valuable info to parent: baby milestones, Dr. visits, sleep
and feeding habits. Providing valuable info to Honest.com & parents.

How Is Your Customer Feedback Loop?
• Let customers update account info, post reviews, leave opinions,
comment on products and make leaving feedback feel like a perk not
like a chore.
• Do you offer live chat, telephone support and a help-desk?
• How are you monitoring customer feedback on the web?
• Are you building customer preference/taste profiles to personalize the
app and web experience for your customers in the future?
#tcse2016 @RolandFrasier

dividers,etc.
Mobile Friendly

Reducing Mobile Buying Friction Is Critical
• 1/3 of all US ecommerce sales are mobile (phone or tablet)
• 59% of all shopping time is done on a mobile device
• Etsy.com: 58% of traffic from mobile + 41% of sales
• Groupon.com: 50% of total sales are mobile. 70% of all
mobile sales are via app.

Reduce Friction On Mobile
• JackThreads.com: Deep links to product pages in mobile
app from emails and from mobile search queries
• Amazon.com: 1-Touch App Sales Via iOS Touch ID
Fingerprint
• BlueApron.com, Target Cartwheel App + Groupon.com: All
offer 1-Click sales through Apple Pay

Amazon Payments
Dramatically increase mobile conversions by
adding Login & Pay With Amazon to your products

Amazon Deep Links
Dramatically increase mobile conversions deep linking to your
product in Amazon’s Mobile App (100 Million Installed)

Are You Maximizing Mobile Traffic Opportunities?
• Are all of your site and product pages mobile friendly
(responsive or, better yet, specifically designed for mobile)?
• Do you have a mobile app?
• Are you using app-indexing + providing deep links to the
products offered in marketing emails and from search?
• Do you offer 1-Click payments through Amazon, Apple Pay, etc.?

dividers,etc.
Culture + Customer
Service Obsession

dividers,etc.
Friction-Free Tech
Experience

Provide Frictionless Online Experience
• Friction-free means higher time on page + higher sales
• Max page load time 5 seconds (3 is ideal)
• Longer than 3 seconds loses 40% of visitors
• Load test. Have backups, scalability, multiple redundancies
• NewRelic (for apps), CatchPoint Systems (web) + Akamai (CDN)

dividers,etc.
Bundling

The Joy Of Bundling…
• Personalized customer experience (choose your adventure).
• Avoid decision fatigue and increase conversion rates.
• Valuable customer data + feedback for future product dev.
• Increase immediate average order value and Lifetime
Customer Value by increasing order size + price.

What product and/or service bundles can you create?
• Products that go together like DollarShaveClub.com does
with razors and shave butters and gels?
• Products that complement one another like Honest.com
does with diapers and baby wipes
• Increasing quantity + selection like NatureBox.com does.

dividers,etc.
Be Different
From Amazon

Provide Experiences That Amazon Does Not
• Personal Touch Like StitchFix.com
• Physical Connection Like NeimanMarcus.com
• Engaging Social Media Like DollarShaveClub.com
• Unique Selection Of Goods Like Etailz.com + Shinola.com
• Interactive Mobile App Experience Like eSalon.com

dividers,etc.
Total Vertical
Integration

Own The Process + Own The Brand
• BlueApron.com: Grower Contracts > Retail Web (BlueApron Brand)
• Honest.com: Manufacturing To Retail Web/Retail (Honest Brand)
• WarbyParker.com: Manufacturing To Retail Web/Retail (WP Brand)
• NatureBox.com: Manufacturing To Retail Web (NatureBox Brand)
• DollarShaveClub.com: Manufacturing To Retail Web (DSC Brand)

Vertical Integration Improves Margin Measurably
• We find that our average margin on drop-shipped and
branded products is between 20% - 30%.
• But, on products we have manufactured, especially overseas,
we find that our average margin increases to 50% - 70%.
• VI allows data-driven product development + short dev time

What can you do to vertically integrate your business?
• Own or get exclusives on your raw materials like BlueApron.com
• Source manufacturing of your products vs. drop-shipping like
Honest.com + WarbyParker.com
• Own your own media (site) vs. using marketplaces like Amazon.com
• Create + own your own brand like Shinola.com + NatureBox.com

dividers,etc.
Strong Tech +
Marketing
Automation

#T&C2016 @RolandFrasier
Ecommerce Platform
• BlueApron.com, Honest.com + WarbyParker.com:
CartFunctionality
• NatureBox.com, DollarShaveClub.com, Etailz.com: Magento
• Choxi: Vero (behavioral based email targeting)

Referral Programs
• Drive 5% - 30% of total acquisition
• Average CPA is $3
• Display + PPC CPA averages $40
• Retargeting CPA averages $10
Source: FriendBuy.com

Source: FriendBuy.com
The Same Offer Said 4 Different Ways…
• Get Half Off A Naturebox!
• Get $10 for free!
• Get 50% off your next Naturebox!
• Get $10 when you snack with friends!

BirchBox.com: Holiday Promo Copy 2x Referrals + 2x
Referral Sales…

DollarShaveClub.com: On Brand Message 2x Sales

Referral Marketing Dos + Don’ts

dividers,etc.
Thank you!

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