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Key Takeaways
- Base has had 4 funding rounds, raising $4.6 million in total. Base's last funding round was on February 9th, 2021, from a seed round; they are funded by 9 investors, with 5 lead investors.
- EverlyWell possesses a strong social media presence. Their marketing strategy has largely been "direct response—from social media, SEM, OTT streaming to referral, affiliate, influencers, podcast, and direct mail."
- Flo Living leans considerably on blog marketing to reach its target market. The blog posts are comprehensive and posted on a fairly consistent basis.
Introduction
This research report contains insights into the fundraising history and marketing strategy of Base, EverlyWell, and Flo Living.
1) Fundraising History
Base
- Base has had 4 funding rounds, raising $4.6 million in total.
- Base's last funding round was on February 9th, 2021, from a seed round.
- They are funded by 9 investors, with 5 lead investors.
- Lead investors include Amplifyher Ventures and the Female Founders Fund.
EverlyWell
- EverlyWell has had 8 funding rounds, raising $325 million in total.
- EverlyWell's last funding round was on January 17th, 2021, from a "secondary market round."
- They are funded by 16 investors in total, with 4 lead investors.
- Lead investors include HealthQuest Capital and Trish Costello.
- EverlyWell has also acquired two organizations: Home Access Health and Everly Health Solutions.
Flo Living
- Flo Living received $75,000 in seed funding on May 10th, 2011.
2) Company Information
Base
- Base is a health, wellness and fitness company.
- What sets the company apart (from the competition) is that they claim to have had created something that doesn't exist—a data-science application paired with at-home lab testing to help users improve their health based on the regular compilation of data.
- Base has a team of medical professionals who are involved in the creation of personalized testing plans that are tailored to the customers' medical profiles and health goals.
- Base's home test measures the levels of nutrients in the users' bodies that affect their sleep, stress, diet, sex drive, and energy; Base will then return personalized insights to the users on how they can improve.
- Their target customers are individuals between the age of over 20 to 70+. According to its terms and service, its service is only offered to those aged 21 and older. These individuals appear to have medical conditions (e.g. digestive issues, migraines, acne) or simply wish to improve their overall health (e.g. lose weight, improve sleep quality).
- Base's founder and CEO, Lola Priego, refers to EverlyWell as a key player in the space. She however has underlined one key difference—"These at-home testing competitors are fully focused on making testing more accessible and affordable. Base, like Modern Fertility, goes one step further, helping users understand, monitor, and solve issues like fatigue, stress, or digestive problems by providing an app that is able to create personalized test plans to measure what matters. This means that consumers don’t have to figure out which test to buy."
- On its website, its brand voice is highly formal and professional. They lean highly on infographics and quantitative data in the presentation of their products and services. For example, under its "Science," section, the company has articulated comprehensively the process of its tests.
i) Live Chat
- Base has live chat capabilities implemented on its website; its operators are online during designated hours, giving the customers the ability to speak to a representative almost instantly.
- Its live chat function allows the company to share information to encourage prospects to take immediate action.
- According to studies, implementing a live chat feature will typically lead to "a 20% increase in conversion rates."
ii) Social Media Marketing
- Base leans considerably on social media marketing to market its product and services.
- For example, on Instagram, Base shares information on a fairly consistent basis to educate its audience. They have amassed over 12,800 followers on Instagram.
iii) Blog Posts
- Base posts content on its blog on a consistent basis. They provide informative content on health, appealing to readers who are health conscious or who are simply interested in reading about matters of health.
- Examples of topics include the following: "How to manage stress from work," "ultimate guide to cortisol levels," and "connection between sleep and inflammation."
- In order to provide the most accurate information for the clients' health and wellness, the blog posts are medically verified by medical professionals.
iv) Value Proposition
- Through at-home testing, Base provides convenience for its users. And where the company goes beyond even the convenience of "at-home testing is with the data it provides."
v) Referral Program
- Base has a referral program in place that incentives its customers to recommend its products to family and friends.
- Base members can earn a gift card if the referred family member or friend clicks on their referral link and creates a valid Base membership and "successfully pays for their first month’s membership." The referred individual who had signed up using the received referral link will "also receive credit in the form of a coupon."
- A referral program is an effective marketing strategy that turns happy and loyal customers into brand advocates.
- Seventy-four percent of consumers say that recommendations from individuals they know are "key drivers of their purchasing decisions."
vi) Marketing Channel Distribution
vii) Web Traffic
- Base's web traffic over the past three months are as follows:
EverlyWell
- EverlyWell is a digital health company that's headquartered in Austin, Texas; the company offers "consumer testing, virtual care, at-home collection tests, and digital results."
- Their tests are currently only available to residents "in 49 U.S. states." EverlyWell is only able to ship their tests within the United States.
- They have built a suite of over 35 at-home lab tests, including metabolism, thyroid, and STD testing.
- Their marketing strategy has largely been "direct response—from social media, SEM, OTT streaming to referral, affiliate, influencers, podcast, and now direct mail."
- EverlyWell leans heavily on digital marketing and owns products and services that appeal to a wide range of audiences. Its target customers are individuals aged 18 and older; they are unable to offer their testing to individuals under 18.
i) Social Media Marketing
- EverlyWell possesses a strong social media presence.
- EverlyWell is active on social media, providing informative content on health matters that appears to captivate the interests of users enough for it to garner a massive following. Providing exciting and unique content is a "tested method of securing customer loyalty."
- Its brand voice on social media is cordial, combining informative material and the usage of emojis. Their posts are presented in a way that's educational and easy to digest. Their impressive follower count of over 194,000 followers is a testament to the successful digital marketing strategy employed by the company.
- Studies from the University College London establishes that a considerable amount of internet users regard social media as a reliable source of information and knowledge.
- EverlyWell conducts product giveaways to its followers on social media, which serves as an incentive for users to follow their social media accounts. For example, a recent product giveaway by EverlyWell required users to follow them and their sister company, Natalist (on Instagram), to like the post, and to tag two people in the comments, stipulating that more tags can lead to a higher chance for the user of winning the product giveaway.
- EverlyWell interacts with users on a fairly consistent basis through Instagram (e.g. Instagram Stories) where they would post polls and quizzes, engaging with readers.
ii) Blog Posts
- EverlyWell posts content on its blog on a regular basis; its content includes posts focused on wellness and health.
- They provide informative content, covering a wide range of health-related topics (e.g "Can thyroid problems cause hair loss?", "Hepatitis B vs. C: What Are the Differences?")
- Visitors are able to filter blog posts by category, from thyroid health to food sensitivity.
- Most importantly, its blog posts are also optimized for search engines, allowing users searching for health-related topics to discover its blog. Search engine optimization (SEO) is important for marketers; when web pages are optimized, it becomes "more visible to people who are using search engines" (e.g. Google) to find the company's product or service.
iii) Referral Marketing
- EverlyWell has in place a referral marketing program.
- Once a customer places their order, they will receive an email informing them of the program; as stipulated by the program, for each person referred, the customer will receive $20 and 10% off their order.
- Referral leads "convert 30% better than leads generated from other marketing channels."
iv) YouTube Marketing
- EverlyWell leans heavily on YouTube marketing to promote its brand, garnering positive results thus far.
- If one were to type "EverlyWell" on YouTube's search bar, one can find that there are a lot of product reviews of EverlyWell's testing kits; each review gives the company more publicity and helps to sell its products.
- For example, one of EverlyWell's videos ("EverlyWell — Customer Story — Food Sensitivity Test") had garnered over 1 million views.
- Kendra Atkins is an example of a YouTuber that EverlyWell has sponsored for a video; Kendra Atkins is an influencer with over 172,000 subscribers. In the video, Atkins promoted EverlyWell's Food Sensitivity Test; the video has amassed over 23,000 views thus far.
v) Value Proposition
- EverlyWell has disrupted and transformed the traditional experience of lab testing, "which historically has been all in-person."
- Because all of their products are home test kits, its users are able to do the sample collection process at home; not only is this convenient, this means that users can go through the process in the comfort and privacy of their own home.
- After the completion of the sample collection done at home, users will receive the results digitally usually within five days.
vi) Marketing Channels Distribution
vii) Web Traffic
- EverlyWell's web traffic over the past three months are as follows:
Flo Living
- Flo Living serves as an online health center with the goal of assisting women in solving "their hormonal symptoms from anywhere in the world."
- Its target customer ranges from women who have reached puberty to women who have entered menopause.
- According to Flo Living themselves (on Facebook), its virtual hormone health center is for younger women aged between 25 to 45.
- Flo Living claims to have helped thousands of women spanned across 216 countries. Flo Living has laid down a step-by-step guide on how to get its products shipped to international customers through a third-party shipper on its website.
- While the standard period-tracker covers an individual's fertility, Flo Living's MyFLO Period tracker MyFLO informs the user everything from what foods and workouts "their body needs to what tasks they’ll perform most productively."
- Flo Living's brand voice, on its website, appears to be much more relaxed and cordial.
- Their website can be found here.
i) Value Proposition / General Marketing Strategies
- Flo Living utilizes a subscription-based model, providing its services to clients at a recurring reasonable price.
- Flo Living uses customers' personal information to market its products. The company utilizes a variety of marketing strategies—email marketing, notifications, newsletters, and advertising, including retargeting via Facebook and Google.
- Once a user has signed up, he/she can opt to sign up as a "Flo Insider" to receive a welcome gift worth $49 for free. A welcome gift is a marketing strategy that can strengthen the relationship and improve the overall customer experience.
ii) Blog Posts
- Flo Living leans heavily on blog marketing to reach its target market.
- The blog posts are comprehensive and posted on a fairly consistent basis akin to its competitors. However, what makes Flo Living unique is that it allows comments on its blog posts from anonymous readers; its coaches will often interact directly with posters, answering their queries and providing responses that are highly educational and informative.
- Answering blog comments can be an effective way to cultivate and build long-lasting relationships with prospects/customers.
iii) Social Media Marketing
- Flo Living is active on Facebook, posting content multiple times a week.
- Their Facebook page has amassed over 100,000 followers.
iv) Marketing Channels Distribution
v) Web Traffic
- Flo Living's web traffic over the past three months are as follows:
Research Strategy
To obtain the requested information, we analyzed the websites of each of these companies, scoured through press coverage, social media platforms, as well as third-party websites. In order to obtain the complete funding history of these companies, for example, we utilized Crunchbase and similar websites. By utilizing websites that focus on analytics, such as SimilarWeb, we were able to obtain each of the company's website traffic over the past three months and information on each of their marketing channel distribution.