Who is Courtney Toll?

Meet Courtney Toll, Co-Founder of Nori!

About Nori

"Our brand name, Nori, is iron spelled backward. Basically, we were a clothing care brand that was creating innovative tools and solutions designed to increase the longevity of your wardrobe."

One of Nori's most well-known products is the Nori Press, an innovative handheld steam iron designed to simplify the chore of ironing.

"I had just started my career in New York City. I was living in a really tiny New York apartment, and I would wake up in the morning wanting to make a strong first impression in my first job, but I just didn't have the space for an ironing board.”

Courtney struggled to handle her wrinkled garments through do-it-yourself methods. Like many business leaders, she found an opportunity in this challenge. 

"That basically put a big spotlight on a market that was fairly large. Iron and steaming hadn't seen any meaningful innovations since the introduction of the steamers in the 1980s.”

Innovation Through Insight

Motivated by this insight, Courtney and her team embarked on a two-plus year product development journey, conducting extensive customer research and collaborating with engineers from reputable companies like Remington and Conair.

The result of their efforts was the Nori Press, a consumer-inspired product launched solely direct-to-consumer, which quickly became a success.

Business Growth and Revenue Generation Strategies

Courtney reflected on the changing landscape of e-commerce, noting that when Nori launched in 2021, the e-commerce market was becoming increasingly crowded.

"I think that there was a huge e-commerce boom where a lot of people were just taking products that have always existed and taking them online. And while I think that works for a while, e-commerce started to get so crowded that I think it's the really innovative products that end up sticking out."

Courtney believes in the importance of brand differentiation. It’s not enough to just have cool products or a good online store. True growth is generated by innovation. 

Courtney notes that while many DTC brands rely on meta-advertising, she sees a shift toward community-building initiatives. Micro and nano influencer support. Branded partnerships. Customer feedback forums. 

The Nori Team

"What's really cool is that technically we are a three-person, all-female team running an eight-figure business. So that's been really exciting," Courtney said.

That said, they’re not doing it all alone. 

"We have about 27 individuals working across agencies and freelance partners," Courtney noted.

She explained that they made the decision to outsource quite a bit, especially in the early stages of rapid growth, which allowed them to be agile with their talent.

"It was just an easy way to plug holes. And if something's not working, it's not this huge personnel issue where you're having to restructure internally. You simply move on to the next agency.”

Courtney believes that the economy rewards small teams. Not only does it make their company Agile, but it also allows them to invest heavily in the brand. 

"I would say that almost everything goes back into Nori, especially given that we're such a small team. I think investors are always shocked at how low our G&A expenses are as a percentage of revenue," Courtney explained. "But I think that's a great thing, and a huge majority of our budget goes back into marketing, just continuing to spread the word of what Nori is doing, getting people typically on board with their first purchase with a Nori Press, and then hopefully coming back for more of our accessory and other cool venture products."

CX Management at Nori

"I think one of the major benefits of being online is that you start to have that ongoing conversation with the customer," Courtney noted.

"We also had a totally new technology, so it was really important to collect customer feedback for us," Courtney explained. "For over a year into business, we ran customer service completely ourselves. We read every ticket."

Courtney's co-founder took the lead in managing customer service, gaining a deep understanding of customer concerns and issues, which largely were managed through the platform Gorgias.

"Now we're at a stage where we felt like just when it starts to become clear with some crowdsource partners, it was time to find someone that was solely really focused on this," Courtney explained.

Nori has now found someone to work with and manage their CX effectively so they can be sure individual attention is being given to every concern. 

Innovation and Adaptability

The clothing care market is highly fragmented, with customers buying various products from different places. According to Courtney, "There really is no brand that is putting it all into one easily shoppable environment." Nori started with innovative products in the ironing and steaming category and asked customers what they wanted next.

"Our customers lead us on this innovation journey," Courtney explains. "We do a lot of post-purchase surveys, sometimes we just do straight like email collection requests where we'll offer a certain incentive discount code or a Starbucks gift card to get customer feedback."

Their fabric shaver was born from customer feedback, seen as a natural complement to the Nori Press. "It's done incredibly well, I think, because we had the idea validated by consumers before production ever began," says Courtney.

Nori's approach is customer-driven, with another product launching soon, "very much a product of what was voiced by consumers."

Courtney reflects on the importance of prioritizing tasks to drive revenue in the early stages of building a brand. She notes, "When you first start a brand, it's really easy to get excited by every opportunity that comes your way. But you only have so many hours in the day and often when you're starting out, you have a really tiny team.

It’s important to ask ‘Will this drive revenue?" with every task. While some activities like marketing and new product development directly impact revenue, others like customer service indirectly contribute by fostering positive experiences that encourage repeat business.