Customer Story: Sam & Lucie from Ripple

Catching up with the Sam & Lucie, the dynamic sibling duo behind Ripple: Plant Powered Puffs to help you quit smoking.

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Welcome Sam & Lucie! So when did D2C become a big part of the equation for Ripple? 

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When we started, we were naive business founders (as most people are in their first venture). So we tried to de-risk ourselves and try every sales route readily available to us. And that was retail (pharmacies, convenience stores, wellness stores) as well as online. And we’ve kept that omni-channel approach throughout - but D2C’s been an increasingly great tool for us.

What are the biggest benefits in having a strong D2C arm? 

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It allows us to be nimble, to engage with our customers and community and get a ton of feedback. It also allows us to deliver our vision in the most controlled environment: From the website to the unboxing experience, we control the entire narrative from start to finish - that’s a massive opportunity there for creative expression.

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Let’s chat acquisition: What have been some of the biggest levers to pull from?

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We’ve always found that doubling down on organic content is a great way for us to get eyeballs. We are obviously investing in other channels such as paid, but every Monday morning - we kick off the week with a report on organic content - not on paid. We take our owned channels (Tik Tok, Instagram, Twitter) very seriously. 

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We truly see organic as the place where the brand is being built. Off of those building blocks, we're then able to see what the customer connects with, and leverage those insights across other channels. 

What about retention: What’s working for you? 

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#1 for us is product expansion. Releasing new formulas, is a great and exciting way to bring people back into the Ripple world. And then after that - retention is mainly driven via email marketing. We take email very seriously and try to keep that channel relevant around our seasonal comms and in-line with current brand marketing & messaging. 

Shifting gears to discuss Storetasker: What made you decide to work with us? 

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In the early days of Ripple, we weren't necessarily needing to be as nimble as we are today. We weren’t driving as much traffic, and didn’t have as much on the line. So we settled for working with an agency which consisted largely of a designer and some developer resources behind that .

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But we were powerless to make any changes to the site. We were going through a designer, to then get in touch with the developer - there was a lack of communication in the handover of work. So we explored the freelancer route, but frankly, we struggled to trust anyone. If things went wrong with a freelancer, we didn’t have anyone to go to - we were quite insecure about that. 

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That all changed with the introduction of Storetasker. We’ve regained our power and confidence over our tech roadmap. Being able to speak directly to a dev who can get things done in 24 hours as opposed to dealing with unnecessary 2 week lead times has been an absolute gamechanger. 

We no longer need to “save up” ideas and document long in-depth briefs, we can move so much faster thanks to Efosa and Storetasker. 

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We're so so glad to hear it! Last question from me: What’s the Ripple secret sauce? What’s been your key to success so far? 

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We are big believers in everything happens for a reason! We trust our gut and do what feels right for the ripple family in all decision making. Commitment to our mission and our community is genuine and we think this is what has built ripple into an authentic and relatable brand - HOPEFULLY, set up for success in the future! 

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