The most useful conversations rarely happen where you expect them to.

Last month, someone mentioned they’d increased their conversion rate by 23% through what sounded like an obvious change. Obvious in hindsight, naturally. Most good decisions are.

But the story behind why they tried it, how they measured it, and what nearly went wrong proved far more valuable than the original tip.

These conversations happen constantly. In Slack channels. Over lunch. During the few minutes before meetings start properly. The challenge isn’t finding them. It’s scaling them.

What Browse Basket Buy does

Browse Basket Buy attempts to scale these conversations. Each month we talk to people who understand how eCommerce actually works. Sometimes that’s retailers who’ve spotted patterns in customer behaviour.

Sometimes it’s behavioural psychologists who understand why people make purchasing decisions. Data analysts who’ve found signals that predict purchases. Designers whose changes moved conversion rates. Marketing people who can prove their campaigns worked.

The format seeks practical depth rather than theoretical breadth. We ask what specific changes made the biggest difference. What patterns emerged from the data. Which tests succeeded and which failed spectacularly. What insights from adjacent fields actually translate to eCommerce.

Three areas get consistent attention. Customer behaviour, because understanding why people buy things remains surprisingly uncommon in eCommerce.

Data interpretation, because collecting numbers and understanding them are entirely different skills. Implementation, because knowing what to do means nothing without knowing how to do it properly.

Each episode ends with specific actions you can test this week.

Finding useful voices

We look for people with genuinely helpful things to say. Sometimes that’s someone who’s explained falling conversion rates to finance directors.

Sometimes it’s a behavioural psychologist who understands why people abandon baskets. Occasionally it’s someone who’s simply thought about a problem longer and more clearly than most.

The common thread isn’t background. It’s usefulness. Good advice tends to come with specific examples and honest caveats. It acknowledges what didn’t work alongside what did.

The most generous advisors often have the least obvious time to spare. Experience makes people surprisingly willing to share what they’ve learned.

Why this matters

The official reasons sound appropriately corporate. Support the industry. Build audience. Give the team something to share. All true.

The real motivation was simpler. Smart eCommerce people were making decisions with half the story. Not their fault. The useful information was stuck in individual heads.

The manager who doubled conversions by questioning something obvious. The analyst who spotted December’s sales-saving pattern. The designer whose checkout tweak actually worked.

These stories exist everywhere. They just don’t travel.

The ecosystem effect

RevLifter benefits when eCommerce works better. This isn’t altruism—healthy retailers invest more in improvement. But the logic runs deeper.

When eCommerce managers access practical advice, they make better decisions. Better decisions create better results. Better results create larger budgets. Larger budgets create more opportunities for everyone.

A virtuous circle, assuming the advice actually works.

Measuring success

Success isn’t download numbers or social engagement. It’s the eCommerce manager who tests something from the podcast and sees conversion rates improve. The data analyst who spots a previously missed pattern. The designer whose next checkout flow performs better.

These successes are difficult to measure but easy to recognise. They appear as improved results rather than improved metrics.

What we’ve discovered

The most surprising finding has been how generous experienced practitioners are with knowledge. Ask someone who’s solved a problem to explain their solution, and they’ll usually talk longer than expected.

The second discovery shouldn’t have surprised us but did. The best insights often sound obvious once explained. Good advice sounds sensible because it usually is.

The long game

Browse Basket Buy isn’t designed to become the next big business podcast. It’s designed to become useful. The distinction matters more than most content creators realise.

Useful doesn’t scale the same way clever does. Clever gets shared because it makes sharers look insightful. Useful gets bookmarked because it solves problems.

We’re optimising for bookmarks, not shares.

This probably limits audience size. People solving actual problems represent a smaller group than people wanting to appear knowledgeable about problems. But they’re exactly who we want to reach.

Coffee break conversations, scaled

Browse Basket Buy exists because the eCommerce industry deserves practical advice from people who’ve had to make it work. Coffee break conversations, essentially, but recorded.

The format matters less than the principle. Ask the right questions of the right people, and useful answers tend to follow.

Everything else is production value.

This article was written with the assistance of AI.