The XY&Z Blog

The 3-Second Rule That Decides If Your Black Friday Shopper Buys Or Bounces
The 3-Second Rule That Decides If Your Black Friday Shopper Buys Or Bounces
Every founder has tested their own store on their own phone, and every founder has come away thinking, "That's fine. That loads quickly." That test is the reason most stores walk into Black Friday with a speed problem they don't...
Why Your Traffic Doesn't Turn Into Sales (And It's Not The Traffic
Why Your Traffic Doesn't Turn Into Sales (And It's Not The Traffic
We had a founder on a call recently who put it better than we ever could: "I have a lot of store traffic but little sales." Thirty-five visits a day. Barely any of them converting. And her first instinct, like almost...
What Breaks First When You Switch Ecommerce Platforms
What Breaks First When You Switch Ecommerce Platforms
Most platform migrations don't fail because the products didn't make it across. The products are usually there. The customers are there. The new Shopify store looks right, checkout works, and everyone involved has spent the last few weeks staring at...
Your Klaviyo Flows Are Still Selling Like It's 2023
Your Klaviyo Flows Are Still Selling Like It's 2023
We recently audited a Klaviyo account with 24 live flows. Twenty-four. On paper, that's a founder who did the work.  Most stores we see have three, maybe four. Every single one of those flows was still carrying the brand's old...
THE $0 FIX MOST SHOPIFY STORES SKIP
THE $0 FIX MOST SHOPIFY STORES SKIP
No reviews. No trust badges. No social proof above the fold. It's the first thing we flag on almost every audit we run, and it costs precisely nothing to fix. No developer, no app subscription, no redesign. Which makes it...
We could've said yes. We didn't. 🫣
We could've said yes. We didn't. 🫣
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #53 Hi, I said no to something today that would've made my life easier. 😅 Not going to lie, it stung a little in the moment. The easy option was right there, and I turned...
The One-Tweak AOV Lift Most Stores Are Leaving On The Table
The One-Tweak AOV Lift Most Stores Are Leaving On The Table
Most founders reach for the same lever when they want to lift average order value: knock the price down, run a sitewide sale, hope people buy two instead of one. It works, for exactly as long as the discount runs....
Why Your Traffic Doesn't Turn Into Sales (And It's Not The Traffic)
Why Your Traffic Doesn't Turn Into Sales (And It's Not The Traffic)
We had a founder on a call recently who put it better than we ever could: "I have a lot of store traffic but little sales." Thirty-five visits a day. Barely any of them converting. And her first instinct, like...
We stopped doing this on purpose 😅
We stopped doing this on purpose 😅
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #50 Hey, Okay, this one's going to sound backwards, but stay with me. 😅 A while back, we stopped doing something everyone told us we should be doing more of. We stopped responding to every...
Anna's Birthday Edition: Female Founders Are Rewriting the Rules
Anna's Birthday Edition: Female Founders Are Rewriting the Rules
Tomorrow's my birthday, and every year around this time, I find myself doing the same thing: looking back at where House of Cart started and looking ahead to where it is today. Eight years ago, it was a $99 Shopify store...
I wasn't expecting her to say that 🤭
I wasn't expecting her to say that 🤭
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #49 Hey, Funny story from an audit call this week. 😅 I was going through a store with the founder, screen-share and everything, and I pointed to a page and said, "Hey, this bit's a...
Your Product Isn't the Problem. The Way You Describe It Is.
Your Product Isn't the Problem. The Way You Describe It Is.
Imagine a customer opening ChatGPT and asking: "What's the best standing desk for a small home office?" Your product is exactly what they're looking for. It has excellent reviews, competitive pricing, and fast shipping. Yet ChatGPT recommends someone else's product...
I almost killed our paid ads 😬
I almost killed our paid ads 😬
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #48 A few months ago, I came dangerously close to switching our paid ads off completely. 😬 Not because I was over them. Because I was tired of watching money disappear without seeing anything meaningful...
Something happened this EOFY 👀🤭
Something happened this EOFY 👀🤭
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #47 Hi, we beat last year's EOFY. 😍🎉I'm still a little in shock, if I'm honest. But the second that hit me, the first thing I felt wasn't pride; it was gratitude. Because this isn't...
Dashboard before coffee. Podcast before Friday. 🤯
Dashboard before coffee. Podcast before Friday. 🤯
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #46 Hey, Two things happened this week that I'm still processing. First: I built a live Shopify dashboard inside Claude before my second coffee.  And second: I went on a podcast and talked about all...
Why I almost missed the AI wave 👀
Why I almost missed the AI wave 👀
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #45 Hey, A few days ago, I built a dashboard before breakfast.  Six months ago, I wouldn't have believed that sentence about me. The story of what changed is what I want to share today,...
Your Customers Are Asking AI Where to Buy. Are They Hearing Your Name?
Your Customers Are Asking AI Where to Buy. Are They Hearing Your Name?
Picture this. A woman is looking for a gift for her sister; Something thoughtful, something Australian-made. She doesn’t open Google. She opens ChatGPT and types: “Best Australian skincare gifts for sensitive skin.” In seconds, she gets three recommendations for specific...
They’re not in Slack… but they’d have opinions 😂
They’re not in Slack… but they’d have opinions 😂
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #44 Hey, Normally, I’m in your inbox talking about what we’re building, testing, fixing flows, pages, strategy, all of it. But today felt like a good day not to do that.These are our mums. 👸🏻...
This feels different now that we’re home 👀🏡
This feels different now that we’re home 👀🏡
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #43 Hey, We’re back in Australia. 🇦🇺 Kids are back at school. Lunchboxes are back. The house is… weirdly quiet again. And I’ve gone from taking calls in an RV (with snack requests every 12...
Your Klaviyo List Might Look Healthy, But Engagement Tells A Different Story
Your Klaviyo List Might Look Healthy, But Engagement Tells A Different Story
Recently, we were reviewing a client’s Klaviyo account. At first glance, everything looked solid. The list was growing. Campaigns were going out consistently. Flows were live. Nothing felt broken. But when we looked a little closer, specifically at how engagement...
This probably shouldn’t be working, but it is. 😁
This probably shouldn’t be working, but it is. 😁
Sundays with Anna | Newsletter #42  I’m a day behind on this email… which feels very on-brand right now. 😂 Blame the travel, the time zones, and the fact that we’re currently back in the US, living in an RV...