Category: Marketing Automation

The biggest shopping craze of the year is coming. See our tips on how to design your Black Friday emails and some great examples to follow!

Hi there, I run the marketing department for a well-funded start-up, and I REALLY want a MA platform. I’m considering two MA platforms, Marketo & Hubspot. Currently, we have a hodge-podge of tools: ActiveCampaign, SEMrush, Google Analytics, Sprout Social, and many, many more. We use Salesforce for our CRM, and right now, our marketing team is very small at 3 people. However, I expect this to increase quite a bit in the next 12 months. My goals with moving to an MA platform:
Consolidate all of our marketing tools into one, to measure return & see trends in analytics in one dashboard Build an ABM approach in tandem with our account-based sales strategy Run ads more effectively (leads move down the ad funnel with traditional awareness/interest/retargeting) Give my sales team kick-butt insights into hot leads and then take credit for my marketing efforts where it’s due!
If pricing isn’t a factor (and it’s genuinely not, by the way), which is the better choice?? It seems to me that these platforms do the exact same thing in terms of actual MA, but Hubspot has a better UI. If that’s the case, though, Marketo sure does think highly of itself! My gut says to go with Hubspot. But if Marketo is so “scalable,” am I only delaying an inevitable transition when my team starts growing rapidly?
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Check out some of the very best holiday email subject lines to inspire your own this holiday season.
It’s shaping up to be a crazy holiday season for, well, just about everyone. But especially for email marketers. Thanks to supply chain woes, consumers are eager to start buying, it only means that the holiday rush is starting earlier and running longer, with the extra workload falling on marketing teams.
What does this mean for you? It means now is the time to start crafting holiday email marketing messages. In fact, email open rates start to spike before Halloween is even over.
We’ve updated this post for 2021, and even included some bonus holiday email marketing campaigns curated just for you.
To provide you some inspiration, here are 75 holiday subject line examples from B2C, B2B, and nonprofits that are perfect for your holiday email campaigns.
Make sure not to miss our new set of holiday email templates! Check them out here.
B2C email subject lines

Rip Curl: 5 reasons you need a SearchGPS this Xmas

Rapha: Black Friday – coming soon

Italic: Last chance for free shipping

Freshbooks: Deliver Some Cheer this Holiday Season

Food & Wine: 27 Recipes for a Holiday Cocktail Bash

Joss & Main: Jingle Belles: Gifts for her, best-selling bedding & more on sale today

Dot & Bo: Ring In The New Year – Plus: 12 Days of Christmas Gifting Starts Now

Kate Spade: Last day! 30% off everything with our Cyber Monday sale

Emergency Essentials: Black Friday Sale! Check Back Tomorrow To View the Deals!

Steve Madden: Cyber Tuesday – 50% Off Clearance!

Sports Authority: Hurry, Only Hours Left for Cyber Monday Savings!

BevMo!: $20 Coupon! Save Big on Cyber Monday.

Seafolly: All she wants for Christmas is S E A F O L L Y

Birchbox: Free Boxes. Ohh Yeah.

Skechers: Get BLACK FRIDAY savings all weekend at Skechers.com!

Steve Madden: If You Open One Email This Black Friday…

Finish Line: Black Friday Doorbusters END TODAY. Snag ’em before it slams shut.

San Diego Chargers: Share the Joy, Bring a Toy To The Chargers Game

J. Crew: It’s OK to have seconds (or thirds) of this sale

Provisions by Food52: Gifting Made Easy: Free Shipping + Discounted Gift Cards + Our Best Picks

Finish Line: Black Friday Doorbusters start now. Put down the drumstick.

Vacationist: Gobble Up These Deals!

Orbitz: Good gravy! 20% off

Food & Wine: 15 Thanksgiving Drinks to Start on While Cooking

Nordstrom: Black Friday Is Here Early

Patagonia: You donate, we’ll match

Lyft: Join #GivingTuesday with Lyft

Instacart: This week’s forecast? Stress-free holiday grocery shopping!

Southwest: Snow Fare Like A Low Fare!

De Beers: There’s still time…

One Kings Lane: Post-Christmas grab bag: pick a present for yourself

Anthropologie: Thanksgiving hosting, toasting & roasting must-haves

Rapha: Last express shipping days for Rapha Gifts

Monoprice: 10% OFF Site-Wide + Shop Our Holiday Gift Guide!

Shutterfly: Just 3 days: get 50% off + NEW Disney Frozen Stockings

Capsule: Christmas Deadline: TODAY – Best stocking stuffer ever!

Lululemon: Best. (Cyber) Monday. Ever.

Musician’s Friend: Perfect last-minute gift–a gift certificate

Papa Murphy’s: Don’t Get Your Tinsel in a Tangle…Let Us Help with Dinner!

Groupon: Groupon’s Most Wanted This Holiday Season

JetBlue: Up to 50% bonus – ’tis better to give AND receive!

KSL Deals: Save 10% with Promo Code: Christmas10

Utah Valley Massage Therapy: Last Minute Stocking Stuffer Ideas

Bass Pro Shops: Final Hours! Stretch your payments for 6 months

KSL Deals: 14 Awesome Gift Ideas

Guitar Center: 12 Deals of Christmas—Updated Daily

Cabela’s: You’ve made your list…

Backcountry.com: For the Person that Has Everything

Musician’s Friend: St. Nick’s here with two ways to save

Audible.com: A Free Holiday Gift Just for Our Members

Ancestry.com: Save big for Cyber Monday – give the gift of family

Target: Pssst! Get the scoop on Black Friday

De Beers: Find the Perfect Gift

Bass Pro Shops: Save up to 25% on Santa’s Toy Shop!

Monoprice: Holiday Gift Guide – Headphones & Earphones Starting Under $10

Homestead Resort: Home for the Holidays at Homestead Resort

Moovly: Create your own Season’s Greetings video in 10 steps

Guitar Center: Alert: Cyber Monday Has Been Extended

BarkBox: Dog people give the best gifts

Waves Audio: Waves’ Black Friday Sale Starts Now – Get a Free New Plugin

ProAudioStar: ProAudioStar Will Beat ANY Black Friday Price PLUS Give You 15% Off Your Next Purchase

Bonus — Magic Spoon Cereal: We never do this

Bonus — hims: keep your holiday candle lit

Bonus — Madewell: New arrivals +gift guide = ?

Bonus — Everlane: No Sale Today. Here’s Why.

Bonus: — Article: This weekend only: please don’t shop

B2B email subject lines

Team Tony Robbins: Your last chance to save in time for the holidays.

Dale Carnegie Training: Be Bold This Holiday Season with Powerful Conversations

Pureleverage.com: Your $1.00 Cyber Monday sale!!

Voices.com: Cyber Monday Deal from Voices.com Coming Soon

3 Key Elements: Stressed Out by the Holidays? Body Language Tools to the Rescue!

Pinterest Partner Team: This week: Create holiday boards and plan Pinteresty events

Nonprofit email subject lines

SF-Marin Food Bank: Today is #GivingTuesday

California Academy of Sciences: Unique Holiday Gifts for Everyone on Your List!

The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society: #GivingTuesday is today!

Friends of the Sea Otter: Adorable Sea Otter Gifts Available on Giving Tuesday

Monterey Bay Aquarium: Today is #GivingTuesday: Donate now and become part of a new tradition.

The Marine Mammal Center: A Special Gift to Thank You for All You Do

Just Give: Gifts that do good…and feel good

Susan G. Komen: Holiday gift deadline is tomorrow

While these holiday subject lines certainly spark inspiration, you’ll want to put your own creativity and message into your subject lines. Here are some tips to help you create holiday subject lines that will shine.
Get our Ultimate Guide to Holiday Email Marketing and crush your holiday goals. 
Tips for writing your best holiday subject lines
Now that you’ve looked at some amazing holiday subject line examples, have a look at some of these tips and best practices that you can filter your own subject lines through as you’re writing.
1. Use words that increase conversions and top holiday words
It may be tempting to get extra creative when it comes to creating fun subject lines for email marketing messages, but it’s also important to remember that there are specific data-backed words that increase conversions. Here are some of the top words to use in subject lines that can boost your conversions:
• Sale
• Off
• Now
• Thank you
• You
• New
• Exclusive
• Discover
• Be the first
• Instantly
You’ll notice that each of these words evoke either a feeling of connection, persuasion, urgency, or interest—all of which are necessary to help you make holiday sales.
You should also consider using emojis in your subject lines. The playfulness of an emoji is a good complement to festive holiday subject lines and can help your email stand out in inboxes.
2. Pique interest with holiday words
Not only will you want to use proven data-driven words that convert, but you will also want to use some of the top holiday words to remind subscribers you’re offering special deals that are only available during the holidays. As you read through all the fun holiday subject lines above, you’ll notice a few words consistently stand out including the following:
• Holiday
• Christmas
• Black Friday
• Thanksgiving
• Gift/Give
• Shopping
• Last Chance/Minute
• Special
• Deals
• Save
When you can, work both these top converting words and top holiday email marketing words into your subject lines, and you’ll enjoy the benefits that come from writing excellent holiday marketing email copy.
3. Promote your offer in the subject line
Another common theme shared by good holiday email copy is stating the offer in the subject line. Chandon does this in their pre-Thanksgiving email campaign offering free ground shipping — enabling their subscribers to stock up on bubbly for their celebrations. The subject line simply states that ground shipping is included, and the headline reinforces the offer.

4. Offer Solutions
Not only is it important to mention deals and promotions in your subject lines, but it’s also important to solve customers’ holiday shopping problems. For example, some people might not know what to put in their spouse’s stocking, what to serve for Christmas dinner, or how to find the perfect gift for their mother-in-law. Offering solutions to these types of problems as well as a promotion can bring satisfying and unexpected conversions.
This example from Birchbox promises to alleviate holiday stress and links to their holiday shop with gifts broken down by price point.

 
Gift guides are another effective way to help customers. Curating your products by interest or use case also helps direct buyers in the right direction.
Wrap up
As you prepare your holiday email marketing strategy, remember to keep these tips in mind. As inboxes get more and more crowded as the holiday season arrives, your subject lines will be pivotal in making your messages stand out to your email list.
There isn’t much time, but you can still get ready. Make sure to check out our holiday guide for more email marketing tips that will hopefully lead to increased revenue and a very happy holiday season.
The post 75 Holiday Email Subject Lines to Light Up Inboxes This Christmas Season appeared first on Campaign Monitor.

I started managing my company LinkedIn page 3yrs ago. At first, we focused on just growing a reach, and that makes sense. However, lately we figured out that hidden in that reach there lie possible leads to qualify, both in terms of customers and potential hires (which for an agency are almost precious the same). Am I the only one doing this? I guess not. How do you do it, though? All manually?
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Looking for Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals on your favorite SaaS tools? In this article, we’ve gathered the best deals of 2021.

These days, a strong social media presence is key for building a reliable brand, standing out, and gaining traction with potential customers. I recently learned that 43% of consumers always search a brick-and-mortar business online before visiting for the first time, that’s a huge number. And while all companies can benefit from being on social media, it’s especially crucial for small businesses who typically don’t have the advantage of being a household name.A strong social media presence, though, requires consistent content creation, which can take a lot of time. If you’re a smaller business or even a company of one, you may be wondering how you can compete alongside companies that have entire teams for social media. It’s never going to be an even playing field but we’ve seen small businesses embrace what makes them unique and they shine on social media as a result, without needing to spend huge amounts on ad dollars or hire a whole social team.
Here are a few ideas that I’ve seen work for individuals and businesses over the years.
1. Learn From Your Customers (and the Data)
A good starting point is paying attention to what your potential customers are talking about. What are their pain points? What questions do they have in relation to your line of work? How do they feel about certain topics? This is all good material for content ideas like quick Q&As on Instagram or more in-depth instructional content on Facebook or LinkedIn.
To get inside your audiences’ heads, you can:

Scroll through the comments section of your social media pages and those of other businesses and brands you admire. (We made a list of these lately, Twitter, Doist, and Ben & Jerry’s were all mentioned.)
Leverage the polls feature that’s available on most platforms, including Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn to ask your audience questions.
Send out a more formal survey via your newsletter, I recommend making it a short one so folks answer.
Use market research tools like AnswerThePublic or Google Trends to see what people are searching for.

You should also regularly assess which of your previous posts have performed best. Which resonated most with your audience? Which have more likes, comments, shares, retweets, and saves? Find the patterns among them, and you’ll quickly be able to tell what’s working. (Note: Using an analytics tool can help surface popular posts more easily.)
After you’ve gathered all of this information spend some time reviewing it. What does the best-performing content have in common? Does your audience prefer videos or memes? Are inspirational posts or actionable instructions more popular? Once you identify some patterns, lean into them and create new content that gives the people what they want.
2. Leverage the News and Your Own Stats
Being in the know about what’s happening in your industry is important for many reasons, not the least of which is that it can provide you with endless content inspiration.
I use Twitter lists to quickly get a handle on the topics the media is currently covering. Create your own lists, full of reporters, experts, news sites, and influencers in your space, and if you’re at a loss for content ideas, scroll along to see what they’re talking about. You can repost their takes on what’s happening or create your own.
You can also be part of the news by collecting your own data and sharing the findings with your community. For example, earlier this year we released our 2021 State of Remote Work, which we created by surveying customers and potential customers. Each data point (such as the fact that 98% of respondents want to continue working remotely) can be its own interesting, engaging social post. We’ve also used the report to create complementary content, like tips for managing remote teams, our favorite remote collaboration tools, and advice for unplugging when you work from home.
Our State of Remote Work report provided endless opportunities for interesting content. Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CLHcaFQLFpn/3. Go Behind the Scenes
Consumers love learning more about how a business works and the people behind the brand. Simply put, showing the humans who are running the show humanizes the business, and that can be a pretty powerful marketing tool.
Plus, showing how you’re developing your products or company (also known as building in public) can add a lot of value in the long run. In this episode of Buffer’s Small Business, Big Lessons podcast, Paynter Jacket Co. shares how their building in public and sharing behind-the-scenes footage has impacted their business for the better, they now have a devoted group of followers and sell out of their jackets within minutes of them becoming available.
Paynter on Instagram. Source: https://www.instagram.com/p/CWAZPeBocv0/Video, like Stories, Reels, and IGTV, is a great medium for behind-the-scenes content, and they don’t have to be highly produced to grab someone’s attention. It’s also easier to create since you’re filming elements of your regular operations. Consider sharing:

A day-in-the-life of a teammate
Steps of the manufacturing process of your product
Tours of your workspace (this works even for remote teams!)
AMA sessions with team members
A happy customer using your product

4. Make it Easy for Yourself
Of course, coming up with unique ideas is great, but you can supplement your custom content by reposting things you see around the web. Sharing articles about industry trends, inspiring images that relate to your brand, or even relevant memes can add to your feed without taking valuable time out of your day.
Pro tip: If you stumble upon an article, an image, or another piece of content that you’d like to share, you can do so from right within your browser with the Buffer browser extension. Schedule it right then and there, and then get back to doing the rest of the things on your to-do list.

Putting together a solid social media plan as a small business can feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. Set aside 30 minutes or so a few times per week to focus on content, pick one or two of the tips above to start with, then keep building from there. The results will speak for themselves and inspire you to keep going.
Do you have any methods for coming up with content that works really well for you? Reach out on Twitter and let us know!

Website forms come in different forms, each great for different reasons. Their commonality, however, is that they’re great at gathering key information on your website visitors and encouraging them to sign up for your email list.  In this blog post, we’ll be talking specifically about two kinds of website forms: online forms and pop-up forms.…
The post Online Forms and Pop-Up Forms: What’s the Difference? appeared first on Benchmark Email.

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HI DOLLAR – $1 everyday for 1 year. 😉 VIDEO
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As NFTs market rises, so do uncertainty, if the new technology is really good and able to support a sustainable business model. However, most of the articles in the matter of utilizing NFTs for eCommerce purposes lack the fundamentals necessary to grasp the nature of NFTs. Maybe this is the reason why some eCommerce brands are already making use of NFTs while others only vaguely acknowledge their existence. We decided to explain not only what NFTs are, but where they stem from, to give you a big picture of the chances they provide. 

 

We will also present the examples of industries, that make the best use of them at the end of 2021, the eCommerce brands that seem to take the most out of NFT penomena, and finally, we summarize those success stories to highlight the most distinct NFT traits, that have the potential to change the eCommerce landscape in the near future.

 

So, let us first talk about the NFTs origins and put them in some context.

 

NFT in a context. What is DeFi and Blockchain?

 

There was a good reason for the centralized markets to emerge. It is, after all, much easier for the customers to visit a single location and find everything they need. Sellers have always been better off following customers instead of  expecting customers to follow them, even if that means paying a small fee for the privilege of displaying their goods to the wider audience gathered by the market. 

 

Market owners and coordinators always needed the funds for ancillary services to help attract more customers, like decorations, currency exchanges, entertainment, and so on. They also needed to be rewarded for the services they provided.

 

Due to the vastness of the Internet, online markets have accumulated overwhelming influence and resources, creating an imbalance between them and the sellers. It gave the market owners the possibility to charge very high rates for their accommodations as well as the freedom to choose what sellers are allowed to participate in their market. They also control the flow of customer traffic. 

 

DeFi which stands for Decentralized Finance came up as a way to provide the convenience of centralized markets without the influence of the powerful market owners. DeFi was introduced as a technology, namely blockchain. All of the cryptocurrencies we all know and heard about, like Bitcoin, Etherum and many, many more, are blockchain technology. 

 

To put it extremely simply, blockchain is a decentralized method of storing data that uses peer-to-peer networks. Data is kept in “blocks”. The blocks are chronologically ordered and time-stamped. All the blocks store the data about previous and next block. The values are changed when the transaction occurs. This ensures validity of data and fraud-proof system for transactions.

 

Blockchain enables permission-less, peer-to-peer transactions. Due to this fact, the blockchain-based market is able to remove the middlemen, like banks and other large financial institutions. Fees, documentation, and legal jurisdictions do not prevent the entities from around the world from accessing the financial tools they need. 

 

The driving force behind a significant portion of DeFi infrastructure are NFTs.

 

What exactly is NFT (Non-Fungible Token)?

 

NFT is simply a short for Non-Fungible Token. “Fungibility” in economics means a good is interchangeable. A non-fungible good is not interchangeable. It’s unique. 

 

Non-fungible Token is two things at once. First, it’s a unique digital asset, created and traded via blockchain technology. Second, it’s proof of authenticity. An NFT is both a digital property and evidence that it’s not fake. 

 

To comprehend it, it is best to compare it to a monetary asset. A monetary asset is a fungible token, it can be traded for another asset of the same value. A 10 USD bill can be traded for 10 1 USD bills and the value would not change. What would happen, if i.eg. some celebrity would put an autograph on 10 USD? The bill would suddenly become not exchangeable with any other bill or bills of the same nominal value. It would become unique. Non-fungible.

 

So the NFTs are blockchain-based digital assets that can be purchased with a digital wallet or cryptocurrency. They can assume the form of an image, video, music, meme or tweet. The difference between NFT and e-book, or digital form of musical albums, is that when the customer purchases an NFT, it means the ownership of a token, not just a licence to use it. The ownership can then be kept or sold to the new buyer. 

 

How NFTs work on the example of art

 

The NFTs are stored in the second most popular cryptocurrency after Bitcoin, Ethereum blockchain. Ethereum was established as a registry system to enable so-called smart contracts. They allow the transfer of ownership of an NFT. We chose art transfers for our further argumentation, because it provides us with easy-to-grasp examples of the concepts of authenticity and ownership of something digital, as well as the values that may support the will for such ownership.

 

At present we all probably heard about astronomical sums paid for this NFT artwork or another, and we wonder, why someone would spend millions of dollars on digital piece of art, that can be without a problem obtained for free. Just to be clear, it is not only possible but legal to just copy an image and save it on the hard drive to enjoy its artistic values. It is just it will not be THIS, original piece of art. You will know it, everybody will know it, but there will be no real difference in artistic value, unlike i.eg. weak copy of a painting. And this is actually the problem with digital art.

 

The NFT concept solved this critical problem. The value of art depends largely on factors like authenticity, age, number of owners. For digital artists, it makes great sense to store unique pieces of art as an NFT in Ethereum. Blockchain ideas end their struggle to prove authenticity. 

 

And this is so much better than, say, print of a digital art, bearing the artist’s signature. Unlike the painting, the physical manifestation of a digital picture will mean less than the original. You can’t i.eg. zoom-in on it to enjoy fine details and the print resolution will never match modern monitors. 

 

On the other side, we have the buyers. Two main groups of consumers of NFT art are motivated by different sets of values. 

 

Art collectors and enthusiasts are drawn to the NFTs because of the personal value they derive from possessing the original piece of art and the fact that their ownership is recognized by their community. So the collectors need the authentication and they self-validate.

 

Art investors buy and sell art, including NFTs, for profit. Factors like originality, scarcity, ties to real-life events or the author being a celebrity, may influence an NFT value in the future. Knowledge, what piece of art is worth investing in is a part of their trade. Art investors need both authentication and outside validation. 

 

Both are possible with blockchain-based NFTs.

 

Moreover, artists now have the ability to self-market their work without the traditional middle-men. They control the quantity and visibility of their pieces and can gain in popularity and value quicker than in conventional art launches. Traditional art did not provide the means to track the piece after the original sale. With a digital trail, an artist can make sure that when their work makes money for an investor, it makes money for them too.

 

The art is just one example of how NFTs can be used. It illustrates that NFT can be a fully-fledged product, desired and paid for for different reasons. And the possibilities that a blockchain structure provides for tracking the transactions as well as how much control it gives the authors over their commodity. 

 

There are now various operational NFTs platforms that can provide you with other opportunities.

 

Examples of NFT platforms and what they can provide eCommerce with

 

NFTify

 

It provides businesses with the possibility of creating an online store without the necessity to write a code. It also adds another layer of protection to an already extremely secure blockchain, in the form of an AI detecting the NFTs similar to those of the user.

 

Splyt

 

Splyt enables the possibility to use real world items as NFT. The potential for eCommerce is great in this idea. The inventory data is stored on the blockchain, so no entity listing a particular NFT can sell it twice. Sellers are able to sell physical items as NFT and collect royalties every time the item is resold. Affiliates are able to collect immediate payment after selling NFT products because smart contracts used in Ethereum hold and transfer the funds. For the buyers NFT is a guarantee of the originality of their product. This eliminates the scalping problem. The profits are redistributed in a more equitable way, as the platform itself has built in every guarantee and accommodation traditionally provided by the middle-man. Environment is trustless, nobody needs to trust anyone, as everything is stored in the blockchain.

 

Pandora

 

Pandora is another tool turning real world items into NFTs, providing the users with a mix of eCommerce and DeFi. The NFTs on this platform can be treated like financial assets: purchased, sold as well as borrowed and even divided into pieces, that in turn can also become a subject of trade. NFTs can also be stored on the platform to gain a bonus over time.

 

Drops

 

Drops is a full DeFi solution, utilizing the fact that NFT assets can sometimes have difficulties finding a buyer. Inactive NFTs can be turned into assets allowing borrowing cryptocurrency. In the bank-like environment, some users bargain with their assets for cryptocurrency, others put their currency in a pool for other users to borrow. The efficiency of the blockchain guaranties makes the process cost very low and  individuals are able to perform the operations normally reserved to institutional level banking.

 

What are NFTs used for now?

 

There are a number of industries utilizing NFTs for some time now. Let’s have a look at some of the most prominent examples.

 

Art

 

I will not discuss this example in detail, since it was analysed before in this article. To previously mentioned advantages of NFTs for digital artists, we only add convenient fractional ownership of the NFT. Thanks to this, thousands of people may collectively purchase a piece of art in separate tradable units.

 

Music

 

NFts are no less popular in the music industry than they are in visual arts. Over the years, the music industry moved from CDs to digital downloads, then streaming services came up. All these had one in common, a long line of middle-men. Their accommodation and support reduced profit margins for artists. 

 

Now the artists can sell their music in a D2C model, in a form of fractionalized tokens. Deadmau5, Grimes, 3Lau, Jacques Greene, Tory Lanez and Kings of Leon have all sold NFTs relating to their works in the past year directly to their fan base. Some of them decided to sell entire tracks this way, others have created audio loops accompanied by art pieces or video clips.

 

Sports

 

Remember the collectibles in the form of baseball cards? In the form of NFTs they have become digital now.

 

The path was cleared by the NBA and their “NBA Top Shot” project. A collectibles project based on cryptocurrencies allows the fans to trade NFT video highlights in the same way they trade for the rookie cards. There are already registered transactions for hundreds of thousands of dollars for tokenized, unique moments in NBA history.

 

Also some of the world’s biggest soccer clubs utilize NFTs, i.eg. Barcelona, AC Milan, PSG, Juventus, and Real Madrid have launched NFT projects and are now offering fan tokens for their supporters. Some of these tokens include voting rights. Projects like Sorare allows fans to buy digital player cards and build custom lineups for cash prizes.

 

Fashion design industry

 

NFTs serve here as authenticity proof of the designer products. The verification process is simple and involves scanning QR code attached to the label or sale tag. Moreover, the consumers can view the location of factories and sources of raw materials this way. 

 

NFTs are preventing counterfeiting by verifying authenticity through the blockchain. This way the consumers are able to check to see where their luxury handbag was made. 

 

Some brands even create virtual 3D dressing rooms and use NFTs as digital garments.

 

Gaming

 

Digital items, skins, weapons, collectibles or maps, sold in individual transactions, are present in games for years now.. Some of these items sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. And it was always natural that these assets were confined to the game that they originated from. NFTs can change even this and let the players take their favourite items into the other game or virtual collection room. 

 

Moreover NFTs are able to break the ownership structure for such items. Right now, all the in-game assets are prone to be lost, when i.eg. game servers are shut down because  ownership of the items belongs to developers. With NFTs items won or purchased in a certain game could be transferable and used in other games.

 

Community building

 

NFTs have means to empower the individuals sharing certain passions to form the community and contribute to development of their dream project. NFTs are now contributed to the development of various interest groups and communities, ranging from fan pages to political movements.

 

Creative examples of NFTs use in eCommerce

 

Now let’s see, what ideas for NFTs utilization individual brands from various industries come up with before we summarize the core NFT features that are able to boost eCommerce now and in the future.

 

Nike

 

Nike was fast to jump on the NFT hype-train. Their CryptoKicks is a system developed to entail physical shoes to the digital versions of the footwear. Digital shoes can be traded for or stored in a digital locker. But this is just the beginning. 

 

The brand came up with the idea of breeding two pairs of digital shoes to create a shoe offspring. The origins of the offspring can be, of course, tracked back on a blockchain. Offspring can be sold as collectible. This is a strong marketing idea, supporting brand’s presence on the modern market and creating revenue at the same time.

 

Christie’s

 

Christie’s was the first major auction house to sell a fully digital artwork, Beeple’s Everydays: The First 500 Days in March 2021. This was the most valuable crypto sale in history, reaching a whopping 69 million USD, boosting Beeple to become the third most valuable living artist.

 

Gucci

 

Now this is not exactly an NFT project, but it is very close. The brand released a special line of digital-only sneakers. The trading platform for the consumers in under way. Gucci already experimented with virtual try-ons. Next step is a digital-only pair of sneakers. They can never be worn, but at the price of about 12 USD the brand, much like Nike, can seek to increase its presence while still making money out of their marketing campaign. 

 

Of course the value of this, at first glance, outrageous offer will be verified by the market, when the trading app finally hits the stores. Limited editions are likely to go up. Gucci has stated their further interest in exploring the possibilities of NFTs.

 

NBA Top Shot

 

Again we talk about the example already given in this article. But we must stress how great this idea turned out to be. Top Shot Moments gathered more than 250 000 NBA fans so far and the website purports sales of over $400 million.

 

What can NFTs bring to eCommerce in the future?

 

Zero Fraud

 

The very idea of a blockchain and the construction of the NFTs on top of Ethereum makes fraud or counterfeiting simply impossible in eCommerce.

 

Lifetime product tracking as SKUs blockchain-based analogue

 

NFTs probably have the potential to replace SKUs with blockchain-based analogue. Moreover, NFTs could enable e-commerce data tracking, as users can have lifetime access to every data point across the product’s life span.

 

Trade barrier removal

 

NFTs make international trade for digital assets possible without considering restrictions, regulations and politics. It also enables transactions previously reserved to the institutional banking level.

 

Eliminating Intermediates / more equitable profit distribution / supporting D2C eCommerce model

 

Additional costs added by intermediaries between buyers and sellers are eliminated by NFTs. So they will support a more equitable profit-sharing system, particularly for emerging brands that are looking to establish themselves in e-commerce. Essentially, they are tailored for the D2C support.

 

Speed

 

Due to smart contracts used in Ethereum, the blockchain basis for NFTs, trades can be initiated and validated at unprecedented speeds. Trade requests and offers are validated by computer networks on the blockchain in real-time.

 

Divisibility

 

Fractional ownership of assets too expensive for the average consumer allows the producers and artists to sell off their work much faster.

 

Wrapping up the NFTs at the end of 2021.  Which of their features will prove to be a game changer?

 

What we witness here is still just the beginning of a trend. Yes, according to Jackofalltechs NFT sales climbed 464% in 3 Months from the end of June to the end of October 2021. But it is still not too late to jump on the NFT train. 

 

Most of the brands concentrate on the digital product that cannot become a victim to counterfeiting. But maybe some other, even deeper features, taken straight from the blockchain base, will prove more widely useful. After all, borderless commerce at the speed of light or fractional ownership may be crucial to corporate entities. 

 

And digital SKU analogue and lifetime product tracking opens so many doors and says so much about the customers. After all, from the perspective of the Customer Data Platform operators, NFTs mean more knowledge about the consumers. We will surely take this trend and its ramifications for eCommerce into consideration.