How we got our first sales being an online cookie company

On our mission to change the world, we have made amazing money, already on the way to raise our next round of funding. Repeat customer rate has been through the roof. Most days we are stock out and many times head to toe busy. People have been crazily sharing about us on social media. Arushi has been invited to several events as a special guest. It's the best days of our life and we feel everyone should start a cookie company. It has changed our life. It will surely change yours.

Just kidding, nothing of this sort has happened so far, at least not in its entirety. But, we have been trying. Trying our best to delight every customer of ours. We have not cut corners in anything and last, not the least our cookies are definitely the best and something very new for this country.

We started our sales by participating in a food festival named Grub Fest. We had booked a stall in the event and this was our first experience of coming in contact with the customer. It turned out to be extremely enriching. (You can read about our Grub fest experience here).

We got our first online sale because of this event. Then there was a big drought i.e days of no sale. That time of your venture when you question everything.

We would ask ourselves why would somebody come to our website and buy the cookies. Even before buying, why would even somebody visit our website? 

We did not want to start with paid digital marketing activities so soon. Because somehow I feel those who pay for initial marketing are never able to see the intelligent ways they can market better for free.

Also, paid marketing can never create the kind of impact which free ones can do.  Free marketing feels natural. Where people promote your product because they really like it and are willing to talk about it. Paid seems paid and you know that this guy has been paid to say good things about you.

So after several dry days, Ronnie & Barty happened. Ronnie and Barty is a Youtube channel where Ronnie blogs about living in the mountains. It's not just another youtube channel, but being run by a true artist and a gentleman who shoots amazing mountain videos, composes his own music and more. In one of their videos, they had very briefly talked about baking and cookies. This got us excited and we approached them for feedback on our cookies. And if they liked them they could help us spread the word. 

They were kind enough to try our cookies and make a review video that featured at the start of one of their videos - 

So Ronnie and Barty is not a channel with a million subs. But its a channel where everyone who watches his videos is a true Ronnie fan. And in my experience, true fans matter more than mere subscriber nos. We were the first product he reviewed.

Orders started pouring in the moment the video aired and we could not be more thankful to them. Finally, we had started being an online company.

Almost around the same time, Dohful also featured in another Youtube channel called Babe where's my passport, being run by a British-Dutch couple. They had left their jobs and had taken travel Youtubing full time. They were vlogging in India when we approached them to try our cookies. Like travelers they had no fixed place where we could send cookies to them. But they mentioned that they would be in Delhi for a couple of days before leaving for Wagah Border. We met them and gave them the cookies.

But as luck would have it, they forgot the cookies in their Delhi hotel itself while checking out of there. Thankfully, their return flight to London was from Delhi, so we met them again just the day before they had to return back and they featured us in their last India vlog - 

We got many a loyal customer from Babe, where's my passport. 

Hence the journey of us being an online cookie company started.