GEMS: Customer Targeting with One Stripe Chai founder Farah Jesani
November 5, 2024
Key Takeaways
- Leveraging existing coffee shop customer relationships and a pre-existing online sales channel provided a strong foundation for direct-to-consumer (DTC) growth, mitigating the need to start customer acquisition from scratch.
- A visually appealing, branded sign in partner coffee shops served as an effective, albeit unintentional, marketing tool that helped customers associate the chai they enjoyed with the brand, facilitating later online discovery.
- Introducing product variations, such as an unsweetened vegan option, expanded the customer base and provided alternative purchasing motivations, especially during periods when in-person consumption was limited.
Segments
Brand Visibility and Recognition (00:01:33)
- Key Takeaway: Physical branding in partner locations, like wooden signs, created subconscious brand association, making it easier for customers to find the brand online when in-person access was limited.
- Summary: This segment details the intentional strategy of providing branded wooden signs to coffee shops. The signs served to associate the chai being served with the ‘One Stripe’ brand, helping customers remember and later search for the product online, especially when they could no longer visit the coffee shops.
Product Diversification and DTC Boost (00:02:19)
- Key Takeaway: Introducing an unsweetened, vegan version of the chai concentrate in late 2018 expanded product appeal and provided a timely offering that saw increased demand during the pandemic.
- Summary: The discussion shifts to the introduction of a new product line – an unsweetened, vegan chai. This was initially not a major seller online but became a significant driver of DTC sales once the pandemic hit, as people sought ways to enjoy familiar comforts at home or gift them to others.
Website Offering and Customer Choice (00:02:52)
- Key Takeaway: Offering both a ready-to-drink concentrate and a brewing option on the website catered to different customer preferences for convenience and preparation.
- Summary: This segment highlights how the website evolved to offer customers choices, specifically between the convenience of a pre-made concentrate and the option to brew their own. This dual offering addressed different customer needs and preferences, further enhancing the DTC experience.
Debug Information
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- Caption Count: 47 captions
Prompts Used
Prompt 1: Context Setup
You are an expert data extractor tasked with analyzing a podcast transcript.
I will provide you with part 1 of 1 from a podcast transcript.
I will then ask you to extract different types of information from this content in subsequent messages. Please confirm you have received and understood the transcript content.
Transcript section:
[00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:15.760] How were you actually finding the customers who would have been consuming your drink in the coffee shops?
[00:00:15.760 --> 00:00:24.080] Were you kind of, did you already have a database or an email list or like a big kind of following at that point yourself?
[00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:30.720] Or were you going back to your coffee shops and being like, hey, can you put this to your newsletter or your database?
[00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:34.160] Or like, is there a way that we can target our customers through you?
[00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:37.840] Or were you just doing ads and trying to reach people that way?
[00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:46.960] What was your kind of plan to attract the people who would have already been enjoying you and who would have been missing you from their daily cup of chai?
[00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:53.280] Yeah, I think we were lucky in that we didn't have to start from scratch with DTC.
[00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:15.040] In 2018, we were getting a lot of feedback that from our coffee shop customers, our coffee shop clients, that their customers loved drinking our chai at the coffee shop, but they wanted to know if they could buy it outside of the coffee shop so they could gift it to friends or if they go on vacation or if they want to drink it at home.
[00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:23.200] And so we had a very minimal kind of like shop where you could buy our concentrates in different sizes online.
[00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:28.080] And so we were already kind of like shipping it and people were already buying it.
[00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:31.520] So we had, we had an email database because of that.
[00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:33.840] And that just started growing.
[00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:46.760] So one thing that we intentionally did when we started working with coffee shops is every new coffee shop we work with gets this like beautiful wooden sign that says proudly serving one stripe chai.
[00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:50.040] And it's really pretty, and it's wooden and it's hand-painted.
[00:01:50.040 --> 00:02:01.960] And so they can put it up on their shop, either on their espresso machine out their window, so that customers who really like chai can kind of associate the chai they're drinking with One Stripe.
[00:02:01.960 --> 00:02:10.840] And so I think once people started not being able to go to coffee shops, it was very easy for them to just look us up and be like, oh, I can actually order this.
[00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:14.680] They'd already subconsciously put that into their mind.
[00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:19.160] Yeah, and it was like a two-pronged, like unintentional approach.
[00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:21.560] That luckily, we already had that going.
[00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:29.400] And in 2018, late 2018, we also introduced an unsweetened version of our product, which was vegan.
[00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:35.720] And so we already had these two very, very like, we didn't sell much of it online.
[00:02:35.720 --> 00:02:40.360] Once the pandemic hit, people were like, cool, let me get this.
[00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:42.040] Let me gift it to my friends.
[00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:46.120] Like, my mom is at home and, you know, she has nowhere to go.
[00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:47.560] Like, she loves chai.
[00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:52.200] Let me like send her like two or three bottles of this like beautiful concentrate.
[00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:59.480] So now we had, we kind of had this like cool thing where people could go on our website and be like, oh, chai two ways.
[00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:01.000] I don't want to do the whole brewing thing.
[00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:01.560] It's a mess.
[00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:02.520] I don't want to do it.
[00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:03.960] I don't want to straighten my tea.
[00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:04.680] It's already made.
[00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:05.560] I'm going to buy it.
[00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:10.440] Or people who are like, oh, I already love the concentrate, but I want to try it in this different form.
[00:03:10.760 --> 00:03:14.440] And it kind of gave our customers two different options.
[00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:16.200] Wow.
[00:03:16.200 --> 00:03:16.760] Gosh.
[00:03:16.760 --> 00:03:17.560] Amazing.
[00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:19.160] Love that for you.
[00:03:22.040 --> 00:03:24.120] Hey, it's June here.
[00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:28.920] Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast.
[00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:38.280] If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter.
[00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:46.480] We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
[00:03:46.480 --> 00:03:57.280] And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash hypeclub.
[00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:08.960] We have guests from the show joining us for intimate ask-me-anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
[00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:15.120] As always, please do subscribe, rate, and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories.
[00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.320] I am beyond grateful when you do that.
Prompt 2: Key Takeaways
Now please extract the key takeaways from the transcript content I provided.
Extract the most important key takeaways from this part of the conversation. Use a single sentence statement (the key takeaway) rather than milquetoast descriptions like "the hosts discuss...".
Limit the key takeaways to a maximum of 3. The key takeaways should be insightful and knowledge-additive.
IMPORTANT: Return ONLY valid JSON, no explanations or markdown. Ensure:
- All strings are properly quoted and escaped
- No trailing commas
- All braces and brackets are balanced
Format: {"key_takeaways": ["takeaway 1", "takeaway 2"]}
Prompt 3: Segments
Now identify 2-4 distinct topical segments from this part of the conversation.
For each segment, identify:
- Descriptive title (3-6 words)
- START timestamp when this topic begins (HH:MM:SS format)
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Most important Key takeaway from that segment. Key takeaway must be specific and knowledge-additive.
- Brief summary of the discussion
IMPORTANT: The timestamp should mark when the topic/segment STARTS, not a range. Look for topic transitions and conversation shifts.
Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted, no trailing commas:
{
"segments": [
{
"segment_title": "Topic Discussion",
"timestamp": "01:15:30",
"key_takeaway": "main point from this segment",
"segment_summary": "brief description of what was discussed"
}
]
}
Timestamp format: HH:MM:SS (e.g., 00:05:30, 01:22:45) marking the START of each segment.
Prompt 4: Media Mentions
Now scan the transcript content I provided for ACTUAL mentions of specific media titles:
Find explicit mentions of:
- Books (with specific titles)
- Movies (with specific titles)
- TV Shows (with specific titles)
- Music/Songs (with specific titles)
DO NOT include:
- Websites, URLs, or web services
- Other podcasts or podcast names
IMPORTANT:
- Only include items explicitly mentioned by name. Do not invent titles.
- Valid categories are: "Book", "Movie", "TV Show", "Music"
- Include the exact phrase where each item was mentioned
- Find the nearest proximate timestamp where it appears in the conversation
- THE TIMESTAMP OF THE MEDIA MENTION IS IMPORTANT - DO NOT INVENT TIMESTAMPS AND DO NOT MISATTRIBUTE TIMESTAMPS
- Double check that the timestamp is accurate - a timestamp will NEVER be greater than the total length of the audio
- Timestamps are given as ranges, e.g. 01:13:42.520 --> 01:13:46.720. Use the EARLIER of the 2 timestamps in the range.
Return ONLY valid JSON. Ensure all strings are properly quoted and escaped, no trailing commas:
{
"media_mentions": [
{
"title": "Exact Title as Mentioned",
"category": "Book",
"author_artist": "N/A",
"context": "Brief context of why it was mentioned",
"context_phrase": "The exact sentence or phrase where it was mentioned",
"timestamp": "estimated time like 01:15:30"
}
]
}
If no media is mentioned, return: {"media_mentions": []}
Full Transcript
[00:00:08.880 --> 00:00:15.760] How were you actually finding the customers who would have been consuming your drink in the coffee shops?
[00:00:15.760 --> 00:00:24.080] Were you kind of, did you already have a database or an email list or like a big kind of following at that point yourself?
[00:00:24.080 --> 00:00:30.720] Or were you going back to your coffee shops and being like, hey, can you put this to your newsletter or your database?
[00:00:30.720 --> 00:00:34.160] Or like, is there a way that we can target our customers through you?
[00:00:34.160 --> 00:00:37.840] Or were you just doing ads and trying to reach people that way?
[00:00:37.840 --> 00:00:46.960] What was your kind of plan to attract the people who would have already been enjoying you and who would have been missing you from their daily cup of chai?
[00:00:47.280 --> 00:00:53.280] Yeah, I think we were lucky in that we didn't have to start from scratch with DTC.
[00:00:53.280 --> 00:01:15.040] In 2018, we were getting a lot of feedback that from our coffee shop customers, our coffee shop clients, that their customers loved drinking our chai at the coffee shop, but they wanted to know if they could buy it outside of the coffee shop so they could gift it to friends or if they go on vacation or if they want to drink it at home.
[00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:23.200] And so we had a very minimal kind of like shop where you could buy our concentrates in different sizes online.
[00:01:23.200 --> 00:01:28.080] And so we were already kind of like shipping it and people were already buying it.
[00:01:28.080 --> 00:01:31.520] So we had, we had an email database because of that.
[00:01:31.520 --> 00:01:33.840] And that just started growing.
[00:01:33.840 --> 00:01:46.760] So one thing that we intentionally did when we started working with coffee shops is every new coffee shop we work with gets this like beautiful wooden sign that says proudly serving one stripe chai.
[00:01:46.760 --> 00:01:50.040] And it's really pretty, and it's wooden and it's hand-painted.
[00:01:50.040 --> 00:02:01.960] And so they can put it up on their shop, either on their espresso machine out their window, so that customers who really like chai can kind of associate the chai they're drinking with One Stripe.
[00:02:01.960 --> 00:02:10.840] And so I think once people started not being able to go to coffee shops, it was very easy for them to just look us up and be like, oh, I can actually order this.
[00:02:11.080 --> 00:02:14.680] They'd already subconsciously put that into their mind.
[00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:19.160] Yeah, and it was like a two-pronged, like unintentional approach.
[00:02:19.400 --> 00:02:21.560] That luckily, we already had that going.
[00:02:21.560 --> 00:02:29.400] And in 2018, late 2018, we also introduced an unsweetened version of our product, which was vegan.
[00:02:29.400 --> 00:02:35.720] And so we already had these two very, very like, we didn't sell much of it online.
[00:02:35.720 --> 00:02:40.360] Once the pandemic hit, people were like, cool, let me get this.
[00:02:40.360 --> 00:02:42.040] Let me gift it to my friends.
[00:02:42.040 --> 00:02:46.120] Like, my mom is at home and, you know, she has nowhere to go.
[00:02:46.120 --> 00:02:47.560] Like, she loves chai.
[00:02:47.560 --> 00:02:52.200] Let me like send her like two or three bottles of this like beautiful concentrate.
[00:02:52.200 --> 00:02:59.480] So now we had, we kind of had this like cool thing where people could go on our website and be like, oh, chai two ways.
[00:02:59.480 --> 00:03:01.000] I don't want to do the whole brewing thing.
[00:03:01.000 --> 00:03:01.560] It's a mess.
[00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:02.520] I don't want to do it.
[00:03:02.520 --> 00:03:03.960] I don't want to straighten my tea.
[00:03:03.960 --> 00:03:04.680] It's already made.
[00:03:04.680 --> 00:03:05.560] I'm going to buy it.
[00:03:05.560 --> 00:03:10.440] Or people who are like, oh, I already love the concentrate, but I want to try it in this different form.
[00:03:10.760 --> 00:03:14.440] And it kind of gave our customers two different options.
[00:03:15.800 --> 00:03:16.200] Wow.
[00:03:16.200 --> 00:03:16.760] Gosh.
[00:03:16.760 --> 00:03:17.560] Amazing.
[00:03:17.560 --> 00:03:19.160] Love that for you.
[00:03:22.040 --> 00:03:24.120] Hey, it's June here.
[00:03:24.120 --> 00:03:28.920] Thanks for listening to this amazing episode of the Female Startup Club podcast.
[00:03:28.920 --> 00:03:38.280] If you're a fan of the show and want even more of the good stuff, I'd recommend checking out femalestartupclub.com where you can subscribe to our free newsletter.
[00:03:38.280 --> 00:03:46.480] We send it out weekly covering female founder business news, insights and learnings in D2C, and interesting business resources.
[00:03:46.480 --> 00:03:57.280] And if you're a founder building an e-commerce brand, you can join our private network of entrepreneurs called Hype Club at femalestartupclub.com forward slash hypeclub.
[00:03:57.280 --> 00:04:08.960] We have guests from the show joining us for intimate ask-me-anythings, expert workshops, and a group of totally amazing, like-minded women building the future of D2C brands.
[00:04:08.960 --> 00:04:15.120] As always, please do subscribe, rate, and review the show and post your favorite episodes to Instagram stories.
[00:04:15.120 --> 00:04:18.320] I am beyond grateful when you do that.