![\"Jenni-Lyn](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Snarky_Tea_image_1.jpg?v=1682623226\")
It’s a familiar problem in ecommerce: Your online store lets you reach potential clients all over the world, but the lack of a physical location keeps you from interfacing with customers directly. How do you catch the attention of and connect with your audience?
\nA clearly defined brand identity that characterizes all your digital marketing media—executed with the help of branding tools—can help you navigate this dilemma. Here’s an overview of branding tools, plus guidance on selecting the right tools for your online business.
\nTable of Contents
\nBranding tools are software applications that assist you in the task of branding, or the act of creating a distinct look and feel for your business. You can use branding tools to create assets ranging from graphics, logos, video content, and social media content. These tools let you work toward a unified look, sound, and feel across all your platforms, which can promote brand recognition among your target customers.
\nCommonly used types of branding tools include:
\nA well-defined brand helps you cut through a crowded marketplace. Your business may be quite similar to your competitors in terms of products and pricing, but it can stand out if it’s instantly recognizable to your target audience. That’s where branding tools come in. They help you in several ways, including:
\nShopify Logo Maker—Hatchful
\nIf you’re looking for the best free logo maker online, Shopify has got you covered. Trusted by 140,000+ business owners this mobile app for iOS and Android helps you build a brand from scratch.
\nBranding a business takes a concerted effort, and intuitive, easy-to-use branding tools can make the process more efficient. Here are some great tools to help you with various parts of your branding efforts:
\nNo single image will represent your business more than your brand logo. Shopify’s free logo maker offers hundreds of templates for you to customize into a unique logo.
\nOnce you have a logo, you can start featuring it on business cards. Use Shopify’s free business card maker to complete your card design. You’ll pay to print the cards, but the design tool is free to use.
\nVideo branding tools let you create videos and animations with a signature look. Some of these tools can be pricey, but you may be able to address your branding needs with free video editing software.
\nVimeo Create offers a useful free plan that lets you not only create videos but also host and distribute them across the internet. You can upload your own footage and logo and let Vimeo’s AI-powered editor suggest colors, themes, music, and fonts. The platform’s free plan sometimes brackets your videos with ads, so you may choose to upgrade to a paid subscription, starting at $12 per month.
\nWriter is an AI writing tool that creates content for blog posts and marketing. While generative AI may not match human writers in terms of originality and accuracy, the technology can help ensure a consistent application of your brand voice. With Writer’s Styleguide tool, you set guidelines for your company’s prose writing (much like a traditional style guide), and Writer nudges your team to follow these guidelines as they draft new content. This helps ensure that the team’s writing always retains a signature brand voice. Writer offers a free trial, after which you can subscribe to plans starting at $18 per user a month.
\nCreating a signature brand feel goes beyond the syntax of your prose. It also includes colors, fonts, and aesthetic details. Frontify helps you manage all of these, in addition to a prose style guide. This comes in handy as your brand grows, when you may have a wider array of people contributing content, whether that’s an outside marketing agency designing graphics or a freelance writer authoring guest posts for your blog. All of these features come under the umbrella of Frontify’s core product: a shared hub that aligns your team around anything related to branding. You can test out Frontify with a free trial, at which point a Frontify representative will get in touch with pricing options.
\nCreating slogans can be tricky, but Shopify’s free slogan generator can set you on the right path. Provide it with information about your business, plus key terms to include, and it can generate thousands of slogans for your consideration. You can either use one verbatim or tweak it to meet your exact needs.
\nWhether you’re brand new to ecommerce or a longtime industry veteran, you probably send a lot of emails over the course of a week. Ending those emails with a branded signature helps reinforce your brand identity to each recipient. Instead of having each employee create their own email signature, you can design and share a company-wide signature for everyone on your team. Check out HubSpot’s free email signature generator to create one of your own.
\nCanva helps you design visual content to appear just about anywhere—from a website landing page to social media posts to printed brochures. Canva’s free plan is remarkably useful with a drag-and-drop editor and access to over one million free photos and graphics. Paid plans start at $12.99 per month and include advanced graphics tools and one terabyte of cloud storage.
\nWhether it’s for an email newsletter, a social media update, or a product photo for your online store, correct image size supports your branding efforts. Among other things, a properly sized image looks better, helps your website load faster, improves your search engine rankings, and improves the user experience (UX) as people browse your site. Check out Shopify’s free image resizer, and crop your photos and graphics to optimal dimensions.
\nIf you plan on launching a podcast, you may want a signature sound effect or jingle to appear in every episode. You can use Storyblocks to find royalty-free music and sound effects. You can also scale up and hire a composer or sound designer to create sounds and music unique to your company. Storyblock subscriptions start at $15 per month, but you get unlimited downloads when you scale up to a $30 per month subscription.
\nGet your free branding worksheet
\nDevelop your brand’s look, language, and marketing strategy to create a brand your audiences will love with our free branding template.
\nChoosing the right branding tools will hinge on two factors: the scope of your business and your budget. Depending on your marketing strategy, you may want to use branding tools to support image generation or video content creation. Or, you may choose to keep things simple and just use a logo generator to start. If you’re on a budget, check out Shopify’s free business tools, which include tools for custom branding.
\nYou can use most of today’s website branding tools without any prior coding knowledge. Many employ drag-and-drop editors and customizable templates, which makes content creation simple and intuitive.
\nEcommerce entrepreneurs use branding tools to ensure they maintain a consistent brand identity across all platforms. For instance, you can create a business logo using a custom logo creation tool and then apply that logo to all aspects of your online presence from your website to your social media profile. You can also use style guides to make sure that your written content has a unified voice, or an audio branding tool to make sure that any recorded content features the same signature sounds.
\nThe key components of branding are a logo, color scheme, fonts, written brand voice, sounds, graphics, and video animations. You’ll also want a brand story to communicate your brand’s reason for being. The idea is to keep all of these elements consistent throughout your marketing materials so people intuitively associate them with your business.
\nhttps://www.shopify.com/blog/branding-tools
\nSocial selling uses trust built through personal connections to sell products or services. The industry has pivoted to the digital realm, and most social selling now relies on social media platforms to create that trusting, organic connection with potential customers.
\nEffective social sales means engaging in actual conversations with potential customers and business partners, either in person or via the web. As you build trust and establish relationships, you can eventually move the customer through the sales funnel toward lead generation and a successful deal.
\nTable of contents
\n\n
Social selling is a sales process that uses social media platforms to build relationships with potential customers, with the eventual goal of selling products or services to them. It relies on platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram to engage with prospects, provide them with valuable content, and establish trust and credibility. This is different compared to traditional advertising that focuses on pushing products to customers by highlighting their benefits or how they solve a problem.
\nSocial selling builds relationships and provides value to potential customers before asking them to buy. Social sellers who invest in this relationship-building process increase their chances of converting prospects into customers and ultimately driving more sales.
\nSocial selling offers key benefits to sellers promoting a professional brand or their own personal brand.
\nTrust forms the basis of dealmaking and the sales process—people want to do deals with someone they trust. Communicating with your customers and building a personal relationship with them establishes a baseline of trust so they feel comfortable with you and, by extension, with buying your product or service.
\nFor example, when selling with social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram, you can build a community around you and your company that gives people a sense of belonging (however big or small).
\nSocial selling doesn’t aim for impulse purchases. It steadily and progressively builds relationships with potential clients, and it maintains those relationships after they become paying customers.
\nFor instance, the online audio retailer Sweetwater assigns each customer to a “sales engineer” who periodically sends emails to check in, and who always follows up a purchase with a direct note of thanks. This has led to substantial repeat business for the company.
\nWhen a company commits to social listening and robust dialogue with customers, it learns a lot about what motivates those customers. In this regard, social selling is not only a sales technique but also a market research technique. Even if a social interaction does not yield a sale, it can still provide the company with valuable information about customer wishes and interests. Companies can use this information to shape future marketing campaigns, develop new product designs, and refine product descriptions.
\nSocial selling largely takes place via online social network platforms. And choosing the social media selling platforms for you comes down to an honest self-assessment of your brand.
\nFacebook and Twitter are big for salespeople, given their emphasis on discussion. Instagram and TikTok reach younger audiences, while LinkedIn is great for networking in the professional world. Reddit and YouTube comment threads often draw enthusiasts with deep knowledge of a topic, or those looking to learn.
\nSome of the main social selling platforms to consider include:
\nLinkedIn is a B2B platform, where people refine their personal brands to pitch themselves as employees or business partners. It features a proprietary tool called the LinkedIn Sales Navigator that helps you target business customers. It also gives you a Social Selling Index, LinkedIn’s proprietary profiling tool. It’s a great platform for social selling to a business audience, ideal for promoting your business services, digital products for professionals, and other relevant offerings.
\nThere are many ways to sell on Instagram, as well as use the channel to connect with customers and build relationships. It’s visually driven, so you’ll need to be prepared to post photo and video content to your feed and Stories. Overall, it’s an excellent platform for social selling because it has a massive base of engaged users. In fact, more than 500 million Instagram users browse the app on a daily basis, making it home to one of the most engaged audiences around. Plus, you can open an Instagram Shop to make sales directly within the app.
\nRelated:
\nTikTok’s unique algorithm offers social sellers the opportunity to go viral, quickly. It’s not just videos and memes that go viral on TikTok—products go viral too, and often sell out in a matter of days. While TikTok’s own ecommerce strategy isn’t as advanced as other social media platforms, like Instagram, it’s quickly becoming more refined, including through a prominent partnership with Shopify. Companies can tap into a younger market by using TikTok to track and engage with viral trends, and leverage that to make viral content of their own.
\nFacebook is a great channel for selling products on social media. Nearly three-quarters of Facebook users browse the social media site to discover new brands and products. The company has tapped into this trend with Facebook Shops, its own native ecommerce platform, making Facebook a one-stop shop for learning about and acquiring a product.
\nLearn more: The 11-Step Guide to Facebook Marketing for Ecommerce
\nFacebook is also known for lengthy discussions in its comment threads, including those by product enthusiasts sharing their experiences on a brand’s official Facebook page. Lengthy, substantive discussions naturally foster social engagement and are a key facet of social selling.
\nTwitter is an influential discussion forum, especially for customer service. Many social sellers use Twitter marketing to monitor mentions, respond to customer service queries, and take extra care to take action on negative feedback.
\n\nTwitter hasn’t invested in ecommerce to the same degree as Meta (owner of Facebook and Instagram), so brands use it more for product discussions and fielding feedback. Plus, its future is uncertain after Elon Musk acquired the platform.
\nYouTube offers many options to make money, social selling being one of them. While you can’t sell on YouTube directly, it’s an important promotional channel and outlet to connect with shoppers. Many major brands create a YouTube channel where they showcase products and provide useful content to interest their customer base. Successfully marketing on YouTube requires effective videos, authentic engagement with your audience, and general-purpose information. Over time, the sales will come organically.
\nAs you embark upon your own social selling campaign, remember what distinguishes social selling from traditional advertising—it’s that trusting connection. Here are some social selling best practices and tips to keep in mind:
\nIf you want potential shoppers to not only trust but also respect your business, it’s time to get professional. This includes making your venture “official”—by way of business registration, incorporation, and even building out a digital presence. Research any required business licenses or relevant industry certifications.
\nOnce you’ve got the paperwork filed, build and maintain a website that’s cohesive with the rest of your online presence and brand. And always remember to provide prompt, respectful communication to your customers.
\nLinkedIn pioneered a tool called the Social Selling Index, or SSI, which measures social selling success and relationship building based on four broad criteria. Using that tool and this guide you can check your social selling index score. Whether you use its tool or not, these guidelines can help you create a unique and successful social selling campaign.
\nA key advantage of social selling is that you connect with customers who genuinely care about your product (if you’re promoting a professional brand) or your core competencies (if you’re promoting a personal brand). The most self-aware and efficient social sellers hone in on the people who seem truly engaged, and they don’t bother with uninterested people who are unlikely to turn into paying customers.
\nWith a tool like Shopify Audiences, you can ensure you’re putting your ads in front of the right buyers. Shopify’s unique insights from commerce data help you create custom audience lists to make better targeting decisions.
\n\nIn case you haven’t picked up on the theme here, trust is the cornerstone to successful social selling. It’s important to engage in genuine conversations and listen to potential customers about their needs and current pain points, using those interactions to foster authentic relationships.
\nAside from showing up authentically in all your interactions, you can try the following to help build and strengthen your customer relationships:
\nMany online platforms offer social selling tools that steer companies toward their presumed customer base. These tools involve lead generation and a statistical breakdown of who is visiting your pages. LinkedIn reports that social selling tools can make a big impact on company-customer connections—62% of B2B buyers responded favorably to salespeople who knew something about them, including business model, objectives, and pain points.
\nSocial selling tools are not limited to the native functions of a platform. Other companies, including Salesforce, Hootsuite, and Amplify, have tools that let businesses easily communicate with customers on a variety of platforms. These tools are particularly useful for communicating with a unified message so a recipient gets the same experience whether via Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, or email.
\nWhether you’re promoting a professional brand or your own personal brand, it helps to begin your interactions with social listening. This means paying attention to online conversations to hear what people are saying about your product, noting customer pain points or things they love about your company, and building your messaging around that. You can engage in these conversations and answer people’s questions, but don’t launch into salesperson mode. The goal is to have authentic discussions, not to put on a hard sell.
\nThere are many ways and places to listen to your customers. Here are some ideas:
\nMost social networks provide robust analytical insight. You can use these insights to identify the types of people who engage with your profiles, which content they like, and which posts and ads they’re clicking on. Top social sellers use these insights to inform and refine their messaging and outreach.
\nSocial selling is an excellent way to build relationships, promote your brand, and drive sales. However, it’s important to be strategic and professional in your approach. Engage with customers, listen to them, and make a plan to reap sufficient rewards as time passes.
\nName: Jenni-Lyn Williams, Chief Snark Officer
\nBusiness: Snarky Tea
\nYear founded: 2016
\nBased in: Philadelphia, United States
\nSolutions: Shopify Shipping, order management, fulfillment, inventory management, return management
Snarky Tea was born in 2016 after working mom Jenni-Lyn Williams switched from coffee to tea as a way to cut down on caffeine. Williams found that the tea brands available in stores weren’t functional, and they also didn’t appeal to her personality. To change this, she decided to build a company that creates tea blends and other products that speak to women, empowering them to take on the world each day.
\nWhat started as a small operation producing charismatic tea blends with snarky names in Williams’ garage, quickly grew into a successful online business. Thanks to publicity opportunities through Vogue and the Oscars, and an appearance on Shark Tank (with two sharks investing), Snarky Tea exploded into a thriving direct-to-consumer company with hundreds of products.
\nWith such fast, massive growth, Williams needed a way to manage and scale her fulfillment operations—quickly. That’s when Shopify entered the scene.
\nAs a result of moving to Shopify, Snarky Tea has been able to:
\nWith too many systems, Snarky Tea didn’t have an accurate view of inventory across its supply chain. Data would not sync correctly, which led to selling out-of-stock items. It was also difficult to streamline fulfillment as order volume grew. “We’re printing 500+ shipping labels in a day,” says Williams. “The printer can only hold so much paper, and of course, it always needs ink right in the middle of a print job. So things would not print and there’d be a batch of 30 unprinted orders that we didn’t know about.”
\nSnarky Tea needed a reliable way to improve efficiency and simplify fulfillment processes. That’s when the company turned to Shopify’s built-in order management and delivery solution. With Shopify, Snarky Tea is able to manage inventory, fulfill orders quickly, and reduce shipping costs—all within one centralized ecommerce platform.
\nWhen it comes to inventory, Snarky Tea uses inventory transfers to keep track of incoming products. “We use Shopify’s native inventory management capabilities to track our production as it moves from our manufacturing facility to the fulfillment center,” says Williams. “We also use it to manage all of the components on our kitted items and sampler sets. It’s truly a game changer and keeps us from having to spend $250+ a month on an outside system.”
\n\nWe use Shopify’s native inventory management capabilities to track our production as it moves from our manufacturing facility to the fulfillment center. It’s truly a game changer and keeps us from having to spend $250+ a month on an outside system.
Having accurate information about inventory, as well as the real time status of items, helps Snarky Tea remain organized and keep things running smoothly. Williams says, “Shopify saves us so much time. We don’t have to take manual inventory counts until month end, and we can trust that the data in Shopify’s inventory system is accurate and up-to-date.”
\n![\"Snarky](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Snarky_Teas_image_4.jpg?v=1682623677\")
When it comes to fulfillment and shipping, Snarky Tea chooses industry-leading rates with USPS from Shopify Shipping. From within the admin, Snarky Tea can view orders for the day, buy labels at a 30% discount, then print labels and packing slips.
\nSnarky Tea also uses the shipping labels index to fix anything that may have been missed during batch printing. Thanks to this helpful Shopify feature, Snarky Tea can see the print status of each order label. “Having a status that can show whether a label was printed or not seems like a small thing, but it’s saving us from unnecessary headaches and stress,” says Williams.
\n\nHaving a status that can show whether a label was printed or not seems like a small thing, but it’s saving us from unnecessary headaches and stress.
![\"Snarky](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Snarky_Teas_image_2.jpg?v=1682623631\")
Once orders are picked, packed, and ready for pickup, the company uses USPS manifests in Shopify. “Manifests make pickups with our local USPS delivery person easy,” says Williams. “They need to scan one form to see all the shipping details for a batch of orders instead of scanning each order individually.”
\n![\"Jenni-Lyn](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Snarky_Teas_image_3.jpg?v=1682623661\")
“The more that I can do in Shopify’s ecosphere and not have to leave it, the better. Things happen in the transition from one system to the other … anything that Shopify does, they do it well.” —Jenni-Lyn Williams, Chief Snark Officer, Snarky Tea
\n\nThe more that I can do in Shopify’s ecosphere and not have to leave it, the better. Things happen in the transition from one system to the other … anything that Shopify does, they do it well
Thanks to Shopify, the company is able to centralize its inventory management and order fulfillment, as well as purchase shipping labels from one place.
\nIn a 30-day period, the company saved more than $25,000 in shipping costs alone. “By using Shopify for postage rather than a regular post office,” Williams says, “we are seeing, on average, a 30% discount on shipping rates.” Leveraging Shopify to manage its shipping labels will save the company approximately $305,000 per year in shipping costs.
\n\nBy using Shopify for postage rather than a regular post office, we are seeing, on average, a 30% discount on shipping rates. This saves us more $305,000 in shipping costs per year.
In addition, Snarky Tea is saving time (and avoiding frustration) by using the Shopify platform. Since employees no longer have to manually perform certain tasks or check multiple systems for information, the company now saves over 360 hours per year.
\nLooking to the future, Snarky Tea is dedicated to fostering connections with its shoppers, turning them from one-time buyers into repeat, lifelong customers. The company’s new rewards program has helped with this, as has its Facebook group, in which Williams hosts tea-time live chats to talk with the community about both the company and life.
\n“We have a community, and with everything we do, we think about them,” says Williams. “If you build a relationship with your customer, that is the #1 most incredible feeling—it gives you purpose and meaning.”
\nhttps://www.shopify.com/blog/case-study-snarky-tea
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\nIt’s a simple question that becomes difficult to answer the more you start digging into it.
\nDid they see an Instagram post or TikTok video, search for your product on Google, or open a promotional email?
\nMarketing attribution only gets more complicated the bigger your business becomes, with a website, social media properties, influencer programs, offline interactions, and other touchpoints to consider. And as consumer behavior evolves with the times, it becomes even trickier.
\nWhile it’s not a perfect science, the more marketing attribution data you can see across the customer journey, the better decisions you can make for your business. Ahead, learn the basics of marketing attribution, the different attribution models, and how to track and measure your marketing channels effectively.
\nTable of Contents
\nMarketing attribution is the process of evaluating and tracking the performance of your marketing channels.
\nThe goal of marketing attribution, of course, is to gain a clearer understanding of all the different interactions and touchpoints that customers have with your brand on the path to conversion.
\nIt allows you to credit the channels and specific campaigns that contribute to a conversion, which, in turn, helps you understand how and where to invest your money and attention.
\n![\"A](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/attribution-2.jpg?v=1682975644\")
While the marketing attribution definition sounds straightforward in theory, tracking your marketing touchpoints effectively can be quite complicated in practice. As technology progresses and consumer trends change, so do the ways we track attribution. Consider the following factors:
![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/marketing-attribution-history_0120bea2-6bd7-4069-a5ac-0ff84dc0ef8b.jpg?v=1682975690\")
Before we talk about how attribution works or the different marketing attribution models, we need to make one thing clear: There’s no such thing as 100% “true” marketing attribution.
\nYou can never fully understand exactly how each marketing touchpoint individually affected each customer journey, even when using the best marketing attribution software. All marketing attribution models and tools are merely an approximation of the real world.
\nThe only accuracy you can strive for is in:
\nUTM parameters are a string of labels beginning with a “?” or “&” that you might find after a URL:
\nwww.yourstore.com?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc
\nWhile it may look and sound foreign, UTM is a standardized system of tagging in digital marketing. Tags are easy enough to create using Google’s own Campaign URL Builder or a Chrome extension like UTM.io. Google’s Campaign URL Builder will automatically encode special characters such as spaces or question marks that might otherwise break your URL.
\nThere are five standard types of UTM parameters that can be used to describe incoming traffic for analytics tools so they can be grouped, organized, and analyzed in buckets.
\nYou can choose when and how to use them, but be sure to be consistent in your UTM labeling and tracking:
\nYou can also create your own custom UTM parameters to get even more granular with how you bucket your traffic. You could use “utm_season=fall” to track a specific seasonal campaign.
\nAdditionally, you can also use any of the valuetrack parameters to dynamically tag different marketing campaign settings or user attributes. For example, &utm_device={device} would automatically change {device} to identify what browser a user is visiting your site with.
\nHere’s an example of what this looks like. If I wanted to track the traffic and sales from a Google Ads search campaign for winter jackets by targeting the non-branded keyword “winter jackets,” my URL with UTM tracking might look like this:
\nwww.mystore.com?utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=nonbranded
\n%20search%20winter%20jackets&utm_term=winter%20jackets
Breaking that down, each parameter tells you something about the traffic:
\nUTMs help you track your traffic down to specific sources so you can analyze how it performs on a more granular level—but only when you keep the following in mind:
\nWhen properly implemented, you can group and analyze traffic from different sources in Google Analytics and other reporting tools.
\n![\"Screen](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/GAsource_medium_2e93fe5b-9e21-4663-a0c8-146054d03235.jpg?v=1682975756\")
Proper UTM tracking is a step in the right direction, but by default, if the same user visits your site on multiple devices, each “visit” will be attributed as a separate user and a separate “journey.”
\nFor example, if a user sees an Instagram Story about a product, they may view the product but not buy it right away. Instead, they may research the product on their phone on the way home, before finally searching for it again on their laptop before bed and converting on a Google Shopping ad.
\nTo get around this and group all behavior coming from the same user, you’ll need to enable User-IDs in Google Analytics and integrate your CRM.
\nUser-IDs in Google Analytics create unique non-PII (not personally identifiable) IDs for each user, which gets included wherever their data is sent from. You can then use the ID to unify interactions across devices, as well as online and offline touchpoints, for each customer.
\nThe ability to turn what may look like many independent user journeys across different devices into a series of interactions from one user with your brand is crucial for painting a clearer picture of how your customers engage with you across different devices and campaigns.
\nDrive your business forward with Shopify’s analytics
\nShopify’s user-friendly reports and analytics capabilities help you make better decisions, faster. Choose from pre-built dashboards and reports or build your own to spot trends, capitalize on opportunities, and supercharge your decision-making.
\nExplore Shopify’s analytics
\n![\"A](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/attribution-4.jpg?v=1682975795\")
There are generally considered to be seven different types of marketing attribution models you can choose from based on the goals of your business and where in the funnel you want to place the most value:
Each model is outlined below to help you understand each attribution model across your marketing touchpoints. Note how the exact same customer journey can be interpreted differently depending on the model used.
\n![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/last-click_9526187f-3211-409d-ab84-3970aac8831e.jpg?v=1682975844\")
Last-click attribution is the most commonly used model and is the default for most marketing platforms and marketing attribution tools. This single-touch model is useful when you are aggressively trying to convert traffic into customers.
It gives 100% of the conversion credit to the last-clicked ad and corresponding keyword. As such, lower-funnel campaigns, such as branded search or retargeting campaigns, will be given more value while brand awareness and upper-funnel campaigns may receive none.
\n![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/first-click.jpg?v=1682975868\")
This single-touch attribution model sees the first touchpoint as the most important, as it gets 100% credit for bringing customers into your funnel in the first place. This is useful when you’re prioritizing spending money on campaigns that build traffic and find new audiences.
It gives all conversion credit to the ad or corresponding keyword that gets the first click. As such, high-value bottom-of-the-funnel activities, like remarketing, are missed in this model, potentially leading to a reduced investment in these efforts that actually drops your overall conversions and top-line revenue.
\n![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/last_click_non-direct_d1c2c0be-023f-44a5-8160-8aae4acd027b.jpg?v=1682975889\")
The last non-direct click model gives credit to the last click event before a buyer comes directly to your store to make a purchase. It gives 100% of the credit to the last, non-direct touchpoint.
In the example above, that would be Email.
\nDirect traffic is often from customers who have already made the decision to purchase because of marketing on a different channel. Last non-direct click attribution helps you filter out direct traffic and focus on the last marketing activity before conversion.
\nUsing last non-direct click attribution, you learn that it was actually Email that drove the final conversion. Direct will be an attributed channel in this model when the customers only trackable event is coming directly to your store.
\n![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/linear-attribution_00ff69c1-55c3-463b-b921-7d4e8a606dbe.jpg?v=1682975917\")
A linear attribution model distributes conversion credit equally across all clicks on the customer’s path to purchase. This is the simplest form of multi-touch attribution. With this model, you don’t miss out on crediting any interactions. However, it doesn’t tell you exactly what marketing channel had the most impact.
![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/time-decay_8c647b8c-aad0-4464-8994-be4060c4e9e6.jpg?v=1682975943\")
The time decay attribution model is similar to last click. However, it also gives some credit to the interactions that led up to the conversion, with more weight given to clicks that happened closer in time to the conversion.
![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/position-based_a0b6531d-1acc-46de-b5dd-a1090e5e0eed.jpg?v=1682975977\")
A position-based (or U-shaped) attribution model gives equal weight to the first and last click—each of these interactions gets 40% of the credit. The remaining 20% is spread out across the other clicks in between.
The assumption here, however, is that the first and last click are the most valuable interactions, while there may be campaigns or touchpoints in the middle that also play a significant factor.
\n![\"Chart](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/algorithmic_ba9eb2f1-a25d-45fb-81f0-0e1908b8c7c3.jpg?v=1682976004\")
This model is often referred to as custom attribution. When you have enough data available, you can allow machine learning to dictate which touchpoints deserve the most amount of credit in a customer’s journey.
Theoretically, this is the best model, but it relies on having enough historical data for machine learning to distribute weight across different touchpoints.
\nWhen you examine marketing attribution in Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Google Analytics, or Shopify reports, you might notice discrepancies. Which is the source of truth? Technically, all are “correct”—they just view marketing differently. Here’s a primer on how each one works.
\n![\"Screen](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Channel_Performance_3_f1d3375f-40c3-4689-9a50-b01a9bbee3f0.jpg?v=1682976050\")
In Shopify’s Channel Performance report, marketing attribution models provide a holistic understanding of your customers’ journey to conversion. Through the report, you can toggle to the attribution model you prefer:
Shopify’s Marketing Insights tools and reports help you better understand your business. See insights at a glance, analyze marketing channel performance, and choose the attribution model that’s best for your business.
\nGoogle Ads only tracks Google Ads traffic. It doesn’t deduplicate conversions from other advertising campaigns on different platforms because it doesn’t “see” those touchpoints. Instead, it will take credit for any user who touches a Google campaign at any point—even if they later touch Facebook/Instagram, email, or visit your website directly and convert.
\nBy default, the Google Ads attribution window setting shows actions taken within 30 days of clicking on your ads using last-click attribution.
\nThe Meta advertising platform tracks only Facebook ads traffic and interactions (which also includes Meta-owned properties like Instagram).
\nIt also does not deduplicate data from other advertising campaigns on different platforms and will take credit for any user who sees or clicks a Facebook ad within a certain time span, even if they later interact with a Google Ads campaign or email, or visit your website directly and convert.
\nFacebook defaults to last-click attribution with attribution windows of within 24 hours of viewing your ad and within 28 days of clicking your ad.
\nFacebook Ads is the only one of the more detailed advertising platforms that will take credit for users who potentially “see” an ad (even without clicking it) and convert in another way. It’s recommended that you change the settings to be click-based if you’re looking for a better comparison of your results across platforms.
\nGoogle Analytics and other analytics platforms will track clickable actions across different paid and unpaid channels. Generally, analytics platforms can be configured to connect external/offline data sources, User-ID, and/or other web properties that are not directly part of your online store.
\nGoogle Analytics offers a Data Import feature that lets you upload data from other sources so you can analyze it all in Google Analytics. Adding additional data sources and incorporating User-ID are the best ways to include the majority of your customer interactions across platforms in one place.
\nGoogle Analytics will also deduplicate conversions from all channels and will give credit to the last touchpoint in a conversion journey, unless it was a direct visit to your site. In that case, it will give credit to the last non-direct touchpoint.
\nWhile most attribution is click-based, impression-based attribution and reporting is also possible.
\nThink about your own experience. Do you click on every ad that captures your interest? Even when you don’t, those ads can still impact your decision to buy a product in the future.
\nAn ad server allows you to consolidate and deduplicate all your marketing data in one platform, while also giving you access to impressions-level data. This data allows you to more clearly see your customer’s path to purchase and which channels you should invest in.
\nFor example, you may see great performance from your search ads at a click level. However, when you look at impression-level data, you see that those that convert on search were actually exposed to a video ad on YouTube beforehand and later searched for your product on Google.
\nThe Google Marketing Platform is one example of this type of technology, where you can have access to impression-level data for channels such as search, video, display, Gmail-sponsored ads, and some social media platforms.
\n![\"Three](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/attribution-1.jpg?v=1682976089\")
Understanding the landscape of marketing attribution, the holes in it, and the different models you can apply are a good first step toward better tracking, cleaner customer databases, and smarter decision making. Despite marketing attribution becoming increasingly complex, there’s no denying the many benefits of marketing attribution.
Marketing attribution can offer invaluable insights about how and where customers are interacting with your brand on their path to making a purchase. This attribution data can help inform marketing campaigns and your overall marketing strategy to maximize ROI.
\nThe most popular attribution models in marketing include:
\nMarketing attribution is important because it allows marketers to measure the effectiveness of their campaigns and track the customer journey. Attribution helps marketers understand which marketing channels and activities are driving conversions and customer engagement, and which are not. This data can be used to make informed decisions about future marketing strategies, allocate budgets more effectively, and optimize campaigns for better performance across your sales cycle.
\narketing attribution is the process of assigning credit for sales or leads to the various touch points in the customer journey. It is the practice of analyzing the impact of each touch point or marketing activity on a customer’s decision to purchase or take action. Different attribution models exist to attribute credit to different parts of the customer journey, depending on your preferences.
\n\n
The amount of plastic produced and thrown away each year has reached staggering levels. In fact, the United Nations estimates that some 400 million tons of plastic waste finds its way into landfills each year.
\nJulia and Jordy Kay wanted to help reduce this number.
\nTheir idea? Create a plastic-free version of traditional cling wrap, the kind found in kitchen cabinets around the globe. “We were essentially the customers, and we just wanted a better product than plastic wrap,” Julia says.
\nIn 2019, Julia and Jordy launched Great Wrap, a materials science company that’s turning potatoes into compostable stretch wrap. Since its inception, the duo has raised over $24 million and built their own production facility.
\nBut it wasn’t easy.
\nJulia sat down with the Shopify team to share her tips for starting her own production facility.
\n![\"An](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/GreatWrap_Factory_Fun_0459_HighRes_1.jpg?v=1682547528\")
Julia and Jordy partnered with Monash University, a research-intensive university in Australia, welcomed angel investors, and received government grants in order to fund their business. “We kicked off a research project with Monash University converting food waste into a pathway to make a biopolymer, it’s been about a 2-3 year process and we’ve learned a lot,” Julia says.
\nOn top of working with students and faculty at the university, the pair has investors and mentors like Simon Griffiths, founder of Who Gives A Crap, who served as guides along their development process. “We’ve really always been attracted to investors who have built things themselves and have a really great understanding of what it takes to start from an idea and get it into a process,” Julia says.
\nJulia and Jordy found it was easier to set up their own manufacturing facility rather than contract with one. “We wanted to be able to experiment, and we were really excited about creating jobs too,” Julia says.
\nWith their own facility, they not only have control over what goes into their product, but what is happening to the waste created after their product is made. “It’s important to zoom out from the product and think about that whole process,” Julia says.
\nBy opening their own facility, Great Wrap is able to map out the entire life cycle of its products, from what’s happening to the waste, to how that waste is being processed and discarded. The pair have been able to alter their formulas to improve the quality overtime, and design pathways with Monash University to begin setting up their own biorefinery on site.
\n![\"Great](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/Copy_of_Copy_of_GW_22.02.22_CHawks3581_1_1.jpg?v=1682548248\")
“When you’re building your factory you need to garner the support of your community as well as the larger network of business owners who can potentially use your product,” Julia says.
\nJulia and Jordy designed social media content around the development and growth of their factory. 24 hours after posting the content Great Wrap had done nearly $30,000 in sales.
\nBy sharing your facility progress on social media, your audience can feel like they are a part of the building process. In turn, they will be more likely to make a purchase—and come back for more.
\nWith the proper resources, support, and marketing strategies, Great Wrap has been able to operate out of their own facility for a little over three years now, with plans to open a US-based factory in the near future.
\nTune in to the full Shopify Masters episode to discover what it takes to build your own production facility, and scale to gain international recognition.
\nhttps://www.shopify.com/blog/great-wrap-plastic-free-global-recognition
\n"}]},"page_header":{"background":null,"backgroundOpacity":100,"color":null,"fieldGroupName":"page_header","title":"Build Your Own Facility","opacity":100,"position":"on","size":{"desktop":64,"tablet":null,"mobile":null},"spaces":{"top":null,"bottom":null,"leftright":null,"units":"em"}},"link":"/blog/what-it-takes-to-build-your-own-production-facility"},{"id":"cG9zdDo1NTAw","title":"10 Tips for Growing a Successful Small Business","date":"24.05.2023","slug":"10-tips-for-growing-a-successful-small-business","categories":{"nodes":[{"id":"dGVybTox","name":"General Articles"}]},"levels":{"nodes":[]},"acfPost":{"fieldGroupName":"acfPost","excerpt":"Many successful businesses generate enough profits to enable owners—possibly shareholders or investors, depending on the type of business—to grow their businesses and live with a sense of financial security. However, while small business owners value profits, some are willing to sacrifice a portion to have a healthier work-life balance, create a product that’s eco-friendly, or provide a service with a social mission. Each entrepreneur has a slightly different definition of what it means to achieve business success.","squaredImage":{"altText":"10 Tips for Growing a Successful Small Business","localFile":{"childImageSharp":{"gatsbyImageData":{"layout":"fullWidth","backgroundColor":"#885888","images":{"fallback":{"src":"/static/7e1ba96f7282b47331dab7afd76d3d03/b956e/business_20success.webp","srcSet":"/static/7e1ba96f7282b47331dab7afd76d3d03/d1fa5/business_20success.webp 750w,\n/static/7e1ba96f7282b47331dab7afd76d3d03/b956e/business_20success.webp 1024w","sizes":"100vw"},"sources":[]},"width":1,"height":0.4228515625}}}},"metaData":{"title":null,"description":"Discover the 10 keys to business success, from defining your mission and setting goals to building a strong team, ensuring customer satisfaction, and implementing effective marketing strategies. Learn how embracing change, getting organized, prioritizing self-care, and giving back to the community can contribute to the success of your business. Find valuable tips and insights to help you scale and grow your business effectively"},"banner":{"title":"10 Tips for Growing a Successful Small Business","showTitle":true,"image":{"altText":"10 Tips for Growing a Successful Small Business","localFile":{"childImageSharp":{"gatsbyImageData":{"layout":"fullWidth","backgroundColor":"#885888","images":{"fallback":{"src":"/static/7e1ba96f7282b47331dab7afd76d3d03/b956e/business_20success.webp","srcSet":"/static/7e1ba96f7282b47331dab7afd76d3d03/d1fa5/business_20success.webp 750w,\n/static/7e1ba96f7282b47331dab7afd76d3d03/b956e/business_20success.webp 1024w","sizes":"100vw"},"sources":[]},"width":1,"height":0.4228515625}}}}},"timeToRead":null,"sections":[{"fieldGroupName":"post_Acfpost_Sections_ArticleRichTextContent","content":"Many successful businesses generate enough profits to enable owners—possibly shareholders or investors, depending on the type of business—to grow their businesses and live with a sense of financial security. However, while small business owners value profits, some are willing to sacrifice a portion to have a healthier work-life balance, create a product that’s eco-friendly, or provide a service with a social mission. Each entrepreneur has a slightly different definition of what it means to achieve business success.
\nBusiness success can look very different from company to company. For some, it’s sales metrics, while for others, it’s social impact. In this article, we’ll talk about the 10 keys to business success.
\nA successful business generates a profit through the sale of goods or services, but every owner defines success for themselves based on personal values or goals. Some small business owners consider themselves successful if they’ve grown their business without taking on debt. Others have taken on debt but still feel successful because they are scaling up to become a global brand. Beyond profits and growth, key performance indicators (KPIs) measure metrics such as customer loyalty and website traffic to assess how effectively you’re reaching different benchmarks on the journey toward business success.
\nFor example, a business selling certified organic coffee beans might have a target number of farms using regenerative farming practices to source from each year; someone selling mass-produced coffee pods at reduced prices might have a monthly goal for the number of pods sold. Typically, the universal goals for a business revolve around units sold, dollars earned, company growth, repeat sales, and brand recognition (think global brands like Nike and Adidas), but there are myriad other ways a business owner might measure success.
\nAs a small business owner, you may face numerous challenges running and growing your business, from marketing to finding qualified employees. Here are 10 tips to help you scale and grow a successful business:
\nIs your mission to provide a unique service? A low-cost item? Or to be environmentally friendly? Successful businesses have a mission, even if it’s simply to provide customers with the best value possible. Writing your intent in a mission statement defines your business’s mission and acts as a blueprint for a successful business. Periodically, revisit your original business plan and mission statement to ensure you are on the right path.
\n\nCreate both short- and long-term goals and understand the reasoning behind each to help guide your success. As part of an effective strategic plan, business goals should be SMART, meaning they are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-based. They can be financial, operational, or even growth-related. Maybe a goal for one business owner is to sell a specific number of units per month over a year to drive up sales, while for another it’s to ramp up marketing efforts and gain a target number of social media followers.
\nGoals can be reassessed, so there’s flexibility to create and adjust your business roadmap. Successful entrepreneurs monitor progress and look at the numbers behind their business to analyze the data and check if progress is being made toward their goals. You can also break your goals into steps to make them more attainable. If you get stuck at this step, consider hiring a business coach to help create long-term positive habits.
\nA strong team is inclusive, collaborative, and reliable, and is essential to building a successful business. Research from a 2020 McKinsey & Co. report, Diversity Wins, shows that assembling a team diverse in age, gender, and ethnicity, among other factors, increases productivity. The most effective teams encourage feedback and welcome a diversity of opinions, which can spur creativity and help with problem-solving.
\nIf you’re an entrepreneur who typically follows the school of thought, “If you want it done right, do it yourself,” remember: Your team is there for support, and each member offers unique skills that can help in your business’s growth.
\nHappy customers often become repeat buyers, spreading the word about their favorite stores, designers, apps, platforms, or services. Besides the value proposition of a particular product or service that makes the business loved, it’s often great customer service and knowing how to improve it that keeps customers returning. Ensure customer satisfaction in the following ways:
\nA delicious edible item, gorgeous wearable piece of art, or delightful service will likely organically attract a target audience of consumers that become repeat customers. Making and offering an excellent product or service with a high value proposition helps give you a competitive advantage. By reading business books, studying your respective industry and competitors, and listening to entrepreneur podcasts by industry experts and successful entrepreneurs, you can gain valuable insights into bettering your offerings and finding business success.
\nMarketing is key for mapping your business journey, including tracking goals through KPIs to measure your success. Implementing multiple marketing strategies—from paid advertising to robust social media advertising—strengthens brand awareness, which is a core driver of sales. A small-business owner might act as a de facto marketing director early in the business, thinking they are saving money. However, hiring a marketing consultant can be helpful to devise a more concrete plan.
\n![\"Template](\"https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0070/7032/files/opt.gif?8282590590928260908\")
Free Webinar:
\nMarketing 101
\nStruggling to grow sales? Learn how to go from first day to first sale in this free training course.
\nMarketing strategy involves short- and long-term plans for a business and takes many forms: collaborations with like-minded businesses, pop-ups for specific projects or events, and social media campaigns (leveraging platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and TikTok). All expose your business to a new target market. Fostering connections through joining professional associations or attending conventions are additional ways to market your business and expand your potential customer base. If you lack the skills or time to implement a social media marketing strategy, you can hire social media directors, consultants, or coaches on a contract basis to help.
\nBusinesses constantly face challenges—from waning market demand and competitive new businesses to difficult clients and point-of-sale (POS) system problems. However, being nimble, adaptive, and willing to pivot can lead to success. Some challenges like lackluster sales might require doubling down with tenacity and perseverance, while others like a consistently unreliable supplier might call for embracing change and working with someone new.
\nWeigh the pros and cons of embracing new technologies, whether it’s a new payroll platform or more elaborate systems overhaul. Having your own business means doing your due diligence, because new doesn’t always mean better or faster.
\nWhen financial records, business licenses or permits, tax forms, or other documents (whether virtual or paper-based) are difficult to locate or go missing, it can be frustrating and distract from time spent on your business. It can also cost you billable hours.
\nHiring an office organization consultant is an option for business owners lacking the organizational skills or time to take on the task themselves. While you may do your own bookkeeping, you could also hire a part-time bookkeeper to help run a successful business operation.
\nIntro to bookkeeping
\nBookkeeping is an essential part of running any small business. And, when you take care of it the right way, bookkeeping lets you track your money, cash in on tax deductions, and plan how your business is going to grow.
\nResting, sleeping, exercising, eating well, relaxing, and spending time with friends and family are all forms of self-care essential for mental health—including for entrepreneurs. For many business owners, it’s easy to slip into the 24/7 work cycle. However, you can achieve more when well-rested, according to a recent US Chambers of Commerce article on the importance of a good night’s sleep for entrepreneurs.
\nBusiness success isn’t always defined by profitability. Even with minimal cash flow, there are ways to give back and lift others within the community. Volunteering at a business-related event, donating a product or service for a raffle, speaking at a school, or mentoring are ways to give back. Entrepreneurs can also give back by making a commitment to only use ethically sourced materials in their products.
\nIncreasingly, impact is at the core of mission-driven startups. Social ventures are for-profit businesses that are also socially responsible companies that give to certain groups or causes. For example, Sweet Beginnings is a Chicago-based social enterprise that offers training programs and employment for formerly incarcerated individuals to become beekeepers and harvest honey for their products.
\nStart by defining what success means to you and what takes priority: Is it sales, growth, customer satisfaction, or brand recognition? Besides running a profitable business, do you value a collaborative and engaged workforce? Once assessed, you can measure your success through data collected via A/B testing, customer reviews, and email open rates, among other metrics.
\nThere is no set timeline achieving business success. However, you can start by creating a business strategy to reach your goals. By mapping out the incremental steps to reach certain benchmarks—from units sold to new hires—you can develop a general timeline to achieve success based on your experience and industry standards. Keep in mind, your timetable could change or take longer than estimated due to the ever-changing commerce landscape.
\nNo, there’s no single formula for success or every business would succeed. While owners of small businesses have different goals and priorities, there are some key markers that make a business successful. These include having an excellent business idea, vision, and passion, and being a hard worker. If you are a leader with empathy and willing to delegate responsibilities to your team, you embody some of the traits required to achieve success.
\nhttps://www.shopify.com/blog/business-success
\n