Store Design preorders, optical constraints, digital gardening
Preorders for my next book, Store Design, go live in precisely one fortnight, on Tuesday, March 07. By that point, the first draft will be done enough that I...
More thoughts on Google Optimize, behavior recordings, hover states
On the one hand, Google Optimize shutting down is a big deal. It’s absolutely going to change the pricing structures of the experimentation industry, mostly...
Some notes on the conclusion of Google Optimize, a thing that we all saw coming
Google are not a trustworthy company. For two decades, they have built products that boldly enter industries, used its advertising business to prop up...
Taking on new consulting work, why “CRO” is busted, intentional design
In quiet, reflective observation of the national holiday that is my birthday, Draft will be closed tomorrow. Speaking of Draft, we celebrated 11 years in...
Supporting design, onboarding, guidelines
Draft has three goals in 2023: Finish Store Design and open preorders. Ruggedize our consulting operations by solving expensive problems for more consciously...
A question, Shopify updates, design preferences
I’m working on the next book, and almost ready to take preorders, and I’m curious: what big questions are you facing around the topic of store design right...
Returning from deep rest, CEO support, design writing
I have a weird relationship to work. My job is one of my making, so I should probably love it, right? And I do, because I get to write this, in the blazing...
Wireframe buildout, email personalization, deep rest
This is our final update before we return for the new year in a few weeks. As a reminder, this is the last week to order books & pins. At 5pm CST on Friday,...
The role of value-based design now, double CTAs, UX maturity
I received a question lately about the role of value-based design. Now that we’re in recession and tech companies are laying off a bunch of workers, how will...
Winter rest, subscription strategy, passwords
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Deep-dive question phrasing, the conclusion of social media, product quality
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Deep-dive survey questions, community dynamics, teardowns
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ShopifyQL, mobile navigation, future intentions
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Uncertainty, image compression, familiarity
In the past, I’ve referred frequently to the idea of uncertainty. I wrote a book about uncertainty, and then I co-hosted a podcast about uncertainty. I refer...
Why “BFCM tips” don’t work, sale calendars, ethical design
Why “BFCM tips” don’t work In our latest lesson, we talked about what stores should do for the holidays this year. Like all of our lessons, it is actionable....
Holiday prep, CAC, progressive form design
We are seeking one more client for optimization work. Throw your email address here to begin a conversation. This week, for paid members A busy week! Our...
What we do that others don’t, mailing list CTAs, systems thinking
The fourth zine in our series about store design is now available. It’s about the highly profitable act of usability testing. On text, I wrote a little bit...
Contemporary communication tools, one-off projects, non-coercive marketing
After a brief period where Draft had three open slots for consulting work, we now have two. Throw your info over here if you’d like to begin a conversation,...
🦆 Duck tests, why designers quit, usability test synthesis
I wrote a thread on Black Friday optimization, and learned that everybody loves it when I say objectively correct things. Noted! A note on duck tests I’m the...
How we build, the bad acquisition, DTC’s strategic challenges
As we move into the fourth quarter of 2022 and contemplate a structural repositioning, I want to provide some reflections on the role of design, and how it...
A small relaunch, small team communication, power in research
As consulting goes, we sell materially three things: Teardowns Research-driven optimization consulting Research-driven audits & prioritized strategy These...
First principles, value-based design’s ramifications, UX as therapy
Our sponsor for this newsletter is Blink! Blink is a specialist eCommerce SEO agency, grounded in data science. We know eCommerce – and DTC – inside out, and...
New zine, DTC issues, the future of Draft
Our sponsor for this newsletter is Blink! Blink is a specialist eCommerce SEO agency, grounded in data science. We know eCommerce – and DTC – inside out, and...
Remote consultative work, mentorship, new podcast
We’ve been posting more mastheads to Applied Draft. Take a look! And today, a big announcement: we’re the latest guest on the Unofficial Shopify Podcast,...
Investment mindset, what’s broken in DTC, genderless design
Last week I did something that I almost never do: I got angry on the internet, and wrote a thread on a very bad website. I think in ways that necessitate...
Mastheads, new case study, developer issues
We’ve written a lot about home page mastheads for our members over the past year, for a few reasons: They are a high point of conversion, since they...
Fighting fear to make the right decisions, hypothesis-driven design, research integration
New zine alert: I am slowly expanding on the themes in Store Design. The first installment is on heat & scroll maps. You can grab a copy of You installed a...
Hire us, fun accessibility, marketing budgets
As we move into the busy season, I’ve been thinking about how I’ll be spending our time at Draft, and what really matters to me in my life. In past years, I...
200-level interviews, search query types, heuristics
The busy season is approaching. If you want to work together, please buy a teardown or get in touch. This week, for paid members This month’s deep-dive...
Optimization & development, pricing pages, text
People have been enjoying text lately. If you’ve been around these parts for a while and you want more writing about life stuff, you might want to join us....
BI dashboards, project management, apparel sizing
Limited copies of Store Design are still available. This week, for paid members Our design of the week is for the funniest pagination we’ve ever seen. Should...
LAUNCH: Store Design, a new zine
Today, I’m thrilled to announce a new text on how to get started with design for your store. It’s called Store Design, and it’s out now. You are never “done”...
Why “CRO” is an outdated term, case studies, teardown improvements
Last week, we mentioned an improvement to teardowns for store owners. Here it is: if you’re a store owner, buying a teardown also gets you a half-hour...
Value-based design mindset, system fonts, common consultative issues
For those of you who subscribed because I wrote about a sandwich eight years ago, I have written about a sandwich again. You may wish to subscribe to text to...
High-impact segments, new HIG, mobile benchmarks
This week, for paid members Our paid lesson takes a brief shift away from mindset issues and talks about segmentation. How do you figure out what segments...
Resourcing, tap targets, continuous variables
This week, for paid members Our fortnightly teardown is for clean beauty brand Elate. Our design of the week is all about an, uh, interesting link target...
Long-term strategy, developer critiques, price display
Our sponsor for this newsletter is The Current! So many ecommerce news sites, so little time 😥. In 5 minutes or less, The Daily Current will fill you in on...
How to refer new work to Draft, long-term thinking, Markdown publishing
Our sponsor for this newsletter is The Current! So many ecommerce news sites, so little time 😥. In 5 minutes or less, The Daily Current will fill you in on...
Mindset, text, line length, text, text, accessible yellow, text
Our sponsor for this newsletter is The Current! So many ecommerce news sites, so little time 😥. In 5 minutes or less, The Daily Current will fill you in on...
Even splits, content design, weird mobile nav
Our sponsor for this newsletter is The Current! So many ecommerce news sites, so little time 😥. In 5 minutes or less, The Daily Current will fill you in on...
Optimization maturity guide, search suggestions, burnout
I’d like to thank everyone for their interest in our relaunch of Draft Revise. In the process of sifting through questions, I realized that I put together...
The next chapter of Draft Revise
Early spring is the right time to begin optimizing your store. We’ve been saying so for 8 years now. So it’s probably not a surprise that spring is when we...
Last Day to Enroll in Draft Analysis & Ecommerce Email Mastery
The subject line pretty much says it, yes? Enrollment wraps up for these two courses at 5pm CDT today: Draft Analysis Ecommerce Email Mastery Don't sleep!...
Draft updates, impact design, research mindset
Some updates We cleaned up the place a little. New colors, better buttons, spicier home page, overhauled nav. Enrollment in Draft Plan is ongoing. We have...
Draft Plan questions, de-risked testing, upsell funnels
I’m deeply grateful to everyone for their interest in Draft Plan this past week. Before registration closes, I wanted to answer some questions that people...
Draft Plan, interview sprints, custom interfaces
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Remembering Christopher Alexander, GA4, better tools
Our sponsor for this newsletter is Tradeswell! Say goodbye to spreadsheets 🎉 Tradeswell’s AI-powered, all-in-one platform automates the collection and...
Quantifying page speed, win-back campaigns, long-term design
Our sponsor for this newsletter is Tradeswell! Say goodbye to spreadsheets 🎉 Tradeswell’s AI-powered, all-in-one platform automates the collection and...
Draft Teardown fees increasing in 8 hours
Howdy! One last heads-up that teardown prices will be changing at 5pm CDT today. As usual, we’re handling all teardowns first come, first served. Buy one now...
Discount codes, new case study, teardown changes
Our sponsor for this newsletter is Tradeswell! Say goodbye to spreadsheets 🎉 Tradeswell’s AI-powered, all-in-one platform automates the collection and...