We talk with Franco Varriano from RareLogic behind the app Rare.io that makes building automated
Transcript
Jesse: What鈥檚 going on, Richard? How are you?
Richard: Great. I鈥檓 excited again. Always, this time of the week.
Jesse: We are always excited to talk
Richard: Yeah, it鈥檚 not just because it鈥檚 Friday, since we record it on Friday, that鈥檚 not the reason, right?
Jesse: So, today we鈥檙e going to talk about automated
Richard: Yeah, I mean, you鈥檙e going to hear all kinds of people talking about got to be on social media and you got, I mean, you heard in the intro, we think you should be on Instagram too, you should be anywhere your customers are. But, one key thing, that鈥檚 actually — they are your customers, but they鈥檙e on someone else鈥檚 platform, and email is always a way to get them back on your playground.
Jesse: Yeah. So, Instagram, Facebook, they鈥檙e all awesome and of course we encourage you do that, but that is not your playground. That is not your football, if Instagram says, you know, tomorrow, this is my ball I鈥檓 going home, you know, you鈥檙e out of luck. So, one way to prevent that is of course to have your own website, but even more, so you have to build your own email list, like, period. There鈥檚 no, you know, if you really want to make it in
Richard: Yeah, and today鈥檚 guest is going to be great. We鈥檝e always heard the traditional, you know, “Start a newsletter” and this and so, it鈥檚 great to actually hear from someone who鈥檚 built a software, that actually is built it around thinking
Jesse: Yes, absolutely. So, let鈥檚 bring in our guest, this is Franco Varriano, Head of Growth and Partnerships at Rare.io. How鈥檚 it going, Franco?
Franco: Going well, thanks Jesse, thanks Richard. I鈥檓 excited to be here.
Richard: And that鈥檚 Rare.io.
Jesse: Rare.io. Oh, man鈥�
Franco: It鈥檚 used to be Salesforce.com thing, right. Sometimes it鈥檚 Rare, sometimes it鈥檚 Rare.io. But this is the URL people are looking for us.
Richard: And such team player he left the “I” out.
Jesse: You know, when you work at a company called 黑料门, that鈥檚 黑料门.com everybody, just, you know, I understand the pronunciation, so we got out there. So, Franco, you know, what does Rare.io do?
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, we鈥檙e basically a personalized email marketing service, built specifically for
Jesse: That鈥檚 awesome, now, you know, for people that haven鈥檛, that they are, like: “Oh, yeah, I know what email is, I know it what newsletter is.” You know, what do you mean by automated email. What鈥檚, you know, break that down for somebody that鈥檚 brand new.
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I鈥檓 sure we鈥檙e going obviously dive into some of the more advanced stuff, that you can do with that. But, basically, as you guys are saying in the intro, you know, having an email list, that鈥檚 your database of customers, they belong to you. You can reach out to them anytime and it鈥檚 way easier, way less expensive to convince somebody to buy from you again, than it is to try and acquire a brand new customer. So, holding on and building an email list is really gold. And, so, what we help merchants do is really find the opportunities and find the gold in that email list through a bunch of personalized algorithmic or AI based data segmentation, which again we can talk, we can highlight some things to do as beginners, but, basically, you know, once you have that email list of customers that belong to your customer database, you want to be able to reach out to them as frequently as possible. And, so, that鈥檚 where you鈥檒l do things, like, newsletter or individual campaigns for specific sales or specific milestones, sometimes tied to a calendar event, like, Halloween is coming up or something like that. But, automated is the, that鈥檚 where the real gold comes in, because now you鈥檙e making money in your sleep. Now you don鈥檛 have to tip something up specifically.
Jesse: And, Franco, so yeah, I mean, the first things we鈥檙e talking about there, that鈥檚, maybe what people are more familiar with, that鈥檚 newsletter鈥檚 and that requires you to, you have to get creative and find, yeah, “it鈥檚 Halloween, I鈥檓 going to do a Halloween sale.” But what you鈥檙e talking about now with automation is a little more next level. So, what would be some examples of that?
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, there鈥檚 common places to start and Rare does a good job of making it easy for 黑料门
Jesse: That鈥檚 perfect. I mean, that鈥檚 the whole dream of
Richard: Yeah, Jesse is just start using it, right. He makes money on his
Jesse: Yeah, automation, that鈥檚 then you don鈥檛 have to get, you don鈥檛 have to be as creative every single month through, every time you need some money, so. So, an example of automation be, like, OK, you mention when people sign up for your newsletter or maybe, you know, when they place a sale, is that, like, a such of the triggers before the automation to kick in?
Franco: Correct. Yeah, I mean, so, there鈥檚 a bunch of common ones things, like signing up for newsletter, buying a new product, looking at, you know, the website, maybe add some things into the card and not completing the order. So, there鈥檚 a bunch of common trigger points where, you know, to go from sort of amateur to new to intermediate to expert, you want to deliver a better service in front of mind to your customers and just try to make sure that you鈥檙e helping them cut through the noise and see that there鈥檚 a special offer available to them right in that moment and capitalize on that intent to buy, or to browse, or even reward them, you know, they placed a certain amount of orders and you鈥檙e looking to do a loyalty campaign. It鈥檚 always nice to let people know that you appreciate them and, kind of like we said just a few moments ago, it鈥檚 easier to convince somebody who has an established relationship buying from you. They know that your products are legit. They like the quality, they like the customer support, they like how fast it gets to them. It鈥檚 way easier to convince them to come back and continue to buy from you, than it is to say, you know: “Hey stranger, I鈥檝e got something that you want to buy, here it is.” You know, right, it does not have that relationship there. So, that鈥檚 where automated emails can come into play. An automated, you know, may carry a bit of a negative connotation, like, it鈥檚 not personalized, but that鈥檚 where Rare comes in a way to help make those deals that go out feel very real, and look very real, and be very specific versus, you know, that traditional newsletter that where you鈥檙e blasting your entire email list: “Hey, come take 10% off, you know, and shop.” That鈥檚 not super personal, if everybody is getting the same offer on the same product. That鈥檚 not really interesting.
Richard: And so, it鈥檚 kind of, we won鈥檛 go too deep, because again to get a little bit complicated, but just as as
Franco: Not, it鈥檚 a bit of both, I guess. So, I mean, so, Rare as a product we鈥檝e got lots of starter templates ready to go for you to apply to your store. We鈥檝e got the most common formulas or trigger points set up for things, like, welcome emails or abandoned carts, you don鈥檛 have to try to imagine where should this fit into my business. We鈥檝e already identified the most common and most critical areas for you to free to just set up an email for, so, that鈥檚 all in the software, when you sign up and go ahead and create it.
Jesse: Yeah, I love that, especially for newbies, where they might, if you鈥檙e listening this podcast and saying: “Yeah. All right, automation, I鈥檓 going to do it.” And then, that鈥檚 all you have, you know, that鈥檚 hard.
Richard: So, basically they would just go into their vernacular, their vernacular then, right. So, you got your templates over jumping in there, but again getting excited. So, you got the templates, it鈥檚 pretty much there. Here鈥檚 the 80 percent of what you鈥檙e going to need and now you put in your 20 percent that makes it unique to your customers, your vernacular, your site, your product.
Franco: Exactly, correct, yes. So, I mean, the cool thing about it, and I鈥檓 sure we鈥檙e going to get to this maybe a bit, so, hopefully, I鈥檓 not jumping the gun, but, you know, when you鈥檙e thinking about email marketing a lot of other names might jump out like Mailchimp or a constant contact or something like that. And that鈥檚 great, because you鈥檙e coming from a perspective of: “I鈥檝e got an email list or a database of customers and I want to get some news out to them.” And traditionally the best way of doing that was just a newsletter which sort of, you know, most of the time just recaps company news or blog posts, but it鈥檚 not really commerce focused. And so, you know, for a long time, if you鈥檙e using that kind of software that kind of tool, you鈥檙e then trying to figure out, like: “OK, well, how can I quickly pull, you know, my product picture and now I need the description and I need how many reviews there or I need the price.” And what happens if somebody buys that, how does that integrate with, you know, 黑料门 in terms of lowering my inventory count. Well, with Rare that was built specifically for
Jesse: So, it also sounds as, if even though you have a lot of feature sets that could almost go enterprise or could go to enterprise level, that a beginner could come in, utilize your software and, you know, will direct them exactly where Rare.io later and they can look at the price and all the different stuff. But it looks from what I can see here, like, they get started right away and literally take the place of Mailchimp right now, and then may be or may not use all those feature sets, but they鈥檙e not going to have to move into a whole new software and learn a new way of working with that they could just grow as their business grows.
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, that鈥檚 the goal is to, you know, kind of as we鈥檝e mentioned is, as you build that email list, which is your gold, or your customer database and you almost customers, you want to be able to continue to get the most out of that list as possible and make smarter product recommendations each time and maintain that relationship with each individual customer at once, so that鈥檚 where some of our AI and all the stuff that we do behind the scenes that we鈥檒l get into in terms of smart timing and smart product recommendations. To y make sure that each email that we send is not something that you have to sit down and think, you know, hours about, like: “Hey, you know, Richard bought this last time, so I鈥檇 better make sure that this time that I鈥檓 reaching out to him I鈥檓 going to do this.” It just allows you to do it, you know, at scale in an automatic way.
Jesse: Yes. I mean, Jesse here with a question on. So, let鈥檚 say someone has a store, you know, they sell bikes and they also sell apparel, right. So, maybe, somebody that buys a bike might be interested in several things and buy parts and such, but somebody that bought apparel, maybe they鈥檙e just going to stick with apparel. Does your software give somebody the ability where: “OK, they bought a bike. Let鈥檚 say in a month or so we鈥檙e going to give them, you know, offers on bike tires and things like that.” Is that kind of what we鈥檙e talking about?
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, all those kind of settings are configurable and it really depends on the merchants and what they need and how many products that they have in their store and that kind of situation, but in the context you described, yeah exactly. If somebody comes in and buys a bike it doesn鈥檛 make sense, you know, for fifteen hundred bucks or whatever, it doesn鈥檛 make sense to keep recommending bikes every time is there an email. Obviously, they need more stuff and there鈥檚 only so many bikes you can buy in a year, unless you鈥檙e really making bad choices, but, you know, you totally will need you know helmet gloves, you know, the racing jersey, maybe some footwear, maybe need some new pedals, maybe need a water bottle. So, those kind of related products or other smart things, you know, if somebody seems to be buying from one specific brand collection for example, look I鈥檓 not an avid cyclist, so I鈥檓 not sure. But, you know, I鈥檇 imagine that, you know, a manufacturer of clothing supplies and accessories, you know, if you tend to be a fan of them and you tend to be buying those products, it doesn鈥檛 make sense to show you products from a brand, you know, brand B that you might not like as much as brand A. So, as the system sees that, you know: “Hey, this customer in particular on your customer list on your email list tends to be buying, you know, brand A. Well, let鈥檚 show them more brand A stuff.” And, if, you know, somebody tends to be buyer across the board then they get a little bit of everything, but people tend to have favorites and things that they look for, right, I mean, the funny part about
Jesse: Yeah that鈥檚 super cool, because as a merchant, you might have a hunch on a couple of these things, but first you have to actually have the right hunch and then you have to set up all these different emails that say “if person X buys product Y, then send email Z” and, you know, my head is already exploding on this. So, I mean, I think that鈥檚 awesome, that this software can basically has this AI in there they can just start figuring that out for you.
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it doesn鈥檛 have to be that complicated, but I mean you can end up seeing, you know, if you were to try and keep track of this stuff manually, you know, you almost end up with like a football playbook with all kinds of different things happening. But, I mean, if your business isn鈥檛 simple was: “Hey, this is a monthly subscription box and, you know, you just need to renew every quarter, provide your feedback or, you know, there鈥檚 a few products upset here and there,” it can easily handle that, just as well as it will handle something super complicated, where, you know, you may be shipping a bunch of different cycling parts and accessories internationally to a bunch of different time zones and a bunch different currencies. So, Rare definitely is able to help scale that through and throughout those different samples.
Jesse: Yeah, that鈥檚 perfect, especially for people that, you know, are getting a basic idea of what we鈥檙e talking about, but say: “Man, I really don鈥檛 want to set that up, I really just want to push the easy button on this and have email start making money for me.” So this is AI and AI needs data in order to work鈥� How long does it take Rare to start seeing these connections and start sending the right emails?
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, on the back end we extract a lot of that complication for merchants. So, based on we鈥檝e been in business for over six years, and, like I said, across a couple of different platforms with some with, you know, servicing merchant and a bunch of different industries, so, we鈥檝e been able to collect and gather a lot of really interesting data that feeds back into the templates, that feeds back into the preset recommendations, when you say: “Hey, I need a welcome campaign.” So, we take care of you鈥檙e a smaller store, we鈥檙e basically giving you see data to start with based on what we鈥檝e seen work. Now, assuming your own customers start to interact with those emails, or they interact with your website, or they start racking up some purchases through those emails, then we can actually start to tailor it a little bit more individually to them. But, you know, if you鈥檙e brand new, you鈥檙e just setting up your 黑料门 store today and you recognize that, even though it鈥檚 not super sexy, email marketing is probably a good channel for you to build and own over time and invest in over time, you can plug Rare and right away today and it will start learning as you start to add those customers, as people start to sign up your welcome email, you know, as people have abandoned their carts, you know, come back and purchased, it will learn who those people are and what鈥檚 happening and what the best is, you know, what the best products are to show them.
Richard: So, even though it鈥檚 nothing like Google Analytics, it鈥檚 like Google Analytics in that it鈥檚 better to have a connected to your website, even if you don鈥檛 use that data in the beginning, it will be useful later. So, in this particular case, you might not be using all the feature sets, but in the background without you doing anything, Rare is learning more about your customers, so as you decide to use the other feature sets, it鈥檚 ready to go.
Franco:: Yeah, absolutely. Exactly.
Jesse: Yeah, I think something that鈥檚 really interesting to me is, I take a look at, you know, of course we told people to build email list before and usually people put up a
Franco: Yeah, absolutely, and I think that, you know, in today鈥檚 world where everybody is glued to Instagram and, you know, Facebook or whatever you鈥檙e competing for customers attention, you鈥檙e competing with other notifications from a messaging app from the social network. So, if somebody is on your site and sees enough value, either or discount, you know, offer ethics into a newsletter or some, you know, special sales that only they would see or a members only section or word depending on your business model how you鈥檙e organizing that, you only have a split second to capture their attention and throw on their site and they see no value to give you their personal information, that email address where you can start to build that relationship with them, because that鈥檚 what they鈥檙e opting into they鈥檙e saying: “Hey, you have something that I want or there鈥檚 something in your brand that I really like and I want to be a part of it.” It鈥檚 a community movement kind of thing, but they鈥檙e busy they鈥檙e going to forget about you. And, so, 74% of people maybe that status change you know they expect an instant welcome email right then and there and kind of like saying you know don鈥檛 just make it out: “Hey, thanks for signing up. We鈥檒l be in touch in a month.” Not, like you still have their attention. Make that super actionable. Start sharing your mission and what you鈥檙e all about. Give them a place to start, especially if you have an extensive catalog or something like that, like they may not know what the best products are, what do what do other community members like, you know, what should I buy, are there any starter kits or is that kind of stuff, like. They鈥檙e excited, they鈥檝e given you that attention they bopped it in, so make it easy for them to take that next step and don鈥檛 wait a month to make that sale, go ahead and start, you know, in a positive and reinforcing manner just let them know that: “Hey, we鈥檙e here for you. Here鈥檚 some cool stuff that you might like to know, either about us, either about the community that you鈥檙e joining or about, you know, some of the products that we have on the site, that we think you might like as somebody who鈥檚 new here.”
Richard: So, does this Rare also, well, obviously, you鈥檙e tracking that users what they鈥檙e doing and figuring out what would be good to recommend to them. Are they also keeping in mind, are you also keeping in mind other users and what you鈥檇 see other people鈥檚 patterns and maybe recommend like “Other people kind of, other people are doing this you might want to look at this”, so even if they鈥檙e brand loyal you start to see a bunch of other people use and just say: “Shimano, back to the bike stuff.” And then they start going over to another brand or they see something that works well with that brand, do you start kind of working with the other users data too?
Franco: Yeah, for sure. So there are some some of that cross pollination, especially if there is a limited size catalog or they seem to be slowing down in some of the purchasers, depending on what鈥檚 happening globally on the site, you can start to see some of that stuff come into the recommendations, but we try to tailor it as much as possible to the individual, but it鈥檚 really based on the business and the store size. So, you know, everybody gets something a little bit different depending on who they are and who they鈥檙e trying to sell to.
Jesse: Yeah, that鈥檚 awesome. I think there was something you said too, Franco, that like I think it鈥檚 important to stress to people, that when people are on your website, if they give you their email, they expect to hear from you and they probably expect to hear from me a couple of times, so you鈥檒l really like, I think a lot of people are afraid to send emails sometimes, they feel like they鈥檙e spamming, or, you know, “I really shouldn鈥檛 do this,” but, you know, you said it right that people are expecting to hear from you and this is the opportunity where that that attention that they鈥檝e now given you, there鈥檚 a lifespan to it, if you don鈥檛 let them know, you know, like let鈥檚 say you wait a month for your next newsletter, you鈥檝e really lost the opportunity and that person is not there. They don鈥檛 like respect you for waiting a month to send an email there. They鈥檙e like: “No, I signed up, I want to hear your story,” so.
Franco: For sure, and they have probably bought from a competitor, you know, 30 days is way too long. In the age of fast shipping and being able to find anything at your fingertips, you know, I would have moved on and gone and gone to the next person, if I hadn鈥檛 heard from, you know, certain vendor or whatever. Yeah, so, capitalize on those opportunities, capitalize or want attention and go ahead and make the sale.
Richard: Yeah, especially for those people who sometimes use it as they get this, give us your email we鈥檒l give you this digital download, and they don鈥檛 even, you know, they鈥檙e on to something else. They don鈥檛 even go look at the digital download yet. Now you wait for a while and you send an email and you didn鈥檛 do anything. Sometimes, I鈥檓 sure, I don鈥檛 know the exact stats, but I鈥檓 sure there鈥檚 a pretty high percentage that are, like: “Who is this again, like, I don鈥檛 remember who this is?” You don鈥檛 do some sort of indoctrination series of some kind.
Franco: Yeah, exactly. I mean, you know, talking about emailing in 30 days or the old kind of newsletter paradigm towards email marketing, you know, each individual is different, not only in the product recommendations that they want to see, based on purchase history, or what they鈥檙e looking on the site, or wish list, or whatever, but each individual now also, you know, we all know, it鈥檚 a busy world. We鈥檙e all kind of on our own schedule, so, you know, you shouldn鈥檛 just send your emails every Monday at 9:00 a.m.. You know, I shop at night and that鈥檚 when I have free time and it鈥檚, you know, on my iPhone when I鈥檓 on the couch. So, Rare also takes into account that smart timing sort of element to it is, you know, welcome emails, you definitely want instantaneously, they like I said giving you your attention for other things, other campaigns, other automated emails, you want it to happen when that person is ready for it and when they鈥檙e most likely to buy from your store. So, Rare also takes that into account of saying: “Hey, you know, we鈥檙e some emails that need to go out right away.” And that鈥檚 baked into the template, we recommend not changing it. But then there鈥檚 other emails where, you know, you as a store owner, think: “Hey, I鈥檓 going to blast everybody, you know, Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. or Monday at 9:00 a.m. and kickoff the week, well, you know, Monday morning at 9:00 a.m. that鈥檚 when I鈥檓 emptying my inbox from all the emails I鈥檝e got over the weekend, to start fresh in the week, you know, that鈥檚 another element to keep in mind.
Jesse: So, I know some point in there you were mentioning, like discount codes, so, I鈥檇 imagine you have to go create those codes in, like, yourself in the site and then Rare just pulls those codes out or how, give me the 101 on how that works?
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, the
Richard: Got it. So, say, you had a code in there, that said: 10 there, let鈥檚 going to make some up here. There鈥檚 a 5 percent code, there鈥檚 a 10 percent off code, and there鈥檚 a 15 percent off code, you could set it up to where, if somebody keeps coming back to the site and they always buy something, then I鈥檓 literally making this nearly up right now, say, maybe, you do, like, a this one is going to be a 15 percent off, we鈥檙e going to give a bigger discount, but it鈥檚 going, but in the verbiage it鈥檚 going to say: ‘Because you鈥檙e a loyal customer, we really want to say thank you and can鈥檛 really give away margin鈥檚 all the time,’ whatever. I mean, that鈥檚 not the greatest email, obviously, but we want to say thank you, right, some sort of loyalty and then, maybe, someone else, like, they鈥檝e come multiple times and you want to give them a 5 percent, you know, they鈥檝e come here three times they haven鈥檛. And then they still don鈥檛 take advantage of that, and then two more weeks go by and then maybe now they get a 10 percent discount. And, you know, I鈥檇 imagine there鈥檚 times that this works great, but I imagine there鈥檚 some times where it鈥檚 almost, like: ‘Damn, now they鈥檙e always waiting for a discount code.’ So having that AI is actually pretty cool. Can get that granular there?
Franco: Yes, what you鈥檙e talking about there is segmented, what鈥檚 called email marketing segmenting or email segmenting. And that鈥檚 where, you know, depending on which one you鈥檙e using it鈥檚 already baked right in a Rare, some other platforms you can do some external segmentation or whatever, but we鈥檝e got what you鈥檙e talking about baked right into the platform, where we have these segments, that just keep popping up or that you can create, if you鈥檙e looking for something super specific, you can get as granular, saying: ‘Hey all the people that I acquired, you know, from the Facebook ads campaign,’ because I鈥檓 not saying: don鈥檛 do ads, I鈥檓 just saying: make sure you get their email. If you鈥檙e doing an ad and you鈥檙e you have a special offer and you want to, you know, and somebody purchase it through a coupon code or some you could say: ‘Hey, Rare, show me all the customers who came in through that offer by using that coupon code, and then you know show me what other products they鈥檝e purchased in the past, or show me how much money they鈥檝e since spent, or what cities that they came from, or all kinds of information like that.’ So, that鈥檚 really where, you know, our customer success team can come in to help you navigate those waters, because there are so many different signals to look for, I mean, we do a good job of showcasing, like I said those basic things that we鈥檝e identified in your business that everybody should be doing if you want to be successful at selling online. And then, if you really take it to the next step, you know, we鈥檝e got a team of experts here, who can help you kind of figure out: How to do this segmentation? How do I automatically send, you know, a five percent discount code if they鈥檝e been here every day and they鈥檙e not converting? How to increase it from there? If somebody is buying a lot, how do I keep them engaged, but don鈥檛 give them too much. That鈥檚 something we can help regrow for sure and it鈥檚 all, you know, the capacity is baked into the system.
Jesse: That鈥檚 great. So, this isn鈥檛 really, this isn鈥檛 a DIY project, like, this is a, you know, hit up support, give them your questions and they can help guide you as well.
Franco: Yeah, I mean, the beautiful thing about Rare is it鈥檚 a pretty big open toolbox, so if you got the expertise of, you know, enterprise level, you know, email marketing or
Jesse: That鈥檚 awesome. So, we talked a little bit about some, you know, some
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. So, I mean, we鈥檝e got a bunch of 黑料门 stories on the Rare platform, but I would totally recommend going to check out that coffeeroasters.com.hk there actually, the company is called Coffee Roasters Asia, but they鈥檝e done a really amazing job, you know, they鈥檝e only been on the platform, they鈥檝e been using Rare for four months, and we鈥檝e been able to help them earn, like, over 10,000 dollars through email marketing. So, that鈥檚, you know, directly attributed to the emails that they send out. Now they do a lot of campaigns, so they are setting up specific sales or specific events, but they do have some automation set up as well and that鈥檚 quickly growing and ready to the automation stuff is, again where you鈥檙e making the money in your sleep where you don鈥檛 necessarily need to be ready and on standby to send every single person who takes different action on your store a different email, Rare will handle that for you, so you can get some sleep, but still make some money, or you can take a weekend off and know that, you know, we鈥檙e still making you money and you also have us to feel when you鈥檙e back or whatever, but at least we鈥檙e getting you those orders.
For sure. Yeah, actually, I just checked out the site. It鈥檚 coffeeroasters.com.hk for everybody and this I think is a good example for people to help visualize it, you know, that, so they sell specialty coffee and specifically in Hong Kong. They actually have a Chinese and an English version. So, that鈥檚 pretty cool, actually. But, my guess is that people that buy one specific coffee here, like, specialty gold apple fresh bread pomerleau, like, they might be ready to reorder in say 14 days or 30 days or something, so, I mean, it makes an obvious, like, that email makes perfect sense, like: ‘Ok, they bought this kind of coffee, they probably want that again in a certain amount of days, so, I mean, is that what you guys did for them, that type of automation?
Franco: Yeah, exactly, that kind of stuff, again welcome email, so, you know, people want to try something, so especially, you know, that guys ship internationally. So, especially if you want to try something new, that comes from, you know, different places where you鈥檙e not really sure you notice something different than going to the grocery store and just picking up whatever folders or something like that. You know, you want to sort of entice people to try something new and so these kind of products, where, you know, you鈥檙e able to kind of consume them and have people come back and either discover new things or, you know, tend, you know, create new flavor profiles and they want to reorder, that the kind of automation that we can take care of for you, so that automatically, you know, if you know that your products tend to last for a month, maybe on day 25 you send somebody: ‘Hey, you鈥檙e about to run out of coffee, that would suck if you wake up you know Monday morning and don鈥檛 have coffee, how about you place an order now and it will be at your place for, you know, before you run out,’ something like that. Or you could be, like: ‘Hey, you know, we鈥檝e noticed you tend to try a lot of these types of coffee beans, maybe, you want to try something a little bit darker, maybe something a little bit lighter,’ or: ‘Hey, we鈥檙e introducing a new roast!’ That鈥檚 just one example, you know, of a consumable kind of product. Same thing for cosmetics versus, you know, apparel, you know, unless you鈥檙e bringing it out, unless the season is changing where you live and you need some heavier or lighter clothes, or there鈥檚 a new collection coming out, you know, you have to kind of create those opportunities to kind of sell and hit people look. Whereas if it鈥檚 consumable, like, through the coffee, or cosmetics where people are using shampoo, they鈥檙e using their makeup, they鈥檙e using their body wash, they鈥檙e drinking their coffee, you know, there you can set up a lot more of that kind of automation, where you鈥檙e doing the product refills. But there鈥檚 opportunities for automation in every business type, in every business model, no matter what you鈥檙e doing, and once you have that set up, then it鈥檚 work that you don鈥檛 have to recreate, it just repeats itself for you. And so now you鈥檙e saving a bunch of time and you鈥檙e able to focus on other aspects of your business.
Richard: Wow, that鈥檚 awesome. So, Franco, I know you have another product you鈥檙e working on and I don鈥檛 want to go deep into that now we鈥檒l have you back on another time. But, I was just thinking about this as you were kind of going through a lot of that, and then you went into the segmentation piece. Is it pretty easy to segment the list and actually can you export that list to, say, I want to only advertise to people, who鈥檝e bought these type of products or is that something we should cover at another time?
Franco: The capacity is all there and that鈥檚 where you鈥檙e getting into some of the stuff that I love to do, because, you know, I鈥檓 a growth marketer and an email guy. And, so, that鈥檚 where, yeah once you own that email address or once you own that customer you have that relationship, you were able to now use that, you know, you retargeting ads or to try and create a Lookalike audience on Facebook. So, that鈥檚 how you grow your business, I mean, so but it all starts off with that email list. It all starts off with that email list, that鈥檚 the hard work of building that relationship and, I mean, you know, and you don鈥檛 want to sound malicious or anything like that either in terms of, you know, didn鈥檛 look like audiences are retargeting or anything like that. Those are the tools that you need to leverage to try compete with other brands, but make sure that your loyal customers are staying engaged with your audience otherwise, somebody鈥檚 going to come in there and scoop that up. So, I mean, I don鈥檛 mind seeing brand鈥檚 ads for products that I love, especially if there鈥檚 something new coming out, or something I should try that I haven鈥檛. It sort of acts as a reminder and, you know, when I鈥檓 ready to capitalize, I鈥檝e seen that ad, there鈥檚 been enough touch points, I trust them, I鈥檓 ready to order. You know, so you got to think of it in that way, I mean, there鈥檚 always, for sure, less than positive or less than ideal ways and, you know, outcomes, but, you know, you try to focus on the good stuff of building a real company, building a real brand and being there to fulfill the needs and wants of your customers.
Jesse: And I think the important thing there is that it all starts with the email. So, you know, everybody should know by now if you listen to this whole podcast you got to get the email, but not only do you have to get the email the person who signed up your newsletter or whatever automation they鈥檙e in, and they need to be kind of indoctrinated into your company, you can鈥檛 just send one email and then later on think they鈥檙e going to continue to buy from you, so. So, definitely, get that first email, and I think we鈥檙e giving you all the tools to do it. We just need you to just need to help you along the way.
Franco: Yeah, exactly. I mean, like we鈥檙e saying, you know, going up the whole way, like, we can get really deep into this and geeky on the
Jesse: Oh, for sure. I mean, that鈥檚 the full playbook there everybody鈥檚, so, Franko, that鈥檚 awesome content. I hope a lot of people are taking some notes, pulling over on their drive to, you know, I think about the plan out their email. But, I mean, so obviously, best place for 黑料门 customers is to go to the 黑料门 App Market and you鈥檙e looking for Rare.io, since I butchered it earlier, but, Franco, where else can people learn about you guys? I would assume you have an email series, that maybe people would be interested in?
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, folks can visit our website as well, I mean, we link to it from the 黑料门 App store, but people can check us out at Rare.io, and there we, you know, we鈥檝e got a blog, we do have a newsletter series that goes out where we educate folks, our customer support team and success team are standing by all the time. They鈥檙e happy to help out if you鈥檝e got questions about, you know: ‘Hey, you know, how do I get started, what should I be looking for?’ We鈥檝e got all kinds of helpful information that we can either share or jump on a coaching call and help you.
Jesse: Awesome. And, Frank, what if they want to hear more from you personally, is there any place that they can find you online?
Franco: Yeah, absolutely. The best place to find me online is, you know, on Twitter: @francovarriano, and, of course, @rareio as well.
Jesse: Awesome. Rich, any last questions?
Richard: No, I was just laughing, because I had already just followed them Twitter, like three minutes before he said that.
Jesse: Awesome, we鈥檙e watching it on Twitter now, Franco, so, awesome, I appreciate it. Have a good one.
Franco: Thanks so much guys. Really loved being here today.
Richard: We鈥檒l look forward to having you back.
Jesse: All right, Rich鈥�
Richard: It鈥檚 good stuff. Yeah, I can鈥檛 wait to, you know, a little leak on what the others, they鈥檙e going to be working a little bit more with advertising and retargeting.
Jesse: Let鈥檚 not scare all our listeners, Rich. Come on now.
Richard: No, not scared, no, no.
Jesse: We want to we want everybody be excited about doing this email, because.
Richard: It鈥檚 inspirational, people aspire to be better, grow, like, they got the meat, they know where they can get started. All is good.
Jesse: You have your store. You got to think about email and then you think about advertising, or maybe advertising first email, second.
Richard: See what I mean? You see what I鈥檓 saying? I鈥檓 not going deep, just looking forward to it.
Jesse: I鈥檓 with you. But, yeah, I mean, couple of things that stood out to me from what Franko said, I think particularly for beginners, we went in depth on some stuff here, but I think the beauty is that the templates already exist in the software, so you don鈥檛 really need to, if you didn鈥檛 understand half what we said, that鈥檚 fine.
Richard: It doesn鈥檛 even matter.
Jesse: Yeah, you just, you know, I鈥檓 kind of pumped I think I got to sign up for this now and just go through this. And I think, what templates mean is, OK we said welcome series, or we said you know, abandoned cart series, well, it鈥檚 already written for you. You just need to change some of the words, you know.
Richard: Exactly, like, 80 percent of it is written. Now you just put your store name instead of that template store name and you put the way you would word your product or whatever. But it鈥檚 probably 80 percent written for you. You don鈥檛 have to configure things.
Jesse: Yeah. Yeah, I鈥檓 in the middle of a project right now where I鈥檓 undergoing some of this stuff and I鈥檓 writing all those things and figuring out when should I send this email like, I鈥檓 doing it the hard way. I want the easy way.
Richard: It鈥檚 part of what the beauty of 黑料门 is, it seems, like, everything from 黑料门 itself to the partners, it seems like you guys are really always keeping the customer in mind that, yes you want to grow, but we鈥檙e going to try to get it as easy for you to get started as possible, sales, 101.
Jesse: Yeah, I think this is like just another example of, basically, all this stuff is was enterprise stuff. Ten years ago, even five years ago, this would be, you have to go through a sales process you鈥檙e paying thousands of dollars for somebody to scope this out, you know, so now with with
Richard: Good stuff. Yeah. All right. Let鈥檚 sign up.
Jesse: All right. Rare.io, Franco, you got two customers here, so that鈥檚 awesome. All right, everybody with 黑料门
