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Ashley has 26 years of experience in writing for various industries including health and finance. She has over ten years of experience with Alexander Forbes, both full time and as a freelancer. She has worked for Discovery Health full time and is currently working for them as a freelancer. Ashley also held the position of media relations officer for Rhodes University, gaining valuable experience in the higher education sector. She has had many smaller clients in a wide range of sectors, giving her a wealth of experience in creating very different pieces of communication from press releases to social media posts, articles, blogs, video scripts, newsletters and trustee reports.

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“Creativity is more than just being different. Anybody can plan weird; that’s easy. What’s hard is to be as simple as Bach. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.” — Charles Mingus

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How to Track and Calculate Your Profit on Amazon FBA

You may be wondering what Amazon FBA is, and you are not alone. It stands for Fulfillment By Amazon, a service that helps Amazon sellers outsource their shipping requirements to Amazon. How the Amazon FBA Calculator Works The Amazon FBA calculator is a very handy tool for anyone who is thinking about outsourcing their shipping requirements to Amazon to avoid having to calculate your own shipping costs. It calculates how much money you will make selling your products through Amazon's logistical network. It goes without saying that you need to have a clear understanding of the costs involved in running your e-commerce store, and shipping is an important aspect of those costs. Just make sure you know what mistakes to avoid when calculating profit. Also, take note that each of marketplace has its own revenue calculator, including Australia, Canada, China, USA, UK, and various European and South American countries. » Learn more about Amazon FBA profit calculators Amazon FBA Profit and Loss Spreadsheet Amazon FBA has a few handy tricks up its sleeve—one of them being its profit and loss spreadsheet. Make no mistake, the spreadsheet can be tricky if you don't manage it well; however, it can be managed better if it is all incorporated into an analytical dashboard. How to Use the Amazon FBA Calculator The Amazon FBA calculator is a relatively straightforward tool, designed to show potential sellers how much they can expect to spend on fulfillment, and how much profit they can make. To get started, you’ll need to log into your Amazon account and enter your Seller profile. Click on the Amazon FBA Calculator, or visit this link if you’re having problems. Step 1: Find the Relevant Product Firstly, you must input an “identifier” number to find the product you’re researching. You can use a search term, ISBN, EAN, or ASIN, depending on the information you have, and select a specific location for your search. Step 2: Set the Price Next, you can input values into the fields within the “Amazon Fulfillment” space to figure out a margin for the product. The first value to enter is the price of the item. Research similar products for inspiration and play around with the pricing to see what kind of margin you can achieve when raising or lowering the price. Step 3: Determine Shipping Costs Fill in the “Ship to Amazon” field. If you’re already selling products via Amazon, you should have a good sense of what the average unit price is to ship your items to the Amazon warehouse. This number varies based on the size, weight, and quantity of products being shipped. Again, experiment with a range of costs to see how it impacts the margin. Step 4: Determine Product Cost Complete the “Cost of Product” field. This is where you input the price it costs to purchase your product from a wholesaler or manufacturer. Make sure you use the “all-in” cost, including the price for any overseas shipping, packaging materials, customs, and any extra expenses related to purchasing your items. Step 5: Calculate Your Margins Click the “Calculate” button. From here, the calculator will give you a net profit and net margin for the product as well as your selling on Amazon fees and fulfillment costs. Other Ways to Calculate Profit on Amazon FBA Amazon FBA Profit Margin Calculator This calculator gives a broader view because you can include all your expenses to get to your net profit per unit. To use this calculator, you start by entering some basic information as well as your fixed costs and upfront costs per product. Your job is to replace the red information in the table provided with your own information. You don't need to do anything with the green figures; those are formulas. Just enter "0" if something doesn't apply to your business. The next step is to enter your marketing costs under "advertising" and "promotions and giveaways," but only if you have marketing costs. And finally, enter "calculate," and you'll get your gross margin calculations. Amazon Profit and Loss Dashboard You can also give the BeProfit profit tracker tool a try. BeProfit offers one of the most accurate profit calculators available on the market today. It includes a data analytics dashboard specifically developed for e-commerce businesses. This innovative tool helps you to stay on top of your business finances while optimizing your bottom line. It is easy to navigate and can be a trusted partner that supports you through the highs and lows of your business's journey. FBA is a service offered to businesses that helps them grow by using Amazon's extensive logistics network. It's quite simple in practice—businesses send their products to an Amazon fulfillment center. Once the products are at the center, and a customer buys one, Amazon receives, packs, and ships those orders, while taking care of customer service, returns, and refunds. This isn't the only way to fulfill your e-commerce orders with Amazon—read our Amazon FBA vs FBM post and our dropshipping on Amazon for beginners guide to learn more. Calculate Your Amazon FBA Fees Before you start your business and throughout your product's lifecycle, your very first step is to consider all your costs. There are four main categories of costs that you would need to look into on Amazon: Upfront costs You'll need samples, and you'll need to ship those samples.Variable costs This includes your FBA fees (15% of your product's price plus $3 to handle and ship your product), returns, and storage fees.Marketing costs You'll have to launch your products at some point and then promote them on an ongoing basis.Business costs This includes insurance, taxes, salaries, and wages. These costs largely depend on the product(s) you are selling. All these costs will impact your profits. To offer your customers a product that is value for money, you need to finetune your expenses and sharpen your calculations to find the perfect match between your profit margins and your customer's pocket. Additionally, you'll need an Amazon profit calculator. Struggling to optimize your spending? Read our guide to using Amazon advertising reports to help you do so. » Find the best Amazon FBA calculator Is Amazon FBA Profitable? The short answer to this question is yes. The long answer to this question takes a couple of statistics into account. Firstly, did you know that Amazon’s revenue was $386 billion in 2020? That's quite a leap from $280 billion in 2019. Almost half (54%) of this revenue comes from third-party sellers! But that's not all. A total of 92% of those third-party sellers use Amazon FBA. The bottom line is that the demand for online shopping has increased significantly since the onset of COVID-19. People are feeling more comfortable with online shopping and are, therefore, exploring different online shopping avenues. To drive the point home, 62% of online shoppers start their search for the products they want to buy on Amazon. If that doesn't convince you, nothing will! And once you get started, be sure to take a look at our guide to promoting your Amazon products.

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Your Guide to LTV/CAC Ratio in E-Commerce

The LTV/CAC ratio may have some meaning to you, but to others, it might as well be a foreign language. Whether you are familiar with these e-commerce metrics or have no idea what they are about, they can help you get a clear understanding of your customers' probable behavior, as well as how much it will cost you to maintain the relationships that you build with them. That's because the LTV/CAC ratio measures the relationship between the lifetime value of a customer and the cost of attracting that customer. » Learn more about other e-commerce metrics and how to calculate them by booking a demo with BeProfit Customer Lifetime Value (LTV) Your LTV predicts how much a customer will spend through a lifetime of interactions with your business. To calculate your LTV, you first need to look at your "churn" rate—how many customers cancel subscriptions in a month. Let's look at an example: if you have 500 customers and, on average, 5 cancel their subscriptions a month, your churn rate will be 1%. This will tell you how long, in general, your customers will keep their subscriptions. Next, you need to calculate your gross margin. This is the percentage of the profit left over after paying your expenses. Finally, you'll need a ballpark figure of how much money your average customer spends each month. Plug those amounts into this formula, and you'll get your LTV: (gross margin %) X ( 1 / monthly churn ) X (average monthly subscription revenue per customer) If a customer has a high LTV, they are one of your VIPs because they spend the most time with you over the longest period. Get Deep-Level Insights on Your LTV Use the Profit Analysis Dashboard's cutting-edge cohort analysis to gain in-depth understanding of your LTV and marketing effectiveness. Monitor revenue-based KPIs, such as cost per order, using a combination of automatic matching and human tagging.Pinpoint ROAS and conversion rates with the help of UTM attribution.Access the app from any computer or mobile device, at any time, and work in real time on a shared workspace with your teammates. Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) CAC is the total cost you spend on marketing and advertising over a certain period to attract a customer. To calculate your customer acquisition cost, follow this CAC payback formula: (total cost of acquiring a customer + total sales expenses) / (the number of new customers acquired) Examples of CACs include advertising, marketing, sales, training, employee wages, shipping, and taxes. How to Calculate Your LTV/CAC Ratio The formula for calculating your LTV/CAC ratio is: [(revenue per customer – direct expenses per customer) / (1 – customer retention rate)] / (number of customers acquired / direct marketing spending) Let's look at an example: Your e-commerce company spends $10,000 on an advertising campaign and gains 1,000 new customers. The average revenue per customer is $60, and the direct cost of filling each order is $40. Your company retains 75% (= 0.75) of its customers per year. customer contribution margin = $60 – $40 = $20LTV = $20 / (1 – 0.75) =$80CAC = $10,000 / 1,000 =$10LTV/CAC ratio = $80 / $10 = 8.0 (or 8:1) How to Analyze Your LTV/CAC Ratio What is a good LTV to CAC ratio? The ideal ratio is around 3:1—which means that the value of your customer is three times more than the cost you paid to get the customer. You are spending too much if your ratio is lower, such as 1:1. On the other hand, you are missing out on business and spending too little if the difference is greater, such as 6:1. This ratio may seem simplistic to you, but the fact is that, as an e-commerce business owner, you need to know these metrics. Why are they so important? Because you'll have a better understanding of the bigger picture—which will help you drive sales and grow your company over the long term. Why Is the LTV/CAC Ratio Important for E-Commerce? Many good reasons, including: It accurately points out how much you are spending on marketing, sales, and customer service.It enables you to master your strategies and processes, which will lower your business costs and increase your profits.It tells you exactly what your customers are worth to your business.It helps you to focus on giving your customers what they appreciate most.You won't be blindly throwing money at marketing campaigns and wasting your money. How to Improve Your LTV/CAC Ratio To optimize your LTV/CAC ratio, you need to focus on lowering your CAC. Here are six ways for you to reduce your CAC: Spend less on paid adverts Paid adverts may work when you are building awareness for your brand, but once your brand is established, you need to cut your paid ad costs. Over the long term, these costs are too high.Launch an affiliate program These programs work well with e-commerce companies because they give you more control over your CAC.Be data-driven All your business decisions should be driven by your data so that you can increase your customer lifetime value.Segment your customers By doing this, you can target your spending more accurately and increase customer profitability. There is a nifty formula that you can use to analyze your customer profitability called a customer profitability analysis.Invest in search engine optimization (SEO) while the initial outlay is high, over the long term, SEO pays for itself many times over.Develop a sales funnel A successful sales funnel is an essential marketing tool that will tell you if your customer is in the awareness, interest, decision, or action phase of the sales process. This will help you to accurately tweak your sales strategies to optimize your growth and build a successful and sustainable business over time. Be One Step Ahead of Your Customers If you want to effectively plan your marketing campaigns, you need to have a solid understanding of the behavior of your customers. Having said that, knowing the importance of metrics and ratios as well as understanding how to calculate CPA, CAC, LTV, and other key performance indicators (KPIs) serve as the foundation of every e-commerce business. Using third-party apps is an innovative and easy way to keep track of all your data and calculate metrics. The Profit Analysis Dashboard by BeProfit, in particular, allows you to get a real-time overview of your store saving time and effort. Discover more advantages of utilizing the Profit Analysis Dashboard for your business's growth:

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Gross Profit vs. Gross Margin: How Do They Differ?

Thinking of starting your own small business or looking at improving your current small business's profitability? Getting to know and understand the key difference between gross profit and gross margin will help you assess your profitability more accurately. The simple fact is that gross profit and gross margin may be closely related, but they differ from themselves in terms of what they measure as much as they differ from net and operating profit margins. Read on to learn more or check out this guide which covers how to calculate net profit margin and much more. What Is Gross Profit? Your gross profit is the total amount of profit that your company makes on the sale of a product. In other words, it is the amount you have left over after you have covered your direct production costs. Let's look at a simple example: Net sales revenue – COGS (cost of goods sold) = gross profit You are a baker. You sell a wedding cake for $50 (net sales revenue). The cost of the ingredients equals $25 (COGS). Your gross profit is equal to $25. Your net sales revenue is the total amount you generated from your sales over a period. Net sales includes the deductions you need to make as a result of goods that have been returned, as well as discounts you have received from your suppliers. It is often referred to as your "top line" because you'll find this amount on the top line of your income statement. Once your costs have been deducted from your revenue, you get your net income—also referred to as your "bottom line." The COGS (cost of goods sold) refers to your direct costs for producing your products. Some examples of COGS include the materials used, such as the ingredients for your wedding cake and the labor costs for mixing ingredients and icing it. » Discover how you can calculate gross profit percentage What Is Gross Margin? Your gross margin is calculated as a percentage of how much your sales revenue exceeds the total cost of making the sale. Let's look at another practical example: Gross profit / net sales revenue x 100 Your wedding cake's gross profit is $25. In this simple example, your net sales revenue is $50. Therefore, your gross margin is $25 / $50 x 100 = 50% » Check out our guide on how to calculate net profit margin or simply book a demo with BeProfit Which Should You Use? The short answer? You should use both of these financial metrics. Since gross profit and gross margin are not the same calculations and measurements, they will tell you two slightly different but equally important stories about your business. Gross profit gives you a basic idea of how much your business makes, while gross margin digs a little deeper. Your gross margin will tell you how well your company is generating revenue compared to your production costs for both products and services. The higher your percentage margin, the more effective your company is at managing the generation of revenue for each dollar you spend. It also makes it easier for you to compare your business to competitors, whether local or international. You can then track and benchmark your gross margin against other companies over a longer period to pick up on trends within your specific industry. The two terms may have similarities but understanding their differences is what could make a difference to your bottom line.

What Are Ad Trackers & How Can You Use Them in E-Commerce?

Imagine you're out fishing, and another fisherman walks past with a bucket full of fish—your bucket is empty. You ask him where he was standing, and he tells you on the other side of the dam, between the bushes and knee-deep in water. That is essentially how an ad tracker works—by giving you practical insights into your e-commerce ad campaigns so that you can tweak them and get more reach (or fish). What Is Tracked With an Ad Tracker? Depending on the ad tracker you choose, different metrics and marketing channels are tracked. The data collected is then used to increase customer engagement and, in turn, optimize your return on investments and provide good ROAS for e-commerce. Do note that an ad tracker shouldn't be confused with an ad spend tracker. These are some of the metrics that are tracked: The number of views on your ad campaign—how many people saw your adThe average amount of time the users spent viewing your adThe user's interaction with the ad—views, impressions, clicks The number of clicks on your call to action, taking users to your website Types of Ad Trackers There are many different ad trackers, but these are the main types you'll find on the market today: Conversion tracker This tracker measures the media performance according to your ad's key performance indicators. If you have conversion trackers on your page, you'll also be able to track the bottom of the funnel.Cookies Cookies are used to retarget audiences that have started and abandoned sales before completing the process. They track the user's behavior at all points in the conversion process.Impression tracker While your page is loading, pixels inform the analytics platform about any user activity taking place. The loading "traffic" tells you how well your ads are performing.Tracking URL This is one of the most effective (impression) tracking methods. It is best suited for PPC, website ads, and email marketing. The UTM or Urchin Tracking Module tag is added to the URL of your website, webpage, or landing page, and then helps track your ad campaign's performance over all your online platforms.Viewability tracker A tracker gets inserted into your ad during rendering. The tag is then used to give you metrics that tell you how often your ad's impressions were viewable.Click and engagement tracker The click tracking metrics will tell you how interested your audience was in your ads and how they reacted. Using these can help you get to know how Tiktok ads work, as well as Snapchat ads to further boost sales. » Discover the top 7 Amazon marketing metrics you should track Benefits of Ad Tracking Let's go back to your fishing expedition. You could stand at the same pond the whole day and not catch a single fish. Or, you could listen to the other fisherman's insights about positioning and go home with supper for the family. Ad tracking gives you that kind of insider information, making it crucial to your business and bottom line. Here are some more ways that ad tracking can ensure your e-commerce ads are effective: Streamlining You get to know your audience better. This, in turn, helps you streamline your ad campaigns instead of using the "spray and pray" methodology.Engagement You increase engagement with your targeted users because you know what they want and how they react to your different e-commerce platforms. In other words, you give them a relevant ad experience, promoting more engagement.Return on investment When your ad campaigns are streamlined, and your target audience is engaged, you'll get more conversions and an improved return on investment. Why You Should Use an Ad Tracker An ad tracker is, quite frankly, a must-have for every e-commerce business, full stop. Not using an ad tracker can be compared to buying one of the most sophisticated computers on the market and then simply putting it in a display cabinet for everyone to see. That computer can do so much more for you once you've plugged it in and switched it on, and the same applies to ad trackers. The functionality of an ad tracker gives you valuable insights into your target market that you can use to shape and mold your e-commerce advertising campaigns. This will make future advertising campaigns sharper and more targeted, which will, in turn, boost your sales and conversions and play a significant role in the future success of your business.

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Shopify Omnichannel Strategies to Boost Your Marketing

Omnichannel strategies are, in a nutshell, marketing strategies that build your brand presence on a variety of channels. This presence is online and it’s also physical. A good example of an omnichannel marketing strategy is a restaurant. You have a website, you can order online, using QR codes or on WhatsApp, and then you can physically visit, sit, and eat. Multiple channels, same brand, increased brand experience and awareness. Benefits of Omnichannel Strategies for Your Shopify Store Omnichannel strategies can benefit your Shopify store in three ways—the 'triple S' of omnichannel benefits: Support When you use channels like SMS, email, and web push notifications so that they work together and support each other, you can send integrated abandoned cart reminders and other retargeting campaigns seamlessly. Sales This harmonizing of channels helps you to drive more sales for your store. You can boost your conversions with Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, or any other platform. Satisfaction It will increase your customer satisfaction because you are finding your customers where they are. Customer satisfaction also means customer retention. How Do Omnichannel Strategies Work? Omnichannel strategies communicate in these four ways to boost sales, as well as establish and grow your brand in the market: Uniformed communication Strategies across all channels need the same messaging, tone, and look and feel to be able to promote brand consistency. A consistent brand is a trusted brand. Automated communication Timing of communication is key. It is critical to have an automated communication marketing strategy that uses metrics and data collected. If you catch your customer at the right time, and on the right channel, your sales will be optimized.Personalized communication This gives you the opportunity to create a link between you and your customer. The more personalized the communication is, the higher the chance of it being read.Data-driven communication This will help you optimize the management of all your customers’ touch-points. Data-driven communication lets you speak to your customer at a point that needs a positive nudge for them to continue instead of abandoning the sale. How to Build a Successful Omnichannel Strategy To build a successful omnichannel strategy, you need to go through these six important steps. Depending on where your brand is, you may be able to skip a step or two: 1. Build a Consistent, Professional Brand Do you have a logo, slogan, professional look, and feel? The point of omnichannel marketing is to give your customers a three-dimensional experience of your brand. If your look and feel are not consistent, powerful, and professional, there will be a disconnect between channels. All top e-commerce agencies do this, and they do it well! 2. Understand Your Customer It is essential to use your metrics to get a good idea of who your customer is. For example, you won’t sell skateboards to people who are in their 50s. And, you also won’t attract many new customers from a professional platform like LinkedIn. Getting to know your customers will help you increase organic traffic, and, as a result, boost sales. 3. Pick Your Channels Carefully Once you know your customer, you need to understand which channels are most appropriate for them. Put meaningful e-commerce advertising together for your chosen channels so that your strategy is intentional and, therefore, appropriate. 4. Implement Omnichannel Payments To give your customers a seamless and efficient experience, they need seamless payment options. Let’s say they see an advert on Facebook and they decide to buy a product. Months down the line, they see a product on Instagram; it would make the sale so much easier for them if their details are all loaded from the Facebook sale. It’s about making it as easy as possible for your customer to buy your product. Omnichannel marketing is about surrounding your customer with your brand in a way that subtly reminds them that your brand is strong and omnipresent. Just remember, there is a big difference between digital marketing and e-commerce. Digital marketing is a domain that focuses on marketing products and services using digital platforms. E-commerce, on the other hand, is all about buying and selling products or services using the internet. The more you understand the digital online world of marketing, the faster you will grow your business and increase your return on investment. It’s all about staying lightyears ahead of the pack!

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Remarketing vs. Retargeting: What’s the Difference?

Many Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertisers think that remarketing and retargeting are the same concept. This is simply not true. They do have some similarities but use different strategies, different channels, and also have different goals. As an e-commerce business owner, you need to understand the difference and use a combination of the two to boost sales and, at the same time, the success of your business. The Different Types of Remarketing The aim of remarketing is to re-engage customers from the past. You’d primarily use email as the channel to reignite business with these customers because they already know your brand and may have purchased from you before. There are various types of remarketing, namely: Standard remarketing Shows past visitors display adverts as they journey through various web pages. These are people who have visited your webpage but exited without buying anything.Dynamic remarketing Displays specific products that the visitor has previously put in their cart but left before finalizing the purchase.Video remarketing Instead of displaying adverts, you’d use videos for remarketing.Remarketing lists for search adverts With Google AdWords, you can customize your search ad campaigns so that they are directed at visitors who have already visited your webpage. The Benefits of Remarketing The main benefits of remarketing include: You stay connected to people who visit your site.Remarketing with effective e-commerce ads, if done correctly, can give you more conversions and prevent cart abandonment. You can also do a cart abandonment analysis to keep track of this metric.You enjoy a lower cost per conversion, which results in a higher return on investment. You can use Google ads conversion tracking to monitor your conversions.Remarketing is an excellent strategy to promote a new product or service to a new audience.Displaying a call-to-action can also help to bring in business. The Different Types of Retargeting Retargeting is different from remarketing because it mainly uses paid adverts to re-engage audiences who have visited your social profiles or your website. Let’s look at the different types of retargeting that you can use: Cross-channel retargeting ads This allows you to deliver channel-specific ad content to multiple platforms. Don't forget to use ad trackers to monitor interactions.Email retargeting This refers to retargeting ads to customers who have responded to your email marketing strategy.Pixel-based retargeting Your ads will pop up as soon as the visitor leaves your webpage, luring them back using a stored browser cookie.Search-based retargeting Your ads only pop up for users who have searched for a specific phrase or keyword, which can be an effective way to increase organic traffic.Social retargeting Display pop-up ads when visitors leave your website or interact on your social media channels through likes, comments, and shares. The Benefits of Retargeting The main benefits of retargeting include: You build brand recognition and consistency.Repeated interactions build brand trust over time.Retargeting can be used in any stage of the sales funnel and complements your email campaigns.You can personalize your messages.Customers are pushed through the sales funnel faster. The Difference Between Remarketing and Retargeting So, the essential difference between remarketing and retargeting is that remarketing focuses on email campaigns that reach out to users who have already interacted with your website, which opens the doors for more targeted messaging and upselling. Retargeting, on the other hand, focuses on paid ads. These ads can take a multitude of different forms and targets a much wider audience. Which One Should You Use? There is a time and a place for both strategies because, in the end, they do complement each other well. You would use remarketing to recapture an audience that has already interacted with you, which means you can personalize their messaging—and we all know that personalized messaging is more effective than the “spray and pray” strategy. Then, you would use retargeting to further establish your brand presence on multiple channels, catching the eye of new and prospective customers. It's really about creating more touchpoints, or widening your net so that you can catch more fish.

Perfecting Your Sales Funnel With Micro & Macro Goals on GA 4

If you have worked with older versions of Google Analytics—such as Universal Analytics—you will know all about the Google Analytics micro and macro goals. In short, this is what Google Analytics called conversions before GA 4 arrived. So if we exchange "goals" for "conversions," you'll have GA4's micro conversions and macro conversions. All important interactions that you are leading your customers to complete are called conversions. Therefore, micro conversions are those interactions that lead your clients to finalize a macro conversion. A macro conversion is an ultimate conversion, such as the sale of a product. Let's look at an example: you have an online shoe store. A micro conversion is when your customer subscribes to your email newsletters. The email newsletters contain special discounts and deals that lead your client to a macro conversion—the sale of a pair of your shoes. How to Set Up Micro & Macro Conversions on GA4 There are three ways that you can set up micro and macro conversions on GA4. First, we will take a look at the three options, and then break each option down into step-by-step guides. Additionally, consider taking a look at our guide to increasing Shopify conversions with Instagram. Option 1: Create a New Conversion Event Using Events Already Collected in GA4 Log into GA 4Choose the propertyNavigate to the left-hand side menuClick on "Conversions"Click on "New Conversion Event"Type in the name of the eventSave, and you're done! Option 2: Set up a New Conversion Event Using a Custom Event Go to "All Events" on your propertyClick on "Create Event" Enter the name of the eventConfigure the parameters in the "Matching Conditions" sectionNavigate to "Conversions"Click on "New Conversion Event"Enter the name that you chose for the event—just remember that it needs to be the same as the name of the event that you createdSave, and you're done! Option 3: Using Google Tag Manager Click on "Tag"You'll find it in the left-hand side menuClick "New" > "Tag type" > "Google Analytics: GA4 event"In the tag, you must specify the name of the event, add your parameters and then create a trigger to assign to your tagSave the tagThe GA4 container will start to populate with the new custom eventJust remember to tell GA4 to mark this event as a conversion Examples of Micro & Macro Goals Driving Funnel Conversions Let's go look at an online store that sells kid computers as an example: Macro Conversions (Goals) This might be the sale of a kiddies' computer. Micro Conversions (Goals) Following a sales funnel order: Interaction with your landing page (clicking on sections)Viewing a video that explains how the computer can benefit childrenSigning up for your marketing emailerReading reviews from customersAdding a computer to a wish listAdding a computer to the cart Selecting the Best Micro & Macro Conversions for Your Business Choosing the right macro conversions will depend largely on what industry you are in and your platform for selling—dropshipping in 2022 is vastly different from running an in-store bakery. However, micro conversions are generally common in all industries. Let's look at three examples of macro conversions per industry: E-commerce The finalization of a sale using, for example, Google Ads conversion trackingSocial media platforms The opening of an accountBrick and mortar stores Signing up for a newsletter So, Which Should You Choose? There is no one-size-fits-all solution for selecting the best micro and macro conversions. It's important to remember that they need to work together to give you insights into building a successful sales funnel. In other words, your micro goals should follow your customer journey to reach the main goal of macro conversions. This will tell you what is catching your customer's attention and what is leading to an interaction, and that's where you need to focus your attention. It also means that your micro goals will change organically over time, while your macro conversions are not likely to change. Just remember to check out the best Shopify sales funnel apps for optimum results. To set your conversion goals, you need to plot the full customer journey. Once you have a typical journey of your website, you will need to decide which digital touchpoints or milestones may lead to macro conversions. Remember, this is not set in stone. As you analyze your metrics and data, you will set new micro conversions because they are developed over time. Concluding Thoughts It's never a walk in the park to optimize the data and analytics of an e-commerce store. The key takeaway is that you will learn over time, and it will become easier as you learn more. There is also so much information on the internet; you just need to google your questions and take the time to read up on the answers. The point is that not having micro and macro conversions is like walking with blinkers on—you will eventually be left behind. Challenge yourself, learn, grow, and give your competitors a run for their money! And always remember that goals are just one method of boosting conversions—read How to Increase Your Shopify Conversion Rate and How to Use Facebook Conversions API for Your Shopify Store.

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Leveraging Personalization AI in Your E-Commerce Marketing Strategy

Personalization in marketing is very important for one good reason: research has proven that it works! One of the biggest differences between e-commerce and brick-and-mortar stores is that you don't get to engage with your clients face to face, and e-commerce removes that personal touch. The most effective strategy to address this challenge is personalization AI—the central link between digital marketing and e-commerce. Personalization AI includes valuable information about your clients, such as their demographic information, sales trends, browsing data, and sales data. Thanks to AI content marketing, you can now personalize your content on a large scale. What's more, you can do it yourself and don't need professional technical skills to get it right. Read on as we explain how this can be done. How to Leverage AI to Personalize Your E-Commerce Marketing Strategy AI information can be used in various ways when it comes to personalization. Here are five key use cases: 1. Recommend Products Effectively Personalized recommendations get generated using an algorithm that tracks browsing history. This is then compared to other customers' pre-sales behavior. For example, if a customer adds a gown to their shopping cart on an online clothing store, the recommendations may suggest pajamas or slippers. This is because the algorithms identify that a gown, slippers, and pajamas are often purchased in one sale. 2. Offer Personalized Content and Sales Incentives A simple example of this is sending customers a birthday card on their birthday with a discount voucher or buy-one-get-one-free offer. You could do this for anniversaries or even special celebratory days like Mother's Day. These incentives could also be seasonal, for instance, free sunscreen with every order in the month before summer. 3. Implement Geo-Location Targeting The old expression "location, location, location" is very relevant to an e-commerce business's marketing strategy. There's no sense in sending a customer a discount voucher for a webinar when that webinar will be presented in a language that is not common to their location. This strategy is called geo-location targeting and helps clients see you as a local company. 4. Send Personalized Emails Sending personalized emails is undoubtedly one of the top email marketing best practices. Personalized emails include general marketing emails—nudge emails for those who abandon their carts before making a purchase or list emails for those who keep items on their wish list for a set amount of time. Personalized communication can also take the form of thank-you emailers with extra product information on an item that has just been purchased or an e-commerce Black Friday email marketing strategy based on the customer's purchase history. The list is endless—you just need to be creative. 5. Implement a Live Chat Box on Your Site Add a picture of the person your client is "chatting" to, and they will feel right at home on your website. Before you argue that paying someone to run the chat box is expensive, think about the pros: your website bounce rate will decrease, your customer loyalty will improve, the average size of your customer order will increase, and your return rates will decrease. Why? Because your customers are getting what they are looking for. Benefits of AI for E-Commerce Marketing Strategies You may be wondering exactly what the advantages of AI are in advertising and marketing. Employing AI in your e-commerce marketing strategy will: Boost sales As previously mentioned, ongoing research has proven that personalization AI boosts sales. In fact, it can be argued that without personalization AI, your store will not keep up with its competitors.Increase return on investment When your sales are boosted, it goes without saying that your return on investments will increase in the same way. Say no more!Bridge the gap between you and your customers Personalization is the link between an online store and its customers. It is a gap that must be bridged, and personalization can do that—albeit not in the same way as a brick-and-mortar store. Different but the same!Build customer loyalty When your clients see that you are offering a personalized service that works, you will build customer loyalty. Build long-lasting relationships with your customers This is very similar to customer loyalty, except that it defines the timeline as long term. Increase customer retention Again, research has proven that you spend less money on maintaining your customers compared to new customer acquisition costs in e-commerce. So if you want to retain clients, personalization AI is your ticket! Beat the Competition With Personalization AI There are many more strategies that you could explore with personalization AI and various other benefits that have not been covered in this blog. Look at what your competitors are doing, and then make sure you are one step ahead. You'll soon be an e-commerce influencer with your marketing strategy—and a successful one at that.

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A Marketer’s Guide to CPM Across Social Media

Cost per thousand (CPM) has evolved to be called cost per mille ("mille" is the Latin word for "thousands"). Marketers use this term to denote the price of 1,000 advert impressions on a single web page. When a website publisher charges $5 CPM, it means the advertiser must pay $5 for every 1,000 advert impressions. It's important to stay abreast of the CPM analytics for all your major platforms because it determines the cost-effectiveness of your advertising campaigns. You can compare the effectiveness of the platforms you're using and the effectiveness of old versus new campaigns. How to Calculate CPM To measure CPM, you need to divide the total cost of the campaign by the number of impressions. You then multiply that amount by 1,000 to get the CPM rate. Here is the formula: CPM rate = total campaign cost / number of impressions x 1,000 Let's look at an example: Your ad campaign costs $200. Your total number of impressions is 3,000. Your calculation would look like this: CPM rate = $200 / 3,000 impressions x 1,000 = 0.066666666 x 1,000 = 66.666666 ~ 67 = $67 Average CPM for Facebook, Google Ads, Instagram, and TikTok The average costs for these different platforms are ranked below from the cheapest to most expensive: Google Ads Advertising on Google's Display Network ranges between $0.50 and $4 CPM, with an average of $3.12. This is very inexpensive when viewed within the CPM lens. If your aim is to build awareness of your products, Google Ads is a cost-effective option and provides a conversion tracking function to help you determine the success of your campaign. But if you're looking for more targeted campaigns, Google Ads may not be your best solution. Instagram The average CPM for Instagram ranged between $2.50 and $3.50 for better-performing campaigns in 2021. The cost of Instagram advertising is determined by supply and demand because Instagram ads are sold in an auction environment. In general, Instagram performs better for campaigns focused on impressions and reach, and it appeals more to the younger generations. TikTok The average CPM for TikTok Ads is currently sitting at the $10 mark. TikTok is the new kid on the block—and is showing up the rest quite well, considering its higher cost. Just remember to do your research and follow the guide to TikTok advertising. You can also consider adding your WooCommerce website to TikTok. Tip: It's important to make sure your target market uses TikTok and Instagram before spending money to advertise on these platforms. They appeal more to the Millennials and Generation Xs. Facebook The average CPM on Facebook across all industries is $14.40. This has increased from $11.54 in 2021. Facebook clearly takes the lead with CPM, because of all the social media platforms, Facebook appeals to the widest age range—which probably contributes to its high cost. You can consider using tools such as Facebook's campaign budget optimization to assist with high advertising costs, but ultimately, Facebook advertising like an e-commerce pro promises to get the widest reach. How Marketers Leverage CPM CPM is best suited to digital marketing campaigns that want to build awareness of a brand, product, or service. It's not suited to smaller, niche businesses that are trying to catch the attention of a small subset of the population. It also doesn't measure up if you need quantifiable results to back up your marketing dollar spend. If you want to create a strong foundation for a CPM strategy, you must know and fully understand: Your definition of a leadYour overall business goals (and how CPM will measure them)Your new strategy's goals The most important thing to remember when it comes to CPM campaigns is that they must be run in tandem with other forms of marketing, such as using AI in advertising. They won't be as effective if they run in isolation. Who Should Consider CPM Campaigns? CPM campaigns are perfect for any business that's looking to improve its credibility by building brand awareness. If you own an e-commerce store, you first need to establish yourself within your target market before your audience will start to take you more seriously. This means that your customers need to be familiar with your brand already when you start your first CPM campaign. A Final Thought... CPM campaigns are inexpensive and can be highly effective if you use clever, well-written copy and striking high-resolution pictures. Also, watch your frequency: if you post too often, you could irritate the target market you're trying to reach. Your strategy must be planned carefully and skillfully for optimum results.

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How to Track and Boost Amazon Sales Using Google Analytics

Amazon is undoubtedly a powerhouse for selling products online across continents. That's its strength. But Amazon does have a few weaknesses. One of those weaknesses is that it doesn't harness external traffic. It is so effective in harnessing internal traffic that external traffic becomes the proverbial "runt of the litter." Internal traffic covers the 310 million active customers on Amazon.External traffic is the world outside of Amazon. So, how can you improve both internal and external traffic to help improve Amazon sales? You can use Google Analytics to gain valuable metrics and insights into your sales strategies. This can help you adjust where needed to help your internal and external traffic perform optimally, resulting in increased sales and revenue. Why Is Tracking Your Amazon Sales So Important? Tracking your sales is vital for any e-commerce company, regardless of what platform you use or the industry you are in. So, it goes without saying that tracking your Amazon sales is critical to the success of your business. Did you know that almost 40% of first-time sellers lose money on Amazon? This is because they haven't calculated their true profit. Amazon FBA calculator can help with this. This and various other tools Amazon offers can help you track your sales funnel achievements. For one, the Amazon ads reporting tool measures and reports advertising campaigns, while dropshipping on Amazon can remove your logistical burden altogether. These tools are available (some for free) and can really help you understand your internal Amazon traffic and sales, so use them to your advantage. But for maximum effect, you can use Google Analytics with Amazon functionality. How to Track Amazon Sales in Google Analytics 1. Open your free Google Analytics account if you don't already have one. 2. Copy your Google Analytics tracking script. To do this, you need to go to Admin. 3. Once you have opened Admin, click on Tracking Code. Copy the script that you find under the heading Website Tracking. 4. The script you copied now needs to be pasted into your Global Site Tag section. You can do this for all the landing pages you want to track. 5. If you want to track promotions, paste the code script you copied into your thank you page scripts. 6. View your data and metrics to analyze sales and more. How Google Analytics Can Boost Your Amazon Sales Google Analytics opens your eyes to a bigger picture—the whole picture. You can calculate COGS (cost of goods sold), promote your Amazon products, and most certainly boost your sales. Here are some ways in which Google Analytics can help: Identifies the best referral sites and then aggressively pursues them: it's targeted, not just spray and pray methods.Finds keywords and uses those keywords to drive more conversions.Optimizes your content with on-site searches that work. This will help your customer get what they are looking for as fast as possible and supports the sale.Helps you understand the customer journey so that you can optimize sales. It's about tracking their habits and then gently directing them to buy your products.Gives you a look into what your customers are thinking and what their interests are. If you know what their interests are, you can give them more of what they want.Gives you a path report with timelines, so you know how long it took for your customers to convert. It shows how many interactions happened before the sale and what those interactions were. This all gives you clues to removing obstacles to sales.Tells you your customers' lifetime values. This tells you how loyal they are and how long they are expected to stay a customer. There are so many more benefits—it all depends on the products you sell and your industry. For example, Google Analytics can be integrated with Google Ads. This way you can monitor the performance of your Google Ads, adjust where needed, and create remarketing lists for more targeted advertising. You Can Have Your Cake and Eat It Too Tracking sales analytics can help you better understand the success of your business, as well as where your sales approach may need some work. Google Analytics is a great tool to help with this as it can seek and help implement conversion tactics, like keywords and referral sites, to help improve sales for your Amazon store. Additionally, by understanding customer behavior through metrics, you can make informed strategy changes to boost sales. Another all-in-one platform to help make tracking your sales metrics and profit easier is BeProfit. BeProfit can integrate all your stores into one customizable dashboard. With real-time monitoring and insights, you can adjust your sales practices to maximize conversion and profit.