343: Why great-looking Shopify stores still leak sales | Anna Tillotson

Think a good-looking website means it's actually converting?

So we have Anna Tillotson on ep 343 of The Content Queen Podcast to talk about why pretty stores still leak sales, and where product-based businesses are actually losing customers (hint, it's rarely the homepage).

Anna is the founder of House of Cart, a Shopify and Klaviyo expert team helping women-led ecommerce brands scale and grow. She's audited and built more than 500 Shopify stores, leads a fully remote team of seven, and is also the founder of Future Ready Kids, AI literacy for kids. This episode is packed with practical, no-fluff advice if you run a Shopify store, or even just suspect your website might be leaking sales somewhere.

If you LOVED this episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag us @contentqueenmariah and @houseofcart.

⁠⁠⁠⁠LEARN THE DETAILS OF A CONTENT STRATEGY WITH MY FREE AUDIO GUIDE⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS 👇

✨ Why a pretty store isn't the same as a converting store, and why structure and customer journey do the actual selling

✨ Why most stores leak sales on the product page and at checkout, not the homepage, and what to check first

✨ Why email marketing is a revenue channel, not just a newsletter, and why it should be doing 30 to 40% of your revenue if it's set up properly

✨ How to think about abandoned cart flows and timing (the "school pickup" example), so your emails land when someone's actually ready to buy

✨ Why going deep into your own customer journey, and even "spying" on brands you admire, reveals more than data alone

SHOW RESOURCES 👇

If you like this episode, don't forget to share it to your Instagram stories and tag me⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ @contentqueenmariah⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠!

Other than that, enjoy - chat next week 💕

PODCAST TRANSCRIPTION

This is episode 342, and we are talking to anyone that has a Shopify website or is a product-based business, because this is all about why great-looking Shopify stores still leak sales, with Shopify and Klaviyo expert Anna Tillackson. Welcome to the Content Queen podcast. I'm your host, Mariah, entrepreneur, storyteller, digital nomad, creator of Content Bootcamp, and founder of Content Queen, with over 10 years experience in marketing.

This podcast is here to help you create your ideal and perfect content marketing strategy for your business by blending storytelling and strategy. So, let's get into it. Hello, gang. We are filming again my little intros to my guest episode on our DJI Osmo because, um, it was broken. It had a bit of damage.

We're not really sure why, but you know, things that you just put off on your to-do list, and they just stay on that to-do list for so long. And finally, we went to the DJI store in Perth, put it in- They replaced it for $250, so now we have it back and [00:01:00] so you'll see the quality of my guest episodes in this, uh, in my intro.

The other ones we film on another camera, but I just thought, you know, we all have things on our to-do list that never get done. Sometimes you just gotta dedicate the time. So yeah. Anyway, we're happy that is done. Now, amazing. So Anna landed in my inbox, uh, a little while ago now, and she specializes in Klaviyo and Shopify.

I have some clients that use both of those platforms, and I was like, "Okay, we need you on," because I know there are so many product-based business owners that have the website, have all the things, you know, have the marketing set up, and there's still not things that are quite joining together. Or some things are, some things aren't.

Like, I think no matter where you're at in your business, that's always going to happen, so it's great to have amazing experts that have so much experience to come and share. So this one is value-packed. If you are listening to this and you're like, "Well, I don't have a Shopify, I don't have a Klaviyo, but I feel like my website is maybe leaking in some way, [00:02:00] shape or form," this could still help you as well.

So Anna. Let's talk about Anna. She's the founder of House of Cart, Shopify and Klaviyo expert, and she has a team that helps women-led e-commerce brands scale on Shopify. She has audited and built more than 500 Shopify stores, and leads a fully remote team of seven. Anna is also a mom of three, running a neurodivergent home, and the founder of Future Ready Kids, AI literacy for kids.

She's currently rebuilding her agency to run on AI, and it's proof that you can amplify your business and design the lifestyle around it rather than the other way around. Super refreshing conversation. She's also a van-lifer i- in some degrees in her life, and she's done so 

Anna Tillotson: much van life. I wish you could have heard our conversation before this, 'cause it was epic.

But let's talk to Anna. 

Mariah: Amazing. Anna, I could talk to you forever about travel as we just spent- ... the last, the first 15 minutes. But can you just tell everyone a little bit more about who you are and what you do? [00:03:00] 

Anna Tillotson: Absolutely. Thank you for having me here today, Mariah. Uh, so my name's Anna. I am the founder of House of Cart.

So we are almost nine years into our Shopify and Klaviyo journey. So I started this, it actually tailed off being a product-based business. So, you know, 12 years ago I started. I didn't wanna go back to corporate. Um, I had my first child, and I started my first product-based business, which was children's clothing, back when Instagram was a breeze and organic traffic and content was just so easy.

Um, and I actually did the hard yards of four years' worth of market. So my first initial base of business was understanding the whole, whole model around customer service, selling product, what works, what doesn't. And then Shopify started to really evolve onto the scene. People were moving online. It was just starting to hit, and- I got sick of, to be honest, I got sick of working in the markets, um, giving up my weekends with little kids.

So I decided to put it online. I built a Shopify store. It snowballed from there. I started then putting all my [00:04:00] market friends onto Shopify, and then decided that that was my jam. I love design, and that was what I was really passionate about Eight years later we have evolved into, I don't use the word agency because that's not who we are, we're an expert team.

So our target client is normally a female, she's a mum, she's in corporate, she doesn't wanna go back to work, she wants to get out of the rat race. She has an idea and a dream, and that's why we only work on Shopify, is it's absolutely possible in the world we live in right now. The opportunities out there to build a business online, scale a business online is next level, and that's what Shopify does.

So we've spent the last almost decade building a small team around us that basically takes the idea and the dream through to launch, through to then scaling it. So every day and every week we're working with different brands, different businesses from the startup phase through to a brand that's sort of halfway through their journey and needing to scale.

[00:05:00] Um, yeah, and I remember when I first did this and I made the decision to only go with Shopify, so many people said to me, "Why would you do that? It's a bad decision to back one horse, right?" And I said, "You know what? I'm gonna back one horse for a reason," and I'm very glad I did because for product-based businesses, Shopify is where it's at.

You know, there is no question about where you should be on a platform. Um, and I just love everything Shopify stands for and the opportunities that it brings, and so here we are, you know, nine years later. 

Mariah: Oh my God, I love that, and I love that you answered all of my questions into one so we can get straight into it.

We can get straight into the good stuff. Yes. So I love that, and I, I love... I mean, how cool is that, like, you know, going from markets to online store to sort of, and you know, you mentioned- Sure ... um, before we started recording that you have an RV in the States, and you travel the States- Mm-hmm ... with your family when you can, and like that's the- Yep

beauty of, like, you know, even if you still just had your product-based business you would've been able to do that with that online space- Definitely ... which is so- 

Anna Tillotson: Absolutely ... 

Mariah: so cool. You 

Anna Tillotson: know, and that's the [00:06:00] whole, that's the whole model, right, and the whole goal, and what I've built my business around. I've built it around my lifestyle, and that's what the online world does now.

And you know, when I meet clients and I talk to them for the first time, they're in the same position. They just want more time. They want more freedom. And at the end of the day, like, we all wanna make money. That's what we're here to do, but it's about how you make that money and what kind of life you have around it rather than- Mm

you know, the other way around, which is traditional. So yeah. Yes. The online space really allows us to do that now. 

Mariah: Yes. Rather than, you know, you- Mm ... you live to work rather than- Totally ... you know, which, which- Totally ... um, which happens with a lot of people, right? We, we go on the nine to five. We- Mm-hmm ... you know, we do all the things that we're told to do and then we start to realize what, what it's actually all about.

And I think a lot of business owners do this as well, right? You start a business, you get caught up in it, next thing you know, and I've done this, like, I wanted to travel. That's the only reason I started my business. Um, I was doing what I was doing but for- Mm ... someone else. Totally, yep. And I'm like, I just, uh...

And, like, also help, like, more smaller business [00:07:00] owners rather than, like, one- Yep ... company. And then, and then you're like, "Oh, yeah, I wanna travel. That's why." And then next thing you know you're working, you know, all day every day. I was, like, not traveling 'cause it was COVID, and I was like, "Hang on. Why did I start this business again?

Like, huh?" Yep. Um, I have to remind myself of that, you know, when you get stuck in it. Like, you also did this for travel, so we always choose that as the answer. Absolutely. Um, so- Yeah, agree ... you know, I love that you say that because I think, um, it does, we do, even as business owners, even if we create our business for the freedom to spend more time with our family- Mm-hmm

whatever that looks like, some- we can get lost in it. Uh- Absolutely ... that's for sure, 'cause it's, it's 

Anna Tillotson: fun. And then it's wearing all hats. Like, small business is, you know, especially the kind of client I have, like, she's a, she's potentially a mom, she's a female at home. Like, she's wearing so many hats as it is, and they take on these small businesses, and the reality of how many different departments you then become- Yeah

and the things that you need to learn. And it's a love or hate relationship, but the ones that I see succeed are the ones that take it all in their stride, slow it back [00:08:00] down, bring it to basics, and just one step at a time, and fail. You know? Yeah. Failure is the only way for them to grow and succeed and, you know, lower the expectations that, of overnight success.

Um, there are those people that do that, but they're very far and few between, and I think the ones that really can make a, a go of it have the grit. You know? Yeah. The grit, something you've gotta, you've gotta develop. 

Mariah: Yeah. I love that. Mm-hmm. So you, you build a lot of Shopify stores, as you said, and, like, you really decided to go down that path which, yeah, good call, because, like, that is- Mm-hmm

the e-com site, right? I don't know many e-com brands that don't use Shopify, right? Yeah. So what are you seeing happening with, like, these... You know, Shopify obviously has templates and they look nice. Mm. Mm-hmm. And, you know, it's, it's a lot easier to make a website now. It's drag and drop. Yep. It's add your text.

Yep. It's do all that. Yep. But some of them still aren't actually converting. So what are you seeing is, like, mistakes that these, um- Mm-hmm ... business owners are making or the patterns that you see that make a website look nice but not actually [00:09:00] get the sales? 

Anna Tillotson: Look, I think, you know, and if, if people are listening and they have got a store, I think the three biggest takeaways I'd like to talk about, and hopefully they can walk away with some better knowledge of where to go from here.

The bigger... The three things that I would like to mention would be, you know, a pretty store is not always a store that's working, you know? And design gets you the first five seconds, but the structure and the customer journey is what actually gets the sale and what gets them across the line, and I think that's where, you know, a lot of stores go wrong.

You know, pretty looks great, but what functionality is behind it to actually get that person to convert? Is there a trust factor? Do they understand the journey and, you know, are all their questions answered to make them want to purchase, right? So that would probably be the first thing. And then the second thing I, you know, would be that the s- you know, all the stores we see, they're leaking sales in normally three places, and people make an assumption it's the homepage.

They spend day, after day, after day tweaking, editing, changing, [00:10:00] redoing their homepage and forgetting about the most important pages, which is the product page, the cart, and the actual journey when they get to checkout. How is that for the customer? You know, the product page in particular is one that just gets not as much love.

You know, they make an assumption that the homepage does the heavy lifting, when in fact the product page needs to. So I think that's another, you know, problem that we see. And then the third thing I think would be, you know, email marketing. Like, I would honestly put the numbers at around about 50% of the client.

Like, I'm, you know, I'm doing at least 10 to 15 sales calls a week. I would say 50% of them don't have email marketing, and some of those, 20 to 30% of those people need me to explain what it is and how it works. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: Right? And that component, without that component is just fishing with a net with a hole, you know?

And I can go onto that a little bit later about how that works. But email marketing is not a newsletter. There is a newsletter component, but it's a revenue channel. Mm. And Klaviyo [00:11:00] is a revenue channel that should be doing about between 30 to 40% revenue for your business, and if it's not, there's a problem.

And I think that's where people have this misconception that it's just sending out this random newsletter every now and then. That's not what's gonna make money. The money, again, it comes back to the structure of what's there, and the nurture behind all your Klaviyo flows. So, you know, those three things we see- Time and in time, you know, over and over and over on websites that people are making mistakes from.

Mm-hmm. But then again, it's, there's all these problems, where do I start? Like, that is also the, you know, I get the same sentences, "I don't know what I don't know. I don't really know what to start. I don't, you know, what's actually gonna move the needle? I'll just do 30 things and see what happens," and then nothing happens.

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: So I think it's about helping people understand, of breaking everything back down, and how to move the needle in a easier way so [00:12:00] that they can actually get some traction to scale. 

Mariah: Mm. Yeah, you know- Mm ... I, I love that, like, kind of, you know, say for example you, you jump on a call with- Mm-hmm ... or you, you, you watch a, a Instagram video or a YouTube video or a TikTok or a podcast like this, and then you go like, "Okay, cool.

I can change this, I can edit this, I can update this"- Mm-hmm ... and you have this whole page and then, you know, you look at your numbers the next month- Yep ... and nothing, 'cause you, you don't have time to do all the things- Yeah ... that you've added. Yeah. I like... It's interesting what you say about, like, yeah, obviously like the homepage isn't the only place where- Mm

the sales are linked, which is so interesting. Mm. When it comes to the, you know, your product page and showcasing- Mm ... what it is you offer, what are some of the mistakes you're seeing? Like, is it that- People don't understand what they should buy, how they should start Mm-hmm Like say, for example, you have a, a, a range of products, and people are like, "Ooh, well, what do I need?"

or, "What do I need to buy?" What are some of those things that the product page just isn't doing that could- 

Anna Tillotson: Look, I think it also comes back down to the who, the what, the where, and the why. You know, [00:13:00] that's, that's a factor on every page and on every marketing plan. Like, who are you targeting? You know, what, what problem does it solve in their life?

And why do they need it? And are all the questions answered on that product page- Mm-hmm ... to make me wanna buy? You know, do you have a size guide? Is it really clear what I, you know, what, where I fit into with what I purchase? What are the options? How much is it gonna cost me to, to purchase it? Am I gonna get hit with shipping at the cart?

Um, you know, it's not a... It's... And also what we see, like the description of what's written there, is it written about the brand or is it written about the buyer? You know, is it putting the buyer in that situation of understanding like that I need that, I need that in my life, this is what problem it's gonna solve.

Um, you know, and if they are left with questions, they bounce. You know, if, if there's reasons on there that they wouldn't purchase and the answers aren't clear enough, they're lost. The other thing that we see a [00:14:00] lot is, again, you know, I use the word hierarchy a lot, but hierarchy matters, and how it is displayed and visually.

Like, it's small things, and there's so many things, but, like, one thing in particular that we see, and people are really surprised when I say this, but people who have, have a see-through button. So their CTA add to cart is just a black box with no color, right? And then you hover over it, maybe a color pops up.

But they don't understand the mentality behind a shopper is we're drawn to what we see. Changing that button to a beautiful branded color instantaneously will make them think, "Add to cart, add to cart." You know, so instead of- Mm-hmm ... having this button right down the bottom that's not exciting and not, it doesn't do anything for me.

Um, and then, you know, also other things like the description, it's like 10 paragraphs long, and it's the saga and the story. So you gotta just step back into the fact of what is it that you want the customer to do on the website? What's the directive you're giving them? Do you want them to read or do you want them to shop?

We want them to shop and spend money, so making it easy. Scannable information, [00:15:00] turning those USPs, unique selling points, whether it's your free shipping th- threshold, your vegan friendly, your recycled packaging, your Australia Made, 1,000 reviews, whatever it is, you know, buried into wording that no one will read.

We wanna make sure that those are highlighted in little graphics, really scannable information. Um, and that the product page just pops, you know. It just pops because, again, especially on mobile, 70 to 80% of users are gonna be on their phone. So when we open it up on the phone, what do we see? What is the journey like?

Is everything answered really quickly? Is there social proof on there? Are there other people that's making me sway on the decision of purchasing because they really love the product? So all of those things we find are often secondary when someone builds a website. They focus so much on the home page, and the product page is just a product page, you know, but that's where the heavy lifting is done.

And especially if you're moving into paid advertising, you're heavily using [00:16:00] AI SEO or SEO in general through Google, they might actually land on the product page first. You know, there's a high chance that they might even not even make it to your home page. So what impression are they getting when they land?

Are they also getting an experience from that page? Um, and that's a disconnect we definitely see. Yeah. Mm-hmm. So I think focusing on that can make a huge difference. 

Mariah: Yeah. It's so interesting- Yeah ... 'cause, yeah, my mind always I guess goes to the home page because- Mm ... like that's, you know, where- 

Anna Tillotson: Yeah ... 

Mariah: we think everyone is going to land, and- 

Anna Tillotson: Mm

Mariah: you're right, if you are running ads or even if you're doing, like if you're using your Instagram stories to direct people- Mm ... straight to your product, you're more- Yep ... likely going to send them to the product page over the home page anyway, right? So you want 'em to go- Yep. Absolutely ... somewhere very specific.

So, um- 

Anna Tillotson: Absolutely ... 

Mariah: yeah, that's, that's, that's very interesting. I love that. I love outside the box ideas when it comes to editing. Do you often recommend, say, clients, um, you know, make those sort of 1% changes and then test to see what works? Do we have like, [00:17:00] "Okay, we're gonna edit our website once every few months, and here's all the changes that we do"?

Should we be editing our website, like, regularly, or- Look- ... 

Anna Tillotson: how- ... what we normally would say, like if you were gonna do something, I think the first thing is, is to take your top three products and really look at those in terms of how you've designed your content, how you've designed the USP, you know, unique selling points.

Mm-hmm. And then redoing your product page around those three to start with. You know, redoing a whole page and testing. Still keep your other one in the backend, make that a draft one, and just test it. You know, test that product. those three products on your new template and just put it out there and see how it goes.

See what's going on. Put something like Hotjar on the back of your Shopify so you can actually see what's happening to the traffic, um, and see what they're doing when they land there also. Spying on your traffic's one of the best thing you can do, actually see what's happening. But, you know, you, you don't wanna be going in, changing the homepage, changing the product page, changing everything about the journey.

Just start with the product page. You know, [00:18:00] find a new structure. Um, you know, what I can do, I can link at the bottom also, we've got a portfolio on there, and I always say to people when I'm on sales calls, you know, "Go through some of our portfolio, look at all the product pages." Mm. "Look at how we've built them out.

See what's relative to you and your brand, and make those changes." 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: And then see what happens. You'll start to see a trend of how we build and how we design. Um, and take those changes, make it your own, set one up, and then see how it goes. 

Mariah: Yeah. Cool. Definitely link that. And for anyone that doesn't know, Hotjar is a website tracking, uh, platform that will, like, record sessions, heat maps.

It's really great. I think they've been, um- Yes ... they've been acquired by Content something or other. I 

Anna Tillotson: did see something, yeah. Yeah. 'Cause I've also got it loaded in the back. I've just got the free one. I don't, I don't 

Mariah: pay for it. Yeah. No, I don't, no. 

Anna Tillotson: But, um, I got the, I did get an email. Yeah, I saw something about that.

Mariah: Yeah. Yeah. So, so yeah. It's 

Anna Tillotson: very cool. It, yeah. Great 

Mariah: tool. It's so good, and it, it allows you to see, like, why, yeah, like, what is people's behaviors. 'Cause as you were saying, like, we don't really know what we don't know until we [00:19:00] can see what our audience- That's it ... is doing. And I think often, and maybe you find this as well, is people don't do their own customer journey.

And they don't tweak it. Also, 

Anna Tillotson: yeah. You know, when you said, like, "What can people do?" I had that listed down as something I would say to people is go through your own journey yourself. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: Get two friends or, you know, two previous customers to give you feedback. Negative feedback is one of the best things you can get for your business.

You know? Mm. We don't all want the sunshine and rainbows. Like, that's great when you hear good things, but also that doesn't level you up. All it does is just make you think everything's fine. But what about the percentage of people that didn't enjoy the experience or didn't enjoy the journey and bounced?

They are not gonna reach out and say, "I actually didn't like this. This didn't work for me. I couldn't do this, so I didn't purchase." 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: You know? So and the amount of people when I say to them, you know, "How often do you go on your website? Do you go on and add to cart every day or once a week to see that everything's working smoothly?"

Some of them will say, like, "I haven't even been on my [00:20:00] website in two months." So they're also not aware if there's a problem or if something's broken. So going through that journey regularly and testing what's going on and how the actual journey, especially on your phone- Mm ... um, is one of the key things that people can do to be making sure that they're leveling it up at all points, because that's another thing we see, especially with people that have got old or outdated websites, they just make an assumption that it's a set and forget.

It'll be okay, we'll just keep going. It's gonna be fine. But as I said before, you know, 9 out of 10 people won't reach out with a bad experience. They'll just bounce. 

Mariah: Yep. 

Anna Tillotson: They won't, you know, and you will never know. So it's really important to know your own customer journey and actually get in there and understand it.

And even more so now with AI, you know, with ChatGPT taking over as, as our search engine now, you know, if all of those things aren't really clear to chat, then, you know, you're missing- They're gonna love it ... out on so much 

Mariah: gold. Yeah. Yeah. And I think, too, there's a few [00:21:00] things. I think one of the things is we often think- that there's so much on our website that we need people to know.

Anna Tillotson: Mm-hmm. 

Mariah: Mm. Like, "Oh my God, they have to know this, and they have to know that-" Yeah ... "and they have..." And it's like some people don't care about that. Online. Like, you know, they d- they don't care- Mm-hmm ... as much as you think they do. Yeah. About those things. And that's definitely it. And, you know, like

Anna Tillotson: even today I had a sales call and I just bluntly said to her, she had all these reasons why she had all this stuff, and I said, "But are you your customer?" And she said, "Not at all." I said, "Well, then what does it matter? You need to build your site for your customer, not for you." 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: You're often also too close to it.

You're too per- it's too personal. You love it like no one else. No one else cares as much as you do. No one else loves it as much as you do. You've often got viewer fatigue because you've looked at your website over and over and over, and you really have no clear goals anymore because it's so blended.

And, you know, we always say to people, "You also [00:22:00] need to step back and see it from a different perspective." And, you know, when we do audits for people, that's how... Like, we don't even give them a questionnaire when we do an audit. We say, you know, I do part of the audit and then Hazel, my senior designer, does the other half.

We come at it completely blind. I don't wanna know any of your numbers, your data. It's not about that. We wanna come at it as a customer who had just come from Facebook and saw an ad. That's cool. Was kind of intrigued, and that's where you get real information. Data says a lot, absolutely, but when it comes to- CRO and getting it to a conversion-friendly place, you know, fresh eyes are, you know, are so invaluable- Yeah

to be able to understand what's going on. 

Mariah: Yeah. 'Cause you've got questions that, yeah, you- Mm-hmm ... you would, if you knew the... Or you go, "Oh, yeah, I can see how that could work for them," you know, whatever. Yeah. And I think the other thing is, if we do have a website that we've- Yeah ... either looked at too much or we've just layered content onto content onto content- Yeah

we often go like, "I don't wanna send anyone there because I hate [00:23:00] it." So then we, like, often divert people. I mean, for product it's a bit different 'cause you sort of just, like, you, you know, in service you can make a sale without someone going on your website. Yeah. But product is, like, you know, it's, it's pretty, that's where people make the- Yeah

the purchase. Um, but I find it quite interesting that you, you then become ashamed or embarrassed of this thing that you've just, like, you add- Oh ... more and more and more to it, and then it just becomes a too hard basket, I'll just leave it. 

Anna Tillotson: Yeah. And you know, we, we talk about that a lot on sales calls, and I say to people, you know, like, you want a place where you're really proud of.

And you'd be really surprised, or n- I mean, you've said it, so you obviously are aware of that factor too, but there's a lot of people out there that are really not proud of their websites, yet they don't actually know what to do to make it better, so they put their head in the sand and they keep on going.

And you know, it's like your shop front. You know, back in the day when we had, you know, more businesses inside shop fronts, which is a very dwindling number right now of smaller businesses and shops. But your shop window was something you, you worked hard on, you were proud of it, [00:24:00] and you wouldn't just set it up and leave it for two years and hope that the traffic cared when they walked past, right?

It's, that was the inviting factor into your business, and- I think that's what people also forget. It's like, if you're not proud of your business, how are you gonna make money? You know, how are you going to sell when the thing that you're selling on you're not proud of? And yeah, we strive really hard with all our clients.

It's like we want them to be proud of what they've... You know, we want them to shout it from the rooftops, "Come and have a look." 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: Um, 'cause it is the modern-day version of a shop window, you know? Yeah. And it deserves the, it deserves the pride as well. 

Mariah: Yeah. I just wanna hijack this episode to tell you about something that is g- generally helping and changing the game for business owners that I work with.

So if you're sitting there at 5:00 PM scrambling, not sure what to do, what to post, you are not alone, and I have in fact been there, along with many other businesses that I've worked with, getting to my laptop, throwing something together, pushing it out there, throwing spaghetti at the wall, and seeing what sticks.

Now, this is not strategy, and it really feels like [00:25:00] survival. That is why I created Content Boot Camp. It is my signature program that takes you through the seven steps to create a really intentional and aligned content strategy for your business, one that is actually documented, is actually for you, and actually gets results.

So there's no more guessing, no more winging it, and no more content hamster wheel. By the end of your journey in Content Boot Camp, you'll have a clear plan on what to post, where to post it, and why, plus the confidence to actually execute it. And you're not doing it alone, because I do live calls all the time, so you'll get access to me, I can help you with your strategy, and a community of other business owners that are doing the same thing.

You'll also get lifetime access, so if your business evolves and grows and changes, it will grow and evolve and change with you. So if you are ready to stop winging it and start being intentional with your marketing, 

Anna Tillotson: get a strategy behind you, head to contentqueenmariah.com, check out boot camp, Content Boot Camp.

I would love to see you there. Mm-hmm. 

Mariah: And 

Anna Tillotson: what 

Mariah: do you... What, what recommendation do you [00:26:00] have for business owners that feel like they've left it too long? Like, they've just let it g- get weeds. Like, it's like a garden, right? You've let it overgrown. Yeah. Like, do you just get stuck straight in headfirst? Do you chip away at different areas of your page?

Like, what things do you recommend for clients that are like, "Yeah, I have not done anything on this in ages." Look, 

Anna Tillotson: it does get to a point where there is a drawing a line in the sand. So especially with Shopify, so there's also a few factors in place, like Shopify moving from 1.0 to 2.0, which happened about...

God, I... How the hell are we even... 2026 now. You know, that's, like, three or four years ago now, but we're s- we're talking to clients that are five years old, right? Their site's five years old, so they're actually on an old framework. Everything's breaking down slowly in the back end, and nothing's ever going to be right again until they move to these new platforms.

And ironically, and people just think it's crazy when I tell them, but a site that's a year old now we would call really, really old. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: Because the themes are moving so fast. So we partner heavily with Broadcast, which is our favorite [00:27:00] theme. We work with the theme developers to evolve new versions, and we give them a lot of feedback.

But primarily just even thinking about how they are evolving. The rollout even since March has been next level. The new features, the new functionality, what they're building inside the themes is epic. And, you know, that's where when we talk to a client and assess what's going on, there does get a point where we're not- Like, we don't recommend band-aiding, because at the end of the day, $100 is $100, but you can spend it in the right way or the wrong way, and band-aiding an old solution is never going to fix what needs fixing.

So it's about assessing what's going on. You know, do you have a free theme? Do you have a paid theme? Can you get an updated version of your paid theme? And then potentially looking at how far back your version is. You know, as I said, we're look- like one to two-year-old stores now, we're saying to them they need to get a new version, and you potentially need to rebuild what's there.

Mm. Breaking apart what [00:28:00] you have and piecing it back together, because it's the cost of what it costs if you don't do anything, because you're also missing out on features and functionality. As I said, Shopify is moving like lightning right now, and what was there even a year ago, like, we have so much more now already.

AI is evolving so fast inside all the technology as well. Um, and you know, the brands that are gonna stand out are the brands that are gonna adapt all the new features and functionality, and all the new things to actually level up their store. So- 

Mariah: Mm ... 

Anna Tillotson: it's never too late. I think it's just finding out where you're at, and making an assessment about what your next steps are.

Mariah: Yeah. Yeah, that's cool. And even, like, with, um, Shopify and the Shop app, right? Like, now you can- Mm ... run ads on there and, like, it's so interesting to see- It's, it's 

Anna Tillotson: just- ... 

Mariah: um- ... moving so fast ... how it's evolving- Yep ... and how we're... You know, and I always find, like, obviously you know a Shopify- 

Anna Tillotson: Mm ... 

Mariah: website, bec- I mean, even, I mean, if you don't- 

Anna Tillotson: Yep, 

Mariah: you can smell it

I'm gonna tell you now. 'Cause you, you [00:29:00] can tell by the checkout, and it connects with the Shop app and all those things. And, and you're, I always find tho- those are the processes that are a lot easier to navigate, right? All my details are already saved. Yep. You know, all those things that are already, um, integrated into- Totally

that platform, that it's just like, it just sends me, like, a text message, and I enter the text message, and then all my details are there. How easy, right? And it's just like, it's easy. Yeah. Or I go into the Shop app- Exactly ... and I can rebuild, rebuy what I bought last time- Yep ... or, you know, and now- Yep ... you know, it, I just find it's, like, that seamless experience, as you're saying.

Mm-hmm. Which is one thing that I wanna touch on next. So we've- Mm ... kind of gone through that, like, Shopify journey, and then a lot of eCom businesses generally have the Klaviyo- Mm-hmm ... Klaviyo working as their email marketing, which is a platform- Yep ... that people use for their, as you're saying, like- Yep

campaigns, newsletters, or your actual flows. Mm. Because I, from my understanding, Shopify and Klaviyo work quite well together. Absolutely. Yeah. Um- And they're a perfect 

Anna Tillotson: pair. Yeah. Mm. They are a perfect pair. Like, so much so, again, when I talked about at the beginning how I only backed one horse, actually backed two horses.[00:30:00] 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: So then I backed the next horse, which was Klaviyo. So we don't work, again, we don't work on any other platforms. If you come to me and you're on Omnisend, you're on Mailchimp, I always say the poor little monkey's dying a slow death. 

Mariah: Oh, Mailchimp. 

Anna Tillotson: But they- 

Mariah: Yeah ... 

Anna Tillotson: they just don't compete anymore. And- Klaviyo is a powerhouse.

Again, they are moving so fast. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: What is inside their backend platform now is next level. We've got social media, SM marketing, like there is just so many things evolving in there. Um, and but again, it's like having the tools, but are the tools working for you or are they working against you? You know, are you paying a fee for a platform where you're, you're under-optimized, not utilizing what's there?

Um, and again, we would look at that benchmark and say, "If you're making under 20% revenue from your email flows, something's broken. Something's wrong." 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: It's not hitting the target. You know, what are your click rates? Are people even, are people even opening, let alone clicking? Um, so yet again, and people...

You know, one of the [00:31:00] biggest pushbacks I get is, "Yeah, but Klaviyo's really expensive and I, we just can't really afford it as a business." You know what? You can't afford not to have it because you should be making enough money from what you're doing- To cover that a million fold, right? Mm. Because the potential of what you've got inside there, but again, it's about getting those foundations in place.

What has been set up? So things we would see that are problematic in there is very basic set up. So people have just gone in, set up a really kinda basic pop-up that offers a bit of a random discount. Um, and then they just get, you know, a thank you email with a discount. All very unbranded, no personalization.

Second thing would be the assumption that we're just going into doing newsletters. Every now and then we're just gonna blast out these people because I've got no sales this month and I've got a desperation in my email of, you know, buy my product. It's just, it's just doesn't work. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: So there's no strategy behind what they're [00:32:00] actually doing.

And then the fact of the flows that they have, the automated nurture, again, is under optimized. And an example I like to use a lot, and I use it on sales calls a lot, is let's imagine, so I'm a mum, I'm sitting at 2:45, I'm at school pickup, I'm browsing around, saw a really cr- cute dress, loved it, whatever.

Kids came screaming to the car and I jump off. I'm forgotten. If you just send me a, a pretty basic email, something kind of random, an hour later saying, "You forgot your item. Come back to checkout." I am not in the zone. I've got kids screaming, I'm at home, maybe I'm at sports. That's not gonna work for me.

There's no way I'm gonna click, let alone even see that email, right? So four hours will go by and that'll be further down my inbox. If we flip the script and say, "Okay, we're gonna strategize. There's gonna be four to five beautiful emails sent at strategic times-" Mm. "... explaining who I am as a brand, why I do what I do, who I am and what my product does and why it benefits me, answering any questions, what the [00:33:00] freight, uh, what the shipping would be."

And we drip feed it, and then the final email hits at 8:00 at night with a beautiful discount code when she's potentially sitting on the couch with a glass of wine and trigger happy with a credit card, boom, you're gonna get the sale. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: So we always like to explain it that way. Like, think of it how they're actually being received and how, again, the customer journey.

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: You know, just throwing a crappy email at me that says, "Here's 10% discount," doesn't make me excited. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: You know, it doesn't make me kind of want to jump back on, unless I really, really love that product or I really, really wanted it. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: So, you know, again, with the Klaviyo, it's about- Understanding that it is a powerhouse, but it needs strategy, and it needs real implementation to help it move the needle.

And once that's in place, it's, it's a revenue engine. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: You know, it can work away in the background, and I think it's very daunting for people. They've already come through the process of setting up their Shopify, managing Shopify, understanding that back end. And then they get Klaviyo, and then they [00:34:00] open the app, and they think, 'Holy shit.'

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: It's just another thing to master, right? But it's the missing piece to the pie of website, email marketing, then you can go to scale. Yeah. And then you can start doing paid advertising. Without that Klaviyo part, again, I use the analogy a lot, you're fishing with a net with a hole. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: You're pushing paid traffic into the website.

If it doesn't convert, they are gone. You will never see them again. Klaviyo allows you to then fish into a pond with, you know, a netted pond where it doesn't matter whether they converted, you can nurture them. Yeah. You can keep reaching back out. You then are not relying on Instagram posts. You're not relying on just people randomly finding you and loving what you do, you know?

Yeah. Instagram could be g- gone tomorrow. Facebook could be gone tomorrow. I mean, I'm, I, I'm the s- ... I built my whole business around Facebook groups. The first five years was purely organic, getting referrals from there. But imagine if that was gone. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: So building a database for us is imperative to growth, because I need people that I own [00:35:00] their email addresses, and I can target, I can communicate with, and I can talk to.

And product-based, it's the same. You know, building that database also means you have an audience to talk to. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Anna Tillotson: And an audience to fish from, you know, and without that component, it's very, very difficult to get anywhere. Yeah. Mm. 

Mariah: You're speaking my language. I just did an episode... Well, this will come out later, but it was, uh- Yeah

you know, it, being, people being exhausted of social media, right? 'Cause it's true. It's, it's a, it's a borrowed channel, and we need to focus on those- It is ... own channels w- as well. It is. So you mentioned, um, so obviously, yes, we've got our flows, which are these automated- Mm ... emails that go out. The, they are triggered based on someone making a decision within- Mm-hmm

like whether they purchase, whether it's their birthday- Mm ... you know, whatever. Um, and then you talk about, you know, it's not just about s-... Where does the sort of nurturing come in around, like, you know, um, campaigns and, and, and creating, you know, newsletters, whether it's just, you know, just sharing- Mm-hmm

value versus sales. You know, what do you recommend for that kind of [00:36:00] consistent communication to your general list, newsletter-y, nurture-y, value-added versus product-based- Yeah ... emails? 

Anna Tillotson: You know, we would go 70/30. 

Mariah: Mm-hmm. 

Anna Tillotson: 70% needs to be brand, journey, education, community, and connection, and 30% sale, right? Because it's also not about them just seeing a constant discount and a constant, like, "Come back.

Buy my product. Come back. Buy my product." What you want is them to have understood your journey, understand who you are, connect with you over a brand, make them feel like they're part of something, so then when they do actually want what it is that you sell, they think about you. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: You know, and that's the difference between a hard sell that people get annoyed with, because you're also competing with so much.

The inbox is very noisy. Anyone that's an online shopper will know, like, I mean, I have... Obviously, I'm a, you know, a Shopify person, so I have all these different emails, so I can sign up to things to follow- Oh, your emails 

Mariah: would [00:37:00] be a 

Anna Tillotson: disaster ... Yeah, like we, you know, the team and I have dedicated email addresses just to sign up to everything- Yeah

so we can even see what's going on. But my personal one, like, it never stops. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: And, but it's about how do you get seen above everybody else, and selling is not the way to do it. You know, selling is not the way to continuously get those people to come back. You want them to enter into a world, and I think especially post-COVID- People don't realize how much connection they want right now, and people that make an assumption, "Oh, I'm just a product-based business.

No one cares about my brand." Yes, they do. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: They wanna enter into a world. They wanna feel like they're part of something. You know, specific niches I can guarantee you and I can tell you how that falls into place. Like at the moment we have a beading client. She's come from corporate. She's a beader, and the business started really small and it's blown the hell up.

On YouTube it's blown up. Um, her, you know, all her social channels have gone crazy because it's a community. Yeah. [00:38:00] So she's teaching people how to bu- uh, bead. She's showing them a different way, an analog way of life again, instead of being stuffed into digital world, which people are really keen for right now.

They wanna knit, they wanna sew. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: Um, and again, so like in all her strategy it's about come and join us. You know, come and be like us. Come and explore. We sell some products, here's some things you can buy also. But come on the journey with me. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: And so that's what we see sells more than selling. You know, and even for ourselves, like we use Shop- I, my whole business runs on Shopify, like a T-shirt store.

We use Klaviyo as well. Um, and we don't really sell a lot of, you know, we don't send a lot of sales posts. I educate. I tell people what's going on in the industry. I, you know, tell them what other people are doing and give them advice so that they can do it themselves. I'm not afraid to tell people what they can do because I know at the end of the day if they want support they'll think of me because we were generous with our knowledge and we were generous with our education and we were [00:39:00] generous with our time, and it's the same for product base.

You know, if you can be out there showing the people and giving them a bit of extra, like you would if you were in a store, you'd probably chat to them, et cetera. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: Um, that'll get you the sale tenfold over just sending spammy sales emails that people will end up unsubscribing. 

Mariah: Yeah, yeah, of course. Mm. Um, my, my partner bought this quite expensive jacket from this really- Mm

nice store in Byron Bay. 

Anna Tillotson: Mm-hmm. 

Mariah: And obviously they s- like get your email when you purchase. Yeah. And, um, as soon as like two days later they sent him a product sales email. And he's like, "Tell me the story." 

Anna Tillotson: Feels cheesy, 

Mariah: right? Yeah. He knows they're, they were, the, he knows about the brand because he speaks Spanish- Mm-hmm

and they were a Spanish couple. 

Anna Tillotson: Mm-hmm. 

Mariah: And he's like, "I wanna learn more about them. I don't wanna... Like, I've already bought." Yeah. "But maybe I'll buy in the fut- like more in the future, but now I'm kinda like, oh, you've just sold to me after I just bought a $300 jacket-" Yeah ... "two days ago." 

Anna Tillotson: Yeah. So. So that's complete disconnection, right?

Yeah. You've completely disconnected [00:40:00] from them as a customer. What they should have done is send an email to say, "How's the jacket going?" 

Mariah: Yeah. "

Anna Tillotson: Does it feel cozy? Tell me your thoughts." We also, you know, and also asking for negative. As I said at the beginning, don't ever be afraid to just ask, "Hey, was there anything you didn't like?

Is there anything we can do to support you better? I hope the order came well." Make it personal, 'cause he probably would've responded and gone, "Da, da, da, da, da, da, da," and then, you know, the journey would've kept going. 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: But like a hard sell is almost like a slap, like, "We just want your money, honey." Yeah.

And it's, it's that, yeah, the mindset needs to shift with email marketing. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: You know? It is a different beast. Um- And it, it's gotta be strategized, you know? Yeah. It's gotta be connection-based first. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: You know? Mm. And 

Mariah: I feel like it starts, like, the people that really enjoy email marketing, it's, kinda becomes a bit of a place where you can just chitty-chat with people and know they're gonna get it- 

Anna Tillotson: Totally

Mariah: direct to their inbox. And, like, even, you know, maybe their flow was just 'cause it sorts it out properly. So, like, if we- Yep ... told them, like, "Hey, I didn't want this sale," they went, "Oh my [00:41:00] God, that is not what you meant to get." Like, 'cause, you know, when there's things coming here, there- Yeah, yeah ... and everywhere, sometimes you lose track of- Yeah

where things are going. 

Anna Tillotson: And, you know, cl- as I said at the beginning of this Klaviyo conversation, like, it is a beast. Mm. People get in there, and they do get very overwhelmed at what's in there, how does it work, the triggers, the flows, you know, the logic. 'Cause it is a very logic-based system. You need to really sit down with your brain and work out what goes where and when and why, and rules around things.

Um, and you know, we're also the same. We ordered a lot of accounts where they're horrified what's actually happening or what's going out. You know, just they thought this was happening, and something else is happening, um, because it wasn't set up correctly. Correctly, yeah. So I think also understanding what's actually going on- Yeah

bringing it back down to a bit of simplicity. And again, like, when we talk to clients, and they say, "Oh, I really wanna be like this brand," or, "I'm wanting to do this," or, but, you know, their store's not just there, we also say to them, "We'll find a client store or a, just a general brand that's in their niche and that [00:42:00] does it very well."

And we'll say to them, "Go and enter into their ecosystem." Mm. Like, for instance, like, I, I mean, at the moment we've got huge influx of active wear brands, sport wear brands that are launching- I can imagine ... yeah, wanna be- Yeah ... wanna be the next LSKD. And I say to them- Next steps ... "Go and enter the LSKD, KD ecosystem."

Mm. Sign up, add to cart, abandon cart, and then see what happens. Enter their journey. I mean, they do, obviously they're exceptional at what they've done and how they've scaled. But their customer journey if you don't purchase is unbelievable. Mm. You know? And it gives you something to work towards. You know, if you've got a homeware store, and you've got all your things set up, and nothing's happening for you, go and find your favorite store.

Sign up to their journey. What do they do? Mm. How are they communicating? What do they do when I add to cart? What do they do for a popup? What, what kind of welcome series do they have? Yeah. Start snooping. You know, and then just compare yourself to what's lacking on yours. I don't like to use the word compare, 'cause we shouldn't be out there.

We should be staying in our own lane. Mm. What other [00:43:00] people are doing, that's their journey. However, you can compare in terms of what have they got in place that I don't, and what do I need to add to mine to make mine at the same level- Yeah ... to make them choose me over them. 

Mariah: Yep. 

Anna Tillotson: You know? 

Mariah: Yeah, I love that.

Mm. I, I do have one parting question for you, which was not in the notes, but I know- ... when this comes out, we'll be getting closer to it. 

Anna Tillotson: Mm-hmm. 

Mariah: Black Friday sales. 

Anna Tillotson: Oh. Look, Black Friday can go either way. We, you know, we have a lot of clients that just go all in, but I will say this, especially in the last five years of watching what goes on, it is extremely oversaturated.

Like, we've seen brands- It's so 

Mariah: saturated ... 

Anna Tillotson: launch, launch already. So we've got a couple, and there's, I've had emails already, you know, for Black Friday. And- And 

Mariah: we're recording this in August, by the way. 

Anna Tillotson: Oh, my goodness. And, you know, I wouldn't buy from them purely because it just feels so much. Right. Like, I feel so pressured, you know?

Right. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: So we're actually flipping the [00:44:00] sw- uh, the script a little bit this year, and, like, we don't do a lot for Black Friday when it comes to our clients. Like, we, we do, you know, we service their flows and all of that sort of stuff, and we do a bit of stuff, but- This year we've decided, and we're gonna entertain the fact of we want people to create like a gift guide.

So more or less, you know, less about like, "Here's my product. Here's how much discount we're gonna get." But brooding around, again, telling a story, creating a landing page that has like a gift guide on there. That's 

Mariah: cool. 

Anna Tillotson: Potentially, you know, this is the price bracket, then there's this price bracket, and you can also interchange and use it for Christmas.

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: So then you can approach it in the fact like, "Here's what we're offering right now, but these can also be ordered for Christmas." So just making it a bit more fun because at the end of the day, honestly, someone who just has 10 products that they're gonna discount by 40% and you're gonna get 20 emails that's gonna tell you the same thing over and over and over, it's boring.

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: And people aren't interested anymore. So I think you need to come up with creative ideas around what you're actually doing. Bundling's another [00:45:00] good one. Making sure that, you know, you're offering a diverse range and maybe there's some sort of bundling system that you can do. Um, but as I say, yeah, our, our idea this year, just to stand out a little bit, is we wanna see our clients creating more of a gift guide- Yeah

orientated plan, um, that just feels more like you're walking into a beautifully cr- curated store that's pulled all these brands from nowhere, and these are all the beautiful things that you could buy, right? Yeah. Um, and then even, you know, we're even thinking of, we were brainstorming the other day, but we were thinking about collaborating with other brands- Yeah.

That's cool ... in your niche or your industry, right? And saying, "Right, we'll all pool in, and we'll all bunny hop off each other. You know, we all cre- create something that we can all do." Yeah. And that also shows connection and community, and the vibe you'll get from that rather than just hardcore selling at a discount, um- Yeah

is gonna be more memorable than, yeah, the basic sales that are gonna happen, so. 

Mariah: Yeah. 

Anna Tillotson: Yeah. 

Mariah: And now with like, say, the [00:46:00] emerging, you know, Gen Z- Mm ... uh, audience, even if you don't market to them, I feel like they're having an influence on us all. They- Absolutely ... like you gotta think outside the box. They're bored in five seconds.

Like they- Yeah ... need to like give 'em something. Yeah. Like, um, which I found- Yeah. Absolutely ... really interesting. But I, I, I couldn't not ask you that because I know it's a question that comes up all the time. I feel like 2020 killed Black Friday sales in Australia especially. Oh. Like I know the States it's all...

Like 'cause it's, it's, it's, it's Thanksgiving. Yeah. It's just a thing. Huge. Mm. Um, but even, I think it's the big brand play- Yeah ... at this point in time, and us smaller businesses we, we've gotta be more creative. Mm-hmm. And because we know, you know, like people are- Agreed ... doing their Christmas shopping then, but they're probably looking at get- like, you know, milking the big brands- Mm

for the, the discounts over. And a lot of people actually are okay to, I don't know if it's the s- you find it the same. Mm-hmm. Like if we wanna support local businesses or small businesses, we don't mi- unless it's extortionate prices that we just like, we can't afford at that time. Agreed. Yeah. We do, we don't mind paying more.

Um- Yeah ... and [00:47:00] I think, yeah. That, that's the 

Anna Tillotson: flip side of it, right? I think, and a lot of brands we talk to- They actually don't enter the sales for that reason, because- Mm ... you know, we also agree on, um, in part with this also, you know, heavily discounting continuously cheapens your brand sometimes. 

Mariah: Yes. Gotta be careful.

Anna Tillotson: And, you know... Yeah. You know, and some people like to just stand behind their brand and the quality of their product, and we are small business, and the margins are really shit, you know? Yeah. And that's what people don't understand sometimes. And going on sale is the other reason to look at it is, like, if that sale, is that actually gonna make you money?

Mariah: Money, yeah. That's 

Anna Tillotson: right. All the time you've invested in your marketing, all the time and effort it took you to create whatever you've created, um, to then go on sale and then sell however much you did, like, what do the numbers actually mean? 

Mariah: Mm. 

Anna Tillotson: You know, what do that... what does that mean for your business?

And would that person have purchased if it wasn't on sale? Are they... 'Cause is that your real customer, right? So again, it's comes back to just, I think, being more creative and making it more of a fun experience, and thinking outside [00:48:00] the box. And there's no excuses not to be able to do that now with, you know, ChatGPT and Claude.

You know, get in there and ask for some ideas. Throw some creative interest in there and just see what you can come back with, with for your business, you know? Yeah. To look different and feel different to everybody else. 

Mariah: Mm. I love that. Mm. Could talk to you all day. Thank you so much- You're welcome ... Anna, for sharing your wisdom.

It was so, so insightful. 

Anna Tillotson: You are so welcome. I could also talk all day. 

Mariah: I know, it was so good. How can people find you? I know there's, you know, product-based businesses that listen. If they're keen to learn more about what you do, how can they find you? 

Anna Tillotson: Yeah, absolutely. So houseofcart.com.au is our website. Um, you can also find us on Instagram, so you can DM, DM me on there.

I'm always there. On my website there is a book a call, so if anyone wants to jump on a, on a call, we offer 15-minute chats where it's... Yeah, as you can hear, I have a lot of s- lot of skill and knowledge and I'm- A lot of 

Mariah: knowledge ... 

Anna Tillotson: happy to chat to people. Yeah. So yep, they can reach out on both those channels.

Um, and happy to chat to anyone, and even if people just want a little bit of generic advice to help them along the way, always [00:49:00] happy to chat to people. 

Mariah: Oh, thank you so much, and we'll, we'll put your portfolio in the, in the show notes- Perfect. Yeah. Enjoy ... so people can have a look at the amazing stuff you've done and maybe get some inspiration.

Absolutely. Thank you so much, Anna. I've really appreciated your 

Anna Tillotson: time. You're welcome. Thank you for having me. 

Mariah: Amazing. I hope that was so helpful for product-based, specifically Shopify- Specifically Shopify and Klaviyo people. It, it can be overwhelming when you're trying to learn and do all the things, and actually some of these systems, there's a lot to them, right?

Like, I've seen the backend of these. There is a lot going on, and I know that there's always things that we could be doing better, things that we can do. But even for me, I sat down like last Saturday afternoon with a cup of tea, and what I did is I worked with some AI and my brain and, you know, trawled my whole customer journey, my whole customer experience, and I'm trying to tighten it.

I think if we can dedicate time in our calendar for optimizing, because what ends up [00:50:00] happening is, and it was so interesting even for me, looking at my own email sequences. I don't use Shopify, I don't u- use Klaviyo. But going through and looking at email sequences that haven't been updated since 2023, but it felt like that was only five minutes ago.

So now I'm just chipping away at it. I'm doing one email sequence a week, and I'm going to get it fixed and optimized, looking at my funnel. And even one of the other things I was gonna do is, like, run through my product funnel as a customer and work, you know, work with it to see, you know, what, what's going wrong, what's going right, all the things.

And we get so busy, I know, but these things make such a difference, and this could be the difference between someone purchasing from you and someone who doesn't. So be a content queen or king, and remember that developing your strategy and story develops your business. Thank you so much for joining me today, and please don't forget to share this with all your business and entrepreneurial friends.

You can do this by adding it to your Instagram stories, doing a post on LinkedIn, sending it to them, just cheeky link over to a friend, an entrepreneurial friend, [00:51:00] someone that's looking to start a business. Like, I would love to help you on your journey. And if you do love this show, I've had some amazing messages.

I'm so grateful for the people that listen to this show, like generally grateful. Even when I get messages, I still, like it makes me so happy. But if you had time to leave five stars on Spotify, a comment on this episode if you really loved it, I can share that with Anna, and, you know, that was for her, giving her time, because, you know, these things they do for, people do for free.

And I'm so grateful for that. And if you're on Apple, you can leave five star. You can leave a review. I just worked out how I can see people's reviews from other countries, so I'm so excited to be able to see them come in. Uh, there was so many that I hadn't seen 'cause I wasn't able to, but I've worked out the hack.

Anyway, please let me know, um, how you go with the episodes, what you think of the podcast, and you can send me a message on Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok. Email me, information@contentqueenmoriah. Let me know if there's any topics you want me to talk about in the future. If there's anything you're struggling with, I would love to hear [00:52:00] from you.

I'll talk to you next week. Bye.

PodcastMariah MacInnesmarketing, marketing advice, how to be authentic online, business ownerComment