Creative tips and tricks

Five essential takeaways gained from WooConf Five key learnings from WooConf

Jun 3, 2023

Between April 6 and 8, hundreds of owners of stores, developers, and ninjas descended upon Austin, Texas to do just one thing, eating tacos.

Okay, let's say two things: eat tacos, and celebrate the top-ranked eCommerce platform at the 2nd annual Conference (or the way we refer to it affectionately, WooConf).

Between April 6 and 8, hundreds of store owners, developers, and team members descended on Austin to celebrate our second annual WooConf.
Austin, TX hosted our second annual WooConf event that was packed with learning, networking as well as delicious food.

There's been plenty of news coverage regarding WooConf 2016, as well because in the days to come we'll be planning on making even more available, including videos and slides from the speaker sessions. While you're waiting around, we thought it would be nice to give people a look at what our team took away from the convention and, particularly, our best five lessons learned.

Explore the site for a peek at the behind-the-scenes of our upcoming WooConf and also to discover what topics that came out of our speaker's talks this year.

WooConf's purpose

The attendees we welcomed to WooConf 2016 with three main ideas: discover, grow and finally make a sale.

The second one was designed to offer store owners as well as developers with the opportunity to get acquainted with their chosen platform in an environment that is unique and in the company of experts and enthusiasts alike. We also would like to provide all of our attendees with the opportunity to expand their horizons and meet new friends and colleagues, be it by engaging on the (awesome!) sponsors, or interacting with fellow participants.

WooConf aimed to be a great opportunity to connect, learn, and develop your skills, whether you were a store owner just starting out or an experienced developer.
WooConf was designed to provide a great opportunity to connect with people from all over the world, and develop and enhance your talents regardless of whether the owner of your store is just starting out or an expert designer.

In order to achieve these objectives, we offered WooConf participants two days of programming, as well as one additional day of choice of workshops as well as networking lunch. Also, of course an afterparty, Happy Hour and an afterparty! Everybody had ample opportunities to meet, learn and relax.

It was a place of learning, a place of connecting... and heck, a place of FUN.
There was a lot of learning learned... and, as it appears, plenty of fun as well.

It is possible to get the easy-to-read highlights of the first day on this page as well as day two here.

Based on the countless reviews we've received (and we'll hear more) There's been a consensus that everyone learned something different from WooConf. In the interest of people who were not present, were unable to attend every talk, or need a quick summary, here's our top takeaways that we learned from our presenters..

Most important to remember is that your top method shouldn't always be your practice.

This is something we've said in our blog many time: it's not only about following what's said is best but rather taking the most effective approach to your retail store, your customers and your expansion.

We were pleased to have this statement repeatedly times by our impressive presenters. In fact it was highlighted in the very first talk delivered by Peep Laja of ConversionXL.

Peep made lists frequently found on the web of the best practices in conversion optimization as well as A/B testing and also informed the public that just because they are commonplace doesn't mean they are effective for you.

#Wooconf
April 6, 2016

Peep stressed the importance in developing a process to ensure the successful operation of your personal company. Instead of trying various optimizations that are based on online advice Find the problems which are affecting your store and test multiple solutions until you can discover the best solution.

@peeplaja@conversionxl#WooConfpic.twitter.com/w6r4wNxYMp
on April 6, 2016

This was reiterated by different speakers, all who stressed the importance of exploring possibilities for your store in accordance with the conditions. It was thrilling to hear numerous experts focus on this point, and this is exactly our own opinions on our website over the course of a few months.

This, of course, is why we have our ninjas on hand, too: something might seem right for you, but it may not simply work well in practice. Never fear, we'll set you straight.
That's why we've got our ninjas as well as WooExperts available: something might appear right for you, however it will not work in the first time you test it. Never fear, we're fully available to help you.

The emphasis on the best design spills over into personalization, which we heard mentioned in a variety of conversations as well however, we'll come to it in the next few seconds.

Emphasizing "helping" over "selling"

Whether you're a store owner or a developer, your principal goal is earning income. However, the method you use to do it isn't so simple as opening a shop or declaring "sure you can manage that."

One of the way to communicate this was via the speakers who stressed providing value to your customers instead of simply attempting to sell them something. It was about adding value, not simply offer an item. It was a major shift of mindset.

There were hints of this during Miracle Wanzo's presentation on Facebook advertising. She talked about ways in which even paid advertisements that sparks conversations can be more successful. As she put it that if you've designed an attractive ad, you'll get more views on social media that will give you "more profit for the money."

As speaker Miracle Wanzo stressed, starting a conversation makes even Facebook advertising more effective.
As speaker Miracle Wanzo stressed, adding value makes even Facebook advertising more effective.

The main theme for Matt White's talk appropriately titled "Stop selling. Start by helping." Matt said salespeople are potential customers to harmless gazelles. Matt discussed the way that the prey-sales method of sales can deter buyers from purchasing.

Matt stressed the need to aid potential customers and not send a stern message that turns them off. There are many possibilities to assist them, as you probably know the possibility of doing this through providing valuable website information or even something more engaging like a live webinar.

Do you want to viewed as a lion? Probably not.
Do you anticipate becoming the lion? Most likely not.

He also shared a amusing fact about cold-calling and why it's been pushed out of style:

#Wooconf
7 April, 2016.

In the same way, we also enjoyed the presentation by WP Engine CEO Heather Brunner's talk on the importance of personalizing the content of websites. Heather posted a very entertaining story about Nordstrom's site trying to determine what type of clothes she would like and getting it wrong.

This is the lesson to be taken away: clients want to be fully support, and if you're unable to provide this, then don't even try.

@heatherjbrunner#WooConfpic.twitter.com/MLOs0v2Af5
April 6 6, 2016

It's impossible to do all things, so focus on what makes the greatest impact

If you're the proprietor of a store, you just can't do all things. It's possible to want to be able to handle everything, but the truth is that you have to pick and choose what's going make the biggest impact for your business and then focus on that particular part of the business that you want to focus on.

A number of our skilled speakers shared their tips about how you can determine which events will be most efficient for your shop or even finding ways to make the most impact using just one activity.

We heard Dustin Stout talk about this during a chat with owners of stores in the field of social media as well as content. Instead of selecting every social network or every marketing strategy and investing funds into it, Dustin said to choose only one or two to "go deep" on the subject.

@DustinWStout#WooConf
April 6 6 6, 2016

After Dustin's talk, Drew Sanocki advised the audience to adopt the approach of focusing upon their "whales" (that is those customers that bring in the most money and propel your business to greater heights. By finding which sources these customers come from, you can grow these specific channels of marketing which will save time and effort elsewhere.

#WooConfpic.twitter.com/bCjZtrIFDc
6 April 2016
This probably even applied to our attendees: you have to pick and choose which knowledge is most important (that is, which makes it to your phone camera).
It could even apply to people who participate in our events. You are required select and decide which particular information is crucial (that is, what you intend to transmit via your smartphone camera).

The topic was mentioned even as a way to track the analytics. Beka Rice of SkyVerge spoke of "analysis paralysis" with regards to tracking analytics, and suggested that you improve and tackle a few of store-specific metrics in one go and then proceed after you're done.

@Beka_Rice#wooconfpic.twitter.com/EIOQH6YX5Z
April 7 April 7 7, 2016

is much more then "just an empty shopping cart"

True: it's the top choice of the majority of merchants compared to other ( BuiltWith now puts us at 37 percent) however it's not a good idea to think of it as "just an additional store cart." or "one of the many options to use for no cost. "

Thankfully, many of the presenters could demonstrate the wide possibilities, including sessions on memberships and subscription websites and content marketing and more. It's hard to can even list the possibilities!

A website can have many pages, or it can have just one. As developers like Merrill showed us, it's all within your reach.
Websites can include many pages or only one. Like the developers such as Merrill have shown us, all is accessible to users.

There were developers such as Merrill Meyer, who specifically discussed ways to change a store into one-page sites. Merrill provided tips on how to transform a multi-page store to one page which is simple.

Kenn Kelly presented a presentation about this topic known as " Is it not (Only) an Shopping Cart." He talked about the incredible ways that you can do with eCommerce, including memberships. He also discussed some possible future possibilities.

@@kennkelly#WooConfpic.twitter.com/BQlkMn7Qc1
April 6, 2016,

Kenn specifically mentioned some developments that have been seen on websites like Amazon like"the" Dash Button, and also spoke about the lack of gamification in eCommerce. All of these are easily available... But we require assistance from the community to achieve them.

We are now at our final topic.

One of the most significant takeaways from all of it is the fact that we are capable of doing amazing things.

There are many developers and store owners using, modifying their products and services each day. We'd be lost without your help.

Another fact to consider: If we put our heads together during events such as this or just on ideas boards on the internet it is possible to accomplish amazing things.

Our own Bryce Adams quickly arrived to show the possibilities of collective innovation during the presentation that concluded the first day's activities. Bryce was inspired to create interaction with physical objects through conversations with colleagues during WordCamp Mumbai in 2015, and proved that API webhooks and calls can accomplish anything, from lighting up LEDs, to flying drones.

Together, we can use webhooks and API calls to take a drone experiment to the next step. We're crossing our fingers for drones delivering drinks at the afterparty next year.
We can utilize API calls and webhooks to make a drone piloting test to the next step. We're hoping to see drones that can deliver drinks to the next afterparty.

Imagine how far developers could explore to create this technology. Printers that could be fired up upon demand and link the physical and virtual locations is only the beginning. We believe Bryce may have given some of the attendees their own ideas!

WooConf as a whole is a good illustration of this concept. Throughout the entire event the store owners were gathering their minds with our amazing sponsors to come up with how they can improve their store. There were developers who shared their knowledge about other developers. We saw ninjas running an online help desk aiding in solving problems in the course of.

When we come together, we can accomplish anything. Might sound corny, but it's proven to be true.
If we work together when we work together is possible to accomplish anything. This may sound corny, however, it has been proven that it is the truth.

If we can collaborate, no matter whether we're working on the latest version of or a complex solution to your store's online We'll come up with a solution that is truly magical. And that shone through with WooConf in general since it offered a space for people to learn and share ideas, side-by-side as never before.

While listening to many people speak to me after the conclusion of school "I've gained so many skills which my brain has flooded with knowledge!"

Are you interested in joining us for us next time? Keep an eye out for more WooConf information.

We're at the second WooConf for us and we're excited to attend the same next time. The conference was not just the chance to get educated and network. It was also a ton of fun.

You know you want to get in on this.
It looks fun, don't you think? It's obvious that you'd like to be part of this.

If you're interested in attending our next gathering, you can sign up for updates on WooConf.com. We'll begin making announcements as we decide on a venue, call for speakers, and then narrow down our dates. The biggest challenge for us is not to repeat the mistake the same time and again!

You'll join us next year, we hope?
It's a possibility that you'll join us next year. We think we're right?

If you were a part of the WooConf event this year, or not, we hope you've enjoyed these insights. We'll send you our all the best and hope to see with us again next WooConf!

Farewell for now, see you next year!
Farewell for now, come back next year!

The credit for every image included in this article goes to photographer Todd White. Kudos to Todd White for his incredible photos!

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