The Foundr Podcast with Nathan Chan

Episode 588: (Solo) The #1 ROI Move You’re Probably Not Using
Date: September 16, 2025

Overview: Main Theme

In this solo episode, Nathan Chan dives deep into a crucial yet often overlooked strategy for dramatically increasing revenue in e-commerce without spending more on ads or acquiring additional traffic. Nathan explains how enhancing conversion rates and leveraging post-purchase offers—specifically “second sale” strategies and one-click upsells—can unlock a powerful, often untapped, ROI for founders. Drawing from over a decade of experience and insights gathered from top entrepreneurs, Nathan delivers actionable advice with relatable examples and practical tools.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Real Problem: Not Always Traffic

• Common Misconception: Many founders fixate on getting more traffic to grow their e-commerce stores, relying on Facebook ads, Instagram, TikTok, influencers, and affiliates.
• Key Insight: Often, the limiting factor is conversion, not traffic.
  • Example: Nathan recounts working with a student who had plenty of traffic but low conversion rates and average order value (AOV).
• Benchmarks: If your store is converting at only 1.5% selling sub-$100 products, there’s major room to improve.

The “Second Sale” and Post-Purchase Strategy

• Main Strategy: Focus on what happens after a customer makes their first purchase.
  • “Your customer is never more ready to buy than right after they've purchased.” (Nathan Chan, 03:51)
• Post-Purchase Offers: Use this “prime time” to provide:
  • One-click upsells (post-purchase)
  • Bundles and order bumps
  • Optional upgrades on checkout or thank-you pages
• Real-World Examples:
  • Amazon and McDonald's (“Would you like fries with that?”) are masters of this approach.
  • After Sell tool highlighted for easy implementation of one-click upsells in e-commerce.

Powerful Business Impact

• Revenue Uplift: Implementing post-purchase upsells can increase AOV by 10–50%.
  • Quote: “It is crazy what you can do when you use a little tool like this.” (Nathan Chan, 05:13)
  • Student example: 10% increase in revenue after adding a single post-purchase offer.
• Customer Psychology:
  • People are in “buying mode” just after they’ve bought and are more likely to accept additional offers.
  • “People hate to be sold to, but they love to buy.” (Nathan Chan, 06:32)
  • No extra cost for targeting—you're maximizing value from already-acquired customers.

Foundational E-commerce Growth “Dials”

• Three Main Dials:
  1. Traffic
  2. Conversion Rate
  3. Average Order Value (AOV)
• Smart Founders Focus on All Three:
  “If you're seeing traffic but you're not getting the amount of sales that you're looking for, please ask yourself, do you have post-purchase offers in place?” (Nathan Chan, 08:26)

Action Steps for Founders

• Immediate Steps:
  • Review conversion rates before spending more on ads.
  • Implement/test at least one post-purchase offer (e.g., using AfterSell).
  • Use the thank you page strategically.
  • Segment and follow-up with customers for targeted offers to increase customer lifetime value.
  • Measure uplift from each new post-purchase initiative.
• Call-to-Action: Try the affiliate-recommended tool “After Sell” and explore Foundr’s e-commerce coaching program for more support.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Sometimes to double or triple your business, you can actually do it with the same amount of traffic you're already getting.”
  —Nathan Chan, 02:11

• “Your customer is never more ready to buy than right after they've purchased.”
  —Nathan Chan, 03:51

• “This is where Amazon have made billions and billions and billions of dollars. And it's this little concept called post-purchase one click upsells.”
  —Nathan Chan, 04:12

• "People hate to be sold to, but they love to buy.”
  —Nathan Chan, 06:32

• “You don't need to rebuild your store, you don't need to add more traffic. Just start with one post-purchase test and see if you can measure that lift.”
  —Nathan Chan, 09:44

• “Most of you guys, right, are leaving thousands and thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands depending on the scale of your store on the table and the amount of founders that we see don't implement this stuff is crazy.”
  —Nathan Chan, 10:13

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:30: Why most founders obsess over traffic and why it’s the wrong focus for many
• 02:11: Realization that scaling can occur with existing traffic via conversion uplift
• 03:51: The psychology of the post-purchase moment and its power
• 04:12: Amazon and McDonald’s as kings of post-purchase offers
• 05:13: Tools (After Sell) and real-world results (e.g., 10% AOV lift)
• 06:32: “People hate to be sold to, but they love to buy.”
• 07:40: The three dials of e-commerce growth—traffic, conversion, AOV
• 09:44: Simple calls-to-action: start with one post-purchase test
• 10:13: Leaving money on the table: why this is such an untapped opportunity

Conclusion

Nathan Chan delivers a concise, energetic, and actionable breakdown of how e-commerce founders can drive ROI not by chasing more traffic, but by maximizing value from their current customers with conversion and post-purchase strategies. The episode is filled with insights, relatable stories, and tactical steps, making it a must-listen (or read) for anyone ready to lift revenue without raising their ad spend.