311. The CASH Method: Your Framework for eCommerce Growth

Today, we’re diving into a little something I call the CASH method. It’s my simple 4-pillar framework designed to cut through the noise, battle shiny object syndrome, and keep you focused on what’s truly important when trying to grow your eCommerce business.

Overview of the CASH Method

• Hone Your Strategy
• Calculate Your Target
• Amplify Your Message
• Supercharge Your Results 

Prefer to listen to the episode? Click here.

Calculate Your Target

When it comes to growing your business, you have to know what you’re trying to achieve. You can’t improve what you don’t measure, right? We started talking about this last week when I impressed upon you the importance of setting profit goals in your business. But calculating your target doesn’t just mean knowing how much money you want to make. It’s also about understanding how your individual KPIs work together to hit the financial goals you’ve set. 

And when I say KPIs I’m talking about traffic, conversion, AOV, and your margins. 

Now, we’re going to talk more about these KPIs and how you can leverage them in next week’s episode but I want you to start approaching your business as a math problem. All of these KPIs work together… and if any one of them is off it can make it impossible to 

For example, let’s say you have a great conversion rate, a killer AOV, and great margins… at the end of the day if you don’t have enough traffic coming to your site you can’t make the money you’re trying to make. 

On the flip side of that, maybe you have a ton of traffic, but your conversion rate is terrible… in that case, it doesn’t matter how many people are coming to your website. If your website doesn’t convert them into a paying customer… then you’re still not making money. 

Now, we’re going to talk more about these KPIs and how you can leverage them in next week’s episode, but I want you to start thinking about your eCommerce business as a math problem… because that’s what it is. If you know that you want to make X dollars in profit… then you need to find the combination of these KPIs that are going to add up to that dollar amount. 

Amplify Your Message

Next, it’s time to amplify your message. At the end of the day, no matter how good your product is, if people don’t know you exist or you’re not consistently marketing yourself… there’s no way you’re going to hit your goals. If you’ve heard me talk about the CASH method before, I probably spoke specifically about email marketing at this stage. And that is still true. I don’t believe you can have a long-term sustainable eCommerce business or any online business really, without email marketing. 

That includes both a strategic automated email system that works for you on autopilot and a solid campaign strategy that keeps you top of mind for your email subscribers, converting first-timers and bringing your customers back again and again. 

But the idea of amplifying your message can be expanded to include smart marketing strategies in general. For example, intentional marketing campaigns, compelling copy that speaks directly to your perfect customer, and even your organic social media strategy. 

The point of this pillar is that you need to be able to connect with your target audience and consistently show up. 

And don’t get confused… this doesn’t mean you need to be in all the places and do all the things. It just means you need to a few things REALLY well. I’m always going to advocate for doing fewer things… better. 

Supercharge Your Results

Once you’ve got the foundations figured out, it’s time to fast-track your success. Historically when talking about supercharging your results in the CASH method I’ve referred specifically to paid ads. And that hasn’t changed. There’s a reason why we’ve focused on ads in the Lounge since day one. Organic is slow AF for most people. 

I know you’ve heard the stories and maybe you’ve even had a biz friend who went viral on social media and their business blew up overnight. But that’s the exception, not the rule. 

What makes ads so powerful, is that you’re getting in front of an audience that you wouldn’t otherwise be in front of. So when you’re thinking about supercharging your results… yes that could mean ads,  but it could also mean getting in front of other people’s audiences. 

When you’re just starting out, that probably looked like exhibiting at in-person marketing or selling on platforms like Etsy and/or Amazon. That could still be the case even if you’ve been in business awhile. 

It could also mean working with influencers, collaborating with other small businesses, or doing wholesale.

At the end of the day, this pillar is all about leveraging audiences that other people have worked hard to build and get your product in front of them. 

Hone Your Strategy

One of the biggest mistakes I see most entrepreneurs make is they try to do too many things, they don’t need any of them well, and when things don’t give them the results they’re looking for, they give up too quickly. 

If you take nothing else away from today’s episode, please remember this… the best and most successful businesses are not following every shiny object, and changing their strategy on every whim. Instead, they’re relentless about improving their results over time. Getting better and better at the things that have proven to work for them. 

So while you may get FOMO when you hear me talk about marketing strategies on the podcast, or when you see other people in your industry doing things that you think are cool… it doesn’t mean you have to do them. 

Yes, there is likely going to be a time in your business when you have to just say… you know what this strategy ain’t working for me. And there can be a fine line between adapting and staying stuck… but more often than not I see people jumping from thing to thing, just looking for some magical silver bullet that it going to revolutionize their business – and that’s just not how this works. 

We need use the data at our disposal to consistently improve over time. That’s why I’m such a proponent of doing less, but better. This is a concept that will come to life over the next 2 episodes in this series.