In the ecommerce landscape, the genesis of 2 Visions stems from a profound realization: the true potential of online businesses lies not just in high-quality marketing and user experience but in empowering the people behind the brands. Founded seven years ago by Yates Jarvis, 2 Visions emerged as a response to the growing demand from direct-to-consumer (DTC) brands for transformative strategies that elevate both performance and organizational structure.
With a keen focus on maximizing profit through effective team development, Jarvis recognized that while many agencies excelled in delivering incremental results, a more holistic approach was essential for unlocking exponential growth. As consumer behaviors shift and new technologies reshape the market, the dual visions of financial performance and employee engagement stand as critical pillars for sustainable success in the competitive world of ecommerce.
We talked with Yates and learned more about what has made 2 Visions so successful.
What was the inspiration behind starting 2 Visions seven years ago?
I wanted to get into the highest leverage profit drivers of an ecommerce company — its people and their performance. Coming from the agency world, we majored in knocking out high-quality work, like a labor force replacement for a company, and we minored in strategy. That’s great for what it is, but our clients needed more. They needed help with their own structures and people to really transform their profit potential.
DTC ecommerce brands were coming to us looking for significant results, and we definitely felt like we knocked it out of the park relative to our competitors. However, while working there, we saw so much more opportunity. An opportunity that made what we were doing pale in comparison. It made what we were doing with UX/UI and marketing/advertising start to look wholly incremental instead of exponential. This was a wake-up call.
That’s why I named the firm 2 Visions. Most companies’ first vision is their vision that supports financial performance. The second vision, I argue, should exist on its own and should be one set to support the company’s people. Together, we’ve got the real fuel for a successful, highly competitive, and healthy ecommerce business.
What are the current trends shaping ecommerce marketing?
Ecommerce companies are doubling down on data. Gone are the days of basic attribution modeling and tracking email opens. The game has evolved into complex digital fingerprinting and mixed modeling that attempts to get at the heart of incrementality and causality. I see every brand participating in their stance on this, trying to win by better leveraging data than their competitors.
Also, they are looking for efficiencies in DTC wherever they can find them. We’re seeing the buzz around generative AI, which is just a subset of the broader conversation around efficiency. The profitability of DTC has come under scrutiny with rising expenditures — lots of industry voices are pointing squarely at Meta and Google for the blame. But brands, too, have really wasted their opportunities with their tech stack and expensive SaaS additions, underutilizing their advanced assets; they are just not getting the most out of them, and it’s showing in the bottom line.
DTC brands know, too, that there’s a second wind coming. We’ve seen DTC’s market share growing but via a slowed growth. There’s a new negotiation going on between the people and companies. What is really convenient? When do I need to touch something? How can I really get the best value? DTC ecommerce is going to experience a second win after a few years of retrenching and gathering itself. I think the core of this will be a complete next-level use of AI better to serve customers in the CX and product development.
How has consumer behavior changed in recent years, especially post-pandemic?
Consumers have started to consolidate more search activity to marketplaces. Amazon in the US has really benefited from this and drove this on purpose. This has an enduring challenge for the consumer and the brand: how do we find each other when we need to most?
We’ve also seen dramatic adoption of subscription relationships with brands, and consumer preferences starting to solidify around convenience expectations with order editing, repeat purchases, and shipping options. Because of this, we have a record-breaking expansion of delivery warehousing and distribution centers across the US. We’ll see how this affects shipping cost and timing, but it’s something to watch to understand how the DTC value prop evolves and where its limitations continue to lay.
What are the biggest challenges businesses that sell products online face today?
Ecommerce business leaders are realizing slimmer margins, putting pressure on their organizational development capabilities, whether they know it or not. When the margins were wider, and channel growth was accelerating, companies could only absorb inefficiencies if they addressed them. The real need was how to keep the scale moving. Given the new normal of online competition and costs, we’re seeing less-than-optimal cost reductions that will hurt long-term profitability without the organizational transformation required to turn the ship around. Companies must hire resourceful, high-potential talent and develop them in-house via proprietary structures that bring out their best in product, marketing, service, and ecommerce. This is where they will see legitimate, lasting gains.
How important is personalization in ecommerce, and what strategies do you recommend?
Personalization is essential in ecommerce, but mainly for brands with 2-3 purchases per year on average per customer. We call this purchase frequency. So retailers and marketplaces should be bleeding edge with personalization, followed by brands with larger catalogs, and then finally, brands that offer subscriptions.
It’s important to remember that personalization is often limited by the quality and depth of data as well as by the ability of an organization to hypothesize against and apply tunings based on that data effectively. 99% of ecommerce brands that fit a purchase frequency of 2-3/yr should look upstream at the data and application with eagle eyes and intense focus. Tracking improvements in those areas will deliver significant improvement that many companies don’t even know to bank on.
What role do social media and influencer marketing play in driving ecommerce sales?
This has evolved. It’s not what it was a few years ago. Organic reach has shifted dramatically, and influencers’ influence and product presentation methods have changed. It really takes a custom approach per brand now. It’s not enough to get the product to the right five folks and expect things to take off. Costs are negotiated differently, legal is more nuanced. Social as a tool for awareness and ambassadorship is still strong, but creativity and nose-to-the-grindstone volume are critical to finding success there. Influencer now is different from Creator and both from Affiliate. All three are in the conversation as a channel for growth with budget and your value prop driving where you can focus in the near term.
What are the key factors for improving customer retention in ecommerce?
There are no gimmicks for customer retention. It’s about providing value and making sure the customer understands and enjoys that value. You could break down your customer journey and specifically look at those areas: value provided, customer understanding of value, and customer enjoyment of value. All of that can be better defined, optimized, measured, and improved.
I wouldn’t downplay some often ignored opportunities in retention, namely brand and customer service. The most talked about retention strategies are usually around technology advancements in loyalty programs or slick promotional SaaS. All of that can work but will be limited to a shadow of itself if brand and customer service are left untapped. Most companies don’t consider brand a retention tool, but it is. Brand is key in customers justifying their purchase, the value exchanged and received in the purchase, and their belief that a future transaction is worthwhile. Don’t punt on it just because it’s not easy to measure!
How do you see the future of ecommerce evolving in the next 5 to 10 years?
Someone will tune the financial model and value chain for making at-home showcasing a same-day reality for products in the top 20% of need there. Apparel might be in that boat, for instance. You can see Amazon nipping at the heels of this with their try-before-you-buy. It’s a huge issue for both companies and customers to get through. That’s a key point where things will change- benefits both. In this example, it reduces returns and lowers waste for the company, allowing the customer to get the right fit.
We’ll see AI moving from assisting to advising during purchase as well. Instead of just informational, we will rely on AI to help us make the best purchase decisions. How does this look on me? Does this best fit my wardrobe, or should I pick a different color or cut? This will change the playing field for the origination of purchase-based searches and turn the decision-making part of the customer journey on its head.
There’s so much to discuss with this question, but a final area I’d look at is ecommerce team building. What’s the makeup of teams? You will see companies owning stronger and clearer brand and product vision and strategy in-house with far more hired guns assisting on the edges. Freelancer and remote will have a new name and sound more normal. Our DTC ecommerce brands will have a worldwide workforce and the tools necessary to make that seamless and to bring out the best of all of the players, even if those players are rotating regularly project-by-project or task-by-task. It’s exciting to imagine the change ahead and how we will help companies prepare, adapt, and fly!
