Roberta Perry is the founder of Scrubz Body an online and physical store selling skin care products. Roberta launched the business in June 2006, and is currently on track to have her best year ever, with a turn over of $150k.
About the business
- Based in the USA
- Selling worldwide
- On WooCommerce
- Plugins: Askimet, Anti-Spam, Recart
How eCommerce Found Roberta
Way back before Roberta got into the world of eCommerce, she was a stay-at-home mom who did various types of freelancing in her spare time. However, she found this way of working to be quite taxing and realized that she needed a change. Without even realizing that she was creating a marketable product, Roberta created a scrub simply because she had dry skin and couldn’t find the right scrub for her. Her late sister suggested they start selling it, and things took off from there.
Listen to be inspired by the accidental start of a prospering business.
The Evolution of Scrubz Body
The physical store did not come to fruition until five years into Roberta’s eCommerce endeavor. For the first six months, Roberta and her sister created product in her home kitchen, then converted her garage into a mini factory. Once the business grew to be too big for Roberta’s home, she and her sister rented out a space simply for the extra storage. The customers of Scrubz Body noticed the address change, saw that it was a convenient pickup for them, and expressed interest in coming to the physical location. This prompted Roberta and her sister to decorate the place, gradually transforming it into a complete store. Their business model shifted from eCommerce and wholesale to retail and they began to introduce in-store massage services and parties for customers to create their own scents. Roberta quickly became addicted to the idea of getting to know and serving her customers, which inevitably introduced her to a growing customer base.
The Team
Scrubz Body has grown over the years, evolving from a two-women show to a team of four part-time employees assisting Roberta as she works full time. She outsources help for social media, except for Facebook, newsletters, and blog posts, which she still maintains herself for the sake of authenticity. Roberta finds that her time is most valuable spent doing the things she excels at, and if she can get someone else to cover other areas then it is always well worth the investment.
Listen to learn about the benefits of outsourcing where it makes sense.
The Most Awesome Thing Right Now
The people are the most awesome part of Scrubz Body. More than anything, Roberta is proud of her company’s ability and dedication to delivering excellent customer service. She is humbled by her product, but she is proud of her repeat business due to continued deliverance of top notch customer service.
eCommerce Book Top Tip
- Zombie Loyalists by Peter Shankman
- The Go-Giver by Bob Burg and John D. Mann
eCommerce Traffic Top Tip
- Email is not dead! Newsletter communication allows for an authentic, story-based outlet for building relationships with customers that may lead to conversions, but doesn’t necessarily come across as heavily sales-based.
You can hear about all this on the podcast, for free – right now…
Tool Top Tip
- Dropbox is a very convenient, efficient way to share material and stay on the same page with content.
Growth Top Tip
- Kindly ask for reviews from satisfied customers to gain trust in the community and grow organically.
Interview Links
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scrubzbody says
November 15, 2018 at 17:22Loved being a part of this podcast. TY so much for having me on.
Chloë Thomas says
November 16, 2018 at 08:21Thanks Roberta – an absolute pleasure!
Marcg says
November 21, 2018 at 12:37Roberta,
Great session. Really good to hear what you have achieved.
You mentioned that you had a set of plugins on your woocommerce based WP site.
You were going to produce a list of your favourites.
Would you mind sharing please.
Would you also be kind enough to remind us of your book too please.
Thx
Marc
Chloë Thomas says
November 21, 2018 at 14:56Hi Mark, just dropping you an email to sort out your requests – cheers Chloe
Chloë Thomas says
November 22, 2018 at 14:24Hi Mark – BIG reponse from Roberta…
Yay! So happy it was helpful! Happy Holidays!!
The book is The Power of Free Publicity, Using HARO to Build Relationships and Get Press Without a PR Firm! https://www.amazon.com/Power-Free-Publicity-Reporter-Relationships/dp/0997803606/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1481132238&sr=8-1&keywords=the+power+of+free+publicity
Here is my entire list of plugins! I have starred my personal favorites, but the developer put some in to make designing the site easier.
Akismet Anti-Spam *
Used by millions, Akismet is quite possibly the best way in the world to protect your blog from spam. Your site is fully configured and being protected, even while you sleep.
Anti-Malware Security and Brute-Force Firewall
This Anti-Virus/Anti-Malware plugin searches for Malware and other Virus like threats and vulnerabilities on your server and helps you remove them. It’s always growing and changing to adapt to new threats so let me know if it’s not working for you.
Black Studio TinyMCE Widget
Adds a new “Visual Editor” widget type based on the native WordPress TinyMCE editor.
Divi Image Intense
A Divi Builder alternative to the Image module. For Divi, Extra and the Divi Builder – comes with Superfly text, overlay, hover, button and background effect options!
Duplicate Page *
Duplicate Posts, Pages and Custom Posts using single click.
Duplicator
Migrate and backup a copy of your WordPress files and database. Duplicate and move a site from one location to another quickly.
Easy Forms for MailChimp *
The ultimate MailChimp WordPress plugin. Easily build unlimited forms for your MailChimp lists, add them to your site and track subscriber activity. To get started, go to the settings page and enter your MailChimp API key.
Facebook for WooCommerce *
Grow your business on Facebook! Use this official plugin to help sell more of your products using Facebook. After completing the setup, you’ll be ready to create ads that promote your products and you can also create a shop section on your Page where customers can browse your products on Facebook.
GA Google Analytics *
Adds your Google Analytics Tracking Code to your WordPress site.
GDPR Cookie Consent
A simple way to show your website complies with the EU Cookie Law / GDPR.
Gravity Forms *
Easily create web forms and manage form entries within the WordPress admin.
Health Check & Troubleshooting
Checks the health of your WordPress install.
Insert Headers and Footers
Allows you to insert code or text in the header or footer of your WordPress blog
iThemes Security
Take the guesswork out of WordPress security. iThemes Security offers 30+ ways to lock down WordPress in an easy-to-use WordPress security plugin.
LiteSpeed Cache
High-performance page caching and site optimization from LiteSpeed
MailChimp for WordPress *
MailChimp for WordPress by ibericode. Adds various highly effective sign-up methods to your site.
Max Mega Menu
An easy to use mega menu plugin. Written the WordPress way.
Menu Icons
Spice up your navigation menus with pretty icons, easily.
Pixel Cat Lite *
Provides an easy way to embed Facebook pixels
Recart WooCommerce *
Pre-built and Automated Cart Abandonment Campaign for WooCommerce
Regenerate Thumbnails
Regenerate the thumbnails for one or more of your image uploads. Useful when changing their sizes or your theme.
Responsive Menu
Highly Customisable Responsive Menu Plugin for WordPress
Simple Image Sizes
Add options in media setting page for images sizes
Social Media Feather *
Super lightweight social media plugin to add nice and effective social media sharing and following buttons and icons anywhere on your site quickly and easily
Use Any Font *
Embed any font in your website
User Profile Picture *
Use the native WP uploader on your user profile page.
WC Fields Factory
It allows you to add custom fields to your woocommerce product page. You can add custom fields and validations without tweaking any of your theme’s code & templates, It also allows you to group the fields and add them to particular products or for particular product categories. Supported field types are text, numbers, email, textarea, checkbox, radio and select.
WooCommerce ***
An eCommerce toolkit that helps you sell anything. Beautifully.
WooCommerce – StampscomEndicia Integration
Adds Stamps Orders label printing support to WooCommerce. Requires server DomDocument support.
WooCommerce Extra Product Options Pro
Design woocommerce Product form in your own way, customize Product fields(Add, Edit, Delete and re arrange fields).
WooCommerce Print Invoice & Delivery Note *
Print Invoices & Delivery Notes for WooCommerce Orders.
WooCommerce Repeat Order Button *
Just add an “order again” button in Recent Orders list
WooCommerce Stripe Gateway
Take credit card payments on your store using Stripe.
WP Database Backup
This plugin helps you to create/restore wordpress database backup. (Tools->WP-DB-Backup)
WP Google Fonts
The WordPress Google Fonts Plugin makes it even easier to add and customize Google fonts on your site through WordPress.
WP Instagram Widget *
A WordPress widget for showing your latest Instagram photos.
Yoast SEO Premium *
The first true all-in-one SEO solution for WordPress, including on-page content analysis, XML sitemaps and much more.