[00:00:00] Eli Weiss: I hate when I spend my hard-earned money on a product and they just like reply with a canned response. And I say this all the time, like the bar is so low, massive legacy brands will just send this like janky four word response to like you crying your heart out because it's just the machine. DTC is great because you're talking directly to your customers. In DTC we can really, really harness every single part of the experience from the ad that they find us to, to the site they go on to the shipping and delivery to the unboxing, to the support. I think it's so much harder to create a brand evangelist from a can on the shelf.

[00:00:41] Jason Wong: I'm super excited to welcome our second guest on the show. Eli. I'm not sure if you'd know, but you're actually the second person I'm interviewing for my new podcast.

[00:00:50] Eli Weiss: That's super exciting. I'm so thankful you, you chose me and excited to be here.

[00:00:54] Jason Wong: I mean, you you've always been a very, you've been so giving on Twitter.

[00:00:58] Jason Wong: You've always been so giving you talk a [00:01:00] lot about what you guys do. And naturally, I want to pick your brain more on the show and for this show, the premise is, I'm not sure if you know, you read too much about it as I really want to break down how operators think. Um, because we do so much, but very little do we talk about like exactly the step-by-step that we do to get through those steps? And I did a little digging in even a little shopping around Target, and I saw you guys were in Target and I naturally want to ask you first things first about Target. But before I get deeper into that, let me do a little introduction.

[00:01:36] Jason Wong: Um, Eli was, is the director of retention and CX and CX refers to customer experience. And this is really a rare title because usually those are two separate or a lot companies don't really do those two things together. Can you talk a little more about why this role is so important to have together?

[00:01:55] Eli Weiss: Yeah, no, I appreciate your kind words and something that's interesting about Twitter is [00:02:00] I've never been on Twitter since 2011, never spoken about CX until two years ago.

[00:02:04] Eli Weiss: And I am not a marketer and I'm not a sales guy. I'm just so obsessed with, with the customer and the experience. And it's been so incredible to be able to share this stuff and for people to resonate with it and be excited about it and super thankful for the small audience I've put together on there.

[00:02:21] Eli Weiss: Um, when I think about the role, you know, I've been a generalist most of my career, um, got into CPG in the luggage space spent a couple of years there and hopped into food and beverage and customer experience, customer service, or customer support, whatever you call it has always been super underutilized in my opinion. Like there's the Zappos and the Chewy's that have made it like it's their business, it's their motto, but most smaller businesses just immediately outsource it. Don't put a lot of attention on it. A.) You're getting all these customers providing feedback and it never gets to you and B.) It's it's like we ended up creating the second role, which is retention, which is effectively like, how do we win people back after they leave?

[00:02:58] Eli Weiss: But in theory, there's [00:03:00] not enough effort. There's so much effort on the front end in terms of bringing people in. There's so much effort on the back end once they leave. But when they're here, there's so little focus on how to keep them engaged and excited and, and, and feeling like they're continuously winning by sticking with your brand.

[00:03:13] Eli Weiss: And that was my pitch. When I chatted with Olipop, it was like, this is a CX role and I'm obsessed with CX, but I think that so much of CX, um, feeds into retention. It's like if we deliver the best subscription experience, create a great loyalty experience, create a great lifecycle campaign and what you know, flows and all that fun stuff.

[00:03:31] Eli Weiss: It's like so much of it is connected in a perfect world. Um, and yeah, started there you're a year and eight months ago and it's been, it's been a wild ride, but I'm learning new things every day, which is my favorite part.

[00:03:44] Jason Wong: Yeah. I love that part where you mentioned how important and integrated these two things are together because you know, I've been in the space for a while now, too.

[00:03:52] Jason Wong: I've definitely observed that not many people think about customer experience, um, because it's always an afterthought it's they [00:04:00] bought something already. You know what we'll take care of that later. We're outsource it to someone else. Um, without understanding that customer experience, it's really the front line of your business.

[00:04:10] Jason Wong: These are people who are telling what's broken and what's working and why they love you. And all these can be translated to the front end on acquiring more customers, just like them. But sadly, not many people would think about that. I want to really dive into that a little bit deeper, um, but first I'm just curious, because I just got a fresh pack of Olipop in Target.

[00:04:29] Jason Wong: So that's on my mind. It took you guys a while to get into Target after being in so many other stores. Was there a reason why you guys did this or was this just like the sequence of event, like, was it a strategy on doing Target later on? What was it that led you to, you know, place these retail in a step-by-step process?

[00:04:48] Eli Weiss: Yeah, no, that's a great question and I really appreciate it. I think it's the important thing about this space is that soda is a multi-billion dollar industry and us as a better for you beverage and something that's [00:05:00] actually good for you to drink. It's it's, it's not that simple to get to consumers in the way we anticipated to.

[00:05:05] Eli Weiss: It's a slow and thorough process. And essentially the more we grow, the more of that kind of snowballs into, you know, we started in the very natural channel and now we're crushing it in spaces like Kroger. And we're about to enter Publix and we're going to the Shoprites. But we started as like an Erewhon brand that went into a Whole Foods brand that went to Sprouts.

[00:05:23] Eli Weiss: And essentially what you see in the beverage space is a lot of brands you know, they get rolling on this excitement and they take a million points of distribution and all of a sudden they're in tens of thousands of stores and basically stores are looking for velocity stories and they're looking for like, "Hey, you came into this store, your unit rate of sale was wild." And that's the story you tell to other stores. So for us brands don't realize that everything is very easily accessible on SPINS or Nielsen. And we can see what every brand is doing the same way. Whole Foods can see that too. And Sprouts can see that too. So for us, it was about creating this wildly successful story in the coastal cities and then slowly getting to the rest of the [00:06:00] country so that when we launched in Target, and you know, now that we're in all 2000 ish stores, the people in Alabama and Illinois and Minnesota know about us, just as much as you know, the people in LA or New York. And the other part of that is the omni-channel part, right? It's like by being DTC and having a DTC business, that's like 30, 40% of our business. We've already been sampling Olipop to customers across the country. So we have we've, we've had a big group of customers in Texas before we launched any, anything in retail.

[00:06:31] Eli Weiss: We were selling through goPuff in Philly before we launched in most retail in Philly. So being able to sample and get into these places and then launch in retail is just this, this perfect combination of, of magic. And I think you'll see a lot of other pretty large, um, stores that you wouldn't expect to see us in throughout 22.

[00:06:48] Eli Weiss: Like that, that the stores that are the middle America, um, where generally people wouldn't be looking for a product like this, but it's the trend that we're seeing is people are looking for a product that's, that's not terrible. And, [00:07:00] and something that tastes very good and is actually good for you is an incredible plus.

[00:07:04] Jason Wong: It is so good. And it's very hard for me to go out online and buy beverages because I grew up just thinking I can go to a store and grab a case of whatever. As I get older, I become more conscious of what I put in my body. And you know, most people don't think about that until later on when they were like, oh wow, I'm definitely seeing a difference now from what I put in my body now.

[00:07:26] Jason Wong: So no, I totally get it. But what fascinated me the most about your strategy was the middle America part because for a lot of DTC brands, they never really think about that. They're like they're hitting the big cities. They never think about how much concentrate of customers that are willing to buy their products are in those areas.

[00:07:43] Jason Wong: And they never really go after them. But you guys intentionally made this entire roadmap, just so that you can sell out in places that people don't even think about. Um, and, and I thought that was so interesting. Um, even like the mass distribution strategy, most people were like, let's [00:08:00] just spray and pray.

[00:08:01] Jason Wong: Let's just hit as many stores as we can, and then they don't sell out. And then the stores are rotating them out because they're like, we don't have the velocity it's, it's not good to have your stuff sitting on our shelves. So the fact that you thought that. What's so far so fascinating, but where did you learn that?

[00:08:17] Jason Wong: Like, was there something that you looked at as like, oh, another brand did this and then they fell. We should definitely avoid that. Like, what was it that spark this idea?

[00:08:25] Eli Weiss: I mean, more broadly, we're looking at the brands like Halo Top and Impossible, brands like that, that have taken this. Like you think about ice cream, it's super indulgent.

[00:08:34] Eli Weiss: It's super nostalgic. It's not always great for you. And, and you know, those are brands that have figured out to get into mass in a large way. Um, less so, less so, looking at the coastal brands that have really popped off at an Erewhon because soda is enjoyed everywhere. It's like 96% of, of the US it's it's penetrated in, in every market, in every household.

[00:08:54] Eli Weiss: And it brings people together and it brings happiness and enjoyment, and it shouldn't only be for, [00:09:00] for coastal cities. And, and as we grow and as we unlock distribution and we unlock volume, you know, our goal and we've lowered the price on DTC. Um, and we intend to continue lowering prices as we continue to grow, because the goal is to get this everywhere and be wildly accessible.

[00:09:16] Eli Weiss: And, and obviously, you know, the ingredients that we have in this product, like Slippery Elm Bark and Kudzu Root, Cassava Fiber, all these things are more expensive than phosphoric acid and carbonated water. But as we continue to kind of spread our wings and go across the country and bring this beverage to more people, we anticipate kind of lowering the prices and becoming as accessible as we can.

[00:09:36] Jason Wong: Absolutely. It's always about leveraging the volume that you get in order to lower DTC prices. That's what a lot of people don't understand. I actually had a conversation with another founder last night. I was hosting this dinner, um, in Newport and, uh, They were there, like, I just hate how everyone's in DTC are so against retail and I'm like, right.

[00:09:57] Jason Wong: Like, why are they so against retail? Like they don't understand the [00:10:00] retail actually gives them the leverage to do better in DTC because when you can get POs for, you know, $2-3 million you can go that, go use that and go to your supplier and be like, Hey, I want to negotiate better prices and translate that back into the DTC.

[00:10:14] Jason Wong: But over the years I've met so many people who are like, DTC is a way, and I'm never stepping foot into a Whole Foods or a Target. And I'm like, that's so close minded. You know, it's not the only way. Like, you're, there's not like DTC Maximus. Like you don't have to be only one channel. Right. Like, but I feel like so many people just miss that point. It's like if you're able to get leverage wherever, take it.

[00:10:40] Eli Weiss: Yeah. Yeah. I think it's, it's super interesting. Cause you think about the fact that DTC is great because you're talking directly to your customers. And whereas in retail, where a can on the shelf and DTC, we can really, really harness every single part of the experience like we can from the ad that they find us to, to the site, they go on to the shipping and [00:11:00] delivery to the unboxing, to the support, and we can really create like, I think it's so much harder to create a brand evangelist from a can on the shelf, but it's, it's somewhat simple to do that when people reach out about an issue they had.

[00:11:12] Eli Weiss: And I think that's like the exciting part is that flywheel for us, it's like we can get these people in on, let's say they use DTC to sample, or they. Like you're saying, some people buy it at Whole Foods and they're like, I'd love if I can get a 12 pack without thinking about it and they sign up to a subscription.

[00:11:24] Eli Weiss: What does that look like? And getting these, like, I think word of mouth is, is so, so, so under utilized, um, in DTC broadly, it's like, we're so focused on paid acquisition and firing on all cylinders, but then when you think about it, if a customer, if a customer loves your product, like how can you give them the ammunition to really share it?

[00:11:44] Eli Weiss: And it's something I was, I was talking about earlier with you and we were chatting about on Twitter is like, there's so much of this focus on CPAs and, and acquisition, but referrals is often slept on, right? It's like brands will give you 10% off. And it's like, that's the same [00:12:00] offer that you have on your sign up for your email.

[00:12:02] Eli Weiss: And customers are like, yeah.

[00:12:04] Jason Wong: I want to dive deeper into that because I've always been a big proponent of referral business. We, you know, on our end Doe lashes, we sell a fairly affordable product where we're 12.50 a pop. And so like, we can't compete on Facebook with brands who are doing 40 bucks CPA and be okay with it.

[00:12:23] Jason Wong: Like 40 bucks is our entire BOV. Right. So we've been able to survive over the past two years purely because we have a really good word of mouth program and we incentivize people for that. And seeing you tweet about that just makes me feel so much better . Cause I'm like no one really talks about the referrals.

[00:12:39] Jason Wong: Like get your customers who love your product. And if you're making good products that you should have a lot of those to, to bring more people in. And so we recently started like jacking up our referral program to give out like free pair of lashes. If you refer your friends and you can give your friend 10 bucks when they sign up, that's still half of our CPA on Facebook like that is, but that's such a [00:13:00] big offer compared to what everyone else is doing. Like everyone's like give your friends this referral that you can copy and paste and send in a group chat and you'll maybe get 10% off if they, if it buy-ins that there's no way you're going to get me to do that for, for any product. And I want to hear a little bit more about what you guys are doing on Olipop to have a competitive referral program.

[00:13:22] Eli Weiss: Yeah, no, I think it's spot on. And it's something that I think as, you know, as, as CPAs have continued to rise across the board in the last couple of years, like it's, it's kind of forcing marketers to think about this stuff very differently. Um, and you're seeing influencer as well. Like influencer has been one thing and it switched into something else.

[00:13:38] Eli Weiss: Now people are like, I'll just give influencers a cost per acquisition instead of giving them a lump sum of 10K I'll give them $20 for every order they bring in. And it's still cheaper than what I'm paying on Facebook. So I think this. It's a squeeze. It's forcing marketers to think differently, which is super exciting. On referral, again, like we were like any other brand that started off doing 10% off. And until we had a conversation a couple of months ago, and we're like, this is chaos. [00:14:00] Like we're spending so much money on, on Facebook. And these customers are generally not super high LTV. They're not sticking around very long and people that are coming from word of mouth, there's so much more excited to be here because they heard about it from their friend. Those are ultimate LTV customers. And essentially we've, we've switched from like 10% to $5. And then we started testing $10 and 15 and 20. And we're seeing that customers are so excited and it's still pretty, pretty solid compared to what we're paying with Facebook ads.

[00:14:28] Eli Weiss: So come February, we anticipate on switching the whole game into more like 15 or, you know, 15 or $20 per referral and thinking about what that looks like long-term and making sure it's easily stackable, like if you bring three friends in, you deserve at least a free case, right? So let's think about it that way.

[00:14:47] Eli Weiss: Instead of the 10% off with a 10% off, it's never stackable. So now I have like seven, 10% off coupons that I have no way to use it for. You think about subscription, unless you have a unified checkout, it's impossible to use that code for a subscription. So your [00:15:00] subscribers are your best LTV customers and they have no way to use referral in a cohesive way.

[00:15:04] Eli Weiss: So, you know, you're seeing new tools that are giving people the ability to do that. Thinking about subscribers, like how can we leverage these massive powerhouses? They love our brand enough to subscribe to it every single month. How can we give them the ability to share it? And something we've done as well as like, well, you've given subscribers, we've done this twice in the last couple of weeks.

[00:15:21] Eli Weiss: We've sent subscribers, like here, gift, a case for free to whoever you want. We've sent out hundreds of cases and they just give it to whoever they'd like. And if somebody subscribes for 10 times, I'm pretty sure that they'll do a better job selling the product than our Facebook ad will. And that's kind of the way we're thinking about both, both on the referral and on the just gifting.

[00:15:41] Eli Weiss: It's like, these are, these are our super fans. Like let's give them the ammo to sample it and give it out to friends. And that's the way we've been thinking about it.

[00:15:48] Jason Wong: Yeah. Being more generous of your product is such and like a underplayed strategy because, you know, from a product standpoint, we have our margins.

[00:15:58] Jason Wong: We, we know how much they cost. [00:16:00] You can, you can give that out. Like you can give that out to your CPA because for the consumer they're seeing that from the surface value for how much that product costs. But for you, you can afford to, to gift. Some brands that are just, you know, they're so stuck in their ways of like, I, I will live and die by Facebook and I will not give the stuff out for free without realizing that if you nurture the right type of customers, that is probably the best way for you to get really quality customers.

[00:16:29] Jason Wong: And like you said, like the LTV play, the type of customer that you bring in is so important too, because not all customers are created equally. Right. And that's something that I realized is that people that come in from referrals, um, definitely have a lot long-term value. And sometimes even by a little bit more because their friends are recommending them three, four products to buy.

[00:16:50] Jason Wong: Um, I'm not sure about how you guys are but like, because we have so many different varieties at lower price points, they're buying a lot more in the cart compared to someone who we just get on Facebook who are [00:17:00] selling one single product, because our Facebook ads only sells one product, right? So referral program is such an underplayed strategy that I definitely think a lot people need to take on too.

[00:17:11] Jason Wong: I also want to talk a little bit more about. Customer experience as a channel because that's something that I've been screaming on the top of my lungs for the past two years is customer support is actually one of a marketing channel that no one else is using. And it's so good to hear that you're also saying the same thing too.

[00:17:31] Jason Wong: I want to hear a little bit more about like what Olipop is doing on your end, in order to make a channel that's traditionally not making money into a moneymaking machine.

[00:17:40] Eli Weiss: Yeah, no, I, I love that. And it's, it's honestly, people like you and I, that continuously champion this channel, that'll turn it into something special.

[00:17:49] Eli Weiss: When I started in 2016, it was like the most underpaid job, the most underutilized part of the company. And it was just like this thankless job that every single morning you came in with a fire extinguisher and [00:18:00] you went at bat for your company and nobody appreciated it and nobody was recognized. And now we're, we're seeing that change, right?

[00:18:06] Eli Weiss: Like we're seeing this shift of people that are hired in this role are very strategic and very smart and very, and very ambitious. And you're seeing these people change companies. And for us, it's like we're, we're hiring people that are really, really, really ambitious and passionate about making things right.

[00:18:24] Eli Weiss: Less so about, like I'm just looking for an entry-level job. CX is not an entry level position by any means. And it's, it's, it's hard, right. If you're really good at it, it means you're super empathetic and that hurts. When FedEx is screwing up my stuff and I can't get it to you in time, like that sucks and thinking of creative out of the box, ways to both read between the lines and to deliver a great experience is what customers stick around for.

[00:18:47] Eli Weiss: And I think for us, it's been like those experiences that we've created. And we've had customers that have reached out about flooding in their area. And we sent them dinner and, and, you know, people that have reached out about getting Olipop late [00:19:00] for their wedding. It got there the same day of their wedding when it's supposed to get there a couple of days early, we found their wedding registry and sent them gifts. It's like, you don't get that unless you hire very ambitious, incredible people that are really passionate about that. And then getting out of their way and giving them the empowerment to go crazy with it.

[00:19:17] Eli Weiss: For us. It's like if it's under 50 to a hundred dollars to make somebody's day and you're doing it a couple of times a week, don't even ask me about it. Just tell me after. And I think that's like been incredible for us as like an organic kind of word of mouth on steroids. It's like getting these customers that have like a not such great experience with us to be blown away is incredible.

[00:19:36] Eli Weiss: And the other side to that is like, we're, we're very often focused on like, how can I make great experiences? And founders ask me this pretty often, like how do I turn this into the most incredible thing ever? And the first question I ask is like, I'd love to see your complaints. Because before you create those peaks, you have the first fill the valleys.

[00:19:52] Eli Weiss: Right? Understand like, where am I, where am I messing up? And you'll, you'll often see like, brands that are like sending this janky box and it gets [00:20:00] the customers not looking at all like the website. And they're like, oh, how can I create fancy experiences? And that's not your job right now, your job is to make sure it's, it's great as the status quo.

[00:20:08] Eli Weiss: And for us, that's been like, my biggest passion is like, let's figure out the people that don't like - is a soda, right? It's like every everyone's taste preferences vary we don't all like the same foods. The same way we don't all like the same drink. So like when people say like Olipop tastes like shit, you'll find me on Twitter, hopping back in the replies and being like, so, sorry, you didn't love this.

[00:20:27] Eli Weiss: Like, what's your order number. I'm gonna, I'm going to give you a full refund or like text me your address and I'll send you free can coupons to try a different flavor. So if people don't love the product that they had or the experience, like at least they'll love the experience with us. And that's like, really the goal for us is like, It's never going to be something that every single human being likes, but there might be a flavor you like more, and if not, you're going to get a full refund.

[00:20:50] Eli Weiss: So you still tell people like, Hey, I didn't love this product, but if you're interested in the soda, that's not terrible for you. And it's actually good for you. You should check them out because their, their [00:21:00] CX is incredible. And that's like my vision there.

[00:21:03] Jason Wong: I've always told people, um, even like my team. I built my own customer support team.

[00:21:09] Jason Wong: And the thing that I always tell them is that we will go above and beyond because even if they don't like our product, which is totally fine. Makeup, it's a lot of preference too. Sometimes it's just not the right product too. And it's fine. We're not going to be upset that they're, that they don't like our stuff, but maybe they'll like our brand enough that maybe their friends may like it and they could push that for them.

[00:21:30] Jason Wong: And so turning that into a referral machine. By not trying to, but just being a nice person. It's really the key here too. And like you said, like there's so much more that can come out of a channel that comes with a lot of human touches because you could do so, so much more, that is not robotic or, you know, falling systems.

[00:21:52] Jason Wong: You can build real relationships. Uh, funny enough, we are our customer support kind of felt like we're texting [00:22:00] friends now. We have people coming to us for relationship advice. Um, cause we, we have, we use postscript and so we text our customers. Our, our tone has never been sale-sy we've always been like the way that we branded ourself it's like the big sister type of brand. Where we're trying to bring an experience that's very intimidating putting something on your eyes. And 30% of our customers are new. They've never worn lashes in the past. So we're like, we will hold your hands through this experience. Create this experience and translate to every other touch point is that we hear them out.

[00:22:32] Jason Wong: We hear their complaints. We ask them about other days and it's very tedious. Don't get me wrong. This is not scalable, but we know that we've built a very solid base of people who really like us for doing that. And they are our biggest champions. Like I, I actually go through our Twitter mentions and I read through what people say, and they will screencap our replies to them.

[00:22:52] Jason Wong: And that just makes me so happy because that's just, that's just like another person that we have built into what we call like really [00:23:00] loyal customers. And that's not something that's, you can't really do that in large numbers, but the fact that you can build a base like that is so, so important for a small company like ours.

[00:23:11] Jason Wong: And another thing that we also do for our customer support is, you know, just thinking about like the economics of it too, asking for re returns and ask him to send stuff back to you. A lot of companies really needs to have a better return policies and think about the economics of returns because returns are really expensive.

[00:23:29] Jason Wong: It's actually worth it for you to just let them keep the stuff and give them, give them credits back from the store or give them like a gift card, give them like another replacement. But at some point, have you guys realized that it's better to just let them keep the product?

[00:23:44] Jason Wong: Yeah, we

[00:23:44] Eli Weiss: don't, we don't take returns, period.

[00:23:46] Eli Weiss: Um, we, we started not taking returns because it was a beverage and, and COVID, and, and it got to the point where we realized it's, it's a heavy product. It cost us a lot of money to ship. And the bottom line is like, like you mentioned with, with, with your space as [00:24:00] well. It's like, just because it doesn't work for you, it still might work for somebody else and we can gain a new customer.

[00:24:05] Eli Weiss: So that's what we do is like gift it. Yeah. Drop it off at a food shelter if you don't have anyone to give it to. Gift it to whoever. And, and it's like, we've probably brought in quite a bunch of customers from people that didn't like Olipop pop and gifted it to a friend.

[00:24:19] Eli Weiss: Right.

[00:24:19] Jason Wong: That's one point I wanted to like squeeze out it from talking about customer experience is that there's so much that can come out with this whole channel because when people think of a customer support, they're like, yeah, we use Gorgias and we reply to tickets.

[00:24:32] Jason Wong: And then yeah, we do some automations. I'm like, no, there's so, so much more that can come out of it. And sometimes it's not by design. It's just literally by being a good brand.

[00:24:42] Eli Weiss: Yeah. Being a person versus a machine is wild. And, and if you look at large brands, I am a difficult customer. Um, and that's how I got into this space.

[00:24:51] Eli Weiss: Cause I'm like, I hate it. I hate when I spend my hard-earned money on a product and they just like reply with a canned response and the bar is so low and I say this all the time, like the bar [00:25:00] is so low, um, massive legacy brands will just send this like janky four word response to like you crying your heart out because it's just the machine.

[00:25:09] Eli Weiss: And being a person behind that is, is really like you think about a brand and you think about the person behind the brand. And so many people are focused on telling a founder story. And sometimes you can tell a founder story and then when they buy a product and don't like, where's the founder then?

[00:25:23] Eli Weiss: Right. So it's like being a person and being a human on the other side of the line is, is so powerful. It's like, even if we can't refund you and we can't reship it and we can't resolve. You'll know that we did the best we can you'll know it's Eli. It's not, it's not Olipop. Like it's not this massive machine.

[00:25:39] Eli Weiss: It's, it's me. It's a person. And that's like, everyone on my team is a person and they are coming here every single morning to kick ass and provide great experiences and customers feel that like, they feel it, that our ratings across the board are super high because people, even if the product got there and it was banged up in the truck from UPS. Like they know that we have their [00:26:00] back, they know we're a place that they know we can refund it. Like they know that we put our, we put our money where our mouth is and do the best we can. And it's honestly, like you said, it's, it's the backbone of a brand. It's like, it's the, it's the emotion behind the brand that's, it's not, it could be a founder story, but it's not just a founder story. It's the humans that are running the operation and it's what makes people love Doe. And it's what makes people love Olipop. They love that they're taken care of and that they feel the humanness behind it. And that's, that's the future of CX.

[00:26:29] Eli Weiss: Like the future is you choose a brand that has your back . And it's like, as much as we can take a shit on Amazon, it's like, if you have an issue, they are the best customer service in the game. Like they will always have your back. And it's what makes people choose to purchase things from brands. They're like, I know that if I spend the money, I'd rather go to Zappos and spend the extra four dollars than go to some janky website and get the same pair of shoes. And if it doesn't fit, I have to pay for the return.

[00:26:52] Jason Wong: Absolutely. And I think the reason why I really wanted to get you on the show was I remember, like over a year ago I bought something from Olipop. [00:27:00] Or less than a year ago. And I texted.

[00:27:03] Eli Weiss: I remember that.

[00:27:05] Jason Wong: And you texted back and I'm like, wow, that doesn't happen. That doesn't cause I'm like, I know you from Twitter. So the fact that you texted me back and I didn't tell him about the texts you like, you're just doing your job. You're in it. You're talking to customers. And I just so happen to be one of those customers that just so happened to be mutuals with you on Twitter. You didn't know who I was. You didn't know you didn't have my number. And that was really like what made me really respect the work that you guys do at over Olipop and really make me want to like talk to you about this. This really just felt like catching up, but, um, I know we're at time now and I really appreciate you coming on.

[00:27:43] Jason Wong: . Appreciate all the great work that you guys are doing. Is there anything exciting that you want the viewers to look out for? Um, you know, maybe more stores you guys are coming in or anything that you just want to leak a little bit? Don't tell anyone else I asked you to do this.

[00:27:58] Eli Weiss: No, I mean, this [00:28:00] is, this is definitely gonna be a leak and-

[00:28:03] Eli Weiss: two things, but the non-leak leak is that we just launched in every single Target store nationwide. But the exciting thing that we haven't shared anywhere is that 2022 is going to be a monster year releases. So stay tuned. There'll be a bunch of new flavors, some limited, some full, full launch flavors, but 22 is going to be it's going to be a banger of a year. And we, we are so excited to kind of like, we figured out our kind of classics and our fruities and this year, it's just going to be a bunch of, a bunch of new stuff and more flavors. We're super excited.

[00:28:34] Jason Wong: Well, thank you Eli for coming on. Um, I'll see you around and hopefully I can visit you next time.

[00:28:40] Eli Weiss: Thanks. Jason,

[00:28:42] Jason Wong: You just heard an episode of the building blocks podcast. If you liked what you heard, subscribe below to keep hearing conversations that I have with brilliant marketers, founders, and innovators on how they built their best ideas. Now, we want to learn how you can turn your best ideas and build something massive out of it visit my website, [00:29:00] bbclass.co or follow my Twitter at @eggroli

‍

‍

‍