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Speaker 1: Hi, I'm Britney Saunders, and welcome to Big Business, the

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Speaker 1: place where business is far from boring. And today I'm

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Speaker 1: recording on a wobbaicle land. Now, this episode in particular

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Speaker 1: that you're listening to is coming out during the Chrissy

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Speaker 1: Slash holiday break, and some podcasts take a break during

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Speaker 1: the Christmas break, but there's no break for me when

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Speaker 1: it comes to Big Business. I'm coming out with these episodes,

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Speaker 1: but I thought I would mention I'm recording these from

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Speaker 1: home and the quality may not be exactly the same

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Speaker 1: as when I'm in the studio, but hopefully it will do.

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Speaker 1: In today's episode, I'm going to be spilling the tea

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Speaker 1: on a decision that we have made at Fate which

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Speaker 1: has upset some of our customers, which I kind of get,

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Speaker 1: like fair enough, And that decision that we have made

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Speaker 1: is we are closing our mobile app. So I'm not

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Speaker 1: sure how long ago we actually got the app, like

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Speaker 1: I want to say maybe it was early to twenty

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Speaker 1: twenty three or something like that. And I was recommended

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Speaker 1: the app developer from another friend who is in business,

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Speaker 1: and they had their own app, like they own a

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Speaker 1: fashion brand too, and they had an app and said

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Speaker 1: they're loving it. So I connected with the app developers

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Speaker 1: and that's how it came to be and I was like, oh,

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Speaker 1: this will be great. And one of the main reasons

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Speaker 1: why we got the app is because it had a

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Speaker 1: feature of being able to send push notifications to people's

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Speaker 1: homepage on their phone. And I don't know if you

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Speaker 1: know this or fun fact, we have never done text

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Speaker 1: message marketing at FATE ever. We have never sent out

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Speaker 1: one text message, and every business owner that I talked

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Speaker 1: to tells me that I'm absolutely insane for that, and

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Speaker 1: from a financial standpoint, I have to do one hundred

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Speaker 1: percent agree we are missing out on a lot of

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Speaker 1: revenue by not using SMS marketing. But I guess we've

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Speaker 1: never done it because for me as a consumer, I

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Speaker 1: hate text message marketing, Like I swear, I get texts

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Speaker 1: sometimes from businesses and I think to myself, when did

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Speaker 1: I ever actually sign up to get text messages from

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Speaker 1: this business? And every time I get one of those

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Speaker 1: texts and it's like reply stop to opt out, I'm

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Speaker 1: always writing back like stop in capital letters. So that's

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Speaker 1: the reason why we've never done text message marketing. And

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Speaker 1: I completely understand how annoying, that is from a consumer's standpoint, Like,

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Speaker 1: no one likes getting a text message from a business,

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Speaker 1: and we've never done it for that reason alone. Now

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Speaker 1: am I ever going to send out a text? I might,

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Speaker 1: but I've just always never wanted to be a business

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Speaker 1: that is like overly spare me towards our customers. For

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Speaker 1: the longest time ever, even with our email marketing, we

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Speaker 1: only I mean for the most part, we only send

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Speaker 1: out one email a week. And in times where we

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Speaker 1: maybe send two, it might be if we have done

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Speaker 1: like two collection drops in a week, you know, like

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Speaker 1: on a Wednesday and then a Sunday, or if we're

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Speaker 1: doing like a special sale or something like that. But

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Speaker 1: otherwise we've never sent more than two emails in a week.

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Speaker 1: And again, like, there are so many businesses out there

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Speaker 1: that send multiple a day or like a lot a week.

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Speaker 1: And I can understand why businesses do that from a

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Speaker 1: financial standpoint, because it's going to generate them revenue. But

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Speaker 1: I guess for me, thinking in the mind of a consumer,

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Speaker 1: I have always found it annoying when a brand is

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Speaker 1: landing in my inbox a billion times a week. It's like,

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Speaker 1: I swear they email me yesterday. So that's why we've

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Speaker 1: always done one email a week and on the odd

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Speaker 1: occasion two, And I guess that's why we've never done

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Speaker 1: text marketing because I never want to annoy our customers

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Speaker 1: and never say never, like one day we might send

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Speaker 1: out a text to everyone that's given us their mobile

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Speaker 1: number when they've signed up on our website or in

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Speaker 1: our store, but even then, like I wouldn't ever wanted

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Speaker 1: to feel like pushy or annoying. And I think one

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Speaker 1: thing that really bugs me about a lot of brands

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Speaker 1: and the way that they send their texts is it's

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Speaker 1: just so generic. It's like chop now big forty percent

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Speaker 1: of sale and that's it. Whereas if I myself was

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Speaker 1: going to send out a text from Fate to our customers,

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Speaker 1: I'd want to write it like a text message, like

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Speaker 1: I'd want it to say hey, and then the customer's

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Speaker 1: name and make it look like someone's actually written it,

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Speaker 1: rather than like yelling in capital letters and just linking

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Speaker 1: the website. And like I said earlier, I have told

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Speaker 1: a lot of business owners that I know, like, we've

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Speaker 1: never sent out a text, and honestly all of them

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Speaker 1: have said, what the fuck? Like you're crazy, And I

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Speaker 1: get it, because we could make a lot more money

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Speaker 1: every year if we implemented text marketing into our business.

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Speaker 1: But it's just something that we've never done, so I

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Speaker 1: guess I don't know what we're missing out on. And

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Speaker 1: I mean, I can only assume that maybe our customers

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Speaker 1: appreciated as well, because we're like one brand that never

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Speaker 1: pops up into their texts. But anyway, that was one

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Speaker 1: of the main reasons why we went with an app.

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Speaker 1: It was because we could send out a push notification

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Speaker 1: and this was like, I don't know two years ago

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Speaker 1: that we got it. I don't know, the time is

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Speaker 1: all blurred into one over the last couple of years,

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Speaker 1: but that was our main main reason for getting the

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Speaker 1: app was for the push notification feature. It didn't feel

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Speaker 1: as spamy as a text message, and you could fully

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Speaker 1: customize it so it could just look like a little

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Speaker 1: pop up and we could say like new arrivals. For

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Speaker 1: a while there, we were even using it to just

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Speaker 1: send out positive quotes like it was just a nice

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Speaker 1: kind of touch. And then we could also use that

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Speaker 1: push notification to notify customers when we have a new

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Speaker 1: collection or a sale or whatever. It may be. And

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Speaker 1: I think even now, like thinking on that, if you

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Speaker 1: do have app notifications on for like any of the

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Speaker 1: apps that you have, even those are getting quite spammy.

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Speaker 1: I literally just got it as a notification on my

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Speaker 1: phone just now. Are Brittany beat the heat grab a

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Speaker 1: two dollars super slurpy when you scan your app in store?

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Speaker 1: So like, there is me getting a seven eleven notification

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Speaker 1: as I'm recording this. I do love seven eleven though,

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Speaker 1: but I need to turn those notifications off. But yeah,

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Speaker 1: that was the big number one reason why we got

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Speaker 1: the Fate app in the first place. The company that

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Speaker 1: we went through integrated like straight with our Shopify account,

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Speaker 1: and our app was essentially a direct copy of our website.

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Speaker 1: They looked extremely similar. The one good thing about an

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Speaker 1: app is it is a bit faster than a website.

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Speaker 1: In saying that, like, we don't have any speed issues

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Speaker 1: with our website, but apps are just that tiny bit faster.

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Speaker 1: And another reason why an app is great is because

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Speaker 1: it's right there on you know, the homepage of your

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Speaker 1: phone or like in all your apps. Now, we've just

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Speaker 1: recently announced that we're removing the app, and quite a

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Speaker 1: few customers were disappointed because I just love using it.

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Speaker 1: And I've asked them all in our Fate Society group, like,

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Speaker 1: what did you love about the app that you know

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Speaker 1: maybe isn't on our website and we can look at

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Speaker 1: Bettering our website, and I've taken on everyone's feedback, and

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Speaker 1: the funny thing is quite a few people wrote back

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Speaker 1: to me and said, oh, I've never actually used the website,

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Speaker 1: Like I've just used the app and loved it, and

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Speaker 1: I'm like, well, you better go and use the website.

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Speaker 1: But fun fact, there were actually features missing from the

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Speaker 1: app that we had on our website. One of them

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Speaker 1: was when you're on a collections page. So let's say,

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Speaker 1: for example, New Arrivals. If you look at our website,

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Speaker 1: as you're scrolling through our New Arrivals collection, you can

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Speaker 1: see under each product all of the sizes that are available,

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Speaker 1: and we have a lot of sizes six to twenty six,

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Speaker 1: so you can see all the little bubbles and you

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Speaker 1: can see what ones are already sold out without having

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Speaker 1: to click onto the product, Whereas on the app, it

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Speaker 1: just had the product photos and the name, and if

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Speaker 1: you wanted to find out if your size was in stock,

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Speaker 1: you'd then have to do one extra click and go

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Speaker 1: into the product to then see that your size was

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Speaker 1: maybe sold out. And I brought that up with the

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Speaker 1: app developers so many times because they were willing to

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Speaker 1: learn and implement new things into the app, but that

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Speaker 1: was one thing that they could never get. And I

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Speaker 1: think that's vital, especially for a brand like ours, where

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Speaker 1: we do have so many sizes. You want customers to

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Speaker 1: be able to see what sizes are in stock without

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Speaker 1: having to tap a million times to get into the

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Speaker 1: actual product. And that's one of my favorite things about

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Speaker 1: our actual website. Now I have learned something recently. I

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Speaker 1: feel like I knew this ages ago, but I've just

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Speaker 1: learned it again ever since we've announced that we're deleting

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Speaker 1: the app, and I'm going to tell you, like exactly why.

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Speaker 1: But another thing that everyone has said, which you can

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Speaker 1: create on your phone like for any website, is you

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Speaker 1: can create a little shortcut on your home screen which

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Speaker 1: looks like an app. You can customize it to look

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Speaker 1: like an app, and it's just a shortcut to a website. So,

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Speaker 1: for example, when we announced in our Fate Society group

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Speaker 1: that the app was closing, people were saying, oh, that's okay,

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Speaker 1: I'll just create a shortcut on my homepage to your website.

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Speaker 1: So if there are any websites that you love and

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Speaker 1: you don't have their app or they don't have an app,

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Speaker 1: you can just look up how to create a shortcut.

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Speaker 1: It will look like an app on your home screen

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Speaker 1: and you just tap it and it just takes you

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Speaker 1: straight to the website. But anyway, we've made the I

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Speaker 1: actually made the decision to get rid of the app.

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Speaker 1: Uh maybe at the start of this year, but we

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Speaker 1: were locked into a contract twelve months. Massive lesson for

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Speaker 1: me to not ever sign contracts ever again unless I'm

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Speaker 1: a million percent sure. One of the main things that

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Speaker 1: has changed the app for us, and the reason why

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Speaker 1: we've decided to remove it, is because we this year

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Speaker 1: have launched our Fate Society Facebook group, and it's been

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Speaker 1: the best thing for our business that we've ever ever done.

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Speaker 1: I want to say, it's like the best move that

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Speaker 1: we've ever made. So we started that group earlier this

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Speaker 1: year so that not only we could talk our community,

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Speaker 1: but also our community can talk back with us. Because

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Speaker 1: everyone compost in there. It's not like we're just sending

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Speaker 1: out a notification and they can't reply to us kind

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Speaker 1: of thing. That group now has thirty eight point eight

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Speaker 1: thousand members at the time that I'm recording this, and

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Speaker 1: the cool thing about it is I can post in

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Speaker 1: there whenever I want, and I can tag everyone, so

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Speaker 1: it's kind of like a notification. The only thing is,

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Speaker 1: I guess it doesn't pop up on I don't know.

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Speaker 1: Maybe if people have like certain settings on in their Facebook,

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Speaker 1: they might get it on their home screen. But essentially

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Speaker 1: I have got the opportunity to tag our customers anyway

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Speaker 1: and give them that little notification, which I do pretty

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Speaker 1: often in our Fate Society group, And so ever since

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Speaker 1: we started this group, we've cared less and less about

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Speaker 1: the app and the notification feature. Another reason, and probably

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Speaker 1: the main reason as well, why we've decided that we're

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Speaker 1: not going to have the app anymore, is it's very

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Speaker 1: expensive to have an ap app. I'd have to go

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Speaker 1: and have a look, which I probably could pull up

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Speaker 1: here and have a look, but from memory, I think

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Speaker 1: the app costs US around fifteen thousand dollars a year.

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Speaker 1: It could be more, it could be closer to twenty

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Speaker 1: don't quote me on that, but it's a huge chunk

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Speaker 1: of money that we spend to have the app, and

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Speaker 1: it seemed worth it when we didn't have our Fate

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Speaker 1: Society group because our app had about forty thousand downloads

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Speaker 1: as well, so similar numbers to our Fate Society group.

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Speaker 1: I don't know if I just stuff that up then,

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Speaker 1: but anyway, the members in our group have almost matched

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Speaker 1: the amount of app subscribers we had and people that

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Speaker 1: had their notifications on. So it's kind of almost felt

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Speaker 1: like we've overtaken the app with our Fate Society group.

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Speaker 1: And the amazing thing about our Fate Society Facebook group

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Speaker 1: is it's way more personal, Like we can talk with

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Speaker 1: our customers directly in there, and we're not just like

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Speaker 1: sending out a blanket notify from Fate the label, like

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Speaker 1: it's me sending out these notifications. And the Facebook group

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Speaker 1: costs zero dollars, so it's just a no brainer for us.

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Speaker 1: And secondly, with the app, like it creates like a

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Speaker 1: whole other element of work for us. So like we

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Speaker 1: have our website, and mind you like that fifteen grand

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Speaker 1: or whatever it costs us a year that's on top

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Speaker 1: of our website fees, Like it's like you're paying for

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Speaker 1: a whole other thing. So when you have a Shopify

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Speaker 1: store or whatever web host you use, we pay for Shopify.

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Speaker 1: We pay a percentage of every order that comes in,

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Speaker 1: We pay all the fees for that, We pay for

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Speaker 1: all of our Shopify apps, like that is thousands and

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Speaker 1: thousands and thousands a month, and then we have the

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Speaker 1: app on top of that as well. So yeah, it

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Speaker 1: was really a financial decision for us to remove the app,

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Speaker 1: and we did have a lot of customers be bummed

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Speaker 1: about it, and I guess the most that we could

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Speaker 1: say to them is like, you know, you can make

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Speaker 1: a shortcut on your home page on your phone if

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Speaker 1: you want to be able to quickly access our website

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Speaker 1: and also join our Fate Society group if you aren't

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Speaker 1: in it already, because we posting there every single day.

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Speaker 1: We're super active in that group. And it's just a

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Speaker 1: lot more fun than just sending out a notification every

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Speaker 1: single time. And I think I've fully just gone off

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Speaker 1: track from what I was saying before, but back to

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Speaker 1: me saying how much the app created more work. So

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Speaker 1: even though our Shopify was linked to our app, if

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Speaker 1: you did something on your website, it didn't like update

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Speaker 1: it on the app. So for example, if we changed

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Speaker 1: a banner on the homepage on our website, we'd then

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Speaker 1: have to log into the back end of the app

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Speaker 1: and change it there as well. So there was just

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Speaker 1: like a lot of double handling. And yeah, ever since

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Speaker 1: we released our Fate Society Group into the world, it

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Speaker 1: just kind of got put on the back burner, like

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Speaker 1: we weren't prioritizing doing anything on the app. We still

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Speaker 1: sent out notifications and have been this whole time, but

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Speaker 1: I feel like it's just a chapter closed for us.

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Speaker 1: And I know some people love an app like I

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Speaker 1: love an app as well, Like I shop on the

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Speaker 1: Iconic quite a lot, Like I don't really shop many places,

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Speaker 1: but if I am, i'll shop on the Iconic, and

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Speaker 1: I do love having it there. But I would honestly

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Speaker 1: rather take that fifteen thousand dollars and in saying that

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Speaker 1: as well, like it's fifteen thousand dollars or how much

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Speaker 1: every year, don't quote me on that, But then it's

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Speaker 1: like the time that our staff spend on that as well,

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Speaker 1: like every day of the week, Like it costs a

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Speaker 1: lot in manual labor as well, if you want to

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Speaker 1: look at it that way. Now that we have our

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Speaker 1: Fate Society group, I would much rather take that money

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Speaker 1: that we spend on the app fees and also the

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Speaker 1: time that we spend on it, and use that money

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Speaker 1: towards something else, whether it's more activations, more giveaways, I'd

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Speaker 1: rather spend it directly on our customers or something fun

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Speaker 1: rather than just an app that we don't really care about.

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Speaker 1: And that's pretty much the reason why we've made the

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Speaker 1: decision to get rid of it. I made that decision

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Speaker 1: earlier this year, and we've just been writing out the

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Speaker 1: contract and that's been a huge lesson for me. Is

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Speaker 1: I honestly think when I made the decision that I

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Speaker 1: don't want the app anymore, I think we still had

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Speaker 1: like eight or nine months left on the contract, and

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Speaker 1: I said to the app people, like, can't you just

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Speaker 1: let me go? Like why do I need to be

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Speaker 1: in a fucking locking contract for this app? And they

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Speaker 1: said no, they said, you can pay it out and

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Speaker 1: then we'll end it. Now I'm like, well, if I'm

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Speaker 1: going to pay it out, I may as well pay

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Speaker 1: it out and still have the app. But yeah, the

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Speaker 1: biggest lesson of all to come out of this for

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Speaker 1: me is read your contracts because I didn't know that

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Speaker 1: it was it was a twelve month lock in contract.

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Speaker 1: But you live and you learn, and that is quite

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Speaker 1: literally business. And I know I've said that already in

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Speaker 1: a previous episode, like read your contracts, but take it

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Speaker 1: from me, read your contracts. So that's a little bit

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Speaker 1: of an update and an inside scoop on why we're

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Speaker 1: removing the Fate app. I know they are really cool

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Speaker 1: and they feel a bit more fast. But in saying

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Speaker 1: that as well, like with the money that we're going

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Speaker 1: to be saving by not paying for our app anymore,

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Speaker 1: I can use a bit of that money to improve

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Speaker 1: our website, to you know, implement a few new apps

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Speaker 1: to our website. We're always looking at improving. And in

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Speaker 1: saying that, sorry, I'm running out of breath in saying that, like,

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Speaker 1: I think our website is really cool and it's pretty

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Speaker 1: similar to what our app was. So yeah, someone asked

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Speaker 1: me this in my question box the other day, like

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Speaker 1: why are you getting rid of the Fate app? So

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Speaker 1: I thought this is a perfect opportunity for a little

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Speaker 1: bonus crissy period episode. So that's all from me. These

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Speaker 1: aren't my main, main normal episodes, as I said in

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Speaker 1: the start, these are my bonus kind of crissy episodes.

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Speaker 1: But I thought I'm not going to go on annually

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Speaker 1: from the pod. I'm still gonna come out with random episodes.

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Speaker 1: So yeah, thanks for listening, and read your contracts.