ReCo Refill: Building a growth model through customer feedback

Before launch, we ran a pilot with 20 inner-city residents to explore their pain points, behaviours and motivations. These early advocates shaped our initial audience personas and became a trusted group for ongoing feedback.

Over the next 12 months, we ran multiple feedback loops:

• Month 3: Used heatmaps, Google Analytics and surveys to reveal who was buying, how they found us and what worked.
• Month 6: Regrouped with early customers to refine product range and improve refill experience.
• Month 12: Analysed lifetime value and retention to focus on high-value refilling customers — supporting a sustainable, self-funded model.

Our brand strategy centred on familiarity and authenticity. As a new brand, we leaned into visual cues customers already trusted — a simple, clean logo (inspired by Uniqlo), amber glass packaging (echoing Aesop), and co-founder imagery to build connection and recall.

Every user touchpoint was designed for clarity and ease. This attention to quality and simplicity helped us achieve a 5–10% conversion rate — well above industry average — by making the refill journey fast and intuitive.

The strategy sets the foundation for ReCo Refill's brand identity and visual design. See case study.

We mapped the social circles of our early customers, identifying shared influencers who could drive traction from overlapping networks. Rather than paid influencer campaigns, we activated micro-influencers and community figures to co-promote the launch — building trust and reaching fast.

Instead of long-term ad campaigns, we ran short, targeted experiments. We tested product-focused vs. founder-led ads, then doubled down on the formats that performed. As a result, we brought cost-per-click down to just $0.50 while maintaining a 60% landing-page conversion rate — well above average.

To expand our reach, we partnered with local cafes and like-minded sustainable businesses such as Hunter Candles, offering selective free samples to spark word-of-mouth and build community trust.

Through Boomerang Labs, we explored corporate partnerships — a move that caught the attention of brands like Aesop, Airbnb, Lendlease, CBRE, EY and L’Abode. These early conversations laid the groundwork for systems thinking. See our sustainable innovation case study.

By positioning ReCo Refill as a community-led, purpose-driven service, we built long-term value — showing how circular systems can thrive in the real world, shaped by real feedback.