Topic
Growth strategy
Budgets, planning, metrics and where the next stage of growth comes from.
Why are my e-commerce sales declining?
Usually something you used to do has stopped, or one part of the business has had all the attention while the rest slipped. Find your best month of the last five years, list exactly what you did, and put it next to this month. The difference is your gap, and closing it is mostly doing what worked before with today's tactics.
How would you grow your business if you couldn't run ads?
Put the money and the hours you spend on ads into a channel you own. For most founders that means showing up on camera every day with organic content, and testing it properly before it ever touches your main feed. Ads are a great accelerator, but a business that can only grow through one platform's ad account is fragile.
Base your marketing budget on the revenue you want, not the revenue you have
Pick the revenue you're aiming for 90 days or a year from now, apply your marketing percentage to that number, and start spending it now. At the very least, your budget should grow as fast as your growth target. Then spend it as a steady run of small experiments, each one kept, iterated or killed.
You can build a million-dollar store with one product
Pick one hero product, or a couple of hero bundles, and put almost all your effort behind it: a product page optimised within an inch of its life, a steady stream of founder ads and customer videos, and three emails a week. Nobody wants it to be that simple. It is.
How long does it take a customer to make their first purchase?
Longer than your marketing assumes, and longer the more you charge. My rough rule is about two weeks for every $100 of order value, and the curve steepens as the price climbs. Measure your own number with a sign-up-to-purchase cohort, then fund campaigns months before you need the revenue.
Questions on Growth strategy
- How do I double my business without hiring more staff?
Stop asking how to double it, and ask what would break at ten times your current volume. Fix those breakpoints and you can grow revenue while the team stays at today's level of busyness.
- What metrics should a small ecommerce business track?
As few as possible. For most stores that's conversion rate, average order value, total revenue against traffic, and solid tracking on your paid ads.
- How quickly should I follow up leads after a trade show or webinar?
Within hours if you can, and no later than 48. Attention and goodwill peak right after the event and fade fast, so speed alone puts you ahead of most of the competition.