Latest / Community Marketing with Fexingo: Discord, Slack Groups, and Brand Communities / How a Maternity Brand Built a Community That Markets Itself
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a maternity wear brand called Hatch — founded in 2014, direct to consumer, and they sell very nice but expensive leggings, dresses, nursing bras. The kind of stuff you wear for nine months and then never again. So you'd think the repeat purchase rate would be terrible. Luna: Right, because after the baby, you don't need maternity clothes anymore. That's a brutal business model. Lucas: Exactly. But Hatch figured out something. They built a private Facebook group called 'Hatch Mama' — about 40,000 members now — and it drives roughly 60% of their new customer acquisitions. Not through ads, not through influencer posts. Through the group itself. Luna: 60% from a Facebook group? That's massive. How does that work? Do they just post product photos? Lucas: No, and that's the key. The group is almost entirely non-commercial. Members post baby bump photos, ask for product recommendations — but not just Hatch products. They ask about stretch mark creams, pediatricians, sleep training. And other members answer. The brand's community managers almost never post, except to welcome new members and enforce the guidelines. Luna: So it's more of a peer support group than a marketing channel. But how does that drive acquisition? If there's no selling, how do new customers find Hatch? Lucas: Two mechanisms. First, every new customer who buys from Hatch gets an email on day three inviting them to the group. The email says something like 'Join 40,000 other mamas who are navigating pregnancy together.' No hard sell. The link is in the signature, not the body. But about 30% of new customers join. Then, inside the group, when someone asks 'where did you get that dress?' members tag Hatch and share their referral link. Hatch gives members a 10% discount code they can share — it's not a formal ambassador program, it's just 'here's a code, share it if someone asks.' Luna: So the group acts like a perpetual referral engine. The members do the selling for them, but only when someone asks. It's not pushy. Lucas: Exactly. And the numbers back it up. Hatch's CMO said in an interview that the average member refers three friends during their pregnancy. The referral link converts at about 12%, which is three times their Instagram ad conversion rate. And the customer acquisition cost for a member-referred customer is roughly one-fifth of a paid acquisition. Luna: One-fifth. That's a no-brainer. But what about the risk of the group becoming a complaint forum? Maternity is an emotional category. If someone has a bad experience, that could spread fast. Lucas: It can, and Hatch manages that by having clear moderation rules. No profanity, no attacking other members, no medical advice from unverified sources. But they don't delete negative feedback about Hatch products. If someone posts 'these leggings ripped after two washes,' the community manager responds publicly with a replacement offer. They've turned complaints into trust-building moments. Luna: That's smart. You can't hide from problems in a community. But if you handle them well, it actually strengthens loyalty. Lucas: Right. And they measure more than just referral links. They track something they call 'community sentiment score' — a weekly average of the tone in comments, measured by a simple thumbs-up/thumbs-down rating from the mods. They also track member retention: how many members are still active after six months. It's over 70%, which is insane for a lifecycle where most people exit after one year. Luna: Seventy percent retention in a group tied to a temporary life stage? That means the group is providing value beyond the product. That's the holy grail. Lucas: It is. And they've actually found that members who are active in the group for 90 days or more have a 40% higher lifetime value than customers who never join. They buy more, and they refer more. The group compounds. Luna: It's like a loyalty loop that feeds itself. The more you engage, the more you buy and refer. But I wonder — how did they get the first thousand members? You need critical mass to make a group like that valuable. Lucas: They seeded it with their earliest customers. In 2015, when Hatch was still tiny, the founder personally emailed every single buyer and asked if they wanted to join a private group to share their pregnancy journey. About 200 people joined in the first month. Then they started a weekly thread called 'Belly of the Week' — members post a bump photo and share a tip. That became the anchor ritual. Within six months, the group hit 2,000 members organically, mostly through word of mouth. Luna: So the initial growth was all about a consistent ritual, not a viral hook. That's a good lesson for any brand starting a community. Lucas: Yeah. And they never used paid ads to grow the group. Every member came through a referral or an in-package insert. They put a small card in every shipment that says 'Join our private community for mamas — details inside.' That card alone drives about 15% of new members. Luna: That's a clever offline to online touchpoint. And it's almost zero cost. So what's the biggest mistake they made along the way? Lucas: They tried to monetize the group too early. In 2018, they launched a 'shop the feed' feature where members could buy products directly from posts. Engagement dropped 20% in two weeks. They killed it immediately. The CMO said later, 'We learned that the community is not a sales channel. It's a trust channel.' Luna: That's a great line. And it's something a lot of brands miss. They see a community and think 'how do I sell more?' instead of 'how do I help more?' Lucas: Exactly. And that's why I think Hatch's model is replicable. Any brand in a category where customers share a common experience or identity — pregnancy, pet ownership, running, home renovation — can build something similar. The key is to give the community a purpose that's bigger than your product. Luna: I love that. And if these conversations about community marketing have sparked something you've actually used at work or thought about trying, we should mention that listener support is what keeps this show ad-free and independent. If you find value in episodes like this, you can toss a couple of dollars in the tip jar at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure, just a way to help us keep doing it. Lucas: Yeah, it really helps. And we appreciate everyone who's already done that. So back to Hatch — one thing I want to highlight is how they handle the inevitable churn. After a member's baby turns one, they naturally post less. But Hatch doesn't try to hold on to them artificially. Instead, they have a 'graduation' thread where members write a farewell post and pass their referral code to someone new. It's a beautiful transition. Luna: So the lifecycle is built in. The community is designed for a season, and that's okay. That actually creates scarcity and urgency to join, because you know it's temporary. Lucas: And it keeps the group fresh. The average member tenure is about 14 months, but because new members are constantly cycling in, the group stays active. Hatch now has over 40,000 members, but only about 8,000 are 'active' at any given time — defined as posting or commenting at least once in the past 30 days. But those 8,000 are incredibly engaged. Luna: So the active to lurker ratio is about 1:5. That's pretty healthy for a private group. Do they do anything to convert lurkers into active members? Lucas: They have a 'new member spotlight' every Monday. The community manager picks one new member, asks them three simple questions — due date, craving, and a fun fact. The member posts a photo and answers. It's low effort, but it gets them to comment for the first time. Once someone comments once, their likelihood of commenting again goes up 60%. Luna: That's a great onboarding mechanic. It's almost like a gamified welcome. And it doesn't require a lot of resources. Lucas: The whole operation runs on a team of three people: one full-time community manager and two part-time moderators. The annual cost is about $150,000 — salaries plus a few tools like a sentiment tracker and a referral link manager. And it drives an estimated $8 million in attributed revenue per year. That's a 50x return. Luna: Fifty times. That's insane. And it's not even counting the brand equity and customer insights they get from all those conversations. Lucas: Exactly. And that's the thing about community marketing. It's not just a channel. It's a strategic asset that gets better over time. Hatch's community is now ten years old, and it's still growing. They've never had to reboot it or invest heavily in re-engagement. It just keeps compounding. Luna: I think that's the takeaway for anyone listening. If you can build a community that serves a genuine need — not your need, but the customer's need — it will market itself. The key is to stay out of the way and let the members do the talking. Lucas: And measure what matters. Not just revenue, but sentiment, retention, and referral rates. Those are the leading indicators that your community is healthy. Luna: Great episode. Thanks, Lucas. Lucas: Thanks, Luna. See you next time.