You don’t have to be Michael Jordan, to run your e-commerce business like him.

Even if you aren’t into sports, I believe you’ll find this interesting if you’re an e-commerce marketer. I don’t even watch basketball anymore and haven’t in over a decade, so I get it.

In the history of the NBA 1% full court shots taken are made. This past season, 40%+ was the average field goal % which are shots taken inside the 3 point line.

There’s 2 paths to double revenue.

Revenue growth shouldn’t feel like a mystery. Yet, so many of us e-commerce marketers are unsure of what our targets need to be. One of the paths to revenue growth requires a big win, while the other path calls for a bunch of little wins. Which will you take?

Pretend you just received an email from your boss with the subject line, “Let’s double revenue this month.” Could you do it? Do you know how to do it? Let’s find out. The first step is a written plan for revenue growth.

Writing out a plan to double your revenue is the most important step in growing your revenue because you’re 42 percent more likely to achieve your goals if you write them down according to a study by Gail Matthews, at the Dominican University in California.

To do this, we’ll look at at the two paths to growing your e-commerce revenue. Both use basketball analogies, but only one is likely to happen.

Whether you’re a Michael Jordan fan or not. Read on to learn about the 2 paths to growing your e-commerce revenue and how to create a written plan for growth in your own e-commerce business.

Path #1: The Full Court Shot

In the history of the NBA 1% full court shots taken are made. Shooting from half court in a basketball game isn’t a strategy.

What if you’re halfway through the month and behind on your revenue targets? Is it wise to put all your effort into acquiring new customers for the rest of the month? We know this, yet new customer acquisition is usually the first thing e-commerce brands turn to when trying to grow revenue.

The three growth levers every e-commerce marketer has at their fingertips are: 1. Returning Customers: Customers who buy again. 2. Average Order Value: How much customers spend when they buy from you. 3. New Customers: People who buy from you who never have before.

Let’s use the example of doubling revenue. If you increase your revenue by 100% you’ve doubled revenue.

Here’s what the full court shot version of doubling your e-commerce revenue using the growth levers looks like. 1. Returning Customers: 5% 2. Average Order Value: 5% 3. New Customers: 90% 4. Total Growth: 100%

The chances of this outcome are 20% at best. Here’s why. Most brands need to acquire customers at a fixed target. They can’t just spend an unlimited amount of money to acquire each customer. If they could, this math would make sense.

Remember our basketball stat from the beginning of this article. This past season, 40%+ was the average field goal % which are shots taken inside the 3 point line.

Read on to discover how the “Pass & Shoot” approach to doubling revenue is much more effective than the “Full Court Shot.”

Path #2: The Pass & Shoot

Passing and shooting in basketball relies heavily on the fundamentals of the game. The same is true for e-commerce.

We’ve already taken a close look at how most e-commerce brands approach revenue growth which is to put all of their focus on growing new customer revenue.

Here’s what the pass & shoot version of doubling your e-commerce revenue using the growth levers looks like: 1. Returning Customers: 33% 2. Average Order Value: 33% 3. New Customers:34% 4. Total Growth: 100%

The chances of this outcome are 60%+ to be conservative. This is because there are basic fundamentals you can lean on to grow AOV and returning customers by 25ish% more than our previous example.

Take a look at how you currently approach growth in your e-commerce business. Are you leaning more towards the full court shot every month or the pass & shoot? Either way, we all have room to improve our mindset around e-commerce growth.

Hope this was helpful for you and you can do some quick back of the napkin strategy using these 3 growth levers and the pass & shoot approach going forward.

Be like Michael Jordan and not Jordan Michael when thinking about growing your e-commerce revenue.

Who is Jordan Michael? It’s a fake NBA player I made up that only shoots half court shots. Nobody picks him for their fantasy basketball team. Everyone knows he’s going to make about 1/100 shots and even when he does make it. The fans aren’t amazed because they’ve seen him miss the last 99.

This is what it looks like when you’re an e-commerce marketer that’s only looking to grow new customer acquisition and wondering why the business isn’t growing profitably.

If you don’t approach e-commerce growth with a strong grasp of the fundamentals you’ll end up taking half court shots without realizing it.

Want to be more like Michael Jordan when it comes to e-commerce growth? I’d love to help you improve your e-commerce fundamentals! I’ve created a course with 40+ videos, cheat sheets and even my exact playbook I’ve used to scale e-commerce brands beyond 6 figures. Check it out here.

Until next time. Stop taking half court shots.

P.S. When you’re ready, here are 3 ways I can help you.

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