Hey, thanks for tuning in to another Partner Interview at EcomBalance. At EcomBalance, we’re all about creating win-win partnerships where we are able to grow with other companies in the eCommerce space.
In this exclusive interview, we interview Ganesh from AiHello, an algorithm that uses machine learning tech on Amazon ads to spot opportunities for ACOS reduction and revenue growth that would’ve been missed by the human eye.
Ganesh, the co-founder of Aihello, started it as an internal project to help him with his own Amazon business using the tech and ecommerce skills he got while working at Ebay and IBM. Today, thousands of sellers depend on this same tool to run their business efficiently with many more signing up every day.
We hope that you enjoy the interview and that it brings value to you as an eCommerce business owner.
Connor: Hey Ganesh, thanks for taking the time to chat with us today. As a company, one of our goals is to highlight our partners so that our clients can benefit where it makes most sense. To get started, can you give us a high-level introduction to AiHello and a little bit about how the company got started?
Ganesh: AI and Machine Learning have been my thing for quite some time. I used to build algorithms for IBM to help forecast product sales and I moved that expertise over to the world of Amazon. We started AiHello as an internal project to help with our Amazon ads and once we saw the results we were getting we thought we had to make it available to the public.
Connor: Thanks for sharing that! Can you dive a bit more into the products and services that you offer to help business owners take complete control of their e-commerce marketing? Our audience is always looking for reputable companies that they can lean on for specific parts of their eCommerce businesses.
Ganesh: Our AI algorithm can actually predict what the performance of an ad will be before it even runs. This allows it to allocate your ad dollars in a way that minimizes advertising costs and pushes sales up. We also offer human expert assistance to cover everything that’s best done manually so that our clients are covered from all angles.
Connor: Jumping off of that…when you’re thinking about your ideal customer, who is that? Where are they selling online? Where are they located in the world? How much sales do they typically have in a year? If there’s any other qualities, please include them as well. We’re all about making introductions where it benefits both parties.
Ganesh: We operate on a tiered pricing basis with Amazon sellers. We service everyone from the seller who’s doing a few thousand a month with our basic software to the sellers that are doing late 6 to early 9 figures with our managed service. There’s really a solution available for every budget and every location as well.
Connor: For our audience to truly understand what makes you stand out from other companies in the PPC automation software space, can you share a story of how AiHello truly helped one of its customers?
Ganesh: We had a seller who was struggling to make sales outside their Shopify website approach us via the Amazon partner directory for help with their PPC ads. They were achieving a 1.6x ROAS on Amazon at that time, which they were somewhat okay with since it was similar to their results with Meta ads – but we knew they had potential for much more. So we quickly made a plan, onboarded them and started working our magic. 2 months later, they were absolutely astonished by what they saw on their dashboard – a 13x ROAS. We exceeded their target by 2000% and we continue to blow them away every quarter.
Connor: As you and your company think about the next year ahead, what does it look like? Are there any specific initiatives that you’re working on as a team to better your product or service for your customers?
Ganesh: We’re stuffing our AI with so much data that it learns in a day what a human specialist learns in a decade. We’re one of the only products which quite literally improves day by day and we’re rolling out more features such as advanced dayparting to give our clients the best results possible. The other Amazon PPC software better sleep with one eye open.
Connor: How about this…everyone loves a company’s growth story. We all naturally go through ups and downs as a company. What was one of the biggest challenges that the company faced in its growing stages?
Ganesh: There wasn’t one specific moment that deserves to be singled out as THE challenge but there have been a million hiccups along the way. Plenty of late nights and early mornings went into getting through the issues we faced but that’s what it takes to create a product you’re proud of.
Connor: Thanks! Let’s talk some eCommerce! Where do you see the industry heading in the next 1-2 years? Any big changes that you’re predicting for the industry? How can eCommerce companies prepare for it?
Ganesh: Ecommerce success is in the hands of those who own the data. A few years back, Facebook owned the data and rented it out to advertisers which made success relatively easy on the platform. Now with privacy concerns and frequent updates, that’s no longer the case. This leaves room for the remaining data rich players to flourish. Which in this case would be businesses with their own 0 and 1st party data and Amazon. Everyone who can’t collect, analyze and use data correctly will be left behind.
Connor: Changing gears a little bit…When it comes to bookkeeping and accounting, what do you think the biggest pain points for eCommerce business owners are? Feel free to speak from personal experience as well.
Ganesh: Definitely the fact that ecommerce businesses have no idea what their actual unit economics are. There are so many expenses including warehouse costs, referral fees, amazon costs, return costs, defective items, shipping prices that almost all ecommerce businesses work on an assumption of their costs. The major cost is of course advertising which is wildly variable every month and even every day.
Connor: Okay, here’s an open mic opportunity. If there’s one thing that you’d want the EcomBalance community to hear from you, what would it be?
Ganesh: Luck comes with hard work. It’s a bit like throwing darts on the board. You might not get it right the first time but eventually if you persist you will hit the bullseye. We have too many new sellers that want to jump onboard and make their first 1 million dollars in year 1 with no retail or ecommerce experience. I am not saying it’s impossible, but it’s unlikely. Shoot for the moon but keep your feet grounded.
Connor: As we close this out, I just have one more question. Where is the best place to find and follow you and the company online? Also, if you have one, is there any special offer that you’ll be offering to the community today?
Ganesh: You can always reach me or my cofounder at [email protected] or [email protected]. Other than that, you can check our resources page, youtube channel and website out.
