1/ I have been a brutal critic of *free shipping* models for ecommerce, believing in the notion that the economics unless niche, ultra high margins exist.
Our team thought that if we offered free shipping, conversions would go up and avg order size increase.
Our team thought that if we offered free shipping, conversions would go up and avg order size increase.
2/ We are not guided by my *theories* and in November of last year, we rolled out a new site: 20Gadgets.com with free shipping. These same products are also on our main PulseTV.com website. Results?
3/ We are shutting down the website in 4 days. A 90-day test revealed lower conversions & lower average order.
The takeaway for these is not success or failure, but the willingness to expend resources and test things I THINK WILL FAIL. We are all wrong more than right anyway.
The takeaway for these is not success or failure, but the willingness to expend resources and test things I THINK WILL FAIL. We are all wrong more than right anyway.
4/ When my sister showed me a video year sago of Riverdance and wanted to do a TV direct response campaign, I said, "Who the heck wants to watch a bunch of Irish clodhoppers". We tested anyway in spite of what I thought and it was the hit of the year.
5/ Having strong negative opinions is not a reason to refrain from putting ideas to test...providing the payoffs of a positive outcome are convex to the cost of a negative outcome. Arrogance or humility is less about what you say and more about what you do.
6/ Having strong opinions are of less moment or impacting than having humility with your actions. Act as if you know less than you think you know...because none of us *know* crap.
