Ina Herlihy believes that e-commerce brands are losing out on organic traffic and potential revenue by relying on third-party community sites like Reddit and Facebook groups.
With new user acquisition costs increasing by hundreds of dollars in some cases, brands must pay more attention to retention and organic traffic growth, Herlihy told TechCrunch via email. By building an on-site HE community, brands can increase retention rates and drive more organic HE traffic because the community is on its own domain.
In late 2022, Herlihy began building community software that allows brands to host communities on their websites. The result is AddGlow.
“Owned communities are the next big marketing channel for the $17 trillion e-commerce market,” Herlihy said. “Brands that want to foster community primarily do so through Facebook groups, but there are gaps for both customers and brands. For example, customers don't have context about who's posting. We solve this problem with detailed user profiles, so brands can seize the opportunity to own their data and reduce steps to purchase.”
Here's how it works: The New York-based startup collects data via brand-specified profile attributes (such as skin concerns, hair type, and favorite shoe types) and Allows you to personalize your homepage, product description pages, emails, and services. SMS.
Additionally, AddGlow integrates with brand catalogs so community members can tag products when mentioning them. This allows site visitors to seamlessly add to their cart without leaving your community.
Meanwhile, through an on-site engagement-based loyalty program, community members can earn points by completing certain actions such as completing profiles, posting, and replying. All of these are customizable by brand.
The company is still in its early stages after a year of product development. Herlihy said the company currently has $1.7 million in pre-seed funding to take AddGlow to its next phase.
Examples of AddGlow's profile and engagement services. Image credits: Adgrow
Even though Herlihy is a somewhat unique founder in this difficult funding environment, the venture capital process took about two months. In her own words, she is “a solo founder with an idea, not a techie.”
Stellation Capital and Precursor Ventures co-led the round, along with Miles Bird of Storyhouse Ventures, former Walmart executive Jeff Schott, StockX co-founder Chris Kaufman, former Glossier president Henry Davis, and Zumper Co. A group of strategic angel investors, including the founders, participated. Anthemos Georgiades, founder and CEO, and Tristan Walker, founder of Walker & Company Brands.
“I met both Peter Boyce II (Stellation) and Charles Hudson (Precursor) through friends of the founders,” Herlihy said. “Before and during the fundraising, I asked some of my tech friends which VCs for pre-seed founders they were most impressed with. Charles and Peter’s names came up the most. I knew I needed them on my cap table.”
With the new capital, Herlihy was able to hire engineers and designers with experience working with brands like Walmart, Nike, eBay, Google, and Twitch. After a year focused on product development, AddGlow's second year will be focused on revenue, Herlihy said.
“We started working with smaller brands and are now building additional capabilities to support larger brands as well,” Herlihy said. “AddGlow helps give people a sense of belonging. Our goal is to foster a safe space for community members to seek personal advice and build meaningful connections.”