1. Listen to customer needs: Tulsi emphasizes the importance of understanding customers’ preferences from the start to build lasting relationships, ensuring loyalty and satisfaction.
2. Go the extra mile: Personal touches like handwritten notes make customers feel valued, creating memorable experiences that drive repeat business and foster loyalty.
3. Encourage team input: Inviting all team members to share ideas fosters innovation, leading to fresh perspectives and improved strategies for customer engagement.
4. Adapt communication channels: Adjusting communication methods, like implementing online chat, ensures timely support during peak seasons, enhancing customer experience and satisfaction.
5. Focus on retention: Engaging customers through consistent follow-ups ensures they see results with products, building a loyal community and driving profitability.
Meet Beekman 1802's digital maestro, Tulsi Patel, who is fusing technology with a humane approach to customer care. Find out how her leadership encourages creativity and compassion, converting infrequent visitors into loyal Neighbors. Prepare yourself for an interesting look at contemporary e-commerce that puts connection first!
Meet Tulsi Patel, Vice President of Digital & E-Commerce at Beekman 1802!
Beekman 1802 believes that there is beauty in Kindness and is on a mission to create a Kinder world. The skincare brand’s products feature Goat Milk as a key ingredient, are certified cruelty-free, and are microbiome-friendly and safe for sensitive skin. In addition to its E-Commerce site and historic Kindness Shop in Sharon Springs, NY, Beekman 1802 retails through Ulta Beauty, Amazon, HSN & QVC, and other leading retailers across the country.
The brand was founded by Dr. Brent Ridge & Josh Kilmer-Purcell, and inspired by the 200-year-old Beekman Farm, Beekman 1802.
Tulsi’s journey started right after graduating college when she worked as a management consultant. That foundation gave her an overall understanding of the business space and its drivers end to end. With big box retailers as clients, Tulsi was able to ask her favorite questions constantly: “Why does someone buy something at a certain place, at a certain time for a certain price?”
After working at J. Crew for 5 years, Tulsi entered the world of personal care at Johnson & Johnson Consumer, on their Neutrogena brand. “I was able to merge my past experiences, but it was very different and my first time working for a Fortune 50 company in-house. When I left to join Beekman 1802 a little over a year ago, I was looking for something a little smaller and more agile with the chance to scale up.”
Asked what excites her most about E-Commerce, Tulsi talks about the constant change required for the brand to keep up with consumer demand regarding preferences. She elaborates, “I think that evolution of how people shop and how brands are then challenged, not only with meeting customers where they’re at but also doing so while exceeding all expectations, is really exciting.” Giving an example, Tulsi says that skincare brands had to pivot to reach consumers during COVID when people focused heavily on their skin health and personal care needs.
Beekman 1802’s headquarters are in Schenectady, NY with a team of nearly one hundred members who work mostly remotely. “Along with the huge growth that we experienced in the last few years as a brand, we got the benefit of expanding our digital team to be bi-coastal, which is really exciting,” Tulsi says.
Beekman 1802’s CX philosophy is rooted in the motto, ‘Work hard, never quit, and help your neighbor.’ Tulsi explains, “The brand literally grew Neighbor by Neighbor, in a community in upstate New York where the founders started making bars of soap at their kitchen table.” As the business grows, cultivating meaningful relationships with customers, who are referred to as Neighbors, remains at the forefront with a focus on the CX journey from beginning to end.
“We listen to our neighbors’ needs and concerns from the beginning and are able to make recommendations based on their skin type,” Tulsi says. “We want to know about the very moment people are introduced to our brand, to making a purchase, to following up with them about their experience using our products.” To stand out in a competitive beauty & wellness industry, Beekman 1802 offers free skincare consultations with licensed estheticians and ‘kindness’ coaching sessions with professional life coaches - you can sign up directly on their website.
When Going the Extra Mile for Customers Pays Off
Within Beekman 1802’s neighbor community are GOATs, or customers who are extremely loyal. To thank them for their repeat business, the Neighbor Services center kicked off a G.O.A.T note initiative, mailing handwritten notes as a personal touch. “How often do you get a handwritten note thanking you for your order? Many GOATs have been a part of Beekman 1802’s journey from the very beginning. It created a meaningful experience for our loyal neighbors that we have become known for,” Tulsi says. She goes on to say that thoughtful gestures like this have had a direct impact on the brand's growth over the years.
Innovation and Adaptability
Evolving as a skincare brand, Beekman 1802 looks inward for ideas about innovation related to both products and customer experience. “Everyone has a voice,” Tulsi remarks. “We look to our own talent for fresh ways to speak about our business. I am constantly asking my team for input, and they always come back with these cool ways of thinking about something or wanting to try something new.” Leadership encourages inclusive discussion, even if that means pushing back on a new proposal. “We foster innovation over Slack with a product idea channel, and it’s a free-for-all of ideas.”
Neighbors are also a source, Tulsi points out. “Using surveys and polls, we ask them what they would like to see in terms of product innovation or what they would like us to do as a brand.”
Peak Season Strategies
Tulsi reveals that their approach to customer service has evolved in the last 5 years, noting that COVID was a major factor for the shift. “The way that we communicate with our neighbors has changed. We’ve implemented an online chat and help center, which has been effective for immediate response.”
To make sure the Neighbor Services team felt comfortable going into peak season, they looked at data to identify the main reasons people were reaching out and help address those as efficiently and effectively as possible. “It’s important that during those peak moments, we still have the mindset that every Neighbor matters, and every single interaction we have with them matters.” Tulsi goes on to say that the Neighbor Services team has done an incredible job to provide every person who reaches out the same level of experience, familiarity, and relationship with the brand.
Prioritizing First Order Profitability, Customer Engagement, and Retention
As a growing E-Commerce brand facing costs related to media performance and attracting new customers, Beekman 1802 is focused on first order profitability. “The expenses to find neighbors and bring them into the brand has only increased in recent years, so it’s important that we do acquire new Neighbors precisely and profitably,” Tulsi admits.
Specializing in skincare, the brand sees customer engagement and retention as interconnected. Tulsi explains, “Typically, with skincare, you need to use the product for 2 weeks to 30 days minimum to see results - consistency is key! We watch these periods to make sure that we’re timing when we follow up and ask for feedback and reviews. We want to engage and keep people with the brand and love the ‘neighbor to neighbor’ community, but now in a digital online format.”
Slack - “We foster innovation over Slack with a product idea channel, and it’s a free-for-all.”
Can’t Live Without Tool? Shopify. Given that we are in the E-Commerce space, if I don’t have Shopify, I don’t have a business.
Key Hiring Trait? Thirst. I’m looking for truly thirsty folks who just want to learn, drive forward and own performance.
Recent Book or Podcast? My manager, our Chief Digital Officer, turned me onto the podcast, Acquired. The LVMH episode on branding and brand marketing was fascinating. The way that it defined luxury, premium, and mass products I felt was applicable to all, especially someone in the consumables space. The founders history episodes where they talk about starting a company from scratch and how it’s evolved are my favorites.
#1 Challenge as a Leader? There are two signs of the coin. I give my team so much credit for our success – they show up, they drive, they have that hunger and thirst. But for me as a manager, I’d say managing different types of personality styles, then adjusting my style to bring out the best in them can be a challenge. Balancing servicing them as a manager for their own personal and professional growth with what’s best for the business. But while challenging, it’s also very rewarding.
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