Brandon Blahnik served as Made Ins Director of Customer Experience from 2020 until early 2022. His role at Made In included overseeing all customer-facing teams such as phone, chat, email, and social, and working strategically with business partners to improve products and solve problems. Prior to Made In, Brandon worked for over a decade in service roles. His career began with the Orlando Magic, where an internship turned into a senior Premium Client Services Manager role. He also served as Hea...
Feb 10, 2022•48 min•Ep 170•Transcript available on Metacast Ashvin Melwani is Co-Founder & CMO of Obvi, one of the worlds fastest growing health & nutrition brands. Since launching in 2019, Obvi has become a pioneering brand in the collagen space, shattering 8 figures in sales with distribution all over the globe. Before Obvi, Ash co-founded Ghost3Media, a digital advertising & growth agency managing over $15M of adspend. 09:55 - Form a supportive community After they had a solid customer base, Obvi invited customers to be a part of a Facebook group. Wit...
Feb 08, 2022•52 min•Ep 169•Transcript available on Metacast Matt Lanter is OpenStores Head of Product and Co-Founder. Matt served as an engineering and product leader at Opendoor, Facebook and Apple. He was the Chief of Staff at Founders Fund where he worked closely with entrepreneurs building the next set of companies. OpenStore provides life-changing liquidity to Shopify business entrepreneurs that are ready to sell their business so they can move on to what's next. Anyone can get a free, no obligation offer for their business within 24 hours by visiti...
Feb 03, 2022•52 min•Ep 168•Transcript available on Metacast Andrew Benin is the co-founder & CEO of Graza, a Brooklyn based DTC brand reimagining extra-virgin olive oil. Andrew previously served at DTC powerhouses including Magic Spoon, Casper, & Warby Parker where he worked in key operational roles. His new brand, Graza, had one of the most successful CPG launches of 2022. 3:29 - Becoming a CPG addict Andrew got his start working for hot DTC Brands like Warby Parker, Casper, and Magic Spoon. It was a thrilling environment, but he knew he wanted to build...
Feb 01, 2022•37 min•Ep 167•Transcript available on Metacast 8:21 - Pivoting from SaaS to ecommerce Raphael was surrounded by Saas founders, but followed his instincts when he found himself far more interested in the ecommerce space. I started SplitBase when most of my friends were SaaS founders, because that's what I was familiar with. I always like, well, SplitBase is going to be a conversion optimization agency for SaaS companies. Now a couple of things. One, I think it would have been better positioned as a churn reduction agency maybe, or something a...
Jan 27, 2022•59 min•Ep 166•Transcript available on Metacast 4:47 - When goals make sense Goals can be a waste of time at a young company. But once you grow, you need to figure out what to prioritize. I think to start off a company where you're at zero and come up with this master plan and all these OKRs and goals, I think it's just a huge waste of time. You should just spend more of that time talking to customers and figuring out building something that they need enough. Because if you don't have product-market fit, what's the point of goals? The point o...
Jan 25, 2022•1 hr 13 min•Ep 165•Transcript available on Metacast 1:26 - Rebuilding the vitamin category Sara realized that traditional vitamins werent built in a way to truly optimize health. I was starting to struggle out of nowhere really with chronic inflammation, digestion, sleep issues, you name it. And I've always considered myself a relatively healthy person. I had a healthy diet. I didn't really know what was going on. Went through a lot of allergy tests and blood tests and found out that I had a lot of gaps in my diet. Because even if you eat a well-...
Jan 19, 2022•42 min•Ep 164•Transcript available on Metacast 4:36 - Embracing clean beauty A long-time advocate of health and clean ingredients, Bobbi Brown founded Jones Road Beauty. The challenge was to make clean versions of all the best products. Bobbi parted ways with her company that she founded and had a non-compete. And most people would be retiring at that age, but she just didn't feel done. And she felt like she had so much that she wanted to teach and so much that she wanted to continue to do. And part of it is throughout her journey she has go...
Jan 17, 2022•34 min•Ep 163•Transcript available on Metacast Key Takeaways 3:35 - Starting with Kickstarter Jarod and his partners knew they could have gone through the formal fundraising process, but wanted to get market validation first. Having some startup cash to kind of get going, especially when you're talking about a CPG brand, it definitely helps a lot for a lot of levers. For us, sure, we could've gone out and raised money. But you know, that's like a 3-6, maybe 9-month process to go get a full round of fundraising. And we just don't want to do t...
Jan 12, 2022•39 min•Ep 162•Transcript available on Metacast During this episode, you will learn about; [00:05] Whats in for you in todays episode [01:36] Whos Shane Rostad and his area of specialty [06:34] Typical mistakes that brands make [08:44] Tips to improve your sites conversion rate [12:48] Things to focus on when brands are collecting customers data [16:54] The different ways to gather qualitative data from your customers [19:41] Commercial Break [20:38] Upselling and cross-selling in the business [28:30] How to do the A/B testing for your site [...
Jan 10, 2022•38 min•Ep 161•Transcript available on Metacast 9:56 - From bio major to builder Daniels journey into entrepreneurship started as the desire to make money for weekend college fun, despite the fact that he didnt have time to work a traditional job. I was a biology major. I was actually going to school to be a dentist and. I always knew that I wanted to be an entrepreneur. And that's what drove me. That was interesting. And doing new projects, stuff like that. Obviously, as a 19-year-old kid, I just had no idea what I wanted to do. And the onli...
Jan 06, 2022•51 min•Ep 160•Transcript available on Metacast During this episode, you will learn about; [00:16] Whats in for you in todays episode [01:43] Bailees career background information [03:57] What is branding and the areas of business it affects [07:28] The importance of brand guide during the branding process [09:49] Branding your brand in a way that resonates with people [12:16] Validating your branding through social channels [14:01] Promoting your brand in Tik Tok when branding [16:01] Commercial Break [17:04] The secrets to a high performing...
Jan 03, 2022•30 min•Ep 159•Transcript available on Metacast 4:47 - The night CROSSNET was invented Chris and his friends were throwing ideas for a product invention at the wall to see if anything stuck when someone mentioned four-way volleyball. ESPN was on in the background. Not sure if that motivated it or not, but Mike wrote down four-way beach volleyball. Mikes one of our other co-founders, grew up playing soccer and basketball. Four-way volleyball net. And we're like, yeah, no shit. That'd be sick. Jumped on Google, and nobody had done it before. An...
Dec 29, 2021•54 min•Ep 158•Transcript available on Metacast [00:16] Whats in for you in todays episode [01:20] Stephanie career backstory [02:39] Eksters customer service before and after Stephanie joined the agency [03:39] The strategy that Stephanie followed in building a scalable team [05:18] The metrics you should focus on to meet customers support demands [06:27] Understanding customer psychology when selling to multiple markets [08:56] Lessons that Stephanie learned while building a customer service team [11:08] Qualitative and quantitative measure...
Dec 27, 2021•24 min•Ep 157•Transcript available on Metacast As you discount your product, you could potentially see better ad conversion. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD Sometimes when you discount to both new and returning customers, and your margin ends up going down. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [01:17] DTC discounting twitter thread Learn more about how and when to discount In todays episode of DTC Finds, were looking at a Twitter thread by David Rekuc, discussing discounting Well dive into this thread and breakdown what he has to say about it as well as ou...
Nov 30, 2021•7 min•Ep 156•Transcript available on Metacast We're helping brands and agencies learn what creatives are working best and why @rezakhadjavi #DTCPOD Teams who take naming conventions really seriously have a really important cultural effect. @rezakhadjavi #DTCPOD We want to create an environment where our creative strategy is data driven. @rezakhadjavi #DTCPOD People are putting on a lot more of a creative strategist hat and thinking critically about the way that they're positioning their product.@rezakhadjavi #DTCPOD Most people don't know e...
Nov 24, 2021•37 min•Ep 155•Transcript available on Metacast Not all organic creative can be paid creative and not all paid creative can be organic creative @flexiblefoodie #DTCPOD If you don't have the right partners in place, it's only going to cost you more down the road, so put time in your creating process. @flexiblefoodie #DTCPOD Just because you have the assets you have doesn't mean you have to present them in the way that you have them. @flexiblefoodie #DTCPOD People don't want to see product after product after product, and so you need to find a ...
Nov 19, 2021•30 min•Ep 154•Transcript available on Metacast It's common nowadays to see lots of discounts around the holiday season, and so why not take this opportunity to really ramp up your sales @jayde3sai #DTCPOD Bundles give you an opportunity to generate more value out of each transaction @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [00:44] Black friday and cyber monday strategy article [01:47] Rewards and bundle discounts [04:20] Testing new products and categories [06:25] Giving Tuesday Tips and tricks for generating the most value out of black friday and...
Nov 17, 2021•8 min•Ep 153•Transcript available on Metacast We're basically curating all of the Web's emerging brands, culture defining brands all in one place. @ maggiebethgibson #DTCPOD We're trying to simplify the vast web of DTC brands that are currently continuing to pop up in the market @ maggiebethgibson #DTCPOD We really want to give a voice to underrepresented founders and allow people to shop on their brand values and support the brands that align with those values. @ maggiebethgibson #DTCPOD We test and try every product that is on our site. @...
Nov 12, 2021•29 min•Ep 152•Transcript available on Metacast An editors pick section for your blog is great because you have some really high performing content that maybe is performing well on search or something that you want to highlight specifically that you think is important to helping people and guiding people through the purchase process. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD Make sure you have some strong internal linking. That's a good SEO that you can do to help improve the performance of your individual blog pages. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [00:39] Twit...
Nov 09, 2021•8 min•Ep 151•Transcript available on Metacast It's really all about the resources that you have and how you can really put that together @kristenxjones #DTCPOD We're inclusive, and you have to be consistent in that and really show up for every person that you represent whenever you have that type of branding. @kristenxjones #DTCPOD Understanding the customer journey in the beginning, I think, is the most important thing that you can do before getting started with an outline. @kristenxjones #DTCPOD You want it to be really clear in the begin...
Nov 04, 2021•34 min•Ep 150•Transcript available on Metacast A really good strategy that you can do with SMS heading into Black Friday Cyber Monday is sending an email push for SMS sign ups for early access. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD SMS is very different than email, in the sense that SMS messages should be more skimmable than email. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [00:41] Strategies to boost SMS sales and sign ups [04:51] Optimizing the landing page and DTC examples BFCM SMS sign up strategies plus a big landing page guide In todays episode of DTC Finds, wer...
Nov 02, 2021•13 min•Ep 149•Transcript available on Metacast We built the brand up to this incredible business that has helped so many women find the right beauty products for them @itsJoanneCoffey #DTCPOD There's so much information that people are just putting into your hands, all you have to do is know how to find it and how to use it. @itsJoanneCoffey #DTCPOD We're really creating a relatable experience to that customer. @itsJoanneCoffey #DTCPOD We work on a very short basis because we want to adapt to trends and we want to have that room and that fle...
Oct 29, 2021•28 min•Ep 148•Transcript available on Metacast If you're working on consumer goods, stay focused, double down in that sense before jumping into retail. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD If you can give some sort of estimate of shipping speed, that's a really good thing to add in @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [00:57] Awesome twitter thread from Corey Nicholson [06:29] Cushion Labs product page Learn more about this DTC data and how to optimize the virtual buying experience In todays episode of DTC Finds, were looking at a great Twitter thread discussin...
Oct 26, 2021•10 min•Ep 147•Transcript available on Metacast Influencers have proven organically to be able to create content that engages with people @TaylorLagace #DTCPOD We're trying to find as many veins as possible to bleed dry, and once one starts going, we want to lean into that as much as possible. @TaylorLagace #DTCPOD People tend to allow human decision making into the matter a little bit too much. @TaylorLagace #DTCPOD The only way you lose the only way you miss the opportunity is if you do not put the creative into the account and let Facebook...
Oct 21, 2021•33 min•Ep 146•Transcript available on Metacast DataMilk analyzes your users behavior and then it launches UX changes automatically and then tests them to see how conversion goes. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD Figure out what is the right discount for your brand that is relevant to your margin. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [00:20] What does DataMilk do for your brand [03:21] Top DTC holiday campaigns Steal these DTC finds for deals and profits In todays episode of DTC Finds, were looking at a great Twitter thread discussing how 437 DTC brands ran ...
Oct 19, 2021•10 min•Ep 145•Transcript available on Metacast You need one single unified environment to manage your businesses @ jbernard23 #DTCPOD There's such a connectivity between how a digital commerce grows, and you really need to have all of that data in one environment. @ jbernard23 #DTCPOD The digital commerce landscape has changed in terms of consumer expectations for speed and shipping costs. @ jbernard23 #DTCPOD There's a great opportunity, I think, for innovation still with meeting that need for discoverability and experience for consumers. @...
Oct 15, 2021•30 min•Ep 144•Transcript available on Metacast Returns don't necessarily mean that someone didn't like your product, it might be that it just wasn't the right product for them. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD Having a really good process in place for potential exchanges or even outlining that policy is something all stores should be thinking about. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [01:52] SMS templates you need to steal [03:55] A product that will help you turn returns into exchanges to save revenue Check out these DTC finds for SMS and returns In toda...
Oct 12, 2021•8 min•Ep 143•Transcript available on Metacast I'm thinking very consciously about the impact that I'm having. @ trevorcarlson1 #DTCPOD The biggest mistake people can make is assume that their target customer speaks the same way that they do and that they already know everything that they're trying to tell them. @ trevorcarlson1 #DTCPOD You're not going to marry somebody on the first date, so why would you expect somebody to buy from you when they don't know who you are. @ trevorcarlson1 #DTCPOD You need a large amount of creative to test, a...
Oct 07, 2021•32 min•Ep 142•Transcript available on Metacast Mentioning free shipping and returns is something that can help to ease buyer concerns. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD Put together a link strategy for sending pre-filled carts via text using Shopify permalinks. @jayde3sai #DTCPOD We Speak About: [00:46] Season Three email strategy to ease buyer concern [02:58] Shopifys SMS link strategy Try this email from Season Three and this SMS link strategy from Shopify In todays episode of fantastic emails and texts, were looking at content from Season Three and a gr...
Oct 05, 2021•6 min•Ep 141•Transcript available on Metacast 
