Retention Chronicles

Anatoliy Labinskiy, a 4-time Two Comma Club winner and founder of GSM Growth, joins Retention Chronicles to discuss how to understand TikTok metrics and grow your sales with TikTok advertising. 

Anatoliy tells Mariah and Noah about one of the biggest growth tools in ecommerce right now- TikTok shop. New products and brands are becoming relevant everyday on TikTok, and that’s just from organic media. 

Anatoliy and his team have mastered the paid media side of TikTok and are here to share tactical takeaways all brands can implement. Tiktok is a great platform to bring eyeballs to your brand and after that brands can hit up retargeting ads to capture the attention of potential buyers. 

But, TikTok has less consistent growth than Meta, and so you have to know the right approach and metrics to track. Anatoliy walks through how to ensure you're remaining profitable on TikTok.

Anatoliy also addresses the concerns of some that the platform will decrease in popularity or cease to exist. 

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your personalized mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your free design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

Georgia Grace Edwards (Co-Founder/CEO) and Charlotte Massey (Co-Founder/COO) of Gnara join Retention Chronicles Season 5 to discuss founding their brand with their patented GoFly technology.

Georgia Grace and Charlotte patented their GoFly technology to create a new industry for women’s pants. In addition to the familiar zipper fly that allows you to take your pants on and off, a second zipper extends from beneath the first zipper to the back of the waistband. 

The founder pair grew up in the great outdoors, and having experienced first hand the issue of not being able to easily use the restroom in nature, they started researching the history of women’s pants while in undergrad. 

From there, they completed both incubator and accelerator programs to establish their minimum viable product (MVP) where they could start selling products. 

After learning the legal and manufacturing sides of a patent, they began operating as a service where they would install their zipper technology in one’s favorite active pants. But, after seeing the market for this technology, they grew Gnara into what it is today by working with designers and investigating the history of women’s apparel and sizing.

Georgia Grace and Charlotte also speak to deciphering between utility and design patents. They attribute a lot of their learning to in-person trade shows where other founders shared their successes and challenges but acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic has affected those events. 

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

RC Williams, Co-Founder of Rejuvia and 1-800-D2C, joins Retention Chronicles Season 5 to discuss streamlining and evaluating technology for D2C brands.

RC tells Mariah about how he and his mother started Rejuvia four years ago and how they dove into the business headfirst. After running the business for a while, they tracked what was working for them and they’ve fine-tuned their business strategy.

He details how brands that are just starting out shouldn’t load heavy on technology, they should keep it light early and then add on different technology as they grow. He warns brands against enabling a tech stack just because a competitor has a certain software. 

With the brands he interviews in his ‘Under the Hood’ series, RC shares the learnings he’s receiving from founders and recognizes that behind every successful brand there lies hurdles they’ve overcome.

RC also discusses how he rules out personal bias with 1-800-D2C, his technology recommendation platform. He says that with the privacy changes, a lot of brands are looking to third party tools to provide analytics as well as smart AI tools to increase efficiency of smaller teams.

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

Jenny Nuccio, Founder & CEO of Imani Collective, joins Retention Chronicles for the first episode of Season 5 to discuss social entrepreneurship for nonprofits and for-profits.

Jenny has always been passionate about developing the communities she is a part of and focusing on giving back to them. After living in Kenya for many years, she and her pioneer team at Imani Collective began building their nonprofit to create opportunity through trainings and jobs. 

She realized that they had to create a marketplace for their vision so that the trainings they were providing would lead to sustainable jobs, so Jenny and her team founded the for-profit side of their company, Imani Kids. 

Tasked with running a nonprofit and a for-profit, Jenny learned the similarities and differences between being an executive director and a CEO. With those learnings, she decided to bring all their companies together under one umbrella and create their holding company, Imani Collective.

Constantly asking herself how to build a sustainable nonprofit and for-profit business, Jenny asked herself how their company would run without her and how their ethical impact could continue its legacy in the best way possible. 

Jenny also walks through how she developed Imani Kids, their ecommerce company, by using local Kenyan material and organically growing their social media profile over time. She’s learned to reduce her ad spending to focus on retention over acquisition and how to leverage organic content and word-of-mouth marketing with their brand ambassador program. 

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

Jules Weldon and Stacey Pierce, Co-Founders of OME Gear, join Retention Chronicles for the final episode of Season 4 to discuss the struggles and successes of building a multi-use product. 

Jules and Stace took their product vision and turned it into a 5-in-1 innovation that their customers rave about. But, it hasn’t been an easy journey to get there. They chose their dreams over their belongings and sold their house to back their business, betting on themselves and their determination to succeed. 

The leap has been well worth it, as their customers love OME Gear’s The Wanderer. Whether it’s emailing Stace and Jules directly, sharing across social media, or organic word-of-mouth marketing, the quality of product really shows at OME Gear. 

But, it’s not only products that glow, but also services. Jules & Stace personally email each customer after purchase to familiarize and introduce themselves. That’s relationship building at the next level, and the team of co-founders makes sure that as they grow, they don’t want to lose that level of connection with their customers. They’ve created and continue to create a loyal consumer base with their personal post-purchase experience.

Stace, Jules, & Mariah also discuss posting on social media and how difficult it really is to keep up with and create content for. They make sure to share both their success stories and struggles as female founders so that they can pave the road and fill potholes for founders who come next. 

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

John Gross, Founder & CEO of Fat Earth Media, and Rose Eppensteiner, Senior Manager of Lifecycle Marketing at Fat Earth Media, join Retention Chronicles to discuss founding an agency to work with mission driven brands to help with paid media, lifecycle marketing, and marketing creative. 

Making a pivot in his career from environmental sciences to marketing, John started by taking out ad space in Craigslist advertising his Google Ads consultancy. But, he didn’t just want to focus on media buying, he wanted to invest in lifecycle marketing. So, he built Fat Earth to serve mission driven brands and help with their marketing strategy. 

John and Rose don’t just detail why lifecycle marketing is important, but also how it’s related to retention, and how to make lifetime value (LTV) higher than customer acquisition cost (CAC). Not only do they tell Mariah and Noah about how Shopify & Shopify Plus brands can achieve their goals year-round, but especially during the holidays. 

Fat Earth Media makes sure that their clients are set up for success by creating strategic content planning to look at monthly and quarterly campaigns. Segmentation is a critical piece for Shopify/Shopify Plus brands’ success, and making sure their email and SMS sends make sense is a big step in strategy planning. To do this, all teams have to be aligned and connected. 

Another area of expertise they focus on is design. An easy trap to fall into is to confuse complexity and effectiveness. A creative director may love an email, but if no one is clicking on it, it might be the best route to take. The Fat Earth Media team redesigns assets to make them better from every possible angle. 

For our holiday tips portion of the podcast, the Fat Earth Media team shares that they advise their brands to assume the consumer is very smart and don’t try to trick or be inauthentic for the extra dollar. Consumers will shop with the brands they like and trust, and the brands who know and follow that will win. 

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

Ryan Gresh, Founder & CEO of The Feel Good Lab, joins Retention Chronicles to discuss his journey in creating a natural pain relief cream to help their customers feel good and soothe chronic pain.

If you’ve ever experienced searing pain, you know that the one thing you want is for that pain to be gone. But, common over the counter medicines, such as NSAIDs, are bad for your GI health if taken for long periods of time. That’s why Ryan and his father founded The Feel Good Lab to help people find hope through their products. 

One of the things Ryan wanted to guarantee with their customers was that their solution had credibility and was FDA backed. 

On the business side of things, Ryan talks about how the AOV is low for their pain relief cream because it’s a commoditized product, which can be hard to break even on. Which is why customer retention and the lifetime value of their business is so essential. Where The Feel Good Lab team wins is with their LTV and credibility with their customers. Their customers fall in love with the brand, and come back time and time again for that reason. 

But not only do they fall in love with The Feel Good Lab brand, but the educational resources they provide. They educate their customers on the best way to use their products, such as right after a steaming shower because the product will absorb better. 

Ryan also tells Mariah about how they make their packaging standout because none of their competitors were using clean, white packaging. 

Knowing one’s ideal customer profile (ICP) is essential for accurate and successful marketing. Ryan dives deep into the 3 ICPs their 3 products market best with. It’s an interesting dynamic between the age groups and goals of their three customer profiles that you won’t want to miss out on. 

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

Blake Imperl, former VP of Marketing at Carro and current VP of Marketing at Digioh, joins Retention Chronicles for episode 21 of season 4. Noah, Mariah, & Blake kick off the episode with Blake’s birthday running tradition, starting his career consulting for digital marketing, and working with paid media across multiple brands to drive $13 million in email & SMS retention marketing. 

Now of course, we recognize the ecommerce community is probably very familiar with Blake Imperl, but if you’re not, we highly recommend you tune in to hear his opinions around how the Shopify & Shopify Plus ecosystem works and is constantly changing. 

Blake shares how the Shopify & Shopify Plus ecosystem is currently seeking more of an emphasis on retention because now it’s difficult to be profitable whereas before, brands could make up the difference on the backend. Blake provides examples of how Carro helps brands increase LTV (lifetime value) and AOV (average order volume) while lowering CAC (customer acquisition cost) by getting in front of customers in a more efficient way. 

Humanizing the shopping experience so there’s a deep connection with customers brings an element to DTC brands that retailers don’t often experience, and there’s a lot that goes into it. It might be a difficult thing to measure, but it’s worth pursuing. Blake shares how showing up in the social feed and having something interesting to say captivates a lot of attention, and it’s valuable attention. 

We’re in the thick of the holiday season, so Blake shares his BFCM brand must-haves. He recommends brands set up their transactional emails and SMS marketing campaigns in a smart way. Don’t risk it all, SMS automations are expensive, so be intentional with your segmentation and design and don’t bombard your customers. Every unsubscribe in 2023 is lost revenue in 2024. 

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

Running, ultra-marathons, and personal limits: 4:07

Career path and e-commerce experience: 7:25

Unconventional career path in marketing and partnerships: 13:27

Applying b2c marketing strategies to b2b marketing: 16:29

Humanizing B2B content through authenticity and emotion: 22:01

Leveraging collaborative commerce platform to increase sales and reduce costs: 25:12

Using marketplace to drive sales and growth: 30:05

Using marketplaces to test new products and increase revenue: 32:55

E-commerce marketing strategies and customer retention: 40:25

Black Friday and Cyber Monday marketing strategies: 43:53

LinkedIn strategy and content creation: 49:16

Anthony Ciavirella, Co-Founder of Manmade joins Retention Chronicles for episode 20 of season 4. Anthony and his three other co-founders started Manmade, a leading men’s essentials brand, after starting his career in banking. After a 10-month journey to designing the perfect boxer-brief, Manmade has over 120k orders with 400,000 boxers sold to 90k customers in 2 years. 

For all our Shopify brands out there, do you have a sole-founder team or do you have a team of co-founders? Anthony details how their founding team of 4 is able to move at 4x speed with their collaboration. 

Does exponential growth come from great product, great marketing, or both? Anthony shares his opinion on developing an incredible product alongside great marketing. With product development, it’s not so much about getting everything right the first time, because you most likely won’t, but it’s about listening to your customer feedback and iterating to make the best product you possibly can. 

Content marketing is foundational to the Manmade team- Anthony and his team strive to bring customers along for the journey as they’re learning. The Manmade team believes that ecommerce shoppers like seeing the faces of founders, and they’ve fully embraced that marketing strategy. Also included in their marketing is a ton of attention to organic social growth. Meta is the driver of where Manmade gets new acquisitions, whether it’s through lots of PR and interviews, radio, newspaper articles, or social media. Gorilla marketing is their jam.

Retention marketing is strong at Manmade, 35% come back in 3 months, 50% come back after 12 months. They credit that to their intentional site and post-purchase touchpoints. Listen today to hear more about the details!

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

Ecommerce brand retention strategies with industry leaders: 0:04

Founding a men's essentials brand with four finance professionals turned entrepreneurs: 1:21

Entrepreneurship, business ideas, and competitive pricing strategies: 6:05

Product quality, marketing, and iteration in business: 11:16

Branding, packaging, and marketing strategies for a men's underwear line: 15:59

Customer acquisition costs, retention, and post-purchase education for a men's apparel brand: 22:18

DTC underwear brand's use of authenticity and transparency in marketing: 26:47

Pinterest marketing for gift-giving season: 34:18

Retention strategies for an underwear brand: 37:36

Building a direct-to-consumer brand with a focus on customer experience: 42:54
Entrepreneurship, business growth, and overcoming challenges: 48:08

Nikki Tooman, Founder & CEO of Sticky Digital joins Retention Chronicles and if hearing Noah and Nikki discuss Shoptalk 2022 isn’t enough incentive to listen in, then hearing Nikki’s perspective of the Shopify brand and partner ecosystem sure is! Nikki has been in the Shopify ecosystem since Shopify has been in the game, and learned the core of the ecosystem at one of the biggest agencies at the time. 

For all our Shopify brands out there, do you know exactly what technology you should be using for your specific storefront? Nikki knows it all and shares it all so you’ll have to listen to hear all of her shoutouts, but we’ll break it down for you real quick- Loop, Recharge, Yotpo, Klaviyo, Okendo/Junip, Gorgias are table stakes for Nikki and her team. 

Retention marketing (email, SMS) and conversion rate optimization (CRO) is her jam - she and her team at Sticky Digital excel working with Shopify brands. 

What do you think the goal of partnerships is? Generating revenue, getting better discounts, relationship building? You’ll have to listen to hear what Nikki says about the industry and how to truly map a good partnership. 

BFCM (Black Friday/Cyber Monday) is in full-swing for the ecommerce community and Nikki shares her BFCM tips for Shopify brands: 1) Start your efforts early, 2.) We need to figure out retention stuff set up today & 3.) Post-purchase survey for first time purchasers. 

Did you know that 20% of your website traffic hits the order tracking experience? Turn all of that customer engagement into customer loyalty. Malomo helps you get ahead of shipping issues, brand your order tracking experience, and reconvert shoppers while they wait for their package to arrive. 

To see what your custom mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your custom design right to your inbox!