Armando Roggio

Articles by: Armando Roggio

Armando Roggio

Armando Roggio is the longtime senior contributor to Practical Ecommerce. He's a global ecommerce authority and a practicing merchant, developer, and journalist.

Since 2008 he's written over 1,300 articles for Practical Ecommerce addressing all matters of ecommerce and presented dozens of webinars.

His previous positions include director of ecommerce for a regional retail chain and marketing publications manager at Micron Technology, a publicly-traded computer-chip manufacturer. He holds a B.A. in English Writing and Journalism from The University of Pittsburgh.

Contact Armando via email or LinkedIn. Follow his ecommerce tweets at @ecommerceboy.

Email & Text Marketing
Accelerate Ecommerce Marketing with the RFM Model

June 10, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The recency, frequency, and monetary model lets ecommerce marketers identify and market to specific consumer groups based on their transactional behavior. Ecommerce merchants have many reasons to segment customers and prospects.
Conversion
Store Closures, Slow Shipping Could Drive Retail Prices Lower

June 7, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic could lead to much lower retail prices for some categories, as store closures and product returns caused by slow shipping lead to an inventory glut. The problem might be divided into two broad categories.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for July 2020

June 4, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic will likely influence July 2020 activities. But that shouldn't stop you from publishing seasonally appropriate content marketing. Here are five content marketing ideas your business can try in July 2020.
Analytics & Data
Understanding ‘Sessions’ in Google Analytics

June 1, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The word "session" in an English dictionary reads something like "a period of time devoted to a particular activity." It could be, for example, an individual working on a specific task or goal. Google Analytics uses the term "session" in a similar manner.
Photography & Video
Even in 2020, 360-degree Product Photos Boost Conversions

May 27, 2020 • Armando Roggio

A long-time ecommerce conversion tactic — 360-degree product photography — is making an appearance on major retail marketplaces, large B2B sites, online furniture stores, and automobile marketplaces, indicating, perhaps, that it still represents an opportunity to increase sales.
Social Media
Facebook Shops Are an Ecommerce Game Changer

May 22, 2020 • Armando Roggio

When the world's largest social media network decides to become an ecommerce platform, you can bet it will impact the industry and make a difference long-term. On May 19, 2020, Facebook added ecommerce Shops to Facebook business pages and Instagram business profiles.
Business
Building Community with a Remote Team

May 21, 2020 • Armando Roggio

A remote workforce has always had its advantages, such as access to a large pool of top-notch talent. But the coronavirus pandemic has forced many companies accustomed to physical offices to start working remotely.
Business
Will New Ecommerce Sellers Squeeze Existing Merchants?

May 15, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic has forced some brick-and-mortar businesses to focus on ecommerce, but this shift in focus is not likely to stop many permanent closures. There is a parallel between the virus and its economic impact: Patients and businesses that are already in poor health are much more likely to die from the infection.
Content Marketing
SEO, Content, and Email Work Better Combined

May 14, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Search engine optimization, content marketing, and email marketing can work together to create a virtuous cycle attracting customers to your ecommerce store, encouraging them to engage with your brand, and bringing them back for purchase after purchase.
Link Building
Yes, Toxic Backlinks Can Still Harm Search Rankings

May 12, 2020 • Armando Roggio

When a website links to your online store, that site is indicating it finds your content valuable enough to share with its own audience. Google and other search engines recognize this vote of confidence, which may boost your site's ranking. For this reason, many search engine optimizers covet backlinks.
Shipping & Fulfillment
The Good News and Bad News for Ecommerce Shipping

May 10, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Ecommerce sales are up and shipping carriers such as USPS, UPS, and FedEx have responded admirably to demand in the face of numerous coronavirus-induced shutdowns and restrictions. That is the good news for ecommerce sellers. Unfortunately, supply chains have suffered. That’s the bad news.
Conversion
Pandemic Alters Retail Return Policies

May 4, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic has forced retailers large and small to make significant, temporary changes to their return practices. Since March, retailers have handled returns in two ways, generally.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for June 2020

May 3, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Content marketing is the act of creating or curating content, publishing that content, and distributing it all with the aim of attracting, engaging, and retaining customers. What follows are five content marketing ideas your business can use in June 2020.
Business
Coronavirus Shutdown Drives Click-and-collect Ecommerce

April 27, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Even before the coronavirus-induced shutdown, click-and-collect ecommerce was growing quickly. But now as many Americans stay at home or keep their distance to flatten the Covid-19 curve, some unexpected businesses are taking online orders for pick up, too.
Marketing & Advertising
How to Write Better SMS Marketing Messages

April 24, 2020 • Armando Roggio

SMS messages are powerful for transactional communication. The messages are easy to write when the content contains only a shipping notice or an access code. But composing marketing SMS messages can be much more challenging. Here are four tips for writing better SMS messages for marketing.
Design & Development
Capture Gmail Messages in a Google Sheet

April 22, 2020 • Armando Roggio

With Google Apps Script, marketers can capture Gmail messages, parse them for relevant information, and add them row-by-row to a Google spreadsheet. This can be especially helpful for capturing leads or contacts.
Marketing & Advertising
Marketing in the Pandemic Creates Opportunities Afterward

April 17, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic has changed everything. Retail shopping habits have been upended. Businesses that attract new customers and retain existing ones — right now — could recover or grow quickly when the economy reopens and moves forward.
Fraud Prevention
Ecommerce Fraud Detection during the Pandemic

April 13, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic has led to significant changes in consumer purchase behavior and raised concerns about ecommerce fraud. Fortunately, overall ecommerce fraud does not appear to have risen disproportionately to the number of online purchases.
Business
Optimize DTC Profits with Price Elasticity Analysis

April 9, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Direct-to-consumer companies, including Amazon sellers with private label products, can use the price elasticity of demand to determine the optimal price for a given product and, thereby, potentially increase revenue, profit, or both.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for May 2020

April 5, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic will almost certainly be the top news story in May 2020 as it was in March and April. But there are still opportunities for marketers to publish content that will attract an audience.
Business
Covid-19 Grants, Loans Could Help Ecommerce Companies

April 1, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Grants and loans from the U.S. government, state and local governments, Facebook, and Google could help small businesses during the Covid-19-induced economic slowdown.
Local Business
Covid-19 Is an Opportunity for Some Local Merchants

March 30, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The coronavirus pandemic is bad news. It has shut down a significant portion of the world's economy and killed far too many people. If, however, you're willing to hunt for a silver lining, the shutdowns and social distancing could be an opportunity for some brick-and-mortar companies to finally get online.
Google Ads
Performance Marketing in the Coronavirus Downturn

March 25, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Even in the face of the coronavirus pandemic, ecommerce merchants should optimize advertising campaigns. That includes performance marketing, which is online promotions that cost the advertiser only when a potential customer takes some action, such as clicking a pay-per-click ad or starting a chat on Facebook Messenger.
Business
The Coronavirus Could Drive Car Dealers to Ecommerce

March 19, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Managing the coronavirus pandemic in the United States has led to temporary store closures, social distancing, and economic concerns. People and industries are affected, including car dealers.
Inventory
How to Calculate and Interpret Inventory Turnover

March 18, 2020 • Armando Roggio

How quickly a business sells its inventory is typically a strong indicator of efficiency, cash flow, and general well being. Thus inventory turnover — and the related inventory turnover ratio — is a powerful key performance indicator.
Conversion
U-shaped Marketing Attribution for Ecommerce

March 13, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The so-called "u-shaped" marketing attribution model emphasizes a shopper's first and last marketing interactions before a conversion. The model can help identify the marketing tactics that are closing sales.
SEO
Should Internal Search Results Pages Be Indexed?

March 10, 2020 • Armando Roggio

No, your website's own search results pages should not be indexed by Google and other search engines in most cases. Long-standing search-engine-optimization wisdom says the results pages from your site-search should block search engine bots and not be included in a search engine's index of pages.
Design & Development
Brave, a Privacy-focused Web Browser, Attracts Techies

March 6, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Brave is a niche web browser popular with tech enthusiasts for its privacy, ad blocking, and unique crypto-currency-based advertising and rewards system.
Content Marketing
5 Content Marketing Ideas for April 2020

March 4, 2020 • Armando Roggio

The goal of content marketing is to attract and engage customers for your business. It can also build organic search traffic. Achieving these ends, however, takes compelling topics. Here are five content marketing ideas your business can try.
Staffing
What to Do When an Employee Leaves

February 28, 2020 • Armando Roggio

Employees quit. It is a reality of every business. Large companies with dedicated human resource teams have a process or checklist they follow when someone decides to leave. But small and mid-sized firms may not have a plan in place.