The year 2020 saw tremendous change with the looming fears of the global pandemic and the lasting effect and social impact of the Black Lives Matter movement.
2020 was the year of global change, and for us, at eCommerce Growth, it was a big year of change for our clients and our company.
On the professional front, 2020 was an incredible year of growth that took a lot of determination and hard work. On the client results front, it was even better. Here's a quick recap.
eCommerce Growths’ results and stats recap of 2020
-
As of the 22nd of December, 2020, we had generated $17,051,991.71 for our retainer clients only through Klaviyo.
-
All six of our long term clients, I had crafted growth strategies for back in 2019 had DOUBLED their turnover and reached their growth targets - one of our clients going from 1.31 million surpassing their target of 2.88 million and reaching 3.61 million.
-
Over the course of BFCM, we had generated an incredible $1,038,758 for our clients.
I remember when the pandemic had started to gain more traction in Australia in February and thinking, “f*$% - I need to do whatever it takes to keep my clients' businesses going”.
And that's exactly what I did. For the first five months of COVID, (still working on my own at that stage) I pulled 12+ hour days, every day. No rest on the weekend, just work. Although we billed in hourly blocks, I had no caps on client hours for those months, and I never billed my clients for extra hours unless they directed.
I kept thinking, if I just keep working and implementing new things, then they’ll stay in business and I will too.
It was gruelling, but I’m proud to say that I never lost a client over the pandemic. Not a single one and our results truly speak for themselves.
On the financial front, I kept hoarding and stashing cash away with as frugal spending as possible. In fact, from February to September, I never paid myself a salary and lived off personal savings. I just kept thinking “every ounce of cash you make, bank it for a rainy day” 😂.
Those who know me best know that I’m really big on being financially savvy and that I assess risk a lot more intensely than others. Hence, in the wake of a pandemic, I decided to batten down the hatches and get even leaner and tight-arseish with company funds 😂. In hindsight, I’m glad I did, as it gave me the resources I needed to fund our next stage of growth that otherwise would not have come to fruition.
Rewinding to January, it was such a proud moment when I was officially added to the Klaviyo Partner Directory as a Platinum Partner. The fact at that stage that I was a solo freelancer was just the icing on the cake!
Fast forward to June and I was wrecked - completely burnt out but still eager to get in and get work done. [I’m the type of person that can never shut off from work or relax lol so even facing the realisation of being burnt out, getting out of my bed every day and jumping on my computer to start the day never felt too hard.]
I’d met the CEO of a recruitment company at a networking dinner. After a few conversations, I decided to spend the cash [I was saving so aggressively] and see what a recruitment agency could find in terms of my first hire. It was one of the best decisions of my 2020 as now I have Braedi working with me.
Have you ever met someone where you think, you were destined to cross paths at some stage of your lives? As weird as this sounds, this is what meeting Braedi felt like to me. She is such an incredibly genuine and good person, and hiring her has been such a highlight of my 2020.
At this stage, Braedi and I were working from my spare bedroom. For context, I live in Surfers Paradise on the Gold Coast (Queensland, Australia) so parking in my street on any day can be a battle, but we made do. For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to buy a factory in Burleigh Heads and on a cost analysis of renting an office space versus a mortgage repayment on a factory, they’re around 3x cheaper, so I took the plunge on buying my first commercial property this year.
I put the offer in on the 21st of July, and we settled on our new HQ on the 26th of September. COVID-19 + borrowing for a mortgage (particularly a commercial one) was super intense hence the timeframe but as stressful as it was, it’s another one of our highlights of 2020.
By the end of August/September Braedi and I, we’re busy prepping for all of our clients Black Friday & Cyber Monday event strategies.
Fast forward to November, just before BFCM, I decided to take the plunge and hire again through the same recruitment company that had found Braedi and viola… Hannah started with us as our Junior eCommerce Marketing Coordinator just in time for BFCM.
Hannah is now the final piece in my employment plans for eCommerce Growth. Our vision is to remain small but mighty and work with minimal brands moving forward to ensure our quality of work is always the best in our industry.
To recap on our BFCM 2020 results, you can read this blog post here but to break it down quickly we generated a jaw-dropping 1+ million for our clients who participated this year.
An average of 44% of total revenue across all clients that participated in BFCM was attributed to their Klaviyo based email marketing, totalling at an incredible $1,038,758.
Not bad for a couple of sheila’s Downunder!
We were super organised this year, and I’m so glad we were as on Thursday, the day before Black Friday I got the heartbreaking news that my Stepdad Ken, has stage 4 lung cancer, that has already spread to his pelvis, shoulder and brain. Ken has been a part of my life since I was five years old, so it was the final blow of 2020 that was the hardest of the year.
I just kept thinking to myself, how lucky we were for being so over-organised and having everything so prepped well in advance for BFCM this year. Being so organised is what kept me from unravelling during BFCM and getting the news.
On the personal front, without a doubt, 2020 has been my most challenging year - but as Ken always says to me, “you just need to stay focused on work” and that I’m completely determined to do.
So what’re our plans for next year?
Well, we have a few.
On the client results front,
We spent all of December working on our clients' strategies for 2021. This included:
- Auditing our clients Klaviyo based Quarterly Growth Reports across Q1, Q2, Q3 & Q4.
- Completing Klaviyo Power Audits in every client's accounts’.
- Creating Growth Strategy 2021 Calculations for each client’s accounts’.
- Writing a written summary for each 2021 Growth Strategy.
- Crafting a user testing questionnaire and 7 step user experience brief to craft better intel into the brands we work with.
- Conducting a Campaign Audit and Drafting Written Findings of all campaigns across the year (what worked, what didn’t and what’s the plan for 2021 etc.)
What we’re still implementing into January:
- 350+ point eCommerce Marketing Audit for all clients across their website.
- Crafting their 2021 Klaviyo based Campaign Strategy.
- Developing a 2021 eCommerce Marketing Calendar for our clients that doesn’t just cover email but every other channel relating to their overall eCommerce Marketing Strategy as well.
My plan for 2021, much like my 2020 goal, is to execute and achieve the growth strategies for doubling every clients’ turnover that we work with. We have a strike rate of 100% in 2020, so I’m using this as fuel to continue the great work internally that we do.
On the professional front, it’s achieving the company's growth targets that the incredible Jason Andrew and Patrick from SBO Financial have set out for us. I need to write a whole other blog post on this topic as this company and what they do are worth their weight in absolute gold.
And on the personal front, it’s all-around remaining optimistic for my stepdads journey into the new year and being a pillar of emotional and financial support for my family.
In summary, 2020 was the year of global change, and for us, at eCommerce Growth, it was a big year of change for all of us.
Moving into 2021, I’m excited about what opportunities and adventures lay ahead for us.