👋 Hey Fastlane Insiders,

I've got to be honest with you—this week's research kept me up way too late, but in the best possible way.

You know that feeling when you stumble across something that makes you go "Wait, THAT'S why my competitors are crushing it?" That happened three times this week. And since I can't keep good intel to myself, I'm sharing everything with you.

Here's what caught my attention:

I had an amazing conversation with Danan Coleman from eCom Triage about Amazon sellers losing 50% of their sales overnight from review issues they didn't even know existed. Most brands think they're safe until they're not—and by then, the damage is done.

Plus, I've been tracking some surprising shifts in how the smartest founders are actually living their lives (hint: it's not what hustle culture taught us), and where the real influencer marketing opportunities are hiding while everyone else fights over Instagram scraps.

And I’m sharing a tool that's helping brands identify 98% of their anonymous website visitors. The results some stores are seeing? Pretty wild.

If you're ready to see what's working for the brands that seem to always be one step ahead, you're going to love this week's insights.

Let's get into it,

– Steve

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🎧 New Podcast Episode!

Your Amazon Sales Are Getting Hijacked (And Most Brands Are Clueless)

If you're selling on Amazon but your sales keep disappointing you, there's probably one crucial thing you're missing.

You might think it's just the competition getting tougher or ad costs eating into your profits. But here's what's really happening: there's a hidden problem slowly eating away at your revenue, and most sellers don't even know it exists.

The truth? Your star rating is more fragile than you think.

Even a small drop—say from 4.3 stars to 4.2 stars—can cut your sales in half almost overnight. That's not an exaggeration. One or two negative reviews can trigger a domino effect that tanks your entire listing performance.

The problem gets worse when you factor in catalog issues that Amazon doesn't always catch. Their built-in monitoring tools only show you the obvious stuff, but the real damage often happens behind the scenes where you can't see it.

The good news? Once you know what to look for, you can fix it.

Meet Danan Coleman, the guy who's been fixing Amazon nightmares since 2010.

As CEO of eCom Triage, Danan has spent over a decade helping brands fight back against the review and catalog issues that can destroy your Amazon business overnight. His team doesn't work in theory—they're in the trenches every day, and their proven system has helped brands recover 5-15% of unfair reviews while protecting their listings from future attacks.

Here's what Danan's going to share:

• The legitimate (and surprisingly straightforward) process for getting negative Amazon reviews removed. Most sellers don't even know this option exists.

• Why losing just half a star in your rating can cut your sales velocity by up to 50%. The math behind this will shock you.

• The hidden reviews Amazon buries in your listing that still count against your overall rating. These are review killers you can't even see.

• How to catch expensive catalog errors—like split reviews and orphaned ASINs—before they destroy your listings.

• The "Catalog Defender" system that sends instant Slack alerts when something goes wrong with your listings.

This isn't about gaming the system. Danan's approach is completely legitimate and data-driven. Even brands doing $70 million in revenue get caught off guard by these issues, so don't think you're immune just because you're successful.

Want to see what's hiding in your Amazon account? Danan's offering free 30-minute discovery calls to audit your Amazon presence. No sales pitch—just straight talk from someone who's seen every possible Amazon disaster and knows how to fix them.

If you're ready to stop letting invisible threats sabotage your Amazon growth, this conversation could be exactly what you need.

LISTEN NOW: Recover Lost Amazon Revenue

💡 Knowledge Drops of the Week

Intentional Success in 2025: Why Top Founders Are Winning at Life—Not Just Business

The endless hustle isn't impressive anymore. Most founders are burning out while a smart few are building lives that actually match their business success.

The game-changer? Apply the same strategic thinking you use for growth goals to your personal life. If you keep telling yourself you'll focus on family, health, and happiness "after the exit," you're trading your best years for metrics that never stop demanding more.

What's really happening to founders right now:

• "I'll slow down later" becomes a permanent excuse—there's always another launch, another goal, another emergency

• Hustle culture quietly destroys your health and relationships while you're not looking

• Even successful exits often leave founders feeling empty because they sacrificed everything to get there

How the smart ones are different:

They plan their personal lives with the same intention they bring to business strategy. They think in terms of "memory dividends" (experiences that keep paying off), "time buckets" for meaningful adventures, and they track relationships like core business metrics.

Real example: One founder went from feeling like a stranger in his own home to building a life his family actually wanted to be part of. His approach was surprisingly simple:

• Audited his life as ruthlessly as he audited his business

• Started budgeting for experiences, not just ad spend

• Made genuine connection and regular breaks completely non-negotiable

The best part? These strategies go against everything hustle culture teaches—and they work faster than you'd expect.

GET THE FULL PLAYBOOK → See How He Transformed His Life in 90 Days

Influencer Marketing Beyond Instagram: Where the Real Growth Is Happening in 2025

Still putting all your influencer budget into Instagram? You're missing out on some serious opportunities. The smartest Shopify brands have quietly started spreading their efforts across TikTok, YouTube Shorts, Twitch, Pinterest, and even Discord—and they're seeing engagement rates (and sales) that would make your Instagram campaigns jealous.

Here's what these early movers figured out:

• Micro-influencers crush celebrity partnerships. A creator with 10,000 engaged followers often delivers better ROI than someone with 100,000 disengaged ones. Trust beats reach every time.

• Long-term relationships win over one-off posts. Ambassador programs and ongoing partnerships create authentic advocacy that feels genuine, not like another sponsored post in the feed.

• AI makes creator discovery actually manageable. New tools can scan millions of profiles to find creators whose audiences perfectly match your customers—no more guessing games.

The platforms driving real results right now:

TikTok's algorithm gives smaller brands viral potential, YouTube Shorts offer lasting searchability, Twitch builds deep community connections, and Pinterest attracts shoppers who are ready to buy. Each platform has its sweet spot, and the brands winning big are the ones matching their products to the right audiences.

While most brands keep fighting for attention in Instagram's increasingly crowded (and expensive) space, the next wave of ecommerce winners is building influence where their customers actually spend time.

GET THE FULL STRATEGY → See How Top Brands Are Winning Beyond Instagram

🔥 Tool of the Week: The Shopify App Everyone's Talking About

Ever wonder what happens to the 98% of visitors who browse your store and vanish without a trace?

Retention.com is the identity resolution tool that's solving one of ecommerce's biggest problems: identifying website visitors even when they don't fill out forms, switch between devices, or shop completely anonymously.

Here's how it works its magic:

• Grow Feature: Turns anonymous browsers into real, identifiable contacts. We're talking about growing your email list 10-15x faster than those pop-ups everyone ignores.

• Reclaim Feature: Supercharges your Klaviyo abandonment flows by 2-3x. It tracks cart, product, and checkout abandoners who would normally disappear into the digital void.

• Meta Persistent Audiences: Creates rock-solid retargeting audiences that work even when Meta's tracking gets blocked (which happens more often than you'd think).

The proof is in the numbers. StyleBlueprint went from struggling with list growth to adding 100-200 active subscribers every single day—all while maintaining 40-50% open rates and 2.5-5% click-through rates. They also freed up 75% of an employee's time that was previously spent chasing acquisition campaigns.

And they're not alone. True Classic saw a $1M incremental revenue increase with a 53x ROI using Retention's full suite.

Why this matters right now: Apple's privacy changes have made traditional tracking nearly impossible. Retention.com gives you a compliant way to build the first-party data that's becoming essential for sustainable growth in 2025.

Over 1500 brands are already using this to recover lost revenue. Maybe it's time you joined them?

Try Retention.com Today

 🙏 Thank You for Your Time and Trust

What gets me excited every week? Getting early access to the strategies that actually work, testing them with real brands, and then sharing what I learn with founders like you who are building something meaningful.

After years of asking tough questions and recording hundreds of podcast episodes, I've learned that the best insights come from being genuinely curious about what moves the needle for real businesses. But none of it matters unless it helps you spot the risks others miss, build a life that matches your business success, or find your next competitive advantage.

Whether it's protecting your Amazon revenue, creating sustainable growth, or jumping on emerging opportunities—my goal stays the same: get you the right insight at the right time.

Your growth and the brands you're building make all those late-night research sessions worth it.

Thanks for trusting me with your time. Now go turn these ideas into action.

– Steve
eCommerceFastlane.com