Bespoke Tailored Suits Online November 19, 2019 bizadmin If you’re acquainted with fashion shows, you will find that the majority of the fashion designs are customized. Yes, they’re worn by models with perfect figures and that’s a part of why they appear great. But, not just models look great in customized clothing or apparel. Even men who aren’t models may also look wonderful in putting on suits. For those who have observed, most of those who are professionals put on suits. Don’t you think it looks wonderful? Yes, they really do, particularly if the suits that they’re putting on are customized suits. Customized or tailored suits are particularly designed suits through the tailor or seamstress with the preferences and demands of the individual putting on it. For more information on bespoke suits online, visit our website. The tailor or seamstress takes the measurements from the client. She or he then asks about certain preferences and demands the person wants to complete with the customized suits. Once things are set, the tailor then searches for the material the customer wants for those suits. After she or he has already acquired the preferred type of fabric, she or he then constitutes a pattern from the suits in line with the measurements from the body figure from the customer. The material or textile will be cut based on the pattern produced by the tailor or seamstress. Once things are finished, the tailor or dressmaker will sew the suits. Including the entire package from the customized suit. Upon putting on the customized suits, the individual should have the style and comfort the perfectly fit suit brings. Customized suits also give a feeling of originality because the suit might not be identical in regards to what other males are putting on. You’ll really look wonderful upon putting on a personalized suit. For example, if you’re taking part in a proper occasion like a wedding or promenade, putting on customized suits can definitely cause you to shine one of the rest inside the occasion. There are plenty of tailors and seamstresses nowadays that provide reasonable prices for customized suits. They can do alterations. By searching online, there is also a large number of websites that have details about tailors, seamstress, and designers that provide making customized suits. It could set you back a little to possess one though (particularly if it will likely be produced by well-known tailors or designers), but thinking about the advantages you will get, it will likely be worth every cent that you’ll spend. Looking for tailored suits online? Visit our website for more information.
Get Custom Bobbleheads Online November 19, 2019 bizadmin Bobbleheads have continued to be a significant favorite among children in addition to grown-ups. Children love them for they appear cute whereas grown-ups tend to be more worried about the person the bobblehead resembles. Major political and athletes their very own bobbleheads that are very popular in the market. The recent presidential campaign saw bobbleheads of Barrack Obama and the opponent John McCain ton the market. Not just that, bobbleheads of Michelle Obama and the two Obama kids were also well-liked by people. For more information about custom bobblehead, visit our website today. Sports Bobbleheads Bobbleheads aren’t a brand new factor and also have been present in the market for a long time. Even so, their recognition appears to be the rise. Apart from bobbleheads of political figures, bobbleheads of basketball and baseball gamers are very a success in the market. Over the occasions, Jordan, Babe Ruth along other major sports gamers like Andre Agassi, Tiger Forest happen to be immortalized in the type of bobbleheads. Despite the fact that collecting them is fun and a significant passionate hobby for many, there’s always that wish to have a customized bobblehead showing an individual. You may have wanted to possess a bobblehead of your own. Well, that’s now possible as you can order a personalized bobblehead you have without ever departing the convenience of your home. Get Bobbleheads Online You will find some who’ve lots of bobbleheads that are fully easy to customize. All you have to do would be to visit these web sites and decided on a particular body, to begin with. You can decide on physiques showing a physician, golfer, footballer, poker player, motorcyclist along with a dental professional among 100s of other available choices. Next, you will have to upload an individual photo or the photo of the person whom you want the bobblehead to represent. From the hair texture to the skin tone to the color of the eyes is easy to customize. These custom bobbleheads are going to be a precise representation of the concerned person. The Payment Process After the uploading phase, you will need to go through the payment process. Obligations can be created through charge cards or online bacs. Some sites also provide the added choice of PayPal along with other similar websites. The payment process generally is a breeze after the order is confirmed, you can get the order inside a stipulated time at your doorstep. The price of these custom bobbleheads can differ based on the time you looking for the delivery date. In situation you are in a hurry and wish the order within 3-4 days, you will need to pay greater than if you decided to a time-frame of two-3 days. These bobbleheads begin with around $15 up to and including more $170. The cost, as formerly mentioned varies only because of the time-frame given. Important Advice Before verifying a purchase from the website, it is usually advisable to undergo the recommendations provided. You may also have a look at the photo art galleries where individuals are captured pics of together with their bobblehead. You should undergo different websites and look for the prices pointed out. By doing this, you will have the ability to get your on the job the best available deals. Bobbleheads make amazing gifts especially when you have paid attention to detail to make them unique and special to the person you are gifting. Visit custom bobbleheads and create your custom bobblehead gift today.
The 27-Point Checklist to Prepare Your Store for Black Friday Cyber Monday November 19, 2019 bizadmin Black Friday Cyber Monday (BFCM) is a tremendous opportunity for your e-commerce business to make money. Last year, over $1.5 billion was collectively sold by Shopify merchants around the world during BFCM—and shoppers spent billions more throughout the four-day event at businesses of all shapes and sizes. If you want to get in on this year’s biggest shopping weekend, now is the time to start planning. A checklist to prepare for a breakthrough Black Friday Cyber Monday Successfully navigating Black Friday Cyber Monday can be stressful for many store owners as they ready their campaigns and prepare their business for an influx of traffic, sales, orders to fulfill, and support requests. During this and every BFCM, we want your business to have a breakthrough, achieving whatever results represent your personal best. There are always new milestones to reach regardless of where you are on your entrepreneurial journey. To help you achieve yours, we’re overhauling our annual BFCM Toolbox and checklist, resources built to address the biggest opportunities and thorniest issues you’ll encounter. Get a copy of our 27-point BFCM checklist Print it out or keep this checklist handy as you prepare for BFCM 2019. It’s filled with tips, tools, and resources to help you sell your best this year. The goal is simple: more sales, happier customers, fewer headaches. As always, it’s the execution that’s hard. With this checklist, you’ll have a plan that can survive contact with the real world. And throughout the rest of the year, we’ll ship new products and features and share advice on how to make this holiday shopping season your best (and most profitable) yet. Here’s our recommended checklist for getting your store ready for Black Friday Cyber Monday: Prepare for customers who have already started researching Craft an irresistible offer Organize your upcoming sales Create contingency plans Test or ensure your website can handle a surge in traffic Ensure your store can handle the increased demand Create banners and hero images to advertise holiday sales Plan ads and ad copy Build suspense and buzz around your upcoming sale Consider creating abandoned cart emails Think mobile-first Test your site and get feedback Place tracking pixels Retarget past visitors and customers Begin pitching to blogs and gift guides Start your email marketing campaigns Reward loyal customers Build-in scarcity where possible Integrate live chat Ensure you have quick and courteous responses Offer easy and hassle-free returns Set up Google Analytics Get familiar with your Shopify Reports Set up heatmaps and other tools to understand user behavior Keep an eye on the competition Turn seasonal shoppers into year-round customers Reflect on what worked and what didn’t Start planning now 1. Prepare early for customers who have already started researching Prepare your holiday sales as early as you can and let your customers and visitors know about your upcoming sale well in advance. According to research from McKinsey & Company, over 70% of US shoppers plan to participate in BFCM. Not only do you need to start preparing early, but you also need to ensure that customers looking for gift ideas and information on particular products find you amongst the sea of competitors. 2. Craft an irresistible BFCM offer A strategy many retailers use is to run a “jaw-dropping” sale on a popular item to attract customers to their store. Once customers come for the “doorbuster”, there’s a chance they’ll pick up a few other items on their way to the checkout. Occasionally this product serves as a loss leader, with the difference being made up by customers adding more to their cart than they would have without the flagship product’s deep discount. What can’t-miss sale will draw people to your store? If you’re sending an email to your subscribers, consider focusing on the one sale product you feel is the most enticing, instead of promoting all of your Black Friday Cyber Monday sales at the same time. Alternatively, if loss leader pricing doesn’t make sense for you, you can try out a number of other BFCM promotion ideas, such as: Offering a product bundle Gamifying your offers (e.g. spin-to-win discounts) Creating daily deals that are available for a limited time Once you’ve attracted new visitors to your store, employ a few proven approaches to boost your average order value, like offering free shipping above a certain threshold or offering seasonal product bundles. That way, you’ll nudge people to add more to their cart beyond just the initial offer that convinced them to visit your store. 3. Organize your upcoming sales Look at all of your products and plan your deals and discounts ahead of time instead of putting on a sale last minute. Review your margins and inventory to find suitable discounts, and learn how to set up different discounts on Shopify. For this BFCM, you can now create automatic discounts that will apply on a user’s eligible cart. One idea is to create a “planned sales map” in Google Sheets or Excel, giving you a simple outline of all your upcoming sales. Here’s a pre-made Google Sheets template you can use to plan your sales this year. Just go to File > Make a copy to save it to your Drive. Choose the products you want to run a holiday sale on and schedule their start dates and sale prices. This way, when the holiday sale rolls around, you can refer to your plans instead of scrambling at the last minute. You can find help in the Shopify App Store to make scheduling sales easy. When you’re ready to implement your sales, make sure to leverage Shareable Discount Links to make redeeming your offer codes even easier for your customers—and boost your conversions while you’re at it. Learn more about all of the different types of discounts you can set up in Shopify. 4. Create contingency plans Do you have the proper backups in place in case anything goes awry? What happens if the shipping company you work with becomes too busy? How quickly can you restock inventory if you sell out earlier than expected? We’re not looking to stir up unfounded fears, but it’s important to prepare for tough situations. Think about the worst case scenarios for your business and create contingency plans wherever possible. It’s much easier to handle the planning now, versus troubleshooting in the midst of the biggest sales weekend of the year. Prepare for an uptick in demand 5. Test or ensure your website can handle a surge in traffic Sometimes, too many simultaneous requests to your website can bog it down and potentially crash your site. This kind of downtime usually takes an enormous amount of traffic to occur, but it’s still a good idea to ensure your host can handle a spike in traffic. You can test the server load capacity of your store with tools like LoadImpact.com. 6. Ensure your store can handle increased demand If you rely on a supplier for your inventory, or your product is created or manufactured by you or your team, consider the increased demand you’ll experience during the holiday season. Use forecasting tools to help you better predict sales and to order enough supplies before BFCM. Work with your suppliers and ensure they’re prepared to handle your projected sales for the holiday season. One of the worst things that can happen during a sale is selling out faster than you wanted to and not meeting the demand of your customers. Ready your campaigns and creative 7. Create banners and hero images to advertise holiday sales What better way to promote your holiday sales than with gorgeous graphics and visuals? Whether you’re planning to use banner ads to promote your holiday sales or changing the header/hero image on your homepage for Black Friday Cyber Monday, you don’t need to be a graphic designer to get things done. If you lack graphic design chops, you could use a template from CreativeMarket, use online design tools like Canva, or hire a freelance designer to create your graphics. 8. Plan ads and ad copy It’s always a good idea to plan the ads and ad copy you’re about to run for a sale or promotion ahead of time so you can put more thought into copy and ad placement. If you need help planning your ads, here are some resources from our blog: The Beginner’s Guide to Advertising on Instagram Facebook Ads: The Beginner’s Guide to the Facebook Pixel The Google Ads Playbook: 13 Effective Campaign Types Just remember that bids can get more expensive during the competitive holiday season depending on your niche. You may need to increase your bid price on specific keywords or for certain audiences to increase the visibility of your ads during big holiday sales. If you plan to do paid advertising, it’s a good idea to prepare your holiday sale ad budgets as well. 9. Build suspense and buzz around your upcoming sale It’s easy to announce a Black Friday Cyber Monday sale, but building suspense and buzz can help make it an outsized success. Entice your customers with emails of what’s to come, post sneak peeks of upcoming sales on social media, and start piquing the curiosity of your customers. The sooner you begin doing this, the more momentum you will have during Black Friday Cyber Monday when you finally announce the sale. Test and optimize for conversion 10. Consider creating abandoned cart emails According to Barilliance, the average cart abandonment rate on Black Friday 2018 in the US was 82%. Of course, you’ll want to try and keep that number as low as possible. One of the most effective ways of doing this is by setting up targeted abandoned cart emails. This way, when a customer adds a product to their cart but leaves your store, you can use a compelling email to bring them back to complete their purchase. Shopify makes this easy with built-in abandoned checkout recovery and a wide selection of abandoned cart apps in the Shopify App Store. 11. Think mobile first Last year, Shopify stores saw more mobile purchases than desktop purchases across all of BFCM for the second year in a row. We should expect this trend to continue. What this means for you as a store owner is that thinking mobile first is essential. What’s your store’s user experience like on mobile? Is it easy and intuitive to make purchases on your store? Is your website mobile responsive? All of Shopify’s themes are responsive and mobile-friendly, but if you’re not using Shopify, test how your store looks on a mobile device. Free Reading List: Conversion Optimization for Beginners Turn more website visitors into customers by getting a crash course in conversion optimization. Access our free, curated list of high-impact articles below. While you’re looking at your store on mobile, make sure to examine your checkout process as well. Especially on mobile, filling in every field required to check out can be a conversion killer, which is why options like Shopify Pay and Google Pay can provide an added boost to your mobile conversions this year if you’re using Shopify Payments. They let customers autofill saved information, reducing the keystrokes or clicks required to make a purchase. 12. Test your site and get feedback What if you could get inside the head of a potential customer and listen to their thoughts as they navigate your store for the first time? There could be issues you don’t notice or areas of your store where you can make simple improvements—a fresh pair of eyes is the perfect way to surface these otherwise hidden opportunities. There are many ways to get someone to go through your store and give you feedback, but one great option is UserTesting. UserTesting lets you set parameters about who you’d like to test your store. Then you can watch a random user fitting that description browse your website so you can listen to their feedback. Feedback is valuable, but you also shouldn’t make unconsidered changes to your store based on a single source of negative feedback. Instead, look for common snags or areas where visitors are frequently confused or frustrated, and brainstorm solutions to make things easier or more explicit, or ways to remove the hurdle altogether. 13. Place tracking pixels If you run paid campaigns such as Facebook Ads or Google Smart Shopping campaigns, both of which you can set up directly in Shopify, you should place retargeting pixels on your website so you can remarket to your holiday sale traffic. Here’s how to find and generate tracking pixel code for your website with Facebook Ads and Google AdWords: How to create a Custom Audience pixel on Facebook How to tag your site for remarketing on Google AdWords For help on where and how to paste these code snippets using Shopify, read our documentation. Market and promote your products In 2017, one ad agency found that on Black Friday, click-through rates more than doubled across all of their clients’ ads. Shoppers are generally more receptive to ads during the holiday season, but because this is an established trend, you’ll find the price of running ads during BFCM typically goes up as well. But even with increased costs, your customers may be paying more attention to ads during this time. That means marketing can play a significant role in the success of your holiday sales. As mentioned, the first step to getting ready is to plan your ads and ad creative ahead of time. Here are a few other marketing preparations you should consider for the holiday season. 14. Retarget past visitors and customers If you’ve already set up a Facebook Pixel on your store, now’s the time to use it. When you retarget past visitors, you’ll reach people who may have forgotten about your store and wouldn’t have checked out your sale otherwise. Exclusive to Shopify merchants, Kit is a free virtual assistant app that helps you run Facebook and Instagram ads—including retargeting. If you’ve not had a chance to meet Kit, now is a great time to try it to take some marketing work off your plate. You can also retarget customers that have previously purchased from your store. With existing customers being generally easier to reach and market to than brand new customers, shoppers you’ve already sold to in the past should be especially receptive to your latest Black Friday Cyber Monday sales. 15. Begin pitching to blogs and gift guides Sometimes it can take weeks of back-and-forth with a website before you finalize a sponsorship or partnership agreement. That isn’t to say last-second sponsorships or partnerships aren’t possible, but it’s always better to contact blogs and gift guide websites earlier rather than later. Find websites talking about Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals or running gift guides in your niche, and get in touch with them to feature your products and planned sales. If you need help with this, here’s a guide to securing press coverage in unconventional ways (with a $0 budget). 16. Start your email marketing campaigns During last year’s BFCM, Shopify merchants saw their highest conversion rates from email marketing. This year, email marketing will likely play an even more significant role in the success of most stores’ holiday sales. Every business owner should have a few email marketing campaigns planned to bring customers back to your website so they can act on your holiday sale offers. Begin planning, creating, and scheduling the emails you’ll send out during your Black Friday and Cyber Monday sales. Here are some ideas for email campaigns you can put together: Announcing Black Friday Cyber Monday sale: You can send details of the sale ahead of time to existing subscribers, and a reminder email when the sale officially begins. Last reminder before the sale ends: With the volume of emails sent over BFCM, it can’t hurt to remind subscribers that your sale is almost over to make sure they’re aware. Plus, you’ll inevitably get some procrastinators jumping on the expiring deals. Exclusive sale for email subscribers: One way to capture attention in a crowded BFCM inbox is to send a deal that’s only available to your list, on top of your publicly-posted deals. Make sure to tease it on other channels, like Instagram, and let people know when to expect the subscriber-only offer. Sneak-peek of upcoming promotions: Whether your BFCM offer is a discount, an exclusive product, free shipping, donations to charity, or a totally-unique-to-you promotion, start teasing it early to your subscribers so they’re on the lookout for the announcement. Send emails in the weeks leading up to BFCM with hints and teasers. Plan out your seasonal sales 17. Reward loyal customers Black Friday Cyber Monday is an opportune time to build relationships with your previous customers and get them to come back. Customer marketing is an opportunity to email and retarget your previous customers with your best deals. Give existing customers the chance to access a sale earlier or offer exclusive sales just for being a subscriber on your email list. Exclusive deals also act as an incentive for shoppers to leave their email before potentially leaving your site. 18. Build-in scarcity where possible The holiday shopping season naturally attracts many frantic shoppers looking for the best last-second deals. Offers go fast and customers move even faster, so don’t be shy about letting shoppers know when a deal is about to end or when a particular product is going to sell out, working some scarcity into your store. Consider including countdown timers until or “left in stock” alerts when time or a specific offer is limited. Update your support process 19. Integrate live chat You should be easy to reach by customers (and potential customers) during Black Friday Cyber Monday. The last thing you want is to lose a sale because a potential customer couldn’t get an answer quickly enough. Check out the newly released Shopify Chat, our first native live chat function. If you’re not ready or able to commit to having live chat staffed and monitored at all times, there are still ways to use live chat strategically as a small business. To get the most out of live chat during rush hour, consider enabling it: Right after sending emails or launching promotions, make sure you’re available when you know there will be people clicking through from their inbox On product pages you feature in your BFCM deals, to address any questions customers have before they buy During key purchasing moments, like when someone is viewing their shopping cart Your live chat tool should be able to give you the control you need to make sure you’re displaying the chat window to the right people, at the times that work best for you. 20. Ensure you have quick and courteous responses The holidays are a potentially hectic time for customer support, whether it’s managed by you or your team. Part of providing a fantastic experience is having a quick response time—the other part is being courteous and respectful all of your customers. Having a few standard phrases and replies already prepared will enable you to deliver more consistent, helpful service with minimal upfront effort. It’s also worth brushing up on how to handle upset customers effectively and empathetically, and what makes for genuinely delightful customer service—getting this information out of your head and written down somewhere makes it easy to share it with your team or any extra help you’ve hired for the holiday rush. Be memorable this year and customers will remember to come back next year. 21. Offer easy and hassle-free returns The holidays aren’t just stressful for business owners; they’re also a frantic time for shoppers. Be the business that cares and goes above and beyond the call of duty for their customers. Make sure your return policy is clear, fair, and well-communicated in your store. It might just convince on-the-fence customers to pull the trigger, since you’re showing confidence in your product and removing potential risk. Track everything and analyze results 22. Set up Google Analytics Knowledge is power and understanding how your customers shop in your online store is crucial knowledge. Using Google Analytics, a powerful and free traffic tracking tool will allow you to understand your shoppers even more. . If you’re not set up with Google Analytics on your store, or you just want to ensure you’re using it correctly, check out our beginner’s guide to Google Analytics. 23. Get familiar with your Shopify Reports There’s a lot you can learn from your Shopify analytics, including tracking how your marketing efforts are converting to visits and sales. Since marketing is such a fundamental part of BFCM, make sure to brush up on how you can track, measure, and improve your marketing campaigns directly in Shopify with Marketing Analytics. 24. Set up heatmaps and other tools to understand user behavior Where are visitors clicking? How do customers read your product pages? While Shopify’s Analytics tools are powerful enough for most businesses, you might want to consider using additional user-tracking tools to gather detailed data during Black Friday Cyber Monday. Image credit: Lucky Orange You can check out heatmap apps in the Shopify App Store as well as looking at some advanced analytics tools in the Shopify App Store. 25. Keep an eye on the competition Paying attention to your competition’s marketing efforts can help you gather ideas for your own Black Friday Cyber Monday deals. The easiest way to sleuth on your competitors is to subscribe to their email list. Study the types of emails they send, and how frequently they send them. But remember, don’t be “too inspired.” Additionally, keep tabs on competitors on social media and set up Google Alerts to see which websites are talking about them. Post-Black Friday Cyber Monday 26. Turn seasonal shoppers into year-round customers Why does your relationship with holiday shoppers need to end after the holidays? Instead, take steps to maintain and nurture your relationship with new customers you acquired during Black Friday Cyber Monday. Keep your customers engaged year-round by staying active on social media and sending out post-sale emails to your subscribers. If those seasonal, one-time shoppers didn’t sign up for your email list or follow your social media accounts, then retargeting might be your next best option. If you set up retargeting pixels, one-time shoppers can become customers you advertise to year-round. Bring them back to your website with enticing ad copy, and continue to expose them to your latest or most-relevant products. 27. Reflect on what worked and what didn’t The holiday season is an excellent time for your business to learn from its mistakes as well as its successes. The lessons you learn have their own distinct value outside of revenue earned. That’s why it’s important to track everything and reflect on what worked and what didn’t. As you implement new strategies and tactics this year, make sure to take notes (and screenshots) to document your decisions and the outcomes. These records will give you a benchmark for next year’s holiday season, while also allowing you to see what’s working for your business so you can do more of it. Here’s to a successful Black Friday Cyber Monday Preparation, planning, and starting earlier rather than later are the keys to a successful Black Friday Cyber Monday. This checklist should cover most of what you need to know for this year’s upcoming sale events. Hopefully, it puts you in a better position to succeed this holiday season. If this is your first Black Friday Cyber Monday, treat it as a learning experience. Stay motivated and ambitious, set realistic expectations, and remember to enjoy the ride. Thank you to Desirae Odjick and Shuang Shan for their contributions to this post! More resources for making the most of BFCM: 6 Promotion Ideas for a More Profitable BFCM Cyber Monday: Your 7-Minute Survival Guide How to Use Gift Guides to Boost Your Holiday Sales 7 Shopify Apps for a Better BFCM Get a copy of our 27-point BFCM checklist Print it out or keep this checklist handy as you prepare for BFCM 2019. It’s filled with tips, tools, and resources to help you sell your best this year. About the author Corey Ferreira Corey Ferreira is a passionate entrepreneur, coconut water lover, and content creator at Shopify.
Personalized Bobblehead November 19, 2019 bizadmin The strangest gift in this digital era we live in appears to become getting good popular every single day: personalized bobbleheads made manually to resemble their proprietors. This appears something that’s highly unlikely to occur, but it is occurring. Thought we’d write a couple of words to understand more about what the buzz is about (even Groupon appears to consider its worth to operate daily deals on their behalf), what the product really is, and why people can’t get enough nowadays. For more information about personalized bobblehead, visit our website today. Bobbleheads themselves have been in existence for any really very long time. You will find records of ancient China and Japan creating them in bamboo, and in situation you were wondering, yes, their heads bobbled already in those days. The entry of bobbleheads into popular culture happened throughout the sixties when sports leagues in the U.S. States produced a number of them, especially around baseball and American football. The style and material of those bobbleheads were considerably not the same as the ones I will be mention in a minute. In those days they’d cherub-like faces, simple blocks for anybody plus they were created of paper-mache. While all of this happened, the tradition in Asia of creating bobbleheads of a person never was really lost and lay dormant for any couple of decades. Then the passion for popular sports elevated and bobbleheads were elevated with it, the idea was broadened to breed famous TV stars, political figures and the odd brand mascot (Wendy’s bobblehead and Churchill dog from the American insurance company being the most heavily marketed in the media). This laid the ground for personalized bobbleheads to initiate popular culture. Nobody knows just how it happened. Probably a customized wedding cake topper maker or groom and bride thought it might be a concept to create the heads of the personalized cake toppers to bobble around. Whatever the actual story, there’s now an array of firms that for approximately 100 USD can create a customized bobblehead of virtually anybody. The product itself appears fairly simple initially, but the demon lies in the particulars. What’s common across all custom bobbleheads available is that they are approximately 5 and seven inches, the mind is sort of cartoonish and extra-large in character and they are not the least expensive factor in the world. After that on the variations begin, with a few bobbleheads getting basics like a standard yet others standing by themselves ft, some being only created in polymer clay yet others molded in resin. Surprisingly, some producers are beginning to produce their bobbleheads by machine rather than the hands-made industry standard. To create matters more complicated, the type of the artist which makes them is imprinted in all of them and thus evaluating is really a task by itself. How you can tell which the high-quality ones are? Well, there is a couple of tips and methods that can help a newbie navigate the bobble mind options with full confidence. First of all, you must look beyond marketing blah blah. Each and every custom bobblehead site will argue they offer the ‘real ones’ or ‘the original’, a large pile of lies since we have established that they are well-known way before any one of our ancestors and forefathers walked the earth. Everyone will say they have been in existence forever, been in major Television channels, produced bobbleheads of very celebrities, etc, etc, etc. Do not read, and rather follow your stomach feel. How trustworthy does the website look? Could it be supplying you with wealthy, accurate details about the product, or perhaps is it filled with the hype? They have invested in a clear, excellent searching shop or perhaps is it a man in his garage who cannot give you guarantees about the quality, timing, and customer support? Next possess a critical look at the bobbleheads they reveal, how good are particulars like fingers and garments made? Does the fresh paint job look accurate or amateurism? The number of good examples does they need to showcase the resemblance they are able to offer you? A couple of good examples can often mean some serious cherry-picking has occurred and you are likely searching at what merchants call ‘halo models’ proven simply to create excitement at the side of the buyer, but never accurate representations of the items you will truly get. Then there’s the important satisfaction guarantee. If you do little else, don’t buy a personalized bobblehead from the site that doesn’t guarantee your satisfaction. Remember, this can be a made by hand product, made in three dimensional, according to only photos you send. The margin for error is big and the cost isn’t cheap, so take no risks on the acquisition of your bobble mind. Watch out for suppliers who claim 100% likeliness (resemblance) because the figurine is created by the machine. This only guarantees that the machine constitutes a bobblehead that’s just like the digital file it’s given. However, there’s still human intervention and technical interpretation between the photo you send, and the file that the machine reads. The results can often be a figurine that appears rather…..well, allows be kind…. awkward. Personalized bobbleheads are not going anywhere soon, much is obvious. Their recognition as wedding cake toppers is unparalleled and they’re hugely versatile. We attribute their recognition to the fact they are extremely very personal. They speak directly about the person being made, their existence, hobbies, things they love or encounters they’ve shared. The made by hand element might not be their most enjoyable aspect, however, it brings a unique feeling to the bobbleheads, in a period when even handmade cards are digital. It signifies time, personal dedication and originality embedded in them. Bobbleheads make amazing gifts especially when you have paid attention to detail to make them unique and special to the person you are gifting. Visit custom bobblehead and create your custom bobblehead gift today.
Real Source Water Lentil Superfood Tub November 19, 2019 bizadmin I confirm that this is a sponsored post that adheres to FEDERAL TRADE COMMISSION 16 CFR Part 255 of the USA. Today, I received a tub of superfood powder of 100% pure water lentil. The tub has a nutrient-dense plant-based superfood cultivated in Florida, the US. I am grateful to the sponsor, Real Source, for the opportunity for me to review this healthy product. About the product service Water lentils are a high source of Vitamin A, B Vitamins, iron, and calcium, and an excellent source of antioxidants. With a nutrient density superior to other superfoods like spinach, kale, and moringa, our Water Lentil Superfood is the purest form of water lentils. Scoop 1-3 servings into cold water, juices, smoothies, or hot tea. When you care about your body, what you put in it and where your food comes from, nothing comes close to our core ingredient, water lentils. Sustainably aqua-farmed in Florida, this new superfood has the potential to change the world’s food supply. Water lentils are a complete food, so they contain everything from vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to plant protein to dietary fiber! They are equivalent in nutrient density to other superfoods like spinach, kale, and moringa but without the use of pesticides. Containing a high source of Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, iron, calcium, and an excellent source of antioxidants, water lentils will nourish your body with essential nutrients. Water lentils are one of the only plants to contain Vitamin B12 making it the ideal source of B12 for vegans and vegetarians. They contain plant protein with a complete amino acid profile, unlike other plant protein sources like pea, and the perfect blend of soluble and insoluble fiber that can help to promote weight-loss. They also contain carotenoids, lutein, and zeaxanthin, which have been shown to improve eye health. Water lentils grow all year-round and are harvested daily, unlike most other crops that require more land and water resources than our tiny plant. We can produce significantly more per acre of land than other traditional crops, which reduces the need for excess land. Water lentils grow in hydroponic ponds on non-arable land, which also means that we will never contribute to deforestation or strip a piece of land of its natural soil composition. Our sustainability goes even further than just our little plants! Our farms recycle 98% of our water usage and are continually finding new ways to be environmentally friendly, including banning the use of pesticides on our water lentils. As a reader of this blog, you get the privilege to use my 40% discount code PHILIN to buy Here. You can also check out More Deals Here on Dealspotr. I will also use this free tub as a substitute source of nutrients rich superfoods, than taking the normal veggies, curries, and rice. Thank you Real Source for the tub of water lentil superfood that is ideal for me during this season of celebration and eating during Christmas – a season of giving and receiving. It is also time for you to shop and dine healthily at . Just click on the Real Source logo to be directed to their home page with a shopping cart with a safe and secure payment gateway. The website is well developed by a professional and easy to navigate. Above was a picture taken by me with the details of the nutrients and their corresponding amount per serving for each supplement. Since Christmas is just around the corner, why don’t you gift these healthy Real Source superfood tubs to your family and friends? I think this is more practical than the usual gifts that cannot be consumed. Afterall, Health is Wealth! 🙂 Find more Realsourcefoods.com promo codes on Dealspotr.com.
How to Write a Welcome Speech November 19, 2019 bizadmin I was browsing the internet when I came across a useful website on speech examples for any kind of event. It has examples of Speech Writing for many kinds of events like a motivational speech, farewell speech, best man speech, wedding speech, welcome speech, graduation speech and much more. Here, you can check out how to write a welcome speech by clicking on the link given and read to find out more information for future use if you bookmark it. I was drawn back to the day the second sister got married in 2015 and she gave a long speech on her wedding day in church, all impromptu and towards the end, the congregation clapped and was definitely entertained. I am so proud of her, having gotten her Ph.D. this year recently in English Literature and found her soul mate as well with a doctorate too. There are also examples of Welcome Speech for the Children Day Celebrations from the website above. Here, I have taken excerpts from the site as below: Children’s’ Day Celebration holds an excellent spot in our souls basically because we as whole love children. Isn’t that right? They are the future; the light carrier of our nation and they ought to just not be ignored. Since the day is around the bend, welcome speeches for Children’s Day Celebration have been readied, which are far-reaching and straightforward. Also, there’s the best man speech for the groom and this is the opportunity to playfully joke and wish the groom well for a start to a new life as a married couple. The best man will no longer enjoy the groom’s undivided attention and time since it will now be devoted to his newly betrothed bride and start a family. It is with these memorable occasions, that speeches need to be carefully crafted and written well to impress the crowd. After all, the speech is only presented once in a lifetime and you want to make a good impact and impress the crowd of friends, relatives, and families. I have taken to opportunity to state here verbatim a sample of the Children’s Day Welcome Speech as below for your reference. Example #2 of Children Day Welcome Speech Great Morning Respected Principal, Teachers, and My Dear Loving Students! Today is an extremely favorable occasion of Children’s Day, which is praised among us all. As we as a whole concur you children are the splendid daylight of the general public, the seed of a plant that will support our nation’s future. Children’s’ day is celebrated everywhere throughout the world to love and love the guiltlessness of children like you, to make you feel extraordinary for your job on the planet and demonstrate to you the positive side of being a tyke. In India Children’s Day is celebrated on fourteenth November which is likewise viewed as the birth commemoration of incredible Indian opportunity warrior and our first Prime Minister of India, Pundit Jawaharlal Nehru. His birthday is celebrated as children’s day everywhere throughout the nation because of his immense love and love for children. He was a change producer, in the opportunity battle as well as in social change. Our first Prime Minister was a man of high thoughts and put stock in correspondence between both males and females. He strived towards making this nation equivalent in all terms, which incorporates balance in connection to riches, training, and so forth. He accepted that the quality of a nation is its children and children who help in building up our country through their new thoughts and imaginative techniques. This day causes us to recognize the estimation of all of you in our lives and how we have to take legal consideration of you, which incorporates love as well as warding off you from social shades of malice of society which have pulverized the texture of the state. I wish that all of you ought to never lose the blamelessness of your children and ought to never get affected by this cruel world. Children’ day is to guarantee that we must give you a cheerful environment at both home and school. We as a whole comprehend that the episodes that are occurring around us today, nobody is protected and we as a whole need to guarantee you of that valuable wellbeing. Children are as clear rule objectives to quickly develop wrongdoing as you can be taken care of effectively. This sort of wrongdoing must be limited by instructing all individuals from our general public. We as a whole can make this day considerably increasingly extraordinary by giving garments and books to offspring of your age who are not ready to bear the cost of instruction and essential human services. We as a whole should all in all begin this activity and get joy those individuals’ lives that don’t have such sort of offices that God has given to us. Presently I would need all of you to appreciate different exercises that we have gotten ready for you on this awesome event. Enjoy an exciting day! We are much obliged to you! I hope you like what you have read and check out the link above for more welcome speeches for all occasions. Examples were given and I admit that the website is well developed and easy to navigate.
19 Ways to Use Offers, Coupons, Discounts, and Deals to Generate More Sales November 17, 2019 bizadmin Offers, coupons, discounts, and deals. There will come a time when most online merchants will be faced with the decision of whether to offer discounts, when to offer discounts, and how much the discounts should be worth. Offering discounts for your online store can be a powerful weapon in your conversion arsenal to drive customer loyalty. But, used haphazardly, you can do significant damage to your brand or, worse, become unprofitable. In this post, we’ll review some of the pros and cons of offering deals for your online store, look at some of the most popular ways you can use discounts to drive customer loyalty and conversions and, of course, how to most effectively use them. 💡 Note: For the purpose of this blog post and keeping things simple, we’ll refer to coupons, discounts, and deals as “offers.” The pros and cons of online store offers Who are offers, coupons, and discounts right for? Types of offers, coupons, and discounts How to use offers to drive sales and customer loyalty Make the most of your offers, coupons, and discounts The pros and cons of online store offers Before we jump into different ways you can effectively use offers to increase customer loyalty and acquisition, let’s first look at some of the pros and cons: Pros of online store offers Easy and quick to implement natively in Shopify or using apps Easy to track with Shopify’s Discounts Report Increased customer loyalty Increased customer acquisition Increased conversions Quickly move stock Meet sales goals Cons of online store offers Decreased margins and profitability Possible brand damage Decreased conversions outside of sale periods if you train visitors to wait for offers Tendency to drive non-loyal (price-driven) shoppers The tendency to reduce average order size Attract customers outside your target market Free Reading List: Conversion Optimization for Beginners Turn more website visitors into customers by getting a crash course in conversion optimization. Access our free, curated list of high-impact articles below. Who are offers, coupons, and discounts right for? As mentioned previously, online store offers can be an effective tool for not only customer acquisition but also for customer loyalty. However, it’s important to consider your overall brand strategy before you begin offering discounts. If you want to position yourself as a higher-end brand or if you have slimmer margins, you may want to consider sticking to customer loyalty offers as opposed to weekly sales. On the other hand, if you have healthy margins, deep discounting and daily or weekly sales might be better for hitting your goals. Ultimately, you need to consider if offers and which type(s) of offers are right for your brand. Building an online business will generally involve a lot of experimentation to understand what works best. The best approach is to choose a goal for every campaign and offer, start small, and measure the results. Types of offers, coupons, and discounts There are several types of discounts and offers you have at your disposal. Let’s take a look at some of the most common: Percentage-based discount Dollar value discount Free shipping Free gift Each of these can be offered in Shopify using two different types of discounts: Automatic discounts Discount codes Percentage-based discount 📊 One popular way to offer discounts is through percentage-based discounts. This can include smaller incentive percentages like 5% or 10% off, larger discounts to really drive sales like 20% and 25%, or significant percentages like 50%+ to liquidate merchandise that’s old or isn’t moving. You can also easily apply these discounts to multiple collections, products, and locations in Shopify, or offer them based on a specific purchase, like “Buy two sneakers, get 50% off any sweater.” Dollar value discount 💰 Dollar value-based offers can be positioned as a credit. This makes people feel like they’re wasting money if they don’t use it. Pair one of these with a minimum purchase amount to increase its impact, like “Spend $200, get $20 off.”. An easy trick to keep in mind when deciding between a percentage or fixed amount discount for a specific product is the “rule of 100”. If your item is less than $100.00, use a percentage discount; if higher, use a fixed amount discount. This is a psychological trigger that will result in the highest perceived value for your customers. Free shipping 🚚 Shipping costs are one major reason for shopping cart abandonment. Offering free shipping is a great way to mitigate this and increase conversions. Use free shipping in conjunction with a minimum purchase requirement to increase your average order value, which you can set up as a shipping setting in Shopify. You can even combine your free shipping offer with other seasonal promotions, like a 20% discount code for email subscribers, to increase the value of your offer. Free gift 🎁 A free gift with a purchase can be a great way to provide additional value to customers. If used strategically, it can also be used to increase average order size and/or to get rid of the product that isn’t moving. You can set a minimum purchase requirement or a volume requirement using a Buy X, Get Y discount in Shopify to offer a free gift for orders over $200, or once someone buys 5 items. Automatic discounts ✅ Automatic discounts apply to every eligible cart, and customers see them on the cart page before they start the checkout process. It’s a great way to run a storewide promotion on a product, category, or on all of your products without making your customers enter a discount code. Skipping the code can help encourage orders, and speed up checkouts too. In September 2019, U.S. customers who started checking out on Shopify with a discount already applied were 1.8 times more likely to place an order than without a discount, and they checked out 25 seconds faster with an automatic discount compared to a discount code. Plus, when there’s already a discount applied to their cart, there’s no need for customers to leave checkout to hunt for a discount code—or email you because they couldn’t find the code you sent. All this adds up to smoother experience for your customers and potentially higher conversion rates for you. Discount codes ⌨️ Discount codes are codes that your customers enter during the checkout process to redeem a specific offer. They’re a tried-and-true way to offer discounts to the right people, whether that’s everyone on your email list or a specific segment like new subscribers or repeat customers. Using discount codes can also help you track the success of your marketing efforts. If you’re running multiple campaigns, creating a separate discount code for each can make it easier to see the relative impact on sales. How to use offers to drive new sales and repeat purchases There are a hundred and one ways you can use sales, offers, discounts, and deals to drive customer loyalty, acquisition, and conversions. Weekly/monthly discounts Prelaunch offers Holiday and seasonal deals Abandoned cart offers Email/newsletter subscription offer Incentives for liking, following, and sharing on social media Referral promos First-time shopper offer Minimum purchase discount Exclusive social offers Customer loyalty offers Exit intent offer Retargeted promotions Influencer offers Customer loyalty program membership incentives Offers for purchasing online Coupons for purchasing in-person Event attendance offers Customer milestone discounts Let’s take a look at some of the most popular options below, along with an example for each. 1. Weekly/monthly discounts These are traditional sales used to drive conversions. Often, these sales are used at the end of a month or quarter to increase revenues to meet business goals. Example: The online photo department at Walgreens has weekly sales and coupon codes, as well as ongoing promo codes at the bottom of the page. 2. Prelaunch offers If you’re still in the prelaunch stage of your business or maybe even launching a new product, you can use prelaunch offers to drive traffic and pique interest, turning new customers into loyal customers. Example: The Jewelry Wardrobe is using this approach with success. They’re offering free $25 gift cards in exchange for customers’ email addresses and time to fill out a brief survey. They kicked this initiative off by manually reaching out to potential respondents on LinkedIn. 3. Holiday and seasonal deals Black Friday Cyber Monday and the holiday season are the big ones, but the whole year is sprinkled with national and commemorative holidays that provide an opportunity to share relevant discounts and offers with customers. Example: Blu Skin Care regularly makes use of holidays to promote offers to their visitors and past customers. They promote these in different ways: email, social media, markets, and on their website. 4. Abandoned cart offers With close to 70% of all people abandoning their carts, abandoned cart email offers can be a powerful tactic to bring those people back. Shopify natively has abandoned checkout recovery functionality built-in if you’re on the Shopify plan or higher. For everyone else, or if you want more customization and analytics, check out Klaviyo. Example: Brandless, an online grocery brand that shuns all branded products, sends out abandoned cart emails along with a $1 shipping offer after cart abandonment. This reminds and incentivizes first-time visitors to come back and complete their purchase. 5. Email/newsletter subscription offer Building an email list is extremely important for online retailers. By providing an offer in exchange for visitors’ email addresses, you increase the chance of a conversion. You also get their email, providing you with the opportunity to build a relationship, foster customer loyalty, and market to them in the future. Example: Online retailer Overstock.com offers a coupon for 15% off your purchase for signing up their newsletter. 6. Incentives for liking, following, and sharing on social media One of the hardest parts of running a new online store is getting the word out. Giving visitors and customers an incentive to share your store with their social circles can be an effective way to create inexpensive word-of-mouth referrals. Example: Truxx offers customers $5 off their next purchase in exchange for visitors sharing about the brand and experience on Facebook. 7. Referral promos People are much more likely to purchase from you if referred by a friend or family member. Use this to your advantage and leverage offers to encourage referrals. You can choose to give a deal to the person referring, the person being referred, or both. Example: Meal-delivery brands like Blue Apron and Hello Fresh are well known for their referral marketing. Every so often, customers are gifted promo codes to share with friends and family, who can then redeem their first box for free or at a steeply discounted price. For every friend who redeems, the referrer often gets a free or discounted box, too. 8. First-time shopper offer Providing a first-timers offer could be just the nudge a first-time visitor needs to be converted to a paying customer. Example: Clearly provides all new visitors with a 50% discount on prescription glasses, 15% on contact lenses and free shipping. And DODOcase, an online manufacturer of iPad cases, offers 10% off your first purchase. 9. Minimum purchase discount An offer based on the total value of a shopping cart is an effective upselling tactic to encourage customers to spend more, increasing your average order size. A strategic way to incorporate this into your online store is to calculate your average order value for the previous few months and offer a discount or free shipping on all orders 10% to 20% over your average order value. You can also offer minimum purchase discounts for specific collections and products. If there’s a particular collection you want customers to focus on, try adding a minimum purchase discount to incentivize your audience. Example: Popular online retailer Nasty Gal offers free shipping on all orders over $100. 10. Exclusive social offers Exclusive offers on your social networks can be a great way to build customer loyalty with those who follow you. Plus, this tactic provides a reason for new people to follow and subscribe to your social channels, which will allow you to market to them in the future as well. Example: Online natural skincare retailer Maple Holistics has shared offers specific to social media. In the example below, they offered Twitter followers a code for 15% off all Amazon orders. 11. Customer loyalty offers Rewarding customer loyalty can build an even stronger bond while also only providing discounts to customers who already spend money with you. You can easily make discount codes exclusive to specific groups of customers with Shopify. It can be as simple as sending your best customers a personal email with a discount or credit, using an automated email marketing app like Klaviyo to send email offers when someone makes a certain number of purchases, or implementing a customer loyalty program like LoyaltyLion. Example: One of the major customer loyalty tools behind the success of outdoor shop REI is its co-op membership program. Members receive 10% back on all full-price purchases in the form of a dividend, plus receive access to exclusive sales. REI also frequently rewards members for purchases, such as this free $20 gift card with a qualifying $100+ purchase. 12. Exit-intent offer Sometimes all it takes to convert a visitor to a customer is a last-second offer before they leave. An exit-intent offer will pop up just as your visitor is about to leave your site or close the tab, presenting them with a final offer to purchase. Example: Auto Accessories Garage displays an offer for their exit intent pop-up. They offer a percentage-based discount if you enter your email address into the form. If users abandon the shopping cart after that, the brand sends an abandoned cart email with an even bigger discount to further persuade shoppers to convert. 13. Retargeted promotions Retargeted offers are effective because they’re only shown to people who have been on your site before. That means that they already know who you are. The ads serve as a reminder to come back, and the offer serves as a nudge to purchase. Example: Again, we have DODOcase as an example. They effectively use offers several times throughout the buying cycle to convert visitors into customers. In this case, DODOcase targets visitors to their site on Facebook and Google Ads with retargeted ads that provide 20% off if they come back to purchase. 14. Influencer offers (bloggers, celebrities, etc.) Partnering with influential people that have large audiences is a great way to increase exposure to your brand. And by providing an exclusive offer to the influencer’s network, you’re more likely to convert their fans to your customers. Example: BarkBox is a monthly subscription service for dogs and their humans. They frequently collaborate with furry influencers to build brand awareness and drive sales. To encourage people to convert after seeing the posts on social media, BarkBox provides influencers with a unique offer code to share with their specific audience. This unique code also allows BarkBox to monitor and track redemption so they know which influencers were most effective for future campaigns. 15. Customer loyalty program membership incentives Rewarding customers for joining your customer loyalty program is an ideal time to share a bonus incentive. This not only rewards customers for engaging with your brand, but it also gives them more motivation to sign up for the program in the first place. If you don’t already have a customer loyalty program in place, it might be time to reconsider. According to a report by Forrester, customers who belong to loyalty programs spend $42.33 more over the course of three months. Example: Big Lots offers $5 off your next purchase when you join their Big Rewards customer loyalty program. Customers can redeem the reward online or in-store. 16. Offers for purchasing online If you want to drive online sales, consider incentivizing online purchases. Whether you want to use your ecommerce site to supplement your brick-and-mortar sales or create a customer base outside of Amazon, you can drive online conversions by offering something in return. Example: Dick’s Sporting Goods incentivizes the buy-online-pick-up-in-store with a special offer for customers on their homepage. Their goal is to get customers to convert online and come to the store to pick up their purchases. This allows the brand to create an in-person experience for the online shopper, as well as a way to cross-promote other products while the customers are in-store. 17. Coupons for purchasing in-person Just as you can drive online sales with offers, you can also drive in-person sales. This can be at your brick-and-mortar location if you have one, or at in-person events, such as festivals, fairs, expos, trade shows, etc. Example: Bed Bath & Beyond is known for sending out coupons with discounts for in-store purchases. They often accept these coupons even after the expiration date. 18. Event attendance offers If you host events, in-person or virtually, you can reward attendees with discounts or free gifts. These discounts can be given during the event or after the event. This helps to continue to nurture the relationship with engaged customers and drive more customer loyalty. Plus, it’ll likely encourage attendance for your next event. Example: We’ll look at a retail example for inspiration here: prAna’s Boulder retail location hosts free yoga classes in their store almost daily. After class, students are invited to shop upstairs and enjoy a 25% discount on their in-store purchases. If they want to drive online sales, prAna could just as easily provide yoga students with a promo code to redeem the offer during their next online purchase. 19. Customer milestone discounts If you have a customer loyalty program, customer milestones are especially important. These milestones could be personal to the customer, such as a birthday or anniversary. Other milestones can celebrate the relationship you’ve built with one another. Those would include the anniversary of the customer’s first purchase or date they joined your customer loyalty program, spending a certain amount of money, making a certain number of purchases, or various engagements with your brand. Example: Again, Big Lots rewards customers on their birthdays with extra discounts and free gifts. They let customers know before they join the customer loyalty program about these perks, which gives users an extra nudge towards joining. Make the most of your offers, coupons, and discounts Offers and discounts aren’t right for every online business. If you start with a clear goal in mind, a firm understanding of the brand, and a willingness to experiment, you can most effectively use offers to meet your objectives, build customer loyalty, and increase revenues. Tell us in the comments which offers have worked best for your online store when it comes to driving sales and customer loyalty 🏷️ Further reading: Ecommerce Marketing Essentials: 17 Actionable Tactics to Drive More Sales How to Get Your First Sale in 30 Days The Beginner’s Guide to Setting Up an Affiliate Program Illustration by Eugenia Mello. About the author Corey Ferreira Corey Ferreira is a passionate entrepreneur, coconut water lover, and content creator at Shopify.
The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness November 15, 2019 bizadmin Author(s): Kelli Harding M.D. M.P.H Release Date: August 27, 2019 Publisher/Imprint: Atria Books Pages: 256 Buy on Amazon Note: I was reading and surfing around when I came across this marvelous book on Groundbreaking Science of Kindness, of the Rabbit Effect. Below is the review by Lloyd Sederer: “beautifully identifies kindness as an endlessly renewable resource—the light we all can shine on the lives of others and in so doing bathe in its grace ourselves.” We all would be fortunate to have Kelli Harding, MD, MPH as our doctor. That’s because she comprehends the power of the interplay of body, mind, and social circumstances: the behaviors we engage in; the environments we inhabit; the kindness or cruelty that characterize our relationships; the adequacy or inadequacy of our income; our housing stability and the security of our next meal; education—learning to be more exact; and purpose in work and meaning in life—the factors that principally determine the degree to which we will enjoy good health or disproportionately suffer from the ailments that beset the human race. If that sounds like a lot, that’s because it is. But it’s not rocket science; instead, it’s the science of wellbeing, and what that requires of us. Dr. Harding terms many of the drivers of health and disease “the hidden factors.” Not because they are undiscoverable but because we tend not to recognize them, nor give them their due. Yet, as she so kindly and clearly writes, her aim is to reveal these factors both to her patients and to her readers because therein lie the ways we can pursue and achieve greater wellbeing, and not passively accede to illness and despair. The Rabbit Effect is not the usual self-help, list of to-dos. After a medical residency at New York’s Mount Sinai hospital and a psychiatric residency at Columbia, Dr. Harding must have known she needed to know more. There was still too much mysterious and elusive about our lives. Too many “inconsistencies,” not enough explanatory power in (even the vastness of) today’s biomedical enterprise. She wondered what the “hidden factors” in health and illness are and which are ubiquitous but effectively generally lost to the ministrations of conventional medical care. Dr. Harding stayed on at Columbia to take a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) Fellowship, with a particular focus on unexplained symptoms. She trained, as well, in the psychiatric sub-specialty of psychosomatic medicine—where mind and body blend into the whole that more fully defines us. Her epiphany came, as the book title portrays, from the rabbits. Arthur Barsky, MD, her fellowship mentor (and a former colleague of mine at Massachusetts General Hospital), pointed her to some rabbit studies. Certain white rabbits, like humans, are prone to develop heart disease if they are fed a high-fat diet (like fried foods and red meat). The rabbit research she then discovered, thanks to her mentor, revealed the relationship between high cholesterol and heart disease. Curiously, one group of rabbits exposed to the same cholesterol loads had 60% fewer fatty deposits than the others. Many great discoveries occur when an investigator, instead of dismissing an aberrant finding, chases after its meaning. Those who disdain “touchy-feely” explanations will meet their nemesis in this group of white rabbits. Why were they spared the cardiac artery fatty deposits that interfere with blood flow and increase the risk of heart disease and myocardial infarction? Turns out this particular colony of rabbits was cared for by a wonderfully nurturing graduate student. Could kindness explain their having been better safeguarded from disease? The research group then replicated the study, not by happenstance as it had occurred, but by design. Their findings appeared in Science. Unhealthy life experiences, their work implied, could be mitigated by affection and nurturance. Dr. Harding’s professional course was now struck. The “hidden factors” were staring us in the face if only we designed to look. This takes us full circle to her book, The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness. The book has two principal sections, namely The Hidden Factors and Essentials of Health. Healthy relationships (trustworthy and enduring attachments) and social ties through our friends and community lead off her discussion of the factors hidden in plain sight. Work defines us, as well, especially if we have the good fortune to find meaning and contribution to what we do. As does discover and pursuing our purpose; she quotes the Buddha who said, “Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it.” Drawing on the work of Nobel Laureate, Dr. Elizabeth Blackburn, Dr. Harding, our caring guide, highlights how the length of our telomeres (where longer is far better), the protective caps on every DNA strand in our bodies, are shortened by a life of stress. The natural or stress-induced shortening of telomeres is spared by purpose (and a healthy lifestyle) which mitigates the effects of stress. The result is longer, healthier lives. All of these hidden factors, well explained by Dr. Harding, are topped off (in the last chapter in this section) by a life in which fairness prevails (so often denied to those living in poverty or racial/ethnic discrimination) and compassion rules. The best evidence for compassion, ironically, derives from those children who are traumatized by its opposites, namely neglect, physical and sexual abuse, domestic violence, parental incarceration or active substance abuse, to name a few. These are now famously understood, yet poorly prevented and treated; they are called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs). Each chapter on the hidden factors ends with what our physician guide calls “Expand Your Toolbox.” She offers clear and feasible ways by which any of us can strengthen our attachments and social ties, alter our experiences of work, or practice fairness and compassion. Her toolboxes are not prescriptive or preachy; they offer the kind of do-able and wise solutions that make for a better life. The final section of this book is about the Essentials of Health. Here Dr. Harding digs into her training and experience as a psychosomatic and public health doctor (that’s the MPH she lists after her MD). She illustrates the deep connections between stress—and the inflammatory response it evokes—and our physical and mental health. Attention to diet, sleep, exercise, a variety of mind-body activities (like meditation, yoga, slow breathing, mindfulness) and finding and sustaining caring relationships are the royal yet truly pedestrian roads to longevity and wellbeing. Gratitude is another means of reinforcing the “rabbit effect;” it is a practice that can simply be adopted by ending each day with a list of those people whose effect on you was beneficial—and to whom you owe gratitude (even if unspoken, as in a notebook). And the last chapter takes us from the individual to the collective—to the community of others around us, where trust and humanity are built one person, one encounter at a time. We are all in this world and life together. This review would be incomplete without noting the book’s Conclusion. And we are back to the lessons we need to learn from the care of the white rabbits. Dr. Harding leaves us with the greatest of kindnesses, namely urging us to find opportunities to provide moments of kindness. To those we love and to those who are part of our communities, small and large. Random acts of kindness are fine too! She quotes Ben Franklin, who reportedly asked, every day, “What good can I do today?” She beautifully identifies kindness as an endlessly renewable resource—the light we all can shine on the lives of others and in so doing bathe in its grace ourselves. __________________________________________________________ Lloyd Sederer, MD, is Medical Editor for Mental Health for The Huffington Post, Adjunct Professor at the Columbia/Mailman School of Public Health, and Chief Medical Officer for the NYS Office of Mental Health. The opinions expressed here are entirely his own.