ShipStation Story: BlendJet
BlendJet was founded in the San Francisco Bay Area with an ambitious goal in mind, to invent a powerful blender that you can take anywhere; a convenient way to make fresh smoothies, protein shakes, and meal replacements on the go.
The idea for BlendJet began after Ryan Pamplin, CEO and co-founder, suffered a traumatic brain injury. After this experience, Ryan became laser-focused on his health and fueling his body with nutrition that would help him heal. He reconnected with John Zheng, a former colleague and friend, and expressed that he wanted to create a product that would help people live longer healthier lives. The two put their entrepreneurial heads together and BlendJet was born.
Business Pivots in Response to COVID-19
Known for their videos across social media, BlendJet has had huge success in their video ads, reaching over a billion unique people within the last twelve months. In light of the COVID-19 pandemic, BlendJet has found a way to pivot and integrate a new message into its existing marketing strategy. By addressing what is happening head-on in a positive way. The goal of their new narrative is to inspire people through this time to find joy in every day.
“Even if they’re not going to buy a BlendJet, spreading that positivity puts people in a great mindset and it does convert. Even if someone already owns another blender, maybe it inspires them to go make that smoothie and maybe that helps to boost their immunity,” says Ryan Pamplin, CEO and co-founder of BlendJet
Another successful business pivot BlendJet made in response to COVID-19 was proactively updating its communications strategy. At the top of their website it typically reads “Free Two-Day Shipping.” However, after they split-tested the website, BlendJet found that saying “Free Shipping During COVID-19” dramatically improved their conversion rate. By making this small change in their communication with customers, BlendJet was able to see a great improvement in sales.
“We always try to go above and beyond and do whatever it takes to make our customers happy. During this time, we’re even more emotionally aware of what people are going through, so we make sure to be extra kind, extra giving and generous in terms of our policies. We want to help people get through this tough time anyway we can.” says Ryan
Advice to Business Owners
For business owners trying to navigate the uncertain times of COVID-19, Ryan shares, “You’ve got to think about your people and your customers first, and what you can do to retain your employees and your customers. There is some great government assistance. Every single entrepreneur and brand out there should be taking advantage of the paycheck protection program. It’s two and a half months of pay for your employees in the form of a loan from a bank underwritten by the government, which is forgivable if you retain all of your employees. Even if there’s nothing for them to do, it’s essentially a free way to keep people on staff, and keeping people in their jobs, is so important right now.”
Ryan goes on to share how everyone can find a way to create value during this time and weather the storm of COVID-19. “You may just have to think a little bit outside of the box and ask yourself, ‘how can I reconfigure the resources I have to create value to help people?’ This is a great opportunity to build up that list of people who are truly going to be grateful to you for providing something to them of value during a time when everyone is at risk.”
How ShipStation Is Helping
“At BlendJet we’re big fans of ShipStation. We’ve been using it from the early days. We started on a few other platforms that were nowhere near as good, and then we switched over and we’ve never looked back. The reliability of ShipStation is second to none. Even during this pandemic, it’s been rock-solid, there’s no difference in the performance.” says Ryan
ShipStation’s Automation Rules help many businesses save time by taking numerous steps out of the equation that they would otherwise have to perform manually when entering orders. BlendJet utilizes ShipStation’s automation rules to help scale their business efficiently.
“One of our favorite features from ShipStation is the automation rules. They’re like magic. If you’re not using them, take some of this extra time you’ve gained from cutting out your commute to work and put it into learning them. You’ll spend one or two hours setting them up, but then you’re going to save multiple hours every day for the rest of your life and you’ll be able to spend more time growing your business.” Ryan states
Follow along with BlendJet by checking out their Instagram or supporting them at blendjet.com