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No matter what kind of business you have, or want to have, one of the best strategies to figure out what your customers want from you is to ask. Sounds simple, right? Firsthand feedback from the people handing over their credit cards for your product or service is invaluable when it comes to launching and introducing new offerings into your lineup.
There’s an art to this process, and an artist I love to watch in action is Bethany McDaniel. Bethany created Primally Pure out of pure passion. Her family started an organic livestock farm, and that’s where her appreciation for real ingredients grew. Now, her Primally Pure skincare line is crafted with recognizable, pronounceable ingredients — and you’ve probably heard me gush about them before. When I made changes to my skincare routine during our fertility journey, Primally Pure was and still is my go-to non-toxic skincare of choice.
Now you may have heard Bethany’s name on the podcast before if you’ve been around here for a while. She was a guest back on New Year’s Day 2018. And her business has expanded like crazy since then — Thanks to her continual focus on listening to what her customers want. In the 2020 environment where people are shopping for needs over wants, I’m so excited to hear from Bethany about how the feedback loop is different, and how she’s still showing up in ways both new and devoted customers want.
Want to try (or stock up on) the skincare line I love? Bethany gave me a discount code just for Goal Digger listeners, so head to Primally Pure and use code: GOALDIGGER at checkout for 15% off!
What’s Changed, What Hasn’t
There’s so much that hasn’t changed since the first time Bethany was on the Goal Digger Podcast. Her passion and dedication to natural, non-toxic skin care remains fierce, and she continues to educate her customers and potential customers about the importance of detoxing your products and your life.
But in the two and a half years since that episode, Primally Pure has expanded from seven employees to 33 employees. They’ve relocated to a 14,000 square foot headquarters space and a spa. And of course, new products are in the mix, including the new charcoal deodorant and new tubes that she talked about in the first episode. You’ll have to hit play for the story about the launch of those new deodorant tubes that involved a major delay and customs disaster… But don’t worry, it has a happy ending.
Another thing that remains constant for Bethany is her ability to leverage customer feedback to continually develop and release products that people want most.
Using Customer Feedback
I see Bethany as an expert in the client feedback process, but to her, it just feels like the best way to create and expand her business. While much of the feedback Primally Pure receives comes about in a natural way, they’ve also implemented intentional ways of asking for what their customers want.
In 2020, when consumer habits changed, Bethany revived an idea they had been sitting on for a while — Hand sanitizer. They already had a lot of the ingredients on hand that they needed, and their newest hire was a natural product formulator who was able to develop a hand sanitizer recipe within a week… The fastest they’d ever developed a product.
At launch, some people loved it, but others felt the scent was too strong. “We quickly went back to the drawing board and launched a second option that’s much more mild, has oils that agree with everyone, and came out with that as the regular hand sanitizer. The original formula became our immune boosting sanitizer,” Bethany explained.
Taking that customer feedback not only helped them increase the amount of hand sanitizer they sold, but it also involved the customer in the product development process in a new way.
“Feedback has always guided our product decisions,” Bethany explained. They use Instagram polls to gauge what people want and then as a team review what’s doable and what makes sense within the product line up.
Know Where Your Customer is At
Another way that Primally Pure uses customer feedback is recognizing and understanding where their customer is at — life phase, the state of the world, what they really need from their skincare, etc.
In 2020, Bethany could tell that her customers were seeking tools for self-care and with all the time spent at home, they were looking for products that would enhance their homelife as well.
So in the midst of COVID-19, Primally Pure launched CBD products like masks and serums, and also introduced non-toxic home products like hand soap and room spray.
Are your offers meeting your customer where they’re at? Are you asking them what they want, what they need, or what would be the most helpful at this current time?
How to Handle Reviews
Something that I feel Bethany and her team do so well is graciously responding to reviews, even when they’re not the greatest. Going back to the hand sanitizer they first launched this year, when reviews started coming in that the product wasn’t quite what some people were looking for and the scent was too intense for some customers, her team responded with gratitude versus defensiveness.
It’s easy to read a review that feels negative and quickly respond on the defensive, especially if you care about the product you created and the customers who are spending their money on it (and of course you care!) But Bethany’s advice around this is key.
“It can be tempting to come at things at a defensive point of view,” she began, “But if I’ve learned anything over the last five years it’s that you can’t have an ego over your creations. Of course you’re going to have pride in them, and you’ve put so much into them so you care, but if you want to succeed and really create products that resonate with people, you have to let them be a part of the process.”
More from this Episode
Bethany digs into the different strategies she employs for concentrated pushes to different products throughout the year, what it’s like stepping into the spotlight as the founder of a fast growing company (and how she found the confidence to do so), and tips for checking in with your customers and tapping into what they really want and need.
Want to treat yourself to the non-toxic skincare line that I’ve been *obsessed* with for years? Bethany and Primally Pure gave me a discount code just for Goal Digger listeners, so head to Primally Pure and use code: GOALDIGGER at checkout.
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