Putting personalisation at the heart of D2C, with Beth Chapman from Leaf Envy

In this edition of The Growth Journals I speak to the inspiring Beth Chapman, founder of Leaf Envy. With a background in tech and e-commerce she has built an innovative D2C plant brand that creates a community around plant parenthood. In our conversation we discuss the key to building a successful D2C brand, how she’s put personalisation at the heart of Leaf Envy and what it’s like being a female founder in a typically male dominant tech world.

Here are the takeaways from my chat with Beth:

• A key driver of brand differentiation is through the customer experience you create — make personalisation a priority
• Build a view of your customers and create strategies unique to each segment — you’ll need to tailor the proposition and experience to their specific needs
• To be successful in D2C you need to build a community through producing engaging, relevant, informative content — don’t make it about a one-way sales channel
• Partnerships is a highly effective go-to-market strategy to drive sales and brand building — but ensure you understand the objectives behind each partnership deal

“I didn’t feel like there were any plant-based brands using personalisation effectively”

Tell me about how you came up with the idea for Leaf Envy.

It was all from experience really. When I moved to LA with my old company I sold everything and was set on living a more minimalist life without buying “meaningless” stuff. I had seen a lot of pictures about biophilic design (people designing their spaces with plants and nature) and I thought it would be a great investment for my interior space. So I went on this journey researching plants online, which was exhausting as all the names were in Latin and it was difficult to find plants to suit my environment. I managed to fill my space in the end but ended up killing them 2 months later. I was working in tech at the time with large ecommerce brands and I had seen how they use personalisation to inform the customer experience. I didn’t feel like there were any plant-based brands using personalisation effectively, like helping choose the right plant for your space, delivering seamless D2C delivery and answering style and aftercare questions. That’s where the idea was born. Originally Leaf Envy was going to be a completely owned subscription model but it’s changed a lot since then. It’s got the fundamental premise at heart of helping 25–35 year olds who are interested in biophilic design, styling their home with plants and making plant parenthood easy, simple and fun.

And what made you pivot your thinking from subscription only to what you offer now which is a combination of standalone sales and subscription?

I did a lot of research early on, speaking with friends, family and potential customers. What was clear to me is that the subscription is great for two customer segments in particular — those beginning their plant parenting journey and keen to hone their skills further and those who want to buy it as a gift. But there’s also a huge market for one off purchases, where the customer purchasing journey isn’t as specific. I didn’t want to exclude our business from having that opportunity. So the thinking was to do both models and scale them at the same time.

“The subscription offering is all about surprise and delight, whereas one-off purchases are about guidance and being an expert”

Do you have different strategies for each segment — subscribers versus one-off purchases?

Yes, 100%. The customer who buys our subscription typically falls into two segments — one is completely new to plants and the other is gifting. We have a totally different marketing strategy for those two segments. Then our one-off purchasers look entirely different. They are usually 25–35 years old, they could be buying for their house and wanting 10+ plants at a time or they are interested in unique and unusual plants and would rather pick and choose. So it’s about guiding that choice for those customers. The subscription offering is all about surprise and delight, whereas one-off purchases are about guidance and being an expert in plant care.

And did your experience at Qubit [a tech company focussed on data-driven ecommerce personalisation] inform what you do at Leaf Envy?

Personalisation is at the core of everything that I have tried to implement at Leaf Envy. It isn’t used as extensively as I would like particularly for subscription customers and across our digital customer experience yet. However, my ultimate goal is a highly personalised customer experience right from the choice of plant through to aftercare advice. We have a plant based quiz on our site and we feed those results into the email flow and targeted ads. We’ve also built a prototype of a plant care app where all the subscriptions will ultimately feed into. You would have your jungle collection pre-loaded on the app, and you’d receive targeted watering reminders and plant care advice based on the plants you’ve bought. And then you would also get a bunch of resources and fun content to help you scale up your plant parenthood skills further. Qubit has been fantastic in exposing me to all the opportunities within personalisation.

Between the two segments what is the ultimate split you want between subscriptions and one-off purchasing?

Currently it sits at around 10% subscribers. Ultimately I would love to have a 40/60 business. I don’t want to be entirely subscription-focussed although it is easiest to scale, as there are so many more avenues for customer purchase like bulk orders, office installations, corporate orders, etc. We can scale both operations at the same time so I don’t think it has to be mutually exclusive.

“We’ve been a success story of Covid. In the first lockdown we tripled in revenue and our subscription grew 200% month on month”

I can imagine that Covid has had a big impact on your business. What was the significance of Covid for Leaf Envy?

We’ve been a success story of Covid. In the first lockdown we tripled in revenue and our subscription grew 200% month on month. People were at home and wanted to improve the space they were living in so plants were an obvious thing to buy both for aesthetics and health benefits. That lasted for about 3 months but we got to the point where we couldn’t deal with the rate of growth. Operationally it was a bit of a nightmare trying to manage the inventory and get deliveries out with such a small team.

Have you seen this growth sustained?

The peak flattened out yes, and we are now growing sustainably month on month. Everything has come at the right time for us. We were starting to get known, we had just started investing in paid media and then suddenly Covid happened and we blew up. Now more people are starting to recognise our brand and hear about us through word of mouth or referral marketing so it’s naturally growing. Now we have a proven business model and track record, we are now at the point where we are looking for investment to start scaling properly.

What would you use this investment to do in order to achieve the scale you want?

Numerous initiatives. Hiring is a top priority — across Marketing and Operations. Building our app, redesigning our digital experience end-to-end, and launching our own product line to expand beyond pots but into botanical accessories.

“It’s our end to end experience which sets us apart”

You mention the app being a key differentiator in the future. What would you say is Leaf Envy’s main point of differentiation from competitors in its current state?

Our customers tell us it’s our end to end experience which sets us apart — right from our commitment to sustainability, to the quality and range of products, packaging we’ve designed and after-care support. Our approach to plant parenthood guidance across social, email and video is something people always reference. The subscription offering is a big product differentiator right now, but not only this, we are launching a new pot range so we will be able to offer plant and pot combinations which no one else does in the market currently.

In the D2C world, building a community is such a key part of establishing a brand. How have you done this with Leaf Envy?

It comes within our social media strategy. We have a ridiculously high engagement on our Instagram. When I started the business I garnered quite a strong audience base who I would connect with regularly. I would do ‘how to’ videos and answer any plant care questions they had. It’s really about having a conversation with the customer and understanding how to create engaging content that isn’t just a one-way street of us trying to sell our product. How can we add value through content that is informational, exciting and different? We also do a tonne of giveaways with like minded brands which I think also help to garner a community beyond the world of plants, like brands in sustainability, health & wellbeing, interior.

You have already established some partnerships through Instagram giveaways. Do you have any other brand partnerships as a joint go-to-market strategy?

We have an agreement with a luxury interior brand to be their plant supplier and we’ll have a physical space in their shops post-Covid. We are also working with some other well known retailers to do a Leaf Envy Christmas gift set following a botanical theme. They are two totally different markets and partners: mass-market vs. luxury, it’s testament to our product that we can reach both. I would also love to have a partnership with a gallery like the Tate Modern and create a jungle installation that is an experiential piece of art. It’s a completely different type of partnership but it would be so good.

“Google offered this programme for female founders and I fit the bill because I was trying to build a subscription and tech personalisation product”

You were part of the first female-led Google accelerator in 2019. I would love to hear about your experience during this and what you learnt.

That was awesome. I had been looking at different incubator programmes for a while, but a lot either took equity or required you to be at a certain stage of growth. And at the time Leaf Envy was just me selling plants on a canal boat! Google offered this programme for female founders and I fit the bill because I was trying to build a subscription and tech personalisation product. I applied off the cuff thinking this will never be me and I think over 1000 businesses applied then 10 of us got it! It was meant to be a 6-week summer incubator and it was extended to 6 months because they loved the initiative and the cohort so much. It was great because you got a mentor and access to classes and workshops with experts across Google’s network. My favourite session was with the Director of Marketing at Google who did a workshop on brand identity and how to tell a great story. But I think the most valuable part was connecting with all these like minded founders who were in a similar boat to you — not making money and going for their dream. Especially as a solo founder it can get very lonely at the beginning so it’s nice to have that sense of community.

I read a stat that around 7% of VC funding goes to female-founders. What’s been your experience of this as you build a company in the tech world?

It’s an interesting one. We spoke about it a lot at Google. I’ve always been of the opinion that if you work hard then you’ll get to where you want. Is it to do with being a woman? Yes and no. Yes, in terms of getting your foot in the door. It’s a very male dominated environment and the access to VCs are through networks which are mainly men. But no because once you’ve got a foot in the door, you are just as good as the other guys sitting next to you, It’s all about how you communicate and making sure you present yourself with confidence.

And what is the next step for Leaf Envy in the next 12 months?

Product, experience and team are the three priorities. Our biggest priority is securing our brand differentiation through product development. Second is improving the digital customer experience so it’s super unique and hyper relevant. Three is growing the team and getting in some experienced people who have built subscription ecommerce brands before.

Now for the quick fire round! I’ll ask you a series of questions and you respond with the first thing that comes to mind…Ready?

What’s your favourite plant and why? Alocasia Zerbrina because it is super unusual, it’s got elephant shaped ears and striped stems.

Where is the top on your list of places to go after Covid? Bali

Who is your secret celebrity crush? Tom Hardy!

How would you spend your ideal Friday night? A big bottle of red wine watching The Crown… with my boyfriend!

If you want to find out more about Leaf Envy, check out their website or their Instagram.

And if you want to learn about the story behind other fascinating entrepreneurs, have a read of my other interviews here.