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In this episode, Yan interviews Ponchitta, founder of Ponch Cosmetics, about her journey from a skincare mishap to creating a successful, plant-based cosmetic brand. Ponchitta discusses acquiring her first customers through community events, the crucial role of email marketing in customer retention, and unique strategies that differentiate her brand. She also shares insights on future growth and the importance of maintaining strong community connections. Tune in to learn how Ponch Cosmetics leverages community and retention for success.


Community and Retention: The Heart of Growth at Ponch Cosmetics

**Yan**: Hello and welcome to the podcast. Today, we're joined by Ponchitta from Ponch Cosmetics. We'll discuss how they manage customer relations and invest in retaining customers. Let's start with the story behind the brand. Hello Ponchitta, how are you?

**Ponchitta**: Hi, Yan. I'm fine, thank you. How about you?

**Yan**: I'm well, thank you. So, tell us about your brand. How did it get started?

**Ponchitta**: When I was 16, I suffered a skin burn from using a very strong skincare product, which unfortunately left a scar on my face. After unsuccessfully searching for products to remove the scar, I embarked on a journey to find cleaner, more effective skincare solutions. Years later, this experience inspired me to choose cosmetics for a marketing class project, which eventually led to the creation of my brand.

**Yan**: Interesting! How did you acquire your first customers?

**Ponchitta**: Initially, my professor encouraged me to launch the brand. I organized a launch event, inviting about a hundred people. Fifty showed up, and I made about two thousand dollars in the first two hours. That success motivated me to host more events to build community, as I didn't have distribution channels at that time.

**Yan**: Were these physical events?

**Ponchitta**: Yes, they were all physical events.

**Yan**: At what point did you decide to venture into e-commerce?

**Ponchitta**: Not long after starting, I launched an online store to direct customers to my products. However, I continued hosting personal events to build and nurture my community.

**Yan**: How do you maintain contact with your community? Do you use social media, or is it mainly through emails?

**Ponchitta**: The community events were crucial for building my email list. I gathered email addresses at these events, which became the primary way I connected with my community and retained customers over time.

**Yan**: So, you invest heavily in email marketing?

**Ponchitta**: Yes, email marketing has been the most successful strategy for me. More people engage with my emails than with my social media content.

**Yan**: And how do you differentiate yourself from the competition?

**Ponchitta**: Our brand stands out because of our commitment to plant-based, organic, non-toxic, clean, and holistic products. We source our ingredients from Mexico, which is beneficial since we're based in Texas and have direct access to these natural resources. This proximity allows us to offer fresh and effective products that our competitors, who source ingredients from distant islands, cannot match.

**Yan**: That's fascinating. In terms of marketing, what unique strategies do you employ?

**Ponchitta**: Our approach focuses on leveraging our community. We started with in-person events, which helped us form strong, personal connections. These events evolved into a referral and brand ambassador program, where long-standing customers receive exclusive products and services, helping to attract new customers and strengthen our brand.

**Yan**: It sounds like you've built a strong community foundation. As you plan for future growth, do you find managing this community challenging?

**Ponchitta**: Currently, the community is manageable, but as we aim to grow into a global brand, we anticipate challenges. We're preparing for this growth and ensuring we can maintain control and direction.

**Yan**: Are you still hosting in-person events?

**Ponchitta**: Yes, we've adapted by hosting more pop-up events and online promotions, like our upcoming one for National Lipstick Day. These events have been instrumental in promoting our brand and expanding our reach.

**Yan**: That's a great success story, Ponchitta. It's exciting to see where your business will go next.

**Ponchitta**: Thank you, Yan. I appreciate your time and interest in our journey.



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In this first edition of the Beans podcast, Lance Herrington, founder of Unico Nutrition, discusses their customer retention strategies. He shares how Unico Nutrition began during his college hockey days with the creation of clean, homemade supplements. Lance highlights attracting a unique customer base focused on health and athletic performance and evolving their marketing strategies from Facebook to TikTok. Emphasizing the importance of email marketing and a robust rewards program, he explains how consistent product innovation and tracking customer behavior are crucial to maintaining loyalty in a competitive industry.


Unico Nutrition’s Customer Retention Playbook with Lance Herrington

**Yan**: Welcome to this first edition of the Beans podcast, where we're going to interview Lance Herrington from Unico Nutrition to learn more about the story and how they manage customer relations.

**Yan**: Do you mind telling us a bit about yourself and your brand, and how it got started?

**Lance**: Yeah, for sure. My name is Lance Herrington. I started Unico Nutrition about 11 years ago. I was a college hockey player at the University of Vermont from 2008 to 2012. During that time, the NCAA, which is the regulatory governing body of our sport, ramped up their drug testing policy in a big way. All the powders and energy drinks we used to take to perform at a high level were no longer allowed because we didn't know exactly what was in them. Our coaches didn’t want us to risk our eligibility just for the sake of taking a supplement. So, we weren’t allowed to take any of that anymore.

But I knew we benefited greatly from those products, especially with our intense practices and training sessions. I ended up working with our sports nutrition department to develop our own homemade versions of these products. They were very stripped down, with no flavoring initially, but we could get the recovery and performance benefits without risking our eligibility because we knew what we were putting into them. That’s how I got into formulating and developing products. When I graduated, my hockey career wasn’t going to Hollywood, so I took those products, put them on Google, and the rest is kind of history. There was a demand for cleaner ingredient products then, and there still is today. That’s the origin story.

**Yan**: That's very interesting and original. Your first customer base was basically your teammates?

**Lance**: Yeah, for sure. My teammates were the first customers. When I made the first production run and put them online, it attracted a lot of competitive athletes and women who didn’t trust the typical marketing of supplements geared towards bodybuilders. Our products were more about athletic performance and being the healthiest version of yourself. It attracted a different type of customer that the traditional supplement market didn’t cater to. Nowadays, you see more female-focused brands and a broader range of products in the supplement industry.

**Yan**: You mentioned earlier that Facebook was the first platform you used for external reach.

**Lance**: Yes, Facebook. Our business model has shifted like many direct-to-consumer brands. Advertising platforms evolve over time. We’ve had success with Facebook, Instagram, and now we’re focusing more on TikTok. One thing I’ve learned is not to get too dependent on one marketing strategy because things change so quickly.

**Yan**: At that time, did you already have your online shop set up?

**Lance**: Yes, we’ve always had our own e-commerce website. We used Facebook for marketing and advertising to drive traffic to our website.

**Yan**: How do you keep in touch with your customers?

**Lance**: Our most consistent way of keeping in touch with customers is via email. We partnered with Klaviyo, which has become the gold standard for email marketing. Social media platforms can change their algorithms, making it difficult to reach your audience without paying for ads. Email, on the other hand, gives you more control. We’ve been consistent with email marketing since day one.

**Yan**: Do you also do content marketing, like a blog?

**Lance**: Yes, content marketing has been important for us, especially for SEO. We still update our blog regularly, despite the rise in popularity of video content. Our blog helps customers understand how to use our products, the science behind them, and more about our brand. It’s a mix of marketing and providing a resource for our customers.

**Yan**: How do you invest in customer retention?

**Lance**: Customer retention is crucial in the supplement industry. Our rewards program plays a significant role in this. We use the Beans product for our loyalty program because it integrates well with our other systems like Klaviyo. Keeping our product mix fresh with new flavors and launches also helps. It's important to keep customers engaged and excited about our brand.

**Yan**: You mentioned periods of lower retention. How did you identify and address the issues?

**Lance**: We track where customers come from and monitor their behavior. If a particular marketing channel isn’t driving loyal customers, we adjust our strategy. Consistent product launches and flavor innovation are key to maintaining customer loyalty. We also analyze customer feedback and monitor retention metrics closely.

**Yan**: Thank you for sharing your insights. It's clear that innovation and customer engagement are vital to your strategy.

**Lance**: Absolutely. Innovation and a strong rewards program are crucial. We’re excited to continue improving our loyalty program with Beans.

**Yan**: Thank you for your time, Lance. It’s been great talking with you.

**Lance**: Of course, happy to do it.


The Retention Loop Podcast!

Recent episodes

Community and Retention: The Heart of Growth at Ponch Cosmetics

Unico Nutrition’s Customer Retention Playbook with Lance Herrington

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