Connections. June 2020
With many new clients joining in recent weeks, it has been really rewarding to see first-hand just how quick and easy the process for onboarding really is….
“Icon had a discussion with Simon and Alistair at Glassboxx on Monday and, with the help of Simon Appleby at Bookswarm, had it up and running on Icon’s websites by Friday. It’s very simple to use both as as customer and from the back end too, and affordable.”
Andrew Furlow, Icon Books
We’re naturally really pleased that Glassboxx is delivering just the kind of eBook and audiobook content fulfilment service and user-experience that we think publishers and their readers should be getting – from being straightforward and cost-effective to implement, to being effortless to use.
Keep reading for insights into how to make the best of Glassboxx across your websites and social media channels – as well as more information on features and functionality in the pipeline.
As always – feel free to get in touch at glassboxxsales@firstygroup.com with any questions – our team are always happy to help out!
It has been another busy month, with some hugely popular books selling via Glassboxx, new features being added and new signees every week. Last month we told you all about the ‘single-click’ branding application feature that we would be rolling out – this is now available, making branding your own product pages as quick and simple as possible.
This is just one of the many ways that Glassboxx can be used to maximise the impact of your own marketing.
We also spoke last month about pre-orders – it’s a feature that has been high on the priority list for Glassboxx, and we’re pleased to say this is now just around the corner, with the roll-out in the next two weeks. Pre-orders build so much anticipation around new titles – we are looking forward to seeing our clients put this function to use.
And finally, you can now filter your titles by author name, making it easier to provide your authors with the buy links for all of their titles in one place.
We felt it was worth highlighting a particular use case this month, given the success of a recent campaign…
Pavilion Books signed up ca. 6 weeks ago, and have made use of the Buy Now links to impressive effect. As a response to lockdown they published celebrity chef Gennaro Contaldo’s ‘Good Food for Hard Times’, a really timely piece of publishing with all author royalties going to the Trussell Trust.
Prompted by Pavilion, Gennaro himself has the ‘Buy Now’ links on his website – https://gennarocontaldo.com/title/good-food-for-hard-times – and has also posted the product page hyperlink to Instagram and Twitter, taking his followers directly into the Glassboxx title page.
The results have been impressive with strong sales across 49 countries.
Interestingly, Gennaro reposted the link on Instagram last Friday and this achieved 70% of the original posting at launch in mid May.
While a celebrity chef with a large social media following undoubtedly helps, this does show that customers are more than prepared to purchase content directly and download the Glassboxx app to read great content.
Getting the most out of Glassboxx really is a simple case of driving more enquiries to your website and, where possible, using the ‘Buy Now’ buttons to get people to buy directly through Glassboxx.
Here’s a few general suggestions:
- Use your newsletter and Facebook/Instagram/Twitter/LinkedIn accounts to promote the fact that you now sell eBooks/audiobooks directly.
- Promote individual titles through the newsletter and social media accounts and include the Buy Now buttons that link to your Glassboxx product pages, like https://server.glassboxx.com/cost-of-sugar-epub.html
- Suggest to your authors that they do the same with their own titles. You can provide them with the code for the Buy links for each title, thanks to the new functionality in the admin area.
- If any of your authors have their own website you could give them the code for their own mini eBook store. The sales generated would still go through your account.
- Glassboxx will really come into its own when you release a new title. That is the perfect time to use the Buy buttons in all of your marketing, along with the author doing their own promotions.
As mentioned at the outset, the Glassboxx community is growing rapidly, with the addition of Icon Books, Fitzcarraldo Editions, African Books Collective and Liberties Press in the last couple of weeks.
We have over 43 more signing up, and going through the onboarding process. Here are some links to a few of their product pages offering eBooks/audiobooks direct:
Icon Books – Love Among the Ruins
Fitzcarraldo Edtions – Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
African Books Collective – What the Forest Told Me
Liberties Press – Dead Dogs
The much anticipated desktop versions of the Glassboxx app will be available within the next two weeks, which means your titles can be consumed on Smartphones, Tablets and now Windows and Mac PC’s.
We’re excited to be launching the Shopify app within the next week or so – and in fact, this plugin will become available through the Shopify app store, so ought to make integration into Shopify sites even easier.
For all of you sitting on a WordPress/WooCommerce CMS, we’re delighted to say that we hope to be making the Glassboxx Woocommerce plugin available in the Woocommerce Extensions Marketplace over the coming weeks.
This, of course, will enable your developer to simply embed Glassboxx fulfilment into your own existing eCommerce architecture, further streamlining the user experience when buying your books.
Naturally, we already have the plugin available for any of you that are keen to stay ahead of the curve – simply get in touch and we can send through the documentation. It’s also worth saying that we’ve enhanced the functionality further within the API, with:
- Compatibility with the latest versions of WordPress and WooCommerce.
- The text on Order Success page to be editable in the WooCommerce WYSIWYG settings. We provide the default text – but you’ll be able to change this as you see fit, adding your own voice to every step of the ordering process.
- Repositioning of the Glassboxx text on the Order Success page providing more obvious instructions to the customer. We are always reviewing our processes to ensure that Glassboxx provides the highest UX possible: clearer instructions mean that even those purchasing eBooks or audiobooks for the very first time experience as little confusion as possible.
- The Glassboxx text from the Order Page can be included in New order confirmation email. This will give end customers a frame of reference – something to swipe back to if they need a reminder of any details, including how to download. It will be especially useful for people buying and downloading via Glassboxx for the first time.
