As the world navigates its way out of the Covid-19 crisis, consumer behaviour has shifted to shopping online in a big way, particularly for groceries, and this change is set to become permanent.
This pandemic started a wave of innovations in supermarket apps, leading to stiff competition, prompting the need for a powerful marketing strategy for online grocers to attract and retain consumers.
We spoke to Hanna Johansson, the Head of Marketing and Growth at Kavall, who shared her experience in maximising marketing campaigns to increase user subscriptions with her core rules, and important lessons to make the business scalable for start-ups and entrepreneurs.
What’s Inside?
- Hanna Johansson’s Career Development
- Hanna Johansson Rules on Marketing Initiatives to Optimise Success
- How Kavall Grew to Where They are Today
- Three Important Lessons for Building a Business
- Lessons Learned
- Who is Hanna Johansson?
Hanna Johansson’s Career Development
Hanna’s career has been a rewarding adventure. She embraced marketing and customer experience with passion and a strong go-getter mindset, which she often finds beneficial when working to scale up in start-ups.
Her work experience got off to an early start – running her own business selling scarves when only 17 years old, which formed the baseline from where her passion is today. “I kind of understood how much I thrive in building my own business and to be creative in that sense and to see results from what you do and what you put your heart into.”
Hanna was previously the Growth Partnership Manager at Revolut, where her primary responsibility was to oversee marketing, PR & strategic partnerships in the area of Growth. The marketing campaigns she created in her first year with the company led to a staggering 420% increase in user subscriptions.
In November 2021, Hanna moved to Kavall, an online grocery app that delivers fresh food to doorsteps in 10 minutes. There she heads the marketing and growth department and steers local marketing efforts and digital channels like the App Store, Facebook, and Instagram. She also sets up goals, budgets and KPIs for marketing managers in each operating country.
Hanna Johansson Rules on Marketing Initiatives to Optimise Success
Rule No 1: Always Test, Analyse and Scale
It’s easy to become too eager to grow in a start-up and desperately spend money to achieve maximum reach, Hanna said. “This is not necessarily wrong, depending on the purpose, but one good learning I got is to test first on a smaller scale, analyse the result, and then double up the budget on successes.”
She recommends that you should always start small and with a minimum viable product. “Get the data, understand it, so you can build up your position. Always keep track of what moves the needle by gauging customer response.”
Rule No 2: Apply the Pareto Principle 80-20 Rule
Hanna tried to apply a universal mindset whenever choosing marketing initiatives. One can use the 80-20 rule for any aspect of their life – personal progress, work, or relationships. You can always do 1000 things but should try to give 20% of the inputs (the time you spend setting a campaign up) that give you 80% of the results. For example, it isn’t necessary to send 80 push notifications to a customer in a month to get retention. It’s about sending the right type of messages at the right time.
Rule No 3: Cost-Benefit Effort VS. Impact Model
Before you start a project or a task, ask yourself: How much effort will this take and what will the immediate impact be? “I try to follow this technique to weigh opportunities against each other because there are always 1000 things you can do.”
Running a cost-benefit effort versus impact model allows you to determine which of your tasks is going to have the most immediate impact in the least amount of time. For example: “Let’s say, we have $10,000. You can invest it in A, you can invest it in B, or you can split it between A and B and then scale it up. When making the decision you need to consider how much effort it takes and what the return on investment will be.”
How Kavall Grew to Where They are Today
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the grocery industry was stagnant for over a decade. The pandemic changed that trajectory; businesses shifted online, there was a sudden surge in contactless shopping and there was a demand for groceries to be delivered directly to homes.
This is when Kavall came to the rescue. Kavall’s app allows customers to order a variety of goods, including fresh fruits and vegetables, baked goods, and beverages, which are then distributed by Kavall’s riders. It was the first company in Sweden to offer food delivery within 10 minutes or less to the doorsteps, a service that many other start-ups have since emulated.
Kavall was founded by Robin Rendahl, Peter Simon, and John Tengberg. Established in May 2021, Sweden’s fastest-growing delivery start-up has grown exponentially and is now available in 3 countries – Sweden, Finland and Norway.
Three Important Lessons for Building a Business
Many factors come into play when you try to keep your business moving and thriving, and Hanna shared some of her roadmap for success.
One: Personal Connection with Customers
Having a personal connection with customers from the very beginning and being transparent is a great way to build long-term loyalty. If your customers are happy, your business will continue to grow. Invite your customers to build the company with you, which you can do in several ways.
Ask them directly for their feedback; politely and humbly in a direct email. Ask questions such as: ‘What do you like about our service? Or what don’t you like? What are we missing?’.
Start-ups should be curious about ways to build a service for the people they want to serve. “This is something I’ve experienced in Kavall and Revolut — an importance placed on building a personal connection with customers from the beginning”.
Help your customers show that they like you and get them to do the referrals. Giving them the keys to share their personal experiences about your product with their friends can start a chain reaction that leads to burgeoning demand for your product.
You can also give your customers the tools, such as social media, to share your service with their friends. Building a robust platform with interaction makes your customers feel a part of your journey.
“We’re getting exposed to many new companies, start-ups, and new products. That’s why it’s more essential than ever to create an emotional connection with your customers to differentiate.”
Two: People Are Key to the Success of Your Business
Sometimes, when a company is too focused on its goals, it fails to hire the best employee and retain them. Building a culture of freedom, autonomy, and encouragement, where people feel involved and are aligned to the company’s main vision is a critical component for businesses to succeed.
There is a big difference between working with a company compared to working for a company because it’s the employee who initiates start-ups.
Three: Build a Great Team
Most start-ups grow fast, which creates an urgency to hire staff. However, you do not always have the time to step back and build a hiring plan. However, it’s critical to take time to create a process which is scalable.
You need to establish a positive culture filled with amazing talent, because when you have a great team, you rarely run out of energy. “We all feed off each other’s energy and passion, so it’s a great environment to be a part of,” she added. As a result, your employees will have the tools to make the right decisions and achieve the company’s vision and goals.
Lessons Learned
- Surround yourself with great people and invite them to build the company with you – not for you
- Being personal with your customers and also inviting them to help you build the best service for themselves might be beneficial for loyalty.
- Input vs Output – What really moves the needle? Deprioritise the rest and double up on the things that give you 80% of the result.
Who is Hanna Johansson?
Next steps
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