191: How An Artist And Engineer Turned Business Owners Built a "Cult"

Success in the ecommerce world doesn’t happen overnight.

Our guests today are not only big contributors to the ecommerce community, but are also co-founders of a business they built from nothing to one that now has a cult following.

I met Matt and Meredith, owners of Boredwalk T-Shirts, at an Intensive I led a couple of years ago. Today they join us to share the story of how they built their “cult” of customers, including customer service best practices and how they overhauled their hiring process to rebuild a team that is excited about the core values of the company.

Enjoy!

Episode Highlights:

• 6:29 How it all started for Matt and Meredith in the ecommerce space.
• 8:06 The cheeky birth of  Boredwalk T-Shirts.
• 11:11 The big team and operational changes Matt and Meredith made in 2018 that allowed them to grow their business.
• 13:45 How Matt and Meredith's revamped their hiring process to find the best people for their business.
• 18:41 Things Matt and Meredith tried last year on Facebook and Pinterest that didn't deliver the results they hoped for, even though, hypothetically, they should have.
• 25:08 The journey from focusing on the marketplace side of the business to focusing on customer retention (i.e., building a “cult”).
• 30:00 Matt and Meredith’s customer service philosophy: responding promptly, managing expectations, and not negotiating with terrorists.
• 33:10 Why the Boredwalk founders go against the industry standard when it comes to dealing with bad customer behavior.
• 35:55 How not to talk to customers: the operational side of Boredwalk’s customer service strategy.
• 39:30 How Matt and Meredith take extra care of their “whales" and bond with their audience.
• 40:51 The realities of owning an ecommerce business: why it’s not just a side hustle and what it takes to be successful.
• 44:49 Mental health of entrepreneurs, and why Matt and Meredith don’t recommend the ecommerce world to all.
• 47:15 How the Boredwalk founders have changed in the last four years and what’s helped them make it to where they are now.

Links and Resources:

• Boredwalk T-Shirts
• Ecommercefuel.com
• Matt and Meredith's blog post on the job advertising process
• Book: Traction
• The Boredwalk Podcast interview with Brian Swichkow
• Episode 116: 4 Profitable Email Strategies You Can Swipe For Your Brand
• Help Scout
• Scan Mailboxes
• eCommerceFuel Podcast: Cultivating Better Mental Health as Entrepreneurs with Sherry Walling
• Foxwell Digital
• Brand Growth Experts
• Review or subscribe on iTunes

Become a Member:

If you've been a podcast listener for a while and you've yet to join the Brand Growth Experts Membership, now is the time to do it. It's my online coaching community and it's an incredible resource for you. We've got about 120 members, all ecommerce business owners and marketers. And in that community, I work with you one on one to help scale up your business.

That could be scaling up advertising, hiring a team, or diving into marketing strategy. We go really in depth every single month on topics that we also talk about on the podcast. So, if you've enjoyed the podcast, you're going to love the Brand Growth Experts Membership. Head over to brandgrowthexperts.com and you can learn some more information. Can't wait to see you guys on the inside.

Sponsor: Klaviyo

If you’re looking to grow your business, there’s only one way. By building real, quality customer relationships. Most marketing software will claim that they do this, but they’ll never deliver on those promises. Klaviyo, though, is different. Klaviyo helps you build meaningful customer relationships by listening to and understanding cues from your customers, which allows you to easily turn that information into valuable marketing messages that’ll help grow your business and make more money. That’s why over 10,000 innovative brands have switched to Klaviyo.

If you aren’t already a customer, head over to www.ecommerceinfluence.com/klaviyo and you’ll get a free trial + priority on-boarding.