When I explain my job to people,
they really don't understand what I do.
For example, my daughter,
she's 12 years old.
The way I like to explain ecommerce is,
it's math, and I know you love math.
Not this year.
It's like an equation:
traffic times conversion
times average order value.
So it's math.
So simply put...
You sell makeup.
I sell makeup.
both: Yeah.
Any kids watching?
Here's proof
you will use math later in life.
Hi, I'm Emmanuel Acho.
The name of the show: "Simply Put,"
where your beastliest business challenges
get simple solves.
Now, my goal here is to keep things short
and to the point for you.
I've got a jargon-free explanation
for everything.
Plus, keep an eye out for these.
In this episode,
we're headed to the future,
and we'll be in great hands
with Molly Dufner,
e.l.f. Beauty's VP of Ecommerce
and Customer Experience.
Molly's gonna tell us how e.l.f.
went 100% digital.
You'll also hear a few takes
from Jon Feldman,
a senior product marketing manager
at Salesforce.
Jon's gonna walk us through a demo
on Molly's three tips
to future-proof your business.
Make sense? All right, great.
Here's Molly again.
The online shopping experience has been
transforming for the past few years,
but with COVID, we transformed
five years' worth of development
into a matter of months.
And now we have analytics
like we've never seen before.
For me, data is like
being in a candy store.
We can see what the add to cart rate is,
what the conversion rates are,
what the traffic sources are.
I've been in ecommerce for 20 years,
and this was like landing on the moon.
Data allows us to invest in our future
because data allows us
to more accurately forecast
what the future's going to look like.
Everything is changing
in the digital marketing world so quickly.
The brands that have that connection
to their customers
and have that customer data
are the ones that are really set up
for future success.
What this year has taught us
is that being future-proof means
being ready for the unexpected.
For me, that means making sure
that your foundation for digital commerce
and CRM is solid
and is prepared to change at any moment.
Having a single source of truth
is the holy grail of CRM.
Digital 360 has transformed
e.l.f.'s business by allowing us
to be agile and scale in a way
that we were not able to before.
The most important thing to me
is knowing that customer.
And that's where Customer 360
really makes a big difference,
to have that one-on-one communication
with our customer
no matter where they buy.
Now grab your pen and paper,
'cause your future self
will never forgive you
if you miss Molly's three tips.
Jon Feldman from Salesforce
will help put her advice into action.
Simply put, these are my top three tips
on how to future-proof your business.
Number one,
meet shoppers where they are.
I couldn't agree more, Molly.
Customers have moved
way beyond brick and mortar,
and they aren't just browsing
your website.
They're finding you on social media,
partner sites, all over the digital world.
We call this "shopping at the edge,"
and it's a huge growth area.
Transactions that start on social
are up 104% year over year.
So how do you get started?
Find the social channels
your audience spends the most time on
and activate social selling there.
For instance, e.l.f.'s platform
seamlessly feeds their catalog
directly into Instagram.
They tag those products in their posts
so shoppers can see
the items they're interested in
and purchase without leaving the app.
Once you've shown up
where your digital customers are,
what should you do next?
Number two, grow loyalty
with connected experiences.
This is key.
About half of U.S. consumers
switched to new brands last year.
Experiences are driving
these shifts in loyalty.
So what do you need?
A complete single view of your customer
is essential to connect every step
in the shopping experience.
Once you have that, you can build
a unified view into your inventory
across stores, distribution centers,
the whole network.
Look how easy it is
to see e.l.f.'s fulfillment options.
Shoppers can choose curbside pickup,
shop by store, next-day shipping,
even check inventory by location.
Connected experiences like these
delight customers
and build the trust and loyalty
that translate into repeat shoppers.
And now you're growing,
which leads us to Molly's next tip.
Number three, build on a scalable
and flexible platform.
Our simplest but most important point:
build your business on a platform
that can scale with you.
This will help your teams innovate faster
and implement big ideas
with fewer roadblocks.
That's how e.l.f. can activate
new experiences like live shopping.
Picture this: while customers view
tutorials by their favorite influencers,
you can guide them in real time
with AI-driven recommendations,
live inventory displays by location,
and even virtual try-ons.
Whether exploring innovations
like live shopping,
expanding into new regions,
or starting new product lines,
you won't be slowed down
if you're built on a flexible platform.
Now, that does it for this episode
of "Simply Put," but get ready.
A new one starts...
right now.