Interview with Fernando Mourelle | Expert in Digital Marketing and Growth Hacking
Podcasts have it all. They are informative, interesting, reasonably simple to produce and offer the possibility of consuming quality content, sometimes even when we are doing other something else in the meanwhile. These were some of the reasons that led us to create, back in 2018, our own Podcast, Shiptimize on the Record.
For us, a company that operates in different countries, but has always tried to work as regionally as possible, the language in these cases can be a challenge.
Fernando Mourelle
That is why our podcast has some content in English, some in Portuguese and others in Spanish. And although the world is increasingly multilingual, we always wanted to take the content of our podcast to all our markets, regardless of the language in which it was recorded.
And that is what we are going to do from now on. How? By transcribing some of our episodes and turning them into articles that will also be translated.
To start things off, we are sharing here the interview we conducted with the Spanish expert in digital marketing and Growth Hacking Fernando Mourelle.
So, from here on, it’s your choice: you can listen to the original audio in Spanish or read the translated transcript of this interesting conversation about strategy and conversion. So, let’s do this?
Shiptimize: Hello, good afternoon. My name is João Santos Pereira, from Shiptimize. Today we are going to interview Fernando Mourelle, a specialist in digital marketing and Growth Hacking, co-founder of the Pasionteki online store and other digital marketing businesses, to which he has been working for many years. Fernando, nice to have you here with us. How do you feel?
Fernando Mourelle: Very good, very good, nice to meet you.
Shiptimize: A pleasure, a pleasure. Fernando, we want … We are going to ask you a couple of questions and change a couple of ideas so that our listeners are inspired, in the end, in what you are going to transmit. We wanted you to tell us a little about how you got to work in the world of marketing in the end, how was your journey.
Mourelle: Well, well, that was many, many years ago. I started in the area of business intelligence in 2005 or so. Well, I have done more work, but my first approach to marketing was in the area of business intelligence in telecommunications companies, such as Telefonica, Sogecable, in paid TV Canal +, in which I started with my approach to marketing. After marketing, I got a little tired of what the analytics part was. In 2004, I started, I did a master’s degree in digital marketing and online business at ESIC, and that was when I started working on everything that is digital business. Since 2004, as you know, all this kind of tactics and techniques in digital have been growing a lot, and I was able to get on the wave, and the truth is that I am very happy.
Shiptimize: Perfect, perfect. Thanks for sharing that with us. Well, after working with so many, in several businesses and with many clients, I imagine, what would you say are the three most common challenges for an eCommerce in your vision?
Mourelle: above all, in my vision, first is the conversion, especially that most of the users that visit your store are sufficiently attracted to the products you sell, and that they convert into a sale. The second, the attraction of users, that is, how does it attract users, with what techniques, SEO positioning, social networks, etc. And third, to have a website, improve everything all the analytical part, especially the analytical part of what eCommerce is, to know perfectly how your users behave in the navigation of the online store, and therefore, to offer them the most appropriate products. Those would be the three challenges that are most important to me.
Shiptimize: thanks, Fernando. A question we have that has to do with… even from your experience of your own online store, what would you say should be the main focus points, say, to define a digital marketing strategy for a business, for a store?
Mourelle: I think that in the end, one can read in many places what is the strategy, theory about the digital marketing strategy, but the ultimate goal of any online store or any business is the sale, or the generation of business opportunities. That is why, in the end, knowing how to find the users that are going to be the users that are interested in your product, what tactics you will incorporate in your store or in your online business so that these users take that first step to leave their data, email, or to build a database, and finally, having a solid database of users who are interested in your products, how to convert them into a sale. Those are, I think, the most important. There always has to be a conversion approach when setting up an online business, and for this, analytics, the knowledge of your users, is a very important factor.
Shiptimize: perfect, perfect. Fernando, as you know, we here at Shiptimize we manage logistics, deliveries from online stores, that is, and we give back entrepreneurs’ time, so they can have time to do other activities within their own companies, optimizing this point. How do you see this logistics landscape in Spain right now?
Mourelle: let’s see, I think that, for small entrepreneurs, especially those entrepreneurs who, with a low investment, that’s why the issue of Growth Hacking is very much in the sense that you make a not too high investment to start up your business, and until it grows, you cannot make more investments, it is very important to access new logistics methods. I want to give the example, well, of the comparators that are online right now, which allows you to send your packages as easily as possible, comparing different market factors. That is, I have a little vision of both. A small startup, such as Pasionteki, and a large company such as Lefebvre-El Derecho, in which we work with a logistics company for all the shipments we make for Lefebvre. And then the vision of Pasionteki, which is a store, is little girl, in which I look for the best price. So, I think it is the ease of finding a logistics provider, which in the early stages of business development is cheap and fast, and ensures fast delivery, as it is a very important factor.
Shiptimize: perfect, thanks for sharing, Fernando. We will now enter into a more personal point, that we are always very curious to know what they read and what influence experts on these issues. We wanted to know the last article that caught your attention about Growth Hacking and SEO, the last thing you read so remember.
Mourelle: hahaha. Well, the truth is that I consume many different contents. About Growth Hacking is that I just wrote an article that I have not yet published about Growth Hacking in Spain, and they are very followed, for example, by influencers like Sam Harley, or, for example, in Spain, Gerard Compte, which is one of the most important Growth Hackers in our country, in that sense. I could not tell you what the last article is because there is a lot of information on the internet about this, but, the last article … I am now more of a consumer of new trends in digital transformation, and how to apply them to eCommerce, such as artificial intelligence, or other things, that can make you develop eCommerce. I could not tell you right now a last article I read.
Shiptimize: you are mixing, you are mixing…
Mourelle: yes, I am mixing concepts, I am reading about analytics, about Growth Hacking … Keep in mind that, in my current activity, not only … My main activity is responsible (digital business director of a company like Lefebvre), which is quite important and there we talk … We not only deal with eCommerce, we talk about digital transformation, innovation in our sector to which we are going, etc., etc. And then a little of everything, really. From eCommerce, analytics, transformation, Growth Hacking, etc. You see it?
Shiptimize: yes, yes, you are mixing … It is very curious to hear the opinions of who we interviewed in this series of experts because, there are some who jump directly to the article they read this morning, for example, in the subway, I don’t know, or in the office before starting work.
Mourelle: Yes. Do you know what the problem is? I go for the problem, not the challenge. For example, I use many content management applications, that is, I see what interests me most and read a bit, I keep the paragraph, but I don’t read the full articles. The truth is that in the end, the reading habit has changed a lot. I consult Twitter a lot, the followers, well, people who can contribute to you, or I use Crowdfire, for example, to inform me of the contents that are being published on innovation, but I don’t pay much attention, just to the content. So, I can’t remember many times the titles of the articles, I just keep the essentials, you know?
Shiptimize: but it was curious to see that you mix more, you look for other fields to mix with the ones you already know of. So, this is very interesting.
Mourelle: Of course, yes, because in the end there are few things … I’ve been in digital for more than 15 years, and there are few things that surprise me, or new things. I think what may surprise you a bit is the application of technology to digital marketing, but about Growth Hacking you can find thousands of articles. If you know it, there is nothing that can surprise you, you know?
Shiptimize: yes, yes, of course Fernando, yes, yes, understood. Now, let’s end this question, which is already a symbol here of Shiptimize, from our series of interviews. For you, Fernando, what is the only thing that an online store should never do?
Mourelle: Hahaha, the only thing you shouldn’t do?
Shiptimize: yes.
Mourelle: Uff, well, I think it’s important … Choose a bad logistics provider. That, I think is the thing, is something very essential. You can make the best sale of your life, you can have the smartest site, the coolest one, but if the product arrives in poor condition, or does not arrive on time, that can be your countdown as a business. Choose the right logistics provider, which suits your circumstances, because working for Amazon is not the same as working for Pasionteki, for example, as we are a small store. It is essential. Customers do not see the logistics provider as a logistics provider or a courier company. They see your store, they see you in the delivery. The complaints are received by you, and the claims. So, I think that is essential. Choosing a bad logistics provider, a logistics partner, I think it can be fatal for stores.
Shiptimize: in fact, we here at Shiptimize we do that consulting, let’s say, to our clients too. The important thing is the perception that the end customer of a store has, that everything that happens that may delay the product or damage the product, often has nothing to do with us, or the store, but with the logistics provider, that is a point… But whoever receives it do not know this, or do not have to know this.
Mourelle: Of course, you don’t have to know. The customer who receives your package sees everything as with your brand, that is, I can hire, of course, couriers in Spain, or another courier or logistics provider, and if the product is defective, then in the end they will call you, and that, in a world where people share bad experiences, well, for an eCommerce it can be fatal. In fact, my partner and I, who have been carrying Pasionteki, have recently launched the project. In many cases, we are the same ones that pack the product and take it to the logistics provider, so that everything … Obviously, we are doing it now because we are still starting and we still do not have a high volume of orders, but as soon as we have it, yes you have to choose a provider that treats your customer as you treat it, you know? That is the key to this matter, you know?
Shiptimize: well, in a couple of days you will receive a call from me to talk about that, Fernando.
Mourelle: OK, no problem, let’s do this.
Shiptimize: well, Fernando, nice to meet you.
Mourelle: equally.
Shiptimize: it was a pleasure talking to you and being able to inspire our listeners to take action in this digital field. We leave here a note, that you can follow his comments on Twitter on the user @fmourelle and follow his marketing and Growth Hacking experiences. It will be, I think, an added value for anyone who listens to us right now. Fernando, something else you want to add? It will be a pleasure for us to listen.
Mourelle: no. Simply, no, nothing more, that in the end, digital marketing has changed. Companies, more than having an adequate brand positioning, seek profitability, and digital marketing experts, well, we are dedicated to them. Since companies, in a way, the investment they make in digital channels is as profitable as possible.