Founded | 2012
Headquarters | Raleigh, NC
Top Executive | Eddie Stone, Founder & CEO
Product Category | Health and Wellness
As the dust settles in the post-pandemic direct selling landscape, many of the companies that watched their sales skyrocket during those turbulent times are finding themselves back to pre-2020 numbers, regrouping for whatever their new normal now looks like. But health-and-wellness focused Touchstone Essentials went from strong and steady to strong and soaring—exciting customers, empowering distributors and staying one step ahead of industry trends.
Ear to the Ground
The Touchstone Essentials team had no problem working from home when everything shut down in 2020. The entire corporate team had been happily working from home for four years already by the time the rest of the world was sent home in a pandemic panic.
“We’ve been a totally online organization since 2016,” says Eddie Stone, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Touchstone Essentials. “We didn’t do it all at once, and we were a little bit nervous because it changes how you manage your work and how you think about the people that you’re working with. But in our case, it really worked. Now when we hire, we’re conscious of an independently minded person that we can feel comfortable with them meeting the standard of work, even from home. I believe that’s allowed us to hire better people because if we find a talent, you can keep being that talented individual wherever you want to live.”
Transitioning to a remote workforce is just one of Touchstone Essentials’ forward-thinking, trendspotting moves that’s set up the company for consistent success. As early adopters of digital marketing within the direct selling industry, the company has seen time and time again how listening to both their distributors and customers pays off.
“We need to be in all of those spaces where consumers are and want to make sure that we’re competitive in that space and not just within the traditional old school direct sales channel,” said Sonia O’Farrell, Chief Marketing Officer. “We were early adopters of incorporating reviews into our website, recognizing the fact that Amazon has led the way in terms of consumers seeing reviews before they make a purchase. Our entire ecommerce experience is designed to optimize converting customers into loyal fans. When somebody visits thegoodinside.com, that initiates a fully integrated digital marketing system, that includes retargeting ads and Google ads, at no cost for our distributors. It helps to ensure that our distributors can focus on what they do best, which is building relationships with their customers, and it enables us to take care of every aspect of digital marketing.”
These types of initiatives are second nature to the Touchstone Essentials team—because while the company launched in 2012, they’ve functioned more like a startup than a business with more than a decade of success under its belt.
“We’ve always tried to maintain a start-up mindset because we try to apply best practices consistently, looking for ways to innovate, adapt and be nimble because it’s an ever-changing ecommerce environment,” Sonia added. “We’re not just competing within the direct sales space, but in the ecommerce channel overall, so we need to try and stay competitive as a standalone brand because the majority of consumers are either Googling a product, or they’re starting their search on Amazon or in their scroll on social media.”
Heart for Transparency
While the company is energized by the challenges of change, it’s grounded in the integrity of its products. Touchstone Essentials launched with “a commitment to clean ingredients, organic practices and sustainability” and has kept that promise. This commitment to transparency and purity sets the company apart in a busy health and wellness space and has proven to be another example of the team’s forward thinking.
“When you look broadly at the industry, there are very few companies that are focused on a clean product line,” shared Eddie. “We’ve been very upfront about utilizing USDA-certified organic ingredients every place where that’s possible. We’ve also been very careful and upfront about the fact that we won’t be using isolates or synthetics. Consumer awareness of these factors has blown up—the consumer started walking towards us instead of us walking towards them.”
Touchstone Essentials launched with natural detox and targeted whole food supplements in capsules but has since expanded to include ready-to-mix superfood powders as well. Today, the carefully curated product line addresses detox, everyday nutrition and a range of specific body systems and concerns, from immune, heart and joints to healthy metabolism and energy.
The company’s seamless digital marketing system makes building a business simple for its distributors, by driving consumer sales that lead to sustainable growth. It’s an approach validated by a customer to distributor ratio of 40:1.
“It needs to be as simple as downloading our app and now you’re in business,” said Eddie. “We want to really have the same curb appeal as gig work. That simplicity—ease of getting involved, products that we hope sell themselves to a large extent—that’s all on the app. I don’t need to be a marketing or IT genius to be able to use these tools to quickly build my business.”
By focusing on distributors’ needs and customers’ preferences, Touchstone Essentials has experienced consistent growth that has yet to slow down in the post-pandemic economy.
“People love our products so much, which is reflected in the reviews. We’ve always been a very customer-centric company,” shared Sonia. “That presents a robust opportunity simply because it creates a sustainable level of people ordering, reordering, loving the products. Maybe the growth is slower, but it’s steady and sustainable, and that’s helping us build something that lasts.”
Eyes on the Horizon
members Sonia O’Farrell, Chief Marketing Officer; Jennifer Hulett,
Chief Creative Officer; and David Isserman, Chief Operating Officer.
Pictured with Eddie Stone, Founder and CEO
So what’s next for this soaring “start-up”? The Touchstone Essentials team is excited about the future—for its distributors, its product line and the families that will be impacted by both the products and the business opportunity.
In 2024, the company will launch in-country shipping in Australia, joining existing distribution in the United States, the United Kingdom and the E.U., with plans to expand into Japan in the near future. From these distribution centers, Touchstone Essentials’ products are shipped to customers in over 50 countries. New products are on the horizon as well, as the team is currently developing an anti-aging technology that will launch in the next year.
The company’s digital marketing strategy is only set to expand, supporting distributors near and far and staying one step ahead of the changing sales landscape.
“Our marketing system is working in a way to help bring big business tools and techniques to the everyday person,” Sonia explained. “It’s really exciting to me to be able to see how people love to share these products. They’re excited because it’s made a difference in their lives. There’s so much reward that comes from seeing everyday people get a piece of the pie, rather than big corporations. Being able to empower families and see them be rewarded is what makes this business so amazing. Digital marketing is really the future for direct sales.”
From the March 2024 issue of Direct Selling News magazine.
