EP.143/ RED SPRITE HATS
Crowdfunding, Patents, and Customer Loyalty: Lessons in Building a Unique Ecommerce Brand with Jill Putnam, Founder of Red Sprite Hats
Mariah Parsons, host of Retention Chronicles, has guest Jill Putnam, the Founder & CEO of Red Sprite Hats, on Retention Chronicles. Jill transitioned from corporate finance to entrepreneurship, driven by the desire for flexibility and control over her time. She developed Red Sprite Hats, which are designed to work with hair that is already in an up-do, and patented the product. Jill successfully crowdfunded on Kickstarter in 2020 to fund inventory and patent costs. Jill emphasizes building customer trust and loyalty through high-quality products, personalized packaging, and engaging content. She plans to enhance customer retention with additional emails and styling tips.
Episode Timestamps:
1:34 Jill Putnam's Background and Transition to Entrepreneurship
8:57 The Idea Behind Red Sprite Hats
16:03 Patent Process and Crowdfunding Strategy
27:16 Manufacturing Challenges and Pricing Strategy
31:56 Customer Experience and Retention
37:28 Conclusion and Final Thoughts
EP. 143
JILL PUTNAM
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was completed by an automated system, please forgive any grammatical errors.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Red Sprite Hats, corporate to entrepreneur, accounting background, patent process, crowdfunding success, customer retention strategies, product innovation, manufacturing challenges, customer trust, packaging design, Shopify email marketing, social media engagement, product versatility, market validation, entrepreneurial journey, post-purchase experience
SPEAKERS
Jill Putnam, Mariah Parsons
Mariah Parsons 00:05
Greetings and welcome to retention. Chronicles, the podcast with learnings from expert e commerce brands and partners. I'm your host. Mariah Parsons, if you're here, you're either on a quest for E commerce enlightenment or you accidentally click the wrong link. Either way, I am thrilled you stumbled into our corner of the internet, and I hope you'll stick around. We've got pearls of wisdom for everyone, whether you're running a multi million dollar business or simply just starting out on your entrepreneurial journey. Before we unleash the brilliance of today's guests, let's give a shout out to our podcast sponsor, Malomo. Malomo is so much more than just another Shopify app, their post purchase wizards, making beautiful and branded order tracking smoother than a jazz solo. So our amazing founders, like our guests, can keep their customers happy and up to date while they track their orders. So hit that subscribe button like it'll increase your LTV overnight and go listen to our other episodes at Go malomo.com that's G O M, a, l o m, o.com Get ready for insights, chuckles and perhaps a profound realization or two With this newest episode of retention Chronicles. Hello everyone, and welcome back to retention Chronicles. Thank you for being here. I'm so excited to have you here today, Jill, it is going to be a great time before we get started. I always like to try and give a little bit of context to our listeners of how we met, and that was through Mackenzie Bowers, female founders, only event that she had in August. I thought when we jumped on the call that it was in June, just really, that really goes to show you how quickly these months are going by. But before we get into things, I'm going to have you say hi to our audience and give a quick background on yourself.
Jill Putnam 01:52
Hello. It's so nice to be here. Thanks so much for having me. Like said. My name is Jill, and I'm the owner of red sprite hats. We are the first hats and beanies you can put on when your hair is already up in a messy bun. My background, I am actually an accountant by trade. I was in the corporate world of accounting for over a decade as a controller, Director of Finance and such, before essentially, sort of leaving that world. Well, I left that world to start red sprite hats, and then kind of got pulled in. And so on the side, I am also still doing accounting consulting as, like a fractional CFO for small businesses too. Okay,
Mariah Parsons 02:36
I did not know that that you had, like, also the fractional CFO or Yeah, CFO position. So that's awesome. Okay, learn something new, I guess, which is so exciting. But I knew that your background was in corporate finance, and it's not like unlikely. I'll say that people jump from the corporate world to the entrepreneurial route, or to just like startup world in general. And so, yeah, right. Like, I was just at another founder event in Chicago last week, and the I met another founder who was like, I was quite over the corporate world and just wanted something new. And was like, I'm going to start my own tech company. I was like, that's incredible. So tell us it can be briefly, just about what that transition was like going from, you know, something that's more structured and something that you're familiar with versus something that you're you know, this is the first time that you're diving into a new, new industry.
Jill Putnam 03:44
Yeah, so it's really interesting, because I became very, became an expert, essentially in I still am an expert in the accounting world and logistics and ecommerce operations. And you know, if I can, if you give me data, I can work wonders with it, and then when you then switch to, then you're over everything, it definitely makes it a lot more tricky. And so having that switch, it was exciting. I mean, for me, the biggest thing really was time with my family. I felt like I was missing out on that being in having the nine to five. So I kind of actually did a stepping stone process where I was at the I was at a $55 million company. I was the controller. I was over all of the accounting as well as two other departments for the company, and was often working more than 40 hours a week, and I had my first young son at home, and I just was feeling like I knew that I loved to work, but I was wanted the flexibility of time. So then I, when I I switched positions to a new company where I went part time. So it was a smaller company. 20 in the realm of, like, 5 million, and was their director of finance. So then I was part time. So I was starting to, like, grasp, and I was like, this is this is good, but I'm still having, I don't want to have to ask for time off. That was my thing is. I was like, I hate having to ask for time off to, like, go to a kid's school activity they have, like, school concerts or things, or when my kid is sick. I just, that was, I was like, I just, I hate having to ask for the time off. I want to be in control of my own time without having to, like, get permission from someone else to go and be a part of my kid's life. So that was a lot of the drive, really, to start my own company, and was that drive. So then that I was in, it was about a year, or even two years, where I was like, I'm going to start my own company. And I was like, I don't know what it's going to be, but I know I'm going to do it. And then I had this idea for the hats, and was like, Hey, this is what I'm doing. Like, this is what I'm going to go for. Yeah. So then I had this idea and started kind of doing them simultaneously, like I was director of finance. I was finding manufacturing, and then with COVID hitting and all of that, then I left that corporate job and went in all in on the hats. And then it was like about a year after then launching hats and everything that I also then got pulled back into the accounting world from my, essentially from my the people that I worked with and contacts that I had from the corporate world were actually reaching out to me, and either They had moved on or whatever, and were recommending me or asking, saying, Hey, we've got this other company that could really use your expertise and your specialty, your specialty. I know that you could do this. Can you help them out? Can you help these people out? And I was like, Well, I guess so, yeah. And so then they kind of both have just gone and
Mariah Parsons 07:21
gone from there, yeah, yeah. And it's and consulting, you have, like, you have that flexibility of your own schedule, more so than a part time job, because you very much get to decide what your own book of business is going to be. Of like, can I realistically take on another project, or can I commit to XYZ? If you know, I already have these other obligations. So it does, it does make sense that it kind of fits into the life of being an entrepreneur and being a owner of a of a brand that you can, you can be flexible in your hours, still with consulting,
Jill Putnam 07:58
yeah, exactly. And it's, and that was kind of something that any of my clients that have started to work with me have made it very clear that it's like, yeah, I am. I'm going to be independent, and you are going to work around my schedule, like I'm I'm consulting with you, but I'm setting my hours and I'm setting my rate, and so that I was in control of that, mainly for that time. You know, it's just, I want to be in control of my time. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 08:28
yeah. I think that's many, many people who start their own business. I think that's a major draw to having having to go through all the fun challenges that accompany it? Yes, is getting to control your own schedule. Yeah.
Jill Putnam 08:45
I mean, it does mean that then you work late nights sometimes.
Mariah Parsons 08:49
Yep, you fit in work wherever it'll go, right? Yes, exactly. So tell us about you knew you wanted to have your own business. How did you kind of come along to the idea of the hats that you could wear with your hair up and have a messy bun or a ponytail or a claw clip in. What was there, like, kind of a, I guess, a, what would the word be like, a spark or a moment that you can, like, draw back to, like, Oh, this is when I had the first idea.
Jill Putnam 09:17
Yes, actually, so I, I I've always loved hats. I've, oh, I've loved hats, and the idea of hats, but I was never wearing them. I would I like, was super excited when I bought my first hat as a teenager. And then would never work, because my hair was always on a high ponytail, um, or a messy bun or something. And then it would be after I already done my hair, and then it'd be like, Oh, I can't put a hat on now, because
Mariah Parsons 09:49
my hair simply does not work. Yeah, yeah, it
Jill Putnam 09:51
doesn't work. And I wasn't going to redo my hair to put on the hat. So flash forward, I'm in this phase of like, I. And kind of searching for this idea for my own business. And I was actually scrolling through the apps and saw a site that was like best seller, and it was a hat that just had a hole, like an additional hole in the top, and was like best seller. And I looked at it, and I said, Why is that a best seller? Why are people buying that? That doesn't solve the issue? So it was like,
Mariah Parsons 10:27
like a whole where a bun would be, like, on the top of your head, not like the back, yeah?
Jill Putnam 10:31
So it's just like a little, it's um, it's just kind of like a little oval, yeah, um, in the like, I could show you like we have. So it's like, there's this, and then there's another, just, like hole right here, just little hole. And it's like, that doesn't actually solve, that doesn't actually solve the issue. You're still having to line up your hair. The hole is not big enough for, like, a messy bun. You're still having to line up like a ponytail, though, and then you'd have to create the messy bun after your hair, after you put it on, and then the hat is stuck on your head, um, in those kind of cases, because then you'd have to undo the messy bun to then take off the hat. And it, for whatever reason, just really irked me. Yeah, and I and it stuck with me. And it was like two weeks went by, and I was thinking about it every single day, and I finally thought to myself, Well, someone has to fix this, right? Someone has had to have come up with something better. So I started searching, and I couldn't find it. And then I thought, maybe this is it, like, what if I make it? And I was like, I could do it. And so then I went to my husband, and I said, this is gonna sound ridiculous. I have this idea. And he said, that doesn't sound ridiculous. He was like, go, like, go get some of your friends. Go talk to some people. He was like, it sounds like you've, um, you've, maybe you've got this idea, but go find, go talk to some other people and kind of prove it out to see if people would actually want it. Yeah. And then that kind of got the ball rolling.
Mariah Parsons 12:18
Okay, Okay, nice. I feel like there's the moment of like, is this insane, or is this like, something to pursue? Is really, really true. So, and I feel like that's where a lot of ideas, especially ones that are new to the space, like you, you got a patent on your product, and so we're going to talk about that in a second. But thinking about like, things that are, I guess, I don't want to say like, flooding the market, but things that are, like, very common in the market, and you're like, innovating on the design, per se, or like, you know, the the the product itself isn't super different from other other competitive products on the market. Like, I just looked at my plant holder, and I was like, you can have a lot of different plan holders, right, but they're all plant holders, a different section of plant holders that are innovating. And like, are something new. And so, um, when you're thinking about, like, Okay, does actually designing what the hat was going to look like, of like, because for the viewers who aren't, who aren't looking at the video, it's like a line of buttons going up the back that lead all the way up to, like, the crown of your head. So then you can, kind of like, wrap it around so that your hairstyle, whatever it is like, can stay intact while you also put hat on. So thinking about, like, the design of how you actually wanted it to look, was that kind of, when you, like, had that moment of that aha moment, like two weeks you're thinking about this other hat that had just the little hole? Was that like, immediately you had that idea, or did you kind of have to workshop, like, Okay, what would that actually look like?
Jill Putnam 14:06
It didn't take me very long to actually come up with the idea. It was important for me to have a hidden opening. That was the big, really a big thing for me, because I was like, I want, I want something that when my hair is down, I don't want to see a weird hole in the back of my head. And I was like, I want it to be seamless. It needs to be something that works with every single hairstyle. Because if you're like me, I do my hair first, I need something that works with no matter how I do my hair. So that was a lot of the driver behind it. And so I knew, I think, really the like the snaps, I kind of it was maybe like a week of kind of drawing out things that. Right? And just kind of then, like showing it to like my husband, and kind of being like, does that make sense to you? And just going that way, and just it actually, really didn't take very long, once I focused in and was like, Yeah, I'm gonna solve this. Then it just kind of happened,
Mariah Parsons 15:21
yeah, yeah. I love that. Um, so I mentioned it, but you were able to get a bat in, and that is a can be a daunting task just because you're pulling in, you know, legal and just different governmental bodies that it's like you need to make sure that your idea first is patentable, right? Like that there isn't any other patents on your specific idea, and to make sure that you're writing in a way that will actually get you what you want as as the inventor of said product. So can you walk us through how you were going about getting a patent? Because I know a lot of us have seen those little patent pending or patented stickers when we're buying products, but like actually getting one is not an easy or a quick, quick process. Um, so I think it would really benefit our listeners to hear about it.
Jill Putnam 16:18
Yeah. So, I feel like I kind of lucked out with going through the patent process, because I actually was able to connect with Mackenzie Bauer when I was in this idea phase and idea process, and I knew that I had come up with an idea that I wanted to pursue the patent her out because I didn't want the idea to be stolen, essentially. And that's Mackenzie Bauer, is the co founder of thread, and thread has multiple patents other product. And so I was able to connect with her, and she was gracious enough to connect me with their same attorneys that they use for their patents. So I did a lot of research myself, just kind of confirming that there was not already an existing patent or anything like that. And so then, really it just came down to first the initial discovery call with the attorney going through and then kind of laying out the process and the cost and the timelines and everything like that. And so we were able to kind of go through that whole process together and did a couple different drafts of like the application that we did, and then it was, I think it was about like a year and a half, almost two years from the time that we filed the initial patent, to the, you know, being patent pending then, at that point to then actually receiving the patent. And that was a very exciting, glorious day getting that
Mariah Parsons 18:03
in the mail. Yeah, I bet, because it isn't a guarantee, you know. So, yeah, but it there is that I the patent pending protection that when you apply for said patent in the time that it takes for their office to review, you know, and make sure that there, there isn't anything else like it on the market, or they don't have any other open patents. And to see what, you know, you've what your application says on it, then it's, you know, this, like, low period of, Am I going to get it? Am I not going to get it? But you can start the process of selling or putting your idea out into the world or crowdfunding, or anything else that you want to do, and you're still protected with what had been applied, what what was on your application, with that patent pending status and like, there's also the competitor edge that it's not public information yet, so someone doesn't have to or, like potential other competitors don't know exactly what you filed for, and so it's like this, this nice little like I, when I first learned about that, I was like, I like that for the patent office. Like that is a fun little I guess advantage of look, this process is going to take a while, but you'll be happy if you receive that patent, and you get the bonus of something being patent pending and not public access until you actually get that patent. So you have, like, this little in between area. You know when you're when you're kind of waiting, waiting to see if you get that news? Yes,
Jill Putnam 19:41
yeah, well, and it's, it is very comforting. I think I was overly cautious, too overly cautious when I was starting. And just from like, the marketing perspective, we actually went the crowdfunding route when we launched, and we launched on a Kickstarter and had. Successful Kickstarter launch in 2020 and that was like I did not reveal the back of the hats until I launched the Kickstarter, because part of the Kickstarter was then paying for the patent process and paying for the patent and so, and I was but so that was actually probably a mistake that I made, that I'm like, I was so small and I wasn't going to be reaching enough people that a competitor would necessarily even see it and would even think to jump on and, you know, try and Pat patent it before me.
Mariah Parsons 20:38
Okay, so do you wish and thank you for being vulnerable and answering that. Because I think that's because I think that's all, that's how we all learn of like, oh, I maybe could have done this differently. So would you have said, like, showing off the back of the hat on, like, in emails or social media beforehand, like, before crowdfunding? Or what would you have, I guess, what's like the the moment where you're like, Oh, I wish I had shown it, like, where are you showing it? Then, yeah,
Jill Putnam 21:03
it would have been, you know, I was kind of gaining traction and such on social media, and that's where I was using the space to try and kind of draw people and be like, Hey, we're going to be launching a Kickstarter. And so I think probably at least, like, probably four to six weeks before actually launching the Kickstarter, so that people were actually excited about it and knew what they were getting themselves into, rather than me just saying, this is going to be Really cool.
Mariah Parsons 21:38
Yeah, yeah. Wait for it, yeah,
Jill Putnam 21:41
because I, I actually even had the experience where someone like, I was meeting with different people, and they were like, Oh, I told someone else about your hat, like, but then they went to your page and didn't, couldn't see anything, so they had no idea why it's cool. And so that person like, was a really busy person, and could have actually potentially been very influential, but because I was withholding, I think I lost out a
Mariah Parsons 22:09
little bit. Yeah, yeah. I mean, that's, it's, it's tough when a lot of the especially in the US, like a lot of the pressures around patents and then also competitors and like just people who are way bigger than when you're starting out your own business, being able to swoop in and just take an idea and rip it off like it is terrifying to see that reality. And so I totally understand where it's like, oh, I want to not I want to have my ducks in a row. I want to make sure that I'm protected legally before, you know, really, really launching and showcasing this thing off. But then there's also the double edged sword of like, also there's the potential to miss out because someone you know isn't talking to you directly, or doesn't see something on your site when they're looking at all that, you know, yeah, all the different ways that brands and customers interact, right? Like, there's no, there's no one perfect way that's going to be perfect every single time.
Jill Putnam 23:07
Yeah, exactly. I mean, that's and I've told that other people, and some people are have been like, Well, you were like, You are safe because you ate it and you don't know, but it is, I mean, and also I'm the general marketing rule is that, before a launch, you are teasing it, or you are showcasing it, you know, four to six weeks before the actual launch. So who knows? Who knows?
Mariah Parsons 23:34
That may be the title of this episode. It's just, you know what? Who knows? It's fine. We all just make it through, right? Let's talk about, let's touch on the crowdfunding just a little bit, because I know this is also something that we had chatted about back in Utah, and I really appreciated you being willing to share and just like this, these are the things I learned. So you had mentioned the crowdfunding had paid off some of the patent process, which, if people don't know that's obviously an intensive process, both monetarily, financially and financially and just time wise, right? So yes, tell me a little bit more about what when you're looking at like launching a campaign, what are you even thinking about? Like, what? What advice were you getting from others in the space? And then how did you decide, ultimately, like, Okay, this is what our goal is going to be, and what is that going to, you know, what is that going to support, you know, inventory or patent process, all that, all that, you know, inner workings, yeah.
Jill Putnam 24:36
So for our campaign, I feel like I actually went into it pretty non educated. I tried to do I tried to do the research, but that was also the very beginning of my whole entrepreneurial journey, and I didn't know what I didn't know. And so at the time, really, for me, it was the. The funding of it was getting the inventory and paying for the parent so that was the main things that I was trying to fund. Because obviously, creating a brand new product means that it's going to be a much higher price point from the manufacturer standpoint, when you're creating things that are custom, it just, yeah, it's just it costs more, and you also have minimums that you have to reach with those manufacturers, where you have to order hundreds of hundreds at a time, which can be difficult to fund, and bring it on and you know, so that's the crowdfunding is essentially you're getting pre orders from the customers, and they believe in you. And it is also testing the market to make sure that what you have is a viable product that people want. So it for all of those reasons. That's why I wanted to kind of grow go the crowdfunding route to make sure that I'm not crazy. Yeah, this is something people want, and all of those things. And we were, you know, lucky enough that. And they always say, like, try to put your your minimum funding goals low as you can to then, you know, get the inventory in that you need, or whatever it is that you're trying to exactly fund for, yeah, to answer your question, yeah,
Mariah Parsons 26:30
yeah, yeah. It was the, like a crowdfunding is one of those things that I also need I know very little about, and so just the anything that you can offer in terms of, like, okay, like, even the tidbit you said about putting your goal as low as you can so that you can get the inventory that you absolutely need, or putting it towards the patent process and towards inventory, like, usually, that's what I figure most people are putting it towards, is, like, the R and D side of a product, if it's something that's newer to market, and then inventory, because it just is, yeah, like you said, it can be a lot of expense upfront for a business that you know hasn't generated revenue before and is bootstrapped, and so to be able to have a have pre orders essentially from customers beforehand is a boat of confidence, but also a good financial decision if you can hit that that goal. And I also imagine if you you know, setting that goal as low as you can, if you hit it, it also kind of has a psychological effect of, you know, we hit our goal. There's proof of market and, um, you know, like, there's just a, there's a morale boost. I think there as well, for sure. Founder, yeah.
Jill Putnam 27:52
I mean, it takes years off of your life until you do hit that goal. I will be honest. Um, like, I most, most campaigns are about 30 days, and that's what ours was. And, man, until you, like, reach your funding goal, it is the anxiety attack every day of your life. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 28:12
yeah. Is there like, a something, a penalty, that happens if you don't reach that goal? Like, do
Jill Putnam 28:17
you know? So if you, if you there's not a penalty. And that's kind of the whole point is, people aren't charged or anything, until that you do reach your goal. So if you do not reach your goal, you get zero of the money. Gotcha, you get nothing, and you're and the people that pledge don't get charged, you know,
Mariah Parsons 28:38
so it's just all or none. Pretty much, is like, yeah, hit that goal. So that's why, also you'd want to make it as low as possible, so that you Yes, guarantee at the moment, yeah, okay, another thing that I wanted to ask you about, and I honestly wasn't even anticipating going into the crowdfunding, so I think that'll be really interesting tidbit for our listeners, is talking about the manufacturing side of it, and then we'll go into, we'll call it a hard pivot, and go into the customer experience and retention. But for manufacturing, you hinted out, obviously, it's a new product like, that's new to market, that's just going to be more expensive because you are, you know, you're designing the tech pack. You're designing the design files that the actual manufacturer is using to make your product at scale, all that fun stuff. What was, what was it like? I guess, when you're looking at, okay, this is the mlq minimum order quantity, and you're like, oh my god, this is, you know, potentially a crazy idea, but we hit our crowdfunding goal and we're going to go for it. What kind of conversations are you having with the manufacturers to be, you know, in your mind, of like, okay, this is worth it. This is the price point I can do, even if it's, you know, on the more expensive end, because it's a newer product. Yeah.
Jill Putnam 30:00
Yeah, um, well, a lot of the, I think a lot of those conversations happened before I even launched the Kickstarter. You know, that was the asking what and I'm like, asking what my minimum order quantity would be, asking what the pricing is going to be, all of that, because that drives a lot of the goals they put for the Kickstarter. But I mean, a lot of it is just comparing with the market that's out there and figuring out, okay, well, with this price point, can I hit, can I still be competitive in the market, or is it that it's so revolutionary that it doesn't it's in its own category, and people are going to be willing to pay. We've actually kept our we've kept our prices lower than honestly they should be. For the hats. We have a pretty low margin on our baseball caps because of the product it is, then, because of the customization of it, we have a pretty high cost on the product, and we have a low margin. Just because we are trying to acquire and acquire customers and stay competitive, our prices are actually probably going to be going up within the next year because of how every how the world has the cost of everything and shipping and everything has just escalated so much. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 31:28
so listeners, that's your cue thing, prices are going to be going up. So go check out red sprite hats. So, yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Just with like, obviously you want to know those numbers before going into the crowd source or crowd fundraise, so that when you're sourcing each individual bathing suit, then you know the price of price of that. So let's spend the last couple minutes talking about the customer experience, because this has been pretty ops and logistics focus, which I love, because we don't chat about it as much on this podcast, but it's still really, really helpful, especially for something that is a product that is new to market. And you can kind of see the the difference with how you can approach something that is patented, patented, versus something that's not so customer experience. Someone comes on your site to shop with you all, or finds your social media. What is their expected customer experience? Like, like, talk to us about you know, obviously you acquire said customer in whatever way possible. How are you trying to assuming they purchase with you retain them as customers, especially with something that a product that is meant to be versatile and worn multiple different ways and be like a high quality, long lasting product.
Jill Putnam 32:52
Yeah, so retention is always important, and because my products are so versatile and meant for like, long wear, they're meant to last a long time. They're meant to be used like hundreds of times. I want to develop trust with the customer. That's kind of like my my big goal with my brand and everything is to develop like the customer loyalty and the customer trust with them, so that if they buy, they know they're getting a quality product. They know I'm using high quality material. And then, and when they receive their package, like that proves it out so that they use it, and they're able to use it for a long time. They love it so much. They want to come back for more colors. They want to gift it to friends. They want to gift it to family. That's one of the things that we that actually happens a lot, and always makes my heart so happy when I get the messages from people that they buy one for themselves, and then Christmas time comes and they say, I bought one for me. And I love it so much. All my sisters are getting these for Christmas. This is my friend gift for everybody this Christmas. And I love hearing that message, and we get it all the time. And so that's for me, that's the big thing is, I'm I want to make sure that the customers know that they can trust us. And when we come out with new products, we come out with new colors, they know that that trust is still there, and they know that they want to stick around and um, because new things are coming out. And then we also try for retention. You know, if you are sign up for emails or you follow on social media, we are giving you ideas of how to wear, the hats, hairstyles, hair care, anything to do with hair, we are there for you. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 34:42
yeah, no, I love seeing your content pop up on my feed, because it's just like, it's so seasonal too, of just like, are you going to wear a baseball hat or, like, the knitted beanie version? And you know, it's always like, pretty backgrounds and just like fun ways. To wear your hair and updates and stuff like that. So I love seeing that. And so when someone gets their package, are you do like, what is the packaging like? Is there any sort of personalization that you're weaving into the customer experience, or like emails that are coming from you, or like customer feedback, reviews, all that fun stuff. Yep,
Jill Putnam 35:22
so customers do, um, they do receive an automated email, like, a couple weeks after they receive their package to ask for a review. Um, and they also, in their packaging, they receive, like, a card that shows the kind of like, how tos, how to put on the how to put on the baseball cap, how to put on the beanie,
Mariah Parsons 35:43
just so there's no confusion, no
Jill Putnam 35:46
confusion. And also has a little message from me saying, Thank you for ordering. And it's, you know, it really does like make my day whenever I see orders come through and makes my heart happy, and so I try to convey that on a little card that is put in with every packaging. All of our packaging is also surrounded by the color red, since our name is red sprite hats, so we have red mailers, red tissue paper, so it's kind of red tape on the boxes. So I kind of say, whenever you see something red on your porch, then you know it's from us, so that it's something for customers to look forward to. We actually have a lot of things that we could I have additional emails I'm wanting to add to, like our email flow for when after customer purchases, to kind of give in that process to like, here's styling tips, here's tips for the hats, here's the hair, here's the care for the hats, all of that kind of stuff. So that's one of the things that I'm working on this month. Yeah, Incorporated,
Mariah Parsons 36:58
yeah. I mean, that's more like my bread and butter, my side of expertise in the E comm world is like, all those, you know, emails that you get to segment and have fun with. And I think anyone who has their own business can also be like, you know, what? How can I get creative like this with, like, say, the packaging? How can I pull in that red motif for said emails and like, really show the unique ways you can get creative with your product. So you're speaking my language, but we are approaching the top of the hour, which is crazy to believe. So I'm gonna let you get back to all those fun things that you get to do at the founder and this has been an absolute joy to have you here today. Jill, thank you for making the time. It really means a lot. Yeah, thank you so
Jill Putnam 37:37
much for having me. It's been great, good. So glad to hear it.
