EP.151/ FUN FACT CO
Making People Curious About Your Ecom Brand with Fun Fact Co’s Co-Founder Raelina Krikston
Mariah Parsons hosts Raelina Krikston, co-founder of Fun Fact Co, a company specializing in educational trivia games and posters. Raelina shares her background in design and the company's inception, focusing on early childhood education. They discuss their initial product, the Party Mix Trivia deck, which covers diverse topics like space, math, and death, and their expansion into home decor posters. Raelina emphasizes the importance of slow, steady growth and community building. They plan a pop-up shop for the holiday season and aim to target adult customers more effectively. Raelina highlights the value of following personal interests and the importance of balancing work with personal life.
EP. 151
RAELINA KRIKSTON
Episode Timestamps:
0:00 Meeting at Shop Talk and Introduction to Fun Fact Co
Mariah Parsons introduces the podcast and welcomes Raylena, the creative director and co-founder of Fun Fact Co.
Mariah and Raylena reminisce about their first meeting at Shop Talk Fall, a networking event for women.
Raylena shares her background in design and her previous work with a design agency focused on CBD and cannabis.
Raylena explains how she and her co-founder, Chrisman, decided to start Fun Fact Co, focusing on early childhood education and creating engaging content for kids.
3:13 Concept and Creation of Fun Fact Co
Raylena describes the initial idea behind Fun Fact Co, which aimed to create fun and educational content for kids.
The company started with trivia decks, focusing on bite-sized pieces of information to cater to children's shorter attention spans.
The first deck, Party Mix Trivia, included five different topics: death, space, math, animals, and humans.
Raylena emphasizes the multiple-choice format of the trivia, making it accessible and enjoyable for both kids and adults.
5:45 Expansion into Home Decor and Emotional Wellness
Fun Fact Co expanded into home decor, offering a variety of posters on different topics like fruits, death, the solar system, and gardening techniques.
Raylena highlights the companion planting series and the feelings print, which aims to help children understand and articulate their emotions.
The posters are designed to be both informative and attractive, suitable for both pre-readers and early readers.
Raylena shares her personal connection to the feelings print, reflecting on her own experiences as a child.
8:19 Challenges and Strategies in Customer Acquisition
Raylena discusses the slow but steady growth of Fun Fact Co and the importance of acknowledging the reality of building a business.
The company has found success with boutiques and bookstores, particularly as a sideline item in bookstores.
Fun Fact Co has diversified its online presence through platforms like Etsy and Amazon, though their own website still needs improvement.
Raylena emphasizes the importance of strategic blog posts and attending events like Shop Talk to connect with potential retailers.
24:43 Balancing Growth and Personal Life
Raylena and her co-founder, Chrisman, have consciously decided to keep the company small, avoiding the stress of managing employees.
This approach allows them to be flexible in scaling production to meet demand from larger retailers like Target.
Raylena reflects on the importance of balance and not letting the business consume their personal lives.
Mariah and Raylena discuss the challenges of self-compassion and the importance of celebrating small wins.
24:59 Applications and Future Plans for Fun Fact Co
Raylena sees potential applications for Fun Fact Co products in various settings, including classrooms, doctors' offices, and teachers' rooms.
The company is focused on social-emotional wellness and creating content that is both attractive and useful for children.
Raylena mentions plans to launch a new line of posters focused on social-emotional wellness, informed by feedback from educators.
The company aims to build a community around their interests and passions, rather than relying solely on customer feedback.
27:53 Retention Strategies and Community Building
Raylena discusses the importance of posters in retention, as they are personal purchases and have a faster turnaround than decks.
The company plans to focus on adult models for marketing campaigns to target a broader audience.
Raylena emphasizes the importance of following their passions and interests in creating new products.
The company has received inbound requests for specific topics, which they are happy to fulfill if they align with their vision.
34:12 Upcoming Pop-Up Shop and Final Thoughts
Raylena announces a pop-up shop for the holiday season, where customers can see all of Fun Fact Co's products in one space.
The pop-up shop will feature a vending machine-style setup, allowing customers to scan QR codes to add products to their carts.
Raylena highlights the importance of local community and human connection in their business strategy.
Mariah and Raylena wrap up the conversation, with Mariah expressing her support for Fun Fact Co and its mission.
TRANSCRIPT
This transcript was completed by an automated system, please forgive any grammatical errors.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
retention strategies, customer acquisition, early childhood education, trivia games, multiple choice format, emotional wellness, social emotional learning, customer feedback, community building, pop-up shop, local community, human connection, slow growth, educational content, product expansion
SPEAKERS
Raelina Krikston, Mariah Parsons
Mariah Parsons 00:00
Music. Welcome to retention Chronicles, the retention podcast for E commerce marketers. I'm your host and fellow e commerce marketer, Mariah Parsons, tune in as I chat with E comm founders and operators all about customer retention. Think marketing ops, customer success and customer experience, we cover it all and more. So get ready to get real with retention. Here is our newest episode. Hello everyone, and welcome back to retention Chronicles. Raylena, thank you so much for being here with me today. I'm so excited to kick off this episode with you. For our listeners, I like to give a little bit of background, so you are the creative director and co founder of fun fact CO and we're going to get into all of that. And we originally met at Shop Talk fall, and it just so happened that we were at this networking event for women, and we sat down, had a great conversation. I was like, I knew I had to have you on. You on the podcast. We didn't exchange numbers or anything, so I went to the internet, found you through your website, and here we are today, which is, it's, it's so much fun to have people I meet in real life on the podcast. So thank you for being here. I'm so excited to have you. Well,
Raelina Krikston 01:18
thank you, Mariah. I really appreciate you reaching out and for the opportunity to be on the podcast. It's a lot of fun to, you know, share more information on the background, and you know why we do what we do. So yeah,
Mariah Parsons 01:31
let's dive into it. Yeah, thank you. Tell us a little bit about fun fact CO and then how you got to obviously, found the company,
Raelina Krikston 01:38
yeah. So it was an interesting creation. My background is in design. Previously, I had been running a design agency specifically focused on CBD and cannabis, and I was working with a client pretty closely. Not only was I doing designs for them, but I was also helping to head up their design team. After years of working together, I got approached by the owner, he was selling that company, and wanted to just move directions into something else. I was a little less I guess police in terms of information. There's a lot of censorship that goes on with cannabis and diving into another topic, another industry just offered a lot more freedom. So my co founder, Chris man Hershey, he reached out to me in 2021 about starting a company that was focused on early childhood education, something fun, essentially, and so with that open concept, we drilled into, okay, what is it that we want to do? We're both passionate about early childhood education, just creating good content for kids. You know, we're so receptive to information when you're younger, yet so much of you know the media for young kids is just this, like rainbow dribble. And there's not to say there isn't good content for kids, but oftentimes it's not the content that also attracts them too. So you've got this dichotomous situation where, okay, do you want to, you know, eat your vegetables, so to speak, or do you want this candy? And you know, nine times out of 10 someone's gonna be like, give me the candy. So we set out to make something that was both attractive to kids, but also, you know, wholesome in a way that you know nutritious food would be, but for your brain. So that's how fun fact co came about. We wanted to do something that was easily accessible, and so we started with our trivia debt games as a jumping off point. The concept there was to take bite sized pieces of information. So we're utilizing this shortened attention span that, you know, we all experience from social media, from, you know, just this age of information that we're in where, you know, we have so much of it, it's often hard to sit down for any length of time and really dive into one subject. So our hero product, or initial deck, was the party mix trivia. So it's a mix of five different topics. Originally we were going to do a deck for each topic, but then pivoted to doing a mix, just because, you know, some of the the topics are a little bit more taboo. So you've, you've got that allure of, oh, like this, questions about death is that, is that okay? And yes, it's okay. You know, we should talk about death and kind of demystify. By this journey that we all inevitably have to make. So along with that, we have questions on space, on math. It's called numbers, animals and humans and so that's all mixed together in these short, bite size little pieces of, you know, fun facts. Essentially, the trivia is also a multiple choice. So, you know, everyone's got a chance to guess the right answer. It's not like Trivial Pursuit where I feel like you really have to be some sort of wizard, yeah,
Mariah Parsons 05:33
yeah, which I am not, like, my brain does not work in that trivia fashion, where you're like, Absolutely
Raelina Krikston 05:38
not, yeah, yeah, yeah, no. It's like, the
Mariah Parsons 05:42
multiple choice format. I was like, this is where, this is what I need. Yeah, I appreciate it, at
Raelina Krikston 05:47
least. You know, if you know it, oh, okay, you know you've got that reminder. If you don't, then it's like, okay, best guess,
Mariah Parsons 05:53
more recognition than, like, flat out, recall. Yeah, exactly.
Raelina Krikston 05:57
But you know, in that same sense, you know you are learning. You know, if you play it a couple of times, I'm often surprised, like, Oh, I I do know this thing, or I do know a few more facts that you know. Look at my recall. Now, I can't just like, spout them off for you, but that is, you know, how we started, and one of the pathways that we've started to expand not only our games, but also informational content in the form of home decor. So we've got pretty large line of posters now that are on a variety of facts. We've got, you know, facts about fruit. We've got facts about death, you know, solar system, different gardening techniques. For instance, our companion planting series is pretty popular, and so it's really nice to be able to lead the charge in terms of what topics that we cover, and it's really guided by our own interests. One of the prints that I'm most fond of is the feelings print. It was made. I made it last year, and really, you know, put myself in the situation of, okay, what would have been helpful for me to know as a nine year old who totally bottled her feelings, did not know how to articulate how she was feeling, and really, you know, masked in the sense of, you know, everything's okay, and I'm tough and I'm strong when you know it's okay to Say that you're feeling anxious about something, but I just, you know, even as a smart kid, I didn't have that emotional vocabulary to describe how I was feeling. So, you know, this print is is nice because it's for pre readers, early readers, and also all of our, you know, all of our questions around, like the fourth or fifth grade reading level, so a parent can help kids, or, you know, adults can play. And we try and make things that aren't so fluffy that it would, you know, be weird that you would take our games to, you know, a bar trivia for instance. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 08:20
I love that side question. But do you feel like since starting that, you've gotten better about, like, trivia and playing and like, all of the fun facts that you guys have? Okay, I was just thinking that. I was like, I have to ask you, because it's like, an intrusive thought that I'm just it's going to be in my mind until I ask you, like, yeah, you're an expertise and way of thinking, like, how am I going to make this game or this poster so that it's entertaining to other people? You just inherently have to learn more yourself, definitely,
Raelina Krikston 08:50
and that's really where I don't know I've got, like, a little Knack or a strong suit my background before doing you know my design agency work was, or like my university training, my degree, whatever is in data visualization, so taking a large amount of data and filtering it down so it's understandable. It's bite sized. That's that's a long trained muscle for me, and so it's nice to be able to apply it, really, in any way that, you know, we kind of see fit. Yeah, okay, that's
Mariah Parsons 09:25
wonderful. My background is in neuroscience, so that, like, recall recognition, like all that it's red in my alley, and like, emotional Yeah, just all of the Yeah, emotional awareness as kids, and like, development and all that stuff takes me right back as well. So, yeah, yeah, it was a lot of lot of fun. I still very much exercise in my daily life. But okay, back to more technical side of things. Tell us about how you get in front of customers, because I think this is like you said. You want to make sure that your products aren't, you know, quote, unquote. Fluffy, where adults aren't drawn to them, or feel like, okay, this is I'm playing a kids game, but then they're still appealing to kids, and kids can learn from them. So it's kind of, I would imagine, like two you have two customers, in my mind. So I don't know if that's how you think about it, but I love to hear kind of how you break down getting in front of people, because acquisition is obviously quintessential to retention. Um, so we always like to talk about it on this podcast.
Raelina Krikston 10:27
Yeah, it's been a mix. And I'll be honest, you know, our acquisition is not, you know, I don't know. It's not phenomenal. I would say there isn't any one day that you wake up and it's like, oh my god, there's 10,000 orders. You know that one campaign really worked. It's been a slow but steady growth. And I think, you know, it's important to recognize that, or not recognize, but acknowledge the reality of growing a business, it's so rare that it is a, you know, instant success, and I'm sure there's other examples of people, you know, having that. But for us, you know, we've really found our niche in with boutiques and bookstores. For instance, at first we were going to approaching game stores, and our game isn't enough of like a gamers game to really appeal, but in bookstores and as a sideline item there, it has a lot better traction, because one of the benefits that we do, you know, we highlighted in our Kickstarter campaign and for wholesalers, is that, you know, It's a way to entice reluctant readers, because you've got just a little bit of information. It's attractive. It's alluring, and it's easy to go through, you know, 10 different cards. And you know, if you compare it to, you know, an easy chapter book or something like that, that's a decent chapter. You've you've done some reading, which you know, can be hard for kids, especially in, you know, screen time, battling screen time and everything like that. And so with, with that being said, you know, our online channels, we've diversified using different platforms like Etsy and Amazon, those are pretty well received as well and but our own website, it's still really not that robust in terms of sales, but we do have a lot of visits and a lot of good exposure, I would say, through our blog posts. So we strategically use blog posts to cover, or better, cover subjects that we're already utilizing in in products. So whether it's our decks, which we have two, by the way, but we have a would you rather deck that's all centered on just different trivia tidbits on history, and then presents a would you rather question that's associated with whatever's covered and in that little trivia question? But I would say that's the strongest way that we, you know, just acquire eyes on the product and then making connections also at shop talk for larger retailers has been really invaluable. It was really nice to have those conversations with people who were saying, like, Hey, you're target ready. I was like, Okay, great. What are the logistics of making that happen? Because the way that we started the company, you know, it's Chrisman and I, we had both had experience running companies where we had employees. It was a lot larger for myself. I think a lot of it was ego driven. Honestly, I felt like my company was more successful if I had, you know, people on my team, which was equally fun but also really stressful too. You know, you never want to be in a position where one client doesn't pay you, then, oh no, yeah, make payroll for all these other people. And so that was something that we consciously wanted to avoid. And so it's just the two of us and we that's the way we want it, but it gives us the ability to be really elastic in how we scale. So if you know we did get into or when we are in Target, plus, for instance, I'll say that, you
Mariah Parsons 14:34
know, yes, always when I learned this actually tidbit, women are less likely to say when they say, if so empowerment to say when, okay,
Raelina Krikston 14:42
so when we are in target, we can scale our manufacturing accordingly, so that we can fulfill all of those you know, needs, whether it's target or Holt Renfrew or. You know, Bloomingdale's, Nordstrom, whatever it is, we now do have a lot more connections. I will plug shop talk here, because it was such an invaluable way to meet people that have resources that you need to grow and that kind of connection, you know, even like us, it we didn't meet in one of the, like, more formal, like networking settings, like the meetups, which were great, I would say, but it was just, hey, we're sitting at the same table having a drink and, you know, listening to cool jazz at the House of Blues. Like, what a great setting. And so I can't thank them enough for creating so many organic ways to meet people who, you know are all really kind of, like, interested in the same things and have a lot to contribute to one another. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 15:53
and I will applaud them as well with if they you know, if you're meeting people who can't solve the problem that you're looking to solve, or don't have the answer that you're looking to get answered. Bets are they probably know someone else in the space that does, if they've, you know, if they've been around. Because even now, I've been to two years of Shop Talk, you know, in Vegas, this was the first one they had in Chicago for the fall, but their spring one, I'm like, I feel so much more connected to the community, just in general. And then everyone has, you know, their own community that they're, most of the time, more than happy to connect you with, you know, said person who can help in that space. So I think that's that's a great call out. I'm also a big fan of the in person networking and organic conversations and just meeting people at happy hour is sometimes a little bit intimidating, which I talked about on I did like a recap. But I find once you kind of take a deep breath and then realize everyone's here for the same cause, yeah, and
Raelina Krikston 16:52
everyone's feeling the same way, yeah, exactly,
Mariah Parsons 16:55
exactly. So it's just, you know, it gets easier once you flex that muscle a couple of times. And so I think that's a great call out, and honestly, a really candid and honest reflection on acquisition for for you all, because I know that it is obviously we're always trying to learn, right? That's why I have this podcast, is because I'm like, I don't know how to do this. Tell me about it like you're the expert in your business. So tell me,
Raelina Krikston 17:22
it's also changed so much, you know. So Chrisman, his real big strong suits are SEO and that technical aspect of essentially, you know, making your quote, unquote storefront, you know, attractive. You know, in this case, it's to bots, but in this day and age, it's, it's just as important, if not more important, to be able to have that. But it's completely changed. It's one of these industries that's so dynamic, you know, for better or for worse, that sometimes you know, being able, you always have to be able to be open to experimentation and being open to accepting that you know you don't know what you don't know. And so even with his like expertise, you know, it's still hard. It's a really, really noisy landscape to be in. And, you know, I would just, you know, for anyone in the same situation, it's easy to maybe be disgruntled or to be, you know, easy to unengage, but it's just something you have to work out little by little until you a map. You know, I think at some point there's some critical mass. But, you know, another part of me is like, no, that's just going to be slow and steady and but in a few years, you look back and you say, Oh, wow, this is so much more than what we started with. You know, just that incremental growth is easy to forget, and so it's always good to remind yourself and and, you know, celebrate the little wins, because they're equally as important.
Mariah Parsons 19:10
Yeah, I feel like a lot of the times it's, it's like the it's like overnight success over 10 years or something, right? Like, it's like, you see the snapshot of someone else's business that is like, whoa. They came out of nowhere, and they're like, they're crushing it, like, right? Like, someone who goes on Shark Tank or goes viral, or, like, one of these moments that, like, captures people's attention, and then you don't realize it's like, oh no, they've been in the business for seven years. Like, right? Like, or musicians, right? It's the same thing where it's like, you see them at 16 playing on the corner of a street, and then, you know, you start hearing about them, you're like, Whoa. They came out of nowhere. They're overnight successes. And they're like, wait, no, I was doing this since, for the past 10 years, right? Um, so it's, it's one of those things that is, i. Like, it's a very, it's, it's a very fun world to be in, and I think it is a very honest one that all entrepreneurs, we're just all people can understand, right? There's the look of, okay, I want to be doing all I want to be so successful, and want to have all this, right? Like, I want to have, however you define success, right? And it's easy to get caught up in the I'm not moving fast enough, or I'm not, you know, growing as fast as I should, and that is just not a lot. Like, that is the that is the baseline, right? Like, that's the norm, yeah,
Raelina Krikston 20:35
I think there's women, like, internalizing that, like, Oh, I'm I'm not doing enough when you know it's again, you have to step back and just celebrate the little wins. It's you know you are doing enough, and you know you just have to be, you know, humble and open to trying new things, but also, you know, fortified in your resolve to just keep on doing the thing, even if you know you're not seeing results. There's that great adage of, you know, the the day that you plant your seed is not the same day that you harvest. Yeah, and just remembering that, it's like, Okay, we just, you know, even though we started concepting this in 2021 we didn't launch until 2023 right? So we had, you know, just two years right out of the gate where it was, you know, R D, lot of experimentation getting things ready. So it wasn't, you know, this big it wasn't like, you know, the big bang rush, yeah, just exploded and into creation. But you know, this little slow and steady growth that I think is even harder to do when you're exposed to such a fast paced lifestyle. I mean, you think about how people did business in the 1950s versus now, I can't, I can't imagine if we all adhered to, you know, the timeline of snail mail for email, for instance. Yeah, you know, I had one person tell me that she had a boss back in the day. She's like, if you don't have an ecommerce email back in five minutes, I might call the hospital, like, I'm going to assume that you're dead or sick or both.
Mariah Parsons 22:23
It's just, yeah, that's a heavy over swing.
Raelina Krikston 22:28
And so, you know, again, balance is a big thing. Both Chrisman and I, in our backgrounds, we've overworked ourselves to the point where we're physically sick. I had done that to myself, you know? He had experienced the same thing. And again, it's coming back to this intention of we want to build something good. It doesn't mean we have to build it fast. And we have lives. Yes, we're we're incorporating it into our lives. We don't live for the business.
Mariah Parsons 23:00
Yeah, yeah. My big thing this year is self compassion, and that is circling everything that we're saying. So I love it. I love hearing it. I think it's, it's a good reminder for anyone out there who is feeling like they're not, you know, hustling fast enough or doing whatever XYZ like it will you will find your path, and hopefully you can not beat yourself up about it. And I it is so central to I know on this podcast, we talk about a lot of tactical strategies, but also the emotional side is really important. So I love when we can get into that a little bit. I wanted to ask as well, do you see that? Because when I think about like, the application of having an educational game or poster. I see, like, teachers, doctors, like, all of these different, I guess, industries that work with kids and work with adults too. Like, I see applications across the board of like, oh, kids in class when they're feeling like, Okay, I can't, I don't want to read, or, like, I need five minutes to, like, break up the whatever subject they're talking about, like, pulling out, like a teacher pulling out the green card, and doing that for like, a fun way to start or end the day, or, like, lunch or something like that. Or doctors offices with like, posters or teachers rooms, right? Like, do you see that application? Much?
Raelina Krikston 24:25
Oh, completely. So where I am in California after COVID, the school systems really were supported in a lot of grant funding with social emotional wellness. And that can look like a lot of different things, but that is one key area that you know when you think of the posters that were in your classroom growing up, like, how many of them were super cheesy?
Mariah Parsons 24:52
Like, persevere and like, see
Raelina Krikston 24:56
you did not care about Yeah, did not make an effect. And you know, when you are so spongy in that age, and you know, you're, you've, you are curious. You know, kids are curious. Humans are curious. Why not take the opportunity to make it attractive, make it look good, and, you know, impart some sort of useful knowledge of, you know, I've got things that I still have with me from kindergarten. And you know, a lot of people do for better or for worse, but if we can make them, you know, good, helpful things, especially in in this vein of social emotional wellness, I think, you know, our kids today are a lot more socially aware and emotionally mature than we were in the past. You know, especially our our young boys too. I mean, well, there's always exceptions to the rule. I think that in a large part of how we're moving is, you know, it's okay to cry. It doesn't matter if you're a boy or girl. You know, everyone has feelings, and that is a huge area where we do want to grow into and actually so by the time this is posted, we will already, or we will just be launching a new line of posters that are that much more focused on social, emotional wellness. Um, I'm lucky enough to have a lot of educators in my life that I can, you know, they're in the day to day, they're they're working with kids, and I can talk with them, um, informal interviews, things like that. What are things that they're actually using in their classroom that can we can make an effective visual representation of of, okay, you know, we've got this kid who really has a hard time regulating his emotions. What are the things that they do to remind him that, you know, instead of punching someone, what are we going to do to one acknowledge how you feel, but also, you know, not cause harm to other people at the same time it by acknowledging that big feeling or hard feeling. So you know, relating to what kids are already hearing and what they're already being taught is something that's an you know, I think is important so not, not that we would have, like, custom posters for every school we certainly could, but I think it's more of being more current in what's going on in schools today, what's going on with educators, and then incorporating that into what we're making. So whether it's a classroom or your home, you know, it's beautiful enough that you can put on display, but actually has good, good content that you can take with you for a
Mariah Parsons 27:53
long time. Yeah, that's lovely. I love that. Um, okay, so we've talked about acquisition. Let's talk a little bit about about retention. How are you thinking about retention with something that obviously, you know is educational by foundation, so it's like you're not really going to perhaps change the content when you're looking at like, month to month, maybe year over year, as new things come out, right, or you're developing new layouts or new topics. But talk to be how you're thinking about retention. Because, like we said, you know, there's the kids that obviously have to feel like they're it's a good resource for them, and, like, parents have to see it be a good resource for their kid as well. But then there's also the adults, and they have to have the same experience, right where they're coming back to and, like, loving interacting with your products. So walk me through, how are you guys thinking about retention?
Raelina Krikston 28:47
Yeah, so posters play a big part in that, and just because we have such a faster turnaround with those, it's not an everyday purchase, I would say, you know, it's we think of it in the same way you think of art. It's really personal purchase. You don't necessarily buy a poster for someone else unless you know they're really into that thing and then. But also, you know, updates with the decks as well. Because we started with thinking about each topic as its own deck. We have a lot of, you know, I guess, like gas in the tank, or, you know, information in the bank. So we are ready to, you know, spool out 234, different trivia decks, kind of at any time we expanded into the Would You Rather deck so that it wasn't kind of just a rinse and repeat of what we already had. And also it's, you know, it's what was fun to us at the time. You know, a lot of people play, would you rather? And, you know, just make up the question. So to have a little bit more of a prompt, but. It also to have that information. I mean, I think is a little bit more geared towards adults teens. But what we discovered in actually playing it and putting it to the test, so to speak, is that it's really a great tool for conversation. Yeah, and oftentimes, where I won't get more than, like, two or three cards before you're deep in a conversation that you, you know, never thought you'd be there. So it's, it's the perfect, I guess, excuse, especially if you have teenagers, or, you know, you're in a situation where it's like, Why do I talk about, you know, you can, you can dive into an interesting subject pretty easily with these cards. And that's the that's kind of the cool magic behind it, you know, I like all of these underlying things where, oh, it's not just a trivia deck. It's a way to, you know, build your reading skills, or, you know, have fun with your friends, if we're talking about adult customers, and you touched on that previously, it, it is tricky when your audience is everyone. And so I've been looking at different, different ways to target our I guess, segments we could say seems so clinical when you
Mariah Parsons 31:24
say so technical. But you know, our audience loves it, like segmentation of the whole thing. So we
Raelina Krikston 31:32
really take a 10,000 foot view at our segments and utilize our I leverage our marketing campaigns to look at each one. But one that we'll be focusing on is the Would You Rather deck and externally, or, I guess, displaying the situations in the would you rather as a marketing campaign, but focusing on using adult models and a little bit more of an everyday, approachable, you know, visual campaign right now. It's, you know, we're going all in with families. I had a great actually, you know, local friends of mine and and their kid come in to the studio, play the game, and we just captured those moments, which was really fun. Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun. But I think, you know, adults is where we can probably grow the most, because we haven't focused on them, you know, in particular as of yet. So as far as you know, retention goes and again, it's like, we're so small. I don't you know people who are finding us are finding us mostly for the first time. I don't yet think we have that repeat buyer or that that critical mass where it's like, hey, we launched a new game, and everyone who has has the game already is like, Oh, I'm there, but I'm confident that we will be especially, you know, by the time you know q3 2025, comes around. I think people really be ready for another, like, an expansion of their trivia deck. Some people have already asked us. They've just kind of like, plowed through all 100 questions, and they're like, Okay, give me more. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 33:25
that's a great sign, right? Like, yeah, your customers are ready. Um, and, and two, I think that's a it's a great call out, because a lot of the times it can be, like, retention, it's such a finicky thing sometimes, where it's like, figuring out what works is so hard, and so that's why, because I've seen it just through the Malomo side of things, with obviously working with brand founders, where they're like, I actually don't know what my retention strategy should be, or like this, one thing has worked really well for us, but it's not working as well right now. And like, where do you pivot from that? And that's where Malomo was started. Of the branded order tracking experience is a new channel for retention. And so like I see from my interactions through this podcast and through work. Of like, it is hard to figure out what your acquisition strategy, what your retention strategy is. And it takes time. Like, especially when you are a newer company, that you're, you're still thinking about, okay, like, what product should we make next? And what, why should we make that? And what, you know, what, what customers are asking for, and all that stuff. It's, it is a totally honest and fair, you know, reality to acknowledge like I I'm actually not sure what our retention strategy should be, or if we should pursue XYZ.
Raelina Krikston 34:50
And you bring up a good point that what customers are asking for actually we are. I am working on a design right now because someone reached out and said, Do you have any but. Customers on the Aurora Borealis. There you go. But we can, yeah, yeah. I'm, you know, in a couple weeks, I'll email her and say, Here you go.
Mariah Parsons 35:10
Yeah. Now we do, um, how do we do customer feedback is a huge, huge channel, right? For every, every brand wants to know how their customers are receiving products and the customer experience. So are they just, like, emailing you, or are they finding them on social media? Like, how are you kind of keeping your pulse on what customers are saying?
Raelina Krikston 35:33
You know, selfishly, we kind of make what we're interested in, and if people get in touch and say, like, Hey, I'm really interested in this. Like, would you ever, you know, make a poster about this? Or, you know, XYZ? We totally would, you know, it's as cheesy as it sounds. I really do hope to make a real community around what we're making.
Mariah Parsons 36:00
It's one of those, you worry it's real.
Raelina Krikston 36:03
Well, yeah, no, I guess it's overused in a cheesy corporate sense. But it is really validating to know that other people are interested in what you're interested in. One of you know, some of the most personal designs and the most you know, self started topics are the ones that people are most grab, you know, gravitate to the most, I think, you know, and we've sold kind of far and wide. It's interesting how we come up for different people. And for me, you know, it's a bit of a mystery. Chrisman can speak much more eloquently about, you know, the ins and outs and mechanics of the SEO that we utilize. But, you know, we're, we're in Colombia for, you know, we had a professor order a poster, and I was like, wow, this is great. I'm probably the only way I could ever get into Colombia. But, you know, it's, it's nice to see that there's that there's that community that is slowly building and slowly being knit together just through following our passions and following our interests. And so I don't think we'll ever dive too deeply into the analytics of okay, what are our customers really into when you know, we've just been leading with, what do we all want to learn more about, or what do we want to do our history of video games poster is another one that, you know, we did it because we're, you know, passionate about games. It's interesting to see, you know, the the history and the evolution, you know, starting from Sega Genesis all the way to, I mean, we're bridging into VR like experiences. So, yeah, I think, you know, being being strong in our resolve to just follow our passions in in how we come up with topics. Yeah is how we're gonna stick with it. Yeah.
Mariah Parsons 38:09
That is Yeah. No, no, I appreciate it, because I feel like a lot of the times founders might question their vision against customer feedback, if it's like, if they're conflicting. And so I think it's a, it's a fun, or perhaps a more unique way of just saying, like, you know what I right now, what is working is what pursuing what we are interested in, and having customers inbound to say, you know, I'd really like this, and if it fits with the vision, then you can roll that product out. Um, because you know this, it is such a like, good gift for people. It's a catalyst for connection, like we've talked about, and I think that is when you're bringing up community, that's why I'm like, It's not cheesy at all, because you are facilitating people in their own communities to have that connection. And I appreciate, yeah, the it seems like a lot of corporations are focused on community right now because of lack of it, or what, whatever else reason. But I think it's a really beautiful thing to be able to say, like, I'm going to trust my instincts right now. That is what is working for the business. And, you know, will will hear customers when they come to us, but we're not going to, like dive into the analytics and get so caught up in that. And I think it goes into what we were talking about with balance and finding, you know, how do you weave work into daily, your daily life, rather than vice versa. So I love it. Okay, I want to ask you, are there any, like, fun campaigns or anything, I know you hinted at, um, obviously, new launches when this podcast episode comes out. But is there anything else that you kind of wanted to throw in there before we start to wrap up the episode? Um,
Raelina Krikston 39:58
yeah. So. Of this holiday season, we're going to be doing a pop up shop, so a physical space where we have all of our posters and all of our games. And actually, I need to keep you there right now. Oh, how
Mariah Parsons 40:14
exciting. Oh my gosh, this is the first time I feel like I've been transported to a pop up
Raelina Krikston 40:21
totally. So you can see behind me, we've got beautiful probably should have done the whole interview in here, but I thought the reveal would be more fun. Yeah,
Mariah Parsons 40:30
I love the reveal. Are you kidding? This is awesome. Oh my gosh. So to see
Raelina Krikston 40:35
all of our products in one space, it's been a really fun, fun thing. You know, living in the digital landscape, you don't often get the chance to see if you can see that. Okay, yeah, you don't get the chance to see everything in one spot. And so we'll be having little sale here next week, and then actually utilizing the website, so that this storefront is like a vending machine, almost. So we've got QR codes that are specific to each product. Once you scan it, it puts that product in your cart. And so even if no one's here in the shop, you can still shop, you leveraging our online presence, and then people can pick up in person. You know, local community is a big thing for me, you know, and whatever strategy you're using at the end of the day, we're all people, and human connection is always going to win out over, you know, the like hashtags or links or, you know, analytics, whatever tool that you're thinking about using, and it's really connecting with people one on one. And that's, you know, just how I like to think of it.
Mariah Parsons 42:00
Yeah, I love that. I love it. I'm the same way, right? Like, as soon as I meet people like you, I'm like, now I'm like, I am such a supporter of you. I want you to do so well, like, everything and like, I will fully, fully, fully endorse that human connection and community will carry us personally, like as humans, way farther and whatever other endeavors, whether it's a business or not, way farther because of it. So cheers to that. Thank you so much for joining me. Raylena, this has been so fun. This has been great.
Raelina Krikston 42:34
Thank you so much for Yeah, wanting to connect and expanding this, I think we'll definitely want to do a thank you for your listeners, and I thank you for you. So add in a coupon code. We'll just make it Mariah. Or do you want to make it the name of your podcast? Mariah
Mariah Parsons 42:52
is perfect. Yeah, okay, shorter than retention Chronicles. So,
Raelina Krikston 42:57
Okay, wonderful.
Mariah Parsons 43:00
Yes, we'll make sure that's in the show notes so people have it and super clear, appreciate it. Thank you again. Hello everyone. It's Mariah again. I am just popping in to say thank you for listening to today's episode, and I am so so so grateful that I have been able to be on this journey for the past couple of years with this podcast, it's been phenomenal to grow and see our community of 1000s of listeners. See what you guys are up to, what you're learning, what you want to hear about next. So if you haven't already, please like and subscribe to the show so we can continue doing this. Leave us a review, let us know your thoughts. Follow us on our new social media channels and check out our newly launched website. If you or someone you know would be a great guest for the show, please do not be shy. Fill out the form that we have on there, because those are some of my favorite interviews, and I will make sure that our new website is linked in the bio. It's retention Chronicles podcast.com and as always, let's give a warm shout out to our day one sponsor, Malomo. As you already know, Malomo is an order tracking platform that enables Shopify brands to take control of their transactional email and SMS through branded order tracking. What does that mean? That means you ditch those boring carrier tracking pages, the all white pages that have nothing on them but a tracking number, and update on the date of your estimated arrival, and swap those with pages that actually match your brand and can help you convert on some of your goals. Customers like you and I obsessively check that tracking page when we're looking for our order at our doorstep an average of 4.6 times. If you can believe it, yes, customers are going to that page 4.6 times. So don't waste out on all that customer engagement and instead, send them to a page that converts in the way that you want it to. I am talking dealing with shipping issues, having cross sells and upsells, having your social media on. There your loyalty programs, anything, anything that you can imagine. So if you want to learn more about how to do that, go to go malomo.com that's G O M, a, l o m, o.com and if you didn't get that, don't worry. That website link for our sponsor, as well as our podcast website are linked in our episode description. So with that, I will sign off and see you all next time you.
