This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
[Music]
Today we're gonna hear from a listener with an idea to sell a guide on Shopify. And you know Shopify used to be a little e-commerce plugin that competed with a whole bunch of others. We'd be talking about different options for your online store, specifically e-commerce when you're selling a physical product. And I'd mentioned Shopify, I'd also mentioned like five others. And now it's kind of the gorilla in the room.
What is that analogy? The, I don't know, 2,000 pound gorilla. It's a gorilla, what can you say? When there's a gorilla in the room, you notice it. Shopify has kind of taken on all competitors in one.
With more than 2 million paying customers, might there be some opportunity for this listener to serve those customers outside of the Shopify system or ecosystem, I should say. Now I like this idea, I'll say up front. I do have a few comments to hopefully make it better. And they also are wondering about like, is it okay to do this essentially? So really great question today, let's jump in.
Selling a user's guide to Shopify conversion. Detailed question and my answer coming right up. [Music]
Hi, this is Ivory calling in from California. I've been enjoying the show in your books. Shopify is a competitor to Amazon, which seems hard to believe, but they've achieved a real scale and now have more than 2 million paying customers, all of whom are trying to build a business.
I'd like to write a user's guide for these customers, specifically focused on tips and tweaks they can use to increase conversion. Do I need to get permission from Shopify to do this? I've seen lots of resources like this for Amazon and other platforms. So it doesn't seem that way, but I'd just like to make sure. Also, what do you think of the idea?
Thanks for your time. [Music]
Ivory, thank you for calling in. As I said, I like this question. I do like the idea. Now, fun fact, actually, when I first was working on this episode, I thought, 'cause I didn't listen very well, I thought that Ivory was talking about Spotify and I started writing an answer based on selling a user's guide to Spotify, which is not nearly as exciting or probably as profitable as Shopify.
So, you know, good call on Shopify. Now, I don't believe you actually need permission just to answer that first. There's a clearly established precedent for things like this. Kind of goes back to the Dummies Guide series. You know, do you remember those books?
Then the Complete Idiots Guide series, which was kind of a take off of the Dummies Guide, or maybe it was the other way, I don't know. There was a missing manual series, like the missing manual to your computer or to a Photoshop or whatever. So, you know, all in all, a whole bunch of third-party aftermarket resources developed by people who usually had nothing to do with the company and/or industry they were writing about. You just have to make it clear that you're not associated with that company. But of course, I think Ivory's gonna do that.
So, how can we make this idea better? Well, I think focusing on conversion is really smart. I would just focus a little bit further and say, you know, number one, what kind of Shopify sellers are we hoping to target here? Because with more than 2 million customers, there's a big range. Some really big businesses, in fact, use Shopify now.
Like, you know, very large corporations. And those are quite different from your, you know, average mom and pop, you know, original Shopify account. So, let's just kind of narrow that down a little bit. And then ask, what do those Shopify sellers really need? Okay, what are their desperate needs?
What bothers them? What do they wish could be better? How can you actually help them increase conversion? Because again, I think that is a smart focus for the Guide. And then last but not least, how can it be actionable and have a killer guarantee?
How can it have a guarantee that you're like, I'm going to buy this guide and my conversion is going to increase 5%, you know, and people are going to start doing the math. Okay, well, you know, if I have 5% more, then that means $200 a day more, you know, in terms of my sales. And then here's my profit margin. So $75 more, you know, every single day, if I buy this guide and apply it, you know, these are just some hypothetical numbers. But the point is, when you kind of see that, like increase your conversion, it's going to be actionable.
And if it doesn't work, you get your money back. That's a very compelling promise. So now you just have to create the guide and deliver it that promise. I do think you could do a lot with it. So keep us posted.
We actually have a lot of Shopify sellers listening. So if you want some beta testers, let me know that as well. And listeners, you've got a question, sidehustleschool.com/questions. Let me know your ideas, what you're working on, what's going well, what's not. We've got a new episode coming out every single day.
And subscribe, follow, wherever you get your podcasts. It's totally free. My name's Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School.
