I recently had the pleasure of sitting down with Ezra Firestone, a man who is certainly no stranger to the world of successful ecommerce start-ups.
Ezra Firestone’s businesses generated $70M in revenue last year, but he says he’s just “some guy.”
I’ve pulled out some of my absolute favorite gems from our conversation and lessons you can take to create a revenue-generating ecommerce funnel.
Who Is Ezra Firestone?
Ezra Firestone started his first ecommerce store in 2006, selling Marge Simpson wigs. Despite being a high school dropout without experience or education, he was determined to make his business work. Two decades later, he invested in and co-founded five successful businesses, including Smart Marketer, an ecommerce education platform that helps entrepreneurs run stores that generate over $20 million in yearly revenue.
Firestone is also the co-founder of Zipify Apps, a software development company that creates Shopify apps, and is an investor in ecommerce brands oVertone, Boom, and Naväge® Nasal Care.
5 Lessons from Ezra Firestone on Building a Winning Ecommerce Funnel
Lesson 1: Have the best promise
While many focus on getting the best product to market, with the belief that it will help them become to go-to brand for that industry, Firestone sees things a little differently.
“Everybody tells you that the best product wins in the marketplace. That is not true. The best promise wins in the marketplace,” Firestone says. explains.
“The best promise wins in the marketplace.”
But Firestone also acknowledges that few founders or entrepreneurs actually know how to make a great promise. In today’s marketing world, the promise begins with an advertisement or a specific piece of content.
“You need one very compelling video. You only need a couple of [steps] to make a sale,” Firestone says. “The first is you got to be able to get someone’s attention and let them know that you exist.”
That video might be a testimonial from a customer, or it could be a paid content creator or influencer talking about your product. It may even be a member of your family talking about your product.
The most important thing is that you need at least one really good video asset to make a great product promise.
Don’t Skip: How Do You Launch a Product?
Lesson 2: Build a clear landing page
The second ecommerce funnel lesson from Firestone is that any aspiring ecommerce entrepreneur needs a clear landing page.
This landing page is the focal CTA on social media channels and other outreach campaigns, and it sits at the top of your ecommerce funnel, yet Firestone believes many do it incorrectly.
“Most people in ecommerce get this wrong, and they do a couple of pictures and a few bullet points, and that’s it,” Firestone says. “However, you need to do a traditional direct response sales page that is designed to overcome any objections they might have about buying. [I do that with] all my ecommerce product pages. They’re essentially long-form sales pages with videos and stories and content and everything.”
“You need to do a traditional direct response sales page that is designed to overcome any objections they might have about buying.”
Lesson 3: Implement a rigorous follow-up campaign
Another common mistake early-stage entrepreneurs make is not having a detailed and robust follow-up campaign in place for their ecommerce funnel. Many spend too much time and money attracting their target customers to their website, but few consider follow-up communications for those who don’t convert immediately.
“A lot of people don’t take action immediately, so you have to follow up with them. That’s where you capture the email address, and you send them emails. So we have incentives to get their email address when they’re on our site,” Firestone says. “But when we follow up with them, it could literally be the same video ad to the same landing page. You look at many eight- and nine-figure funnels, and it’s one good video and one good landing page.”
Firestone even goes as far as to say you’ll be ahead of most founders, especially when you keep things simple.
“Most people, what they try to do is they try to make a million videos and 20 landing pages and focus on a million products. Instead, focus everything on one product. You want to sell one thing and ensure all your videos are about it.”
Lesson 4: Have two products from the get-go
While many founders ask when they should consider introducing a second product, Firestone takes a different approach.
“My viewpoint is that ideally, from the jump, you have two products,” he explains. “One item that you’re focusing on selling and doing all your marketing around, and another item that you’re using as an upsell or cross-sell on the product page, in the shopping cart, post-purchase.”
“My viewpoint is that ideally, from the jump, you have two products.”
Firestone believes that a basket-building item is an important first step in your ecommerce funnel to increase the average order value.
“If you do any kind of good marketing, you probably get a 20% take rate on that basket builder if it is relevant. So, I would like to start with a cross-sell product that is already built in.
Lesson 5: The more products you have, the more merchandising you can do
It is no secret that in ecommerce today, merchandising matters more than ever before.
“Merchandising is how you bundle, how you kit, and how you discount,” Firestone says. “Buy one, get one. Buy this to get a free gift with your order. Buy this and get this other one half off live shopping, and so on.”
“Merchandising is how you bundle, how you kit, and how you discount.”
As a result, Firestone also admits that the benefits of successful merchandising mean he often works in the background on product development with new business owners. And that’s when you know your ecommerce funnel is running on all cylinders.
Keep Learning: 11+ Ecommerce Marketing Strategies to Boost Your Online Sales
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Be sure to check out the whole interview in full here to learn more about how Firestone became so successful in ecommerce, and don’t forget to sign up for foundr+ today for just $1.
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