The brand milestones initiative was my most data-driven, sales-focused project at Faire. I worked closely with a CRM lifecycle lead from design to delivery. This initiative celebrates global brands when they reach certain lifetime order milestones on Faire by sending them celebratory emails. These emails include key metrics and tailored recommendations based on the brand's maturity level at Faire.

The impact of this project exceeded all expectations. Through the XP lab, we tracked a 48% percent lift in unique link clicks for Faire Direct among brand owners, and over 160% for European brands. The overall adoption rate lift was 12%, primarily from European brands as well. This project was shared at Maker's Faire (Faire’s all-hands), receiving company-wide recognition from all levels.

Faire’s marketplace is dominated by a small number of brands that account for the majority of sales, with less than 10% contributing to over 60% of total sales. A key focus of the brand pillar is to level this imbalance by providing more resources and education to newer brands with fewer sales. With Faire's recent expansion into European markets, there has also been an influx of HVHP (high value, high potential) brands with a small SoW on Faire. This presents a significant opportunity for Faire to capitalize on.

We set milestones around lifetime order count — it’s a critical output metric that is the sum of a brand’s inputs and is more conducive for actionable recommendations to improve performance relative to other options (namely, lifetime GMV).  Prioritizing order count is in alignment with Faire’s objectives of brand consolidation and supporting the broader marketplace ecosystem. This decision was supported heavily by Colin, as there's a more clear growth path.

The ultimate tie-breaker between order count and GMV

Nearly 60% of global brands have < $50k in lifetime GMV and 37% have < 10 orders. Furthermore, per a Faire Direct survey, 41% of NAM brands and 78% of EUR brands report less than 5% of their wholesale SoW on Faire. 

Lifetime order count brand distribution

This indicates that brand milestone emails will primarily impact new and growing brands on Faire, which form the majority of the platform’s ecosystem and would benefit most from education. Therefore, these emails should focus more on lower milestone counts, as they appear more frequently for newer brands.

From jamming with a CRM lifecycle lead, we decided to model the celebratory email based on the promoted listings recap and the brand performance monthly recap, since they include all the key metrics and future steps needed to educate and motivate brands. Including the header, this would consist of 4 key sections.

To determine the key metrics to display within the milestones emails, I jammed with a CRM lifecycle lead and we narrowed it down to four metrics: lifetime orders, lifetime reorders, conversion rate, and average order value.

Four key metrics to display within emails

Below the core metrics, I included a list of the most ordered products from each brand. For brands with fewer than 500 lifetime orders, only the top four most-sold products are displayed, as these newer brands usually have fewer sales across their catalogs. For brands with over 1000 lifetime orders, the top ten most-sold products are shown due to a wider variety of sales.

The decision to switch from displaying four to ten products was straightforward: over 2% of brands with 1000+ orders haven't sold more than ten products, while more than 20% of brands with 500+ orders fall short of this threshold.

We decided to include a maximum of three recommendations to ensure they are personalized and relevant to the brand's performance, providing focused and actionable insights while balancing ongoing strategies with specific, timely actions. Providing any more recommendations risks the chance of overloading the user with information.

List of recommendations that will appear for brands

These recommendations would vary depending on the brand’s order count. For instance, a brand that is less mature would receive recommendations more tailored towards setting up tools (like adding the Faire widget and setting up territories).

The header is the most crucial part of an email. From tracking up-funnel metrics across other metric-driven Faire emails, more than 46% of users don't scroll past the first two sections. I prioritized creating variations that immediately grab attention and convey key information. In total, I explored three types of headers.

The first header concept I explored is an image carousel, featuring a rotating display of the brand's top products. This dynamic approach highlights several key items, showcasing them in a visually engaging way.

Experimenting with a header similar to the monthly recap designs

The second header concept I explored features the use of gradients. While this version excludes images, it offers a flexible range of vibrant colors. It's worth noting that these gradients are similar to those used in Faire's monthly recap emails.

Experimenting with a header similar to the monthly recap designs

The third approach involves integrating illustrations into the header. This version showcases Faire's newly developed illustration system, a component of the Slate design system. It focuses solely on illustrations, without incorporating product listing images.

Experimenting with a brand new branch of components

When presenting these three options at a brand pillar meeting, there was overwhelming support for the illustrations, which was also my preferred choice. The initial goal for the project was to make the email feel celebratory rather than read like a report. Additionally, the fact that the illustrations had never been used before shouldn’t deter its use; there’s always a first time for everything, and if they prove effective, they could drive change and inspire future designs.

The biggest design challenge involving is to create variation between the different milestone emails. Brands may receive multiple milestone emails in rapid succession, so it’s important that each milestone email looks different from another. To achieve this variation, the illustrations are going to be different for each order count.

Headers of different order count milestones

In Phase 1, I identified four key metrics to display: lifetime order count, lifetime reorder count, conversion rate, and average order value. I explored two main methods for presenting these metrics.

The first method was to display these four metrics in a 2 by 2 square grid. Each metric would fit inside a grid. This layout provides a structured and organized way to present the data. The second method was to simply display the metrics in a list from top to bottom. This linear format allows for a straightforward presentation, making it easy to read and follow.

Key metrics of different order count milestones

I was undecided between the two options, so I presented them at a brand pillar design jam. Most designers preferred the top-to-bottom list format, as it matches how metrics are displayed in other Faire emails. This choice is better for consistency and is easier to implement since the components already exist in Slate (Faire’s design system).

Below these four key metrics will display the top-ordered products. For the top-ordered products, there are two versions that I need to design: one that displays only four top-ordered products, and one that displays ten. This is because of the decision made in Phase 1, where brands with 1000 or more lifetime orders will display ten since they have more breadth of their catalog and order history. 

Displaying only four products versus displaying a list of ten

For the version with four top-ordered products, I chose a 2-by-2 gallery for a more engaging and visually appealing layout, as a short list of four items can feel awkward. For the top ten-ordered products, I opted for a list format to keep the email concise and easy to navigate, avoiding the length and complexity a gallery would create.

Key metrics of different order count milestones

For actionable recommendations, I decided to display all the information as a simple list accompanied by icons, making them easy to scan and encouraging quick engagement. I recognize that most people will not read lengthy text from an email; thus, the call-to-action buttons are clearly positioned to facilitate immediate action, enhancing usability.

To create variation between the milestone emails, each email will contain different recommendations that will be more relevant to the brand’s order count and maturity level.

Different actionable recommendations depending on brand maturity

For instance, for brands with only 10 lifetime orders, the recommendations would be tailored towards setting up gadgets like the Faire Direct widget. Brands with 10,000 lifetime orders will likely already have that widget installed, so their recommendations would be more tailored towards optimization, such as actions to keep catalog up-to-date. 

Actionable recommendations of different order count milestones

In Phase 1, I concluded that displaying only one link would strategically minimize distractions and focus the user's attention. This simplified the design, enabling me to emphasize the action button to guide users clearly toward the intended action. By centering on a single, prominent call-to-action, I aimed to enhance the conversion rate by reducing decision fatigue and making it easier for users to proceed.

To add variety to the milestone emails, each one will feature different resources tailored to the brand's order count and maturity level—similar to the recommendations section.

Different resources displayed depending on brand maturity

For example, brands with 10 lifetime orders might receive a link to the Faire onboarding guide, while those with 10,000 orders could be directed to the Faire blog for updates.

Additional resources of different order count milestones

Faire Direct is one of the recommendations mentioned in the email, particularly because newer brands often do not utilize it. It provides brands with a personalized link that helps them boost sales with 0% commission. This feature offers retailers several advantages, such as 60-day payment terms, free returns on first orders, and the convenience of 24/7 online ordering. On average, brands that adopt Faire Direct earn almost 4x as many sales as those that do not (note: although this data may be skewed by top performing, it still proves its impact at any scale).

XP Lab computed on 08/31/24

Although there are updates to adopt Faire Direct within the brand portal, there are currently no emailed updates to consistently remind brands. The brand milestones emails were the first to do this.  Above is data taken from the XP lab 1 month post-launch. For context, a confidence rating of 2 stars after only 1 month is extraordinarily strong.  

A significant portion of the uplift was driven by European brands, which experienced an extraordinary 160.31% increase in Faire Direct unique link clicks. This remarkable surge garnered recognition from the entire CRM team. It is a strong indicator that our hypothesis was correct: the brand milestone updates are more effective towards new and onboarding brands, as European brands on average are much earlier in their maturity at Faire.

The brand milestones initiative was the very first project to make use of Faire’s brand new illustration system, a branch of the design system. It was a very memorable accomplishment, receiving the recognition from the Slate council (Faire’s design team committee) and Faire’s design director, Robin.

Selection of illustrations used for brand milestones

The brand milestones project was showcased at Maker's Faire on 07/26/24 with the entire Faire team (including the directors and upper management) in attendance. It was presented as part of a broader vision to promote brand growth among new and onboarding brands in the marketplace.

Featured slide on Maker's Faire company all-hands in Q3 2024