The Unofficial Shopify Podcast
Episodes
10 Million Views: How to Tell Your Brand's Story With Help from a Professional Screenwriter
04 Dec 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You already know the importance of sharing your brand’s story. I've told you over & over on this show, "People buy from people, not brands....
How to Prevent Fraud & Chargebacks
13 Nov 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Get a glimpse into the silent crime wave that cost the US economy $16 billion last year: credit card fraud. We'll find out: How fraudsters get ahold ...
Black Friday Advertising: Your 5-Phase Blueprint
30 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In last week's episode, Kurt Bullock walked us through tips and strategies to maximize our Facebook ad budgets before the holidays. This week we build...
Black Friday Advertising: Preparing Your Facebook Ads for #BFCM
23 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Get your products on your customer's minds (and wishlists) this year without blowing a fortune on Facebook ads. Kurt Bullock joins us to discuss the t...
What's New in Klaviyo
16 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Klaviyo is the most recommended email marketing platform for Shopify merchants. In this episode, we hear what features are new in Klaviyo that you sho...
Cowbucker: Starting a Hat Revolution
09 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today we're hearing from the co-founder of Cowbucker, inventor of "the Bucker," a hat that's part trucker lid and part cowboy brim. Accordin...
My Wife Started a Shopify Store! (BONUS EPISODE)
04 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Less than one month after launching her first Shopify store, I interview Julie Elster about her experience so far. Julie Elster is the owner of the on...
Holiday SEO: Leverage the Holiday Search Traffic Spike
02 Oct 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's not too late to drive additional revenue with holiday SEO. And it's easier than you think. In this episode, we walk through each step of the holi...
$500k/mo in 4 hours/week: The Story of BombTech Golf
18 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Want to do seven-figures in revenue and work four hours a week? How about getting there in two years? Today's guest has done just that. He's sold 170,...
How To Use Facebook Messenger To Sell Online
11 Sep 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Learn how Facebook Messenger marketing with chatbots gets My Wife Quit Her Job's Steve Chou incredible results that blow email marketing out of the wa...
6072 Subscribers in 14 Days: How to Run a Giveaway
28 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Do giveaways work? Are they an an effective strategy for both growing your email list and increasing your sales? Yes! In a published study from ColorI...
Proven Abandoned Cart Email Tactics
21 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Approximately 70% of your customers will abandon their carts... if you're lucky. That's why the most profitable email marketing workflow you can possi...
Don’t be a Vending Machine: Going Beyond Rewards to Build Loyalty
14 Aug 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Is your business just a vending machine? And is that vending machine on fire? Consider this: Facebook ad costs have gone up substantially since last y...
Bulletproof Your Store: How to Protect Yourself from Data & Security Disasters
31 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we’re talking about how to bulletproof your online store from data disasters and security issues that are more common than you thin...
AR, VR, & 3D: Changing The Way We Shop
24 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are no longer the stuff of science fiction. Apple and Google's mobile operating systems already ship with softwa...
Global Ecommerce: How to Go International & Expand Your Reach
17 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
(Video of this episode is available on YouTube.) Everyone's looking for the silver bullet to grow their business. Growing globally through internation...
PostedProtein: Bootstrapping from 0 to £250K+
10 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest did what some people will tell you is impossible. From his kitchen, he built an ecommerce business from 0 to £250K+ in 2 years in a sat...
Scaling Your Store Up: How to go from $500K to $100MM
26 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When you first start your business, that first sale is a big deal. It's proof that your idea is valid. The excitement wears off and the second sale ju...
Powerful & Practical Content Marketing
19 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Rounding up our four-part series this quarter on content marketing, in this episode, we discuss practical approaches on building relationships with co...
Becoming Known: The Case for Personal Branding
12 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In today's episode, you'll learn how to sell more, more often with personal branding, an often overlooked strategy that lets you sell person to person...
Bricks & Clicks: Serial Entrepreneur Dan Cox’s Journey from Retail to Online
05 Jun 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ever meet those entrepreneurial super heroes who can do it all? Today's guest definitely falls into that category. After double majoring in Business a...
GDPRmageddon: What U.S. Merchants Need to Know
29 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As of May 25th, 2018, the European Union requires companies of all sizes to take steps to help secure personal data rights and more generally protect ...
Shopify Unite 2018 Recap: Now What?
22 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Last week, you heard the firsthand announcements from Unite attendees on-site at Toronto. Today, you'll get caught up on what’s new & improved f...
Live at Shopify Unite 2018
15 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have a special Shopify Unite edition of the show in which we cover many of the announcements from Unite last week by interviewing the att...
Behind The Scenes at Jay Leno’s Garage
08 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Having a celebrity-endorsed brand and a great product must be like easy mode for ecommerce, right? Maybe not. In today's episode, we learn the behind-...
Finding your True Fans & Brand Advocates
01 May 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, you'll hear about some of the best ways find brand advocates because your affiliate program (or customer referral program) is only as...
Customer Service Strategy: Surviving the Worst Customer Situations
24 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we're talking customer service. Great customer service can make or break your brand, and your sanity. Joining us to discuss it is a s...
How-to: Automated Email Follow-up Campaigns Made Easy
17 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, we're talking sales automation. Specifically, how to use simple email sales funnels to automate the process of converting website vis...
Grow & Convert with Content Marketing
10 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, you'll learn how to use content marketing to get traffic to your store, specifically, when it works, when it doesn't, and patterns we...
Copywriting Decoded: How to Turn Copy into Conversions
03 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Why is copywriting so hard? It took me years to figure it out. The answer is likely mindset. There are a few mental hurdles you need to get over if yo...
Launching Lean & Quick: Building Nimble Sites with Galen King
27 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode, you'll learn how to think about launching lean, staying nimble, and growing fast! Galen King from O.G. Shopify agency Lucid joins us ...
Good Design with Chris Pointer: How to approach Shopify Themes
20 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
For many merchants, design is the single hardest part of setting up and running a Shopify store. Chris Pointer of Pointer Creative has 16+ years of de...
B2B eCommerce MasterPlan: How to Scale Your Business with Wholesale eCommerce
13 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Whether you're a wholesaler looking to start selling to your customers online, a manufacturer wanting to increase the orders coming through your websi...
The Beard King: How a Hairy Sink Launched a 7-figure Business
06 Mar 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If coming up with a good product idea is hard, then turning it into a successful brand is harder. Nicholas Galekovic, the entrepreneur behind Beard Ki...
Is dropshipping dead? What successful dropshippers know
27 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
"Is dropshipping dead?" That was one of the most common questions I got toward the end of the last year. Here's the thing– I don't know! I...
Game of Bluff: Your Internet Law & Copyright Infringement Primer
20 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Doing business online without retaining an Internet lawyer is the equivalent of playing Russian Roulette– things tend not to end well. The days of t...
Marriage for Entrepreneurs with Julie Elster (Valentine's Day Bonus)
14 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
Ever wonder what it's like to be married to an entrepreneur? Or how a self-employed couple make it work and what the potential pitfalls may be? My wif...
Sourcing: How to find the right factory for your product idea
13 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
If you've ever had a brilliant million dollar idea for a product, you've wondered, "How do I get it manufactured?" To do that, you'll need t...
Automating the Ultimate Customer Service Experience
06 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
As you grow your business, you'll soon need to start delegating things. First is usually fulfillment, and soon after is customer support. So how do yo...
Validating & Scaling Your Shopify Store using Amazon FBA
23 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
The hardest part of building a brand is often attracting an audience. After all, if no one has heard of you, how will you sell to them? That’s why i...
How KeySmart Made $1.3 Million on a Product Launch
16 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When starting out with your store, most folks struggle to get their first sale. Then, if you do find your product-market fit, and get traction in your...
New Year, New Ads: Facebook Ads Best Practices for 2018
09 Jan 2018
Contributed by Lukas
You already know Facebook is the #1 acquisition channel for your online business. We’re seeing clients with 4-6x returns on ad spend using Facebook ...
The Future of Dropshipping: Automating Licensed Apparel
26 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
On Shopify, fashion & apparel is the largest vertical. It’s always one of the most difficult. One threat fashion retailers face is purchasing to...
Growing Your List & Revenue With Pop-ups
19 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
We’ve talked often on this show about the importance of emails. But leveraging emails as a marketing channel requires having a list of customers and...
Using Emotion to Optimize Conversions With Talia Wolf
12 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As founder and chief optimizer at GetUplift, Talia Wolf uses emotion, customer-centric research and persuasive design to generate more revenues, leads...
Hire Better: How to Build a Dependable Tech Team
14 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
As your store grows, you will inevitably have to hire freelancers, consultants, or employees for your tech team. It can be an intimidating process tha...
$1 million in Year 1: Selling Tutorials on Shopify with RGG EDU
07 Nov 2017
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most successful Shopify businesses I've run across doesn't sell any physical goods at all. They sell digital goods and did $1 million in re...
Make Your Own Luck: How Doug Geiger Built a Durable Business
31 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 2012, Doug Geiger stole his wife’s crockpot, bought $400 worth of lanolin while already in debt, and powered through his own self-doubt and anxie...
Overwhelmed: How to be More Productive & Less Stressed
24 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Do you feel overwhelmed? In discussions and surveys from Shopify store owners and listeners of this show, we’ve learned one thing: you feel overwhel...
Growth Multipliers: Steal These Email Campaigns
10 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you listen to this show, you probably doing some email marketing for your Shopify store. One problem: so does everyone else. It's tough to stand ou...
Beef Jerky, Gaming, & $100K: The JerkyXP Story
26 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The archetypal internet startup story is this: two room mates start a website out of their dorm room, and rapidly become so successful, going to colle...
Shopify Flow: How-to Automate Everything
19 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you’ve ever worked with me on something, then you know I love automation. All kinds of automation. My house is loaded with home automation gadget...
The Business of Fashion: Using Personas & Calendars to Grow
05 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If there’s one industry that’s harder than most to market, it’s fashion. Why is it so intrinsically difficult to market a fashion store? And if ...
Small Data: How to Increase Revenues with Customer Research
22 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In the last several years, big data has been a buzzword. But big data is just that: big. It can be overwhelming. Today we’re going to talk about sma...
Sourcing the Future: How One Man Brought Smart Jackets to Market
15 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It’s 2017, forget about flying cars, where are our smart clothes? Today’s guest is making smarter clothes Peter Netzel of Kelvin Techstyles joins ...
Embracing Video: How Tactical Baby Gear Grew 5x with Video
08 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If this show had a mantra, it might be "People buy from people, not brands." I've certainly said it enough times because I believe firmly in...
4X Your Black Friday Emails with Segmentation
25 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Last week we heard from Kaleigh Moore on ecommerce trends that will optimize your store in preparation for Black Friday One of the suggestions from th...
eCommerce Trends You Need to Boost Sales Before Black Friday
18 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The year is half over, which means the holidays will be upon us before we know it. The summer, right now, is the time to start preparing for the holid...
How to Get Better Traffic, Free with Semantic Data
11 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Everyone wants better ranking but that’s not really what they want. Stores want more traffic. They want that because it leads to sales. Sales is wha...
The Vivian Lou Story: How One Mom Quit Her Job to Sell Insoles on HSN
20 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In speaking with Shopify entrepreneurs, there are definite patterns that appear in successful stores A common one is having a product that solves a pa...
Pad & Quill: How an Award-winning Business Started With $1,200
13 Jun 2017
Contributed by Lukas
If you own a tablet or iPad, you’ve probably shopped for a case for it. And if you bought a case for it, did you ever run across beautiful leather c...
How to Take Your Email Marketing to the Next Level
30 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In April during our Unite coverage, I had dinner with Carson McComas, the owner of Shopify Plus agency Fuel Made, and we got to talking about our mutu...
The Pet Care Card: How a 21-year-old Built a Six-figure Business
09 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Your pets are a part of your family, but when the adults go to work, and the kids are at school, your pets are left home alone. So what happens to the...
Shopify Unite 2017 Pt.3
04 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Part three of our special Shopify Unite edition of the show in which we cover many of the announcements from Unite last week by interviewing the atten...
Shopify Unite 2017 Pt.2
03 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Part two of our special Shopify Unite edition of the show in which we cover many of the announcements from Unite last week by interviewing the attende...
Shopify Unite 2017 Pt.1
02 May 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This week we have a special Shopify Unite edition of the show in which we cover many of the announcements from Unite last week by interviewing the att...
Free Up Your Business: Delegating & Hiring with Connor Gillivan
25 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Many Shopify store owners are bootstrapped solopreneurs, which means you’re handling everything in your business. As your business grows, you may wa...
Urbain: How a 20-year-old Entrepreneur from Minneapolis Earns a 3x ROI on Facebook
18 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Logan Ketterling is a 20-year-old entrepreneur from Minneapolis who combined his passions for fashion, storytelling, and online marketing to launch a ...
Ecommerce SEO in 2017: Smart Marketing Strategies from John Doherty
11 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Free traffic from Google through SEO can be a pillar of success for your Shopify store. Unfortunately, SEO advice is often general, not actionable, an...
Shopping Cart Migration: Planning Your Move to Shopify
04 Apr 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Today on The Unofficial Shopify Podcast we’re talking about migrating to Shopify If you already have an ecommerce website or are using a different e...
Getting People Talking About Your Brand (Even if you're not an Influencer)
28 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Pop-Quiz: Which marketing channel is the most effective and costs the least? Answer: Word of mouth. Today, David Fallarme joins us in this actionable ...
Writing Effective Sales Copy with Sean McCabe
21 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
You may have a great product, but it's not going to sell itself. If you can’t convince someone your product is the right one for them, it doesn’t ...
Fueled by Death: How Death Wish Coffee Earned a Spot In The Super Bowl
07 Mar 2017
Contributed by Lukas
In 2012, Death Wish Coffee Co. was started in a small coffee shop in Saratoga Springs, NY. Founder, Mike Brown, saw a need for coffee that was both st...
How Peter Friis crowdfunded more than $200K without Kickstarter
28 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Let me warn you now: you'll want to have a notepad ready before listening to this episode, because it may be our most actionable ever. Peter Friis is ...
Peter Keller: Growing a Crossfit Store Explosively Without Paid Ads
21 Feb 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Peter founded Fringe Sport out of his garage in 2010 and grew it to 7 figures in revenue in 18 months. Now he is CEO of Fringe Sport, focused on bring...
Embracing Controversy: How This Bikini Startup Went Viral
17 Jan 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Of all the store owners I hear from with thoughts on finding & engaging customers on social media, Candice Galek, CEO and Founder of Bikini Luxe i...
We Built a Shopify App for Fun & Profit
20 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
One of the best things about Shopify is its extensibility and the ecosystem that goes along with it. Recently we released our first (and currently onl...
Sell More with Email Autoresponders
13 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Klaviyo's Chad Vanags joins us to explain just how easy it's become to use data-driven personalization in your email marketing to make more money on a...
Expanding your Ecommerce Business on Amazon with Kiri Masters
06 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Kiri is the CEO and founder of Bobsled Marketing, an Amazon marketing agency that has changed the way businesses sell and promote their products in th...
Profitable Facebook Ads & Audiences Decoded with Kurt Bullock
01 Dec 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Facebook is giving us more ways than ever to quickly and inexpensively generate custom audiences. As a busy store owner, learning to navigate Facebook...
Get Wallet-out Google Shopping Traffic with Brett Curry
01 Nov 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Google Shopping ads are one of the leading traffic sources that can give you the ultimate edge. This hidden gem is often overlooked by store owners (a...
A/B Testing: Is it a 'sack of money' button?
25 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What's a good conversion rate? One that's better than last month. But how did you get there? Nick Disabato has built a career on research-focused A/B ...
Violent Little Machine Shop: Morale Patches & a Mindset for Success
11 Oct 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Today's guest runs the least politically correct store we've come across, and we love it. Yanne Root, founder of Violent Little Machine Shop, has made...
From the Detroit Tigers to Shirt Maker: Steven Fisher's Story
20 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we're talking to Steven Fisher, Co-Founder and CEO at State & Liberty Clothing Company, about his journey and meteoric rise to suc...
Tactical Diaper Bags & Side Hustles with Beav Brodie
06 Sep 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"You can play video games all day if you want, but I'm busting my ass, I want to build an empire." That's what Beav Brodie told me about his...
Optimizing for Retention & Repeat Purchases with Eric Davis
23 Aug 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Building a base of loyal and repeat customers is a top goal of many Shopify stores. Unfortunately, it's difficult to find what characteristics these v...
Cross-sells & Upsells with Ezra Firestone of SmartMarketer
12 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ezra says, "If you have a business driven by the ad model, you MUST understand upsells, cross sells... it's what's allowed us to grow to $1.5mill...
Designing Products & 3D Printing with Dorian Ferrari
05 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
What's the best product to sell? Your own! Most people have likely had an idea for a product they'd like to make, but that's all they have: an idea. W...
Listener Mailbag: "What are 5 must have plug ins / apps?"
02 Jul 2016
Contributed by Lukas
In this listener mailbag episode, I discuss the must have apps for your Shopify store. As you'd expect, it's opinionated, but only five minutes. Have ...
Market Research Made Easy with Joe from BluShark Straps
28 Jun 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Ever experience a crappy product and think, "I can do that better!" That's what happened to Joe Scarpati. When faced with a nylon watch stra...
No Bull Marketing & Making Money Online with Matt Giovanisci
24 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Can you build a profitable brand by ignoring all that online marketing bullshit? Today's guest, Matt Giovanisci, believes you can, and intends to prov...
How Andy Bedell Tripled Revenue With Facebook Video Ads
03 May 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"The first time we ran video ads, sales immediately tripled." Andy has been running PPC ads for a while, but struck gold about a year ago wi...
Jay Myers: What Successful Shopify Storeowners Know
26 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Jay Myers is one of the co-founders of Bold Commerce. He has a long history in ecommerce and uses that to help build some of the best apps on Shopify....
John McIntyre: Automating Email Campaigns To Win Customers
05 Apr 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Email marketing can be HUGE for ecommerce stores and online retailers. Problem is, most companies do it wrong. Or they just don’t do it at all. Join...
Nate Murray: The Mindset to 42 Shopify Stores
29 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"We all have the currency of time that we can't get back, so where do we invest it?" Nate Murray is the founder of Merchline. Merchline is &...
Rand Fishkin on SEO for Ecommerce Websites
22 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
One of the most misunderstood aspects of any online business is SEO. (And that’s for several reasons that I could do an episode on alone but I won’...
How Beardbrand Built a Better Business by Building Community
08 Mar 2016
Contributed by Lukas
We talk with Eric Bandholz of Beardbrand on how we went from community to business. Growing slowly and organically at first, and eventually blowing up...
Mindzai: How to Start a Designer DIY Toy Business
23 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"If I was 95 and selling toys, would I be happy? Yea!" -Chris Tsang on finding your passion Chris Tsang is the founder of Mindzai, a designe...
Jake Starr: The Recycled Firefighter
16 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
Jake Starr, a 12 yr veteran firefighter, always enjoyed making his own gear by hand. He worked with leather and fashioned gear that included backpacki...
Stitch People: Building a Tribe
09 Feb 2016
Contributed by Lukas
"We don't know anything about marketing." That's what one entrepreneurial couple with a successful niche store and growing community of bran...