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From beginner to Pro: How to master Shopify Flow?

As a busy eCommerce store owner, time is your most valuable asset. With so many tasks to juggle, it's easy to get bogged down in the day-to-day operations of your business. 

That's where Shopify Flow comes in. This powerful automation tool can help you streamline your workflow, save time, and get back to what you love most about your business. From adding tags to orders and customers to managing inventory and more, it's like having a personal assistant at your fingertips. 

P/s: The only thing it won't do is bring you coffee. We're still working on that feature.

 

Top eCommerce Trends to Watch in 2023: Staying Ahead in the Online Retail Landscape

It's critical to keep informed and on top of the latest eCommerce trends, whether you own a little business or a major multinational. To guarantee that your online store remains successful and relevant until 2023 and beyond, start putting these tactics into practice today.

The power of text messaging for your business

Text messaging has become a powerful tool for businesses looking to connect with their customers quickly and effectively. With an open rate of 98%, SMS provides a unique opportunity for businesses to reach their audience directly, and see a significant return on investment (ROI).

Let's look closer at the secret of the incredibly high return on investment of SMS texting.

What is the power of SMS Marketing?

One of the key advantages of SMS is its ability to deliver high-quality leads. SMS campaigns are targeted, allowing businesses to reach specific customers with tailored messages. This results in higher engagement and conversion rates, as customers are more likely to respond to messages that are relevant to their interests and needs.

SMS also provides a cost-effective solution for businesses looking to reach a large audience. Compared to other forms of marketing, SMS is relatively cheap and easy to implement. Businesses can reach thousands of customers with just a few clicks, making it an attractive option for businesses on a budget.

SMS can also be used to build customer loyalty and improve customer experience. By sending personalized messages to customers, businesses can create a sense of connection and show that they value their customers. This can lead to increased customer retention, as customers are more likely to continue doing business with a company they feel valued by.

In terms of ROI, businesses can expect to see a significant return on investment from SMS campaigns. According to studies, SMS campaigns have an average ROI of 45%, making them one of the most profitable forms of marketing available.

 

To maximize the ROI of your SMS campaigns, it's essential to follow best practices. This includes using targeted messages, segmenting your audience, and using analytics to track the performance of your campaigns. Additionally, businesses should consider using SMS with other marketing channels, such as email and social media, to create a comprehensive marketing strategy.

In conclusion, SMS provides a powerful tool for businesses looking to reach their customers and see a high ROI. With its ability to deliver high-quality leads, improve customer experience, and generate a significant return on investment, SMS is a must-have for businesses looking to grow and succeed in today's competitive market.

6 eCommerce Newsletter Ideas to Inspire Your Brand

If you operate an ecommerce store, chances are your online operations are powered by Shopify. After all, some 4.4 million websites around the world use Shopify and generated some $79.5 billion in revenue in 2022 alone. It’s the first choice for many people, from homemakers operating a business from home to renowned celebrities such as David Beckham.

Shopify offers a wide range of customization so you can put your mark on your online store. What’s more, the Shopify app store offers more than 7000 applications, such as Facebook Messenger chat apps, to help you achieve that customization. This allows specialist and niche businesses to build a global brand that serves their customers well and offers the highest quality products as well as great customer service. 

While Shopify makes it easy for you to set up and operate an online store, including customizable, easy-to-use themes, there is still a lot of work you have to do yourself. One crucial area in maintaining a successful ecommerce business is communication – in particular, letting your existing customers and subscribers know about special offers, new products, or other information via newsletters. 

Here, we look at six ecommerce newsletter ideas that will make your emails stand out and lead to higher conversion rates and revenue. 

What are eCommerce newsletters?

Many people assume that newsletters are just email marketing, and while there is an element of marketing to such communications, there are also other aspects to what they are meant to achieve. Building a relationship with customers is essential; it can establish trust and ensure they become loyal customers and even brand ambassadors. 

Newsletters offer the perfect opportunity to engage with customers rather than primarily driving sales (though that can be a welcome side effect). They tell your customers more about your company and brand, provide them a behind-the-scenes glimpse of your operations, offer tips and guides relating to products they may have bought (or are considering buying), and generally let them know what is going on. 

6 inspiring eCommerce newsletter ideas

With so many Shopify stores, there will be different needs when it comes to what information you want to send to customers. A shop may sell digital products (such as software), or physical products made by others, or it may do everything from designing and building a product and also delivering it to its customers. 

However, the basic idea remains the same: you want to engage with and inform your customers and encourage brand loyalty and repeat sales.

1. Let them know more about you

Let’s stick with Brosa as an example. Brosa has skilled furniture makers based in several countries, including Australia. Customers may only be aware that the company builds quality furniture. So, a newsletter can be a great way of letting people know more about the company, from how the business started to profiles of the people who run it. 

You can also go further by including information about how you operate behind the scenes. If you have more than one geographical location, feature each of them in different newsletters to segment audiences. 

People love to feel a personal connection with brands, which helps to build loyalty and engagement. So profiling everyone, from your CEO to the workers who build the furniture, can be a great way of establishing that connection.

Another thing to consider is sharing your company’s ethical practices with customers. Today’s consumers are becoming increasingly concerned about the impact their purchases have on the planet and people, so being transparent about your green credentials and labor practices can be the difference between a customer supporting your business and a competitor’s. 

2. Offer expert advice

You know your brand, and you know your products. So sharing your expertise in a newsletter can be an excellent way of improving engagement. 

The advice can cover everything from how to get the best out of a business phone system and what peripherals to add to that system, to what furniture might suit a particular space or color scheme in an office or house. 

Remember, if you have built your brand and website correctly, existing and potential customers will recognize your authority in that particular subject area. You should thus have a wealth of information available that you can spread out over multiple newsletters. The advice can be technical or practical; the point is that customers should engage with the information as they accept you as an expert in that field. 

In addition, it’s worth embracing the power of videos. For example, if you sell technical products, you can set up a YouTube channel and make a series of ‘how to’ videos that you promote through your newsletter. These video guides can show customers how to get their products up and running and make the most of the product’s features. 

3. Promote events 

Events do not always have to involve physical attendance. With the wealth of technology available today, such as video conferencing software, it’s easy to make the world a smaller place. The global virtual events market size was valued at USD 114.12 billion in 2021 and is anticipated to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 21.4% from 2022 to 2030. You could host a Facebook event to launch a product and promote it via your newsletter, ensuring that more people sign up and ‘attend’ (and ideally make a purchase). 

Of course, you can also promote physical events, such as trade fairs, that may be of interest to your audience. While these will have a more limited geographical catchment area, you can tie a physical event with a virtual one by live-streaming the most relevant elements to a wider audience. As with other information, it’s all about improving brand awareness and reach. 

Events do not always have to be marketing or product related. For example, if your business promotes sustainability and green credentials, you may choose to focus on related events such as Earth Day, which takes place annually on 22nd April. This can further establish your own green principles and encourage customers to participate in the event where possible. 

4. Personalization 

While the primary focus of your newsletters should not be to sell, there will be occasions when you can focus on particular products that you feel customers may like or benefit from. After all, chances are they signed up for your newsletter because they already like what you’re selling or value your expertise. 

Personalization is one of the biggest eCommerce trends right now – and one of the secrets to getting it right is segmenting customer data. Categorizing customers based on their interests, previous purchases, and industry allows you to create content specific to them and their needs. 

It’s also essential to understand and anticipate your customers’ wants, needs, and pain points. With this in mind, newsletters are not about making a hard sell, but instead (gently) suggesting products that address those needs and solve customers’ problems. 

For example, if you have clients that operate a contact center, you may want to personalize a newsletter that focuses on how call center software can improve their communications and customer service. Similarly, if they bought a sofa from you in the past, you may want to focus on other furniture pieces that complement that sofa. 

Again, it’s all about making (and maintaining) a strong connection with your customers. Personalization should go beyond simply using their name and should take into account either products they have purchased in the past or products that your analytics show they have a strong interest in. eCommerce personalization in a newsletter can be a major factor in discovering new products

Personalization with your SMS text now!

 5. Video content

We’ve already mentioned ‘how-to’ videos briefly, but video content can encompass a lot more than that. You can use videos to show off what your products can do or to give customers more detailed looks at what goes on behind the scenes. You could even ask customers to submit questions and have a senior member of staff do a Q&A video. 

Video content has various benefits. In fact, even including the word ‘video’ in your email subject line can increase open rates by 6%

Creating and sharing video content doesn’t need to break your budget either. With a good smartphone or DSLR, you can make quality videos and there are plenty of low-cost editing software packages available to add text or other effects. 

The only limit to the videos you produce is your own imagination (just ensure it’s relevant to your brand or products). However, one thing to remember is that not all videos are created equal. Depending on where you are going to host the video, make sure you are aware of the optimum video lengths for different subjects and platforms. 

6. Include testimonials or reviews

From their first encounter with your brand, you want customers to follow a path that eventually leads not only to retention but also acts as a brand ambassador who spreads the word about your business. You also have to consider that 77% of consumers ‘always’ or ‘regularly’ read online reviews, while 89% are likely to use a business that responds to reviews (even if that response is a simple “Thank you”). 

When customers have left positive reviews, it means you have a pool of marketing material that is perfect for newsletters. You can even use a bad review to show how good your customer service is and how you managed to solve the issue, turning a dissatisfied customer into a satisfied one.

Be sure to include links to the source of the review, whether on your own website or a third-party review site. That way, consumers can check the veracity of the reviews, thus strengthening the trust between you and them. People will be encouraged to buy when they see great reviews of your products as well as positive comments on aspects of your business such as customer service and efficient delivery. 

How to improve your newsletters

It goes without saying that you want people to open your newsletters. More than that, the aim is for them to engage, respond where relevant, and click on any links that may be contained in the newsletter. There are a number of tactics you should employ to ensure that interest and engagement are maintained over time. 

  • Consider your subject line: That one line can often determine whether people open and read your email or send it to the trash. 

  • Test the content: Use A/B testing to work out what subject lines, formats, images, fonts, and themes work best with your audience. You can do this by sending out different versions of the same newsletter to see what achieves the best results.
  • Analyze and adapt: Use analytics over time to identify the content your customers engage most with and change your strategy accordingly. Look closely at metrics such as click-through rates and open rates. When you do include CTAs (calls to action), look at your conversion rates.
  • Ask the audience: Use surveys and polls to see what content your customers would like to see in future newsletters. This can be a great way of ensuring consistently engaging content.

The takeaway

Letter writing has been around for some 2,500 years, helping people stay in touch or imparting news. In today’s digital world of email newsletters, that concept is still very much the same. 

Today, however, it’s crucial that your newsletter is more than just a list of information or products if you want to stand out in a crowded inbox.

Keep in mind that, typically, your email database will be a mixture of existing customers and potential buyers who have subscribed to your mailing list to learn more about your organization or particular products. So, achieving sales from newsletters is only a secondary aim.

Your main aim is to keep the attention of your subscribers by sharing content that is interesting, engaging, and informative. You won’t get it right the first time or every time, but by adopting this guide to your particular business model, you can ensure that people connect with your brand through inspiring newsletters.

Source:

  • demandsage.com
  • superoffice.com
  • brightlocal.com

Facebook's Diem Cryptocurrency: A Game-Changer for Online Payments?

The growth of online economic activity leads people to aspire to smoother payment methods and flexible financial transactions. The diffusion of smart devices and internet penetration levels in contemporary society are paving the way for a global digitalization of the economy through cryptocurrencies.

Facebook's Crypto Venture

The impact of social media like Facebook can affect the economic field, thanks to a user base of 2.6 billion across the world. It shouldn't shock anyone that the world's largest social media decided to debut with a new cryptocurrency, Diem, launched in 2021. 

Facebook's cryptocurrencyAlthough internet-based financial transactions are widely accessible to millions of users, about 1.7 billion adult mobile owners live without access to traditional banking services. Nowadays, people with limited financial resources are charged additional fees for using financial services, such as ATM charges, wire costs, and more. That's where Diem takes action: Facebook's new cryptocurrency offers the chance to use blockchain to solve the accessibility problem. Blockchain allows users to process financial movements without the control of a local bank or other financial institutions, which makes cryptocurrencies a free way to online financial transactions for online purchases, payments, donations, and gaming services. Furthermore, Diem might help online casino players overcome transaction issues, as you can see at https://www.drapuestas.com/blog/diem-la-nueva-criptomoneda-de-meta, a recent article discussing the features and use of Diem for online real-money gaming.

What Makes Diem Different Than Other Cryptocurrencies?

The advent of Diem (formerly Libra) came with the promise of solving several financial issues, starting from accessibility. The objective is to combine blockchain technology with regulatory frameworks and all-around compliance. Thus, Diem can help with specific compliance requirements by improving the efficiency of other cryptocurrencies. We've collected a list of the main actions of Diem:

  • Diem helps prevent illegal activities, including money laundering
  • It can use crypto projects to help against financing for terrorism.
  • It provides a strong base for trust while sanctioning compliance.
  • The Diem coin can offer users the advantage of security.
  • It offers a new chance to people with limited accessibility to financial services.
  • It provides an open, global payment network at a cost-effective level.
  • The transaction speed is superior to other cryptocurrencies.
  • Diem supports commercial and trade activities.
  • It offers high-quality interoperability under governance practices and compliance standards.

Components of Diem

The financial build of Diem focuses on empowering billions of adult users cut off from the actual financial fields. Facebook's Diem project encompasses three milestone aspects that contribute to creating an inclusive financial system for the future. Here, you can see the three components of Diem:

1) Blockchain

Diem entails a blockchain structure that ensures reliable scalability and security levels. This condition is necessary to build a technology-driven and cost-effective payment system.

2) Governance

The Libra Association and derived networks support governance and compliance while focusing on developing the payment system's infrastructure.

3) Libra Reserve

Libra was born as an integrated entity of the Libra Reserve, which includes assets of cash or cash equivalents within short-term government securities.

Conclusion

Facebook's new cryptocurrency aims to offer the world an interoperable and reliable payment method that can secure the user's financial assets through simple and intuitive interfaces. On top of these objectives, Diem focuses on providing users with cost-effective and easy-to-go access to the online financial panorama.

 

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