How many music revolutions happened in 1960?
Aretha Franklin signed with Columbia Records. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards met by chance on a train (to later form The Rolling Stones). U2’s Bono was born — and so was Mike Morrow.
Mike Morrow is a life-long audiophile. “When I was 7-years-old I had a little transistor radio, and it just amazed me. I’d sit on a swing with the back of the radio taken off, and look at all the electronics inside of it.”
He didn’t want to make music….he wanted to make music sound better.
“Over time, I understood how signal flows through a wire, and how to construct a cable to lessen sound distortions.” Mike began to build cables for his own sound systems.
Mike had a career in TV repair for over 30 years. But around 15 years ago, business began to slow. As technology shifted, flat screens became the norm – and Mike’s services were less in demand.
“I saw the writing on the wall, so I started to sell my cables out of my basement. I was charging $49…and then I started to get feedback that my cable was replacing cables that cost $2,000.”
In 2006, Mike launched Morrow Audio, a self-made website where he sold his homemade amplifiers and cables. Today, the business operates out of a warehouse (with a front-facing record shop). Morrow Audio has customers in over 70 countries, and (in 2018 alone) made over $1 million in sales.
Keep reading to learn how Morrow Audio:
- Recovers a whopping 26% of their abandoned carts — and has won back $30,000 in potentially lost sales
- Integrates Shopify customer data with ActiveCampaign to give customers a personalized experience
- Uses automated emails to successfully upsell their product line — and increase their average customer lifetime sales to $5,000
“It sounds like the musicians are right there in your living room, recreating the performance in your home.”
The technology behind the cable is pretty complicated for the layperson, but anyone can understand the end result — Morrow Audio’s cables are free of the sound distortions found in most cables.
Morrow’s cable design uses SSI technology. SSI stands for: Solid Core Wire, Small Gauge Wire, Individually Insulated Strands.
“With our design, you hear so much more music,” explains Mike.
What does that mean?
“If everything is right with the system — the equipment, the cabling, the room arrangement — the speakers just disappear,” explains Mike. “They just totally disappear and you have a 180 degree arc of sound in front of you. It’s hard to stop listening. You just pull record after record, because you start hearing things in familiar recordings that you’ve never heard before.”
Morrow Audio has a mission: “To turn heads, raise a brow, and make listening perfect.”
All of Morrow’s cables are hand-made. When each one is completed, the technician signs their name on the label — to add a personal touch.
“The goal is to develop that personal relationship with the customer. They trust that we really want to help them, to improve their listening experience and enjoyment. And ActiveCampaign is the key ingredient to keep us in contact with the customer…and to do it in a way that’s part of that personal relationship.”
How does a self-taught small business owner create email marketing plans that work?
Mike built his first website himself. It did the job, but eventually became outdated — so he hired a web designer and photographer to take professional shots of his audio equipment.
With an online store launched, all he needed was a way to get sales.
“We needed to market. We needed a way to send emails.”
Make it easy for customers to buy from you. A 14-day “audition” removes a huge customer objection to purchasing: “What if I don’t like the amplifier?”
As Morrow Audio grew, Mike had to teach himself digital marketing from scratch. Through experimentation and research, he developed an email marketing strategy.
“I wanted a high-deliverability rate. We compared platforms, and ActiveCampaign had the best deliverability. I liked the idea of automations. I like how easy it is to keep our database clean. I like the whole ActiveCampaign approach.”
One automation Mike created is a 3-email campaign to upsell Morrow Audio’s product lines:
- Day 1. A customer makes a purchase on Morrow Audio’s website
- Day 45. Morrow Audio sends an automated email to ask the customer how they are enjoying their purchase
- Day 105. Sent 60 days later, the 2nd automated email includes an offer: Would the customer like to trade in their existing cable towards an upgraded, higher-quality cable?
Businesses use automations like this one to get more sales from people they’re already talking to.
And it works – the average Morrow Audio shopper spends about $5k over their customer lifecycle.
Get 14 days of the best marketing automation platform – totally free (no credit card, no obligation. Instant set-up).
Start your free ActiveCampaign trial.
How the subject line “You left some great sound in your cart” recovered $30,000 in sales.
“I’ve been very very happy with ActiveCampaign. I like to think about what else I could do through automation to better serve the customer. The different ways to create curiosity, and how to give them something they want.” – Mike Morrow
Over 75% of people abandon their shopping carts online. That means that 3 out of every 4 people who add something to their cart leave without paying you.
People who add items to their shopping carts are more likely to be interested in making a purchase. That’s why top ecommerce businesses use abandoned cart emails to follow up on uncompleted sales. An abandoned cart email is a follow-up message sent to someone who leaves a website without purchasing the items in their online shopping cart. What makes abandoned cart emails such a popular tactic? Automation. TWEET THIS!!
Once you set up abandoned cart emails, they go out all on their own – and start to win back revenue that you would otherwise lose. Some research shows that you can expect to recover 1 out of every 10 abandoned carts.
Morrow Audio sends a campaign of 2 abandoned cart emails.
1st email: Sent 1 hour after a cart is abandoned.
Learn how much abandoned carts cost you with our free abandoned cart calculator.
What makes this abandoned cart email effective?
- A catchy subject line. The subject line doesn’t talk about a physical product. It talks about the benefit the customer will lose if they don’t complete their purchase.
- Testimonials. 91% of people read online reviews. Social validation drives purchasing decisions. Morrow Audio has great reviews and knows to showcase them.
- Conversational tone. Morrow Audio talks just like their customers talk, and they keep it lighthearted. Their email isn’t pushy or wheedling.
2nd email: Sent 24 hours after a cart is abandoned.
Want to make your own ActiveCampaign abandoned cart email series? Here’s an article that walks you through the steps.
What makes this abandoned cart email effective?
- Coupon code. Morrow Audio knows that if you send a sequence of emails, save that coupon code for the last one. Otherwise, you give a discount to someone who might have bought anyway.
- A sense of urgency. A limited-time, one-use coupon alerts potential customers that they might lose the items they’ve placed in their cart if they don’t act now.
- Removes objections. Understand what concerns your customer might have, and you can uncover ways to address those issues directly in your abandoned cart email — like easy returns and a lifetime warranty.
Morrow Audio’s abandoned cart open rates are amazing:
- 54% for the 1st email (sent through Shopify)
- 65% for the 2nd email (sent through ActiveCampaign)
Most businesses can expect to recover 5–10% of their abandoned carts. How many does Morrow Audio recover?
“Right now we have a 26% abandoned cart recovery rate…which is astronomical.” That’s because (according to Shopify) the average recovery rate for comparable ecommerce stores is 7%.
“The dollar amount that we have recovered is around $30,000 — and I believe that has a great deal to do with what ActiveCampaign does for us.”
Shopify + ActiveCampaign = peace of mind
“With ActiveCampaign, I’ve found it very easy to integrate with Shopify. With just a couple clicks you’re synchronized. It’s always working in the background, collecting data from Shopify.” – Mike Morrow
When people visit Morrow Audio’s website, Shopify captures their data in two ways:
- An opt-in form. Morrow Audio uses a $500 cable giveaway as an opt-in lead magnet.
- A purchase. Customers can opt-in for marketing emails on a check-out screen.
Customers who opt-in to email marketing updates on the Shopify checkout screen are automatically added as contacts in ActiveCampaign.
Shopify passes customer data over to ActiveCampaign, through the free integration with Shopify.
“It’s really freed me up, mentally, knowing that information is collected as orders are coming in,” says Mike. “With all of the automations that we’re using, the store runs by itself. I’m able to focus on other projects.”
“Here’s a guy who had a hard day at work. He can escape that through music.”
“It’s not just the product and the competitive price, it’s Mike’s attitude. Nothing is too much trouble. He treated me like a friend…and I am 6,000 miles from him.” – Morrow Audio review
Who are your customers?
Morrow Audio’s customers are audiophiles; people who want to create the best possible audio experience. Audiophiles research each new addition to their sound system extensively — and they have questions.
Morrow Audio uses a live chat (via Chatra) to connect with customers. The chats displays a photo of the customer rep and their name. Say hello to Scott!
You get an email shortly after visiting Morrow Audio’s website. Remember Scott from the live chat? Here he is again — ready to provide personal customer service in whatever channel the customer prefers.
As Mike puts it, “You can build a system that costs a few hundred dollars…or a couple million. Your turntable may have cost $200, or $22,000. It’s a passion.”
That shared passion is what makes Morrow Audio so successful. When you pair a great product with a founder who understands what his customers want to achieve with his product, it’s easy to create a shopping experience that drives sales.
“Music is just as important to me as it is to our customers. Music is just another level of enjoyment in life. The thing that drives us to work every day is that we’re providing enjoyment for our customers. Just like a good glass of wine in the evening, so is music to the soul.” – Mike Morrow
