Shopify1Percent - The Best Shopify Podcast To Make Your Ecommerce Business 1% Better Every Episode

JOIN ME LIVE: October 22 -> https://www.shopify1percent.com/bulletproof/ 

Some of the best people to recommend your Shopify store already have your order confirmation in their inbox, and you probably don't know who they are. In this episode I build the whole affiliate and creator pipeline: the 3 places your next creators are hiding, the 4 checks I run before reaching out, and the short message that actually gets replies. I also walk through how immi built a 432-person ambassador program, the simple invitation math behind getting 100 creators posting, and the weekly calendar that keeps it all running. There are 2 free downloads with this one to help you run your first recruiting batch.

📁 Worksheets to go with this episode:

Creator Discovery Worksheet (https://www.shopify1percent.com/downloads/ep-91-creator-discovery-worksheet/)

Creator Recruitment Calculator (https://www.shopify1percent.com/downloads/ep-91-creator-recruitment-calculator/)

💡 KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Which of your Shopify customers already has an audience you've never noticed?
- What are the 4 checks to run before inviting any creator, whatever their follower count?
- Why does a short, honest first message beat a full affiliate pitch?
- How did immi's Ram Fam grow to 432 ambassadors?
- How many invitations does it take to get 100 creators posting?
- How do you keep finding new creators every week instead of once a year?

🛠️ RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE
- SATHI, the affiliate platform I use for finding creators, and a partner of the show. Start a free trial, and get 20% off with code JAY (or mention JAY when you sign up): https://www.mysathi.io/
- SATHI Sherlock, finds the customers in your Shopify orders who have an audience: https://www.mysathi.io/feature/sherlock
- SATHI Match, recommends creators aligned with your brand: https://www.mysathi.io/feature/match
- SATHI Inner Circle setup guide, the ambassador invite on your thank-you page: https://help.mysathi.io/en/articles/35-how-to-set-up-inner-circle
- Shopify Collabs, Shopify's own creator and affiliate app: https://apps.shopify.com/collabs
- Recruiting creators in Shopify Collabs, Shopify Help Center: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/promoting-marketing/collabs/merchants/recruiting-creators
- immi's Ram Fam, Shopify's case study: https://www.shopify.com/case-studies/immi

📕 CHAPTERS
0:00 Your next creator might already be a customer
1:30 What a bigger creator program gives you
2:24 How immi built a 432-person Ram Fam
3:37 Why creator discovery has to be a recurring job
4:07 Source 1: the people who already buy from you
5:20 Finding customers with an audience using Sherlock
6:22 The 4 checks before you reach out
7:57 The first message, and the mistake that kills replies
10:15 Source 2: creators who haven't bought from you yet
12:15 Shopify Collabs, Match and why manual search doesn't scale
14:18 Why more creator content helps you show up in AI answers
15:20 The invitation that gets a reply
17:12 When they say yes: terms, gifts and one follow-up
18:16 Source 3: new customers as they order
20:41 The invitation math behind 100 creators
22:55 Your weekly recruiting calendar and peak season
24:17 Your 1% win and the 2 free downloads
25:34 Recap and the SATHI offer

 

⭐️ Support the amazing partners who make this possible 👇

🎁 Remember to email AirPods@Shopify1Percent.com and tell me if you install one to win a pair of the new AirPods 5

⭐️ SATHI ⭐️
This episode is brought to you by SATHI, the best affiliate platform built for Shopify brands. 

70% of influencer-driven revenue isn't showing up in your dashboard. Codes are leaking. Affiliates are ghosting. And you're paying commissions on sales that never should've counted.

SATHI fixes all of it. Built by the incredible team behind SARAL (200+ top brands, $59M in revenue with influencers).

🎁 Our listeners get early access at MySATHI.io and use code JAY for 20% off

⭐️ REWIND ⭐️
The undo button for Shopify. I’ve watched merchants lose entire catalogs to one bad import or an app update... Shopify’s own terms make your store data your responsibility. Rewind backs up your products, themes, orders, and customers automatically, and restores one item, or your whole store in a couple of clicks.

In my opinion, if you're actually serious about your Shopify business, you absolutely should have Rewind running on it. There's no excuses not to have it backed up. Rewind is trusted by 25,000+ businesses including Olaplex and Dr. Martens. Set it up once and have peace of mind forever. 

🚨 Our listeners get an extra full month of free FREE protection and backups: https://www.shopify1percent.com/rewind/

⭐️ OMNISEND ⭐️
I personally use Omnisend for email and SMS on every Shopify store I manage, and for this show too! I've tried them all, and it's hands down the best way to run every email and SMS automation and campaign you need, segment to personalize them, and A/B test everything to optimize conversion.

PLUS, you can now connect Omnisend to ChatGPT or Claude and just ask “where can my email and SMS be making more money?” It reads your actual store data and tells you, then builds the campaign for you right from the chat. It even writes in your brand's voice. Fifteen years doing this and it's the closest I've felt to having a full-time marketer sitting beside me. (Plus most merchants report paying about half the price of Klaviyo.)

🚨 Listeners (YOU) get an exclusive 30% OFF 3 MONTHS: http://shopify1percent.com/omnisend

🚨 Don't forget to join me LIVE October 22 as we diagnose a Shopify store to asses any weaknesses, threats, and what to do if something happens during peak season: Bulletproof Your Shopify Store For Black Friday. 

In 2006, MySpace was getting paid to chase traffic, while Facebook's growth team chased one number: seven friends in ten days. One played for clicks, the other played for people who come back. In this 1% Win episode of Shopify1Percent, I walk through the stupid games Shopify merchants play every day, the stupid prizes each one hands you, and the better game to play instead.

We get into chasing first orders, trusting platform ROAS, celebrating a record Black Friday, training customers to wait for discounts, and paying your agency on the wrong number. Then two bonus games, including the one most founders are losing without knowing it (me included). Along the way, I show you the Shopify numbers that actually matter and where to find them in your Shopify admin, from the Customer cohort analysis report to Sidekick to the cost per item field most stores leave blank. By the end, you'll pick the one number your Shopify store should be playing for, and know how to get it 1% better every week.

⭐️ Support the amazing partners who make this possible 👇

🎁 Remember to email AirPods@Shopify1Percent.com and tell me if you install one to win a pair of the new AirPods 5

⭐️ SATHI ⭐️
This episode is brought to you by SATHI, the best affiliate platform built for Shopify brands. 

70% of influencer-driven revenue isn't showing up in your dashboard. Codes are leaking. Affiliates are ghosting. And you're paying commissions on sales that never should've counted.

SATHI fixes all of it. Built by the incredible team behind SARAL (200+ top brands, $59M in revenue with influencers).

🎁 Our listeners get early access at MySATHI.io and use code JAY for 20% off

⭐️ REWIND ⭐️
The undo button for Shopify. I’ve watched merchants lose entire catalogs to one bad import or an app update... Shopify’s own terms make your store data your responsibility. Rewind backs up your products, themes, orders, and customers automatically, and restores one item, or your whole store in a couple of clicks.

In my opinion, if you're actually serious about your Shopify business, you absolutely should have Rewind running on it. There's no excuses not to have it backed up. Rewind is trusted by 25,000+ businesses including Olaplex and Dr. Martens. Set it up once and have peace of mind forever. 

🚨 Our listeners get an extra full month of free FREE protection and backups: https://www.shopify1percent.com/rewind/

⭐️ OMNISEND ⭐️
I personally use Omnisend for email and SMS on every Shopify store I manage, and for this show too! I've tried them all, and it's hands down the best way to run every email and SMS automation and campaign you need, segment to personalize them, and A/B test everything to optimize conversion.

PLUS, you can now connect Omnisend to ChatGPT or Claude and just ask “where can my email and SMS be making more money?” It reads your actual store data and tells you, then builds the campaign for you right from the chat. It even writes in your brand's voice. Fifteen years doing this and it's the closest I've felt to having a full-time marketer sitting beside me. (Plus most merchants report paying about half the price of Klaviyo.)

🚨 Listeners (YOU) get an exclusive 30% OFF 3 MONTHS: http://shopify1percent.com/omnisend 

 

💡 BIG IDEAS & TAKE-AWAYS:

Why can your biggest Black Friday ever leave you with a smaller bank balance in January?

Is your ad platform taking credit for customers who were already on their way to buy?

How much of your profit does a "simple" 20% off code really wipe out?

Which number is your agency actually paid on, and could it be quietly working against you?

What's the one game most founders are losing without even knowing they're playing it?

🛠️ RESOURCES & LINKS:
Here are the links and resources mentioned on the show:

Shopify Customer cohort analysis and First-time vs returning customer sales reports: https://help.shopify.com/manual/reports-and-analytics/shopify-reports/report-types/customers-reports

Shopify Sidekick, the AI assistant in your Shopify admin: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/ai-powered-tools/sidekick

Shopify profit reports and the Cost per item field: https://help.shopify.com/manual/reports-and-analytics/shopify-reports/report-types/profit-reports

rePete, the AI reorder agent we built at Bold: https://apps.shopify.com/reorder-service

SimplicityDX 2022 research on the $29 lost per new customer: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220719005425/en/Brands-Losing-a-Record-29-for-Each-New-Customer-Acquired

Google and MySpace's $900 million search deal (2006): https://www.searchenginewatch.com/2006/08/07/google-myspace-in-900-million-deal-on-search-contextual-ads/

Chamath Palihapitiya on how Facebook's growth team got to a billion users (2013): https://techcrunch.com/2013/01/13/chamath-palihapitiya-on-growth-hacking-and-how-to-create-a-sustainable-user-acquisition-engine

Goodhart's Law: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goodhart%27s_law

How do I get more repeat customers on Shopify?

Wes Buckwalter, founder of Seattle Shopify agency SeaMonster Studios, says it starts with about three bucks. He'd rather put $3 of free samples in a customer's box than spend $29 finding the next new one, and a lot of the merchants he talks to never looked at it that way. Then say thank you like you mean it. One brand Wes works with has the owner handwrite a card for every order: "I'm the owner... I actually wrote this card, and thank you."

So if you're asking yourself "Do handwritten thank-you notes actually get customers to buy again?" or "Can my Shopify store get sued if it isn't accessible?", this episode is for you. And if you just want to know why Wes has an employee whose actual job title is Captain Accessible, same deal.

💡 KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

Why Wes says "it's not about loyalty, it's about affinity," and what earns a customer's second order

The rule I stole from the founder of Handwrytten about what never goes in your first thank-you note

How one vitamin brand got Wes to buy five products he wasn't shopping for

Why nobody brags to their friends about your $50 block of cheese, and what they talk about instead

Why Wes calls accessibility overlay widgets "essentially placebo," and how they can make your store a lawsuit target

The AI accessibility tool Wes figures gets a store 50 to 75% of the way there, and why a human still has to check its work

⭐️ Support the amazing partners who make this possible 👇

🎁🎧 Remember to email AirPods@Shopify1Percent.com and tell me if you install one to win a pair of the new AirPods 5.

⭐️ SATHI ⭐️
This episode is brought to you by SATHI, the best affiliate platform built for Shopify brands. 

70% of influencer-driven revenue isn't showing up in your dashboard. Codes are leaking. Affiliates are ghosting. And you're paying commissions on sales that never should've counted.

SATHI fixes all of it. Built by the incredible team behind SARAL (200+ top brands, $59M in revenue with influencers).

🎁 Our listeners get early access at MySATHI.io and use code JAY for 20% off

⭐️ REWIND ⭐️
The undo button for Shopify. I’ve watched merchants lose entire catalogs to one bad import or an app update... Shopify’s own terms make your store data your responsibility. Rewind backs up your products, themes, orders, and customers automatically, and restores one item, or your whole store in a couple of clicks.

In my opinion, if you're actually serious about your Shopify business, you absolutely should have Rewind running on it. There's no excuses not to have it backed up. Rewind is trusted by 25,000+ businesses including Olaplex and Dr. Martens. Set it up once and have peace of mind forever. 

🚨 Our listeners get an extra full month of free FREE protection and backups: https://www.shopify1percent.com/rewind/

⭐️ OMNISEND ⭐️
I personally use Omnisend for email and SMS on every Shopify store I manage, and for this show too! I've tried them all, and it's hands down the best way to run every email and SMS automation and campaign you need, segment to personalize them, and A/B test everything to optimize conversion.

PLUS, you can now connect Omnisend to ChatGPT or Claude and just ask “where can my email and SMS be making more money?” It reads your actual store data and tells you, then builds the campaign for you right from the chat. It even writes in your brand's voice. Fifteen years doing this and it's the closest I've felt to having a full-time marketer sitting beside me. (Plus most merchants report paying about half the price of Klaviyo.)

🚨 Listeners (YOU) get an exclusive 30% OFF 3 MONTHS: http://shopify1percent.com/omnisend 

🛠️ RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED IN SHOW:

SeaMonster Studios: https://seamonsterstudios.com

Wes Buckwalter on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/seamonsterwes

TestParty: https://testparty.ai

Overlay Fact Sheet: https://overlayfactsheet.com

Handwrytten: https://www.handwrytten.com

My episode with David Wachs of Handwrytten: https://shopify1percent.podbean.com/e/robots-with-pens-how-handwritten-notes-turn-customers-into-fans

PostPilot: https://www.postpilot.com

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG): https://www.w3.org/WAI/standards-guidelines/wcag/ 

Free store audit (performance, accessibility and conversions) from Wes for Shopify1Percent listeners: mention the show on the contact form at https://seamonsterstudios.com or email wes@seamonsterstudios.com

Got a question for the show? Hit Ask a Question at https://www.shopify1percent.com

Shopify's official backup instructions include the step "copy and paste your blog posts," and that tells you most of what you need to know about who's responsible for your store's data. I read all sixteen sections of Shopify's terms of service, and section 9.9 says that when an app you installed modifies or deletes your data, Shopify isn't responsible. You are. Same goes for your staff, your freelancer, and the AI agents more merchants are handing the keys to. I walk through the four free safety nets already sitting in your Shopify admin, exactly where each one stops, and the 15-minute Undo Map that shows what your store could actually get back today.

Download the Shopify Undo Map -->>  https://www.shopify1percent.com/downloads/undo-map/

⭐️ Support the amazing partners who make this possible 👇

🎁🎧 Remember to email AirPods@Shopify1Percent.com and tell me if you install one to win a pair of the new AirPods 5.

⭐️ SATHI ⭐️
This episode is brought to you by SATHI, the best affiliate platform built for Shopify brands. 

70% of influencer-driven revenue isn't showing up in your dashboard. Codes are leaking. Affiliates are ghosting. And you're paying commissions on sales that never should've counted.

SATHI fixes all of it. Built by the incredible team behind SARAL (200+ top brands, $59M in revenue with influencers).

🎁 Our listeners get early access at MySATHI.io and use code JAY for 20% off

⭐️ REWIND ⭐️
The undo button for Shopify. I’ve watched merchants lose entire catalogs to one bad import or an app update... Shopify’s own terms make your store data your responsibility. Rewind backs up your products, themes, orders, and customers automatically, and restores one item, or your whole store in a couple of clicks.

In my opinion, if you're actually serious about your Shopify business, you absolutely should have Rewind running on it. There's no excuses not to have it backed up. Rewind is trusted by 25,000+ businesses including Olaplex and Dr. Martens. Set it up once and have peace of mind forever. 

🚨 Our listeners get an extra full month of free FREE protection and backups: https://www.shopify1percent.com/rewind/

⭐️ OMNISEND ⭐️
I personally use Omnisend for email and SMS on every Shopify store I manage, and for this show too! I've tried them all, and it's hands down the best way to run every email and SMS automation and campaign you need, segment to personalize them, and A/B test everything to optimize conversion.

PLUS, you can now connect Omnisend to ChatGPT or Claude and just ask “where can my email and SMS be making more money?” It reads your actual store data and tells you, then builds the campaign for you right from the chat. It even writes in your brand's voice. Fifteen years doing this and it's the closest I've felt to having a full-time marketer sitting beside me. (Plus most merchants report paying about half the price of Klaviyo.)

🚨 Listeners (YOU) get an exclusive 30% OFF 3 MONTHS: http://shopify1percent.com/omnisend 

KEY TAKEAWAYS

If an app, a staff member, or an AI agent wipes your products, who is responsible under Shopify's terms?

Why should you archive Shopify products and never delete them?

What do the four free safety nets in your Shopify admin cover, and where does each one stop?

Is a CSV export really a backup if your images come out as links?

What five questions should you ask any Shopify backup app before you trust it?

How do you build an Undo Map for your store in 15 minutes?

RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED IN THE EPISODE

The Undo Map, free one-page worksheet: 

https://www.shopify1percent.com/downloads/undo-map/  

Rewind, automated Shopify backups (30 days free for listeners): https://www.shopify1percent.com/rewind/

Shopify Help Center, Backups and duplication: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/shopify-admin/duplicate-store

Shopify Help Center, Duplicating themes: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/themes/managing-themes/duplicating-themes

Shopify Help Center, Editing theme code (rolling back Liquid files): https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/online-store/themes/theme-structure/extend/edit-theme-code

Shopify Help Center, Using CSV files to import and export products: https://help.shopify.com/en/manual/products/import-export/using-csv

Shopify Terms of Service (sections 7, 9.6 and 9.9): https://www.shopify.com/legal/terms

Shopify developer docs on product deletion: https://shopify.dev/docs/api/admin-graphql/latest/payloads/ProductDeletePayload

Rewind case study, Whisker Seeker Tackle: https://rewind.com/resources/store-has-products-deleted-before-black-friday/

Who is actually buying from your Shopify store? Brice McBeth's team told him the average order on his salon furniture business was $900. Brice says that customer didn't exist. It was two customers: a stylist replacing a broken chair for about $350, and an owner furnishing an entire salon for $15,000 to $25,000. Any ad built for the $900 guy would have missed both. He's the founder of Neurograph and Reap Commerce, and he spent an hour showing me how many brands are marketing to someone who isn't there.

💡 KEY TAKE-AWAYS:

The three random guys test: how Brice got strangers to tell him the truth about his site, and the exact way he worded the question so they would.

He deleted 25 staff profiles from his agency's About page and replaced them with one story. Leads went up 68%. Why a team page can talk a customer out of buying before you ever speak to them.

Data doesn't lie, but it sure will gaslight you. What a $900 average order hid, and why Brice says most brands are making the same mistake.

A 20% discount on a 35% margin product needs a 133% lift in orders just to break even on profit. Brice's math, and why most founders guess 20%.

Why my kids asking "what's frills, Dad?" at the grocery store is the same lesson as Brice's ugly $300 template.

King Charles and Ozzy Osbourne are the same persona on paper. What Neurograph looks at instead, and the three-word phrase that turned out to be driving an entire cohort's purchases.

⭐️ Support the amazing partners who make this possible 👇

🎁🎧 Remember to email AirPods@Shopify1Percent.com and tell me if you install one to win a pair of the new AirPods 5.

⭐️ SATHI ⭐️
This episode is brought to you by SATHI, the best affiliate platform built for Shopify brands. 

70% of influencer-driven revenue isn't showing up in your dashboard. Codes are leaking. Affiliates are ghosting. And you're paying commissions on sales that never should've counted.

SATHI fixes all of it. Built by the incredible team behind SARAL (200+ top brands, $59M in revenue with influencers).

🎁 Our listeners get early access at MySATHI.io and use code JAY for 20% off

⭐️ REWIND ⭐️
The undo button for Shopify. I’ve watched merchants lose entire catalogs to one bad import or an app update... Shopify’s own terms make your store data your responsibility. Rewind backs up your products, themes, orders, and customers automatically, and restores one item, or your whole store in a couple of clicks.

In my opinion, if you're actually serious about your Shopify business, you absolutely should have Rewind running on it. There's no excuses not to have it backed up. Rewind is trusted by 25,000+ businesses including Olaplex and Dr. Martens. Set it up once and have peace of mind forever. 

🚨 Our listeners get an extra full month of free FREE protection and backups: https://www.shopify1percent.com/rewind/

⭐️ OMNISEND ⭐️
I personally use Omnisend for email and SMS on every Shopify store I manage, and for this show too! I've tried them all, and it's hands down the best way to run every email and SMS automation and campaign you need, segment to personalize them, and A/B test everything to optimize conversion.

PLUS, you can now connect Omnisend to ChatGPT or Claude and just ask “where can my email and SMS be making more money?” It reads your actual store data and tells you, then builds the campaign for you right from the chat. It even writes in your brand's voice. Fifteen years doing this and it's the closest I've felt to having a full-time marketer sitting beside me. (Plus most merchants report paying about half the price of Klaviyo.)

🚨 Listeners (YOU) get an exclusive 30% OFF 3 MONTHS: http://shopify1percent.com/omnisend 

 
🛠️ RESOURCES & LINKS MENTIONED IN SHOW:
- Reap Commerce: https://reapcommerce.com
- Neurograph: https://neurograph.io
- Brice McBeth on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bricemcbeth
- Submit a question for our listener Q&A episodes: https://shopify1percent.com

Brice is offering Shopify1Percent listeners a complimentary persona diagnostic. Book it at reapcommerce.com. He says nine and a half times out of ten he finds a market opportunity the brand had no idea existed.