Welcome Back to The Ecom Edge!
Ep 10: Live, Cart, Repeat: From Whatnot to Checkout Wins

👋 Hey Friend,

Whether this is your first Ecom Edge or you’ve been reading since Episode 1—thank you for spending the next few minutes with me. As a former ecommerce director, I put a lot of time and care into writing this each week. Not to sell you something. But to share the exact kind of content I always wished would land in my inbox: helpful, clear, creative, and actually relevant to growing a Shopify brand in 2025.

This week, we’re digging into:

• ✅ A live shopping app taking over the internet

• ✅ 7 conversion leaks you can plug today

• ✅ Post-cookie survival strategies you might’ve missed

Let’s jump in. 🤘🏻

🟡 Whatnot:
Not Just for Collectors Anymore

Okay, if you’ve been on any call with me recently, you already know this—I’m on a Whatnot kick. Fully obsessed.

This is not a sponsored post, but real talk: I believe Whatnot is the future of ecommerce.

Why? Because the numbers don’t lie:

• Two weeks ago, Whatnot hit #1 in the Apple App Store shopping category
  

• As of this week, Whatnot is officially the #10 most downloaded free app overall—yes, sitting alongside TikTok and Instagram
  

• More people have signed up for Whatnot in 2025 alone than in all of 2024
  

• Users are spending over 80 minutes a day on the platform, watching live shows, hanging out, and… buying

This isn’t just hype. This is a behavior shift.

From Whatnot’s own team:

We’ve felt it personally. My wife has her own Whatnot channel and has sold directly through live shows. It’s electric. High energy, real-time trust, fast sales, and a good vibes-only crowd.

Sellers are sharing results like:

• “My first time stream on Whatnot, less than 2 hours and 16 orders.” – Sherry
  

• “Over 5000 orders this month from our Whatnot channel!” – Joe

👀 Still think Whatnot is just for Funko Pops and sneaker flips? Think again.

This is your early adopter moment.

🚨 Why Whatnot Is a Brand Awareness Goldmine DTC Brands

Let’s call it what it is: FREE attention. Whatnot is algorithm-based, which means your brand can show up in front of people who’ve never even heard of you—without paying for the impression.

Buyers are browsing categories, flipping through shows like channels on a TV. If they linger, if they engage, Whatnot starts serving them more content just like it—including your show.

So if you're in:

• Health & beauty

• Skincare

• Supplements

• Apparel

• CPG

• Lifestyle and home goods

...you can be discovered simply by showing up consistently.

Think of it like this: You don’t have to build the audience first. The audience is already there. You just need to catch their attention.

🎥 Creative Show Ideas for DTC Brands

You don’t need confetti cannons (though hey, live your truth). You just need energy, clarity, and something to talk about. Here are 5 ways to show up:

1. Founder Friday – Go live, tell your story, answer FAQs, build emotional connection.
   

2. Unbox + Shop – Walk through your top products. Show textures, scents, sizing, and bundle offers.
   

3. Launch Party – Use Whatnot to debut a new product or collab—limited drop, live-only pricing.
   

4. Giveaway Game Night – Add in trivia or spin-the-wheel giveaways for a fun loyalty play.
   

5. Behind the Scenes – Show how your product is made, packed, or sourced. People LOVE the BTS realness.

📈 How to Start Today:

✅ Create a seller account (free, fast, and open to more verticals than ever)

✅ Explore your category—from skincare to snacks to apparel to supplements

✅ Consume to Create – Before you go live, be a student. Watch other shows. See how great hosts engage, pitch, structure offers, and hype the chat. Follow accounts in your vertical. Drop into chats. Learn what works.

✅ Host a test show featuring:

• A bundle offer

• A limited drop

• A “behind-the-scenes” hangout

• Your founder’s favorite picks

✅ Add show notes – Include a brief intro to your brand and a link to your DTC site with a show-exclusive offer: “Shop our site at xyzbrand.com and get 20% off today only!”

✅ Use giveaways strategically – It’s free to run a giveaway on Whatnot. People must stay tuned in to win, and it gives you 5 minutes of guaranteed eyeballs. Use that window to:

• Pitch your brand story

• Introduce bestsellers

• Ask the audience questions

• Build real-time engagement

Pro tip: Give away lightweight, easy-to-ship products—like stickers, patches, or keychains. Low cost for you, high perceived value for them.

✅ Offer “exclusive” items – Old inventory? Low-stock items? Give them new life on Whatnot by labeling them “exclusive” to that channel. It’s new to this audience.

✅ Promote it like a launch

• Add a top bar to your Shopify site

• Tease it in your emails, SMS, and Instagram bio

• Highlight customer reactions from the stream afterward

✅ Funnel new buyers to your Shopify ecosystem

• Offer discount codes that only work on your DTC site

• Send personalized post-show follow-ups

• Turn Whatnot shoppers into email subscribers and loyalty members.

✅ Be consistent – Your first few shows probably won’t go viral. But momentum builds. Be consistent. Test formats. Adjust and grow.

Whatnot isn’t just another sales channel. It’s a community engine powered by conversation, immediacy, and attention.

And the best part?

You won’t get this kind of free attention on Facebook or Google ads.

Whatnot can be your new customer acquisition engine—and all it takes is time, creativity, and consistency. You might even still be the first brand in your category to show up.

Don’t wait until 2026 to say, “Dang, I should’ve tried Whatnot.”

 🛒 The Last Click Problem:
7 Fixes to Rescue Abandoned Carts

Yes, we’re talking about this again.

Why? Because this continues to be the biggest challenge we all face. We spend weeks (if not months) perfecting our flows, designing the perfect PDPs, dialing in our Klaviyo automations, launching beautiful Meta ads—and then the customer hits the cart… and disappears.

It’s the ultimate ecommerce heartbreak.

We’re not going to harp on free shipping thresholds here. You’ve either got a static message that says “Free shipping on orders over $50” or a dynamic one that shows them how close they are. You know the drill.

But here’s the issue I see again and again:

Customers get close to free shipping—let’s say $30 away—but the only items left to buy are $70+. It feels easier to just pay shipping than add a $70 product they didn’t plan for.

So what’s the fix?

🧠 Strategy: Make it easy to unlock free shipping.

✅ Create a $50 and under collection of low-commitment add-ons.

✅ Then tailor the message: “You’re only $30 away from free shipping. Browse our $50 and under best sellers!”

✅ Or link to a specific item. One of our customers crushed this. When a shopper was $30 away from free shipping, they directed them to their hat collection. Most hats were $30–$35.

Because girl math: That $30 hat is basically $20 after shipping savings, right? 😏

Let’s fix the drop-off no one likes to talk about: customers who fill their cart and disappear. Your cart drawer and cart page are not passive steps. They’re your final pitch, and they often get overlooked.

The average cart abandonment rate sits between 68%–72% across ecommerce. Let that sink in. That’s a lot of almost-sales walking out the door.

You probably already have a free shipping message in your cart drawer. But let’s be honest—that’s table stakes now.

Thanks, Amazon. 😅 You've trained customers to expect fast, free, and frictionless. So let’s meet the moment (without giving away the whole margin farm).

Why Customers Abandon at Checkout:

• Sticker shock at shipping/tax

• Unclear delivery expectations

• Security or trust concerns

• Distractions or slow mobile load times

• Confusing layout or hidden buttons

🛠 7 Fixes to Test This Month (That Actually Work):

1. Free Shipping Messaging + Urgency
   Don’t just say “Free shipping over $50.” Make it feel urgent: “You’re $8 away from free shipping—orders placed today ship Monday.”
   
   

   Test: Add countdown timers to qualify for shipping cutoffs or a secondary incentive like a free sample.
   
   

2. Trust Builders in Context
   Reassure with inline badges: “Ships from California. 30-day no-questions-asked returns.”
   
   

3. Geo-Aware Messaging
   Detect shopper location and tailor language: “Hey Texas! We deliver to you in 2 days flat.”
   
   

   Test: Split test geo-based urgency vs generic messaging.
   
   

4. Smart Review Placement
   Pull a high-impact review into the cart experience: “I was on the fence until I saw how fast it shipped. Will buy again!” – Sarah, NY
   
   

   Tool Tip: Use Loox or Junip to segment reviews by sentiment.
   
   

5. Sticky CTA Buttons on Mobile
   On average, 60–70% of traffic is mobile. Don’t make people scroll for the CTA.
   
   

   Test: Sticky checkout button vs non-sticky.
   
   

6. Exit Intent with Incentives
   Trigger an offer when shoppers hover away or idle: “Wait! You’ve unlocked a free gift. Don’t leave it behind.”
   
   

   Test: Compare discount vs freebie vs shipping incentives.
   
   

7. Recover Abandoners with Personal Tone
   In your Klaviyo or SMS follow-up, ditch the default copy: “Still thinking about it? We saved your cart just in case. Your items are getting anxious 😅”
   
   

   Bonus Test: Use AI to rewrite recovery emails with different tones (funny, heartfelt, logical).
   

🧪 Real Talk: Ask Why People Didn’t Convert

Don’t just guess. Ask.

Use Fairing or another post-purchase survey tool to include:

You’ll start to see patterns: shipping clarity, pricing hesitation, size uncertainty, etc.

Then? Go test a fix.

And while you're at it—ask 10 friends to go through your cart-to-checkout flow. Ask them:

• What felt confusing?

• What took too long?

• What felt missing?

• Would you still check out if you were multitasking on your phone?

Because if your flow doesn’t work in real life, it doesn’t work.

Bonus: Don’t ignore your hidden cart page

It’s often the default URL Shopify uses for recovery links. Make sure:

• It has urgency messaging

• Shipping clarity

• Trust icons and payment badges

• And yes, that sticky checkout CTA

🍪 In Case You Missed It… Cookie Chat Was 🔥

We hosted a webinar called The Post-Cookie Survival Guide with our friends at Octane AI and LoyaltyLion, and let me tell you—it was not your average webinar.

We laughed, we learned, we debated oatmeal raisin vs. chocolate chip (important), and we got real about how to actually thrive in this post-cookie chaos.

Here’s what went down:

• ✨ How Cornbread Hemp boosted AOV by 30% using quiz + Klaviyo data
  

• 🧠 The quiz campaign from JockoFuel that doubled as a therapy session
  

• 💡 How to turn loyalty members into ride-or-die customers (without needing another punch card)

If you’re trying to future-proof your store and make your CX feel a little more “human,” this is the good stuff.

Catch the Replay Here ⬇️

Cookies may be going away—but great convos and clever marketers aren’t. 😉🍪

 💬 Closing Thought

We’re living in a moment where tech is shifting, customer behavior is evolving, and platforms like Whatnot are blowing up right under our noses.

But you don’t have to master it all at once. Just keep testing. Stay curious. Fix the small leaks.

You have everything you need to win this quarter—and I’m cheering you on.

See you in the next issue. 👊

—Marc