Run a 6 Figure Ecommerce Biz in 2 Hours a Week ⌛️

Welcome Indie Brand Builders!

This week we’re looking at ways to reduce your costs, save time and improve your customer’s experience.

As always, I respond to every email I get. Hit reply and tell me how you’re doing!

In today’s newsletter:

• Running my 6-figure Shopify business in just 2 hours a week (and how you can too) ⌛️

• What exactly is AI automation, and why should you care about it for your business? 🤖

Read time: 5 minutes

How you can run a 6-figure Shopify business in just 2 hours a week ⌛️

In the ecommerce business I recently sold for 6 figures, everything was automated. I only worked around 2 hours a week on the business and it otherwise ran itself.

Most of that was down to how I structured the business, and built it using tools and automations that allowed me to focus my time on growing the business, not running it.

How did I do it?

1. I ran everything through Shopify – all of my sales from various platforms: Etsy, Amazon, Ebay, TikTok went through my Shopify store making it super easy to track and manage stock.

2. I set up automated email sequences to increase my Customer Lifetime Value (CLV). I automated customer welcome emails, personalized post-purchase emails, cart abandonment emails, and re-engagement of inactive customers.

3. I set up a chatbot system to handle customer service enquires that previously took up the majority of my time. I used Botpress, Zapier and Omnisend to handle abandoned carts, return enquires, complaints and questions about the products.

4. I prioritized my time and outsourced everything I could. This one took some time, since I didn’t have the resources at the beginning, but the more I did this, the better my life was!

Here are the top ways you can automate your biz:

1. Abandoned cart recovery
   Did you know almost 70% of shoppers abandon their carts? Boost revenue with automated emails that motivate customers to complete their orders.
2. Welcome email sequence
   On average, welcome emails have a 91.43% open rate! A friendly welcome sequence of emails is your golden handshake to the brand experience you offer, and will most likely convert.
3. Post-purchase follow-ups
   Send personalized automated emails with product recommendations and rewards to drive repeat purchases and strengthen relationships and you’ll most likely enjoy open rates around 29% and a click-through rate of 41%. Whoop!
4. Re-engagement campaigns
   According to stats, 45% of recipients who receive re-engagement emails read them. Regain customer interest with automated emails featuring incentives, promotions, and personalized content.
5. Cross-selling and upselling
   Present related or higher-priced items to your customers and expect a 10-30% boost in sales. AND this’ll make your Average Order Value shoot to the moon!

How do you set this up? There are plenty of tools out there that do the job. My favorites are:

• Beehiiv – The best email marketing platform (Free up to 2500 subscribers)
• Botpress – AI chatbot builder that’s free to use
• Omnisend – This email marketing platform is ideal for Shopify store owners with great integrations and automations out of the box.
• Engagebay – An all-in-one CRM and automated marketing suite
• Shopify Cross Sell & Upsell – Makes it possible to add cross sells / upsells to 8 different locations in your Shopify store

What exactly is AI Automation, and why should you care about it for your business? 🤖

AI automation (the technique of making a system work automatically) uses artificial intelligence to automate tasks traditionally done by people and can be a huge time and money saver.

The most common type of AI automation is chatbots.

No doubt you’ve encountered chatbots before, but AI chatbots take customer experience to a whole new level.

They’re available 24/7, super adaptable, won’t break the bank, and can be trained specifically for every aspect of your business and expertise.

They can help you reduce repetitive and mundane tasks and focus on more important things in your business.

Building them is a breeze with low-code builders and seamless integration into all sorts of communication channels.

Key facts you need to know about chatbots and how they can save you time:

• Chatbots enhance customer experience with instant responses and personalized interactions. 💼
• AI chatbots can have human-like conversations. And when they can’t, you can direct customers to real people. 🤖
• AI chatbots can chat with your customers with a database of info about your business. 📚
• AI chatbots learn from conversations and adapt responses to new situations. 🤔
• AI chatbots can handle complex queries and connect to third party services to handle a multitude of tasks. 📊
• Integration with your existing tech stack is totally possible using Zapier. 🔌
• Look for AI chatbot solutions that are pre-trained on existing data sets and have knowledge specific to your industry. 📚

I’ve started to explore using chatbots in my business and the benefits are clear.

How can you get started using them in your business?

TRENDING TOOLS ⚙️

Here are some free tools you don’t want to miss:

FREE AI CHATBOT TOOLS:

• Botpress – AI chatbot builder that’s free to use
• ChatGPT GPT Builder – Free with a Plus account

FREE AI TOOLS:

• Perplexity.ai – AI that browses the web and provides facts
• Harpa.ai – Brilliant for summarizing and rewriting what you find on the web
• Claude.ai – Perfect for analyzing data, code, or writing long-form content
• FounderPal.ai – Generate user personas for your target market in seconds using AI!

FREE SEO TOOLS:

• Ahrefs Keywords Generator – Great for quick keyword research
• RankMath – The best WordPress SEO plugin
• Ahrefs backlink checker and website authority checker

FREE MARKETING TOOLS:

• Hunter.io – The best tool for finding contacts
• Seamless.ai – An amazing tool for outreach and lead generation
• HARO – Help a reporter out is perfect for getting free mentions on major publications