Name: Health & Wellness Unpacked
Uploaded: 2025-02-26T20:16:04.446Z
Duration: 59 min
Description: Health & Wellness Unpacked

Transcript for "Health & Wellness Unpacked": Okay. We're gonna let some people trickle in. Okay. We got some people coming on. If you guys wanna drop in the chat where you guys are located, we kinda started off as we wait for some more people to join, because because I know everyone always goes, like, three to five minutes over on their digital calls. So we'll give some people some couple of minutes to jump on. But, yeah, I'm calling in from Chicago. We see some people from Toronto, UK. Thanks for staying up. Michigan. Okay. Wow. We got people all over the place. Awesome. And then also too, while we wait, we'd love to know who's in the audience. So if you have a brand or you work for a brand, why don't you post the URL in the thread, just so people can look up different brands. I feel like it's a great way to get exposure and just learn about new brands in the health and wellness space. So, yeah, link your brand if, you guys are online and you're part of a brand. Awesome. Thanks so much. Okay. I feel like we're having some more people trickle in, but we'll kick it off because it's just intros. My name is Francesca, also go by Fran. I'm one of managers here at ShipBob. I manage a lot of our logistics service provider partners, and I'm here with some of our top partners to talk about strategies and tips that you guys can activate this year for your health and wellness brands. So with that, I'm gonna let our speakers introduce themselves because I will not do them justice. Michael will kick it off with you. Awesome. Hello, everybody. So nice to meet you. Michael here from Gorgias. If you're not too familiar, Gorgias, we are a AI powered customer experience platform powering all the customer conversations for over 18,000 brands. Where's my order? I need to change this, that kind of stuff. So super excited to be here with some of the best in the business and excited to jump in with you guys tonight. Awesome. Thanks, Michael. Steven, why don't you kick it off for you? Yeah. Sure. Good morning. Good afternoon. Good evening to everybody out there. My name is Steve. I lead the seller success team over here at SHEIN Marketplace. I'm probably, you know, Shein has, like, this destination spot for fashion and beauty, but we are working on growing our, marketplace outside of those categories as well. Really nice to meet you. I'm excited to talk. Tina. Hey, everyone. I'm Tina. I'm the head of marketing at Simple Bundles. So if you're not familiar with us, we help Shopify brands create bundles to boost revenue without the operational headaches. So all of the shipping and fulfillment issues that come up with bundles. I've been working in the Shopify space for about seven years now with brands, agencies, and various apps. So, yeah, happy to be here with all of these awesome folks. Thanks, Tina and Travis. Bring us bring us home. Yeah. Hey, everybody. My name is Travis. I am a partner manager at Udacity. We are a data and analytics platform for omnichannel brands. So if you sell, d two c, Amazon, even retail, we're we're able to bring that data into our platform so that way we're able to understand insights to you grow your business. Awesome. Thanks, everyone. And if you guys have questions throughout this, post them in the chat. We'll try to get to them if they're a part of the conversation in the moment, or at the end, or we'll message you after the fact. So let's get it started. And, again, if you just joined, if you can post where you're calling in from as well as if you work for a brand or have a brand, post that in the chat. And to kick it off, with our first question, the global health and wellness market was estimated at over 6,800,000,000,000.0 with a t in 2024, and that's expected to grow to over 9,000,000,000,000 in the coming years. So what is your number one tip this year to stand out in such a crowded market? Michael, we'll kick it off with you. Awesome. So, yeah, this is a really fun one. I mean, chilling with a t, there's nothing to mess around there. Yeah. The biggest thing here, I think, is, you know, differentiation and how do you do that. You know, leveraging automation and, like, AI driven personalization in customer support is really important. I mean, this is where the rubber hits the road. These are your conversations you're having with your customers, and they have to be personalized. It's like table stakes at this point. I mean, there's tons of data. All these, you know, app ecosystem, integrations you're using should be talking to each other, and that's how you get to that point. And consumer expectations today are really high. So brands that can provide really fast, really seamless, and really personalized interactions are gonna end up building stronger loyalty and be able to differentiate themselves from, you know, competitors. And, you know, by having something that automates, like, repetitive replies, that's gonna let your team focus on, you know, high value interactions, and that's what drives, like, retention and revenue. So that's kind of my hot take on that. I love it. Honestly, being automated and connected in your tech stack has been really important, I think, to a lot of our customers as we see a lot of these order updates. Just information being shared across so many different partner channels just so the customer gets it, and it's very timely. So I feel like that's such a a great tip. Tina, did you have something to add? I was just gonna talk about, you know, the importance of foundations, and I feel like, you know, coming from the support side, that's a very important part of, you know, building a foundational strategy. And I I always like to say, like, the biggest brands that win aren't the ones with the biggest ad budgets. I know it can, like, seem that way when you're looking at your competitors, but it's actually ones that just lay the right foundations from the beginning. So this might be a bit of, like, a boring answer. But to me, it's not just about, like, getting more eyes on your products. It's about turning those views into actual revenue, and building a brand that people wanna buy from again. So I think product market fit is something that's important to consider right now. So no no amount of marketing is ever gonna fix, you know, a product that isn't resonating with your audience. So, like, before you start promoting things aggressively, just, like, maybe take a step back and think about, do people actually want this product that I'm selling? Is my messaging clear and compelling? And what makes my brand actually stand out from my competitors? And, like, the best way to do this is to just talk to real people. So start testing that demand through organic channels like Instagram or TikTok and, like, seeing the responses you're getting on your on your content using things like pre purchase or post purchase surveys to get direct feedback, and then just focusing on benefits over features, or even just, like, talking about or talking about your products to the people that you know in your life, even your neighbor, your mom, your best friend. You can always share your products with them and get that direct feedback if you don't really have maybe an avenue or a large social following yet. And then, yeah, just benefits over features always. You have to remember, like, customers aren't buying something like a package of vitamins. They're buying a solution for better sleep just after two weeks of consistent use. So you can see, like, the difference in messaging there. So just validate your demand, refine your messaging, and then just keep focusing on your foundations. And once you feel like you're in a strong point there, look at your website, conversion rate optimization because traffic alone, like I said, isn't gonna save you. You can keep spending all this money on ads, but if people are landing on your website and not actually converting, you're just wasting your money. Traffic is only half the battle. So make sure you're looking at things like slow load times, clunky navigation, or weak CTAs across your website, just to make sure that when someone is landing, they are actually having a really good experience. And then the last thing I'll touch on when it comes to foundations is the importance of product bundling. So I think this is one of the best ways to differentiate your brand and increase profitability without relying on really steep discounts all of the time. And you can offer these curated sets that focus on those problems that I was talking about too, because a well designed bundle is always gonna simplify the decision making process and help customers commit faster to making a purchase, and reducing any, like, hesitation that they might have. So the health and wellness space, in my opinion, is literally one of the best for bundling because shoppers have a very clear pain point when they're coming to purchase something. It's not like apparel where, maybe the reason for buying is a little less obvious. It's like, no. There's a very clear intent behind every purchase. They wanna lose weight. They wanna improve their sleep, or they just wanna, like, feel better. So whatever the reason is, a curated set of products can be so clearly targeted towards those solutions, and it just makes it super easy for those buyers to see your products as exactly what they need. So I'll just end it on a beautifully branded website means nothing if customers don't convert. So foundations are super important this year, I think. Yeah. I was gonna say, I I really love that comment about the benefits over product. I think a lot of that has to come from knowing your target customer and so delivering messages that resonate with them. Sheen's case, you know, our our primary customer is 14 to 34. We've got a super loyal Gen z and millennial audience, interested in fashion and beauty. And so, obviously, we cater to them, although we're actively working on expanding that with our marketplace, the perception of that. But, yeah, shaping your messaging and focusing on trending themes. You mentioned losing weight. I agree with that. And having the right digital assets. So coming from a a marketplace lens or, you know, selling on any other, channels, making sure that you have great digital assets to ensure that product listings, fit the channel that you're being that you're selling on. So a successful SHEIN listing is going to look different, than a list, than a listing on, perhaps other marketplaces. So just always kind of keeping that in mind as you enter in, these new selling channels. Yeah. Kind of, to wrap it up with whatever what Evelyn's been saying, leaning into your strengths and what makes your brand unique, but also shoring up your weaknesses. I'm coming from a data and analytics background, so I would say be data driven and understanding where your business is excelling and continue to invest there, but also improve areas that are creating negative experiences for customers. So if your strengths like, if you're thinking about expanding to retail because you're already selling in DOC, you're selling in Sheen, Amazon, but you see that you're really popular in, like, Ohio of, like, The US, thinking about expanding a retail, presence there. For a weakness, maybe you realize, like, a product is taking too long to get to customers in certain areas, and there's a bottleneck there. And trying to pinpoint understand where you need to improve that process so that way you can get your product out to customers faster. It's just being, like, data driven and understanding, like, where your weaknesses are and trying to shore those up as best as possible to create the best customer experience. Overall, like, a great customer experience with a great product is what your customers are wanting from you, and that'll keep them coming back for more. Yeah. I feel like everyone's points kind of wrap up into, like, how do you scale, but then also, like, how do you support scaling, especially with, like, the optimizations of automations that Michael touched on and using data like Travis said. That kinda wraps into, like, fulfillment wise. Like, if you guys are planning on going omnichannel or you're planning on, I I guess, getting more conversions from your website or just more sales, like, you have to have logistics that can scale with that. And I'm not gonna steal my thunder of the rest of the questions. I feel like we go into those a little bit more into detail, but you should all like, I guess my number one tip is, like, you should always be looking at options, for fulfillment. Your strategy can change. Your partner can change. There's new more, new channels coming on all the time that people can't support. And I think you need to stay nimble and know what's out there and have those active conversations. Like, if you got on a call for, like, one consultative call where they'll give you a quote and kinda walk through what a partnership would look like, a lot of people are really, like, reluctant to do that nowadays even when they are actively looking for a new fulfillment solution. If you're self fulfilling as well, this applies to a WMS running your warehouse, but I would just look at all the options and just have options. The biggest brands that I've talked to are already looking at their two year, projection of what their bond's gonna be like and what fulfillment partner they're gonna work with just because they're scaling at such a fast pace that they know that their structure doesn't support this. So that my tip would be just stay, like, open to all the options, especially even with other tech and solutions providers in this space. Make connections because you never know when something's gonna happen where you have to take a fast change or you might have to add somebody to help support a new channel or growth that you're looking to do. Because as a consumer, the worst thing to see, which I'll touch on later, is not getting things on time or, like, their fulfillment structure just not supporting stuff when you're really looking forward to a product, especially something in the health and wellness space, which we take every day. So, yeah, that's my tip. Everyone, thank you for the tips. I think some of you gave really good multiple tips as well. And this is recorded and everyone will get at the end. So if you didn't catch everything, we'll have the recording sent out to you. So next question that we have, what trends or consumer behaviors do you anticipate shaping the health and wellness market this year? And how can brands adapt to meet these changes? So I'll kick this off just looking generally at logistics and being a consumer that consumes omnichannel. I've seen a lot of people since the pandemic really embrace the buy, like, online pickup in store or just, like, finding stuff locally. I know shipping was at an all time high because people couldn't, like I I I like, fulfillment was at all time high for us, at least during the pandemic because people were sharing products that way. People weren't spending money on going out. But I've seen people still go and use utilize, like, shopping in store or just different retailers, and I think that's not gonna change, especially when, like, people are getting things based on convenience. Like, maybe they forgot something or they're going on a trip. Amazon has just made it really too easy to order, like, the night before and get it at, like, 7AM in in certain markets. I know I live in a major city, so maybe that's not available to everybody. But it's something that I definitely do consider, especially when buying something. And I'm, like, in the health and wellness space and I'm going on a trip. It's something that I need. I'm like, oh my gosh. I need this. I can't live without this. How may I get this fast? And, unfortunately, whatever one brand, like, I think they even shipped it from their website, but, like, an a marketplace that they sold on made them ship it faster, and I actually ordered through there. So just being able to be omnichannel so you could still capture those customers or be in store because there's gonna be so many situations that come up for customers, in just different scenarios where they need stuff or maybe they're in a different location. And so, like, I've even done that where, like, I can rely on Nordstrom for certain products in, like, certain retailers. And so just I've seen that trend happen, and you just need to figure out where your customers are shopping. And I know there's a lot of great resources of doing surveys, and just looking at the data. So find the data and figure out where your customers are shopping, major metropolitan areas, like, what are more popular because, like, I don't think that's a trend that's going away. And a lot of times too, like, I'm buying brands from those retailers versus from the website for just various different reasons. So I don't really see that going away. Know there's a lot going on in the chat. So anyone wanna jump in on this question or this thought? Yeah. I can go. So, some trends that I think are gonna continue. I think they're already happening. AI driven product recommendations. TikTok's definitely revolutionized things with, like algorithm. You know, the user. My my page looks completely different from, anybody else shopping on Sheen. So I've noticed that within my team. So I think that's gonna continue. Personalization. She offers capabilities to customize products like mugs and apparel. I think we're expanding that kind of capability, and I think that's gonna be probably across the whole industry. Fitness center messaging. I mean, I think we're seeing a lot of macro trends here. We saw an Ozempic commercial and during Super Bowl, so I think that's gonna continue. In order to adapt to this, I think branch should leverage, multiple retail, channels and marketplace channels as well as social platforms. Cast the wider net and collect as much data as possible. I think someone in the chat said, you know, data insights are golden. That's always gonna hold true. I think you get more data if you're participating, in more of those, different platforms. So that that allows you to identify your trends. Always be prepared to AB test once you, identify trends. Yeah. Steve, I think you brought us oh, yeah. Go ahead, Tina. Sorry. I was just saying, like, I feel like we all are probably big data nerds here, to be honest. And something that you mentioned, Steven, was, like, casting a wider net. That was actually kind of what I was gonna focus on too for this was, like, the point of being omnichannel. And I know that's definitely not a new thing by any means in this industry, but I feel like it's just, like, more important this year. Some, like, recent brand discovery trends that came up that I wanted to share. And by the way, these are from the d two c index, which is a really cool monthly curated report. If you haven't heard of it before, I definitely recommend check it out. But, like, a high level overview of what was in the last report was, in 2024, '60 '4 percent of discovery was driven by paid channels compared to 67 in 2023. So while that's not like a massive drop, it is it is a notable drop considering, like, the samples tens of millions of respondents. And then, like, overall paid discovery channels like Meta and TikTok totally declined, while organic channels like word-of-mouth saw a major increase. So, like, UGC, customer advocacy, and creator partnership seem to be, skyrocketing a lot more as a way for people to be discovering brands. And then, we've all mentioned AI here, but AI driven search tools like Chat GPT tend to be reshaping how people are researching for brands, pulling traffic away from Google. There's been a lot of proof on this happening, and people just, like, literally going into Chat GPT and typing out things like, I need to buy a mother's day gift. Like, what should I purchase? And it actually recommending, like, stores, to go purchase and products to to check out. So brands should also be, like, rethinking their SEO strategy and experimenting with some of these AI friendly content formats. But, yeah, I think bottom line is consumers just don't discover brands in one place anymore. They see products on social. They get a recommendation from a friend. They read a blog review, search for it online. So you kind of need to be across all of these multiple dish, multiple different touch points. And, again, just a huge focus on organic this year. I think the pay like, paid ads are never gonna be not part of a strategy. They're always gonna be essential to growth, but, not at the expense of not having any organic machine going at all. Tina, I love what you mentioned because I think it just segues, like, perfectly into the kind of building off of, hey. You know, you're you're not discovering brands in one place anymore. And I think kind of, like, the high level on that is you need to be wherever your customers are. And, like, one of the biggest trends kind of that are that I kinda see shaping, like, health and wellness this year and brands who are able to adapt this are gonna do well is, you know, that omnichannel engagement and layering that with, like, conversational commerce. Right? So social commerce and messaging platforms are are really, really key to growth strategies. Right? And customers are pretty much expecting to be able to interact with your brand across multiple channels, maybe even at the same time. Right? Like, think about Instagram DMs and maybe how many are you getting back to them. Do you have a systematic way to do that? TikTok shop orders. Right? This is a new channel for some brands. Live chat. Like, all this stuff should be, like, really frictionless, and that's what provides that good customer experience. And brands that are integrating their customer support and sales strategies across these touch points, you know, using automation are gonna be able to give that fast, seamless response wherever customers are engaging. So Gorgias helps brands do that all the time. Couple other, like, interesting ones I was thinking is, one kind of around, like, sustainability and, like, ethical consumerism, especially with health and wellness products. You know, why are people buying these? You know, they're they're, like, ethically driven sometimes, so they wanna look at brands. And and brands who do a better job of, like, prioritizing how they're displaying that sustainability or that transparency that makes that that brand identity beyond just the product is is gonna be really key. So communicating that mission in as many places as possible in the brand voice, right, in these customer conversation. Any sustainability efforts going on, these can be things that really, like, is that key decision maker. Like, when they're about to, like, purchase that they know that it aligns with their values. Right? And being able to easily find the answer to that, like, I don't know. Example, let's say you had something in your cart, and at the very end, you're like, oh, are you a b corp? And if it's not easy to find and someone's kinda waiting to figure that out, maybe they'll bounce off the page. Right? So just automating that and making sure it's all there when the you know, when that purchase needs to happen is key. And I guess pretty much the last thing, and we've all touched on it, and we'll probably continue to keep hammering this in is, you know, like, AI and personalization and and layering that into your business. Right? Consumers really want, like, hyper personalized shopping experiences. So we heard, Steven, that just, like, tailored product recommendations is huge. How can you as a brand also leverage that to boost, like, average order value? This product goes with this product. The bundling, like, this is all a layered, process here, and being able to do that, like, in real time as customers are are chatting with you makes them also feel, like, valued and heard. And as Travis will probably bring us to you, like, using that customer data to inform how this all works, but it's packaged in a way that is personalized is really, really key, and and we're just living in it right now. That's great. Yeah. Thanks, Michael. You pretty much took all my points. No. I'm kidding. No. Like, literally, to speak to your points, increased personalization is, I think, like, the biggest trend that's gonna come for 2025 in, like, the health and wellness space. Increased personalization, like, it increases your engagements, your repurchases, and it creates customer higher customer lifetime value. And, like, so, like, how do you personalize? You like it's understanding, like, what the product purchase history is of, like, that, like, consumer of that customer. And with Dasey, like, you're able to understand, like, what are the, like, buying frequencies with, like, with that product if it's, like, a repurchasable product. Like, with supplements, like, it obviously, like, they run out. So it's like, what's the what's the time frame between, like, those two time periods that people tend to reorder? And, like, having, like, an email or an SMS reminder notification to be like, hey. You might be running low. Here's you know, maybe it's time to it's time to reorder now, and you could potentially add, like, a discount code to incentivize a repurchase. With Intacity, also, we have product affinity insights, which means essentially, like, when a customer buys x product, like, what are they likely to buy with it in the same cart or after in, like, their second purchase. So that way you could follow-up with, like, hey. A lot of our customers who like this, they like this also, or you could, you know, potentially put those and utilize those insights for your product detail page to add those, like, you know, customers also bought this along with that. So those are great ways to, you know, increase personalization, to increase your average order value, and ultimately to increase, like, your customer lifetime value. And at the end of the day, it's, like, always just coming down to, like, customer segmentation, understanding, like, what, where where they like, what journey or where in the process they are with you and your brand? Like, did are are they a single buyer? Did they just purchase from your brand? Because that flow and that, like, communication is gonna be a lot different than a high value customer who has bought from you multiple times and has spent, you know, like, over $300 with your brand. Right? There's a brand that I won't name them, but a clothing brand I buy from that still sends me emails with, like, female shopping, like, sales and stuff like that. I'm like, bro, I'm a guy. Like, don't send me these emails about, like, girl, like, you know, clothes going on sale. Like, you know, like, that's very easy segmentation. Like, just segment it for, like, you know, like, mail stuff. So just being able to segment your communication and, like, personalize it, it's gonna be very like, I think that's gonna be the separator and, like, a big focus for 2025. And then also, I can't I think it was Tina who might have mentioned this, but in store shopping is definitely coming back. We're fully we're we're fully back from COVID. So, like, in store shopping is back. So it's like, being being and meeting your customers, where they are. Awesome. I feel like we touched a lot on data, but that's kind of our next point too, which you can never have too much data or not make a decision based on data. So, how can brands in the health and wellness industry leverage data to make smart decisions? Travis, do you have anything any other points, Zach? Because I know you just talked a lot about data. Yeah. Totally. I would say from, like, just an overall, like, leveraging data to make smart decisions point of view. You wanna unify your data so that way you don't have any data silos within your business and just have, like, a top down driven understanding of, like, your business performance, but also the levers that you can pull to help drive, like, increased row. So if you're selling omnichannel, like, do you understand what the performance is of, like, your d two c versus, like, your Amazon versus if you're selling on Walmart, if you're selling on Target, if you're selling on Sheen, if you're selling in retail? Also, do you know, like, which marketing channels lead to the highest customer lifetime value? You wanna continue to invest more in the channels that, like, bear more fruit for you than the ones that don't. Right? So if you're seeing more, high higher customer LTV off of Meta as opposed to TikTok, like, invest there more. Are there influencers that are driving more revenue from you, for you? Is there products that have, like, a higher customer lifetime value as opposed to the one that you're, like, maybe highlighting more than others. So that way you can reposition them on your website to try to drive more traffic to those because they they, they they do have, like, a higher, like, repurchase rate and customer lifetime value. So just, like, just having a top down understanding and just being able to get into the nitty gritty of things and understanding, like, where are your strengths, where do we need to continue to reinvest, what levers can we pull in order to, improve our performance. But and, like, you know, where are we weak and where can we shore up those weaknesses to try to improve, like, our our our processes here to create, like, better customer experiences? But it all starts with really having a good understanding of the data within your business and having clarity in those areas. Yeah. I totally agree. I feel like in fulfillment, this is a place, I guess, maybe the data can get lost, especially if you're using, like, outdated manual systems or your systems don't talk. So at the bare minimum, if you're onboarding with a new three p l, you should be looking to for them to do an analysis for you from the start, to use that data to, like, be more strategic about where you place your inventory. I feel like that's the bare minimum of what they should be doing for you if you're gonna onboard with them if they're selling to you. If you're still sticking with your fulfillment provider or you have a WMS that you use in your in your warehouse, they there should be data points or analytics that pulls us automatically. If not, you should request for them to pull that for you. But I think as we go further into the future and things get really automated and date like, data should just be there for you. And the providers you'd use should be using systems that talk to other systems, but also make suggestions. And so that's a really big answer of saying, like, you need to have data for logistics, but also you should be demanding it on the fly or we have that in real time, especially. Most WMSs and, like, dashboards that you're using if you're outsourcing fulfillment, like, show you everything in real time. So, like, you should have all that information, but strategically using it to place inventory closer to customers will help with the customer's experience of just driving down costs for you, but as well as, like, transit time. And I think that's the most important thing with, like, the health and wellness space because people want stuff fast. People's Travis talked about, like, having automations for when things, when they might need something to be ordered. Like, people will forget that. People will not see that email because they get a bunch of emails, and so they're gonna order last minute. That's something, like, you really can't control and just be able to offer fast shipping. We surveyed our customers and, like, I think 85% of them said they are gonna offer free shipping this year. And so I don't think it needs to break the bank. Like, if you're just an emerging brand, start with the facility closest to your customers. And, again, you can run that data based off of your sales history within the last couple of months. But the goal is to if you have a lower SKU count, which most people in the health wellness space should, like, maybe you'll have a max of a couple hundred skews if you're really selling, like, a variety of of, supplements, but you should be able to place inventory multiple places, and use the data to figure out exactly where so you can reduce transit time and then just offer two day shipping and free shipping at checkout. And so data at the bare minimum should be able to do that for you guys. And so ask your fulfillment providers if they can't do that. And if you want something like that, definitely reach out because the system should be automated. So this is really easy for you to do in real time. And and that's kinda my take on the fulfillment aspect of of the data. Tina, you wanna jump in with, how how you think you guys can use data? I was afraid to cut someone off again. But I like to I know. This question's so good because I feel like product bundling isn't something that people think about data first. We tend to, like, look at all of our products in our categories and just, like, decide what we wanna product bundle together and see if it works. But data can actually be a very important part of selecting which items go together to go together naturally. So, this is, like, one of my favorite things to do, but the obvious approach is to analyze your sales history and see which products are purchased together frequently. So the frequency ratio I always recommend should be between five to 10%. So if a brand sells, like, a collagen powder and to and 10% of orders are also including, like, a vitamin c supplement, then that's a really strong signal that you should just create a bundle of those two items together because customers are are naturally purchasing both of them in one go anyway. And it just, like, aligns with natural buying behavior because they're already seeing these items as complimentary. So it just makes it way more frictionless for them to kinda get both those items on one page. But aside from that, the other the other approach that I really like taking, and this one's less common, but I do think more brands should try it, is not only looking at single transactions, but, also looking at transactions over a period of time and that behavior over a period over a period of time. So kinda depends on what your sales window is. Like, if your customers naturally come back between, like, sixty days between their first and second purchase, that's the window you should look at. If it's thirty days, then look at that window. But you can see, like, what item someone purchased first and then what was their second item that they came back and purchased within that window. So, one example could be, like, a fitness brand saw that like customers are buying a protein powder first and then before thirty days, they're coming back to, purchase like a second item that just naturally goes with that protein powder. So, this is just like a really another really good way to to indicate, like, okay. People are obviously thinking about these two items together, so we should try it as a product bundle. And instead of manually going through all of these spreadsheets on your own, AI, we love the topic AI today, but it can process the sales data so much easier. So, I just recommend, like, uploading some of this, sales history into AI, making sure that the customer data is anonymous. Please do not upload personal information about your customers into chat g p t, but just use the products purchased and then use, like, a prompt of, you know, sort through this data and identify, which two items are being commonly purchased together and then which item is being purchased first and then second within a thirty day window. And then you'll just have a bunch of, a bunch of recommendations of things to try bundling, and they are obviously things customers are already naturally purchasing. So I recommend doing that than just trying random products without, any idea of if they're gonna work. Yeah. I think that, Tina, like, especially on looking at what customers have purchased and, like, that also really ties into personalization because you wanna recommend something that they actually like and, you know, like, feeding that yeah. Chat GBT, like, feeding that stuff, through, like, Udacity. Like, it really extracts those business insights. And it's like, yeah. How do you make smarter decisions? Like, with all this customer data, what do you do with it? One of the other areas definitely to look at is, like, you know, your support tickets, your frequently asked questions, like, what are people asking about? You can uncover really important insights from that. And, you know, the other thing that comes about from it too is, like, common pain points. Maybe you're getting a whole bunch of returns request after you just launched a certain item. Maybe that could point to a manufacturing issue. Right? So you can come come back and head it off at the pass. Right? There's there's tons of ways that you you're gonna wanna leverage, like, all these conversations to tag tickets and use those tags to inform segmentation in your email marketing as well. So if you have somebody who maybe they're known to always ask for a discount and you have a tag for that, you may not wanna serve them the same messaging as someone who you consider a VIP. Maybe they have really high LTV. You may also not wanna serve certain discounts to those high LTV people because they're, you know, happy to purchase without a discount. So you really wanna keep these customer profiles separate and use all these conversations that are pretty rich in data that are happening every day to kind of help you predict, like, those customer needs. Right? The other piece too is knowing what needs to be automated from, like, a repetitive task standpoint is really, really important. A bunch of people asking about where's my order is not necessarily ground shaking questions, and these are things that can absolutely be answered with, like, Shopify data. You already have tracking data, from ShipBob, whatever it might be. Like, you can have AI do the heavy lifting for those things, leaving your team open for some really high touch stuff. Maybe it's, like, some some complicated order, some complicated situation, really need some empathy. Now those folks are available to, you know, deal with that, and that's really what's gonna be that that true customer experience where, if you were able to resolve that or if you're able to make them happy, like, that's gonna improve response time. That's gonna improve customer satisfaction and conversion rates from support interactions. I think, oftentimes, it's really overlooked that your support center can be a massive revenue driver. Right? And brands that understand how great customer service drive sales are gonna be implementing these tactics to do that. And if and if you're looking on, like, how to do that, I think this webinar is probably one of the best to see. Like, these are exact things that, like, you can take away and and try and implement, and we're seeing that stuff happen. You know? I'm out here at Detail West, and, like, tons of the the conversations going on are are all around what we're doing today. So really, really timely. Yeah. Lots of great insights. I know there's a lot of talk about data, but definitely warranted. For me, I would say, you know, leverage all the data that you get from the selling platforms you're on. We're in really exciting times where there's a plethora of data. And so more than likely, you have a lot more than you think. And I know over here at Sheen, we actually have account managers that can provide more data. So, you know, marketplace trends, at a larger scale. These are things that if you ask for it, you can get it, keyword reporting. And so I think my the main takeaway here is, like, always be, familiar. Get familiar with all the data that's available, to that self-service. But, also, if you have an appointed contact or an account measure that's dedicated to your account, like, be sure to ask them if there's more data that they you can leverage. Can't can't speak for every marketplace, but we do that here at Sheen. So, I think I've seen a lot of people benefit from that. And then the other parts of my response is pretty much, the fundamentals. Like, I think everyone should know a SKU level, like, what their click through rate is, conversion rate is, understand what's driving their sales, campaign performance, if the if the platform offers paid marketing, product reviews. You know, I do this for my entire marketplace for portfolio comprised of, you know, thousands of sellers and, you know, close to close to 1,500,000 products, probably more than that. So I think that you should do that with your portfolio as well. Awesome, everyone. We're we're moving along here. We've got a lot to talk about still, and I wanna be mindful of time. Think I know we've kinda touched on loyalty and, like, how we could use data to drive loyalty. But what are other effective strategies for retaining loyalty in this highly competitive industry? Michael, you wanna kick it off? Or no. Travis, you kick it off. Sure. Sure. I got it. I mean, I'm gonna double down. I think personalization, like, if you're not doing that right now, that like, understanding, like, what your customers are buying and what, like, their buying journey is with you, like and, like, you have to do that at scale. So if you're not implementing that, to like, I would, like, I would focus on that, like, now. Like, understanding if they're a single buyer, like, do they need more social proof? Do they need more educational content? Do they need more how to's? There was a great tip that I got from one of my partners on, if you're a single buyer, being able to target that, segment with more influencer content on your ad platform. So Meta, tar TikTok, Instagram. So that way, they continue to get more social proof from your brand as well as, like, how to use it and, like, unboxings and that sort of stuff. If they're a multi buyer, you want them to become a high value customer, how do you get them there? Incentivize them with, like, a gift of, a gift with purchase. Let them know, like, their when their favorite products are going on sale, including the samples in their next purchase. If you see that they bought the same product over and over again, letting them know that you if you have a subscription, program, giving them a discount to get them involved in that subscription program because that'll ultimately, you know, be a higher customer lifetime value for you. And then if you're, you know, for your high value customers, making them feel like they're VIP. Right? Letting them know about, like, new products and flavors that are coming out first, letting them be, like, the testers for that, getting their feedback. So that way you before you release it to the rest of your customers, like, you have, like, that validation that, you know, this is really liked by your customers because there has been some I know. We've had some clients where, like, yeah, that they've had, like, that, that issue where it didn't go well on that initial test run, and then, they've had to, you know, do some tweaking for it. And then we've talked about this also, but just being easily accessible, and being where your customers are. There was that example of I I can't remember who said it, but it it it was some it's something that happened to me recently where I bought my YETI bottle off of Amazon because I have Amazon Prime and I have free shipping, so I didn't buy it from their d to c. And so, like, just being available on these marketplaces and just being where your customers are buying is, like, really important. And, again, retail is really surging, back. So just being in those retail presences to to, compete with your competitors. And just one final tidbit to stand out in the retail section. One of our customers are doing this, but to stand out from their competitors, they put a QR code on their label, which pops up like a live chat if they have any questions about, like, their product. So if it's a complex product or if you wanna know what the differentiator is, like, that's a really innovative way that they've that they've been going about it. Yeah. I mean, Travis, to kinda, like, build off of that, I mean, yeah, loyalty is huge because you have, of course, your first purchase, but it's all about, like, that lifetime of purchases that you wanna engage and stay engaged with this customer over time. Personalization is, like, really, that's really, like, the gap you're we're we're kind of filling in between an in store experience and a digital experience. So leveraging, like, that customer data from past purchases and interactions, like, that's what allows you to really tailor recommendations. Of course, like promotions, all that kind of stuff. You know, I mentioned, like, the customer tags from conversations from before. This also helps you with your follow ups. Right? We can also do this stuff kinda now today where, if shoppers are live on your website, how are you helping them through the customer journey? What kind of customer journey do you want them to have? Like, if somebody has purchased in the past, do you wanna pop up a message, say, hey. Like, we have our new, you know, protein powder in that pairs really well or similar, you know, to your last order. Maybe you wanna try this out. So it's kind of like that concierge type of service that you can implement digitally and still provide that experience, but leveraging data, leveraging personalization to make it happen at scale. The other thing too is, and I don't think we've touched on this, is, like, proactive engagement. Right? Engaging customers before issues arise. So, you know, setting expectations on return policies, especially, like, you know, during the holiday season. Like, maybe things might take longer or there's a a longer window. I think before people purchase, they have all these kinds of questions. They may not be able to find the answer. So if you can send them order updates, wellness tips, right, loyalty you know, inform them, hey. We have a loyalty program. You buy five, you get one free or or or earn points to redeem. Right? Just let even letting people know you have that is really, really key because that keeps them connected to your brand. I know, like, an example that I love to to highlight is a clothing brand called Kith. They have a, loyalty program. And if you visit different stores, you get, like, a little icon for, like, New York City or Los Angeles or Hawaii. Like, so people are really engaged with the brand, and they wanna kinda gamify and collect, and they earn these points, redeem it. So that stuff also really drives that engagement. So if you haven't looked into, you know, displaying loyalty data and identifying your customer conversations from that and making that more personal, that's absolutely something you should be incorporating, every day. So those are kind of my my thoughts on that. I'll just piggyback off of what you just said about Keith. I think, yeah, building programs that help the customer advocate for your brand is super important. So incentivizing feedback, we do that as sheen with sheen points. You wanna encourage repeat purchases as well. I think that also earns you sheen points. And also having a great customer service strategy, as as, sorry, Michael mentioned as well. So having fast responses, money back guarantees, just having policies in place so that you stay competitive. I think most brands are doing that today. So, super important to just monitor your competition as well and understand what they're doing, and try to match that at least. And most importantly, just continuously improving your assortment. I think this is the main reason why Sheena has grown so big. Eight out of 10 Sheena customers actually return to shop on Sheena. They're actually they're so sticky that we actually have, like, a cohort for them called Loyalist. So, yeah, I think continuously improving your assortment is always gonna be, should always be in the back of your minds in addition to these, great tips. Do you want me to go ahead, Francesca? Yeah. Go for it. Okay. Perfect. Yes. So, one thing you mentioned, Travis, that I kinda wanna piggyback off of is the, importance of, like, expanding into marketplaces. So one, I'll just recommend, that is really good for the health and and wellness space is Shopify shop channel. So if you're not using it, it is free. I think you should use it because it's it's just super easy for buyers to, like, one click checkout, but I actually use it all the time for second purchases because all of my data is already stored in the app. And I can just open the app and, like, go back to my history of purchases and, like, quickly repurchase something, like, you know, vitamins, skin care, whatever it is that I that I need to just, like, constantly be restocking. And that's just, like, another great channel to, like, get in front of more eyeballs because it acts like a marketplace like Amazon or whatever. And Shopify has been putting a lot of effort into this channel. It's actually pretty sick. So definitely recommend it. And then the other thing I'll mention too, like, when we're thinking about repeat purchases and retention is, allowing customers to purchase in bulk. So someone's first order with you might be, like, testing one item. And if they love it, they're obviously gonna come back and wanna purchase it again. But I personally, like, hate having to remind myself to keep reordering items. So, and I'll often, like, forget until I'm completely out of it, and then I'm, like, frantically trying to replace that item and, like, see if I can get it shipped to me as soon as I can. And I did this with lip balms recently. So I live in Canada. Winter is brutal here. My lips are always, always dry. So I tried one of, like, glossy's, lip balms because they're one of a simple bundles. They're a simple bundles customer, and I always purchase from our brands for research reasons, obviously. But I loved it so much that I went back and ordered, like, the that gave me, three lip balms in bulk, and I could choose, like, the colors and scents. So I got a deal for ordering in bulk, and now I'm basically set now for the entire winter. So I think that's just, like, something to keep in mind with, offering bulk orders because customers tend to, like, only purchase one item from you for their very first purchase. But if they really like it, they might wanna come back, especially in the health and wellness space where ordering in bulk is gonna be super convenient for them. They're gonna wanna just, like, get a lot of the product in one go so that they're set for, like, you know, months at a time. I'm definitely a bulk shopper if I can. And I think, like, the hardest thing is seeing things out of stock, especially if it's, like, an emerging brand that probably doesn't know how much inventory they need. And then, like, you got to bulk up. Like, you're like, oh my gosh. I need this hair oil. I use it every day. So, Tina, I love that. I love that advice because, like, I'm one of those people that does that, especially when I know, like, the brand is popular and sells out, which can be tricky for the brand. And that kinda leads me into, like, my thought about loyalty, which sounds really basic, but don't promote as much if you don't have stuff in stock. Or and and I know things got in supply chain come up a lot where, like, you just can't control it. Like, you can't control shipping sometimes, fulfillment, inventory gain to your warehouse. Like, there's a lot of hiccups that we experienced during the pandemic that we saw really firsthand on, like, how supply chain can really affect our businesses. But it kinda going back to Michael's point, like, just be proactive about communication, especially with fulfillment. Like, there's so many tech solutions that connect, like, Gorgias ShipBob, and there's some, like, tracking services that connect the data to share this information so you don't have that WISMO question. But also if, like, things are happening behind the scenes, have a great perception of your brand if they ordered something that they need right away, which is kind of everything in the health and wellness space, especially with how consumerism is right now where people waste till the last minute. So and I know you can't control it, but, like, there's a lot of things you can do with, like, alerting yourself with inventory levels you know to reorder or just communicating proactively on, like, shipping delays where this information should be in, like, your dashboard for shipping, whatever provider you use or whatever solution you use. Like, this information should be there and, like, there should be call outs already. So just automating that and sending out alerts because I think the most frustrating thing is these first time customers. I am I'm experienced this right now with a a brand in the health and wellness space that came on, kind of talked about other brands that are similar products and said theirs is better. And then I bought. So I was like, okay. Like, I'll try it. And so if you were talking about these flavors and didn't ship out within twenty four to forty eight hours, now it's been a week. And then I get an email that they're having issues. And I feel like even the front end, if you can alert people or just reduce your spend on ads, which I know sounds so painful, but, like, on the opposite side, like, if you don't have a logistics solution set up or you're having issues, like, it can just make the customer experience worse. So just try to be proactive if you are experiencing issues because, like, they are gonna come up. There's gonna be stuff that you can't control. I think customers will be more understanding because I got that email and now I'm a little bit more understanding of, like, okay, I'll wait for this product, but also I'm gonna probably go buy other product I was purchasing in the meantime. And and just having that understanding versus, like, okay, this brand hasn't shipped anything and, like, they're not responding to my emails or, like, I didn't get an update. So just kinda managing the customer experience and expectations, especially when, like, someone had said the holiday season, like, shipping delays are usually happening, and and just sales. Like, if you're if you're having, like, bulk like, or big discounts and, like, a lot of sales are going on, just communicating that to people. I think there'll be a little bit more understanding. So great thoughts on loyalty. I know we're coming up to the hour. So if anyone has anything to chat that we can, answer posted in there, but we're gonna move on to the next question. This will be our last question. So all brand owners and operators envision their brand becoming the next category leader. How can brands in this space effectively scale without compromising quality or customer experience? Who wants to jump in on this one first? It's kind of loaded question. I'm happy to. Thanks, Travis. I would say, yeah, it's about testing, optimizing, and then going all in. So, like, don't opening don't open up a new sales channels until you feel like you've got your current ones dialed in. And, like, you know, that could be, like, your gross margins, like, you that could be your retention, that could be your product recommendations. But testing small first, First of all, we're getting, like, the the current ones that you have, like, like, a good like, feeling that you're that they're they really dialed in with those, and then testing them out, like, testing out, like, new region or channels in small batches. So whether that's, like, going into retail or going into a new marketplace like Amazon or Shein, tweaking until you get it right and then scaling. So, also, a big important aspect of this is, like, having strong foundations and being able to automate where possible. So Gorgias for customer support, ShipBob for logistics, Udacity for analytics. Just being able to free up, like, human bandwidth so you can focus on actually growing the business as opposed to, like, having to do, like, repetitive manual tasks over and over again, which just takes, like, you know it's just a time suck. And then, you know, keeping your cash flow tight. Overfunding can math like sloppy operations, while underfunding can halt momentum. So being able to focus on your unit economics and being able to forecast aggressively but also realistically, by keeping a buffer there to stay profitable. Yeah. I think, Travis, you're kinda talking about, like, the you know, these these trifectas. Like, you get all these efficiencies when you start connecting all these systems together. I have this, like, fun little data point here for you guys. So, we found that, like, 80% of shoppers are more likely to buy when given a personalized experience, and, like, this is some HubSpot data to tie off of that that 90% of customers rate an immediate response as important or very important when they have, like, customer service questions. So in order to kinda stay, like, as a category leader, baking this into your your strategy where you're actually talking to people and the and it you really wanna make sure you're hitting on these points because this is what people care about. This is like, this could be the one interaction they have, and are you meeting those expectations? So take a look at your, you know, inbound inquiry volume, understand your seasonality, and, like, supplement that stuff with AI. Like, make sure that you can soak up those common questions. You also wanna take a look at your, ticket to order volume ratio and understand, is it high? Is it low? What that is is, like, the number of questions you get per hundred orders. I think brands who are doing really, really well are probably in, like, a 20 to 30% range, and you really wanna, like, capacity plan for stuff like that. You know, keep creating frequently asked question, articles, have a help center, reference your AI to pull from your help center articles and answer those questions and iterate over time because now you're gonna be able to have faster responses. So, like, stuff like Gorgias, it helps you do that. But, if you don't have a a, like, a FAQ doc, spin one up. That's, like, definitely the best place to start and and get people that they really wanna just understand what are they getting and when are they gonna get it at the end of the day. We're all human. You know? I I think they pretty much hit it on the head. Like, I was just gonna say similar things like streamlining processes, inventory management, listing uploads, some coming from a marketplace lens. So leveraging integration partners, if that makes sense for you. Leveraging innovative tech for, customer service. So I see a lot you see a lot of AI chatbots out there these days. Building solid mechanisms to ensure, quality control is met, so systemic audits, and then continuously testing before making big changes such as, you know, diving into a new marketplace as Travis mentioned. Yeah. I feel like my answer is such a cop out answer, but I do feel like it's super important. So I will say it. But there is an idea called taking imperfect action. And I just think that this is really important because the truth is no store is perfect, not even the biggest brands that you admire. But the difference is successful store owners and marketers take action, learn from their mistakes, and they iterate as they go. So despite all of the tips that we have shared in this webinar, which has been a lot of really awesome ones, you don't need to have every single detail ironed out as you're working towards improving things this year. So just focus on getting your products out there and into the hands of customers and worry about getting it perfect later. I always like to say view your store as a living experiment. It's always ongoing. So just, you know, use your customers as your secret rep weapon by treating them as focus groups, by asking for feedback, monitoring their buying habits, and just using the insights that you have access to to make, quick changes. So progress, not perfection. I feel like we can definitely, like, resonate with that progress over perfection because at ShipBob, we've really grown with our brands and, like, we didn't know what we didn't know and they didn't know either. And we kinda work together with people in the ecosystem to learn and figure out how to do this because we're all really learning. Like, all the everyone's new to ecommerce. People have been in retail, and still we're learning so much about both, but we're just here to, like you said, iterate and just kinda go out there and try. And I think, like, I talked about a lot of different tips for fulfillment, but just not compromising on quality or customer experience could really just be focused on, like, having a fulfillment provider that you trust. So when these issues go wrong, like, you can work on them and also innovate on them kinda like what Tina said because there's always gonna be, like, updates that maybe someone needs on their system or, like, a process change that you just don't know until you know. So the the progress over perfection. But, yeah, really lean into, like, your fulfillment or your WMS provider and, like, make them a partner, like, to you, not just your they're your service provider and find someone who can do all of your omnichannel fulfillment. I think when you think of consistency across the board and customer experience, it's working with one team that could reach these different channels and regions. And so as you continue to expand and grow, it might be that you have to find a new fulfillment partner or WMS to integrate with different marketplaces, different channels, go into different regions. And I we've kinda seen that move, from brands that are global from using multiple warehouses to using one that can kinda keep up with the consistency of the customer experience, the quality, as well as, like, the customization you can offer, which I know customization is kinda new to the health and wellness space because it's not necessary. But it's something that a lot of brands in the space are doing with the packaging or getting like a shaker bottle included or like a reusable container and stuff that aligns with sustainability. So just find a partner that can grow with you, but also you can work with when when things happen. But utilizing one partner usually is the best way to keep things kind of consistent. And with that, I don't think that we have any questions in the chat unless anyone, that's on still has any last questions. I'll kinda wait for maybe someone to post something. Okay. If not, we appreciate you guys coming here, and everyone, sharing their insights. We will be sending a recording out, and then also, we have your guys' contact information as well. So I'm sure that the partners will be reaching out individually to all of you. But once we send the recording out, if you wanna be connected with anyone on this call, just reply back, because ShipBob will be sending out the recording, and we can connect you with any of the partners here or even in our bigger ecosystem. But thanks you guys for joining and thank you to our amazing top partners for bringing some great insights to, today's talk. And we hope to see you guys soon and maybe, some of you at Expo West next week. Thank you, Francesca. I appreciate it. Guys. Everyone have a great rest of their day. Alright. Thanks. Bye. Thank you, everyone. Alright.