Yahoo Finance Financial Experts: The Single Best Purchases We Ever Made From Online Recommendations
Amazon Prime Day is the next big summertime sale, and you might have that wine rack, ottoman or electric toothbrush you’ve had your eye on in your cart, ready to pull the trigger as soon as the price drops.
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Waiting for sales is always better than paying full price, but online purchases that can be truly life-changing usually aren’t about getting a discount.
GOBankingRates spoke with three professionals whose livelihoods depend on their financial mastery of the insurance, e-commerce and advertising industries. The trio revealed the before-and-after-moment purchases that they discovered through online recommendations.
Here’s how internet chatter changed their financial and professional lives by guiding them to the perfect purchase.
Also see common online purchases you should stop making.
SEO Reveals an Insurance Company That Had Been Hiding in the Search Ranking Basement
Paul Schneider’s most important online recommendation led him to buy the one thing that no company with an online presence can live without: visibility. The owner of Florida-based independent insurance agency Schneider and Associates, Schneider ran a top-notch company, but it wasn’t always easy to find — until he learned he could buy his way up the search rankings.
“One of the best purchases I made based on an online recommendation was investing in search engine optimization (SEO) services for our website,” he said. “After reading reviews from other small business owners about how SEO improved their online visibility, we hired an SEO firm to optimize our site. Within six to eight months, our website traffic increased by over 50% and our agency gained many new clients as a result.”
The key insight was that most people click on the first few results that Google returns — and nothing you do matters if no one knows you’re there.
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“By optimizing page titles, content and other factors, the SEO firm was able to improve our rankings,” Schneider said. “Previously, we were on pages three to five of the results and now we frequently appear on page one.”
He recommends other agencies invest in SEO because modern customers research online before buying insurance or choosing an agency.
“If your website isn’t ranking prominently for the search terms your target clients are using, you’re missing out on significant opportunities,” Schneider said. “SEO provides a major competitive advantage because the higher your rankings, the more visibility you gain. For us, it turned out to be a game-changing investment that continues to pay dividends.”
Customer Data Software Empowers an E-Commerce Growth Professional
Dieter S. Hsiao is a Los Angeles-based tech and AI entrepreneur, investor, keynote speaker and direct-to-customer (DTC) e-commerce growth expert who founded Divisa, a digital growth agency. Like Schneider, his big buy from an online recommendation led to roaring business success.
“The best purchase I made was investing in a customer data platform,” he said. “After analyzing trends across DTC brands, I found that advanced data analytics and personalization were crucial for scaling a business. I decided to implement a CDP for one of my clients, which organized and unified customer data from across channels into a single view. It enabled us to gain deep insights into the customer journey and leverage predictive analytics to deploy highly targeted campaigns.”
The results were nothing short of transformative.
“Within six months, the CDP increased the client’s email revenue by over 50% and paid ad revenue by over 40% through hyper-personalized experiences,” Hsiao said. “The granular details we obtained even allowed us to boost customer LTV through tailored reactivation campaigns.
“For any brand seeking exponential growth, a CDP is the most valuable investment you can make. Data is the new currency, and you must utilize it to the fullest if you want to succeed.”
A Social Media Ad Buy Jumpstarts an Entrepreneur’s Success
StartUpBros founder Will Mitchell, an entrepreneur with more than 20 years of experience in analyzing startup financials, followed an online recommendation to success through the biggest name in social media.
“The best purchase I ever made based on an online recommendation was investing in Facebook ads several years ago,” he said. “After reading various case studies and watching video tutorials from Facebook marketing experts, I tested ads for one of my e-commerce companies. The results were outstanding, driving a 600% ROI in the first month.”
He said Facebook’s targeting capabilities helped him identify and pitch his ideal customers with relevant offers.
“The platform made it easy to scale up successful ad campaigns and shut down underperforming ones,” Mitchell said. “Over the following year, Facebook ads generated over $3 million in revenue for that business.”
Mitchell said Facebook ads are “a must-test channel” for entrepreneurs and business owners.
“With a little upfront learning and ongoing optimization, they can drive a high volume of qualified traffic and sales at a low cost,” he said. “The key is starting with a small budget, closely tracking results and making data-driven tweaks to improve your ROI over time.”
But never forget that the ads don’t make the entrepreneur.
“While technology provides opportunity, human insight and judgment are still required,” Mitchell said. “I worked closely with a Facebook marketing agency to develop and refine my ad campaigns. Their expertise helped me avoid major mistakes and shaved months off my learning curve. For any complex platform, finding an experienced partner or consultant is the fastest path to success.”
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This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com: Financial Experts: The Single Best Purchases We Ever Made From Online Recommendations
