GOAL DIGGER

How I Made $218,000 on Shopify in ONE Year

Jenna Kutcher 

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September 26, 2018

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It’s been a little over a year since I opened my online shop: Shop Jenna Kutcher. It’s been a crazy, beautiful addition to my business and it’s been something I’ve been digging into as we’ve navigated this season of life because having an online digital store has been an incredible addition to my business for a few big reasons.

I love having our shop because I have created resources that have helped me that are now available for everyone to enjoy and use. Why hide all the templates and tools I had built for my business that had attributed to my success? It’s been awesome to say: are you struggling with XYZ? I have a resource for this exact thing. Also, it gives me the chance to reach my people with offers that are more accessible for those not ready to take a course or not in a financial place to purchase a full course or system. I love being able to sell well-priced products that can help change businesses and give people the tools that they might not be able to purchase elsewhere. Lastly, It is 90% automated and digital which means we can serve our clients quickly, it’s open and available all the time, and most of it is run through automation which means less work on our part to get people what they need and to deliver a good client experience without having to be attached to every single sale.

Let’s talk about creating the shop

So my shop is a partnership with an amazing designer, Rebecca. Rebecca actually pitched doing the shop with me as a partner. It’s been amazing to have someone who is taking ownership in the shop, creating the templates based off of my content, and then serving our customers so well. I absolutely could have done this on my own but the question is, would I have? Likely not, if it wasn’t for Rebecca. We do a profit share which has been incredible for both of us and we’re always dreaming up the next product, the next sale, and the next promotion! It’s been so fun to have a partner in this facet of my business and Rebecca has been instrumental in making the shop a success.

Speaking of partnerships, I’d encourage you, Goal Diggers, to think about ways you can partner up with one another for projects just like this! Pairing Rebecca’s design with my created content was a match made in heaven and we were given the chance to really shine while both benefiting from the shop! Is there someone out there that you could partner with and do a shop collaboration? Are you a designer and could offer your services to a content creator to team up?

Where to start

First things first, let’s talk about passive income and getting a stream for your business. Passive income is defined as resulting from cash flow received on a regular basis, requiring minimal to no effort by the recipient to maintain it. While having an online shop isn’t entirely passive, many aspects of it can be, especially with digital products.

As you start to think about starting a shop, I want for you to think about things you might have already created for your own personal use or to simplify a process for yourself. Have you created a template that you could sell? Presets? Do you create designs or artworks that could be printable? Have you created a spreadsheet that would help others? Do you have a training that you could share? One of the benefits of an online shop is that the risk/reward ratio is pretty great: the risk of adding a product that might not sell is so low because there isn’t cost involved but the reward if people do purchase it is huge.

So often, as business owners, we are creating tools to help us do our jobs easier that we have never considered could help others in our industry! If you have something that you could share, I would start with that. When we first launched the shop, we had 10-12 products and all of them were things I already had in my own business or inside of my courses, so I wasn’t creating a boatload of new products in order to launch this project but just repurposing things I had already created either for my students or myself.

My advice? I would launch with at least 3 products! You want people to see what you have available, provide some sort of option, and be able to test what buyers are most interested in. The data alone from running an online shop is HUGE!

Ideas for a Shopify Shop

  • Templates that you’ve created to sell your services or products: pricing templates, email templates, website templates, DIY templates, brand templates, social media templates, etc.
  • Questionnaires that you use for booking jobs, that you send to clients, to help you gather testimonials, that you use survey your audience, that you use to do your job better!
  • Education whether that be in the form of courses, downloadable PDFS or ebooks, step-by-step guides, video modules, or trainings to walk people through a process or skill.
  • Physical products that you’d like to sell – though you want to make sure you have a plan in place for fulfillment whether you do it yourself or outsource this part of it, physical products can be an awesome addition to any shop.

Why we chose Shopify

Shopify was SO easy to use! There are many different themes you can choose from to brand your shop and they are always making new templates! It integrates with payment processors like Stripe and Paypal, their customer tracking and data can be so helpful, you can integrate with your email service provider, add coupons, dig into the code if you want to get fancy, they have an abandoned cart feature built in so you can save sales, and they have a slew of plugins that give you access to other features like retargeting ads on Facebook or suggested products based on what someone is looking at.

I love the Shopify platform and it integrated so easily with our business while also keeping it on brand and the set-up and editing is super simple to jump into. We did do a little custom coding because we knew exactly what we wanted but if you’re just starting out, it’s entirely unnecessary! The platform makes it easy to track sales, adjust coupon codes, create pop ups, and see which of our products are top performing – it helps us to know what to promote, how to make changes that will influence sales, and which products to continue creating!

The Stats

In a little over a year, we’ve had:

  • 3,630 orders
  • Over 200k in sales
  • The average order value is $55
  • Instagram is one of our biggest contributors to sales
  • Our top 3 products are: I am enough necklace, Instagram Story highlights, Lightroom Presets
  • We’ve sold to customers in the USA, Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom, and Germany!
  • 6.5% of our customers return to purchase more items

The top ways we promote the shop

  • Instagram: at least once a week, we share about a product in the Goal Digger Podcast account and change the link in our bio to match that product and include swipe ups to the product page.
  • Email Marketing: each email round-up email that we send which shares the recent pieces of what’s happening over at Jenna Kutcher, we share about a product and link to it. We’ve also partnered that with specific sales on certain items in the shop.
  • For physical products: we do limited runs, so we’ve sold out 2x of the gold bar, “I am enough” necklaces. It usually takes us only a week to sell through 1,000 of those so we promote heavily until they sell out which helps us from constantly carrying an inventory or sitting on product.
  • Facebook: we do Facebook retargeting ads with products based on what people were looking at when they visit the shop. There is a plugin we use on Shopify that will do retargeting based on the pages someone visits in the shop and these ads encourage them to revisit that item and hopefully make a purchase. We usually send a few hundred dollars on these ads each month and they always pay off.
  • Opt-ins: we will do opt-ins or freebies that will then lead into an invitation to purchase a corresponding product. Someone will opt in for a freebie and then we will follow up serving them through an email sequence and then offer the opportunity to purchase the more complete version or an extra tool that would help them.

Other Ways To Promote Your Shop

There are some incredible ways to promote your shop and one of them includes having affiliates that basically help connect customers to your items for a % of the purchases made. We have opted to not do an affiliate program, however, we know some Shopify owners who are crushing it with affiliate sales. With Shopify, it’s pretty easy to set-up an affiliate program where each affiliate gets a code that will track any purchases made through their link and then they get to collect a commission each month. I’ve found with affiliates a few things that really help move the needle in big ways!

Have focused promotions: if you have a pretty deep product suite, do more focused pushes with your affiliates. Provide copy, images, and incentives that make your people want to share about your products and the more prepared you can be, the more likely people will be to put the word out about your items.

Do contests: there’s nothing better than having people competing to win, so if you can do extra incentives whether it’s a higher commission rate, a cash prize, or a prize package for your top affiliates, having a leaderboard can be an awesome way to encourage people to get creative in their marketing of your products. I know I never shy away from an added bonus (and I love winning!)

Offer to go above and beyond for your affiliates: I don’t do a ton of affiliate marketing because we have so many products and launches happening that I am super careful how I am selling to my audience and protective of what I am willing to recommend to others but for the few people that I do affiliate for, they are accessible, they offer to help me market their items, send me product or samples to try, and help me create content that will ultimately help them sell their products.

Reasons an online shop might be great for you

You don’t have to have a giant audience or a well-established brand to create products that can sell online. It’s a lower-risk way to test what people want to learn from you or what offers they are interested in! It’s obviously a bonus if you have some sort of following or email list already started but it’s not entirely necessary! We love pairing our shop with Pinterest strategy that allows our products to be sought after and found regardless of it someone is following us.

It also gives you a chance to truly dig into what sets you apart. Sure, there will be 100 other people selling editing presets or email templates – but no one is doing it in your way. Starting my shop really helped me to identify what set me and my tools apart and encouraged me to remember the fact that there is room for everyone! It’s easy to look at what’s available and think “I couldn’t possibly sell these, there are so many out there already” but if you can define or identify what makes your items differently, you’ll be able to communicate that in your shop and hopefully reach the RIGHT people.

The data alone gives you the ability to determine what to create next, what people are buying or willing to spend money on, and it can help you continue to craft offers that speak directly into your ideal clients biggest fears or pain points. For us, we started with a little product suite of what we had assumed would be the best sellers but now, one year in, we are seeing purchasing trends or ways we could wisely bundle together in a way that encouraged our customers to come back and buy more.

It gives you a way to serve your community with varying price points so you can reach more people and offer tools that can help them where they are at! I know the shop has been a huge way to gain people’s trust in my bigger offers like online courses. Once they can see the quality and care that accompanies my products, they are more likely to make bigger purchases or return for more.

IN SUMMARY

Online shops are a phenomenal way to extend your brand, cater to your audience, and drive profits in a way that is sustainable, and relatively hands off. There are SO many options of products to pick from, and you really get to call the shots! I hope this episode not only gave you the foundation you needed to set the ball in motion but the tangible tools to make the most of your online shop! Let’s do this, Goal Diggers!


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  1. Tara says:

    Hi Jenna,
    Thank you for this great podcast and insight into your shop! I am wondering what re-targeting app you use on Shopify?
    Thank you!

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A small town Minnesota photographer, podcaster, educator and puppy rescuer, my happiest days are spent behind my computer screen sharing my secrets with the world. I'm glad you're here.

I’m an expert at online marketing, a nerd when it comes to the numbers, and my obsession is teaching others how to make a living doing what they love (without it taking over their life). 

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