The JetRails Podcast: Recent Episodes
JetRails
Hosted by Robert Rand, The JetRails Podcast presents interviews with industry leaders, visionaries, and veterans with insights and expertise into websites, eCommerce, and digital marketing. Learn tips, recommendations, and items of interest as we help you stay ahead of the curve.
Magento is more than an eCommerce software platform. It's an ecosystem that's driven by a passionate open-source community. That's why some of the most active Magento experts got together to create https://mage-os.org/, a new non-profit focused on a strong future Magento and those that rely on it.Learn about why this new non-profit was formed, what makes it different from other Magento organizations, and the goals being set out by its board.Guests:Vinai Kopp - Mage-OS Board President + Technical Director at Hyvä ThemesAlessandro Ronchi - Mage-OS Board Treasurer + COO at BitbullJohn Hughes - Mage-OS Board Member + Head of Magento at YouWeweMaciej Kalkowski - Mage-OS Board Member + CEO at CenturiaLaura Folco - Mage-OS Business Control Committee Member + Magento Development ConsultantHost: Robert Rand - Director of Partnerships & Alliances at JetRails
Kalen Jordan has spent the last decade working on projects like Magetalk, MageMail, Sweet Tooth Rewards, and Commerce Hero. He's a serial entrepreneur and is once again making a bet on the Magento ecosystem with MageChat, a Magento group built around a managed Slack community. So, we chatted with Kalen about what's driving this project forward, what people are getting out of it, and what's on the horizon for MageChat and the wider Magento Community.
Guest: Kalen Jordan, MageChat Host: Robert Rand, JetRails
If you want to stay connected with many of the top minds in the Magento ecosystem, check out https://www.magechat.club/ for yourself.
There hasn't been an in-person Magento event in the USA since 2019... that's about to change!
If you're thinking about attending or planning to attend Meet Magento New York 2022, you're in luck! This episode will fill you in about the pre-party, after-party, and everything in between!
To get tickets or learn about sponsoring the event, visit https://meetmagentonyc.com
If you've already registered, get a head start on networking at https://next.brella.io/events/MeetMagentoNewYork22
Guest: Marsha Naidoo, KrishTechnolabs.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
From cryptocurrencies to subscriptions, to buy now pay later solutions, to fraud prevention technology... the eCommerce payments space is constantly evolving.
Most online stores want backup payment gateways in case one fails. Large enterprise needs to offer shoppers in different regions of the world local payment methods. All the while, finance teams are stuck waiting on development backlogs and struggling to test and measure new payment options.
If you dig in a bit deeper, you learn that few merchants are promoting the payment gateways and processors that best align with what an individual shopper is purchasing.
In this episode, we looked at the emerging field of payment orchestration which promises to make it easy for finance teams to take back control of eCommerce payment processing in order to increase sales and profits.
Guest: John Lunn, https://Gr4vy.com Host: Robert Rand, https://JetRails.com
Conventional wisdom is that your eCommerce brand needs to keep pumping out content. Blog articles, social media posts, viral videos - your team wants it all.
In this episode, we take the time to discuss if this is indeed a working strategy and what it takes to generate the desired increases in online sales.
Guest: Andrew Maff, BlueTuskr.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Managing orders and inventory sounds easy until you're managing multiple sales channels and vendors, supply chain issues, cost fluctuations, and other common challenges.
For this episode, we invited an industry veteran with almost 20 years of industry experience to discuss the ins and outs of keeping your sales channels accurate and orders flowing.
Guest: Kostis Mamassis of https://Megaventory.com Host: Robert Rand of https://JetRails.com
Related Articles:
https://jetrails.com/blog/6-reasons-magento-2-merchants-use-inventory-and-order-management-software/
https://blog.megaventory.com/2022/04/how-to-face-the-challenges-of-ecommerce-inventory-and-order-management/
The first episodes of our podcast were focused on Magento. That was over 3 years ago.
We've gone on to publish over 90 episodes that speak to eCommerce professionals and digital marketers. Many episodes have focused on topics that are specifically important to the Magento ecosystem. However, in this 95th episode, we've gone back to our roots to take a deeper look at the state of Magento and the community that powers it.
Guest: Maier Bianchi, Bemeir.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
***Important Note: In this episode, Robert mentioned that in 2021 many Magento extension developers lost access to Adobe Commerce dev licenses. We've since heard from Adobe that they're actively working to address this issue. However, we decided to leave it in the episode because it's part of a bigger conversation about extensions, and it's also a great example of the Magento community speaking up, and the Adobe team listening.
Resources Mentioned In This Episode:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/why-we-continue-support-magento-adobe-commerce-2022-maier-bianchi/
https://jetrails.com/blog/critical-magento-2-security-vulnerability-cve-2022-24086/
If there's an outage at a modern cloud provider like AWS we have the technology to notice the issue and failover to one of their other data centers.
However, it's not so easy when a content delivery network (CDN) is having issues. By their very nature, these networks are distributed across servers in data centers all over the world. This makes tracking and addressing outages and other problems much more challenging.
CDNs can also be tied in with a variety of security solutions, from web application firewalls (WAF) and SSL certificates to DDoS mitigation and bot protection. They can be configured for performance optimization too, optimizing images and website coding.
So what happens if you try to fail over to another CDN? Will your site security and performance take a hit? If you have an eCommerce site, will it still be PCI compliant?
We tackled these questions, and more! Tune in to learn about CDN failover solutions that can work with any major CDN, like Akamai, AWS Cloudfront, Cloudflare, Fastly, and Google Cloud CDN.
Guest: Subbu Varadarajan, Zycada.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
As an eCommerce merchant, you want to focus on your business plan. At the same time, there's a fear of missing out on the successes your competitors are having. The last thing you want is to overlook marketing strategies that are leading consumers to other web stores instead of yours.
However, some data may be hard to come by, and there's just so much time you can put into researching your competitors.
This led us to ask if there was a better way to learn about the digital advertising campaigns of your eCommerce competitors.
Guest: John Readman, AskBOSCO.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails
Sometimes eCommerce orders fail to go through.
Whether caused by problems stemming from the shopper's credit or debit card, payment gateways, fraud filters, or even issues with checkout pages themselves, it happens.
In a physical store, you'd work with the shopper to help them complete their transaction.
When it comes to eCommerce, however, shoppers are likely to abandon their carts.
That left us asking, "Can you get them back?"
Guest: GQ Fu, LTVplus.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
According to Cloudflare, Tiktok became The #1 most visited domain in 2021, surpassing even Google.com. Are you advertising to consumers through Tiktok yet? Have you been comparing it to other platforms, like Snapchat, Pinterest, Twitter, LinkedIn, Quora, and Reddit? Are you still primarily focused on Google Ads or Facebook/Instagram Ads? Are you relying on influencers or affiliates to help fuel your growth?
In this episode, we get an insider look at which platforms and strategies are driving eCommerce advertising success, and why.
Guests: - Ned Gallop, LevitateFoundry.com - Miles Bodie, LevitateFoundry.com
Host: - Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Most eCommerce merchants start off advertising through platforms like Google Ads and Facebook Ads, but those are pretty saturated networks. In this episode, we talk about opportunities to make direct media buys with audio and video streaming services, podcasts, and other highly-targeted platforms.
If you've wondered where else you could or should be advertising your online store, this episode will help you understand how you can pay less to market to your audience while catching the right consumers at the right time and place.
Guest: Adam Casole-Buchanan, BriefBid.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Companies Adam mentioned in this episode include:
- Cluep
- Vengo
- iHeart Radio
- Spotify
- Brave
- OceanHero
As the holiday shopping season continues, hopefully, you're enjoying a nice code freeze along with some great weather. What better time to cozy up with a mug of hot cocoa and a podcast episode all about the next frontier of site speed optimization!
Caching static site elements with a CDN is already commonplace - it's crucial to your site's overall performance. However, you can now take edge caching a step further. Instead of calling "home" to your main hosting servers for dynamic content like product/sale prices, or even personalized content experiences, you can cache dynamic site elements at the edge.
We dive into this, and more, in this episode about next-gen Edge technology that can improve your bottom line.
Guest: Subbu Varadarajan, Zycada.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Special Note: Zycada is currently offering an extended free trial for active JetRails users. Contact your dedicated account manager at JetRails for more info.
On just about every episode of our podcast, our guests describe different ways for merchants to improve an eCommerce store's bottom line. Few tell us that they can come anywhere close to generating a 5x increase in eCommerce sales, which makes this episode especially intriguing.
While we may be biased about businesses that have "Jet" in their name, we still asked this guest tough questions about live chat. This episode delves into best practices for staffing, dealing with upset shoppers, avoiding chat-operator burnout, and more!
Guest: Mike Christie, JetSpring.com Host: Robert Rand JetRails.com
eCommerce stores are in the data business. Data helps with everything from forecasting sales and stocking products, to understanding profit margins on items and optimizing the online shopping experience.
In this episode, Nick shares his wisdom from his years at Etsy and Jet, and from his role as CEO of DAS42. Learn about common data analysis challenges that your business should watch out for and best practices that you should be benefiting from.
Guest: Nick Amabile, DAS42.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Marketing to eCommerce shoppers is similar to attracting consumers to brick and mortar stores, but it's not the same thing.
When someone visits a physical store, they're exhibiting a stronger intent to make a purchase. Online shoppers are often earlier in the researching process.
That means that treating every ad click like it's going to convert into a sale can be a costly mistake. In this episode, Robert and Brendan discuss how to properly balance your marketing to (1) attract new shoppers, (2) educate them, and (3) ultimately help them decide to make a purchase.
They go farther by sharing insights on balancing campaigns across different advertising platforms, like Google, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube... and dealing with the challenge of optimizing marketing spends based on which platforms and campaigns are actually delivering the best results - including return on ad spend (ROAS).
Guest: Brendan Hughes, Optily.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Additional Resources:
Get a free copy of Brendan's book "Accelerate eCommerce Growth, A Proven Framework to Scaling Your eCommerce Business with Digital Advertising": https://www.optily.com/accelerate-ecommerce-growth-with-digital-advertising/
For a limited time, take advantage of a free consultation from Optily, and a special discount offer for fans of The JetRails Podcast: https://www.optily.com/your-expert-companion-in-digital-ads-jr/
Looking for a quicker read on eCommerce funnels? Check out https://jetrails.com/blog/ecommerce-funnels/
Some businesses have complex order fulfillment systems. Others rely on succinct solutions to problems like splitting orders.
Why split orders? Maybe you'll be fulfilling an order from multiple stores or warehouses. Maybe you want to split an order between in-stock items, and back-ordered items. Perhaps items need to be shipped separately or uniquely, such as oversized items.
This may all sound obvious, but just because it's logical, doesn't make it simple. Not all eCommerce businesses have the same needs or requirements.
This is a great example of how Magento Extensions can greatly improve business efficiencies and customer satisfaction, without dependencies on 3rd party SaaS solutions.
Guest: Rajneesh Vyas, SunArcTechnologies.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Resources mentioned in this episode: https://marketplace.magento.com/partner/sunarctech
Every year, more eCommerce businesses are bought and sold. At the same time, many owners find themselves unable to find the right buyer in order to achieve their goals.
In this episode, we discussed what you can do in order to set your eCommerce business up for an eventual successful acquisition. We also discussed common mistakes, pitfalls, and oversights that even seasoned entrepreneurs can miss fall prey to.
Guest: Joe Valley, Quiet Light Brokerage Author of The Exitpreneur's Playbook: How to sell your online business for top dollar by reverse engineering your pathway to success. https://exitpreneur.io/playbook/
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails
Apple's iOS15 is going to severely limit the amount of data marketers receive regarding if emails are opened by their recipients. Digital marketers need to be prepared for this shift in data availability. More importantly, they'll need to consider which metrics to look at in order to best optimize campaigns, including campaigns for eCommerce merchants that rely on e-mail to keep shoppers engaged with their brands.
Guest: Jon Pruitt, Omnisend.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Resources mentioned in this episode: https://opensaredead.com/ https://lp.wizarddigital.com/corewebvitalsebook
Consumers open their text messages. Their e-mails... maybe... maybe not.
This leads eCommerce merchants toward a crossroads. Treat SMS like the 3rd rail, or embrace it while making sure to treat this communication channel with the respect that shoppers demand.
Most of us get text messages or push notifications from major brands regarding our order/delivery status, along with other valuable info.
What if you added dimensionality to SMS, allowing shoppers to respond to your texts and get answers, delivering conversational commerce experiences?
Catch the episode to learn what the future of eCommerce communications looks like.
Guest: Rev Reddy, VoyageSMS.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Learn how eCommerce stores continue to experience growth through ad networks like Google Shopping and Instagram. Beyond simply setting up campaigns, you'll hear about common challenges and strategies for achieving success.
Guest: Tony Capetola, SalesAndOrders.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Additional Resources:
If you enjoyed this episode, catch Tony and Robert's first appearance together on the Sales&Orders "Ask an eCommerce Specialist" series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6H1Kn_qVSc
While Robert was going to provide compromising information about Tony in this space, we were informed that wouldn't be permitted. This is why we don't invite legal counsel to sit in on the recordings themselves: https://youtu.be/CggADi00cvY?t=104
Recently, some popular tools that marketed themselves as tools to make websites accessible to people with disabilities have been coming under fire for not living up to their mission. So we thought it would be interesting to look at this topic from the ground up.
In this episode, we discuss the role of your CMS or eCommerce platform in ADA Compliance, but we don't stop there. We share information on just how far tools can go in solving your compliance needs, and what else you still need to be aware of. We even get insights into the legal ramifications of non-compliance, and who is getting sued.
Guest: Scott Trachtenberg, ADASiteCompliance.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
The eCommerce industry tends to put a lot of emphasis on getting shoppers to purchase immediately. Every store owner wants a higher conversion rate. This had led many shops to shy away from linking to off-site content.
However, what's not talked about nearly as often is that online shoppers aren't ready to buy something 100% of the time.
In this episode, we discuss when linking to off-site content can actually increase important metrics like customer lifetime value, best practices for outbound linking, and how this practice can be healthy for your marketing campaigns too!
Guest: Scott Rogerson, Upcontent.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Mentioned Resources: https://www.semrush.com/blog/outbound-links/#header9 https://www.marsatta.com/pages/what-we-re-reading https://sniply.io/
In our last episode, Ben Marks and Robert Rand took a deep dive into eCommerce platform Total Cost of Ownership. That conversation leads directly into this episode, in which Ben and Robert discuss Open Source vs. Closed Source eCommerce.
If you're tired of sales teams pitching what's great about their eCommerce platforms and simply want to learn the actual pros and cons to look out for, this episode is for you!
Guest: Ben Marks, Shopware.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Captains Log, Stardate -302360.5
We've entered a new reality in which eCommerce platforms can't stop talking about their low Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). They all seem to believe that they provide the lowest TCO, although our data scientists have proven that can't be correct.
How are they all coming to different conclusions... and should TCO really be as big a decision-making factor as these platforms are trying to make it when there are other considerations to take into account, like opportunity costs?
Guest: Ambassador Ben Marks, Shopware.com Host: Ambassador Robert Rand, JetRails.com
The Backdrop:
Luma is the default theme that Magento 2 websites around the world have been using for years.
It's several years old, trying to compete in the fast-paced world of eCommerce. So the question is "Is it the best solution?".
There are Magento themes for sale that are full of bells and whistles. They're intended to give you lots of extra features quickly, but also add complexity and technical debt for your developers.
Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) are another way to go, but as newer entrants into the market, they bring their own challenges.
Enter Hyvä:
An experienced Magento developer was planning to build an eCommerce site for his wife's business and wanted to use Magento. However, he was dissatisfied with Luma and its old coding languages and methodologies. He wanted something cleaner, built with newer coding languages.
They say that necessity is the mother of invention. In this episode, we chat about the variety of theming options that led Willem Wigman to create Hyvä, as well as what a theme like Hyvä can mean to the Magento community - from the happiness of developers to the Google Core Web Vitals scores earned by merchants, and the billable hours needed to build and upkeep a Magento 2 store.
Guest: Andreas von Studnitz, integer-net.com Host: Robert Rand, jetrails.com
Additional Resources about Hyvä that you may find helpful:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qftuffCI8m8
https://www.slideshare.net/AndreasvonStudnitz/successful-projects-with-hyv-the-impact-of-developer-happiness
The longer your business is operating and growing, the more software you've inevitably deployed. Over time, your organization can easily wind up with a variety of software subscriptions and solutions that aren't in alignment with your needs or goals. Some aren't well used or are redundant and should be eliminated. Others stop being a good fit as your business evolves.
Whether you're an eCommerce manager, IT director, CMO, COO, or someone else that's responsible for signing off on a lot of software, choosing and tracking those systems rarely gets easier. That's why we're excited to release this episode about tech stack optimization. We discussed how both end-users like merchants, and aggregate users like digital agencies, can better manage their tech stacks.
Guest: Sheryl Shultz, CabinetM.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
For eCommerce stores, 2020 was heavily focused on acquiring and supporting new customers. In 2021 those same eCommerce merchants are putting a bigger focus on retention and customer lifetime value (CLV).
So, we wanted to spend some time discussing organized ways to keep your shoppers engaged with your brand and loyal to your store. Through the process, we also touch on a lot of things that don't work well and should be avoided.
Guest: Fiona Stevens, LoyaltyLion.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
eCommerce shoppers, in the words of a famous cartoon character, will "gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today". While the words of J. Wellington Wimpy, a well-known character from Popeye were meant to be entertaining, there's a serious underlying concept.
Shoppers don't all have lines of credit at the ready. They may have steady incomes but haven't built a credit history yet. Whether they're young adults or immigrants, it can be tough in our credit-centric society.
It's the same for folks whose credit took a nosedive in the past and is still recovering.
Add in shoppers that want to minimize credit checks and maintain low balances so they can get a good mortgage or car loan in the near future, and you'd be amazed at how large the market for consumer financing options in eCommerce checkouts really is.
This episode sheds light on this sizable market and the variety of financial technologies that are empowering these shoppers to pay over time.
Guest: Kali Keesee, Katapult.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Some items don't belong on a standard UPS or FedEx truck. Perhaps the items are heavy or big. Maybe you're just moving items in bulk quantities. That's where less-than-truckload (LTL) freight comes in. These services have been in high demand in recent times, delivering items from B2B and B2C orders alike.
As a merchant, if you need to spread out your goods between multiple warehouses so that they can be delivered in 1-2 days after they're purchased by consumers, LTL can really come in handy. It's also a great way to deliver particular goods, from desks to surfboards, even if you're just getting the goods to a brick-and-mortar location for store pickup. Intrigued? Want to learn more about best practices for LTL? Need to stay ahead of the curve as this delivery channel evolves? Then this episode is for you!
Guest: Anthony Charland, Kuehne-Nagel.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
More LTL Freight Educational Materials: https://us.kuehne-nagel.com/additional-resources-ltl-ecommerce
Browser extensions like Honey and Capital One Shopping (formerly Wikibuy) promise to give shoppers the best coupon codes at checkout automatically. For merchants, it's like someone's standing at the checkout handing out photocopies of exclusive coupons - something they'd never stand for at brick-and-mortar stores. Shoppers wind up using coupons that weren't intended for them, hurting margins and making it harder to attribute sales to marketing and retention campaigns.
So, we called in an expert to discuss both the problems and solutions.
Guest: Matt Gillis, Clean.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Whether you're a frontend dev, backend dev, eCommerce manager, marketer, or other stakeholder, figuring out how to gain expertise in Magento can be difficult. If you want to improve your work and advance your business or career, you'll appreciate this episode!
We cover everything from where to get started, to how to become a rockstar in the Magento community.
Guest: Joseph Maxwell, SwiftOtter.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Some of the resources mentioned in this episode include:
Info About SwiftOtter Magento Developer Survey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z9k5yMQHiIM
CommunityCollaboration article about Magento speed optimization tools: https://jetrails.com/blog/recommended-magento-speed-optimization-tools/
As consumers, we are the product. The data that we generate has value. Individuals, however, are increasingly getting a say in what happens to their data.
Much like sales tax collection, this puts a burden on eCommerce store owners, who need to comply with an increasing number of laws from different jurisdictions. This includes GDPR from the EU, CCPA from California, LGPD down in Brazil, and now VCDPA in Virginia.
States, countries, and regions are demanding that their citizens have the right to be forgotten (the right to the erasure of their data), along with a range of other rights, from the ability to access and rectify information to the ability to copy or move their data (ie. data portability).
What does this mean for eCommerce merchants in terms of compliance? Does using 3rd party vendors and apps reduce risks and obligations? What do the risks and fines look like if you have a data breach or otherwise run afoul of these laws? How does this impact your day-to-day operation, and are you at risk of not meeting customer expectations? We tackle these questions and more in this discussion about what merchants need to know about privacy in 2021!
Guest: Mate Prgin, Enzuzo.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Online shoppers compare your prices to those of other eCommerce stores. How do you track and use competitor pricing and inventory availability? Can this practice help you to increase your prices? Which products should you track, and how often should you adjust prices? Not sure? Well, get ready to learn how eCommerce merchants are tracking competitors and optimizing their product prices continuously in this episode about eCommerce product price comparison, analysis, and strategy.
Guest: Burc Tanir, Prisync.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Highly customizable applications like Drupal and Magento have made auto-updating elusive. For some, allocating resources to patch and update software in a timely fashion can be a challenge. So, we asked an expert in the area of auto-updating these kinds of platforms what a healthy workflow can look like.
Tune in to learn about the pros and cons of common practices for updating CMS, eCommerce, and other open-source software. This includes whether following generalized compliance standards like PCI is enough to keep your website safe.
Guest: Johannes Noll, Codario.io & CodeShield.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
We frequently discuss increasing conversion rates, average order values, and customer lifetime values, so we thought it would be helpful to focus this episode on the mice, as opposed to making it all about the mousetraps.
Guest: Will Laurenson, CustomersWhoClick.com
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Email marketing is important to most successful eCommerce organizations, but lots of organizations are bottlenecked and don't leverage all of the bells and whistles that their email platforms support. So, we thought it would be helpful to talk about what you can get help with, and what you should avoid trying to outsource.
Let's assume that your newsletter and sale emails are going out and getting a good response. Here are some questions you can still be asking yourself:
- Are your transactional emails wowing shoppers and driving them to make more purchases?
- Are you reactivating email subscribers that have stopped opening your messages?
- Have you set up triggered emails to remind shoppers to come back and reorder goods that are typically consumed or used up in a certain time frame?
- Do you automatically send abandoned browse emails?
- When's the last time that you checked if your list was clean and your domain had a good sending reputation?
If any of this strikes a chord, be sure to tune in to learn more about what you can do (or outsource) to kick your eCommerce email marketing into high gear!
Guest: Mike Arsenault, Rejoiner.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended Reading: https://jetrails.com/blog/should-you-host-your-emails-on-your-ecommerce-web-server/
eCommerce is always evolving. In this episode, you'll hear stories from 3 industry insiders as they discuss what's already changed, what's changing... and even some predictions. Along the way, you'll learn about the intersections of eCommerce with other important areas, like Sales Tax and ERP solutions. You'll also hear about different disruptions and improvements for different eCommerce merchants, including B2C/B2B and SMB/Mid-Market/Enterprise.
Have you been missing sitting down with experts at eCommerce trade shows and learning what's really going on? Then strap yourself in and get ready for our longest episode yet!
Guests: Ted Stenstrom, KensiumSolutions.com Shannon Kelly, VertexInc.com
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
There's something to be said for experiences where we look past AI and allow shoppers to help optimize their own experiences. If you've ever been a regular at a restaurant or a local store, you know what I'm talking about. You walk in, and the staff already know what you like - because you've told them. It's not about guessing and averages, it's about listening to shoppers and treating them like highly-valued individuals. So, we called in an expert to discuss how merchants are allowing eCommerce shoppers to personalize their own shopping experiences.
Guest: Gen Furukawa, Prehook.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended Resources:
If you enjoyed learning from Gen, check out his podcast: https://www.cartoverflow.com/
eCommerce businesses are now data companies. Data helps merchants find the best marketing channels and campaigns. It assists in optimizing on-site experiences, and even efforts to retain customers for the long haul. In this episode, we focused on tips, tools, and recommendations for merchants that want to use data to be more successful in 2021. That includes newer products like Google Analytics 4 and Microsoft Clarity, but also important and evolving concepts around cookies, bot traffic, and other important considerations.
Guest: Chris Mercer, MeasurementMarketing.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Your free measurement marketing toolbox, courtesy of Mercer: https://measurementmarketing.io/jetrails
Sure, you can list products on Amazon's Marketplace and Amazon will be thrilled to take your money to promote those listings... but the Amazon DSP is capable of a lot more. You can leverage Amazon's vast reach and data sets to target shoppers with ads that lead to your own eCommerce store. You can also run ads across Amazon's advertising network, which includes properties like IMDb, Twitch, Zappos, and Goodreads. In this episode, we discuss who should be leveraging Amazon's advertising network and why.
Guest: Joseph La Selva, Perpetua.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
What Magento extensions are in demand? What are merchants and developers asking for? How has demand for different extensions changed in the last year? What are extension developers doing differently to better service eCommerce businesses?
We had a lot of questions, and we certainly weren't disappointed by the answers. Tune in to learn more!
Guest: Sergej Derzap, Amasty.com
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
eCommerce businesses experience operations challenges as they grow. Sometimes, it's with forecasting and inventory management. In other situations, there are delays in fulfillment operations, or there's time wasted and errors introduced through manual data entry. While every business is unique, in this episode, we pull at some common threads that eCommerce merchants are tethered by as they scale up... whether they realize it or not.
Guest: Chad Rubin, Skubana.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Resources mentioned in this episode:
Skubana/Tushy Case Study: https://www.skubana.com/blog/growth-stories/skubana-helped-tushy-through-a-crisis
Planet Money Episode on How Desi Arnaz revolutionized an industry (and exposed Americans to facets of Cuban culture): https://www.npr.org/2021/01/22/959609533/how-desi-invented-television
Black Friday/Cyber Monday (BFCM), and the rest of the holiday shopping season is in the rearview mirror. Black Friday was up 22% year-over-year. Cyber Monday was up 15%. Bots were buying up all the Playstations. It's 2021 and shoppers are still returning holiday purchases to Amazon sellers. Those returns will wind up going to...
With so many unique experiences and challenges, it's hard to imagine an eCommerce business that couldn't learn from this past Q4. Tune in as some eCommerce industry veterans try to piece together just what happened, and how we can all learn from it.
Guests: Jane Powell - CloudCafe.io https://www.linkedin.com/in/janepowell13/
Russell Wollam - BrandNexity.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/russell-wollam-9b998015/
Host: Robert Rand - JetRails.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/rrand1/
Recommended Resources and Reading:
https://www.cloudcafe.io/blog/f/christmas-blues-for-retailers-reverse-logisticsreturns
https://www.cloudcafe.io/blog/f/christmas-blues-for-retailers-reverse-logisticsreturns
https://jetrails.com/blog/web-hosting-impacts-on-marketing/
https://www.fastcompany.com/90580744/black-friday-and-cyber-monday-outages-angered-customers-on-these-48-retail-sites
https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/shopping/2020/11/28/cyber-monday-2020-black-friday-sales-records-coronavirus/6449464002/
https://www.inquirer.com/business/technology/bot-buying-playstation5-walmart-20201219.html
Many merchants treat gift cards, loyalty programs, and coupons as business features rather than strategies.
In this episode, we do discuss the features that set eCommerce and multichannel merchants up for success, but we also discuss strategies for using these features, including in combination with each other. The goal is always to find ways to appeal to consumers.
Guest: Pravin Kamble, 99minds.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Additional Resources:
In this episode, Pravin mentioned a new site (rallygiftcard.com) where shoppers will be able to go to find eCommerce gift cards, including from small and medium eCommerce businesses. If you're a merchant and want to be included you can submit your business through this Google Form: https://forms.gle/2wtW24QANBfEar5u8
Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) isn't a specific set of tasks. It's a state of mind. You have to know your audience, test, measure, realize you don't really know your audience as well as you think you do and continue a cycle of improving your eCommerce operations. You start to understand what helps and hurts your sales stats as it relates to different customer segments and you can lean into the winning strategies. You can even use tech to help automate some facets of CRO - but not nearly all. Is it ever done? No. Tech changes, consumer preferences change, your competitors change, and so does your business. In this episode, we discuss examples of what actually helps or hinders eCommerce sales, and a whole lot more.
Guest: Rob Hammett, Justuno.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Mentioned Resources: "Why Marketers Can't Have Nice Things" by HubSpot: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Seermttpuiw
Integrating data is one thing, but transforming that data through automated workflows is a whole other challenge. Learn how technology providers and service providers are coming together to solve challenges and increase eCommerce business efficiencies.
Guests: - Ramesh Cooke, LYSI.co - Nate Roybal, Workato.com
Host: - Robert Rand, JetRails.com
When shoppers visit a physical store, they get to interact with people, build relationships, and have unique experiences. Video technology can bring shoppers one step closer to in-person interaction with your team. In this episode, we explore how personalized video can be effectively leveraged in by eCommerce merchants.
Guest: Oli Bridge, Bonjoro.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Reference:
https://www.bonjoro.com/blog/post/how-an-ecommerce-store-increased-return-traffic-by-32
Shoppers with visual, auditory, and cognitive disabilities have historically found online shopping to be challenging... and that's putting it mildly. However, today's shoppers are being drawn to brands that do a better job of servicing their needs. Along with them can come some great PR and other benefits, but at the end of the day, why wouldn't you want your digital store to be more inclusive?
On the other side of the conversation is compliance. There are regulations governing the accessibility rights of users. Just as a brick and mortar business may need to have a wheelchair ramp, an eCommerce business needs to follow standards as well.
In this episode, we discuss how to achieve eCommerce accessibility and compliance, helping shed some light on how merchants can succeed (and fail) to meet the needs of shoppers.
Guest: Simon Dermer, EssentialAccessibility.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
A Magento website is a beautifully balanced mix of database tables, files, and code, all operating within a perfectly optimized hosting environment. Unless it's not, in which case you're in for a bumpy ride. That's when it's time for an audit. What should be included in that audit? We've got answers!
Guest: Guillaume Le Tual, MageMontreal.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended Resources:
https://magemontreal.com/blog/how-to-keep-your-magento-admin-console-safe-from-intrusion/
https://jetrails.com/blog/ecommerce-website-testing/
https://jetrails.com/blog/web-hosting-impacts-on-marketing/
https://jetrails.com/blog/you-really-need-to-update-your-magento-hosting-account/
https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-2-4-1-magento-2-3-6-and-other-october-2020-releases/
https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-1-security-updates/
https://jetrails.com/blog/how-to-choose-magento-extensions/
https://jetrails.com/blog/could-traffic-spikes-take-down-your-magento-site/
https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-2fa-extension/
In eCommerce, you need to get a lot of things right. Your checkout may be the most important of them. If you can't get shoppers across the finish line, all of your hard work quickly goes down the proverbial drain. That's why we invited a company that does nothing but focus on delivering an improved checkout experience for Magento stores to chat with Robert for this episode.
Be sure to listen through the end of this track to catch a great blooper from the taping of this episode!
Guest: Thien-Lan Weber, OneStepCheckout.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Reference Materials & Additional Resources:
Why Magento 2 doesn't address the key reasons for cart abandonment (video): https://youtu.be/hBLOnDucLEs
Magento 1 End of Life Update, including Magento usage stats: https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-1-security-updates/
How to choose Magento Extensions: https://jetrails.com/blog/how-to-choose-magento-extensions/
ExtDN resources (do and Don't flyers): https://extdn.org/resources/
ExtDN latest tools: https://extdn.org/2020/10/08/announcing-the-extdn-github-actions-for-m2/
Showcases of Magento 2 stores: https://blog.onestepcheckout.com/2020/04/magento-2-showcase-13-us-online-stores/ https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-2-open-source-site-examples/
Magento Speed Test: https://jetrails.com/speed/
Magento Security Check: https://jetrails.com/security/
Magento Association: https://www.magentoassociation.org/
Thien-Lan's talk about remote work and flexibility at Meet Magento NY: https://blog.onestepcheckout.com/2018/11/remote-flexible-work-life-balance-talk-video/
eCommerce brands differentiate themselves in a number of ways, including by providing stellar customer service experiences. However, as brands scale-up, that can be exceedingly difficult. In this episode, we talk about Knowledge Base (KB) software, and opportunities to document pretty much every process, procedure, and piece of information that's important to your organization and your customers.
Guest: Matt Romans, GetGuru.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Instead of looking at a specific technology or challenge, we've brought together 3 friends that have some very big things in common. All 3 have worked for firms that integrate eCommerce software with other systems. In fact, one still does.
When your work is at the crossroads of online and offline commerce, and you're receiving feedback from merchants and development teams in real-time, you gain a valuable perspective on the evolution of the industry.
Get insights about changes they're all seeing in the market this year.
Guests: Dave Malda, eBridgeConnections.com Wayne Thompson, Optasy.com
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
The eCommerce industry puts a ton of focus onto getting shoppers to make purchases. However, what happens post-purchase matters just as much when it comes to retention and customer lifetime value (CLV). It's also important for gaining positive reviews, avoiding chargebacks, and keeping down customer-service expenses - which can quickly erode profits.
Guest: James Denker, RelayCloud.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Friendly fraud isn't particularly friendly to eCommerce merchants. In fact, for many, it's the most frequent and damaging type of fraud they're experiencing right now. Learn what the payment card industry has put forth to help merchants avoid chargebacks, and what it means to your business.
Guest: Yitz Mendlowitz, Paay.co Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Additional resources about fighting eCommerce fraud:
https://jetrails.com/podcast/?season=1&episode=28
https://jetrails.com/podcast/?season=1&episode=34
https://www.bestworlds.com/blog/keeping-fraudsters-from-disrupting-your-magento-business-10-kinds-of-ecommerce-fraud-to-avoid/
Many software platforms reach their peak within a decade. However, at 20 years old, Drupal is still going strong and differentiating from the competition. A lot of Drupal's success can be attributed back to the open-source nature of this CMS platform and the community and ecosystem that continues building up around it.
Learn about the past, present, and future of this content management system from one of the key people helping to ensure that future is bright.
Guest: Tim Lehnen, CTO, Drupal Association, Drupal.org
Host: Robert Rand, Director of Partnersions & Alliances, JetRails.com
...and if you're a member of the Drupal Association, don't miss out on these special member benefits that JetRails just announced: https://jetrails.com/drupal-association-member-benefits/
Not a member of the Drupal Association yet? Support this great non-profit organization by becoming an Individual Member: https://www.drupal.org/association/individual-membership
Paying for goods and services hasn't changed very much since the inventions of checks and subsequently, credit cards. As Peer-2-Peer (P2P) payment platforms are becoming popularized, what's stopping eCommerce websites from getting paid faster and with fewer fees by interfacing more directly and securely with banks? How long will it be until the eCommerce checkout process includes a more modern payment processing standard, and is it the old guard payment processors that are holding up the evolution of payment technology?
Guest: Max Robbins, Paystand.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended Reading:
B2B Digital Payments Stats for Merchants to Know in 2020, authored by Paystand: https://bit.ly/3hGIH31
Search Engine Optimization is a moving target, but it turns out that the recipe for long-term success is more predictable than some people tend to suggest. Learn how an SEO agency has evolved to help clients rank, and what strategies they're recommending for eCommerce sites.
Guest: Vlad Mkrtumyan, LogicInbound.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended Reading:
Best SEO Backlinking Sources for eCommerce Websites - https://jetrails.com/blog/best-seo-backlinking-sources-for-ecommerce-sites/
On one side, you have your ERP and Point of Sale (POS) software. On the other, you have your eCommerce platform and digital sales channels. How do you manage inventory and orders? What happens when shoppers expect faster, more seamless shopping experiences across your sales channels than you're able to provide?
As we uncover in this episode, many businesses either find themselves stuck on old software, or they've moved to a new eCommerce platform with the promise of modernization, but their software is still siloed. In today's world of click-and-collect ordering and curbside pickup, you need more than old multichannel integrations to meet the expectations of your shoppers.
Guest: Anil Patel, Hotwax.co Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Wouldn't it be nice if website and application development projects were simple? It would be great if you could have all of the tech of Amazon's marketplace in minutes and for a low fixed price. However, like so many things in life, it's just not that simple. What looks easy to the user can require a tremendous amount of complex coding to deliver.
How have agencies stepped up their game when it comes to project management and communications? What do buzzwords like Waterfall, Agile, and Scrum have to do with it? How can you set yourself up for success in a complex project, like the buildout of an eCommerce website? We cover it all in this episode!
Guest: Matthew Krecker, Liventus.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
How has the Magento Extension world evolved? Which types of extensions are in demand? How does the Magento Marketplace fit into the mix? What are the top support issues extension developers face? A few weeks ago, Robert sat down with a couple of veterans of the Magento Extension world to get answers!
Guests: Alexander Galtsow + Artem Kuznetsov of Aheadworks.com, a RaveDigital company
Host: Robert Rand of JetRails.com
Nextopia and Searchspring spent years competing head-to-head to provide eCommerce sites with the best site-search and navigation tools. They each honed their solutions to help shoppers connect with products that they were most likely to purchase.
Then they were both bought by the same company.
Now they're one company: Searchspring.
What's happening behind the scenes? Why is there tech so valuable? Why do merchants need help from a company like Searchspring to deliver better shopping experiences? We've got answers!
Guest: Thomas Turley, Searchspring.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended Reading: https://jetrails.com/blog/3-ways-to-improve-your-magento-search/
https://searchspring.com/magento-end-of-life:-stats,-dates,-solutions-&-resources/
In previous episodes, we've discussed optimizing product data, and the term "PIM" always comes up. So we invited a guest to break down just what a good PIM does, and how product information management software can bring a lot of value to businesses with eCommerce sales channels.
Guest: Jon Marsella, JasperPIM.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
If you enjoyed this episode, you'll probably like episode 33 on Digital Merchandising too: https://jetrails.com/podcast/?season=1&episode=33
There was a time when your users would access your entire website directly from your web hosting server. Now, if you're focused on speed, security, scalability, and reliability, you're undoubtedly using an edge network to deliver a better experience to your web visitors while doing a better job of keeping your hosting server(s) stable and safe.
How does all of this work? Will this technology give you a leg up on your competitors? What about using different vendors for CDN, WAF, and other solutions that live on an edge network? We tackle this (and more) in this informative episode!
Guest: Stewart McGrath, Section.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
There are more teams of web developers in the world than we can count. While they all have different strengths and weaknesses, pros and cons, what if some of them started to evolve into Public Benefit Corporations? What would change? Who would be better off?
Listen to this episode to learn why one agency is following the path of companies like Allbirds, Ben & Jerries, Bombas, New Chapter, Patagonia, and Tom's Shoes to operate as a "B Corp".
Guest: Charles "Carlos" Fry of Codexitos.com Host: Robert Rand of JetRails.com
More about Code Éxitos: https://youtu.be/v2uKCLHsCbQ
If you're migrating to a new Magento 2 website, the last thing that you want to do is lose historical SEO rankings along the way. Ideally, you want replatforming to this brand new version of your eCommerce store to lead to better results, not worse.
So, how do you make sure that you accomplish your SEO goals (and avoid common pitfalls) while moving to a fresh instance of M2? Tune in to learn what to do AND what not to do to keep your SEO rankings stronger than ever!
Guest: Rita Demyanchik, Mobecls Host: Robert Rand, JetRails
Additional Recommended Resources:
https://mobecls.com/magento-migration-seo-checklist/
https://mobecls.com/migration-seo-control/
https://jetrails.com/blog/best-seo-backlinking-sources-for-ecommerce-sites/
https://emarsys.com/learn/blog/6-ways-web-hosting-impacts-digital-marketing-success/
Magento has been in the process of deprecating just about all of their payment gateway integrations. Why are they doing it? What impact will it have? Tune in and find out!
Guest: Alex Povolotski, CollinsHarper.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended reading: https://community.magento.com/t5/Magento-DevBlog/Deprecation-of-Magento-core-payment-integrations/ba-p/426445
https://docs.magento.com/user-guide/stores/compliance-payment-services-directive.html
Still on Magento 1? Learn about M1 EOL Resources: https://jetrails.com/magento-1-eol-end-of-life-quick-guide/
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available! We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like https://keepsmallstrong.org/ and https://www.tompuchalski.com/ that focus on pairing merchants with industry experts and firms, many of whom are offering services at no charge, or at steeply discounted rates.
Having proper systems and processes to allow your eCommerce team to collaborate and produce outstanding product information can give you a leg up on the competition in multiple ways. After all, your product data impacts your site navigation, digital marketing, site search, conversion rates, your ability to sell across online channels like marketplaces, and more!
Learn where businesses get stuck in the mud when it comes to managing their product data, and how some companies are taking a more modern approach to optimize their data.
Guest: Steve Engelbrecht, Sitation.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available! We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like offline2on.com/ and www.tompuchalski.com/ that focus on pairing merchants with industry experts and firms, many of whom are offering services at no charge, or at steeply discounted rates.
We've spoken about Magento 1 End of Life (EOL) and the security implications of staying on M1 after June of 2020... but in our previous episodes, we've only mentioned PCI Compliance. In this episode, we'll dive deep into the risks Magento 1 merchants will face and the actions they should take to stay compliant. Spoiler alert! Magento 1 merchants are risking losing their ability to run credit cards on their websites.
Guest: Joe Rollinson, BestWorlds.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Recommended Resources
Best Worlds M1 EOL PCI Compliance Checklist: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1dAFeAyebPv_V8HXU8UZgLTouBdbhTqBhfi6xdZ99N9E/edit?usp=sharing
JetRails M1 EOL Security & Support: https://jetrails.com/magento-1-eol-end-of-life-quick- guide
M1 End of Life eBook: For a 2020 update on this topic, check out this helpful eBook: https://www.bolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bolt-Magento-1-End-of-Life-Survival-Guide-1_compressed.pdf
JetRails FAQ on PCI Compliance: https://jetrails.com/pci-compliant-hosting/
Visa Advisory on M1 EOL: https://usa.visa.com/content/dam/VCOM/global/support-legal/documents/acquirer-advisory-magento-migration.pdf
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available from an even wider range of the eCommerce community. We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like offline2on.com/ and www.tompuchalski.com/ that focus on pairing merchants with industry experts and firms, many of whom are offering services at no charge, or at steeply discounted rates.
Cash flow can make or break a business, and eCommerce businesses are no exception. Online sellers need liquidity to pay for inventory and other expenses. In times of turmoil, merchants may need more cash on hand because revenue is lower than normal. Conversely, a loan can be crucial when you need to buy more inventory or bring in more labor to meet increased demand.
While traditional loans and lines of credit may be helpful, the tech industry has created special data-driven products just for the eCommerce market. In this episode, we look at some particular offerings specifically for online sellers, while also talking about the economic landscape that merchants are currently facing.
Guest: Alex Sklar, Payability.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Special Offer from Payability for JetRails Podcast Listeners/Viewers: $250 Sign on Bonus + Preferred Rates for High Volume Businesses! http://go.payability.com/JetRails
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available from an even wider range of the eCommerce community. We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like https://offline2on.com/ and https://www.tompuchalski.com/ that focus on pairing merchants with industry experts and firms, many of whom are offering services at no charge, or at steeply discounted rates.
Successfully transitioning B2B buyers to an eCommerce sales channel is often much more complex than opening up an online retail store. However, whether you're a manufacturer, wholesaler, distributor, or sell complex or high-ticket B2B items, an eCommerce website can empower you and your team to greatly increase the efficiency and success of your sales and marketing operations.
Guest: Angela Murphy, MSTS.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available from the eCommerce community. We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like https://offline2on.com/ and https://www.tompuchalski.com/
There have been recent calls to extend the end of life of Magento 1 because, to quote a very wise person, "now is not the time" for merchants whose businesses are experiencing an unprecedented market event to be focused on hitting a deadline to replatform. While Adobe has not extended the EOL of M1, luckily, the Magento community has created options to safely and securely stay on Magento 1. On this episode, we specifically discuss Mage One and Magento 1 patching after June of 2020.
Guest: Rico Neitzel, Mage-One.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Want to learn more about M1 EOL? Visit https://jetrails.com/magento-1-eol-end-of-life-quick-guide/
For a more recent update on this topic, check out this helpful eBook: https://www.bolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bolt-Magento-1-End-of-Life-Survival-Guide-1_compressed.pdf
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available from the eCommerce community. We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like https://offline2on.com/ and https://www.tompuchalski.com/
With so many brick-and-mortar shops closed, if a fraudster wants to use a stolen credit card to make purchases, they pretty much have to turn to eCommerce stores. At the same time, with some eCommerce websites experiencing lower sales, they may actually see a higher percentage of fraudulent orders. Fraudsters don't take a vacation because of a pandemic, even if normal shoppers may be more skittish about placing orders.
Tune in to learn more about current eCommerce checkout fraud trends in the age of the COVID-19 Coronavirus pandemic, and learn about full-time fraudsters that are always trying to make a quick buck, and how to protect your bottom line without getting in the way of good orders.
Guest: Rafael Lourenco, Clear.Sale Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being impacted by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available from the eCommerce community. We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like https://offline2on.com/ and https://www.tompuchalski.com/
We're experiencing unprecedented market conditions, but this is not the first recession that eCommerce businesses have experienced. While not all challenges can be overcome, many online shops can position themselves to grow both during and immediately after this downturn.
Guest: Sasha Berson, CatapultRevenue.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Public Service Announcement: If your business is being hurt by the COVID-19 Coronavirus crisis, assistance is available from the eCommerce community. We highly recommend that you take advantage of initiatives like https://offline2on.com/ and https://www.tompuchalski.com/
In order to meet your requirements, you may need a website or app that "breaks the mold". While using a popular eCommerce, CMS, or other framework will often be your best bet, that's not always the case. So, how do you know if custom is right for you? Tune in to learn the in's and out's from risk analysis, through project planning, and long-term maintenance.
If your organization is scrambling to launch something new due to COVID-19, like a new eCommerce site that you believe will require a complex site build, be sure to check out this episode.
Guest: Tim Dolloff, Liventus.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Merchants need to be versatile enough to meet customer needs and expectations. An omnichannel experience can allow you to support your customers seamlessly across systems, channels, and even physical locations.
This episode was recorded shortly before retailers started closing their doors in the USA, but we're quickly seeing just how important omnichannel strategies - like Buy Online Pickup In Store (BOPIS) - are to eCommerce operations.
If you're using Magento, or considering it, this episode will help you understand the basics of developing an omnichannel gameplan with Magento 2.
Guest: Ivona Namjesnik, ImaginationMedia.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Additional Recommended Materials: https://jetrails.com/blog/how-to-make-your-magento-ecommerce-business-omnichannel/
Popular Content Management Systems like Magento, Drupal, WordPress and WooCommerce provide you with lots of features, plugins, integrations, and flexibility. However, their popularity can also make them targets for hackers who look for weaknesses they can exploit en masse. Need to know how to keep your site safe and secure on a great CMS or eCommerce platform? Then this episode is for you!
Guest: Victor Santoyo, Sucuri.net Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Additional Recommended Resources: https://jetrails.com/security/ https://jetrails.com/magento-1-eol-end-of-life-quick-guide/
A year ago, we talked about the end of life of Magento 1 as something that merchants would have lots of time to plan for. Now, it's becoming clear that a very large number of merchants will remain on M1 for a period of time after the official end of life.
What will change for these merchants? What risks will they have, and how can they mitigate those risks? Tune in to learn more!
Guest: Mark Lewis, CTO & Founder, Netalico.com Host: Robert Rand, Director of Partnerships & Alliances, JetRails
Looking for an article mentioned in this episode? Check out https://jetrails.com/blog/
Many of the resources mentioned in this episode are also referenced in this recent article about M1 End of Life: https://www.nextopia.com/blog/2020/01/magento-end-life-stats-dates-solutions-resources/
For a 2020 update on this topic, check out this helpful eBook: https://www.bolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bolt-Magento-1-End-of-Life-Survival-Guide-1_compressed.pdf
You can also learn more about how JetRails is supporting Magento 1 users at: https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-1-end-of-life-hosting-support/
Whether through Apps, Extensions, Modules, Plugins, or Addons, eCommerce website owners are compelled to integrate additional features and functionalities into their sites in order to improve the shopping experience for customers and make operations more efficient and profitable.
With so much software out there, how do you find the best software to add to your website? How do you measure the risks, rewards, and real costs of apps, extensions, and integrations? Two industry veterans shed some light on how different sized merchants can and should tackle this need in different eCommerce ecosystems like Magento and Shopify.
Guest: Derric Haynie, eCommerceTech.io Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
With Magento, you can enhance your site with additional software, such as by installing individual extensions or integrating other standalone systems via API.
However, some extension developers have been pushing these boundaries. There are limitations to what an extension can do, and there are questions about long-term support for extensions (as many Magento 1 users have begun to experience).
Tune in to learn about this journey of shifting from offering one-off extensions to creating more robust and better supported SaaS solutions.
Guests: Virgil Ghic & Tristan Oker, WeltPixel.com / WeSupplyLabs.com Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
There are times when both agencies and end-users alike determine that they need freelancers to help with particular short-term or long-term projects. However, finding high-quality, dependable freelancers that will be available right when you need them can be very difficult.
Robert and Raleigh discuss the challenges that businesses face in finding dependable freelance devs, including some of the ways that Codeable has streamlined the process for the WordPress and WooCommerce communities.
Guest: Raleigh Leslie, Codeable Host: Robert Rand, JetRails
Mentioned Resources:
Get a $60 credit to try out Codeable for the first time: https://codeable.io/partners/jetrails/ (Note: JetRails gets no kickbacks, this is simply an offer extended by Codeable for our podcast listeners)
Test your Time to First Byte (TTFB): https://jetrails.com/speed/
Learn about WordPress Loading Speed Optimization: https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/wordpress-page-speed/#7-providers-of-tools-for-checking-page-speed
Magento 2.0 and 2.1 already reached their "end of life" dates, and Magento 2.2 will go end of life in a few weeks. Meanwhile, Magento has started to release patches for Magento version 2.3.2+, allowing merchants to patch instead of upgrading, minimizing the development work needed to keep a Magento 2 site secure. Add to that Temando, the system powering Magento Shipping, is being shut down, and some payment gateways like Cybersource and eWay are being deprecated from Magento releases. There's a lot to take in, but in this episode, we cut through the noise and talk about what Magento merchants can do to operate safely and effectively.
Guest: Brandon Alberts, NuEthic Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Read up on more details about these M2 End of Life dates on The JetRails Blog: https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-2-0-2-1-and-2-2-end-of-life-dates/
Still have questions about upgrading and patching your Magento 2 site? Get a free consult from the NuEthic team! https://nuethic.com/
In the early days of eCommerce, digital marketing was [relatively] easy. There was less competition, and channels like Google Ads had a lower average cost per click (CPC). Of course, paying for clicks that don't turn out to be profitable, or that may even turn out to be from bots and not real shoppers, can be a big risk. What's not a bit risk, is a new pay-for-performance model that's emerged.
Guests: Cooper Harris, Founder & CEO, Klickly Daren Limas, Accounts Director, Klickly
Klickly is currently by invite only, but as JetRails Podcast Subscribers, you can skip the line: http://bit.ly/Skip-The-Line
Host: Robert Rand, Director of Partnerships & Alliances, JetRails.com
In eCommerce, you need lots of systems and experts to grow and thrive, including an eCommerce platform, designers and developers, marketers, apps and extensions, web hosts, and systems that will integrate with your website, such as to accept credit cards.
While there may be many independent companies providing solutions for your site, many of these teams work together to bring you better solutions, support, and results. In this episode, we get into details on best practices, why some companies are partnered, why some aren't, and what it all means to you.
Guest: Rachel Jacobs, eCommercePartnerships.com
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
There are lots of branding agencies and graphic designers in the world, but creating a Magento website properly requires as much science as art. You have to think about Magento's default features and functionality, extensions and customizations, mobile and desktop users, and a process that will ultimately lead to a finished product that works well for your shoppers. In this episode, we discuss best practices for designing a Magento website, and share some tidbits to try to avoid too!
Guest: Robert Floyd, Product Designer and Creative Director @ Gauge
Host: Robert Rand, Director of Partnerships & Alliances @ JetRails.com
Have you heard of Open SaaS? A few years ago, the thought of BigCommerce participating in Open Source communities like WordPress and Drupal might have sounded surprising. In reality, with their push into Headless Commerce, BigCommerce now allows merchants to leverage their choice of frontend website interface... so we invited a member of their team to weigh in on the evolution of Headless Commerce at BigCommerce.
Guest: Daniel Fertig, Global Director of Agency Partnerships, BigCommerce
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Want to learn even more about Headless Commerce Benefits and Best Practices? Check out this multi-faceted guide written by BigCommerce, Bolt, & JetRails: http://bit.ly/2VbKl2G
Interested in Headless Commerce Hosting? Check out https://jetrails.com/blog/headless-commerce-hosting/
Email Marketing may seem like yesterday's news, but it can have an outsized impact on important metrics like customer lifetime value. This episode includes great tips and tricks for maximizing your Email marketing success.
Guests: Joe Devine, Partnerships & Alliances Manager, Emarsys Steve Wagner, Senior Marketing Manager, Webbula
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Robert chats with the team at DCKAP about quality assurance, and how a drive to follow best-practices led to the creation of QA Touch, a platform now used by other agencies and developers.
Guests: Karthik Chidambaram, Founder & CEO, DCKAP Bhavani Ramasubbu, QA Lead & Quality Architect, DCKAP
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Online merchants have a lot to manage. You've got customers, orders, products, payments, shipments, taxes, and bears... oh my! With what can seem like an ever-growing list of things to do to manage and maintain your eCommerce business, it can be easy to miss the story that your data is telling you. It's crucial to collect, connect, and visualize your data, creating meaningful analytics that you can act on. Intrigued? So were we, so we called in some experts.
Guests: Meaghan Connell & AJ Yager, Praxis Metrics - https://bit.ly/2kFFetZ Host: Robert Rand, JetRails.com
Clyde built a robust platform to allow eCommerce store owners to easily offer extended warranties and product insurance plans, and decided that to target Magento users, they'd benefit from having a Magento Extension. Learn how they connected with Xumulus, a web development agency (and Magento Extension Partner) to help build their Magento extension and launch it in the Magento Marketplace.
Host: - Robert Rand, JetRails
Guests: - Brandon Gell, Clyde - Dan Kozlowski, Xumulus
If you ship with a carrier like UPS or FedEx, it's likely that you're paying more in fees than you should be. For instance, if a shipment, such as an overnight shipment, is late, you may be entitled to a full refund. Tune in to learn more about where you may be overpaying your shipping carrier, and how to recoup those funds.
Guest: Jose Li, Founder & CEO, 71lbs Host: Robert Rand, Director of Partnerships & Alliances, JetRails
Shoppers expect orders to arrive at their doorstep quickly and cheaply. It's put a lot of pressure on merchants to compete. It's also brought challenges regarding eCommerce profitability. Learn more about the issues that ShipBob saw shoppers and sellers facing, and techniques for addressing those challenges.
Guest: George Wojciechowski, Co-Founder, ShipBob Host: Robert Rand, Director of Partnerships & Alliances, JetRails
Online shoppers have been given ample reason to fear privacy and fraud in recent years. They’ve watched behemoths like Target and Home Depot suffer data breaches. So why should they feel comfortable and confident to make a purchase on your website? Tune in to learn about how merchants are building trust and improving their conversion rates.
Special Guests: Eric Thorson + Mark Wilkinson, Norton Shopping Guarantee
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails
Amazon figured out that if you let shoppers know when they can expect to receive a product, it cuts down on friction and helps improve conversion rates.
We're excited to share firsthand feedback from a long-time eCommerce merchant on the impacts of adding this feature to his website. If you're into chess, you'll appreciate this guest's ability to think a few moves ahead! We've also brought on the founder of the tech company that's making this tech available to more and more eCommerce shops.
Guests: Raphael Neff, ChessHouse.com Akhilesh Srivastava, Fenix Commerce
Host: Robert Rand, JetRails
You spend lots of money driving shoppers to your eCommerce website, whether through paid ads, or organic advertising. In this episode of the podcast, we discuss how to convert more of those website visitors into customers, including by meeting expectations being set by titans of the eCommerce industry, like Amazon.
Hosts: Tom Puchalski and Robert Rand of JetRails.com Guest: Jay Omar of Bolt.com
Magento is one of the most robust and popular eCommerce platforms available. Learn about key differences between the free Open Source version of Magento, and the paid Commerce version, including ways that merchants using the more popular Magento Open Source version have been adding Enterprise features and functionalities to their stores.
Hosts: - Tom Puchalski, JetRails - Robert Rand, JetRails
Guest: - Alex Povolotski, Collins Harper
Product and Store reviews are some of the most important indicators that shoppers use when making a purchase. James Denker of Trustpilot, a veteran of the tech industry, joined to discuss where online review technology started, where it is now, and where it's headed. If you're an eCommerce merchant and trying to determine how to use reviews to your advantage, you won't want to miss this episode of The JetRails Podcast.
Guest: James Denker Jr., Senior Partner Manager @ Trustpilot Host: Robert Rand, Director of Partnerships @ JetRails
With Magento, you can import and export data through a variety of methods, including Flat File Uploads and Downloads, Direct Database Connections, and working with Magento's API. In this episode of The JetRails Podcast, we look at the pros and cons of each.
Host: - Robert Rand, JetRails
Guests: - Chris Frigo, Technical Team Lead @ 121eCommerce - Ryan Lunka, COO, nChannel
When Magento 2 was first released, it was buggy and not well received. Since, it's become a stable platform with many benefits and improvements over Magento 1. With each passing year, it's become stronger and has remained an industry leader. Listen in to learn more about incremental updates that have continued to add to the value proposition of Magento 2.
Hosts: Tom Puchalski & Robert Rand of JetRails Special Guest: Alex Povolotski of Collins Harper
To learn about Magento 2.3.1 you can visit: https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-2-3-1-to-be-released-in-march-2019/
and for info about Magento 2.3.2, be sure to check out: https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-2-3-2-release-date/
An introduction to Season 1 of the JetRails podcast, a new advertising-free show with important tips and insights into eCommerce, digital marketing, and web hosting.
You can visit https://jetrails.com/podcast/ to learn more about The JetRails Podcast.
The teams from Collins Harper and JetRails discuss the End of Life of Magento 1, best practices for maintaining your M1 site, and when you need to move beyond Magento 1.x, as well as best practices for replatforming onto Magento 2.
Learn from the experiences of Magento experts in order to keep your Magento store safe and secure, and to have a successful experience in migrating to M2 prior to M1 EOL.
Watch the video at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Th-o1InnyG4&t=9s
Hosts: Tom Puchalski & Robert Rand of JetRails Guests: Alex Povolotski & Simon Chan of Collins Harper
For a 2020 update on this topic, check out this helpful eBook: https://www.bolt.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Bolt-Magento-1-End-of-Life-Survival-Guide-1_compressed.pdf
To learn more about hosting differences between Magento 1 and 2, please visit https://jetrails.com/blog/hosting-differences-between-magento-1-and-magento-2/
You can also get free resources from JetRails, including:
2-factor authentication for your Magento admin, https://jetrails.com/blog/magento-2fa-extension/ a CloudFlare Extension to help speed up and secure your Magento 1 or Magento 2 site: https://jetrails.com/blog/improving-the-cloudflare-experience-with-a-magento-extension/ a free Magento speedtest: https://jetrails.com/speed/ and a free Magento security assessment: https://jetrails.com/security/