Jimmy Rodriguez

For all of the effort, time, and money we pour into marketing and sales, how do we define success? It’s easy to point to revenue or customer acquisition, concrete metrics that boost your bottom line in a measurable way.

But there’s one thing your website has to do really well before we get there: build trust and credibility. No matter what you sell or who your customers are, without trust, there’s no sale. Every sale, every customer relationship depends on the customer’s willingness to trust[...]

Shopping cart abandonment has plagued online store owners for years. As new technology develops, we’ve been able to better understand and address the causes of abandonment. But with these new solutions, technology has also brought new challenges.

Mobile shopping.

Shopping done on mobile devices now accounts for over a third of all retail ecommerce. That number is only set to grow in the coming years, so it’s nothing to scoff at. If that sounds great, like your customers can shop from[...]

Marketing automation – heard of it? Over the last few years, software built to automate marketing has sprung up everywhere, and email marketing isn’t left in the dust.

The main selling point behind email automation is that it enables marketers to catch the consumer at the right moment, when they’re ready to buy.

Like any new technology, plenty of marketers hopped right on board. As an ecommerce business owner, you’re a little more cautious. You want to see how this new tech plays out, to[...]

Is your business making use of the ecommerce opportunity at your fingertips?

When we talk about ecommerce, most of us imagine retail powerhouses like Amazon or Wayfair – but the B2B ecommerce potential is even bigger. In fact, the business ecommerce market topped $7.7 trillion in 2017. That’s a huge opportunity.

Why the popularity of ecommerce for B2B transactions? There are a lot of reasons for ecommerce’s growth in B2B sales, but the biggest reason isn’t so different from the B2C world:[...]

Shopping cart abandonment is an epidemic in the ecommerce world.

Recent data shows the average cart abandonment rate is almost 70 percent. That means only 3 out of every 10 people who places an item in their cart actually buys it.

Cart abandonment comes with the territory of owning an ecommerce store, but that doesn’t mean there’s nothing you can do about it. Customers abandon shopping carts for all kinds of reasons, but many online store owners commit the same common mistakes that drive up[...]

Where do your new customers come from? Facebook ads? Google search results? Thin air?

Time and again, studies show that email marketing is the most effective channel for customer acquisition. Reports estimate 44% of all consumers made a purchase based on an email newsletter last year. McKinsey & Company found that email helps acquire new customers 40 times better than social media.

Conversion rates and click-through-rate in those emails are 3x better, and the value of those conversions can[...]

We're excited to announce the release of Version 8.1 of the 3dcart platform!

In v8.1, 3dcart store owners will have access to new payment solutions and new and improved features. Plus, we've fixed some bugs and issues to ensure the smoothest eCommerce experience possible for both merchants and customers.

As the first update of 2018, we're introducing major features like Google Pay and Square Register  to online stores powered by 3dcart. but there is much more in this release to help[...]

More and more online stores have embraced dropshipping, a business model that leverages third parties to add efficiency to an ecommerce website. In fact, anywhere from one-quarter to one-third of all online stores use dropshipping as their preferred fulfillment method.

Of course, implementing dropshipping as a business model isn’t as simple as it seems. You need to arm yourself with a strong business plan to help mitigate the numerous challenges associated with dropshipping.

Which challenges[...]

For any ecommerce business, it’s impossible to know what’s working and what isn’t without the help of a robust analytics program. Problem is most out-of-the-box analytics platforms are built for website measurement, analyzing surface metrics like pageviews, time on page, bounce rate, and exit rate.

These are all important metrics for your business. But ecommerce websites are different. If the goal is to understand where you can improve your sales funnel, you need to see your customer journey[...]

When it comes to marketing a B2B ecommerce website, it can be hard to know where you should start. You want to meet potential customers where they are – but where do other businesses hang out online?

It’s a trick question. Even though we call it “business to business,” there’s still a regular old person doing research and making purchase decisions for that business. That’s why you’ll see a lot of overlap in the way B2B and consumer ecommerce websites are promoted.

There is a key difference,[...]

Cart abandonment.

In the ecommerce world, it’s a four-letter word.

At a time when 7 out of every 10 online shopping carts is abandoned, ecommerce owners have to get serious about addressing cart abandonment. After all, the best abandoned cart is the one that’s never abandoned at all.

That’s why it’s key to focus on prevention first. The lower your abandonment rate, the fewer sales you miss out on – and the less effort you have to spend to win them back.

With that in mind, here are 7 tried[...]

Dropshipping is a special niche of ecommerce. Though you still want the full feature kit and kaboodle, some features are much more important than others.

Online stores built on dropshipping models leverage these features to sell efficiently and with enough scale to make big profits on small margins.

Which features should you rely on to get your online store into good shape? Check out 4 indispensible dropshipping features below.

In the ecommerce world, you’re only as good as your partners. The importance of partnering with strong dropshippers can’t be understated.

Finding the right dropshipper can be a difficult process, especially for entrepreneurs who are new to the world of ecommerce. It takes a discerning eye to find the most trustworthy dropshippers. This requires countless hours of research and communication.

Doba helps solve this problem by aggregating vetted suppliers and manufacturers into a single[...]

For all its strategizing and versatility, email marketing is pretty simple when you boil it down: find people who want to hear from you and send them emails.

It’s a simple concept but far from an easy task. People are everywhere online. They’re on your website, all over social media, scrolling through search results… The trick is finding the right people, who have a need for what you sell, and convincing them to hand over their email address.

No matter what kind of online business you run, context matters. In most cases, it’s your job as an online store owner to set the right context for your customers.

One of the biggest contextual areas websites take for granted is search context. You can put tons of resources into creating content in the hopes of building up your search ranking. But if you haven’t put thought into how your search result appears to a potential customer, content will only get you so far.

To build search context,

Just two years ago, mobile ecommerce represented only 15% of dollars spent online, even though people spent an overwhelming amount of time on their mobile devices.

That number is rapidly changing, and it’s partially thanks to the work done on Google’s open source Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) project. Even if you don’t know what AMP is, you reap the benefits every day when you browse the web on your phone, where pages load much faster than they did just a few short years ago.

The internet’s[...]

Have you considered starting an online business by dropshipping products directly from the distributor? Either if you're planning to do this as your first venture selling online, or you have an established e-commerce website looking to expand, these steps can help you determine if the dropshipping model will work for you.

Like any facet of ecommerce, dropshipping done right can be a highly successful business model. But to do it right, you’ll need to create a foundation for a successful and[...]

If you’ve invested some time in understanding how SEO works, you might be worried about duplicate content on your ecommerce website. And rightfully so -- but not necessarily for the reason you might think.

There are two kinds of duplicate content. One kind isn’t necessarily harmful, though it indicates you might be ignoring an opportunity to do better SEO. Done frequently, the other kind is flagrant and can cause penalties to your website.

How do you know which duplicate content is okay and[...]

One of the biggest barriers to starting an online store is the startup cost.

Like any business, ecommerce is a big investment. On the frontend, it costs money to set up your online store. But the meat and potatoes of your online store is where it can really get dicey. After all, you need a product to sell, and you need inventory of that product.

To sell a product, many online stores invest heavily in creating or stocking that product. But what if we told you there was a way to start an[...]

Online stores can’t understate the importance of a comprehensive SEO strategy. That said, there is such a thing as an overzealous one. If your SEO program is over the top, Google and other search engines won’t look kindly on your website.

You migth not be aware that your website has been penalized by Google, but if visits keep slowing down, follow the simple actions listed below to help you determine if your website is currently being penalized. And learn the common reasons that could be[...]