Past issues
Shopify Dispatch Issue #467 - Fundamentals, Change
Issue #467 - September 4th, 2024 After nearly 9 years of Shopify Dispatch, I'm deciding to pause publishing the Shopify Dispatch newsletter. Over the last few years I've noticed a lot of great sources stop publishing, disappear, or (most recently) shift to AI-created drivel. The goal of the publication was...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #466 - Unfair advantages
Issue #466 - August 28th, 2024 Your Competition Creates Unfair Situations Kevin Hillstrom shares stories about competitors who have unfair advantages over you. Promote products that create your best customers When it's time to run a promotion, how do you pick the products to feature? Best sellers are okay but...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #465 - Target keywords, Returns in Flow
Issue #465 - August 21st, 2024 Target keyword features in Shopify Apps have no direct impact on SEO Ilana Davis writes about targeting keywords in Shopify apps and why it probably isn't what you think. Flow: New triggers, action, and templates for managing returns Shopify Flow has added support for...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #464 - AI in your Shopify Inbox, AI label impacts customer perception
Issue #464 - August 14th, 2024 Suggested replies are live for eligible merchants in Inbox, powered by Shopify Magic Shopify has added their AI suggestions for Shopify Inbox. This will have their AI automatically write a draft reply to use. While this use of AI is appropriate (a tool to...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #463 - Merchandise changes, Multi-page variants
Issue #463 - August 7th, 2024 Watch The Transition, Carefully Kevin Hillstrom writes about watching major merchandising changes. Even if you do it all yourself, it pays to be clear on how your products and your marketing are connected. Multi page variant structured data with ProductGroup markup for Shopify stores...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #462 - Missing attribution is good, Google values new news
Issue #462 - July 31st, 2024 The Best Item You Can Sell Is One That Isn't Attributed To A Marketing Channel Kevin Hillstrom writes about how better attribution can be viewed as a word-of-mouth problem. It's an interesting idea that shows tracking at the acquisition stage is fraught with problems....
Shopify Dispatch Issue #461 - 1st to 2nd order, Prime Day 2024 results
Issue #461 - July 24th, 2024 First Three Months After A First Order Kevin Hillstrom writes about getting a new customer to buy a second time. There's so much experimentation that can be done in the 1st to 2nd order space. The returns can be fantastic for those who keep...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #460 - Giving up customers, Visual product filters
Issue #460 - July 17th, 2024 McDonalds Kevin Hillstrom writes about giving up on customers and marketing channels. Use "Visual" Filters for Visually Distinct Product Attributes Since Shopify's introduced some standardized product attributes, many stores are going to be having the exact same product filters. This UX research from Sonia...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #459 - Gross Merchandise Value, Shipping and returns in Google
Issue #459 - July 10th, 2024 Gross Merchandise Value: Calculation and Best Practices Michael Keenan writes about how to use Gross Merchandise Value to track your store performance. Add shipping and returns information into structured data Google is now showing shipping and returns information in Rich Results. Ilana Davis writes...
Shopify Dispatch Issue #458 - ProductGroup structured data, Market renames
Issue #458 - July 3rd, 2024 Optimize Shopify SEO & Ads with ProductGroup structured data Ilana Davis details the big structured data change from Google around listing variants. With how much Google Merchant Center is using structured data, this could be a way to get a leg-up in both organic...