This brand broke the biggest rule of e-commerce—and made customers 3.5x more valuable

When Huckberry launched its newsletter 15 years ago, the retailer included a section that defied the advice of ecommerce experts by including links to stories and content that its employees thought might be of interest to its outdoors-minded community.

“That is like rule No. 1: You do not link off of your site,” Ben O’Meara, Huckberry’s chief brand officer, said during a panel discussion at the Fast Company Grill at SXSW. The Austin-based company’s philosophy then, as it remains today, he said, is that there’s value in putting customers first and recognizing they’re not always in the mood to buy something. 

“We are providing a service to you outside of just the products that we are selling,” O’Meara said. “And that service is: We are providing entertainment, education, we are introducing you to like-minded people and examples of what our brand represents.”

“MAKING DEPOSITS INTO THE COMMUNITY”

Much like developing a friendship, this type of brand-building strategy takes time, and there’s an evolution that sees the relationship deepen over time, added Bill Neff, head of marketing at Yeti. He noted that the Austin-based company started out 20 years ago making coolers and other products for the fishing community, and has since branched out to foster partnerships with other communities, like surfing, that sometimes take many years to develop.

“We treat our brand in a very human way, and we always think about our communities as friends,” Neff said. “We keep making deposits into the community and then we hope the community makes deposits in us.”

Even if it takes time, going deep within communities can pay off. O’Meara said that Huckberry customers who engage with the brand’s content have a lifetime value that’s 3.5 times that of those who come to the site from an ad or affiliate link. 

“It’s longer term, it’s a slower build,” he said. “But at its foundation, this investment means a more profitable business.”

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