Gabriel A. Mays's Profile
Gabriel A. Mays
Recent Messages
#tiktok - January 15, 2025 at 07:34 PM
Always yes 😆 I've been a believer in Meta for years. They were the first ones to figure out ATT and seem to be increasingly leveraging AI. The TikTok issue is just icing on the cake.
FWIW Meta is up ~370% since I bought them after the pandemic dip. I wrote an update on it if you're into investing.
#general-chat - January 10, 2025 at 08:37 PM
Similar to the above, if you also have a large Instagram following you could run a giveaway ($50-$100 gift card) where people enter by taking a quiz (link in bio) asking ~5 related questions.
In addition to gauging product interest, the questions will also capture related buying preferences ro inform product development. The value there is all of those responses/preferences are now attached to those user emails as tags for use in segmentation (e.g. launch email) or personalization.
I think the personalization side will be really big as AI continues to improve. E.g. at some point we'll be able to plug email/SMS/video generation, etc. into our CDP or Shopify and say, "This is everything I know about this customer, help me sell X for Y holiday/event" and get custom emails, SMS, video commercials, etc. campaigns generated for every user and see which ones convert best since AI will eventually generate hundreds of variations for pennies.
I assume a similar approach would also work on TikTok, X, etc. The trick is using the virality of a giveaway in addition to ads to boost it for lower CPMs since people love winning stuff. And since you're capturing their emails, you can get them into your email funnel either way to make up the ROI.
#everything-marketing - January 07, 2025 at 09:03 PM
I've been pretty impressed with Finaloop as well. They're also pretty generous with the free trial and will extend/restart it if you need more time to evaluate it.
#general-chat - December 26, 2024 at 01:10 AM
It’s also worth just throwing your numbers into ChatGPT and asking for projections with a description of your type of brand and goal (e.g. raise capital) , etc. to see what you get it case it gives you any ideas on how to sell the narrative better.
#general-chat - December 12, 2024 at 05:05 PM
You’ll have 50,000 followers yet only get 3 likes and 2 spam comments per post. Such low engagement will effectively ruin your account and you’ll have to start over from scratch. I’ve seen this happen to hundreds of aspiring brands.
Getting authentic followers is much harder (thus more expensive) than before, but buying followers isn’t a shortcut since those aren’t authentic followers.
#everything-marketing - December 12, 2024 at 01:31 AM
Instagram and TikTok have API limitations, so any tools typically use scraping and can sometimes be a bit shady. There are some decent ones in the iOS app store, but some charge, others ask for your PW (which I wouldn't trust), etc.
The simplest way is generally to pick a random number, find that comment, then check if they followed the rules. If so, that's your winner. If not, pick another number and repeat the process.
I generally recommend adding a rule like 'join our email list, link in bio' or something like that because 1) you get opt-ins which are easier to convert, thus boosting ROI and 2) it's much easier to pick a winner from the email opt-in list. Also, if people opt-in (the hardest thing), you can generally assume they did the other rules.
Another bonus is if you have them include their username + email on the opt-in form, you can check out their profile for a bit of customer research, finding customers for testimonials/influencers, etc.
#general-chat - December 11, 2024 at 03:12 PM
Never do it, I've never seen it have good outcomes.
#tiktok - December 05, 2024 at 08:58 PM
Without knowing more seems like it could be influencer/audience mismatch with weak CTAs or something more nefarious like bots/fake views.
#general-chat - November 26, 2024 at 04:04 AM
+1 for
#general-chat - November 18, 2024 at 09:36 PM
Have you tried dropping the PDF directly into ChatGPT using 4o?
#tech-talk - November 07, 2024 at 02:41 AM
AffiliateWP works fairly well and integrates with WooCommerce:
#general-chat - October 29, 2024 at 01:25 PM
It's generally better to start with a contract, and then only 'promote' them to some sort of equity package after you're confident that a long-term relationship makes sense.
When you give someone equity, you're making them a long-term partner in your business. And I just don't see that many influencer relationships that last that long, especially since it's often a short-lived career (burnout, etc.).
So, when you give them equity, it's theirs until they sell it. You could include buybacks or something in the shareholder agreement, but that's more complexity, which is legal speak for expensive 😆
There are examples of this working well, but it's when the celebrity has a huge personal brand, like Michael Jordan (Nike), Kobe Bryant (BodyArmor), Skims (Kim K), Fabletics (Kate Hudson), etc.
But as you can see, to make the equity worth it, they have to 1) genuinely fit the brand and 2) effectively become the face of the brand. It's often one major influencer, not multiple smaller ones.
And more importantly, it's not giving an influencer equity in exchange for content, it's making them a full partner in the business. So think of them more like a late co-founder. If you don't have that kind of confidence in the relationship, then don't tie your hands by giving out your finite, valuable equity. But then again, the right influencer can change the trajectory of a business, but that kind of relationship is hard to find (just like any great relationship).
#wins-and-humblebrags - July 30, 2024 at 10:26 PM
Awesome, congrats!
#wins-and-humblebrags - July 29, 2024 at 04:50 PM
Even better man, doesn't get any better than working and succeeding with friends 🎉🚀
#wins-and-humblebrags - July 29, 2024 at 02:21 PM
Awesome, congrats! 🎉
#everything-marketing - July 23, 2024 at 08:41 PM
Top level domain is best for brandability, which it sounds like you'll want going into retail. If you're on Shopify, it's a fairly easy process, just add the new domain and make it the primary.
Hopefully all of your links are relative so they automatically update, but after the move you'll want to run an SEO tool (Siteguru is a cheap one if you can get the lifetime App Sumo deal) to make sure you have no broken links or other SEO issues.
You'll also want to do all of the new domain stuff in Google search console, GA, etc. so it's updated everywhere. If you have the budget, it's worth hiring an SEO consultant to give you a playbook or assist if you don't have anyone in-house since a big mistake can be expensive.
#general-chat - July 22, 2024 at 01:48 PM
Yeah, generally. People always love a reason to celebrate, so that's a good opportunity for a 'special day' to celebrate and get folks excited about on social media -- especially if you can also use it to boost brand awareness assuming you have an engaged following.
As for other ideas, there's also research that shows better results when the sale event ties to the business (e.g. a bakery that makes pies celebrating Pi day) and when it's creative/fun. I summarized it in a blog post and you can read the full research study (from the Journal of Consumer Psychology).
#wins-and-humblebrags - July 19, 2024 at 04:26 PM
Congrats! 🔥
#wins-and-humblebrags - July 18, 2024 at 04:02 AM
Wow congrats!
#general-chat - July 16, 2024 at 12:26 PM
Agree. To keep the response rate high, limit it to something like “quick question, how’d you hear about us?”
Then if they reply you can maybe test following up with a short survey asking more, but include a discount or some other sort of incentive. Test to find what works best.
#tech-talk - July 15, 2024 at 07:52 PM
Self plug here, but we took a new AI approach on quizzes with .
Rather than spending hours/days creating quizzes with the legacy quiz builders (e.g. Octane), our AI approach takes 2 minutes allowing you to frequently test different options, use them on social (e.g. capture emails/buying preferences with every post), etc. That's just not possible with Octane and others.
We have a free plan, but folks here can also use promo code LIMITEDSUPPLY for 50% off. Always happy to chat or give a demo.
#everything-marketing - July 10, 2024 at 01:55 PM
True Classic uses AfterSell. They have a free dev store plan, so might be worth just spinning up a dev store and trying the features you need.
#general-chat - July 08, 2024 at 03:00 PM
There's a lot of buzz about AI, but what real impacts have you seen from it in marketing with your brands? Where is it most useful now vs. not quite ready yet? Particularly interested in any success around personalization.
#email-sms - July 08, 2024 at 04:21 AM
Are you seeing any difference in sales? Said another way, is your hunch that:
1. Both are accurately reporting attribution, but Sendlane is just driving fewer sales
2. Klaviyo was overreporting, and Sendlane is accurate
3. Klaviyo is accurate, and Sendlane is underreporting
#everything-marketing - July 05, 2024 at 02:02 PM
It's worth testing before BFCM so it's available when customers are in a buying mood. At a minimum, you'll have experience with both before and after (last year) to inform launch decisions going forward.
You could also try introducing it as a bonus/upsell offer if you still want to lead with your main products. E.g. Customer buys current products -> hit them with offer try your new product at a discount. You could also try bundling it (depending on the product).
The nature of the product will also guide how you want to approach it (e.g. consumable vs. apparel, etc.).
#wins-and-humblebrags - July 05, 2024 at 03:03 AM
Awesome, congrats on the recovery. May the Meta gods ever be in your favor 🙏
#everything-marketing - July 03, 2024 at 03:07 PM
Try putting a product recommendation quiz on your collection pages to boost conversion rates there where customers usually struggle with buying decisions. You could also try one on your homepage and LPs for top/relevant products.
Brands like Jones Road Beauty have had success with these, so look at what they do. They also drive TikTok ads to LPs with quizzes for conversions + opt-ins.
#tech-talk - June 28, 2024 at 09:56 PM
@Nathan Okuley Yep, we push email, location, gender and quiz data (what quiz they took with buying preference data like questions/answers, etc.) to Shopify. The quiz data is saved as Shopify customer tags, which syncs to Klaviyo or wherever for segmentation, etc.
Also per quiz data like engagements, completions, add to carts, conversions and other analytics data is also available (including GA4 and Meta Pixel events).
#tech-talk - June 28, 2024 at 07:23 PM
Self plug here, but we took a new AI approach on quizzes with .
Rather than spending hours/days creating quizzes with the legacy quiz builders, our AI approach takes 2 minutes allowing you to frequently test different options, use them on social, etc.
We have a free plan, but folks here can also use promo code LIMITEDSUPPLY for 50% off. Would love any feedback and also happy to chat if anyone has questions on quiz strategy, regardless of what product you use.
Generally, you should be using quizzes on your home page, collections and as part of social content, e.g. share a product in a post and direct people to the quiz to find the right one -- really helps get more conversions on social.
A lot of brands also drive ads to them, which some of the more complex quiz apps work better for (they just take longer to set up). So "test, then invest" is generally the right approach.
#everything-marketing - June 28, 2024 at 06:19 PM
Probably trying to drive more sales to shops
#email-sms - June 15, 2024 at 07:23 PM
If they’re invalidated (single opt-in) you can run them through Emailable and filter out the bad ones (assuming the functionality isn’t built in to your ESP).
The better ESPs also usually have some activity rating to know who is active (opens/clicks) or not.
#general-chat - June 14, 2024 at 08:32 PM
Agree with @Connor Hance, FB is best for that demographic. If FB ROAS is solid you're probably better off continuing to optimize and increasing ad spend as you can. There should still be a lot of room to run. Otherwise you're spreading yourself too thin across channels and not spending enough anywhere to optimize.
Generally, you want to focus and double down on what's working, then double down again. Do that until it makes sense to seek higher ROAS elsewhere.
#general-chat - June 13, 2024 at 04:36 PM
Likely low quality followers acquired through buying followers or some other means like that.
Often the best thing to do is just pretend you're building an audience from scratch to get more engaged followers to increase the ratio. You could also try pruning the fake/low engagement followers, but depends if that's worth it on a case by case basis.
#wins-and-humblebrags - June 11, 2024 at 10:10 PM
Congrats, awesome milestone! 🔥
#general-chat - June 09, 2024 at 01:10 AM
It depends. Probably Salesforce because of the personalization flexibility, unless for some reason you need/have more of what Oracle specifically excels at, like ERP, etc. (depending on your existing business).
#general-chat - June 08, 2024 at 12:28 AM
My $0.02: Shopify is always the default starting choice for commerce. And if Shopify isn’t the right fit, you’ll find out why in your tech discovery, which will make your final choice easier since you’ll know specifically what you need from alternatives.
But businesses of that size are always snowflakes so TBH at that level of revenue I’d get in contact with an exec at Shopify who can put you in contact with the right folks from their team and an enterprise level consultant who has done those kinds of migrations before.
Harley (Shopify President) shared some examples recently and is relatively accessible, for example.
Also, if you don’t go with Shopify there should be a very good reason since the costs of a custom stack are insane (including non-monetary costs) and any alternatives just don’t have the depth of commerce features or focus.
#general-chat - June 06, 2024 at 01:36 PM
Nuts. As a point of reference for rates, just saw this on X:
#general-chat - June 04, 2024 at 04:18 PM
We got the discount through YC's free startup school course:
They also have other good discounts as well. The course/content is also great, though startup focused.
#self-promotion - May 24, 2024 at 07:19 PM
Here's a Memorial Day example giveaway quiz for Blackstone griddles, turning the complexity of picking the right griddle into a marketing opportunity:
It'd also be worth testing a similar quiz on collection pages to drive more conversions. Who knows how many customers get analysis paralysis trying to choose from all those options and combinations
A link to try the quiz:
#everything-marketing - May 16, 2024 at 04:04 PM
Try these:
#the-welcome-mat - May 15, 2024 at 07:38 PM
Welcome and hello from just over the bridge on Cape Cod! 👋
#self-promotion - May 10, 2024 at 03:34 PM
I used our AI quiz app for Shopify to make a Mother's Day product recommendation quiz with Nest candles as an example, which are my wife's favorite. It works well for any products that customers have trouble choosing between (plus captures contact info + buying preferences).
60-second demo here:
You can try the quiz yourself here (demo Shopify store):
If anyone wants to try the Shopify app, LS users get 50% off with promo code: LIMITEDSUPPLY
#general-chat - May 08, 2024 at 04:19 PM
Do not contact the parents, doing could violate privacy laws. Cancel and refund the order citing your policies. If you don’t already have it, ensure your TOS has something about excessive/fraudulent orders if applicable.
Beyond that, don’t get involved. The family needs to handle that situation.
After all that, give yourself a pat on the back because your products must be pretty damn good if that kind of thing happens 😆
#general-chat - May 08, 2024 at 02:28 PM
Yep. It may also be worth just checking out a few of the top upsell apps (assuming you're using Shopify), and they may spark some ideas since that's what they specialize in and have some creative ways to implement.
#general-chat - May 08, 2024 at 11:12 AM
You could try the private API. There are some libraries on GitHub that might help, but you’ll need a proxy and it’s unreliable. You can also try scraping, which is also unreliable. You can find services online like scrapers if you don’t want to do it yourself. These usually violate Meta TOS, so use at your own risk.
#general-chat - May 06, 2024 at 08:05 PM
Just got an uptime alert, but it was fine when I checked it.
#cx-retention - May 06, 2024 at 01:02 PM
+1 for as well, it's good and cheap.
#general-chat - May 02, 2024 at 08:02 PM
One thing that may be worth trying based on the return reasons: If there are certain products/collections people have a hard time choosing between you could also test a recommendation quiz (e.g. on a collection page). Then compare the return rates of the segment that takes the quiz vs. those who don't.
Otherwise, like @Toni Jugo suggested the return reasons will point the way for what to test next.
#paid-media - April 26, 2024 at 12:07 PM
More on Meta from the same guy as above. @Moiz Ali should make you feel a bit better about the stock dropping yesterday — they’re making smart long term investments: