This newsletter is being written from the road. I’ve spent the last 4 days in London, meeting some HubSpot partners, and meeting a few customers who use our agency services for their Klaviyo optimization.

Overall, I’d say it turned out to be a good week except for the nightmare in AirBnB and my resolve to avoid using them for as long as I can.

Today, let’s talk about:

  • Shopify 2.0 and Its Benefits
  • Mastercard x Spotify: What’s Happening?
  • Why, What and How: Referral Marketing
  • Too Good For Goodbyes: Layoff Edition

If you or someone you know wants to talk about how you can save thousands of dollars by automating your marketing stack, book a call with us here.

Shopify 2.0 and Its Blessings

Beardbrand has been on Shopify since its launch in 2013. Starting with a free Shopify theme, they built an entirely custom version in 2014, and in 2020 they switched to a premium theme

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Jenny Durre praised the new Shopify upgrade as Beardbrand made the switch and updated their website: with the main aim set at getting the site to run faster, the Shopify 2.0 upgrade makes it an easier affair in terms of customer experience, as well.

The new theme, Split, takes a simpler route in terms of the layout.

In comparison to the previous theme, Prestige, which had an array of navigation options, Split allows the website to look “clear and concise”, as well as visually pleasing, according to Jenny.

So, from where we stand, upgrade to a 2.0 theme, if you haven’t already. Our team can help, just book a call here.

Should your brand launch your own music on Spotify

Mastercard + Spotify – This is exactly what seems to be happening here.

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Along with Spotify, Timbaland, and a member of ABBA, Mastercard has set out to record ‘priceless’ sounds.

As a step further into using marketing to penetrate into consumers’ five senses, Mastercard has essentially launched an album of ten songs. These songs are works of 10 rising stars and will incorporate the 6 notes of melody that play every time a Mastercard is swiped or tapped at checkout.

The goal is to evoke a sense that words and visuals can’t.

The artist list was curated in a particular way to polish Mastercard’s image on both global and local levels. The variety of languages, cultures, and genres in the album is the perfect representation of the identity that the album was meant for, said Mastercard’s chief marketing and communications officer, Raja Rajamannar.

How to Create a Referral Marketing Strategy [+Definition]

According to a report by Nielsen, “88% of global respondents trust recommendations from people they know more than any other channel.”

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Referral Marketing, a.k.a., word-of-mouth marketing is one of the most powerful channels of marketing for growing eCommerce brands. It is essentially a referral program that pushes current customers to get new customers for your business, subject to an incentive.

Here are some reasons why you need to get a referral marketing program:

  1. Lower customer acquisition costs – while running paid ads on great creatives is one way, the cheaper way of acquiring new customers is a referral program.
  2. High-intent buyers – According to research, customers bought in by referrals are 4 times more likely to result in a conversion.
  3. Building trust – A customer will trust your business much more when referred by a person than a paid ad.

Get the right strategy to build your referral progam on the Shopify blog here.

Too Good For Goodbyes: Layoff Edition

In the long list of things that COVID has taken away from us, jobs are another one of them. But one of the things that it has given us is the time to restructure and rethink our organizations.

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Instead of cost-cutting, CMOs of organizations need to think of how structured their organizations are and how well-planned are their teams.

We have the pandemic years to thank for making organizations think about employee morale and streamline their processes – to lay the groundwork for the future and plan in advance rather than making day-to-day decisions.

Here are 5 ways to restructure the design of your organization.

That’s it, folks!

I know this isn’t our usual content, but we’ll get to it next week.

If there’s a topic you want me to cover specifically, I’ll add it in the queue, let me know.