Ina Herlihy thinks e-commerce firms are losing organic traffic and income by using Reddit and Facebook groups.
Herlihy emailed Eltrys that marketers must prioritize retention and organic traffic as new user acquisition prices rise by hundreds of dollars. Brands may enhance retention and organic traffic by developing an onsite community on their domain.
In late 2022, Herlihy began developing brand-hosted community software. The outcome is AddGlow.
According to Herlihy, “owned communities are the next big marketing channel for the $17 trillion e-commerce market.” Facebook groups are used by companies to build communities; however, consumers and brands have gaps. Consumers lack context about poster identities. Our thorough user profiles let marketers own the data and decrease the number of steps to buy.
How it works: The New York company gathers brand-specified profile variables, such as skin concern, hair type, and shoe preference, to tailor the homepage, product detail pages, emails, and SMS.
AddGlow also connects with brand catalogs, so community members may tag goods when referencing them. This lets site visitors add items to their cart without leaving the community.
Members of an onsite engagement-based loyalty program may receive points for completing their profile, posting, and commenting. The brand may customize anything.
The firm is still young after a year of product development. Herlihy claimed AddGlow had $1.7 million in pre-seed capital to advance.
Despite being a “non-technical solo founder with an idea,” Herlihy’s venture finance procedure took two months.
Stellation Capital and Precursor Ventures co-led the round with Miles Bird at StoryHouse Ventures and strategic angel investors including former Walmart executive Jeff Shotts, StockX co-founder Chris Kaufman, former Glossier president Henry Davis, Zumper co-founder and CEO Anthemos Georgiades, and Walker & Company Brands founder Tristan Walker.
Herlihy stated that his founding friends introduced him to Peter Boyce II (Stellation) and Charles Hudson (Precursor). Before and during fundraising, I asked tech pals which pre-seed VCs they liked most. Charles and Peter were mentioned most, so I wanted them on my hat table.”
The increased funding allowed Herlihy to hire engineers and designers from Walmart, Nike, eBay, Google, and Twitch. Herlihy said AddGlow’s second year would concentrate on income after product development.
Herlihy added, “We started partnering with smaller brands, and now we’re building additional functionality to support larger brands, too.“ AddGlow fosters belonging. To provide a secure area for community members to seek personal guidance and make important connections.”
