Welcome back to this week’s Side Income Roundup, Monday, October 26.
This week is about a few small things worth doing now: video that actually gets seen, free store upgrades, two deadlines before the holidays, and a reality check on AI.
🎥 Why original video now beats reposts for reach
🛒 A free WooCommerce update and an AI that builds your missing emails
📦 Amazon’s new prepaid-return rule and your holiday shipping cutoffs
🤖 Why shoppers trust AI less than marketers think
📝 The $7 nearly every order leaves behind
Let’s get into it.
THIS WEEK’S BIG IDEA
🎥 The secrets to organic reach in 2026
Organic reach in 2026 goes to original content made for the platform it’s on, and short-form video under a minute travels furthest on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok. Both have made originality a ranking signal, so reposting someone else’s clip costs you reach.
Average brand reach on Instagram fell 14% in a year, and the accounts holding theirs are the ones posting a clip only they could have filmed.
Our Take: Film one 30-second vertical video of your product yourself this week. Original clips beat reposts, and the platforms push them to new buyers.
TOOLS OF THE WEEK
🛒 WooCommerce 11.2 is out
A free update to the store software you already run. Drop a supplier’s price sheet straight into the product importer, pin category filters while shoppers scroll, and collect a gift date at checkout.
🤖 Omnisend now builds the emails you’re missing
The free email and SMS tool a lot of sellers already use now spots the automations you don’t have yet and offers to set them up, like a win-back for lapsed buyers.
Our Take: Update to WooCommerce 11.2 and turn on sticky filters, then let Omnisend’s AI build you one win-back flow this week.
TODAY’S QUICK WINS
📦 Amazon makes prepaid return labels mandatory December 18
If you fulfill your own Amazon orders, every US return from December 18 has to carry a prepaid label. You get seven days to upload one or refund in full, or Amazon does it for you and bills you.
🚚 The holiday shipping cutoffs are set
International Christmas orders need to post by early December, and domestic Ground and First-Class land around December 17. Put those dates on your store now so nobody orders too late and blames you.
Our Take: Fulfill your own Amazon orders? Switch to prepaid return labels before December 18. Post your holiday cutoffs at checkout today so nothing misses Christmas.
FROM OMC
📝 The $7 Thank-You Page Upsell
Nearly every order leaves a few dollars behind at the one moment the buyer trusts you most, and this post shows the single page where you can claim it.
Our Take: Right after someone buys, offer one small add-on on your confirmation page. They already said yes, so those dollars come easy.
AI SPOTLIGHT
🤖 Shoppers trust AI less than marketers think
A new study found 59% of marketers expect AI personalization to drive their growth, but only 16% of shoppers say AI improves their shopping. Buyers rank saved carts and faster checkout above AI product picks, and 46% would trust you more if you explained how you use their data.
Our Take: Shoppers trust AI less than you’d think. Say plainly how you use their data and cut checkout friction before you lean on AI personalization.
UNTIL NEXT WEEK…
Here’s your short list this week:
🎥 Film one original short video of your product
🛒 Turn on one Omnisend win-back flow
📦 Check the Amazon return and holiday shipping deadlines
🤖 Make your data use and checkout clearer than your AI
Most of these take minutes, and the two December deadlines are the ones that cost you if you wait.
Talk soon,
Aidan
