🥗 Community Ignored? Here’s What You're Losing…

Hey there,

Welcome to another bite to chew on.

In this newsletter, we’re going to explore the brand-changing power of community in the DTC space.

Icons like MrBeast, Mid-Day Squares, and HexClad all have inspired us to do things a little differently. 

We’ll dive into how we’ve fostered our own vibrant community, so you can go and do the same for your brand. 

Here’s our perspective:

We aren’t just trying to get a customer to purchase once…

Our goal at Obvi is to create a space where customers feel they belong.

Building Deeper Bonds

Educate and Engage

Taking a page from MrBeast's book, we believe in connecting with our community through meaningful engagement and giving back.

We ensure our customers get the most out of their experience with us.

One of our biggest successes was our 6-week Burn Challenge.

We kept everyone accountable in a private community outside of the public group with advice on:

• Meal Prep

• Bringing Obvi Products into Your Daily Routine

• Motivation

• Health Education

• How to Achieve Your Goals

At the end of the 6 weeks, we gave out cash prizes (THOUSANDS of dollars) for the top 3 transformations, as voted on by the community.

It goes way beyond health and supplements for us.

Take what your product and service is, and picture how it affects people’s lives.

Grow that conviction by being there, in person, going through the change with them.

You’ll create a bond better than any of your competitors could ever dream of doing.

Transparency is Key

Just like Mid-Day Squares, we aim to share the genuine story behind our brand.

The wins and, more importantly, the losses build trust and a deeper sense of belonging within our community.

We only take action after we’ve gone live, set up a Q&A, or talked to our community.

Our 6-figure launch days wouldn’t have happened without us going live in our Facebook group to talk about what our customers actually wanted

People want to hear it directly from YOU.

It creates trust and your customers will feel supported.

Create Together

Inspired by HexClad, we invite our customers to share their experiences and collaborate with us. This makes our brand an essential part of their daily lives.

We were getting more and more requests for a coffee flavor.

(Through engaging in our community, we found out a lot of people were mixing collagen with their daily coffee)

There’s a lot of flavors to choose from right? Vanilla Latte, Caramel Macchiato, Mocha, etc.

So, we told community we needed suggestions, then we’ll vote on them LIVE, together.

We created a March Madness-like bracket typeform, and had a live voting with us tallying up all the votes right there on the screen.

Caramel Macchiato was chosen as the flavor.

It sold out not once, not twice, but three separate times after bringing the flavor back.

All from directly engaging with our community.

Beyond the First Sale

Keep the Conversation Going

Following in MrBeast's footsteps, we're dedicated to surprising and engaging our audience well beyond their initial purchase.

We make sure there's a lasting relationship. 

We actually talk to our customers about exactly what they’ve purchased.

There’s no “Thank you for purchasing Obvi.” emails…

Instead it is “Thank you for purchasing Collagenic Burn! We’d love to hear your thoughts and what your goals are!”

We send our customers:

• Surveys about their purchases

• Interviews with Us (We’ve Done Thousands to Date)

• Challenges to do

• Programs to join

We’ve always wanted our community engagement to be like meeting with friends for a book club.

But the books are Obvi products.

Bonds Beyond Buying

We took a cue from Mid-Day Squares and searched for ways to show our appreciation and keep the conversation open with our customers.

We celebrate their stories and feedback. 

In our post purchase emails, we went further than a generic “join our community” link…

Bleh and Boring.

We include actual posts from customers in the group for even further social proof.

Your own customers are your best marketers, USE THEM.

Be Where Your Customers Are

Learning from HexClad's strategy, we offer a seamless experience across all platforms and touchpoints.

This reinforces our community bonds. 

It doesn’t stop at our DTC space either.

Getting into retail (Vitamin Shoppe, Walmart, Target, etc.) can stress and split attention from your online community right?

We set up reward point giveaways to connect the two.

For example, after a launch into a new chain, if the customer would post or send in their receipt, we gave 3x the points in our rewards program.

You have to be creative.

Develop layer after layer of integration so you’re always around where your customer are.

A Community That Grows Together, Stays Together

The success stories of MrBeast, Mid-Day Squares, and HexClad inspire us.

They remind us of the HUGE value that a thriving community brings to a brand. 

The curious customer to engaged Obvi community funnel looks like this:

1. A customer will get sent a personalized product email post purchase encouraging them to all the kinds of community engagement listed above.

2. They become more involved and join our Facebook group.

3. We then approach the more active and consistent users to Admin in the Facebook group to foster an even greater community.

We currently have 6 Admins, but we see that number growing to 10, 15, 20…

These people become the authority and face of the group that continuously helps each other.

We have close to 80,000 people encouraging and helping each other towards their goals.

And that group will only continue to GROW.

Next Steps You Can Start Now

• Engage: Deepen your conversations and connections within the community. 

  Reply to comments on social media. 

  Go live on whatever platform your community is on and TALK TO THEM. 

• Be Open: Share your brand's journey, the highs and the lows, with honesty and openness. 

  Being relatable is a connection ad money can’t buy.

• Collaborate: Encourage contributions and co-creation from community members.

  Customers will gravitate towards you knowing they're helping build and change things within the brand.

  Stagnation kills. All of the above will give you an exact pipeline on what to change and how to change it.

• Listen: Let community feedback be your compass for growth and innovation.

  Your community will be your harshest critics. You HAVE TO pay attention to the front lines.

Tool of the Week

If community is the soul of a brand, cash flow is the heartbeat.

Cash flow fuels operations, growth, and community engagement.

Every dollar counts, especially when it comes to seizing opportunities and staying ahead in a competitive landscape.

Imagine having the flexibility to allocate funds strategically, without being tied down by immediate payments.

We unlock this power of cash flow optimization with Plastiq.

Plastiq allows us to extend payment terms by up to 60 days, so we have the freedom to invest in inventory, A/B test marketing campaigns, or innovative CX without draining resources.

We have the ability to choose where and when capital goes.

By leveraging Plastiq, you can make the most out of your expenses, turning them into opportunities for growth and innovation.

Forget about cash flow constraints and check them out HERE to completely change your approach to cash flow management.

#ProudPartner

Thanks for Reading Along

We shape our journey by continuously interacting with our community.

We do this by listening and evolving. 

Thank you for helping us not only build a brand but nurture a community.

We hope we’ve helped inspire a future for your community.

We want each member of yours to feel valued, heard, and excited about what comes next.

We definitely are!

All the best,

Ron & Ash