Modes Series, Episode 2: Applying Modes Thinking to Shopping Platforms

Experience Strategy Podcast with Stone Mantel

Jamie Norwood, named to Inc.’s Top 100 Female Founders and Forbes 1000, is the co-founder of Stix, a fast-growing startup in healthcare challenged by how to serve extremely distinct customer needs. In this episode we look at how Modes can create confident shoppers, a sense of community, and continuity across shopper journeys. Tune in and discover how you can apply these frameworks to businesses of any size or category.

IN THIS EPISODE:

• [1:20] Intro to Jamie Norwood and her company Stix.
• [4:38] Personalization and individualization for customers.
• [7:52] What questions should a company ask to get started with modes?
• [13:05] How to support different customers and their different needs - breaking the products into “mode” categories.
• [16:03] What are ways to engrain it in an experience beyond obvious customer touchpoints?
• [22:00] What are other ways to better personalize on a standard Shopify site?
• [28:12] What it looks like to shop on Instagram using modes.

KEY TAKEAWAYS:

• Companies should focus on six to eight of their most basic modes. The focus should be on positive and negative modes and tell the story of how the company can be there for the customer as they evolve.
• Dashboards allow for more customer control. They allow the customer to be in charge of their journey, and products aren’t pushed on them that they do not need or want.
• Modes are situational. They are a mindset and set of behaviors that the customer is in; they want to get further into the mode or out of the mode, so showing them how to do so with your site is important to allow them to feel safe to make their purchase/that this is the right purchase for them for the mode they are in.

LINKS MENTIONED:

Stix Website

Stix Instagram

Stix Facebook

Stix TikTok

Stix Twitter

RealTalk

BIO:

Jamie Norwood, named to Inc.’s Top 100 Female Founders and Forbes 1000, is Stix’s co-founder, leading brand & experience. Jamie co-founded Stix in 2019, a health brand that empowers women to make confident decisions, starting with reproductive and vaginal health products. Before starting her own company, Jamie was on the founding team of Hungry Harvest, where she built and scaled the customer experience and product departments. Jamie received her BA from Tulane University and is a Venture for America alumna.