eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection

On today’s episode, I’m chatting with Sam Henning, the Co-founder of Union Works. They are a Shopify App Partner with 7 apps including the Happy Birthday App that we discuss today.Building strong relationships with your customers is vital to the long term success of your business. Birthdays represent a unique opportunity to get in touch with your loyal customers and offer them a great reason to revisit and buy from your store.The Happy Birthday App is a great retention strategy!It can Increase your brand's visibility — Birthday campaigns are a great way to remind your customers of your store and your productsReward loyalty — Say thank you to your loyal and regular customers with a special birthday offerDrive repeat business — Unlike BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday), birthdays happen all year round and are a great way to encourage repeat businessImprove your store's conversion rate — Data proves that birthday email campaigns are one of the best-converting marketing campaigns available to merchants today.…let’s jump into the show and learn more! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Show Notes

On today’s episode, I’m chatting with Sam Henning, the Co-founder of Union Works. They are a Shopify App Partner with 7 apps including the Happy Birthday App that we discuss today.


Building strong relationships with your customers is vital to the long term success of your business. Birthdays represent a unique opportunity to get in touch with your loyal customers and offer them a great reason to revisit and buy from your store.


The Happy Birthday App is a great retention strategy!


  • It can Increase your brand's visibility — Birthday campaigns are a great way to remind your customers of your store and your products
  • Reward loyalty — Say thank you to your loyal and regular customers with a special birthday offer
  • Drive repeat business — Unlike BFCM (Black Friday Cyber Monday), birthdays happen all year round and are a great way to encourage repeat business
  • Improve your store's conversion rate — Data proves that birthday email campaigns are one of the best-converting marketing campaigns available to merchants today.


…let’s jump into the show and learn more!


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

What is eCommerce Fastlane: Shopify Growth Strategies—Where AI Efficiency Meets Human Connection?

Running a Shopify store? You already know success isn't about finding the right app—it's about knowing which strategies actually work at your specific stage of growth.

I'm Steve Hutt, and I've lived every level of the ecommerce journey. From eBay Power Seller shipping products from my garage, to co-founding and scaling VisionPros.com (an optical DTC startup) through to a successful exit, then spending 6+ years as a Shopify Merchant Success Manager helping 100+ brands from startup to enterprise scale, including working with teams at Tentree, Dr. Squatch, Bulletproof Coffee, Salt & Straw Ice Cream, MUD/WTR, Bokksu, and many more.

Here's what makes this podcast different: I've been on both sides of the table.

6+ years working inside Shopify gave me access to what's coming before most merchants know it exists. Building, scaling, and successfully exiting my own ecommerce businesses taught me what actually works when your money and reputation are on the line. That combination of insider access plus real operator experience gives you a perspective you won't find anywhere else.

Since 2018, eCommerce Fastlane has delivered over 430 episodes and more than 2 million downloads to ambitious Shopify founders and marketers. Every week, I chat with operators, developers, and experts who share what's actually moving the needle right now—not theory, but patterns I've seen work consistently across dozens of brands at multiple stages.

Whether you're launching your first store or scaling past seven figures, every episode gives you stage-aware strategies you can implement this week. We cover Shopify apps and best practices, digital marketing and retention tactics, AI and automation tools, as well as operations and logistics that reduce overwhelm while building lasting customer loyalty.

You'll learn how to leverage emerging tech without losing what makes your brand unique. You'll also hear real founder stories, including lessons from my own journey building and exiting a DTC brand, plus insights from 430+ industry leaders who've been exactly where you are.

This isn't content for content's sake. It's the insight you'd get sitting at a mastermind table with someone who's succeeded at every level, helped hundreds of others do the same, and has the pattern recognition to show you what actually works at your current stage.

Ready to grow smarter, not just faster? Join thousands of founders and marketers in the eCommerce Fastlane community through our podcast, newsletter, blog, and forthcoming book "Thriving with Shopify."

Steve Hutt
DTC Founder | Podcast Host

Find Us Online
Website: eCommerceFastlane.com
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Email: steve@ecommercefastlane.com