In this episode of Digital Dominance, host Jeffro interviews Matthew Stafford, CEO and managing partner at Build Grow Scale. Matthew shares his extensive experience scaling eCommerce brands to seven- and eight-figure success, and provides actionable insights that apply directly to service-based businesses looking to grow and dominate online.

Key Takeaways:

 Breaking Past Limiting Mindsets

Matthew emphasizes that one of the biggest obstacles to growth isn’t external, but rather internal beliefs about money and success. He cites Carl Jung:
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, you’ll go through life and call it fate.”

Action Step: Identify your underlying beliefs and “money stories” that hold back your potential.

Business as the Ultimate Inner Game

Running a business constantly reveals personal areas for growth and improvement. Matthew believes that, “Being in business is the ultimate inner game; it always shows you where you’re falling short and where you can improve.”
Success comes from embracing these lessons rather than avoiding them.

Common Pitfalls when Scaling Past 7-Figures

Businesses often plateau because their website’s usability, clarity, and navigation aren’t optimized. Matthew highlights that simplifying your website is crucial. You should view your website from a customer’s perspective and ask yourself, does it clearly answer the customer’s questions without unnecessary complexity?

Data-Driven Decision-Making

Matthew’s approach relies heavily on data, especially through tracking tools like Google Tag Manager and Google Analytics.
Key metrics to track:
Micro commitments (clicks, form submissions, interactions)
Hierarchy of focus (ensuring clear next steps or actions on every page)

Action Step:
Clearly define your website’s customer journey, and measure every step with analytics.

Two Essential Website Optimizations

Hierarchy of Focus: Ensure your website pages have a single, clear call-to-action rather than multiple competing options.
Micro Commitments: Design your site to encourage users to take incremental actions (clicking buttons, submitting forms, navigating further). This approach boosts conversions and improves SEO signals. “If you give users too many options, their response becomes ‘I don’t know what I need, I’ll just come back later’ and then they rarely do.”

Leveraging Data for Organic Growth

Google rewards websites that keep visitors engaged with multiple interactions or page views.

Action Step: Include FAQs that directly address your audience’s common queries, utilizing clear schema markup to boost visibility in search engines.

Marketing Should Never Cost You Money

Matthew asserts:
“You shouldn’t have a marketing budget. Your marketing should either break even or be profitable.”
Businesses should understand their numbers clearly enough to spend confidently, knowing their long-term customer value.
He shares how Proactiv (Guthy-Renker) invested significantly, going negative for months, because they deeply understood their lifetime customer value (LTV), leading to massive success.

Preparing for the Future with AI and Automation

Matthew predicts AI tools will soon dynamically adjust websites based on user profiles, demographics, and behaviors.
Store owners who leverage AI and advanced analytics will have a competitive advantage.

Action Step: Stay informed about new technology; delegate technical tasks if they’re beyond your expertise.

Avoid Information Overload

A common mistake for growing businesses is adding complexity when simplicity is more effective.
Matthew points out: “Most of our biggest improvements come from removing distractions, not adding new features.”
Action Step: Regularly audit your website and simplify user pathways to maintain clarity and effectiveness.

Notable Quotes:

Marketing should never cost you money, it should either break even or be profitable.
Make your website so simple that even Homer Simpson could understand.