Episode 43: User Experience in Ecommerce with Kurt Elster

It's episode one hundred today — and we have a spectacular guest to celebrate! It's Patrick McKenzie, a SaaS thought leader who doesn't need an introduction. We talk about leveling up your business — starting with smaller products like books, and then progressing towards more complex ones. Patrick explains why products can make such positive influence on your life and business, shares stories and examples, and provides inspiration for those who are starting out. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes How I went from $100-an-hour programming to $X0,000-a-week consulting — Patrick's article that changed Jane's business many years ago Bingo Card Creator, Appointment Reminder, Starfighter — some of Patrick's previous projects Stripe Atlas — Patrick's current place of work Stripe Atlas Guides — guides on running an internet business The Business of SaaS by Patrick McKenzie, Networking for Founders by Stephanie Hurlburt — some of these guides Leveling Up — Patrick's talk recap from MicroConf Europe 2015 Episode 89: SaaS vs Ecommerce with Josh Pigford — an episode where Josh Pigford talks about Cedar & Sail, his craft and ecommerce business Patrick's website Follow Patrick on Twitter: @patio11 Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Your Productized Consulting Guide. Want to get started with productized consulting? This book will teach you step-by-step how to craft your offer, overcome client objections, write your sales page, and strategically plan your services line. To get you copy, head over to uibreakfast.com/productized and use your special promocode PODCAST20 on checkout to get 20% off any book package. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

2 Apr 20181h 3min

What comes first, the product or the team? Without any doubt, the team is #1 priority for Natalie Nagele, co-founder and CEO of Wildbit. We discuss their strategy around multiple SaaS products, how they became a product agnostic team, and how they juggle resources while staying focused and productive. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes Wildbit — Natalie's company Beanstalk, Postmark, Conveyor, Deploybot (acquired) — Wildbit's products JD Graffam, Serial Acquirer of SaaS Apps — an interview with JD Graffam by Garrett Dimon (his former product Sifter now also belongs to JD) Slack, Jira, Basecamp, Confluence — communication and project management tools used by Wildbit Pigeonbot — a tool that sends email from Slack Experimenting with a 4-day work week, 4-day work week update — articles on how Wildbit adopted a shorter work week Follow Natalie on Twitter: @natalienagele Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Balsamiq. A Balsamiq customer recently called it “the only wireframing tool that doesn’t make me feel stupid”. Try the new web app free for 30 days at balsamiq.cloud — you’ll be productive in no time! Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

16 Mars 201842min

How do you measure value in such abstract industry as design? Today we continue on the topic of value-based pricing with our guest Nick Disabato, a famous designer and writer. You'll learn how to identify and demonstrate the value of your UI/UX services, what exactly stands behind a high price tag, what KPIs to measure, and how to bring maximum business value to the table. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes Draft — Nick's design consultancy Value Based Design — Nick's upcoming book Episode 36: Research-Driven A/B Testing with Nick Disabato — Nick's previous episode Cadence & Slang — Nick's book about interaction design Pricing Creativity — a book by Blair Enns What to Learn From Tropicana’s Packaging Redesign Failure? Draft's best case studies Dissecting Great Sales Copy For Productized Consulting — an article by Patrick McKenzie (including praise for Nick's Draft Revise sales page) Average Revenue per User (ARPU), Average Order Value (AOV) — popular key performance indicators (KPIs) Mobile First — a book by Luke Wroblewski Kissmetrics, Annielytics, ConversionXL — great resources to learn about Google Analytics Sample application form for Draft Revise Give It Five Minutes — an article by Jason Fried Follow Nick on Twitter: @nickd Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Balsamiq — rapid wireframing software that combines the comfort and simplicity of paper sketching with the power of a digital tool. So your work is easier to share, revise, and get honest feedback on! Try their new web app Balsamiq Cloud free for 30 days at balsamiq.cloud. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

9 Mars 201849min

Feeling trapped in hourly billing forever? Welcome to our two-part miniseries on value-based pricing. Our guest today is Jonathan Stark, a famous consultant and author of Hourly Billing Is Nuts. You'll learn why hourly billing is detrimental to your earnings and to your productivity, how to transition to value-based pricing, and how to conduct all the hard conversations with your clients. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes Hourly Billing Is Nuts — Jonathan's book we're talking about Episode 68: Conversational UX with Jonathan Stark — our previous episode with Jonathan The Freelancer's Roadmap — Jonathan's upcoming book Productized Consulting with Guest Jane Portman — a recent episode at Jonathan's podcast, Ditching Hourly How To Price Design Services & Make More Money — a talk by Chris Do (how to charge 10 times more for a logo) The Why Conversation — another episode at Jonathan's podcast Value Pricing Bootcamp — Jonathan's free email course Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @jonathanstark Get 30% off any package of Hourly Billing Is Nuts using your special promocode UIBREAKFAST Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Userlist.io — a new tool for sending event-based email to your SaaS users. Overwhelmed with existing automation tools? Try this simple solution for converting free trials, user onboarding, and promoting specific features in your web application. To learn more, join the waiting list at userlist.io. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

2 Mars 201848min

Thanks to technology, the whole world is at your fingertips. But how exactly do you approach customers from other countries? Our guest today is Ed Freyfogle, co-founder of OpenCage Geocoder. You'll learn how to sell SaaS products internationally, build trust, engage with local communities, and handle details like pricing and billing. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes OpenCage Geocoder — Ed's company, a service that converts coordinates to and from places MicroConf, MicroConf Europe — conferences we discuss Episode 59: International UX with Joe Leech Quaderno — a tool for managing sales tax automatically Stripe, Xero — tools for handling payments and accounting ipinfo.io — an IP identification service Ed's personal website Follow Ed and his company on Twitter: @freyfogle, @OpenCageData Try OpenCage Geocoder free and use promocode UIBREAKFAST on checkout to get your 10% lifetime discount Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Your Productized Consulting Guide. Want to get started with productized consulting? This book will teach you step-by-step how to craft your offer, overcome client objections, write your sales page, and strategically plan your services line. To get you copy, head over to uibreakfast.com/productized and use your special promocode PODCAST20 on checkout to get 20% off any book package. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

24 Feb 201842min

Being a founder is a tough, lonely job. How do you stay sane (and happy) on this journey? Our special guest today is Sherry Walling — a clinical psychologist, founder of ZenFounder, podcaster, and author. We discuss how founders can overcome their emotional challenges, how to make sure that your family is on your side, and how to maintain physical and emotional health. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes ZenFounder — Sherry's podcast with Rob Walling The Entrepreneur's Guide to Keeping Your S**t Together — Sherry's upcoming book with Rob Walling ZenTribes — Sherry's group program for entrepreneurs MastermindJam — a matchmaking service for mastermind groups MicroConf, DYFConf, WordCamp, Business of Software, Rhodium Weekend, FemtoConf, BaconBiz — some of Sherry's (and Jane's) favorite conferences Episode 45: Onboarding Your Spouse — an episode of ZenFounder podcast Sherry's website Follow Sherry on Twitter: @zenfounder Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Userlist.io — a new tool for sending event-based email to your SaaS users. Overwhelmed with existing automation tools? Try this simple solution for converting free trials, user onboarding, and promoting specific features in your web application. To learn more, join the waiting list at userlist.io. Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

16 Feb 201836min

Building a product is never a simple linear process, not to mention processes in large UX teams. Our guest today is Kurt Shmidt, the president of Foundry and host of The Schmidt List podcast. You'll learn what makes a good design team, what tools and methods are available, how to distribute tasks and make smooth transitions between different project stages.Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music.Show NotesFoundry — Kurt's agency we're talking aboutThe Schmidt List — Kurt's podcastAdobe Illustrator, Sketch, InVision, Adobe XD — tools for prototyping and UI/UX designADA Compliance — standards for accessible designZURB Foundation — a famous framework originating from an agencyAha!, Trello, Jira, Slack — tools for product & project managementFollow Kurt on LinkedInFollow Kurt on Twitter: @KRTSToday's SponsorThis episode is brought to you by Balsamiq — a low-fidelity wireframing tool. Basically it’s like sketching on a whiteboard, but on the computer. The idea is to get the structure of your user interface down before you start coding or sweating the details in Sketch. Try their new web app Balsamiq Cloud free for 30 days at balsamiq.cloud.Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here.Leave a ReviewReviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

9 Feb 201843min

Everything has been done before. But where is that fine line between getting inspiration, copying, and downright stealing? Our guest today is Ferdinand Vogler, a product designer who specializes in digital experiences. We discuss the ethical side of repurposing design ideas, how copying can help designers master their craft, and why you shouldn't be afraid of repeating yourself in your own work. Podcast feed: subscribe to http://simplecast.fm/podcasts/1441/rss in your favorite podcast app, and follow us on iTunes, Stitcher, or Google Play Music. Show Notes Allergolink — Ferdinand's product Your logo is copied — Ferdinand's article on the topic Logo Modernism — a book by Jens Müller and R. Roger Remington Everything is a Remix — video series by Kirby Ferguson Hunter S. Thompson Typed Out The Great Gatsby & A Farewell to Arms Word for Word: A Method for Learning How to Write Like the Masters Dieter Rams: 10 Timeless Commandments for Good Design Ferdinand's website Follow Ferdinand on Twitter: @ferdinandvogler Today's Sponsor This episode is brought to you by Balsamiq. They just came up with a new web app called Balsamiq Cloud. It's the best tool for fast, approachable, collaborative wireframing. You can capture ideas, collaborate on designs, and get everyone on board. Check it out for yourself — try it free for 30 days at balsamiq.cloud Interested in sponsoring an episode? Learn more here. Leave a Review Reviews are hugely important because they help new people discover this podcast. If you enjoyed listening to this episode, please leave a review on iTunes. Here's how.

2 Feb 201841min