How I'd grow Lost Llama

Lost Llama sells boxes for travel lovers and foodies.

They partner with local producers and tour guides to create an authentic experience that combines tasty treats and a virtual tour.

They just launched, and their first box is focused on Iceland.

But if I didn’t tell you, would the homepage make the idea clear and enticing?

They could rework the copy to add more details that would entice visitors to keep scrolling and discover more.

Also, the background image should show the product, not a stock photo.

I think the product page could communicate the value of the product better.

The main problem I see is that, despite it being a food box, it doesn’t make me hungry at all.

I’d also want to know what shipping cost and time are without having to place an order.

I was really surprised to see that they don’t have a subscription option. You can only buy the boxes as one-off purchases.

Considering how hard it is to acquire customers, subscription is a great opportunity to increase LTV, and it should be their number one change.

But there’s a way I’d leverage standalone purchases - I’d create a page dedicated exclusively to gifts.

In that case, the goal would be making the gift receiver like the gifted box so much that they sign up for a subscription.

Lost Llama can reinforce the uniqueness of their brand and get the premium status by telling the story behind each product and local partner.

These stories should live on the product page. Otherwise, very few visitors are going to see them.

I rarely say this, but in this specific case I wouldn’t prioritize SEO to acquire customers.

Why?

Two reasons:

- The product lacks explicit demand: nobody is searching for such a new idea
- Food and travel are competitive niches; ranking would take years

I’d start by incentivizing word of mouth. For a food+travel product, Instagram is definitely the perfect fit.

The goal? Make customers organically post pics of Lost Llama boxes, so that all their friends see them.

How could they do it?

IG users only want to post good-looking pics. A good growth hack would be making Lost Llama boxes as Instagrammable as possible.

For example, they could create packaging that opens to display beautiful city images inside. People would naturally want to take pics of it.

Decreasing friction isn’t enough. Lost Llama need to give people a push to make them take pics.

To do that, I’d run giveaways. 

For example, post a pic of you with a box you just received, and get a chance to win a free subscription for yourself and your friend.

Pro tip: you should try to create an organic growth loop for your product, too.

- Identify the social media channel your audience uses
- Find out what motivates them to post about products, and implement it for yours
- Come up with an incentive to make them post about your product

Paid ads will be crucial. In the beginning, organic social media numbers aren’t high enough to drive traffic and acquisition.

I’d use YouTube ads to target people watching travel or food videos, and intercept them while they’re expressing a highly-related interest.

I’d also use part of the box’s virtual tour video for the ad creative to drive people to Lost Llama.

Since the majority of visitors need multiple touchpoints and site visits to buy, I’d set up FB retargeting campaigns to avoid wasting the traffic.

I’d also collaborate with micro influencers with free campaigns in exchange for one or more boxes (depending on the following and engagement they have).

I’d give them personalized coupon codes to see which influencers drive most sales.

They could use the FB brand collabs manager to find the right creators based on filters like: target audience, follower count, past partners, etc. 

They’ll see an “audience match” percentage, and they can email relevant creators. It’s an interesting tool.

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