DXO Consultants

As a consultant specializing in digital experience optimization (DXO) and conversion rate optimization (CRO), I help businesses enhance their online presence and drive measurable growth. With a proven track record in e-commerce and digital marketing, I provide strategic insights and actionable solutions to boost customer engagement and increase conversions.

Chief Executive Officer

Ideal Living

In this capacity, I directed the strategic and day-to-day execution of all E- Commerce aspects, including sales, budgets, promotions, customer experience, and digital marketing programs (SEO, SEM, CMS, PPC, Email, retargeting, mobile, affiliates, social media, and marketplaces). I oversaw digital acquisition for a portfolio of 10-15 unique brands, managing distinct CPA goals and critical KPIs. I maximized website usability, performance, ROI, P&L, and online marketplaces including Amazon US, Amazon International, and Walmart.

Key Achievements:
• Increased online revenue by 83% in 2020 and over 100% from 2021 to 2023 through innovative marketing techniques and platform optimization.

• Directed and managed a diverse portfolio of 10-15 unique brands, leading digital acquisition and customer retention strategies, consistently achieving and surpassing critical KPI goals.

• Elevated Amazon sales from 7 figures to 8 figures from 2019 to 2023, achieving a 223% revenue growth.

Vice President, Digital

Hi-Health Corporation

While serving in this role, I directed the strategic and day-to-day execution of all E-Commerce activities, including sales, budgets, promotions, customer experience, and digital marketing programs (SEO, SEM, CMS, PPC, Email, Retargeting, Mobile, Affiliates, and social media). I developed marketing strategies to drive customer growth and manage online customer interaction.

Key Achievements:
• Enhanced site usability and reduced load times by 50%, leading to a 109% increase in the e-commerce conversion rate, improving overall customer experience and sales.

• Created and launched targeted marketing campaigns that increased online revenue by 30%, showcasing my ability to develop effective strategies driving substantial financial growth.

• Targeted the best and most profitable brands, resulting in an 11% increase in online AOV.

• Reduced paid search CPA by 59%, cut PPC costs by 22%, and increased revenue by 71% through optimized advertising strategies, demonstrating my ability to enhance advertising efficiency and ROI.

• Elevated email marketing revenue by 28% and increased the conversion rate by 38% by improving the quality of campaigns and creative pieces.

Vice President, Ecommerce

ZAGG, Inc.

During this time, I was recruited to design, build, and manage the company's technical infrastructure and lead e-commerce operations. I oversaw strategic planning and execution of e-commerce activities, achieving double-digit growth in online sales consistently for 10 years. I led the digital strategy and operations, contributing to double-digit growth in online sales annually, demonstrating sustained success in driving revenue growth.

Key Achievements:
• Achieved a return on investment exceeding 600% through innovative customer acquisition strategies via social media.

• Produced formalized budgets and strategic plans for the executive team, aligning with profitable business strategies and ensuring healthy profit and loss.

• Recruited and led a team of skilled web developers to architect and build an enterprise-class e-commerce platform supporting $36 million in annual sales.

• Directed and managed re-platforming on three occasions, including the transition to the Magento Enterprise Edition e-commerce platform.

• Utilized YouTube to drive sales and acquire customers, resulting in 15 million video views, and was invited by Google to participate in the YouTube Marketing Ambassadors program.

Director of E-Commerce/Global Web Operations

Are you struggling to turn website visitors into loyal customers? You're not alone!

Many online businesses face the challenge of:

→ Low Conversion Rates: Visitors come to your site, but few take action, leaving potential revenue on the table.
→ Poor Digital Experience: A frustrating user experience can drive your audience away before they even explore your offerings.
→ Lack of Insights: Without the right analytics, you may be guessing at what’s working and what’s not.

But fear not! I specialize in conversion rate and digital experience optimization services that can:

Transform your website into a conversion powerhouse, turning visitors into customers.
Create an engaging and seamless user experience that keeps potential clients interested.
Provide actionable insights based on data analytics to fine-tune your strategy for maximum results.
Ready to elevate your online business? Let's connect and start optimizing your conversions today!

As a results-driven E-commerce Leader and Digital Marketing expert, I have a proven track record of driving substantial revenue growth and enhancing conversion rates through innovative strategies and careful platform enhancements. My expertise lies in orchestrating all facets of E-Commerce operations, including sales, budgets, promotions, customer experience, and comprehensive digital marketing programs (SEO, SEM, CMS, PPC, Email, retargeting, mobile, affiliates, social media, and marketplaces).

I have directed the strategic and day-to-day execution of all E-commerce activities. My leadership not only achieved an 83% increase in online revenue in 2020 but also spurred over 100% growth from 2021 to 2023, demonstrating a consistent ability to drive financial growth through creative marketing techniques and intelligent digital optimizations.

I have significantly improved e-commerce conversion rates by 109% by enhancing site usability and reducing load times by 50%. My targeted marketing campaigns have increased online revenue by 30%, while my optimized advertising strategies have effectively reduced CPA and increased ROI. Furthermore, I've led large-scale social media campaigns, achieving a return on investment exceeding 600% and substantially boosting brand presence and customer engagement.

I am passionate about leveraging data-driven insights to refine business decisions and marketing strategies, continuously improving performance metrics and business outcomes.

John Hesch

You have a great product. But customers have a lot of choices. 

So, it’s hard to stand out and get them to choose you over your competitors.

And, even when you get that purchase, it’s just as hard to get that customer to come back.

Every day feels like a battle.

You’re pulled in so many directions. Every time you seem to be juggling as much as you can handle, another ball gets tossed into the mix.

Wouldn’t you breathe a sigh of relief if you could….
✅ Magnetically attract new customers with a high lifetime value who are easy to service and satisfy.
✅ Increase the lifetime of your existing customers and get them to choose you more often while they’re with you.
✅ Gain up-to-date customer insights with no extra work so that you can exceed your customers’ expectations and know what they want before they know themselves.
✅ Get the whole organization to perceive marketing as the key to shaping the entire business and outpacing the competition (instead of seeing it as just a cost).
✅ Help product development create products that WOW customers instead of wasting time and resources on another flop.
✅ Get marketing, merchandising, and sales to see customers in the same way.
✅ Easily measure the brand so that every department in the organization knows progress is being made toward their individual goals.
✅ Align your team by meeting each team member’s needs so they can take ownership and get more done in less time.
✅ Have an easy-to-implement strategy system that can free up your time so you can focus on growing the business instead of wasting time micromanaging people and figuring out what will work.

For 19 years as brand strategy expert, I’ve helped customer-obsessed leads do just that.

I helped customer-obsessed leaders at...
🎬 Turner Classic Movies (TCM) go from struggling to figure out how to monetize their brand to creating products that their passionate fans love, like the TCM Classic Film Festival.

🏫 Kohl’s devise branding and marketing strategies that skyrocketed their revenue and market share, leading them to overtake Macy’s and JCPenney during and after the Great Recession.

📚 Thomas Nelson develop a Bible merchandising system based on hidden customer desires that created double-digit sales growth for every retailer that used it

At Make Business Matter, I do one thing: build the only customized brand strategy system for customer-obsessed leaders that makes attracting and retaining high-value customers a no-brainer for everyone in your organization. 

If you want to become THE choice for your customers, contact me:
aaron@makebusinessmatter.com

Aaron Shields

Put a ceiling on your profit margin.

Then tell everyone about it.

That's how Costco built one of the most trusted brands in retail.

We're wired to evaluate every transaction as an exchange.

Before we buy, we subconsciously ask:

Who's getting the better deal here?

This instinct is ancient.

It kept our ancestors from being exploited.

And it still drives buying decisions today.

Behavioral economists call it distributive fairness.

Customers don't just evaluate what they're getting.

They also evaluate what you're getting.

They don't mind that you're profiting.

What they mind is if the exchange feels unbalanced:

- If they feel worse off after the purchase.
- If your gain seems bigger than their benefit.
- If the value feels hidden or unclear.

Costco solved this with radical transparency.

They cap markups at 14% on branded items.

15% on Kirkland.

And they make sure their customers know it.

Founder Jim Sinegal explained why they don’t raise prices, even when they can: "It's like heroin: You do a little and you want a little bit more. Raising prices is the easy way."

Costco has a 92.3% membership renewal rate in North America.

Customers spend freely because they trust they're not being taken for a ride.

You don't have to slash your margins. You have to make your customer's benefit obviously greater than your gain.

When customers feel they got the better deal, they come back.

They refer.

They choose you first.

When they feel taken advantage of, you become an adversary.

And adversaries never become preferred brands.

Brand Strategist | Boost customer preference. Drive sustainable growth. | Customized brand strategy systems | Founder @ Make Business Matter | 20 years advising everything from startups to $19B brands.

P&G didn't dominate laundry by beating competitors.

They did it by competing with themselves.

Same category. Different buyers.

Most brands grow by stretching their existing brand.
They target new audiences with the same name.

It's the easier path.
It works with limited resources.
And you don't need to create a new division.

But it's not the only way to expand your reach.

You can create a new brand.
One that competes for a new audience.

And it's one of the major factors in P&G's success.

Take Tide and Gain:

- Both are laundry detergents.
- Both target the need for cleanliness.
- But they target different audiences.

That difference forms the core of each brand.

P&G engineered Tide for power.
For superior stain removal.

It's part of Tide's story:

- 1946: First heavy-duty laundry detergent
- 1968: Enzymes to attack stubborn stains
- 1984: A more powerful liquid version
- 2005: Pens for on-the-go cleaning
- 2012: Easy-to-use, concentrated pods

Tide always reinforces its position as the best stain fighter.

But what if you care more about scent than stains?

That's where Gain comes in.

It's for those who want laundry to be as fresh as possible.

Look at Gain's messaging:

- Sniff the good vibes.
- Sniff out our latest news.
- Discover the perfect Gain scent for you.

Gain's entire brand is built around a scent-first approach.

If you prefer freshness over stain removal, the choice is clear.

Two laundry products.
Two different audiences.
Two clear positions.

Most companies would have added new Tide scents.
And created confusion.

Is Tide about power or freshness?

Trying to be both weakens the brand.
They would compete for two positions at the same time.

The brand would become confusing.
It would lose mental availability.

And when you lose mental availability, you decrease the chance you'll get purchased.

Worse: it opens the door for a focused competitor to claim one position and win.

P&G wins by building each brand for a specific audience.

So, when you next plan to expand your reach, consider:

Are you better off stretching your old brand?
Or creating a new one?

P&G's answer: when in doubt, focus beats flexibility.

One word kills more ad spend than any other:

"Huh?"

The second you confuse a customer, you lose them.

Your customers have 1,001 things going on:

- Overdue oil changes
- Kids' soccer practice
- Work deadlines
- In-laws visiting

The last thing they'll do: spend energy figuring out what you do for them.

If you aren't clear, they aren't curious.
And they're gone.

This played out perfectly in the early 2000s MP3 player wars.

Creative Labs had a superior product,

- More storage.
- Better battery.
- Lower price.

Their press release led with this:

"Features a unique professional lifestyle design offering MP3 support with reprogrammable firmware to support future digital audio formats, software extensions and standards."

Apple said five words: "1,000 songs in your pocket."

Creative talked specs.
Apple talked benefits.

Creative made you think.
Apple made you understand.

By 2011, iPod held 78% market share.

And Creative's MP3 business was gone.

The better product lost.
Customers struggled to understand the benefits.

Clarity is the difference between winning and fading away.

Make it obvious what you do.
Make it obvious why it matters.

Make it impossible to say "Huh?"

Aaron Shields, founder of Klarvoyant, sitting at a desk in a contemplative thinking pose with a pen near his chin, in front of a bookshelf, analyzing brand strategy challenges.

People crave novelty.

And that makes branding hard.

Novelty triggers dopamine production.
Dopamine makes you want to act.

And that is connected deep into human history.
It's rooted deep in our biology.

Because new information helps you learn something new about how to survive.

Novelty is tied to learning to survive.

That's powerful stuff.

But this link between novelty and learning makes it tough for many brands.

They struggle to resonate.

This is the result of three factors:

1. The mind is a story-making machine.
2. The mind is a story-taking machine.
3. A brand is a recall device.

Here's how that breaks down:

1. The Mind is a Story-Making Machine

Any image can send your mind into creating your own story:

- What that image means.
- How it relates to other stories.

2. The Mind is a Story-Taking machine

Stories are learning devices:

- They give you information.
- Information helps you make better future decisions.

3. A Brand Is a Recall Device

Seeing a brand makes you recall all your associations with it:

- What it does.
- How it makes you feel.

So …

When you encounter a novel image tied to a brand, it drives you to learn something new.

But, you also compare it to existing information:
"Is it new, and how does it fit into what I already know?"

And when the new idea doesn’t match your memories of the brand, you feel a conflict about its meaning.

As a result:

The brand loses its distinction.

And if a brand isn't distinct, it's hard to recall.

And if you can't recall a brand, you can't consider it for purchase.

Novel ideas are great for attracting attention
But they can erode recall.

This makes novelty a powerful tool.
But also a dangerous one.

The key is to use novelty to attract interest.

But make sure it's a new expression of something distinct about you.

Something you always did,
How you always made your customers feel.

Balancing novelty and consistency is a tightrope act.

But it's one worth walking.

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The Battle

John Hesch

Aaron Shields

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The Battle

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Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}Aaron Shields's LinkedIn Performance

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