Every success story starts with a dream and, in this case, a problem to solve.
Ian Rollin Berry was busy preparing for law school when he and his brother started a discussion about the difficulties of maintaining proper oral care when away from home. After friends and family shared their experiences as well, he realized this was a bigger problem than he thought.
He started researching some solutions and a new dream began to take shape - and much to his mother’s dismay, it wasn’t law school.
Ian spent several years in research and development before officially launching Brushee On The Go, a 3-in-1 tool that makes mobile oral care easy, in 2021.
The product was an instant hit online, and it’s continued to find success in new markets. We recently sat down with Ian to hear about his experience selling on Amazon and how FeedbackFive by eComEngine continues to play a pivotal role in Brushee’s word-of-mouth marketing strategy.
Brushee was founded in 2017 in Orlando, Florida. As the company’s Founder and CEO, Ian set out to advance the oral care industry through innovation and high-quality products at an affordable price.
I recognized an opportunity to take a look at mobile oral care and the options that were out there with respect to being able to provide users with the most convenient solution to maintain that oral care on the go.
With a pre-pasted toothbrush, toothpick, and flosser all built into one perfectly portable item, Brushee On The Go helps you maintain fresh breath and a healthy mouth anytime, anywhere.
The product found an immediate following with frequent travelers and those with Invisalign or braces. It’s even being included in military MREs!
Brushee currently has the one hero product with several variations, but plenty more items are in the works thanks in large part to requests from orthodontists and parents who want something tailored to children. There are also wholesale opportunities to be explored.
“Brushee On the Go has grown much faster than we anticipated,” Ian said. “We've been having to invest more resources into inventory than the creation of the additional products just due to demand. So those have had to take somewhat of a backseat because we're selling more of the original toothbrush than we thought we would.”
Instead, he intended to sell through big box retail, which soon informed him that they first needed to see proof that people were willing to pay for this new product.
“We had extra units that were just on hand so we started putting them on Amazon as somewhat of a beta test to get feedback,” Ian said.
As more and more sales started to roll in, Ian understandably changed his approach.
“We kind of took a step back and said, ‘Hey, we're really going to hone in on Amazon and allow it to be our proof of concept platform.’ We’ll take this data that we receive, enhance our product, and then come back in full force and push through Amazon as well as the other channels that we have.”
The thriving private-label brand currently brings in 90% of its revenue on Amazon and also sells through its own site and other online marketplaces.
As his business grew, Ian knew that his marketing strategy had to revolve around review generation. Online reviews are important because they provide social proof and build brand trust. The vast majority of consumers (Amazon says the number is around 90%) aren’t buying anything before reading about the first-hand experiences of their peers first.
I know a good amount about Amazon and the direct correlation between reviews and conversion. They go hand in hand, especially if you’re trying to establish yourself as a new brand against some that may be entrenched.
You’re trying to place yourself in a position where you have that trust and you gain that through feedback, through the reviews, and being able to continue to grow that to a point where people feel more comfortable with making a purchasing decision in any capacity to enhance your conversion. So to me, reviews are just as important as the product.
At first, Ian was logging into Seller Central and manually requesting reviews for each order. This quickly became impractical, and he needed a better way. Once again, he set out to find a solution. This time, the answer was FeedbackFive.
Like many FeedbackFive customers, Ian started with a free trial just to try it out. But a few months in, he was hooked. He now uses it every day to request and monitor his seller feedback and product reviews.
I walked in and said, ‘Hey, I'm kind of just going to give this a trial with no expectations for the actual product.’ But then I loved the user interface of it.
From the onset, it was kind of just really self-intuitive. I had only used one product prior to this that was pretty self-intuitive as well, but I just felt that the actual flow of FeedbackFive fit me better and I just found it to be more seamless and efficient for what I was looking for.
Here are a few of his favorite features.
Amazon’s Request a Review message includes a product review and a seller feedback request. The email is sent from Amazon on your behalf and while it doesn’t allow for customization, it’s guaranteed to be 100% compliant with Amazon’s policies. It’s now the preferred method for requesting reviews for one simple reason: it works.
FeedbackFive makes it quick and easy to automate Amazon Request a Review messages at scale, allowing you to reach more buyers in less time. The software’s ability to be more efficient than any human ever could immediately took a huge task off of his plate.
“Just the pure automation of the reviews and having that button be clicked for you so you have the opportunity to just set it and forget it is great," Ian said.
Your Amazon reviews provide important insights into your products. They tell you exactly what customers like and dislike, often in great detail. Smart business owners like Ian make a point to monitor their negative reviews to uncover ways to improve their product offerings and increase sales.
But tracking the reviews of multiple ASINs or just one superstar product can be incredibly time-consuming. FeedbackFive’s Product Review Manager takes on this task with ease by automatically importing and organizing the reviews of your top ASINs and any others you wish to track. The ratings are displayed in an easy-to-read dashboard so you can dig into the data you need anytime, anywhere.
“What I liked very quickly about FeedbackFive was the daily flash report that you get with positive reviews, negative reviews, positive feedback, and negative feedback. That's really helpful for me because there's a lot of information that goes into the decisions I have to make on a daily basis,” Ian said.
While some software overcomplicates things, FeedbackFive was built to be simple - but seriously powerful. Once you log in, you’ll find exactly what you’re looking for in just a few clicks.
The main dashboard displays all the key metrics you need to know, including:
Charts and graphs also help paint a clear picture of how your products are performing from a ratings and revenue standpoint.
FeedbackFive’s user interface is incredibly intuitive with each feature being displayed in the top navigation. You can log in and get straight to work!
There are other services that do the automation with regards to reviews, but the reporting and how it comes and the user interface is what has made the biggest difference for me to stick with FeedbackFive and to continue to select it over the other products that exist.
-Ian Rollin Berry, CEO & Founder of Brushee
The eComEngine team is excited to see what’s in store for Brushee this year and beyond! With Ian’s enthusiasm and entrepreneurial spirit, this brand is destined for big things.
If you want to increase your reviews and build a stronger Amazon business, FeedbackFive has all the features you need to succeed. Getting started is easy, and you’ll immediately have access to several standout features, including automated message sending, real-time alerts for negative reviews, ratings and order analytics, and more. Start a free trial today.
If you’re a current FeedbackFive customer who would like to share your story in an upcoming case study, please contact us.