Building Cookies: How Authentic Partnerships Drive Customer Loyalty
Joshua Pack, CEO of Cookies, shares the brand’s journey in creating high-quality everyday essentials without the luxury price tag. This interview explores how focusing on genuine creator partnerships has transformed their customer acquisition strategy and retention efforts.
In this edition of the Ecommerce Authority Playbooks series, we dive into how
cookies grows, retains customers, and prepares for the future of search in 2025 and beyond.
The interview
1. What’s the quick origin story of your brand, and what makes your product or positioning genuinely different from other options in your niche?
joshu pack: We started the brand after struggling to find high-quality everyday essentials that felt premium without the inflated luxury markup. Most competitors were either cheap and disposable or overly branded and expensive. We saw an opportunity to build a product line focused on durability, clean design, and transparent sourcing.
2. Since launch, what have been the 1–2 real turning points for your brand-specific decisions, pivots, or experiments that noticeably changed your growth or profitability-and what did you learn from them?
joshu pack: The first major turning point was moving away from broad paid advertising and focusing on creator partnerships with smaller niche influencers. Our CAC dropped significantly, and the quality of customers improved because the recommendations felt more authentic and aligned with the audience.
3. Which 2-3 channels drive most of your revenue right now (for example SEO, paid social, email, marketplaces, influencers), and what have you learned about making those channels work in your category?
joshu pack: Paid social works best when the creative feels native and founder-led rather than polished ad creative. UGC-style content consistently outperforms studio ads for us.
4. How are you thinking about search in 2025 – Google, AI assistants like ChatGPT, and other discovery platforms? What, if anything, have you changed in your content or site to stay visible as AI search grows?
joshu pack: Because of that, we’ve shifted toward creating clearer, experience-driven content that directly answers customer questions rather than writing purely for SEO keywords. We’ve also focused more on structured product information, FAQ content, comparison pages, and first-party reviews because AI systems seem to prioritize content that’s specific, trustworthy, and easy to interpret.
5. What do you do to turn first‑time buyers into repeat customers and advocates? Are there specific experiences, content, or community touches that work especially well for you?
joshu pack: We focus heavily on the first 30 days after purchase. That includes onboarding emails, usage tips, personalized recommendations, and proactive customer support check-ins.
6. If you had to write a short playbook for an ecommerce founder one stage behind you, what would you double down on over the next 12 months – and what would you stop doing entirely?
joshu pack: I would stop chasing every new marketing trend or platform. Early-stage brands waste a lot of time spreading themselves too thin across too many channels. It’s better to master one acquisition channel and one retention channel before expanding.
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