Intro 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Ecom Experiences, a podcast for ecommerce marketing leaders who want to grow and scale their brands faster. Join us as we interview some of the smartest brand founders and marketing leaders in the industry. Explore the lessons they learned, discover the keys to their success and discuss what excites them most about the future.

Samir Balwani 0:32

Hi, it's Samir Balwani here, host of Ecom Experiences where we talk to brand founders and marketing leaders about their experiences growing brands. This episode is brought to you by QRY. QRY is a paid media agency that helps brands balance brand awareness and performance marketing to drive predictable and profitable growth, to learn more about how we can help you visit. We areqry.com, I'm really excited today I have Mila Mendez, the Vice President Digital Media and Ecommerce at ReVive Skincare. So grateful to have you. Can't wait to talk. Thanks so much for joining us. 

Mila Mendez 1:07

Happy to be here. Thank you.

Samir Balwani 1:10

Let's start with just background on the brand. It's kind of such an amazing story. I'd love to for you to tell our listeners about it, and kind of how it came, to be sure.

Mila Mendez 1:21

So ReVive Skincare started about 28 years ago by Dr Gregory Brown, who is a plastic surgeon by trade, and as a result of his practice, he was trying to see how to help his patients have skin recover much faster after medical procedures, such as surgeries on your skin, or even he was dealing a lot with burn victims as a result of his kind of research on his patients and really trying to look into skin renewal On a much faster timeline he collaborated with then already Nobel Prize winning technology on skin cell renewal and speeding up that process. And He came up with what is now our best selling product for over 27 years, which is called moisturizing renewal cream that really has this effect on having skin regenerate much faster and in a much healthier way. So that's kind of the backbone of the brand. Building on that Dr Brown really grow the grew the brand through a couple of decades, ended up launching many now iconic products, and brand as a result, continues to really be well positioned and respected in the skincare field. And now the brand is, like I said, 27 years in life, and continues to grow through this whole period and continues to launch some amazing, really kind of innovative products without compromising on this scientific background.

Samir Balwani 3:17

That's amazing. I always love a brand that starts with like a need and a pain point solution, and then kind of expanding from there and Emil. What's your role? You know, I introduced you as vice president of digital and E comm. That's a huge purview. So what kind of fits under your your view? Sure. So

Mila Mendez 3:38

we have multiple ecommerce channels of distribution. One of them is, of course, our brand site, which is a global site the ships to, I would say, almost all countries, all around the globe. And then we have our retail partners who are either brick and mortar based, and they have their retailer.com presence, of course, and then we have our pure, pure play partners, which are digital only marketplaces that we also sell to. So all of those entities are under my team's kind of either complete management or involvement. And then, in addition to that, all of our paid media and any kind of digital marketing efforts such as affiliate or media buying in space, and, of course, all of our classic paid acquisition stuff is under my teams.

Samir Balwani 4:39

That's a huge role. What's your favorite part about it? There's so much. I mean, I there's probably a lot of favorites. But what gets you excited about the role? I think it's

Mila Mendez 4:52

really never letting go the fact that it's a 24/7, but. Business. So it's a store that never closes. So if you think you're gonna have a dull day, I think that exists in ecommerce, and I know it's it's kind of been said before, but it really is a full ecosystem of multiple things that have to be considered on a daily basis in order to generate a conversion. And so that's the fun part, right? If you're that kind of personality, if that fits you, if you're somebody who's who's kind of finds themselves okay with juggling a couple of things at the same time and seeing an immediate effect, right? So I do get it's, it's a lot of satisfaction to see and end of day sales revenues, which is much faster than it was in a in or is in a classic wholesale business.

Samir Balwani 5:50

I know I like waiting for receipts at the end of the month to be like, All right, how much should we do? How much are returns, versus being able to I Google Analytics or like a data dashboard is my Achilles heel, because you just look at it, you're just like, curious about All right, well, how are we doing? I think the Shopify app is such a double edged sword, because as you're watching, like, orders come through, you get really excited about it, but then it's like, oh, wait, I should go back to doing stuff that's actually going to move the needle instead of just watching what's happening here.

Mila Mendez 6:21

Gratification. But, yeah, it has pain points, but that's the fun part.

Samir Balwani 6:25

Yeah, and it must be so interesting having a Global website, because the idea of it always being on, like, we have some clients that sell specifically in a certain country, and so it kind of goes with their time zone, and then that's it. You know, by end of day, we know kind of where we're netting out, versus being on a global website and having purchases all over you're probably hitting all times a day.

Mila Mendez 6:48

Yes, I think being a US North American brand, I would say that is majority of the business for sure, and the brand is really expanding globally much faster in the brick and mortar space. But yes, having that global presence is great because it alleviates a lot of conversations that may happen because you all of a sudden get featured by a German influencer or et cetera. So that's super helpful when you have a global business. That means you can ship anywhere and you have it all sorted through. So even though you may not be a equal partner to all of those countries, being North America based,

Samir Balwani 7:32

that's awesome. That's amazing. So, big role, big team. What are the biggest challenges you and your team are dealing with right now? And I guess, how are you overcoming them? I think

Mila Mendez 7:49

having enough kind of content fueling the content requirements of all of your digital channels is something that really ramped up, I would say, right before covid. Or, you know, it's, it's been a while now, but any brand that existed prior to or it's not, kind of native to this recent development is, is having a challenge producing enough on a daily basis, and kind of adjusting everything from budgets to how do you see yourself as a brand? And you know, what do you need to be in? Which channel? How do you open? How do you perceive the brand there? How do you then make that convert? Right? And so is this channel for acquisition, this new digital channel is for something else. So I think those are the conversations that always sort of start around content, and then it really needs to be fully something on top of mind of of everybody in the company, which in our case, it is, and having that be the first thing you solve for every product launch or on a monthly basis, is really good, because it goes hand in hand with building that awareness not paying too much for your cost, you know, acquisition costs, and really kind of aligning that with everything else that you're doing. So I think that's the biggest challenge that we're dealing with. In addition to that, I would say the just the rising costs of everything, right? I think digital is no different than in brick and mortar or inflation is hitting everywhere, across the board. And then lastly, it's just as a result of that, it's much tougher to acquire customer at a lower cost. So you see your your acquisition costs going up. And so how are you going to do that in, you know, quarter to quarter, aligning that, adjusting that, I think, is kind of almost, I would say, in my team's case, it's a monthly exercise. We don't go a month without discussing it. And so have. Your right partner. There is key in your agencies. Who are you working with? And, of course, having internal understanding in the company as well?

Samir Balwani 10:07

Yeah, I think the idea of content is oftentimes overlooked because people think, oh, yeah, like, we'll just create some social content and then we'll, like, repurpose it wherever we want. And the reality of situation is how you speak to each person on each stage of the customer, versus what channel they're on, like Tik Tok, is very different than Instagram, which is very different than if you were creating like Reddit content. But and then, is it paid? Is it organic? Plus with with skincare, there's a lot of education, right? Because they you need to really storytell around it, because it's hard for someone to experience it

Mila Mendez 10:45

exactly. And in our case, we need to really justify the price. So we're really a luxury skincare brand, and with this kind of proliferation of just skincare in general, right? Like it's it's relatively tough to for consumers more and more to understand why something costs versus versus some other things. So consumer has a lot of choice, has an opportunity to really research well, has all tools at their disposal to really look into ingredients and that kind of stuff. So, but you know, just like we say, not every Vitamin C is the same, not every formulation is the same, so having the right formula is what makes difference in in products, and that formula being really something innovative, is not based just on one active ingredient, but constantly educating and reminding the customer to like, really do get what you pay for. And that's kind of, I would say, really tough. And in the second is this kind of mass production of esthetic services that you can now do for which is, you know, I'm not saying it's it's something that everybody does, but it really is more accessible to people and more accepted by society. So skincare is now looked at more as an upkeep in a different way, right? Right? But skincare also helps you, or in our case, in our brand's case, really helps you recover faster from the procedures that you now have more more you were more likely to have than not, right? So investing in that kind of never stops. So that's been interesting, really. And so how do you build the content around that, right? Like, okay, so now you're getting procedure, well, what product, even if it's like, as simple as you know, you're getting a a quick, kind of laser facial or something, right? Like, how do you recover from that faster, so you're not walking around, right? So a lot of everything in beauty, show and tell in the right way. And it always goes back to content and explain to people how, why Right? Like, why do you exist as a brand?

Samir Balwani 13:10

Yeah, yeah. It becomes, like, part of your core differentiator. We talked about how content can become a moat if you have enough of it and have it in a interesting way. So you know, brand voice, brand tonality, brand reasoning, all of that you're storytelling that through content. Where does influencer fit in for you guys? So are you guys using influencer to kind of buoy your content? What are your thinking around that? Yes,

Mila Mendez 13:39

absolutely. And across the board, that's been something that's part of the strategy, I would say, really, even before me joining the company and just ramping up rapidly, right because social sell is really something that's moving the needle if you do it the right way, if you're working with the right people and producing the right content through them. And of course, that then generates the right conversion, builds that kind of audience that you want, because if you work with the right audience. So we do work with influencers, we work with being kind of selective in a way of somebody who really understands our field of skincare, really believes in what we're doing, and he's actually really using the product, right? So usually, most of the time, they are a really well known or respected facialist aesthetician, you know, they're not just kind of influencers built because of their big audience, or et cetera, like they really need to match. And so we have events with them. We have like, facial events with them. We have events with them and Dr Brown, and that is really something that kind of continues our success in the North America brick and mortar, where. We are mostly distributed. And then, of course, now in China and other bigger markets, UK as well, because it's easily translatable because of English. And so that's one spectrum. And then we work with, of course, through our PR agency, with a lot of same, same spectrum of influencers that really believe in the brand. And then, of course, the you know, content producers, influencers who really are interested or savvy in skincare can produce really good content for us, believe and understand the quality of the product. And then they have affiliate codes and can produce the further revenue and etc, etc. So I would say we really do everything on the spectrum, and that allows us to really track what performs what doesn't. And so if, if you don't do it across the board, you may miss a chance. And now we're actually growing our business on Amazon, and we're going to really kind of lean into that for the second half of the year with Amazon ambassadors. Yeah,

Samir Balwani 16:10

yeah, that's interesting. I love the strategic framework from which you guys are kind of tackling influencer. I don't think a lot of people have it laid out nearly as well around, kind of the foundational then this, like little middle tier expert, and then true to your expert, especially for a brand like yours, where you have to, like you said, justify it and prove efficacy. And being able to lean on, like, third party expertise allows you to do that in a really meaningful way, because it's almost like, Hey, I tried this, and it worked for me, that you're foundational, and it's, Hey, I am certified in this, and I know it'll work for you, and you get the message from both ends of the spectrum. So I knew that that is a really interesting perspective and a great setup. I know you also talked about acquisition costs rising and you know, being harder to acquire new customers. How do you guys think about retention then knowing that that's become more and more important, where, how does that fit into the play, and what are you guys doing to kind of activate on the retention side?

Mila Mendez 17:19

Well, first and foremost is really having quality flows in your CRM system. Whatever you're doing, you may be missing out on a lot if you're not consistently checking it with your whoever is your provider for that kind of service. So we are really trying to make sure that that is always as up to date as possible, because these are your people who are already in your funnel. So how do you go back to them? How do you keep them? How do you keep them again, if they dropped off, etc, etc. So we're doing all of those, and then from kind of marketing, promotionality spectrum, right? Making sure that all of your audiences are properly funneled in all of your paid media buys, right? Are you doing the right look alikes? Are you doing the right audience syncs, etc, from your store? So that's really key, because you want to get them, if they fell off at some point, and put them back into your funnel. Give them the best offer. Give them the first view. Give them everything they should be getting as part of your original customer. And of course, then layer on top of that, the super loyal the VVIPs, the somebody who has, like, 1000s of dollars purchased through you, and has kind of a super status. So I think it's something that I always compare to the best hotels in the world and the best airlines and the concierge services, right? So it's like, who gets the premier status? I think you have to look at retention that way. And so how do you do that? So it continues to be something that the brand really stands for. It's not cheapening if somebody just came to the funnel so they don't feel like, oh my god, like, I'm not getting the best deal that I could. So it's kind of making sure that all of that in that whole kind of behind the scenes is properly done, that the products are seen correctly, that you know you're not having some information out there that's outdated, that you might not have missed information in your paid search versus your, you know, paid social, etc. So I think that's really key. And again, having the right partners, having the right service providers, is something that I think should be looked at on a yearly basis, because if you don't, if you're not getting the best SMS flows, if you're not getting the best email flows or suggestions or the right account management, everything is going to Yeah, working at some point, right? So it's really good to audit yourself. But. To also put the pressure on whoever your partners are and make sure am I getting the best possible access to the knowledge banks. So I think that's really, really key for retention. Because if you don't do all of that, all you're going to do is just rely on the new people, and then the new people only buy ones and never buy again. And so how does that look like in across everything is key for our team, and I think it's something it really, really worked a lot on in 2023 for us, and it's kind of paying off in 2024

Samir Balwani 20:33

Yeah, that concept of like a leaky bucket, right? You don't want a leaky bucket. You want to make sure that you're and retention is always It seems simple, and then you like, jump into it. You're like, oh, wait, no, it's actually really, really complicated, and there's segments making sure no segments overlap. I think the worst case scenario is when you end up with someone in two segments and they get two different offers, and now there's customer confusion and customer unhappiness, and you potentially turned a loyal customer into someone that doesn't want to buy from you because you just don't seem organized, and it's like a brand experience issue then at that point, right? So, yeah, I think that that is such a thoughtful thing that the listener should absolutely take away a really visit your retention programs and make sure that they're working really well for you. Yes, we talked a lot about challenges. What are you excited about for the future? What's you know the next year look like for you guys, and what things are getting you excited? Well, testing

Mila Mendez 21:37

some new channels of distribution is really exciting for us in the online space. It's definitely been a challenge for a lot of multi brand sites in the digital ecommerce space, especially in the lifestyle, fashion and beauty. So what we're looking in like I mentioned, is leaning into some new ones, like Amazon for us, it's a new one, and Tiktok shop, and, you know, expanding in social in that way. And then, you know, I'm like, I said, it's a 24/7 business, so I'm always excited with improving anything that has to do with your own site, because it is your digital flagship, global digital flagship that should look and feel the best way and operate in the best possible way. So I'm really excited about doing some things that will really improve that experience. And then all you know that means all the new toys that you have to play with, right? So there's new tools coming with AI, there's new stuff coming with content production. And so if you're somebody that can plan that out the right way, right in kind of chunks, right? So we try to do everything through the end of each quarter. For us, it's every three months, right? So it's like, what? What is this year going to look like, being an election year United States, and kind of adjusting ourselves to that? Then what does 2025, look like, with everything that you need to do, knowing that people really are going to continue to change their behavior online, right? And so it's, it's never a dull moment, right? So I'm just looking to continuing to stay on top of it all and and making sure that team is excited about it and the products are. We know products are really great, so we have something great to sell.

Samir Balwani 23:44

Yeah, that's awesome. It's interesting, because I think product plays such a big role into this. And for you guys, I'm sure the product cycles are longer, so you you you have to play in short term, and then also long term, which is kind of a really interesting place to be in. I have one last question for you. Let me ask everyone this. What advice would you give a new marketing leader?

Mila Mendez 24:13

I would say, make sure you work with the whole company. Do not silo yourself in any possible way, because the knowledge really comes from everybody in the team, and the more your friends you have, and the more connections you can make, and you know, within your company, outside of your company, anywhere you can you can learn something, right? So I rather say yes than no, especially in the business sense, so you never know when you're going to learn something, meet something, meet somebody, or, you know, learn about a new, new service that you should be offering or playing in or something. So make sure you're open to that. And if you're not, you probably shouldn't be in the marketing, especially not in a digital marketing space. And. If you don't like working kind of in a 24/7 mindset, you shouldn't be in ecommerce, yeah, because it's that's not going to change. And find time every year, every week, to learn something new, right? So it's a quick, it's a quick learning thing that you can do, like 510, 20 minutes, read something, make a note of something, and see if it's something you can apply right away, right? So it's like something that was my favorite thing to learn, is fail and fail fast. Yeah, right. And so it comes from, you know, recent, recent development in the world the business that you can do that right? And so the tech, the tech companies, already found it out. But even that matters everywhere, right? Make sure you try it. If you fail, fail, fast. Move on next, right. And you can kind of do that, right? You can put a page up. That's horrible, and the next day it's not going to be there, like, right? You're, you're forgiven. So I would say, don't be afraid to do that as a as a marketer, as a marketing leader. It's, it's tough, but you also have to be mindful. You have to be, uh, well versed these days in everything that's happening the world is moving in a much faster pace. And learn about the culture and the code you know the cultural developments, and be aware of the fact how that may impact your business. If you're not paying attention to the world around you, then shouldn't be marketing,

Samir Balwani 26:42

yeah, it's gonna pass you by, and you won't even know app and or

Mila Mendez 26:46

you will make a mistake that's actually really costly, right? So you won't fail fast. You will fail fast indeed, which is not good. So I think that's, that's the key, right? You have to be kind of plugged in, in a in, in that way, yeah, yeah,

Samir Balwani 27:05

that's awesome. Mila, thank you so much for joining us. If someone wants to find you online, where can people learn more about you?

Mila Mendez 27:13

LinkedIn. Mila Mendez,

Samir Balwani 27:15

amazing. Thank you again. This was so much fun.

Mila Mendez 27:18

Thank you. It was great talking to you. Have a great day.

Outro 27:30

Thanks for joining us. If you liked it, remember to subscribe, so you'll be notified of new episodes, and if you know someone who would enjoy the show, don't forget to share and leave a review. It all helps us impact more brands. If you're looking to improve your paid media, go to weareqry.com, and schedule a consultation. We're always happy to chat, see you for the next one.

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