As many of you already know, Gorgias has spilled their blood, sweat, and tears into creating the best customer support platform on the market. 

BUT...

We want to provide our customers with more.

More value. More possibilities. And, most importantly, more opportunities to grow and scale your online business. 

...Enter our new show Vested Interest. 

Like Shark Tank and Dragons Den, Gorgias is partnering with venture capital companies, including Greycroft, Swiftarc, and Rosecliff. You guessed it...successful applicants have the chance to pitch investors and receive valued feedback and advice. Pitching helps brands boost their profile, and may even lead to a second conversation with an investor.

So, in honor of our exciting new initiative, in this blog post, we're delving into ecommerce fundraising in more detail. More specifically, what it is, why you should consider it, and how to raise those all-important funds to transform your business dream into reality.

Does that sound good to you? Fab! Continue reading to find out more...

What's Business Fundraising?

First things first, we want to clarify what ecommerce fundraising actually is. In short, it's the process online merchants take to secure the funds they need to launch and/or grow their ecommerce businesses.

Traditionally, business fundraising was associated with start-ups, brick and mortar stores, and scaling companies to reach new heights.

But, fast forward to today, more and more DTC brand owners and online merchants are also leveraging capital to launch and/or expand their business. 

And there's no reason you can't do the same. 

Of course, there are several ways to raise business capital, but some of the more popular routes include:

• Venture capital
• Crowdfunding
• Angel investors
• Taking out a bank loan
• Equity investors
• Revenue-based financing

As we've just said, there are plenty of other fundraising avenues, but for the purposes of this article, we're focusing on these. 

What are the Different Business Fundraising Options?

Let's explore the options above in a little more detail...

Angel Investors 

Seeking funds from an angel investor(s) might be the ideal option if you're running a small ecommerce brand that's generating steady profits. I.e., without external funding, you're doing okay. Still, to take your business to the next level, you need a cash injection. 

This is where an “angel” investor might come in handy.  

Typically speaking, angel investors are wealthy people, or groups, who pool their know-how, research, and resources to provide promising start-ups capital. 

Generally, angel investors give companies some sort of financial assistance in exchange for either convertible debt (i.e., the promise of converting part (or all) of the loan into common shares, at some point in the future) or ownership equity.

Usually, you'll approach an angel investor with a pitch outlining who your business is, how much money you want to secure, and what you hope to achieve with their finances. 

As the size of angel investments substantially varies (usually anywhere under $50,000 to over $500,000), you'll have to prove how you'll provide reliable results. You need to show investors why your business is worth their time, and more importantly, money. After all, it stands to reason, if you can prove your brand will go the distance, the safer bet you are for them to invest in. 

Then, after your initial meeting(s) with the angel investor(s), they'll typically go away and conduct their own research, ask you questions, etc. to help determine whether your proposition is a good fit with their investment portfolio. 

Crowdfunding 

In short, crowdfunding is where a wider pool of small-time investors assist a company during its earlier stages. As crowdfunding is typically used to accumulate funds to launch, these businesses often have a minimal (if any) track record of their profits. As such, this fundraising method is ideal for those with a killer business idea, without the financial forecasts to wow angel investors, banks, or venture capital firms.   

There are tons of crowdfunding sites online. For instance:

• AngelList
• Fundable
• CircleUp
• CrowdFunder
  

These are just a few of the many online crowdfunding platforms on the web. But, the ones above are a great starting point - here, you can get your brand and business plan in front of loads of people actively looking to invest in fledgling businesses. 

How to Run a Successful Crowdfunding Campaign

Crowdfunding relies on your ability to inspire trust and enthusiasm in your audience. Show them you've done your research and are prepared to put their money to good use. This means breaking up your estimated costs and demonstrating where the money will go. For instance, how much is allocated to production, how much on design? Showing you understand your costs improves your credibility. 

Whatever crowdfunding platform you choose to use, post regular updates, and answer questions. Show the community that's building around your idea that you care for their involvement. Investing in a crowdfunding project can be daunting, some investors might fear that you won’t come through. So, demonstrate from the start that you're reliable and fully invested in putting their worries at bay. 

Last but not least, make sure your crowdfunding campaign is well presented. Where possible, use high-quality graphics and video content. Proofread your proposal, ensuring all the info is shown in a way that's logical and easy-to-read. Get friends and family to check over your campaign description for you. Professionalism goes a long way in inspiring the confidence of potential investors!

Venture Capital Investors

Securing investment from venture capital firms like Greycroft, Swiftarc, and Rosecliff, is (usually) better suited to larger online enterprises. For the uninitiated, 'venture capital' is a form of private equity and financing that investors provide businesses with long-term growth potential. 

Entrepreneurs typically secure this kind of financing from affluent investors or investment banks. But, it's worth noting that venture capital doesn't always take a monetary form. Venture capital can also be provided as technical or managerial expertise. 

As investments go, plowing money into an ecommerce business is one of the riskier options. But, the potential for above-average returns is enticing, so we're seeing more and more investors adding online brands to their investment portfolio. 

However, the main drawback for brand owners is that investors usually get equity in the company. As such, you'll give up the luxury of having full control over your business's operation. You don't need us to tell you that this a big deal. So, take your time weighing up the pros and cons of any investment agreement before signing the dotted line!

Equity Investors

Equity investors do precisely what they say on the tin. They're people who provide companies with financial investment in exchange for a share of the business's ownership.

Generally, equity investors don't get a guaranteed return on their investment. But, should the company be liquidated, the equity investor will get a share of the assets (as stipulated in your contract). 

Unsurprisingly, as equity investment is a riskier option for investors, they often expect to receive certain benefits to offset these risks. For instance, your investment agreement might stipulate that their initial investment is paid back within a specific time frame. Then, afterward, it's common for investors to be paid a pre-agreed share of the profits once you've paid back their initial investment.

Alternatively, (or as well as) equity investors can receive stock shares. Of course, stocks rise and fall depending on the market. So, again their return on investment isn't set in stone. But, the investor has the luxury of selling their stocks on the stock market or via other trading platforms, whenever they feel like it. So, be sure to bear that in mind while you're drafting up your agreement. 

Securing a Business Loan From a Bank

Of course, the more traditional route for securing funding is to apply for a small business loan with a bank or other reputable lending institution. 

If this is an avenue you're considering, you'll want to know why business loans get rejected to increase the likelihood of securing your requested funds. 

Interestingly, the most common reason cited for why business loans are rejected is 'risk.' This is why thoroughly preparing before meeting to discuss (or applying) for a potential loan is imperative. You want to do your utmost to show you’re ‘low risk.’

Part of this planning phase will be gathering the below details and documents:

• Your personal credit history
• Your business plan
• The workability of the business you're launching/expanding
• Your experience
• Your education
  

As you go about creating your business plan, focus on explaining why the small business loan you're asking for is a low-risk proposition. Be sure to carefully assess how much money you need and why. Outline how you'll spend these funds, and how the loan will specifically help you launch and/or grow your business.

Be prepared to explain how you'll designate every dollar you've asked for, with specific reference to your business's following aspects:

• Business operations (employees, software, marketing, utilities, etc.)
• Physical assets (equipment, office space, warehousing, etc.)
• Consolidating loans to pay off business debts.
  

You'll also need to explain how you'll repay the loan through your financial statements and cash flow projections. This should highlight to the potential lender that you're able to repay them over a set amount of time.

Revenue-Based Financing

Revenue-based financing is sometimes referred to as royalty-based financing, so don't let the interchangeable terminology confuse you. Both terms mean exactly the same thing!

In short, revenue-based financing is a method businesses use to raise capital from investors. In turn, the investors receive a percentage of the company's regular gross revenue until a pre-set amount is paid (in exchange for their original investment). Typically, this sum is three to five times the initial investment. Companies like Clearbanc charge a flat fee for their capital. Uncapped is also another fantastic example of a revenue-based financing company. 

Essentially, organizations offering revenue-based financing use data-driven methods to provide ecommerce companies with funding. Capital is typically spent on online marketing and inventory.  The best thing about this kind of arrangement for the entrepreneur is that there aren’t any credit checks, personal guarantees, warrants, or covenants involved.

Why Should You Leverage Investors to Build my Ecommerce Business?

Whether you're leveraging angel investors, an equity investor, or the help of a venture capital firm, there's one significant advantage. 

These kinds of investments are (usually) nowhere near as risky as taking out a bank loan. Unlike a loan, (depending on the contract you have with your investor(s)), invested capital doesn't typically have to be paid back if your business flops. 

Plus, most experienced investors understand that they're playing the long game. So, there isn't quite as much pressure to make quick decisions and turn high profits immediately. 

Why Shouldn't You Leverage Investors to Build an Ecommerce Business?

If you don't like the idea of losing some (or even complete) control of your business, then seeking the support of investors might not be the best option for you. Often investors become part-owners of your company, so depending on their share, there's a good chance they'll have a say about how you run your business. On top of that, should you ever sell your business, they'll also receive a portion of the profits.

How to Best Raise Capital to Fund an Ecommerce Brand 

For this section of the blog post, we're mainly focusing on angel, venture capital, and equity investors. 

When it comes to raising capital to fund an ecommerce brand, there are specific times in the business cycle when you're more likely to secure funding. 

Yes, your best bet is to seek investment when you're actually ready to grow your business. But, securing financing, especially from an angel investor, can take roughly six months to a year. 

So, it's advisable to start contacting and pitching investors roughly 12 months before you actually need the funds to boost your business to its next phase. 

Not only will this increase the likelihood of securing funding for when you actually need it, but for every failed pitch (yes, sadly, there will be failures), you'll benefit from those all-important pointers. 

The more investors you talk with, the more apparent it becomes what investors want to see from your company and your business plan before they're happy to invest. 

With this info to hand, you're then in a better position to adapt your business (and your pitch), to meet the needs of investors, when you actually need the funding. 

How do you strike up a Relationship with a Potential Investor?

Typically, you'll kickstart your relationship with an investor by presenting a business plan. Do your utmost to wow them from the get-go, so they'll only be telephone a call away when you need capital. 

As we've just said, if you're preemptively pitching investors before your business is fully investor-ready, the investor will probably point you in the right direction. 

You can then go away and mull over this information and make the necessary changes to increase the chance of them investing in your business in the future. 

What Can You do to Prepare your Business for Investment?

The best thing to do is to write a full business plan. The most important thing for lenders is what they'll get from the arrangement. As we've already hinted at, you'll want to highlight your expected financial projections. This serves as much-needed bait for enticing investors into funding your business.  

We talked about business plans a bit earlier. However, they're essential to securing funding, so we're delving a bit deeper into creating a killer business plan (of course, this advice also applies if you're considering a bank loan)...

Here are a few tips:

• Keep your business plan as concise and to the point as possible. Just focus on what the reader needs to know. 
• Thoroughly proofread your business plan - you can use Grammarly to help you weed out and fix any typos. 
• Use charts to help illustrate your points, visuals are often helpful aids. 
• Include any extra info in an appendix, for instance:
• Financial forecasts 
• Market research and data to back up your proposal
• The resumes and credentials for all your key team members.
• Any product/service literature that explains what you're bringing to the market. 
  

Don't be tempted to be overly optimistic about where your profit forecasts are concerned. Yes, this might up your chances of securing the desired finances. Still, in the long run, you're more likely to suffer from a cash flow crisis and damage your management credibility. Put simply, it's not worth it - stick to the truth. 

Also, ensure your business plan looks as professional as possible. Show the lenders you're taking their investment seriously! So, put a cover on it, include a contents page complete with page numbering, and kickstart your proposal with an executive summary. 

For those unsure what an executive summary is, it's just a condensed synopsis of the key points covered in your business. The reader's digest version if you will. 

On top of that, you'll also want to highlight the following details:

• How your business runs, including a breakdown of your organizational structure and all the stakeholders' roles and responsibilities.
• Your brand identity - who you are, your brand story, your goals, mission, aims, etc. 
• A detailed report of your target market (this should include any weaknesses in your competitors’ products/operations you'll capitalize on). 
  

Other Tips for Securing Investment

As you go about creating your pitch, familiarize yourself with your audience. You want to know your potential lenders inside out and back to front to tailor your pitch accordingly. 

Yes, specific metrics (like your current profits and profit forecasts) lay the framework for any pitch. Still, you'll need to tailor your core messaging to appeal to each investor's needs. 

The key takeaway: Do your homework and modify your presentation accordingly. 

Last but not least, remember business financing is a process. It's likely you'll have to divide your financing objectives into two to three rounds. Securing funds for your business when it's brand-new, (and all risk), and has very little revenue behind it, is more of a challenge. 

So, when you first start out, you're unlikely to obtain all the money you need to launch and scale your business. But, once you have a working prototype and a loyal customer base, you'll take away some of the risks, and as such, you'll probably secure more funds. Prepare for this in advance by dividing your business's growth into specific sections that you raise funds for accordingly. 

How Much Can Ecommerce Brands Raise? 

There are tons of examples of ecommerce brands furthering their business by raising capital. Take Womenswear retailer, Hush, as an example. Hush sells women’s clothing, shoes, and lifestyle items. Currently, it's retailing its products via its website, its partnership with John Lewis.

But, recently, they've secured investment from a private equity firm, True. Hush, now worth over 50 million dollars, plans to utilize these funds to expand into new sales channels and markets.

True acquired a controlling interest in Hush, (roughly a 50% stake). This is what the owners of Hush had to say about the investment:

“We never thought [Hush] would get to a fraction of the size it is,” “We could have carried on [without outside investment], but we felt...real value in bringing in a partner with a similar vision to us, but different skills, to help us grow.”

Interestingly, this is what True had to say about investing in Hush: 

“We think highly profitable, predominantly direct-to-consumer brands such as Hush...will emerge in [good] shape from this current crisis – and completing the transaction now demonstrates that we’re very much open for business and excited about the opportunity ahead of us.”

What About Crowdfunding?

If you're considering crowdfunding avenue, below are a few brands that smashed their targets. Hopefully, these examples will fuel you with inspiration:

Pebble – also known as “The Kickstarter Watch”

Pebble successfully raised $10.3m, when their target was just $100k!

This is what they had to say about the process:

“We had a pretty firm idea of what Pebble would look like. We just didn’t have a bunch of cash to start actually building the product. So, we thought of some other ways to get funding, and one of them was Kickstarter."

Bo & Yana 

These are interactive toy robots that help teach kids how to code. Product owners, Play-i, managed to raise a whopping $1.4 million when their initial aim was just $250k. 

Play-i successfully attracted investors from dozens of countries around the globe, securing 11,000 pre-orders! Interestingly, this company utilized crowdfunding to test the market and get a feel for consumer demand, having already secured $1m from Google Ventures. 

How did Play-i manage to entice so many crowdfunding investors? 

In short, they provided various benefits to their first buyers: 

“We needed to build social proof right off the bat, so we created special perks for the first few buyers. Our first 1,000 backers got limited edition, exclusive outfits for their robots as an incentive to back early. We emailed our existing audience and friends several hours before our campaign went live [to] be among the first to back the project. This gave us the momentum we needed to get off to a good start.” 

The team at Play-i also responded personally to all their audience interaction - every email, comment on Facebook, query on Twitter, etc. It stands to reason investors and customers feel more confident in your brand when they have a personal connection with you and your business. By taking the time to write customized responses to each and every person who wrote them, they ensured people got excited about their product!  

OpenaCase 

OpenaCase is described as the 'world’s most functional iPhone case is a bottle opener.'

The ecommerce brand managed to raise an impressive $283k, massively exceeding their $150k target. 

This is what the founders had to say about the crowdfunding process:

“We didn’t have the capital, so we turned to crowdfunding... When we put the idea on Kickstarter, we realized... lots of people loved the idea and were willing to put money towards it to make it happen. [There's] Nothing better than having your idea validated by people voting with their wallets.” 

They attracted attention to their crowdfunding campaign by creating a Facebook page, and contacting online publications like Tech Crunch and Gizmodo, that's as well as their local paper. They spent lots of time cultivating as much possible PR to gain the traction they needed to raise those all-important funds. 

Are You Ready to Secure the Funds You Need to Launch or Scale Your Ecommerce Business?

We hope that having read this article, you now have a better idea about raising the funds you need to take your ecommerce brand to the next level. 

As we said from the get-go of this article, Gorgias wants to help ambitious e-commerce brands scale up, so we created the Vested Interest event. If you're interested in securing finances from high-quality investors, then what are you waiting for? Apply today to get the ball rolling! If you have any questions about the show, please feel free to reach out, and we'll furnish you with all the info you need. Speak soon!

2020 has seen two crisises so far. Because of the global pandemic, millions of people lost their jobs. We've responded with a plan to offer free credits to businesses that struggle.

George Floyd's death is showed us again how deep racism still is in the US and around the world. Gorgias is committed to supporting members of the Black community against racism, prejudice, and hate.

We're actively taking measures to make a difference now, and tomorrow:

1. We're donating $10K to local non-profits that support minorities in the Bay Area and in Charlotte. We were profitable for the first time in May and this is 100% of our profits.
2. We're proactively sourcing diverse candidates for our hiring needs and we remain committed to making sure everyone gets an unbiased chance through the interview process.

We realize this is only a small contribution to a big problem, but change has to start somewhere. We see lots of businesses take action so we hope the sum of all these initiatives will lead to long lasting change.

As brands have begun to evolve due to COVID-19, subscription offerings have been impacted tremendously. Many founders are baffled about what to do. But, you’re not alone. Learn about the trends we’re seeing with Shopify Subscription businesses and what successful brands are doing as they explore these new waters. 

Read on to learn what’s happening in the subscription service realm and how you can better navigate through the muck to a thriving company in a post-Coronavirus economy. 

eCommerce Subscription Trends From the Last 12 Weeks 

What happened in the eCommerce space due to COVID-19? In our helpdesk ticket platform, we’ve seen the following trends in subscription business customer service: 

1. In the beginning, there was a tremendous spike in subscription cancellations. 
2. Shortly thereafter, we saw an increase in requests for a partial refund. 
3. A few weeks passed before we noticed an influx of solicitations for full refunds. 
4. Most recently, order cancellations came pouring in. 

Now, partial refund requests are going down -- these requests were for shipping costs, specific discounts, and other related transactions. 

On the macro level, overall subscription order processing is up. However, on the micro level, a number of merchants aren’t weathering the storm as well as others. 

Subscription offerings in the higher-value, hobby space seem to be a bit slower than usual. Yet, merchants who offer subscriptions for essential consumer packaged goods have to hustle to keep up with demands.

And, this is not surprising at all. Many people had a knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic while others had a change in priorities. Right now, people are more reserved about making snap-decisions. We can likely expect purchasers and merchants to make more calculated decisions now and into the future. 

Now that we’re working from home, we need new essentials like office supplies and furniture. Plus, for some of the essentials like health and beauty products, we’re now turning online for where we might have gone to a brick and mortar shop before. 

Now, people can’t really hop into the store to pick up tp and other essentials on the way home anymore. So, consumers are looking to find the most convenient way to have them delivered. And, they want to know they have a reliable source of essential products. 

For example, at the beginning of this pandemic, everyone knows there was a tremendous run for toilet paper. And, merchants who offered this product saw 10-15X increases with toilet tissue sales. 

Who Gives a Crap is an Australia-based, charitable toilet paper subscription company. 

When this crisis started, Who Gives a Crap held back stock to accommodate subscribers rather than allowing new customers to order. They chose to prioritize loyalty over acquisition. 

This brand is now thriving because of a steady uptick in consumable goods online. And, while the 10-15X trend may not last, long-term retention and increased revenue are likely. People will want to subscribe to receive preferential treatment. 

Are Higher-Ticket, Hobby Subscription Services Suffering Higher Cancellations & Refunds? 

We don’t have the exact numbers, but just because you offer higher-ticket hobby products doesn’t mean you’re doomed. There are multiple causes for high order cancellations and refunds. 

For example, the supply chain is a key issue. If you don’t have inventory because you’re non-essential or shipping is too slow, you may have to cancel orders and offer full refunds. This happens because you don’t have the ability to fulfill an order, not because of an economic downturn. 

Consumers are also leveraging the freedom to skip shipments and utilize subscription flexibility in other ways. Some people have overstocked or stockpiled on certain products. Then, they realized they didn’t need the quantity, so they now want to pause while still maintaining a relationship with a subscription company.

The UK Independent noticed a trend with sex toys, which fall into the non-essential category -- sales have tripled across the board. While it may have been predictable in retrospect, this isn’t a typical trend for an economic crisis. But, with social distancing, people can’t really go in Tinder dates and they have a lot of time on their hands. So, consumers are spending more money on at-home entertainment. 

(Yet, if your supply chain runs out, no matter your niche, you may still see an increase in order cancellations.)

What are the Products With the Highest Interest for Online Shoppers Right Now? 

Supermarkets aren’t able to service people at their homes in many cases. So, consumers are turning online for many of their daily needs and wants. What we’ve seen is an increase in subscriptions for nearly anything that you use at home. Specifically, here are the products we’ve noticed are in high-demand. 

• Food
• Coffee & Tea
• Alcohol
• Pets (Cat Litter, Pet Food)
• Toilet Paper
• Cosmetic & Well-Being (Natural Deodorant)
• Vape

Underwaterpistol, a leading Shopify Plus service provider, is working with a new client who was planning to launch a natural cosmetic and well-being subscription box prior to the pandemic. While Coronavirus has added some red tape to the logistics of the operations, consumer demand has accelerated rollout for these products.  

Keep in mind that, over the next few weeks, we are sure to see more changes and it will be important to watch them. 

What Do Successful Subscription Brands Do Differently? 

Some of the tactics we see successful brands using are the same across the board. Know what they are so that you can thrive in the subscription business world. 

1. Retain Subscribers with Preferential Treatment 

Preferential treatment is one of the most effective business tactics for subscription companies because it aligns with the core of why people subscribe in the first place: exclusivity. Who Gives a Crap “guaranteed” subscribers would get their products, which motivated people to subscribe.

Pre COVID-19, we did this at Gorgias and we can attest to the power behind the process. Our subscribers were grandfathered-into specific prices and features. And, we experienced high retention because of this. You will have similar results with consumer packaged goods subscriptions. 

2. Leverage a Wider Product Range

Most subscription box companies have core consumable items. They sell between one to three variations of a product. But, many of the successful brands we see leverage add-ons, either relevant to the core offering or not. 

A one-time product add-on is trending right now, especially on longer-time use items. So, if your core offering is toilet tissue, which people go through quicker, and you add another product to your offering that might take longer to use, like toothpaste, it can help you increase one-time sales. This is a smart move even if it feels negative that someone wants to cancel their subscription the next month. 

3. Adapt their Subscription Models to Change

If you can no longer offer your supplies because of a supply chain issue, you have choices: 

1. Sit and wait for this to end while you lose money and loyalty. 
2. Make a short-term investment to resolve the problem for long-term results. 

For example, some sellers can no longer use Amazon’s warehouses for fulfillment (which aren’t only for sales on amazon.com) because the company is only accepting essential items, at least temporarily. So, some of those sellers stop offering their products through FBA. Those merchants lose a ton of business. 

On the other hand, there have been sellers in similar positions who flew out to their suppliers and negotiated dropshipping solutions. And, guess what? These brands’ sales haven’t skipped a beat. 

4. Add Fringe Benefits 

Amazon Prime members get expedited shipment on purchases and discounts. Likewise, subscription companies can offer fringe benefits and free gifts to their subscribers. 

Freshly Picked is an infant moccasin company that implements this strategy well. 

Freshly Picked offers “The Fringe,” a membership that costs $10 month. Fringe members get expedited delivery, discounts, and the $10 is redeemable in the store. So, customers can apply their membership cost to purchases. Using this method, you create a perceived discount without giving up your margins. 

5. Use Shopper Objections to Fuel Membership Benefits

You have your customers who believe in you. Then, you have your non-believers who have objections about why they don’t order or why they don’t upgrade. When you know what causes people not to convert, you can make better business decisions. 

So, find out what makes people NOT order from you. Then, add value to your membership offer by providing those perks exclusively. Look to your customer service requests to discover what some of your audience’s greatest problems are, then solve them. 

6. Implement the Right Tools 

First of all, it’s super important to make sure the tools you use are compatible with one another. Next, you need to use reliable platforms. Third, make sure you leverage the features that are available to you. 

The following tools work well alone, together, and with Gorgias to power subscription businesses. 

Klaviyo 

A constant, consistent message is key. And, Klaviyo can help you deliver this by automating crucial analytics, email flows, and sequences.

Advanced Tip: It can work wonders to push for a new subscription after a customers’ second order. 

ReCharge

Recharge is a must for anyone who wants to process recurring payments at scale in today’s market. 

Little Data

You need to be tracking and monitoring visitor and user behavior. Leverage Little Data for advanced and relevant analytics. 

ChurnBuster 

Reduce customer churn with failed payment recovery options from ChurnBuster. 

LoyaltyLion 

Create data-driven loyalty programs to generate more engagement and subscriber retention. 

7. Communicate Beyond Email 

Email isn’t dead, but you now have an unprecedented opportunity to get in front of people where they are -- on social media and on their phones. Worldwide since the start of Coronavirus 45% of consumers are spending more time on messaging apps like WhatsApp and Facebook Messenger. And, brands are paying attention.  

As a subscription service offering, you should use social media and SMS for order updates, upsells, and other customer communications. Don’t limit yourself to email. And, choose tools that enable you to meet your customers where they are. 

8. Deliver a Consistent Brand Message

As always, your brand message is central to your success. Right now more than ever, people want to hear from you. And, if you stay consistent and connected, your customers will stick with you now and into the future. 

Be mindful that each detail is aligned across all communication platforms including your website, social media, email, and offline messaging. You have an unprecedented opportunity to be remembered if your messaging strategy is aligned across all channels. 

9. Incentivize Wisely

Brands that know how to incentivize see higher returns in business. To illustrate, many new subscription companies launch aggressively with 20% discounts for new users. And, while they believe they’re offering more incentive for customers or members to purchase, they’re actually only making a cut to their own profits. 10-15% discounts offer the same psychological incentive at less cost to the merchant. 

One incentive that does work well is to offer a small discount for the new subscriber and the same discount for a friend. This works well because it creates a sense of community and giving for the customer and generates a referral for the business. 

The bottom line is that successful companies seem to inform themselves about incentives that work and apply creative strategies that show proven results. 

Final Thoughts

The online shopping ecosystem is evolving, but that doesn’t mean it’s all doom and gloom. There are actionable steps you can take to stay in the game now and into the future. Stay informed and roll with the punches. Remember that a bit of extra effort now can have a lasting impact on the long-term outcomes of your business.

As Shopify Plus continues to power a growing number of the world’s leading ecommerce sites, brands, and merchants, their eco system is evolving. They’ve grown their program to include certified Plus partners, who can keep up with the demand of merchants - one of the many benefits of Shopify Plus. We’re excited to announce that Gorgias is the only certified customer service platform for Shopify Plus merchants.

Not on Shopify Plus yet? Check out our Shopify vs. Shopify Plus breakdown to understand when to switch.

What makes the program special?

The Shopify Plus Certified App Program supports the largest Shopify merchants by helping them find the apps and solutions they need to build and scale their business. This program is exclusive to Shopify Plus apps that have shown a level of product quality, performance, and privacy, and support that can be relied upon for the unique and often advanced requirements of a Shopify Plus Merchants

Enterprise grade merchants need enterprise grade solutions they can trust. When thousands of customers are wondering where their order is after Black Friday, or wondering if they should order half a size up, they need a customer support platform that can keep up.

Which is why Gorgias is the only customer support platform to make the grade. We help merchants like Steve Madden, MVMT, and Death Wish Coffee reduce costs and increase profits.

Scale as you need

Whether it’s BFCM, a new drop, or being featured on Shark Tank, we can scale with you as your demand grows and slows. With unlimited users you can add more support agents or chat sales specialists as you need, without the commitment of multi year contacts. We’ve also partnered with some of the best contact centers specializing in supporting ecommerce merchants..

Automate more and save 30% of your time

Did you know that 70% of customer service tickets are related to to- helping customers with an update on their order, edit, change, or cancel their order? That’s a lot of tedious work that’s costly. Make the lives of your agents easier, by automating up to 15% of your tickets during your busiest days and saving 30% of your time.

Turn Customer Support from a Cost Centre to a Profit Generator

As more customers want questions before they buy, we help merchants monetize and track every interaction with their customers. Use the time that you’ve saved findiFrom questions to potential customers on your ads to targeted website chat, we help Shopify Plus merchants increase sales.

You spoke and we listened. We’re excited to tell you that, we are ready to launch out of beta. Now, you can connect your Magento 2 store with your Gorgias account. Access your Gorgias and Magento data from one dashboard. 

The simplistic interface will enable you to display customers, orders, shipments, and credit memo data from your Magento eCommerce store next to your Gorgias support tickets. Learn more about the features you can take advantage of. 

Magento 2 users can leverage the benefits of Gorgias

Magento users now have access to the fundamental and performance-boosting advantages of the Gorgias help desk platform. 

• Display Magento customer profiles next to your support tickets. 

• View orders, shipments, and credit memos for each customer. 

• Centralize all customer communications like email, live chat, and social messaging and comments in one place.  
• Connect to Magento store and other third-party extensions to empower your support agents to reply to tickets quickly and within context. 
• Leverage key automation features like phrase prediction or intent detection to create productive and revenue-generating conversations. 
• Save up to 50% of your time spent managing support requests across all support communication channels. 

• Insert Magento 2 variables like the last order’s tracking URL, into macros.

• Use Magento 2 data as a filter for rules. For example, to add conditions on the price of the last order of a customer.

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Soon, we will add actions like ‘refund’ or ‘cancel order’ to the dashboard as well.

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Note: The Gorgias Extension is Compatible with Magento 2.3

Our extension was created for compatibility with the updated Magento 2 platform. So, Magento 2.2 users may need to upgrade to version 2.3 to properly access all of Gorgias’ help desk features.

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How to Install the Extension to Your Magento 2 Store

By integrating with Magento 2, we are excited to serve a new rank of online sellers. We hope to recreate the satisfaction we’ve given our existing users. Here’s what you can do now. 

1. Check out the Gorgias extension in the Magento Marketplace. 
2. Learn how to connect your Magento 2 store to your Gorgias account. 
3. Tell us how you like the new integration and what we can do to improve. 

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Cheers!

For the past 4 years, we've been building Gorgias with Alex and our amazing team. Both of us are automation nerds and our initial idea was to automatically respond to simple support questions. Over the last 2 years, we've been focusing heavily on helping Shopify merchants manage all their customer service in one place. We've grown from 0 to 2000 customers, including fast-growing brands like Rothys, MVMT and Steve Madden.

Today, we're raising a $14M series A to transform customer service into a profit center using conversational commerce.

I'm not a fan of celebrating fundraising events too much, as it's more of a promise than an achievement in itself, but I want to take advantage of this milestone to reflect on what we've learned:

The direct-to-consumer revolution has only started

Over the last 10 years, Amazon has reached an impressive 50% market share in eCommerce. They were able to do it thanks to 3 key pillars: customer experience, logistics and pricing. As a result, they grew 10x in the last 10 years.

However, as we've been building Gorgias, we've witnessed a second trend that has been quieter until last year: brands are going direct to consumers. It happened because of two key factors. One, millennials want to buy from brands they can relate with. For instance, Rothy's makes shoes out of recycled plastic bottles. Two, brands want to build an experience that they control. That's why Nike decided to pull out from Amazon last week.

This direct-to-consumer shift actually started around 2013. Around that time, Shopify started empowering more and more entrepreneurs to launch their own brand online. Ad costs on Facebook, Instagram and Google were relatively low, which allowed for lots of eCommerce entrepreneurial success stories like MVMT Watches.

As more and more brands launched, competition on ad buying has become fierce. The new battleground is no longer Cost of Acquisition but Lifetime Value.

Lots of merchants using Gorgias are now focusing on building a brand. They create differentiated products, they want to interact directly with their customers over online communities like the 310 Nutrition Facebook group with 300,000 members.

Brands are bringing Main Street back, and want to offer a real alternative to Amazon. Apps like Shopify (storefront and soon fulfillment), Klaviyo (email marketing), Yotpo (reviews) and us too at Gorgias have been working on empowering merchants to build large scale and independent businesses.

The future of customer service: use customer service to sell

Here's how we want to help merchants with customer service. The pillar value proposition of Gorgias has been to allow to provide the best customer experience through a 360 degree view of the customer. Agents can respond to chats, emails, Instagram comments while seeing previous conversations, and order data. This way, customers get assistance faster. Everyone wins.

Though, we think there's a larger opportunity for merchants. As a visitor is going to browse a online store during Black Friday, some objections are going to pop up in their mind. Is this shoe the right size? Will it fit?

In 2020, we want to empower merchants to grow through conversational commerce. Support teams can now leverage all the context they have about the customer to guide them toward the buying journey.

One of the challenges here is that support teams are already under a lot of pressure during the holiday season. People wonder if their order will arrive on time for Christmas, or how they can return this gift that was not the right size. That's why we're also focusing on automating the first response to these questions. This way, agents have more time to assist visitors with their purchase.

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We're super grateful to the whole team that has joined the adventure, it's been a hell of a ride from the first customer to the 2000th. Jason has been incredibly helpful as our main investor so far. Today we're excited to welcome Auren, Tod and Jeff from Flex Capital, along with François from Alven, Andrew from Klaviyo as part of the team.

At each stage of the journey, there's a new product-market fit to find and new challenges ahead, this fundraising is the beginning of this new chapter to generate more sales through conversational commerce.

PS: if you run an eCommerce store, give Gorgias a try and let me know whats you think

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I recorded this episode of the Ecomm Swipe File with Eric Banholz, CEO and Co-Founder of Beardbrand, one item we talked about was their decision to move off of Amazon, and what the results were. With the news of Nike moving off of Amazon this week, I thought it would be interesting to share these results. Watch the full interview below, with Eric talking about moving off of Amazon at the 3:27 mark.

The Decision to Move off of Amazon

Eric and the Beardbrand team found that even though they were working with Amazon, they still had to compete. Rather than Amazon bringing them more customers, they were cannibalizing their own business.

The one area they could compete with Amazon was customer value adds. This mean product knowledge, style advice (as talked about in the first part of the video using SMS)

Everyone told Eric that moving off of Amazon would be the worst business decision they could make, and it was a risk that they knew they were taking. What happened next, couldn’t have been better for Beardbrand.

What happened after leaving Amazon?

• Beardbrand saw an increase in their average order value doubling from $25 on Amazon to $50 on Beardbrand.com
• Significant increase to the number of sales on the website
• Reduced costs by not having to manage multiple channels, and competing with blackhat Amazon sellers.

Why did this happen?

We will never know the exact product behaviour, but just as the theme of Klaviyo Boston was owning everything around your customer experience, you can’t own that customer experience on Amazon. On your website, or when someone talks to one of your customer service agents, it’s easy to suggest the products that you know go well together. For example, if you’ve bought a balm from Beardbrand, they may suggest one of their beard oils because they know the ingredients don’t impact one another, and the fragrances smell nice and work well with one another.

On Amazon, these recommendations are automatically generated - most likely based on what the data shows will sell best. Regardless if this is one of your products. In addition to losing out on revenue, this can impact your brand experience. If your purchase comes with a premium product like Beardbrand makes, and a low cost accessory, such as a beard oil made with alcohol that dries out your skin, it can have a negative impact on the overall Beardbrand experience.

Ultimately, Amazon is a very viable channel for many sellers and brands, but Eric and Beardbrand chose to be more in-control of their of their entire customer journey. From answering product questions nested in their instagram ad comments, to providing post purchase style advice.

The Full Conversation 

View a full transcript below. Please note, that this was generated, so we cannot gaurantee 100% accuracy in transcriptions.

Lucas Walker: Hey, what's up everyone? It's Lucas here. Another episode of the Ecommerce Swipe File. I'm in Llandudno Wales, and I just happened to see a barber shop I've been to before called Harry's. I noticed that they had a couple ring lights. I asked if I could pop in, film a bit of content, and he said, "Absolutely." They said, "What are you filming?" I said, "So I'm watching this vlog podcast featuring a lot of brands including Beardbrand. One of the lads who's actually just right over there, I don't know if you can hear the clippers, he's cutting hair right now, but it was Beardbrand that really inspired him and really taught him how to start cutting hair."

Lucas: In this episode I chat with Eric, who I've known for a few years now. He gave me some great advice. We talk about ways to make money online, what a great website looks like, what you should strive for, why he got off Amazon. That's actually a trend that we're seeing a lot of. There's a lot of brands looking to really own their marketing, own their customer relationships. The last thing we talked about is the power of brand, which as we see here, I'm from Toronto, Beardbrand's based out of Washington and Austin in the US. Here in the United Kingdom, he's inspired others to get into the male grooming industry. That's the power of a brand that goes so far beyond any sort of a financial or monetary gain and really going into the legacy. Enjoy.

Lucas: I'm with the Beardbrand founder, Eric Bandholz. If you're watching this video, you've probably seen Beardbrand either on Reddit on the internet, in the shop [inaudible 00:01:30] on Shark Tank, everywhere. I've been following Eric for a long time before I launched Treats Happen, Eric actually did a site review and gave me some great feedback, which I still take to heart today. What I share with a lot of people in that was would you buy from this website? Does this website look like something that you would purchase from?

Lucas: Also, we were trying to do little $1 add on products. You pretty much told me fuck that shit. You're working really, really hard to get people to your website and they'll put in their credit card to buy something with that's a dollar. They get five bucks or 10 bucks, you're not losing money on that. It's really just that add on item. You throw it in as a bonus if they come back later. They like it, especially when you're first starting out. Thanks so much for those tips. I have a whole bunch of questions. Let's start off with the typical blog format. What's sort of one thing that you'd done with your brand lately that really helped you out that any other merchant could kind of take and replicate with themselves?

Eric Bandholz: Yeah, I mean for us it's the most important thing that we do is focus on our brand and our core values and what we're trying to do and bringing it back to the mission. We're very mission oriented and by having that mission it allows us to focus on how we create emails, how we write blog posts, how we write social media tweets, and things like that and how we engage with our customers, improve customers.

Eric: Probably the most exciting thing that's going on right now is our SMS program. Customers who buy from us, they have the option to opt into text messaging. When they opt in, we'll send them a text message that says, "Hey, thanks for your order. We provide style consulting. Take a picture of a selfie. Send it to us and we'll tell you how to do your hair and beard."

Lucas: Oh, that's awesome.

Eric: Yeah, so we want to do more customer value add to our customers right now and really kind of create this moat around our customers.

Lucas: That's really fun. If you're thinking out loud, you could almost do that with anything. If you buy a poster, "Hey, send a picture of your living room and we'll show you the best place to hang it or whatever else."

Eric: Oh, yeah.

Lucas: That's really cool. The other thing that we've chatted a little bit about on Friday night was moving away from Amazon, which I've seen a lot of brands kind of trying to do under the radar. We used Amazon the most as our abandonment strategy. If people just want a single unit, but I mean if you can share what happened when you came off Amazon and really why you have that disdained for Amazon.

Eric: Yeah.

Lucas: Don't hold back.

Eric: Okay.

Lucas: You can swear. You can do whatever you want in the video.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah. I'm not too fond of Amazon. The strategy I just talked about, what we think about in house is a consumer is considering Amazon as a valid option and to really compete against Amazon, you have to figure out what can you do that Amazon can't do? One of those is customer value adds. Last year at the beginning last year we actually pulled off Amazon. Everyone told us that that's the worst decision. You just make so much money on Amazon. By not being on Amazon, you're a fool, but we actually saw an increase on their sales significantly on our website by pulling off Amazon. What I think was happening was people would shop on Beardbrand. They would go to Amazon and buy. Then on Amazon, Amazon would recommend generic brush or comb, so our AOV on Amazon is 25 bucks, whereas our AOV on our website's 50 bucks.

Lucas: You're not paying the 30% Amazon referral.

Eric: Yeah. Then we don't have to manage a different channel, manage listings, worry about black hat people, or fake reviews, and all that stuff.

Lucas: Yeah. Yeah.

Eric: Amazon is getting the data on your sales and if you're successful enough brand, they're eventually going to make their own product, AmazonBasics and rip off your product and push their product ahead of yours.

Lucas: Yeah.

Eric: There's a lot of risk as to building your business on somebody else's back. I've just always been a big fan of being in control of our destiny and our future. It's a lot harder. It's harder to drive traffic to Beardbrand.com, but once you start doing it, it makes it a lot more stable. I sleep really well at night.

Lucas: Yeah. My last question on that is, you are probably one of the first, if not the first, really making beard oil a common product that men like us need.

Eric: Yeah.

Lucas: How have you dealt with the increased competition of both just more supply out there for customers, but also lower quality driving down prices, so people might not want to pay 29 or $39 for your product when they see it for 14.99 elsewhere?

Eric: No matter what business you have, you're going to have competition. Even if you don't have competition, then your competition is typically ignorance towards your product.

Lucas: Yeah.

Eric: We always knew there was going to be competition and subsequently I can't control the compensation. I can't control what they do. All I can control is what we do.

Lucas: Yeah.

Eric: We just focus on our customer and how we can bring value to our customer's lives.

Lucas: I like that. Build trust.

Eric: Yeah. Yeah. We've got, in my opinion, the best product. With the best product, there's always room at the top.

Lucas: Even, like you were saying, the utility bar, I'm sure people look at and say, "Oh, it's just a bar of soap." They don't realize there's no palm oil. There's three years of research and development that went into that product.

Eric: Yeah. You don't have to worry about TSA and the liquid. Our utility bar, it works on your hair. It's a shampoo. It's a beard wash, body wash. You can use it as a shave soap as well, so you can keep tidy in all one product and just travel light. I mean we've tried to make products that aren't available on the marketplace and sand out. Maybe they don't want to appeal to everyone and that's okay. You know, we're not trying to be the next Proctor and Gamble. We're not trying to be L'Oreal. We're not trying to appeal to everyone. We're trying to appeal to our customers who are looking for these types of products.

Lucas: Well, on that note, I normally keep these at two, three minutes. We're over seven already, so I really appreciate it.

Eric: [crosstalk 00:06:55].

Lucas: My arms are getting sore, so I'm going to have to wrap this one up. Thanks so much for being a part of it and I'm glad that we could finally meet in person.

Eric: Yeah, thanks for having me.

Lucas: I actually mention the product in this vlog with Eric, the utility bar. I'm on the road all the time. I've been on the road sort of 36 of 58 days, almost two thirds of my time is travel. Love that the utility bar is great, hassle-free, can be used for a lot of different things. Actually, the best leather I've ever had in a soap, so I'm going to give away a three pack of those. To enter to win, leave a comment below where we were seeing this video. Maybe take a friend, or if you're listening to the podcast, take a screenshot of your review. Send it to me in an email, lucas@gorgeous.io. That's gorgeous, like the philosopher, not my gorgeous good looks. Enjoy

‍Gorgias’ partnership with Attentive improves customer experiences and drives even more revenue for retail and e-commerce brands by allowing customer support teams to answer customers’ questions via text message. 

With this integration, retail and e-commerce brands on Shopify can ensure their customers are getting the best support experience possible, as customer support teams can now directly answer customers’ requests sent via text message. 

“We are thrilled to partner with Gorgias to empower our clients to directly and instantly resolve customer needs, resulting in more revenue,” said Jordan Sucher, Product Manager at Attentive. 

“We’ve found that Attentive clients who quickly respond to shoppers’ inquiries received via text messaging are driving 31% more spend from customers who receive replies vs. those who do not.”

How it works:

Brands can choose between automatically forwarding all messages to their customer support team, or having shoppers confirm they would like assistance.

• Message forwarding: All text messages received from a customer are automatically forwarded to Gorgias so they can quickly assist the customer with their request.
• Support confirmation: Help shoppers when they need it most: After a customer responds with a text message, they will be prompted to confirm they want a customer service representative for assistance.

More best practices and examples from Attentive here.

“Our team at Gorgias is excited to expand our partnership with Attentive. Through this integration, we’re strengthening the relationship between brands and their consumers and empowering them to communicate more easily, quickly, and effectively, creating a more seamless mobile shopping experience”

• Philippe Roireau, Head of Business Development & Partnerships at Gorgias.

Want to learn how to personalized mobile messaging can help your brand?

Request a demo with Attentive →  

Want to learn how to create your helpdesk in minutes to start offering support in SMS, social media, email, WhatsApp, and beyond? Request a demo with Gorgias →