Mariah Parsons and Jonathan Penna, Co-Founder of ORBYT Skin & Azio Beauty, discussed their experiences navigating the challenges of e-commerce during the COVID-19 pandemic. Jonathan shared his journey of transitioning from a bakery to an e-commerce business, highlighting the challenges of scaling an operation during a global health crisis. 

Mariah provided context and asked questions to delve deeper into the topic, exploring the impact of COVID-19 on the e-commerce industry and the strategies for adapting to the new normal. Later, Mariah and Jonathan discussed various strategies for building successful subscription-based businesses, including personalization, direct-to-consumer marketing, and optimizing subscription retention and growth. 

Jonathan shared their experience with onboarding AI-powered customer support tools like Sienna AI, emphasizing the importance of careful onboarding and optimizing automations.

This podcast is sponsored by Malomo, a leading shipment and order tracking platform for Shopify and Shopify Plus ecommerce brands. 

To see what your personalized mockup of branded order tracking and transactional email/SMS would look like, fill out this form & we’ll send your free design right to your inbox!

Episode Timestamps:

• 3:49 Skincare brand development and marketing strategies

• 9:10 Pre-orders and subscription model for a brand, with focus on education and UGC to drive sales

• 13:37 Marketing strategies for a skincare product with pre-orders and subscriptions

• 18:36 Implementing dynamic pricing for subscriptions, with focus on customer frustration and retention

• 23:02 Increasing subscription conversions through easy customization and control transfer to customers

• 28:44 Subscription services and customer preferences

• 34:12 AI-powered customer support tool and retail expansion

• 38:50 Strategies for expanding a subscription-based e-commerce business