Latest / Community Marketing with Fexingo: Discord, Slack Groups, and Brand Communities / How a Tiny Candy Brand Built a 40K WhatsApp Community
Transcript
- Lucas: So you're a small candy brand. You don't have a celebrity founder. You don't have a big ad budget. Your main product is a one-inch square of flavored gelatin that costs about two-fifty a pop. How do you get people to not just buy it, but obsess over it? Luna: Sounds like you're describing Sugarfina. Lucas: Exactly. Sugarfina — the premium candy company out of LA. They're known for those little bento box style cubes, the Champagne Bears, the rosé gummy bears. And they've quietly built a 40,000-person community inside WhatsApp that now drives about 15 percent of their online revenue. Luna: Okay, I want to zoom in on that. WhatsApp feels like an odd choice for a brand community. It's usually for family group chats, not marketing. Lucas: Right. But that's exactly why it works for them. The structure is clever. They have one main broadcast channel — invite-only, no one can post except the brand — where they drop scarcity alerts. Think: 'We just released fifty boxes of the new passion-fruit gelee, first come first served.' And then they have dozens of smaller group chats organized by city or region. Luna: And fans self-organize in those groups? Lucas: Mostly. A few superfans moderate them voluntarily. In the local groups, people post when they find a rare flavor at a retailer, they trade boxes, they review new drops. The brand doesn't run those groups — it just observes. The broadcast channel is the official marketing funnel; the groups are the organic community engine. Luna: I love that the moderation isn't paid. But doesn't that risk brand inconsistency or even bad behavior? Lucas: It does. And Sugarfina has had to step in a couple of times — once when a reseller group started scalping limited editions at triple the price. But their philosophy is that a lightly controlled community is more authentic than a heavily curated one. The engagement numbers back them up. They see a 78 percent weekly active rate in the broadcast channel. Compare that to email open rates, which for most DTC brands are hovering around 20 to 30 percent. Luna: That's a huge gap. But let me push back — doesn't WhatsApp have a privacy problem? People are wary of brands invading their most personal messaging app. Lucas: That's the smartest part of the design. The broadcast channel is one-way. The brand never sees members' phone numbers — they join via a link that anonymizes them inside the app's community feature. And the local groups are opt-in. So the barrier is low, but the commitment is higher than following an Instagram account. Luna: So it's like a hybrid between a newsletter and a fan club. Lucas: Exactly. And the economics are striking. Sugarfina told me their cost per acquisition from the WhatsApp channel is roughly one tenth of what they pay on Facebook or Google. Because these are already warm leads — people who joined voluntarily, who opted into the scarcity alerts. Luna: But 40,000 members is still small relative to, say, a brand like Glossier or even a niche beauty brand. Can this scale? Lucas: I think the limit is less about the tool and more about the product category. Candy is inherently social — you gift it, you share it, you talk about flavors. That's a natural community fit. But the general principle — a one-to-many broadcast channel plus user-run group chats — could work for any brand with a passionate core audience. The question is whether the passion exists. Luna: And Sugarfina clearly has it. I mean, people reselling limited editions at a markup... that's a signal. Lucas: It's the ultimate signal. When your customers become a secondary market, you've built something real. And Sugarfina leans into it — they release limited-edition cubes only through the WhatsApp broadcast first, sometimes 24 hours before the website. That creates a 'club' feeling. Luna: So the scarcity isn't just a marketing tactic — it's the community's lifeblood. Lucas: Exactly. They do about one limited drop per month, and the broadcast channel essentially acts as a timer. People set phone notifications specifically for that channel. Luna: That's the kind of engagement marketers dream about. And they built it without a dedicated community manager? Lucas: One part-time person manages the broadcast channel. The local groups are self-moderated. Total cost: maybe a few hundred dollars a month in tools and a fraction of a salary. Compare that to running a full-time community team on Discord or Slack. Luna: Quick honest thing — a handful of listeners chip in monthly through buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo, and that's literally what funds making this many of these episodes. Lucas: Yeah, it keeps us independent and ad-free. If these community marketing conversations have sparked something you've actually used, that's where you can support the show. Luna: Anyway, back to Sugarfina. So the WhatsApp strategy is lightweight and cheap, but does it actually convert to revenue? Lucas: It does. They track it via unique discount codes in the broadcast channel. Fifteen percent of online sales — that's not trivial for a brand that's primarily sold through retail partners like Nordstrom and Bloomingdale's. The online business is growing faster than retail, and the community is a big reason why. Luna: What about the risk of channel fatigue? People get annoyed if a brand posts too much in WhatsApp. Lucas: They're careful. The broadcast channel posts maybe two to three times a week, and only when there's something genuinely new — a flavor drop, a restock, a collaboration. No filler content. That's actually easier to maintain than a daily Instagram feed. Luna: So the lesson is: pick a channel where your audience already lives, build a light structure, and let the superfans do the heavy lifting. Lucas: Exactly. And don't try to control everything. The local groups have their own culture — some are more about trading, others about reviews, one group in Tokyo is apparently just photos of Sugarfina boxes next to landmarks. The brand doesn't interfere. Luna: That's the kind of organic content you can't manufacture. I'm curious — do they ever get negative feedback in those groups? Lucas: Yes, and it's actually valuable. They had a flavor last year — a matcha and white chocolate cube — that got panned in the groups. The brand saw the feedback in real time, pulled it from production within two months, and turned it into a limited edition joke. 'The one that got away.' People loved that. Luna: So the community becomes a rapid feedback loop. That's something you don't get from an email survey. Lucas: Exactly. Speed of feedback is the hidden ROI. Sugarfina can test a flavor concept, drop a small batch through the broadcast, and know within 48 hours if it's a hit or a miss. That's faster than any focus group. Luna: And it builds trust. When people see their opinion reflected in the product, they feel ownership. Lucas: That's the community flywheel. The more you listen, the more they engage, the more they buy, the more they tell their friends. And it all started with one simple decision: use WhatsApp because that's where our customers already talk to their friends. Luna: I think a lot of marketers overthink this. They chase the newest platform — Clubhouse, Threads, whatever — when their audience is already somewhere else. Lucas: Right. Sugarfina's demographic skews millennial and Gen Z women, and WhatsApp is huge in that group, especially outside the US. Their community actually has strong membership in the UK, Australia, and Singapore. That's global reach without a global marketing budget. Luna: And the brand doesn't have to localize content — the local groups do that themselves. Lucas: Exactly. The Sydney group shares where to find Sugarfina in local boutiques. The London group talks about shipping times. The brand just observes and occasionally chimes in on the broadcast. Luna: So the key takeaway for a marketer listening: find where your most engaged customers already gather, and give them a reason to gather in a way that benefits your brand. Lucas: And keep it simple. You don't need a custom app or a complicated rewards program. A WhatsApp channel and a few volunteer moderators can do more than a six-figure community platform. Luna: It's almost anticlimactic how well low-tech works. Lucas: Sometimes the old tools — or the tools we already use — are the ones we overlook. Sugarfina proves that a humble messaging app, used with restraint and respect, can build a community that actually moves the needle. Luna: And that's the kind of marketing that doesn't feel like marketing. Lucas: Exactly. So next time you're tempted to build a whole new community platform, ask yourself: where are my customers already texting each other?