How does a candles business grow to 40,000+ fans and over $1 million in revenues in their first year? Tune in to hear the story of Diamond Candles with Co-Founder Justin Winter and the tips he has for building a viral E-commerce business.

Topics Discussed:

• 02:30 – Story of Diamond Candles
• 05:30 – Trial and error with manufacturing candles
• 06:25 – Defect rates and scaling manufacturing
• 08:00 – How they differ from big box candle retailers
• 08:30 – Does it always make sense to produce in Asia
• 09:55 – Differentiating from mass producers in your value proposition
• 10:45 – Vertical integration vs dropshipping
• 11:10 – They key to lowering your customer acquisition costs
• 13:00 – Barriers of entry and the challenge of a good idea
• 14:30 – How the product of Diamond Candles works
• 15:25 – Initial SKUs and scaling up every quarter
• 16:30 – Crowd-sourcing product development from customers
• 17:45 – Nailing down the fragrance with different demographics
• 20:40 – How they identified their ideal customer
• 23:00 – Quality thresholds of the rings in candles
• 24:20 – Flood of YouTube testimonial videos
• 26:00 – Massive social proof and a viral coefficient
• 27:40 – How to scale your viral coefficient with systems
• 28:40 – Creating an experience instead of a product
• 30:30 – What drives customers to spend $1,000 in purchases
• 33:30 – How they use Pinterest to drive traffic
• 35:00 – Do product widgets convert to sales on Facebook
• 40:30 – Customers defending your company publicly on Facebook
• 43:00 – Leveraging the viral coefficient with customer service
• 46:20 – Was there a big break, or did small wins snowballed to today
• 48:05 – Two lessons in finding a viral product idea
• 50:10 – What to do if your store only makes a few hundred a month
• 52:00 – How to get inspiration from the winners on the market

Mentions in the Episode:

• Diamond Candles
• Build My Online Store
• Justin Winter
• Shopify
• Google Alerts
• Twilert

Episode Length: 56:02

Download Options:

• Direct Download: Or right-click here and click “Save As” for a direct download
• iTunes: Listen and subscribe on iTunes for free!
• Android: Listen via Stitcher Internet Radio streaming
• Blackberry: Listen via the Blackberry Podcast App
• Zune: Listen via Zune
• If you enjoyed this episode, leave a positive review on iTunes!