Threading The Needle

On this episode, Taylor reports back from his trip to the Second Annual Meta Performance Marketing Summit, revealing new insights on Advantage +, Measurement360, and just how good Meta is at telling a brand narrative. Plus, he shares his thoughts with Richard on the steps you should take to anticipate upcoming changes to Meta ad products. ⁠ Show Notes: The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm

In The Art of War, Sun Tzu says: “Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.”  It’s crucial to focus on the big picture first. But what about the day-to-day? What tactics can you use to accelerate victory? In this episode, Taylor and Richard introduce the 3 P’s — Plot, Pivot and Profit — and break down how this system transforms the way you execute on a daily basis. ⁠ Show Notes: The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm

In this episode, Taylor and Richard dive deep into Bambu Earth’s Growth Quotient score — what stories do the numbers tell? How do you interpret your Growth Quotient score? How do you transform the knowledge gained from the Diagnostic tool into action? Join us for the first episode in a three-part series on the Growth Quotient — what it means, how to affect it, and how to use it to form a strategic basis for growth.  ⁠Show Notes: Get the Ecommerce Diagnostic Toolkit for free when you join Admission: https://bit.ly/3WfyP5T The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm

With returning customer revenue plateauing, the ecomm world is in for a rough ride — in Taylor’s words, “I thought ecommerce was through its worst period but I was wrong. There are some REALLY hard days upcoming and brands have not made the hard decisions to prepare.” In this episode, Taylor and Richard discuss the upcoming ecommerce drought, the importance of cost management, and the key indicators of success in the next three months. ⁠Show Notes: Get the Ecommerce Diagnostic Toolkit for free when you join Admission: https://bit.ly/3WfyP5T The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm

The 2020-21 COVID boom set unrealistic expectations for year-over-year growth. So, when brands saw 2022 YoY revenue figures start to drop, they started “squeezing the sponge” — wringing every last bit of revenue out of their existing customer base without acquiring new customers. Now, that’s coming around to bite most brands: returning customer revenue growth is almost nil, and efficiency is about to take a nosedive.  On this episode, Richard talks with CTC Growth Strategy Manager Luke Austin about what the future holds, and the tactics he’s using to manage the upcoming dip for his clients. ⁠Show Notes: Early bird pricing is still available on the Ecommerce Diagnostic Toolkit for podcast listeners only — just use code POD197 at https://bit.ly/3VstFmI to get the lower price. Check out Luke Austin’s tweet on the state of returning customer revenue: https://twitter.com/itslukeaustin/status/1654622951206166529?s=20 The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any

Ever find yourself scrambling to make up a deficit in the last couple weeks of each month? We’ve all been there. Fortunately, there’s a solution — it just requires a major mindset shift. On this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Taylor and Richard discuss the true value of forecasting and the key behavior that can get you to your revenue goals: spending your time, effort, and money at the very beginning of the month, not at the end.  ⁠Show Notes: Early bird pricing is still available on the Ecommerce Diagnostic Toolkit for podcast listeners only — just use code POD197 at https://bit.ly/3VstFmI to get the lower price. Check out Luke Austin’s tweet on CTC’s performance relative to goal here: https://twitter.com/l_ukeAustin/status/1653163136642613249?s=20 Taylor’s tweet on why you should frontload monthly spend: https://twitter.com/TaylorHoliday/status/1653058505476112384?s=20 The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have a

Early Bird Pricing (one week only) (30% off regular price) Get the Toolkit: https://commonthreadco.com/products/ecommerce-diagnostic “We see too many business owners, marketing managers, and CMOs make the same mistake over and over: Solving problems they don’t actually have. Most often, this looks like attempting to solve poor Facebook ROAS by pumping the account full of new creative or using the latest media buying “hack”. But what if the COGS on your product mix is so high, you’ll never turn a profit on your paid media spend? What if the people you do get to purchase … never return to your store? Or, on the flip side — what if your customer value grows so significantly over 60-180 days that first-order profitability actually doesn’t matter? In each of these cases, poor Facebook ROAS is a small part of a much larger problem, or it isn’t a problem at all. How would it change the way you run your business if you could precisely identify your weak points and expend all your energy running afte

It’s an age-old dilemma — do I focus on what’s right in front of me, or do I step back and look at the larger picture? On this episode, Taylor and Richard make the argument that establishing the “why” is much more important than the “how” — especially in a world where AI is making operational excellence less and less of an important differentiator. Show Notes: Explore how SegMetrics can help you tackle ecommerce marketing challenges at https://bit.ly/3AdTrl2. Effortlessly connect all your marketing tools with our library of over 90 integrations at https://bit.ly/3AiayC0. Check out “On Strategy” from the Harvard Business Review here: https://bit.ly/40jEE2J. The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

How do two guys who have never worked together before come together to build a successful influencer agency? On this episode, Taylor sits down with Kynship co-founder Taylor Lagace to discuss building a business around your values, how to find authenticity in your influencer content, and key tactics to build an ROI-focused micro-influencer network. Show Notes: Explore how SegMetrics can help you tackle ecommerce marketing challenges at https://segmetrics.io/solutions/ecommerce Effortlessly connect all your marketing tools with our library of over 90 integrations at https://segmetrics.io/integration/. Schedule your personalized demo, ask questions, and discover how SegMetrics can help your e-commerce business grow at https://segmetrics.io/book-a-demo/. The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

Inventory management is the bane of many ecommerce brands’ existence — balancing lead times and cash outlay with demand can feel like an unsolvable issue. But with the right data, it can become much easier. In this episode, Taylor sits down with Braden Larsen, Head of Marketing at CTC client Sparkle in Pink, to discuss the tool he uses to keep ahead of per-SKU sales velocity, how he manages Sparkle in Pink’s massive number of SKUs, and how to use data to streamline your inventory management. Show Notes: Check out Sparkle in Pink here: https://sparkleinpink.com/ Download the Inventory Planner app here: https://apps.shopify.com/inventory-planner The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

“Brand is the bridge between how much your product costs and how much your customer is willing to pay.”  But what if you could measure that “bridge” objectively? In this episode, Richard and Taylor talk about Taylor’s controversial new formula for quantifying the value of your brand. Then, Richard has a conversation with Jules Vertrees, CTC client and founder of Verve Culture, a brand that sources beautiful home goods & gourmet foods from artisans around the world.  Learn More About SegMetrics (Sponsored): Learn how SegMetrics can help you overcome challenges in your ecommerce marketing at  ⁠⁠https://bit.ly/3zjdAph⁠⁠. Instantly connect every marketing tool in your funnel with our library of over 90 integrations at https://bit.ly/3G50gIM. Book a one-on-one demo, get answers to your questions, and learn how SegMetrics can help your business grow by visiting https://bit.ly/3G70LlS⁠. Show Notes: Taylor’s tweet on quantifying brand: https://bit.ly/3nBGQVu 21 Antifragile Tactics Podcast: https://bit.ly/3zht5

For most of us, ecommerce is still a new phenomenon. For Smart Marketer founder Ezra Firestone, driving sales online has been his main pursuit since the days when you had to fax customer orders to the manufacturer. In this episode, Taylor and Ezra discuss his life in ecommerce, how it’s developed in the 15 years since, and how that experience gives him a unique perspective on what you need to do to thrive in the current environment. Show Notes: For more content from Ezra, check out his LinkedIn, Instagram, and Twitter. Checkout Ezra’s haircare brand, oVertone, here.  Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

Here at CTC we talk a lot about how ROAS is a poor guiding metric for ad account decisionmaking. That’s because it doesn’t take into account your ad spend’s impact on your entire business. So what should you use instead? In this episode, Richard and Taylor break down a new way to think about profit in an environment where capital isn’t cheap. Show Notes: Get a $200 credit to Insense’s all-in-one creator platform here: insense.pro/lp/ctc Watch Taylor’s video: How to Media Buy Like an Investor The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

Influencers, staged unboxing videos, paid posts — at this point, even people outside of the ecomm business know that most UGC isn’t actually user-generated. On this episode, Richard and Taylor go deep on the history of bullsh*t in advertising, the ethics of “fake UGC,” and Taylor’s barometer for determining how much BS is too much. Show Notes: Want an easier way to source the good kind of UGC? Streamline your process with SARAL’s chrome extension: http://getsaral.com/champions/ctc Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

In this episode of the Ecommerce Playbook Podcast, Taylor chats with Connor Rolain, Head of Growth at HexClad, and Richie Mashikov, Head of Growth at Birdie. They discuss forecasting, unit economics, and the rules for growth amidst uncertainty. Show Notes: Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm. Connect with Richie: https://www.shesbirdie.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/richardmashiko/ https://twitter.com/richiemashiko Connect with Connor: https://hexclad.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-rolain-b190ab148/ https://twitter.com/connorrolain

How do I make paid search work for my business? In this episode, we go straight to the source as Taylor sits down with Ben Kruger, Senior Ecommerce Growth Consultant at Google, to discuss how to scale your online store profitably using Google Ads. Show Notes: Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

Though AI (via media buying algorithms) has always played a role in ecommerce, tools like ChatGPT and Dall-E have brought the conversation about AI and work into the mainstream. In this episode, Richard and Taylor dive into the relationship between AI and margin efficiency, the unique ways we’ve used AI to speed productivity, and the role humans play in a world where computers can do everything better than we can. Show Notes: Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

his episode features Jordan West, an entrepreneur and owner of Canada-based ecommerce agency Upgrowth Commerce. Richard, Taylor, and Jordan discuss his transition from paramedic to full-time business builder, as well as Jordan’s ideal business model, doing business in Canada v. the States, and where they think ecommerce is headed in 2023. Show Notes: Check out Jordan’s podcast, Secrets to Scaling Your Ecommerce Business: https://bit.ly/3JMYC1k Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

Success on Facebook is as much about what you sell as it is about how you sell it. In this episode, Richard and Taylor talk about an overlooked aspect of paid social success: merchandising your ad account. Then, they dip into the podcast mailbag and give some advice to a listener who runs a high-SKU online retail business. Show Notes: Taylor’s video on ad account merchandising: https://bit.ly/3DxveIC Richard’s article on creative, featuring the product Venn diagram: https://bit.ly/3HNNQ9t CTC Articles on Performance Max: https://bit.ly/3HtTfBg Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.

In part 2 of our two-part series on investing, Taylor talks with Jason Bornstein, Principal at Forerunner, the San Francisco-based venture capital firm behind DTC juggernauts like Away, Warby Parker, and Glossier. Listen as Jason breaks down current industry trends, the kinds of businesses he’s still excited about in 2023, and how to impress him on a pitch call. Show Notes: Have a business you want to pitch to Forerunner? As Jason mentioned on the pod, Forerunner responds to every inquiry email. Reach out to them here: https://bit.ly/3HhW4GM Need help building your marketing calendar? Our strategy team is putting together 12-month gameplan and audit packages here: https://bit.ly/3ZLKfjw The Ecommerce Playbook mailbag is open — email us at podcast@commonthreadco.com to ask us any questions you might have about the world of ecomm.