In this timely episode, Brett Curry (https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry) sits down with Nick Flint (https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-flint-b46063b3/), Director of Email Marketing, to tackle the pressing challenge facing e-commerce brands today: how to maintain profitability amid rising tariffs. As import costs surge, they share actionable strategies for protecting your bottom line without sacrificing growth. Whether you’re considering price increases, optimizing marketing spend, or leveraging email to boost customer loyalty, this episode delivers practical solutions you can implement immediately.
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Sponsored by OMG Commerce - go to (https://www.omgcommerce.com/contact) and request your FREE strategy session today!
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Chapters:
(00:00) Introduction
(01:28) Increasing Profitability in the Current Landscape
(04:30) Strategies for Princing and Bundling
(06:32) Effective Cost-Cutting Measures
(11:51) Maximizing Email Marketing Effectiveness
(15:06) Final Thoughts
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Connect With Brett:
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thebrettcurry/
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@omgcommerce
- Website: https://www.omgcommerce.com/
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Past guests on eCommerce Evolution include Ezra Firestone, Steve Chou, Drew Sanocki, Jacques Spitzer, Jeremy Horowitz, Ryan Moran, Sean Frank, Andrew Youderian, Ryan McKenzie, Joseph Wilkins, Cody Wittick, Miki Agrawal, Justin Brooke, Nish Samantray, Kurt Elster, John Parkes, Chris Mercer, Rabah Rahil, Bear Handlon, Trevor Crump, Frederick Vallaeys, Preston Rutherford, Anthony Mink, Bill D’Allessandro, Bryan Porter and more
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
- It's not just raising prices,
but how do we introducethings like limited
edition specials?
How, how can we introducethings that feel more valuable
and are more valuable so thatwe can charge a a premium?
(00:24):
All right, Nick Flint,the buzz for right now
and likely the foreseeable future is
what do we do about the tariff madness
that's impacting our industry?
And so wanted to have you on here
so we could talk brieflyabout what are some ways
that we can mitigate risk,that we can protect profits
so we can cut costs so thatwe can still find opportunity
(00:46):
for growth and opportunity
to thrive even in this climate.
And so let's dive in. Butfirst of all, how's it going?
By the way,
- I'm doing pretty good over here.
Really starting to dial inwith some of our clients
and the strategies that theyhave with these new changes
and what they might seein their price structure,
differences in the future.
(01:08):
- Great. Well, email's gonnaplay a big part of this.
So Nick is our, our director of email.
And I think now is thetime we lean into the tried
and true, right?
Doing more for our customers,leaning into them more.
Email is one of the, themost guaranteed returns
and the lowest cost to execute on.
So now is the time for emails.
We'll lean into some tips there,
(01:28):
but ultimately what we'relooking for right now
and whatever brand wants ishow do I protect profits?
How do I continue to grow?How do I protect profits?
And I think ultimatelythe first thing, Nick,
that we gotta look at is howcan you increase prices and
or increase profit per order
without tanking conversion rates, right?
Without killing conversions.
(01:50):
'cause not just as simple as raising
rates through the roof, right?
Raising prices through the roof
because then people will stop buying.
And so let's talk
through some suggestionshere on, on what we can do.
So, so raising prices.
One thing to keep in mind, Nick,
and you know, we've been talking to a lot
of our, our bigger clients.
I've had 10 to 15 calls recently.
(02:10):
We've been texting,messaging, you know, talking
to clients frequently.
And so one thing I'm hearinga lot from bigger brands is,
Nick, they're just gonna raise prices.
They're just gonna raisethem, have not heard fully,
you know, what, what percentagekinda lift that's gonna be
that that's gonna be brand by brand,
it's gonna be depending onthe category, depending on
how much room the brand thinks, they have
(02:31):
to still remain competitive.
Depends on the strengthof the brand as well.
But also a lot of people arejust gonna raise prices, right?
And so I think you gotta look at that
and whether that's a 5%,10%, maybe a 20% increase,
it's gotta be on the table
and you gotta be talking about it.
One of the other thingsthat we're looking at is
how do we maybe bundle things
(02:52):
and come with creative offersso that we can raise the a OV
and and like the raisethe profit per order.
So what, what are your thoughtson both of those items?
What are you hearing? What are you seeing?
- What's, what's funnyis a lot of the stuff
that we're looking at, youshould be doing this year round,
but it's really top ofmind right now. Like
- Yeah,- What does it come down to?
Charging the right amount andthen cutting your costs across
(03:12):
the business when possible
and trying to run a leanoperation so you stay profitable.
And it really comes to theforefront where you're starting
to look at every dollar, every statement,
every transaction coming through.
Yep. So some of theeasiest low hanging fruit
that they can be doingright now to help raise
that average order value, notgive away too much margin.
'cause if you can notdiscount your products
and extra 10%, that kind of combats
(03:35):
that 10% extra that you're paying Yes.
Over on your, your cost ofgoods coming across the seeds.
So off the bat,
one thing we've beenshifting is the initial,
just the popup offers on the site
and the intro, instead ofgoing with like a standard,
you know, 10, 20% off your first order,
we're putting a minimumthreshold in there now.
So, you know, $10 off any order
of $50 plus if they're gonnaspend 70, 80, 90 bucks,
(03:58):
that $10 is gonna stay the same
and not gonna be that fixedpercentage versus 20% off
of your $90 order.
It's eight bucks that the brand saves.
- Yeah, I love that. So,you know, one, one of the,
the best tools we haveto grow our email list
and grow our email marketing is the,
is the popup in the offer.
But nows may be a time to, to be less
liberal with your, your discount.
(04:19):
So make that a flat dollar amount
so it doesn't scale to infinity.
Also, maybe just raising the
threshold for when that kicks in.
So yeah, we're, we'regoing to limit that, right?
I think the other thing tothink about is, is, you know,
how do we bundle products to, to,
and create some interestingpricing there where we're,
we're still getting more profitper transaction even while
(04:43):
maybe our, our cost structure,our cogs have gone up.
So I think that's aninteresting one to look at.
And it's somethingyou've talked about Nick,
and we, we've seen thiswith brands like Nike
and others, is it's notjust raising prices,
but how do we introducethings like limited
edition specials?
How, how can we introducethings that feel more valuable
and are more valuableso that we can charge a,
a premium? So what, whatare your thoughts on that
(05:05):
- For these limited edition items?
It works for whatever level you're at.
That, that's one kind of really unique
thing about this strategy.
If you're selling a $10 cup,
launching a limited editioncollab with someone,
or even like a new colorway,you're just doing 200 of,
you can now sell thatfor 15 instead of 10.
Same thing on like the sneakers.
Just like you talkabout, you know, instead
(05:25):
of $150 via sneakers,you're now going for 180
'cause it's a limited edition release.
So if you can find some kindof way to implement scarcity
with a new product, launch a new variant,
we have a coffee brand doing this,
they're leaning intomore select roasts from
around the world and they'rereally putting the emphasis on
the Costa Rican farmerswho are making these beans.
(05:47):
And that's why it's slightly more per bag,
but the quality's thereand people appreciate it.
And you also see people startto splurge on some stuff like
that, you know, when they're starting
to look at their own bankaccounts a little bit tighter,
you know, I'm not gonna gobuy a new car right now,
but you know what, I'llspend 15 for bank coffee.
Might not my coffee. Yeah,totally. It's every morning then.
Really good.
(06:07):
- Yeah, it's a really good thought that,
that even when the consumeris, is pinched a little bit,
even when the consumerconfidence is low, it's not
that they stop buying, right?
We still, we all, we love to buy things.
It's our favorite recreation, you know,
retail therapy is a real thing,will always be a real thing.
But yeah, how can you lean intosomething where, hey, okay,
may, maybe I'm tradingdown in other categories,
but I'm trading up in your category and
(06:29):
and that's what you wantto try to, to create there.
So yeah, I I really wannaunderscore, you know,
this is not a time to cutgrowth costs, I believe, right?
And, and this is, we were talkingabout this in our morning,
Monday morning meeting today,Nick, where you know, David,
David Ogilvy, legendaryad guy, the the guy
behind Dove stoke andman in a halfway shirt
and Rolls Royce and a number of others.
(06:50):
He talked about, man, I I view advertising
as an essential part of every product,
just like I would an essential,
an essential ingredientor central component.
And just when times gettough, I'm not gonna cut,
I'm not gonna cut the tiresoutta my Rolls Royce, you know,
because times are tough.
I I've gotta, I've gotta invest in that.
And same is true for marketing.
(07:10):
We don't wanna pull back on marketing
otherwise we'll lose market share
otherwise we'll, we'll createa death spiral potentially.
And so lean into marketing,
maybe you wanna lean into itin a more efficient manner.
Maybe you raise your mirror,things like that, but don't
but your advertising and growth budgets.
But on the topic of cost cutting, Nick,
I think this is a real thing, right?
We've gotta look at how can we get lean?
(07:33):
How can we be lean and mean right now?
So what are some suggestions there?
What have, what haveyou heard from others?
What tips do you have?
- Especially on the SMS side of things,
we're getting really tight with
who we're sending to right now.
You might have a 20,000 perSM person SMS list with,
you know, 10 k those being engaged
and the other 10 k is like,
you're hopeful they'll purchase one day,
(07:54):
they've been hanging around forever
and you will send them those texts
for the big launches or product drops.
But now we want to tighten up that window
so those SMS sends are toyour more guaranteed segment,
keep the revenue coming in from them
and then as things start to normalize,
then breach back out intothat broader audience
(08:15):
that you were looking at before, kind of
that hopeful window you'respending some extra money on.
- Yeah, I love it. And you know, one
of the other things we're,we're leaning into, you know,
we do a lot with obviouslyAmazon ads and Google ads
and YouTube and things likethat is, you know, there,
there are times when,when things are smooth
and easy where, where maybe you kind of
ignore some wasted ad spend, right?
Where maybe there's somekeywords that are not gonna
(08:36):
performing with an Amazonads with Google ads,
but when times are good,you kinda let that slide.
We audit, you know, dozensof accounts every month
and we regularly see, youknow, wasted ad spend in the 10
to 15 to $20,000 a monthrange, meaning you could cut
that ad spend and sales would not dip.
Now's the time to belooking at stuff like that.
(08:57):
So don't cut your overall adbudget, but man, cut the waste.
And so I think that'ssomething you wanna lean
into and look at right now.
You know, one of the basicthings we do all, all the time
as an agency, Nick, is weat least quarterly and,
and now I'd say youprobably do this monthly,
look at all your recurring expenses.
What, what are, what are we paying for?
What tools, what softwares,what are we paying
(09:19):
for that we're not using?
And we see this a lot wheremaybe you're like, oh wait,
we're paying for three multi-touchattribution tools, right?
We're paying for these two tools
and those reporting, we don't,
we don't need all that, right?
And so what can we cutto get lean and mean?
Because really I think rightnow we're kind of fighting
and scrapping for every point, every point
of profit that we can get.
And so looking to cut expenses,cut software costs, cut,
(09:42):
cut opex, things like that.
What are the tips or insights you have
on, on cost cutting? Nick,
- It is funny for that.
That's one thing I don'trecommend automating it is going
over your p and l.
Yeah. Like, yeah, QuickBookscould automate for you
and shove into the different categories,
but even for my own personalfinances on Sundays, I sit down
and I go look at every line item.
And if I have a, a late fee for my gym,
(10:05):
'cause I missed a class, Ipunch myself in the arm for
that $15 feed. I they hit you with
- Your wife's like Nick pushups right now.
- They, they get youwith those cancellations.
But looking at like costcutting as a whole, get aligned
with your inventory forecasting,
sit on the extra inventorymight have been a nice safe play
(10:26):
and good to have in the future.
And what if sales justspike up outta nowhere?
Then I have the inventory for it.
But really start to figureout how much you are selling
through on a 30, 60 day basis.
How much you need to be ordering
so you're not running out of product.
And then start saving some costs.
'cause you don't have a bunchof debt inventory sitting
there in some kind of three pl
- Love it man.
And this is also the time ofyou looking at your three pl.
(10:47):
How can we cut costs there?How can we renegotiate?
How can we lower shipping costs?
Obviously talking to yourfactory, to your, your factory,
to the manufacturers you work with.
How can we extend terms,
how can we maybe share insome of the price increases?
So get creative there and,
and really just look for any way
that you can save and partner.
Really nothing should be off the table
(11:08):
because every point ofmargin matters at this point.
And, and you know, another,another thing we recommend on
the, on the Amazon side,we got a couple services we
recommend where they will go
and help you recover fees from Amazon
because there's probablysome fees you've been charged
that you can get a refundon for a variety of reasons.
But often that amounts to 1000,5,000, $10,000 a month type
(11:29):
of thing in, in recouped fees.
So now is the time to look ateverything like that as well.
Try to save as much as you can without
reducing product quality
and without taking yourfoot off the gas pedal
because you want to stillbe gaining market share
and growing through this time.
(11:51):
Now another thing we, wetalked about Nick, as you know,
hey, now's the time tolean into email marketing.
So what are some creative things we can do
to make our email marketingbetter that's going
to lift sales, lift profits.What can we do right now?
- I really like leaninginto the brand's tone
and the brand's voice.
And just remember that you're talking
to other people on the otherside of this transaction email
(12:13):
or SMSI can see a lot of brands kind
of just sending out thisone way informational bit.
One account I was auditingearlier today, a text,
it was just super scientific, followed
by read the blog post here.
I'm like, do you thinkyour customers really want
to get this text and willit make them feel special
like that the blog post?
Like, come on, figure outa new way to phrase that
(12:36):
and relate to your customersand work on your tone.
You know, general populationprobably a little bit stressed
out now as well.
So connect
with them on a personal levelthat'll make them feel more
connected to your brand.
And a great way to dothis is just, you know,
asking questions and having areal conversation with them.
Especially if it's your top ahundred, 300, 500 customers.
(12:58):
I always recommend sendingout a question type email
campaign to get those repliesto help with deliverability
and to boost your results in the future.
But for now, if you don'thave like the customer service
backend to deal with athousand replies, start
with your top a hundred, 300 customers
and figure out whatquestion you wanna ask them
and actually relate tothem and have that back
and forth conversation.
(13:18):
And it's more likely couldget you some referrals in the
future when they send people your
- Way's.
Really great. And you know, one
of the other things I'll mentionan idea that we actually,
we did this a couple yearsago for another client
where they were aboutto raise their prices.
They had not raisedprices in quite some time
and so they emailed their entire list.
I think they started with our VIPs
and then they emailedeverybody, but they said, Hey,
(13:40):
you know, we're raising ourprices on this date, here's why.
And I, and I think it's another way
where email gives you the,the freedom to do this.
You just explain this to yourcustomers that hey, our cost
of goods are going up 50% right now,
so we're not raising our prices 50%,
we're raising our prices 10%or whatever the case may be.
But here's why we haveto do a price increase.
We just, we have to, right?
(14:02):
But here's what we wanna do for you
because you're a valuedcustomer locking in the existing
price through this date.
And what's interesting about that is it,
it's basically a sale.
It's not a sale. 'causeyou're not discounting,
you're just saying we'reabout to raise our prices,
but you can order right now.
Now obviously there area few things you gotta
keep in mind there.
If you're low on inventory,you can't do it if, if you're,
you know, inventory forecasting is not
(14:22):
precise right now you can't do it.
But if all those things are good
and you wanna raise a littlebit of cash right now to kind
of help weather thestorm, it's a great way
to do a quote unquote salewithout doing a discount.
- Especially if you have asubscription based business.
Hey, you know, subscribenow to get 10% off
for every order moving forward.
Yes. And that'll give 'em reasonto not cancel in the future
(14:43):
because we'll see thosenew price increases.
Oh, if I cancel then I gottacome back into this new higher
- Rate.
Yeah. And maybe, maybe make
that offer just for subscriptions only.
We're like, hey, we'reabout to raise prices,
but not only are we notraising prices on our existing
subscriptions, we're onthis current discount.
So get locked in now so
that you don't have toworry about it later.
And, and yeah, that createspredictable, consistent revenue,
(15:04):
which is worth it in the long run.
So Nick Flint, any, any final thoughts?
How do we protect profits, cut costs?
How do we find ways to win right now?
- Yeah, closing out inless than a minute here,
focus on what's working foryour business right now.
Probably don't use this timeto test out a ton of new things
that are gonna cost you a lot of money.
(15:25):
So focus on what's working for you.
Communicate with your customers openly
and like a human, actuallyconnect with them.
Look at all of your costs.
And then lastly, consult
an actual tariff lawyer.
You know, yes, before you dosomething silly, like try to
backend this secret dealwith your manufacturer
(15:46):
where they put it as half thecost when it comes overseas
and you're gonna get audited
and probably sent to prison,dodge all that by talking
to an actual professional.
'cause it's hard
to sell products whenyou're in a jail cell.
- Yeah, yeah. That, that cut in profits,
reduce profits much easier totolerate than prison foods.
So I I like that. That's really,really sound advice, Nick.
(16:07):
I appreciate that. And,
and just final thought aswe wrap up here is that
even in the midst of tariff craziness and,
and the way this all will, will shake out
and likely change amillion times here in the,
in the coming months,there's always, always,
always a path forward.
There's always a way to win,there's always a way to grow,
there's always a wayto gain new customers.
And so that's why wewanna bring you solutions.
(16:31):
And so with that, we'llwish you good luck.
Thank you Nick, for joiningus and until next time,
- See you then.
- It's not just raising prices,
but how do we introducethings like limited
edition specials?
How, how can we introducethings that feel more valuable
and are more valuable so thatwe can charge a a premium?
(00:24):
All right, Nick Flint,the buzz for right now
and likely the foreseeable future is
what do we do about the tariff madness
that's impacting our industry?
And so wanted to have you on here
so we could talk brieflyabout what are some ways
that we can mitigate risk,that we can protect profits
so we can cut costs so thatwe can still find opportunity
(00:46):
for growth and opportunity
to thrive even in this climate.
And so let's dive in. Butfirst of all, how's it going?
By the way,
- I'm doing pretty good over here.
Really starting to dial inwith some of our clients
and the strategies that theyhave with these new changes
and what they might seein their price structure,
differences in the future.
(01:08):
- Great. Well, email's gonnaplay a big part of this.
So Nick is our, our director of email.
And I think now is thetime we lean into the tried
and true, right?
Doing more for our customers,leaning into them more.
Email is one of the, themost guaranteed returns
and the lowest cost to execute on.
So now is the time for emails.
We'll lean into some tips there,
(01:28):
but ultimately what we'relooking for right now
and whatever brand wants ishow do I protect profits?
How do I continue to grow?How do I protect profits?
And I think ultimatelythe first thing, Nick,
that we gotta look at is howcan you increase prices and
or increase profit per order
without tanking conversion rates, right?
Without killing conversions.
(01:50):
'cause not just as simple as raising
rates through the roof, right?
Raising prices through the roof
because then people will stop buying.
And so let's talk
through some suggestionshere on, on what we can do.
So, so raising prices.
One thing to keep in mind, Nick,
and you know, we've been talking to a lot
of our, our bigger clients.
I've had 10 to 15 calls recently.
(02:10):
We've been texting,messaging, you know, talking
to clients frequently.
And so one thing I'm hearinga lot from bigger brands is,
Nick, they're just gonna raise prices.
They're just gonna raisethem, have not heard fully,
you know, what, what percentagekinda lift that's gonna be
that that's gonna be brand by brand,
it's gonna be depending onthe category, depending on
how much room the brand thinks, they have
(02:31):
to still remain competitive.
Depends on the strengthof the brand as well.
But also a lot of people arejust gonna raise prices, right?
And so I think you gotta look at that
and whether that's a 5%,10%, maybe a 20% increase,
it's gotta be on the table
and you gotta be talking about it.
One of the other thingsthat we're looking at is
how do we maybe bundle things
(02:52):
and come with creative offersso that we can raise the a OV
and and like the raisethe profit per order.
So what, what are your thoughtson both of those items?
What are you hearing? What are you seeing?
- What's, what's funnyis a lot of the stuff
that we're looking at, youshould be doing this year round,
but it's really top ofmind right now. Like
- Yeah,- What does it come down to?
Charging the right amount andthen cutting your costs across
(03:12):
the business when possible
and trying to run a leanoperation so you stay profitable.
And it really comes to theforefront where you're starting
to look at every dollar, every statement,
every transaction coming through.
Yep. So some of theeasiest low hanging fruit
that they can be doingright now to help raise
that average order value, notgive away too much margin.
'cause if you can notdiscount your products
and extra 10%, that kind of combats
(03:35):
that 10% extra that you're paying Yes.
Over on your, your cost ofgoods coming across the seeds.
So off the bat,
one thing we've beenshifting is the initial,
just the popup offers on the site
and the intro, instead ofgoing with like a standard,
you know, 10, 20% off your first order,
we're putting a minimumthreshold in there now.
So, you know, $10 off any order
of $50 plus if they're gonnaspend 70, 80, 90 bucks,
(03:58):
that $10 is gonna stay the same
and not gonna be that fixedpercentage versus 20% off
of your $90 order.
It's eight bucks that the brand saves.
- Yeah, I love that. So,you know, one, one of the,
the best tools we haveto grow our email list
and grow our email marketing is the,
is the popup in the offer.
But nows may be a time to, to be less
liberal with your, your discount.
(04:19):
So make that a flat dollar amount
so it doesn't scale to infinity.
Also, maybe just raising the
threshold for when that kicks in.
So yeah, we're, we'regoing to limit that, right?
I think the other thing tothink about is, is, you know,
how do we bundle products to, to,
and create some interestingpricing there where we're,
we're still getting more profitper transaction even while
(04:43):
maybe our, our cost structure,our cogs have gone up.
So I think that's aninteresting one to look at.
And it's somethingyou've talked about Nick,
and we, we've seen thiswith brands like Nike
and others, is it's notjust raising prices,
but how do we introducethings like limited
edition specials?
How, how can we introducethings that feel more valuable
and are more valuableso that we can charge a,
a premium? So what, whatare your thoughts on that
(05:05):
- For these limited edition items?
It works for whatever level you're at.
That, that's one kind of really unique
thing about this strategy.
If you're selling a $10 cup,
launching a limited editioncollab with someone,
or even like a new colorway,you're just doing 200 of,
you can now sell thatfor 15 instead of 10.
Same thing on like the sneakers.
Just like you talkabout, you know, instead
(05:25):
of $150 via sneakers,you're now going for 180
'cause it's a limited edition release.
So if you can find some kindof way to implement scarcity
with a new product, launch a new variant,
we have a coffee brand doing this,
they're leaning intomore select roasts from
around the world and they'rereally putting the emphasis on
the Costa Rican farmerswho are making these beans.
(05:47):
And that's why it's slightly more per bag,
but the quality's thereand people appreciate it.
And you also see people startto splurge on some stuff like
that, you know, when they're starting
to look at their own bankaccounts a little bit tighter,
you know, I'm not gonna gobuy a new car right now,
but you know what, I'llspend 15 for bank coffee.
Might not my coffee. Yeah,totally. It's every morning then.
Really good.
(06:07):
- Yeah, it's a really good thought that,
that even when the consumeris, is pinched a little bit,
even when the consumerconfidence is low, it's not
that they stop buying, right?
We still, we all, we love to buy things.
It's our favorite recreation, you know,
retail therapy is a real thing,will always be a real thing.
But yeah, how can you lean intosomething where, hey, okay,
may, maybe I'm tradingdown in other categories,
but I'm trading up in your category and
(06:29):
and that's what you wantto try to, to create there.
So yeah, I I really wannaunderscore, you know,
this is not a time to cutgrowth costs, I believe, right?
And, and this is, we were talkingabout this in our morning,
Monday morning meeting today,Nick, where you know, David,
David Ogilvy, legendaryad guy, the the guy
behind Dove stoke andman in a halfway shirt
and Rolls Royce and a number of others.
(06:50):
He talked about, man, I I view advertising
as an essential part of every product,
just like I would an essential,
an essential ingredientor central component.
And just when times gettough, I'm not gonna cut,
I'm not gonna cut the tiresoutta my Rolls Royce, you know,
because times are tough.
I I've gotta, I've gotta invest in that.
And same is true for marketing.
(07:10):
We don't wanna pull back on marketing
otherwise we'll lose market share
otherwise we'll, we'll createa death spiral potentially.
And so lean into marketing,
maybe you wanna lean into itin a more efficient manner.
Maybe you raise your mirror,things like that, but don't
but your advertising and growth budgets.
But on the topic of cost cutting, Nick,
I think this is a real thing, right?
We've gotta look at how can we get lean?
(07:33):
How can we be lean and mean right now?
So what are some suggestions there?
What have, what haveyou heard from others?
What tips do you have?
- Especially on the SMS side of things,
we're getting really tight with
who we're sending to right now.
You might have a 20,000 perSM person SMS list with,
you know, 10 k those being engaged
and the other 10 k is like,
you're hopeful they'll purchase one day,
(07:54):
they've been hanging around forever
and you will send them those texts
for the big launches or product drops.
But now we want to tighten up that window
so those SMS sends are toyour more guaranteed segment,
keep the revenue coming in from them
and then as things start to normalize,
then breach back out intothat broader audience
(08:15):
that you were looking at before, kind of
that hopeful window you'respending some extra money on.
- Yeah, I love it. And you know, one
of the other things we're,we're leaning into, you know,
we do a lot with obviouslyAmazon ads and Google ads
and YouTube and things likethat is, you know, there,
there are times when,when things are smooth
and easy where, where maybe you kind of
ignore some wasted ad spend, right?
Where maybe there's somekeywords that are not gonna
(08:36):
performing with an Amazonads with Google ads,
but when times are good,you kinda let that slide.
We audit, you know, dozensof accounts every month
and we regularly see, youknow, wasted ad spend in the 10
to 15 to $20,000 a monthrange, meaning you could cut
that ad spend and sales would not dip.
Now's the time to belooking at stuff like that.
(08:57):
So don't cut your overall adbudget, but man, cut the waste.
And so I think that'ssomething you wanna lean
into and look at right now.
You know, one of the basicthings we do all, all the time
as an agency, Nick, is weat least quarterly and,
and now I'd say youprobably do this monthly,
look at all your recurring expenses.
What, what are, what are we paying for?
What tools, what softwares,what are we paying
(09:19):
for that we're not using?
And we see this a lot wheremaybe you're like, oh wait,
we're paying for three multi-touchattribution tools, right?
We're paying for these two tools
and those reporting, we don't,
we don't need all that, right?
And so what can we cutto get lean and mean?
Because really I think rightnow we're kind of fighting
and scrapping for every point, every point
of profit that we can get.
And so looking to cut expenses,cut software costs, cut,
(09:42):
cut opex, things like that.
What are the tips or insights you have
on, on cost cutting? Nick,
- It is funny for that.
That's one thing I don'trecommend automating it is going
over your p and l.
Yeah. Like, yeah, QuickBookscould automate for you
and shove into the different categories,
but even for my own personalfinances on Sundays, I sit down
and I go look at every line item.
And if I have a, a late fee for my gym,
(10:05):
'cause I missed a class, Ipunch myself in the arm for
that $15 feed. I they hit you with
- Your wife's like Nick pushups right now.
- They, they get youwith those cancellations.
But looking at like costcutting as a whole, get aligned
with your inventory forecasting,
sit on the extra inventorymight have been a nice safe play
(10:26):
and good to have in the future.
And what if sales justspike up outta nowhere?
Then I have the inventory for it.
But really start to figureout how much you are selling
through on a 30, 60 day basis.
How much you need to be ordering
so you're not running out of product.
And then start saving some costs.
'cause you don't have a bunchof debt inventory sitting
there in some kind of three pl
- Love it man.
And this is also the time ofyou looking at your three pl.
(10:47):
How can we cut costs there?How can we renegotiate?
How can we lower shipping costs?
Obviously talking to yourfactory, to your, your factory,
to the manufacturers you work with.
How can we extend terms,
how can we maybe share insome of the price increases?
So get creative there and,
and really just look for any way
that you can save and partner.
Really nothing should be off the table
(11:08):
because every point ofmargin matters at this point.
And, and you know, another,another thing we recommend on
the, on the Amazon side,we got a couple services we
recommend where they will go
and help you recover fees from Amazon
because there's probablysome fees you've been charged
that you can get a refundon for a variety of reasons.
But often that amounts to 1000,5,000, $10,000 a month type
(11:29):
of thing in, in recouped fees.
So now is the time to look ateverything like that as well.
Try to save as much as you can without
reducing product quality
and without taking yourfoot off the gas pedal
because you want to stillbe gaining market share
and growing through this time.
(11:51):
Now another thing we, wetalked about Nick, as you know,
hey, now's the time tolean into email marketing.
So what are some creative things we can do
to make our email marketingbetter that's going
to lift sales, lift profits.What can we do right now?
- I really like leaninginto the brand's tone
and the brand's voice.
And just remember that you're talking
to other people on the otherside of this transaction email
(12:13):
or SMSI can see a lot of brands kind
of just sending out thisone way informational bit.
One account I was auditingearlier today, a text,
it was just super scientific, followed
by read the blog post here.
I'm like, do you thinkyour customers really want
to get this text and willit make them feel special
like that the blog post?
Like, come on, figure outa new way to phrase that
(12:36):
and relate to your customersand work on your tone.
You know, general populationprobably a little bit stressed
out now as well.
So connect
with them on a personal levelthat'll make them feel more
connected to your brand.
And a great way to dothis is just, you know,
asking questions and having areal conversation with them.
Especially if it's your top ahundred, 300, 500 customers.
(12:58):
I always recommend sendingout a question type email
campaign to get those repliesto help with deliverability
and to boost your results in the future.
But for now, if you don'thave like the customer service
backend to deal with athousand replies, start
with your top a hundred, 300 customers
and figure out whatquestion you wanna ask them
and actually relate tothem and have that back
and forth conversation.
(13:18):
And it's more likely couldget you some referrals in the
future when they send people your
- Way's.
Really great. And you know, one
of the other things I'll mentionan idea that we actually,
we did this a couple yearsago for another client
where they were aboutto raise their prices.
They had not raisedprices in quite some time
and so they emailed their entire list.
I think they started with our VIPs
and then they emailedeverybody, but they said, Hey,
(13:40):
you know, we're raising ourprices on this date, here's why.
And I, and I think it's another way
where email gives you the,the freedom to do this.
You just explain this to yourcustomers that hey, our cost
of goods are going up 50% right now,
so we're not raising our prices 50%,
we're raising our prices 10%or whatever the case may be.
But here's why we haveto do a price increase.
We just, we have to, right?
(14:02):
But here's what we wanna do for you
because you're a valuedcustomer locking in the existing
price through this date.
And what's interesting about that is it,
it's basically a sale.
It's not a sale. 'causeyou're not discounting,
you're just saying we'reabout to raise our prices,
but you can order right now.
Now obviously there area few things you gotta
keep in mind there.
If you're low on inventory,you can't do it if, if you're,
you know, inventory forecasting is not
(14:22):
precise right now you can't do it.
But if all those things are good
and you wanna raise a littlebit of cash right now to kind
of help weather thestorm, it's a great way
to do a quote unquote salewithout doing a discount.
- Especially if you have asubscription based business.
Hey, you know, subscribenow to get 10% off
for every order moving forward.
Yes. And that'll give 'em reasonto not cancel in the future
(14:43):
because we'll see thosenew price increases.
Oh, if I cancel then I gottacome back into this new higher
- Rate.
Yeah. And maybe, maybe make
that offer just for subscriptions only.
We're like, hey, we'reabout to raise prices,
but not only are we notraising prices on our existing
subscriptions, we're onthis current discount.
So get locked in now so
that you don't have toworry about it later.
And, and yeah, that createspredictable, consistent revenue,
(15:04):
which is worth it in the long run.
So Nick Flint, any, any final thoughts?
How do we protect profits, cut costs?
How do we find ways to win right now?
- Yeah, closing out inless than a minute here,
focus on what's working foryour business right now.
Probably don't use this timeto test out a ton of new things
that are gonna cost you a lot of money.
(15:25):
So focus on what's working for you.
Communicate with your customers openly
and like a human, actuallyconnect with them.
Look at all of your costs.
And then lastly, consult
an actual tariff lawyer.
You know, yes, before you dosomething silly, like try to
backend this secret dealwith your manufacturer
(15:46):
where they put it as half thecost when it comes overseas
and you're gonna get audited
and probably sent to prison,dodge all that by talking
to an actual professional.
'cause it's hard
to sell products whenyou're in a jail cell.
- Yeah, yeah. That, that cut in profits,
reduce profits much easier totolerate than prison foods.
So I I like that. That's really,really sound advice, Nick.
(16:07):
I appreciate that. And,
and just final thought aswe wrap up here is that
even in the midst of tariff craziness and,
and the way this all will, will shake out
and likely change amillion times here in the,
in the coming months,there's always, always,
always a path forward.
There's always a way to win,there's always a way to grow,
there's always a wayto gain new customers.
And so that's why wewanna bring you solutions.
(16:31):
And so with that, we'llwish you good luck.
Thank you Nick, for joiningus and until next time,
- See you then.
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