Want to know the most effective ecommerce growth strategy?

I studied successful online stores to find out what works best. While every store’s path is unique, clear patterns emerged.

Here are some examples:

Whether your goal is to do $1M or $100M, it comes from executing the fundamentals.

I’ve distilled this guide to the five most impactful growth strategies, including:

• Success metrics
• Real-world examples
• Requirements to execute
• Expected timeline and results

Let’s start with the most important one.

1. Make Products Your Customers Actually Want

Most ecommerce failures share one root cause: creating products nobody wants. Or products that are okay but never really get traction.

You follow trends. Copy competitors. Trust your gut.

Then invest thousands in inventory and marketing, hoping customers will buy.

The solution?

Talk to your customers.

One honest conversation today could prevent massive product failures tomorrow.

These chats reveal opportunities like:

• Problems customers can’t solve with existing products
• What their “perfect” product would look like, and missing features
• Unexpected details that could help you differentiate your product

Conversations also build relationships. They turn customers into fans who drive growth through word-of-mouth.

How Hush Blankets Grew to $48M Through Customer Conversations

By talking to customers, founders Aaron Spivak and Lior Ohayon turned $4,000 into $48M in 48 months.

For example, when summer sales dropped, they scheduled customer calls. The feedback was clear:

That single insight led to their breakthrough “ice fabric” technology, which:

• Raised $1M on Kickstarter
• Sold 3,000 units in 72 hours
• Became their highest-margin product

The entrepreneurs continued talking to customers to inform product development.

How to Have Customer Conversations

It’s easy to overthink product research. But Hush proved that you just need to begin talking to customers.

Here’s a simple process to get started:

1. Send a brief email with a link for a 15-minute call. The Hush team found this approach got better responses than long surveys or complicated feedback forms.
2. Approach each conversation with genuine curiosity. Don’t defend your products or explain your constraints. Just listen. Ask what their perfect product would look like. Follow interesting threads that emerge.
3. Start with five customers this week. That’s enough to spot patterns while being totally manageable. Even if you’re swamped, you can find 75 minutes for conversations that could transform your business.
4. Take detailed notes using their exact words. In addition to product ideas, you can get feedback points and marketing content.

The goal is to build such deep customer understanding that product failures become nearly impossible.

2. Build a Strong Brand Through Storytelling

When we consume 6 hours of content daily, attention is the most valuable currency in business.

Storytelling is how you earn it.

Why? Stories stick.

You may not remember product specs, but you likely recall Sara Blakely cutting the feet off her pantyhose to create Spanx. Or Patagonia’s founder testing gear on mountain expeditions.

Most brands miss by showing only the highlight reel—the wins, the perfect moments, and the polished content.

Telling raw, relatable stories is how you build a lasting brand.

How Mid Day Squares Built a $20M Chocolate Empire Through Storytelling

In 2018, Jake Karls and his co-founders launched Mid Day Squares with a radical commitment to transparency.

They documented everything about building the company—from production line disasters to legal battles to funding negotiations.

Mid Day Sqaures unconventional approach involved:

• Sharing the entrepreneurial journey, not just the product (85-90% of content)
• Showing behind-the-scenes wins and failures
• Filming raw, unscripted moments

Mid Day Squares grew to over $20 million in revenue. And Jake attributes much of their success to creative content.

But brand storytelling isn’t just for founder-led content.

How TBH Skincare Makes Customer-Focused Content

When Rachel Wilde started TBH Skincare, she took a different approach to content marketing.

In addition to founder stories, she created content on real customer experiences. It focused on honest education about acne treatment.

This customer-first storytelling shaped every aspect of their content, including:

• Focusing on raw, unfiltered customer results
• Creating educational content that destigmatizes acne
• Showing real people dealing with real skin issues

They allocated 80% of the marketing budget to content creation. It built a storytelling engine that helped customers see themselves in the products.

And it worked.

TBH Skincare grew to $14M ($22M AUD) in four years.

How to Start Creating Engaging Stories

Before investing in content, identify what makes your brand relatable. Here are some best practices to get started:

1. Document your “why.” Beyond making money, what drives your company? What change are you trying to create?
2. Choose your storytelling lane. Will you focus on founder content? Customer stories? Educational content? Pick an approach that plays to your strengths and resonates with your audience.
3. Start small but consistent. You don’t need fancy equipment or a full content team. Both Mid Day Squares and TBH Skincare started with iPhones and posted daily while staying true to their story.
4. Test and iterate. Track which stories resonate deeply. Look for patterns in engagement and sales attribution. Double down on what works.

What Makes Storytelling CRUCIAL

When you nail your brand’s narrative, you create compelling organic content.

But that’s just the beginning.

You’re also building marketing assets that drive results across every channel.

Your content becomes fuel for:

• Paid media on Meta, Google, and TikTok
• Email nurture sequences
• Product pages that tell a deeper story
• Blog content

The TBH Skincare team has found authentic stories outperform traditional ads across every channel.

The lesson?

View storytelling as the key to better marketing. It’ll boost all your other channels.

3. Optimize Search Marketing (Paid and Organic)

Every day, billions of people tell Google exactly what they want to buy. Capturing this traffic isn’t cheap or easy—but it’s steady.

Paid search gives instant traffic but needs constant investment. Organic search is free but takes time to build up. Together, they drive consistent sales.

How MX Store Uses Search to Drive $100M+ in Sales

When MX Store, Australia’s largest online motorcycle parts retailer, first tried Google Ads, their approach was typical.

Broad keywords. Generic ads. Homepage traffic.

Like throwing spaghetti at a wall and hoping something sticks.

So they shifted their approach—led by marketing director Dan Turner.

Here’s exactly what they changed:

1. Built granular campaigns: Instead of lumping everything together, they created separate campaigns for each product category. Every campaign got its own custom landing page and clear conversion path.
2. Analyzed search terms meticulously: Weekly reviews. Aggressive negative keyword expansion. Minimized wasted spend on irrelevant searches.
3. Implemented systematic testing: Every ad needed a minimum of 5,000 impressions before making decisions. Proper budget allocation for each test. Regular creative refreshes.

The result?

A consistent 10x return on ad spend (ROAS).

How to Make the Most Out of Your Google Ads Campaigns

Before you spend a dollar on ads, understand your profit. Then, analyzing your competitors and keyword research follows.

Calculate Your Campaign Profitability

Work out how much you can spend to get a customer while making a profit. Without this calculation, you risk burning your ad budget on dud campaigns.

To avoid this mistake, note three metrics:

1. Target cost per click (CPC)
2. Expected conversion rate
3. Maximum customer acquisition cost (CAC)

Here’s an example of the math:

• Product price: $100
• Profit margin: 50% (meaning you make $50 per sale)
• Target ROAS: 3:1 (for every $1 spent on ads, you want $3 in revenue)
• Expected conversion rate: 2% (2 out of 100 visitors buy)

The maximum CAC calculation is $50 profit ÷ 3 = $16.67 maximum ad spend per customer. With a 2% conversion rate, you can’t spend over $16.67 to acquire a customer while keeping campaigns profitable.

Do Keyword Research

Keyword research answers a simple question: are people searching for what you’re selling?

Start by Googling your products to see what ads are displaying.

For example, here’s what the ads look like for “pendulum lights.”

There are lots of ads, which implies they’re working.

You could theoretically follow this simple process of Googling, observing, and copying.

But, to reduce wasted budget, use a tool like Semrush. It’ll help you understand the demand and cost for profitable keywords.

The first thing to do is check the keyword data.

Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool shows that pendulum lights are searched 320 times a month. And the CPC is $0.77.

This is enough data to test a campaign. But if you want even more validation, spy on your competitor’s ads.

Analyze Your Competitor’s Campaign’s

Following the breadcrumbs of how your competitors do ads can save you months of time and money.

Staying with the lighting example, Lumens is a competitor.

According to Semrush’s Advertising Research tool, Lumens is attracting over 27k monthly users from ads.

This tells us that they’re investing pretty aggressively in Google Ads. And they’ve likely done the work of testing and failing.

To validate this, you can check Lumens ads history.

For instance, they’ve been bidding on “outdoor wall lighting” for seven months straight.

Meaning: they’re seeing enough sales to continue the campaign.

You can see what the ad looks like in Semrush. And Lumens has been tweaking their copy each month.

Using this data drastically increases your chances of successful ads.

Build Your SEO Foundations

Paid search delivers immediate results. Organic search builds free traffic over time.

In other words, start getting your foundations right today.

Here are two priority areas to focus on:

Optimize Your Product and Category Pages

Your product and category pages are your money-makers. So you want to maximize their SEO potential.

For product pages:

• Write unique, benefit-focused product descriptions
• Include technical specifications in a structured format
• Add product schema markup for rich snippets
• Use high-quality product images with descriptive alt text
• Include real customer reviews and ratings

For category pages:

• Create helpful category descriptions that solve buying dilemmas and desires
• Use clear subcategory structure (3 clicks max to any product)
• Add internal links to best-selling or related products
• Include filters and sorting options (price, size, color, etc.)

For inspiration, check out Ruggable’s “clean rugs” category page.

Get Your Technical Foundation Right

You don’t need to address every technical detail.

Start with:

1. Fast-loading pages (aim for “good” in Google’s Core Web Vitals report)
2. Mobile-first design
3. Clean URLs with keywords
4. Proper handling of product variations (canonical tags)
5. XML sitemap for all important pages

Speed is especially important for ecommerce.

In 2019, eBay did a sitewide initiative to improve performance. Every 100-millisecond improvement led to a 0.5% increase in “Add to Cart.”

Start Small, Scale What Works, Repeat

Begin with:

• 2-3 focused paid campaigns
• Helpful content on your product and category pages
• Core technical optimization

Test everything. Double down on what works. Cut what doesn’t.

Every dollar should drive immediate sales (paid) or build long-term assets (organic).

4. Turn Email Into Sustainable Sales

The top brands drive 30-50% of their revenue through email marketing.

These email programs succeed by connecting three foundations we’ve covered:

1. Products customers want (Strategy #1)
2. Authentic storytelling (Strategy #2)
3. Steady website traffic (Strategy #3)

But there’s a fourth element that ties everything together: systematic execution.

Let’s explore how to build an email program that turns subscribers into customers—and customers into repeat buyers.

Build a Quality Email List

Your email list isn’t just a number.

Large lists built through aggressive tactics (giveaways, lead magnets, etc.) often convert at 1-2%.

Meanwhile, carefully grown lists using targeted pop-ups and organic signups can hit 8-15% conversion rates.

The math is simple:

• 100,000 subscribers at 1% = 1,000 customers
• 20,000 engaged subscribers at 10% = 2,000 customers

Plus, better engagement means higher deliverability. Which means more of your emails actually reach inboxes.

Start by optimizing your signup forms:

• Test different offers (10% off vs. free shipping)
• Use clear value propositions
• Target exit intent to capture interested visitors
• Avoid generic “Subscribe to our newsletter” messaging

The Pattern Behind High-Performing Email Programs

You likely have a decent welcome series, abandoned cart emails, and a newsletter.

But to hit 50% attributed revenue to email, you need to think differently.

There are two shifts you need to make this happen.

Shift #1: Methodically Test Your Campaigns

This means:

• Testing one element at a time
• Tracking actual revenue (not just opens and clicks)
• Making small, continuous improvements

The results compound over time.

Shift #2: Simplify Your Automations

How many emails are in your sequences?

Probably too many.

Instead of building complex automations, focus on the fundamentals:

• First impression (welcome)
• Purchase intent (cart abandonment)
• Post-purchase experience (reviews)
• Reactivation (win-back)

Weave authentic brand storytelling into your automations and relentlessly test, test, test.

Do this, and you’re well on your way to more sales.

5. Optimize Operations for Profit (Free Calculator)

Even if you have winning products and amazing marketing, you can fail if your operations suck.

How Who Is Elijah Learned the True Cost of Growth

In 2023, founders Raquel and Adam Bouris of fragrance brand Who Is Elijah learned two expensive lessons about business.

First, their discovery set promotion seemed like a slam dunk: sell fragrance samples for $1 plus shipping.

They sold 6,000 sets in 24 hours.

But the math told a different story.

Customers paid $1 plus $10 shipping. The actual shipping cost was $7-12 per unit. Add production, logistics, and overhead costs.

The result?

A 60% loss on every order. Ouch.

Meanwhile, their team had grown from 28 to 44 people, but profits weren’t following.

Their initial approach followed conventional wisdom:

• Hire department heads from big corporations
• Build specialized teams for every function
• Add headcount to solve anticipated problems

Despite growing revenue, operational costs were suffocating the business.

Who Is Elijah made a complete operational reset, including two critical changes:

1. Fixed unit economics:
   1. Stopped money-losing promotions
   2. Calculated true cost per order
   3. Built proper financial forecasting
2. Optimized team structure:
   1. Cut their team from 44 to 21 people
   2. Moved full-time specialists to agencies
   3. Simplified internal processes
   4. Built systems

Profitability improved. They also became more agile and innovative.

How to Build Better Operations

You can build efficient operations without an MBA or years of corporate experience. It starts with digging into four areas.

1. Understand Your Unit Economics

To understand your profitability create a system for tracking your unit economics.

Start with the three numbers that matter most:

1. Revenue per order

• Average order value
• Shipping revenue
• Any other fees

2. Direct costs per order

• Product cost
• Shipping cost
• Packaging cost
• Payment processing fees

3. Operating costs per order

• Marketing spend ÷ number of orders
• Platform fees
• Customer service time
• Storage/warehouse costs

Here’s a basic calculator to help:

[CALCULATOR]

This is a starting point. The rest of your numbers (tools, complex calculations, etc.) can come later.

2. Build Systems, Not Band-Aids

When problems arise, the tendency is to:

1. Hire someone to fix it
2. Create a quick workaround
3. Ignore it until it becomes a crisis

Instead, step back and design systems that prevent future issues.

Start with your three most time-consuming processes, e.g., order fulfillment, customer services, and inventory management.

For each process:

1. Document exactly how it’s done now
2. Identify bottlenecks and failure points
3. Create standard operating procedures (SOPs)
4. Build quality control checkpoints
5. Add automation where possible

3. Optimize Your Supply Chain

Your supply chain impacts everything: cash flow, customer satisfaction, and profitability. Here’s how to optimize it:

First, map your current supply chain:

• List all suppliers and their lead times (it’s essential to have 2nd and 3rd options)
• Document shipping carriers and costs
• Track inventory levels and turnover
• Identify quality control points
• Note payment terms and minimums

Then, negotiate better terms. Here’s an email template:

4. Automate Before You Hire

Before adding employees, see what tasks you can automate. Here are some processes to tackle first:

Turn Your Ecommerce Growth Strategy Into Reliable Sales

You don’t need to do everything at once. Start by answering these questions:

1. Which customers can you chat with this week?
2. What authentic stories can you share about your brand’s journey or customer impact?
3. Where does your website rank for high-intent buyer keywords?
4. How much of your revenue comes from email marketing?
5. Do you know your true cost per order?

Pick the area that needs the most work. Focus there first.

If you want more ideas, read our ecommerce marketing guide, which has 11 ways to increase your traffic and sales.