“Reading List” is an occasional series where we ask ecommerce professionals to name some of their favorite books and blogs and tell us why.
For this installment, we corresponded with Adriana Iordan. She is vice president of product management and growth services at 2Checkout, a platform that provides global payments, subscription billing, global tax and financial services, risk management, and compliance.
5 Favorite Books
“Hooked: How to Build Habit-Forming Products“ by Nir Eyal
“I love this book because it provides an in-depth analysis of how to hook a customer and keep them hooked. It’s a great mix of habit formation psychology and real-world examples. It’s based on Nir’s research and personal experience and is a must for everyone interested in product marketing. I highly recommend reading it with a highlighting pen in hand, because it offers information that you will not want to forget.”
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“The Hard Thing About Hard Things: Building a Business When There Are No Easy Answers“ by Ben Horowitz
“There are many books about how to start a new business, but very few are honest about how difficult it is to run one. This is quite a personal book as Ben Horowitz analyzes the problems leaders face every day, sharing insights he gained from experience. There are no guarantees in business. It’s a constant struggle, but we need to learn to embrace that struggle. It’s a great business book for every entrepreneur.”
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“The Tipping Point: How Little Things Can Make a Big Difference“ by Malcolm Gladwell
“Malcolm Gladwell is the author of five New York Times bestsellers. ‘The Tipping Point’ explains why some trends catch on and spread around the world, and others do not. It’s a great blend of tales and anecdotes about why things change in society, who are the creators of ‘word of mouth’ messages, and how small things can start an epidemic. I recommend this to anyone interested in understanding how trends are started.”
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“The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People: Powerful Lessons in Personal Change“ by Stephen R. Covey
“This book is inspirational and practical. It provokes you to examine your core defining traits: personality, character, principles, and ethics. It talks about the paradigm shift, which is the change in one’s perspective regarding the way we perceive things. Covey reveals how the key to maintaining a good paradigm is to keep an open mind and realize there is more than meets the eye.”
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“Measure What Matters: How Google, Bono, and the Gates Foundation Rock the World with OKRs“ by John Doerr
“John Doerr, the venture capitalist, explains how to set goals effectively and measure what really matters. The book is a collection of case studies, offering perspectives from people who followed the objectives and key results framework. It’s a great book for all CEOs and managers who seek a high-performance culture.”
5 Favorite Blogs
“The popular TechCrunch website covers everything tech-related around the world. It’s my go-to resource for news on startups, venture capital funding, technology. It also has a section entirely dedicated to ecommerce, which brings breaking news, opinions, and analysis of the most significant developments in the industry.”
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“This blog is all about ecommerce. It was started by Richard Lazazzera, Shopify alumnus, and is focused on supporting ecommerce entrepreneurs with advice, resources, and tools to help them grow their early-stage startups.”
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“If you want to improve your website conversion rates, this is your holy grail. The ConversionXL blog features well-researched articles, case studies, and tips and tricks on topics such as web design, A/B testing, pricing page optimization, copywriting, and more.”
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“PYMNTS.com brings the most impactful news and innovations in payments and commerce, including B2B, B2C, retail, and IoT.”
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“The Inside Intercom blog is quite popular. It covers a broad array of topics, from sales and marketing to product, design, and engineering. It’s a great resource if you are a product manager or if you’re just interested in what it takes to build a fantastic product.”