EVELO, an electric bike company, achieved significant growth by focusing on a direct-to-consumer (DTC) model, owning the customer experience end-to-end, and innovating their product line. This episode reveals their strategy for raising capital, scaling revenue to $2M+ organically before seeking investment, and leveraging customer obsession combined with product innovation to disrupt the electric bike market. Ecommerce operators can learn viable strategies for combining product, service, and community to drive rapid D2C growth.
Key takeaways
Prioritize organic growth and revenue generation before seeking external investment to gain leverage and prove concept, especially for physical goods businesses.
Implement a direct-to-consumer (DTC) model to gain full control over the customer experience, from initial discovery to post-purchase support and ongoing engagement.
Innovate not just in product features (e.g., Omni Wheel for bike conversion) but also in business operations and customer service (e.g., financing options, 7-day home trials, 7-day support).
Leverage content marketing as an education tool, particularly for high-ticket or novel products, to inform and convert potential customers.
Develop customer ambassador/referral programs to turn satisfied customers into effective, organic marketers and even investors.
As you are aware - I LOVE the concept of selling direct to
consumer and owning a brand in general as against selling a range
of other manufacturers’ brands.
I especially LOVE direct to consumer product businesses when
they go against the grain to disrupt an entire industry.
my guest on today’s show has done exactly that with his
electric bike company he co-founded with his brother called
EVELO.
it is a customer-obsessed at the same time innovative electric
bike company On this episode, Boris shares how his company recently raised $750,000 from actual investors
on seedinvest.com and not kickstarter or indiegogo
their sales funnel
why content marketing is synonymous to education (especially
for high ticket products)
how they use their customers as affiliates in a clever
‘ambassador referral program’ they developed
and his view on why direct to consumer businesses should be 50%
innovation and 50% customer experience Read the show notes for this episode
on http://2xecommerce.com/podcast/ep74/ Message from Our Sponsors:
This episode is brought to you by Salsify.
As an online retailer or supplier, you are well aware that
ACCURATE PRODUCT CONTENT drives more sales...
However, as your store starts to scale the harsh reality is that
maintaining product description content becomes more and more of a
challenge to ecommerce teams.
Enter Salsify...
Salsify is a SaaS based product content management platform built
specifically for online retailers and brand owners.
I recently took Salsify on a test drive and here are the glaring
advantages etailers stand to gain: - Your entire product catalog can be accessed by any department in
a centralised hub,
- There’s a workflow setup that ensures no fields go amiss when
product data is published to multiple channels such as Amazon, your
Google Merchant account or just directly to your ecommerce
store
- Salsify tells you when it spots missing critical fields across
your product catalog It is really a modern, flexible and robust pr
Prioritize organic growth and revenue generation before seeking external investment to gain leverage and prove concept, especially for physical goods businesses.
What does this episode say about founder & leadership?
Implement a direct-to-consumer (DTC) model to gain full control over the customer experience, from initial discovery to post-purchase support and ongoing engagement.
What does this episode say about product & merchandising?
Innovate not just in product features (e.g., Omni Wheel for bike conversion) but also in business operations and customer service (e.g., financing options, 7-day home trials, 7-day support).
What does this episode say about finance & fundraising?
Leverage content marketing as an education tool, particularly for high-ticket or novel products, to inform and convert potential customers.
What does this episode say about dtc strategy?
Develop customer ambassador/referral programs to turn satisfied customers into effective, organic marketers and even investors.
