[Voiceover]: Well, today I put water all over a sex pillow to make it look like someone had squirted there. I mean, it'd be lovely if Zuckerberg would let us do some advertising. Or do you know, just if TikTok wouldn't ban us all the time. We need to remove the stigma around vibrating butt plugs. Welcome to ADD to Cart, Australia's leading e commerce podcast that Express delivers all you need to know in the fast moving world of online retail. Here's your host, Bushy.
Nathan Bush: Welcome to ADD to Cart, Australia's leading e commerce podcast made for e commerce professionals who never stop learning. Each episode we unpack insights, strategies and untold stories from Australia's top e commerce operators, founders and industry experts so you can grow your business and your career. My name is Bushi, joining you from the land of the Turrble people here in Brisbane, Australia. Imagine getting rejected by your bank and then turning it into front page news with a flood of new customers. Today's guest did exactly that and turned the taboo around her industry into PR gold and e commerce success. Today we are joined by Viv Conway, co founder of Girls get off, the bold and playful sexual wellness brand rewriting the rules around women's pleasure, launching during lockdown with just a big idea and a very cheeky sense of humor, Viv and her co founder Joe Cummins have quickly built a thriving e commerce business complete with a cult like following and a huge social following. One video alone has racked up over 8.8 million views. I went down a little bit of a rabbit hole there. In this episode, Viv shares how Girls get off leverages unique and engaging content as their competitive edge, details the surprising reasons why meta and banking services keep rejecting them, and she reveals how they've transformed these challenges into powerful growth opportunities. Viv also gives us a peek into their hilarious and slightly off kilter product design process involving everything from slack channels to soaked sex pillows, and why community has been pivotal to their growth. But first, two quick announcements. I know, what a tease. Stopping there to give you our announcements. First one, if you're heading to Retail Fest on the gold coast on may 28th, don't miss our epic gc bogan trivia night which is happening on the Thursday night at Karrawa Surf Club. Spots are limited so secure your table of trivia champions. Now head on over to add to cart.com to reserve your ticket. And secondly, if you are keen to explore the vibrant Southeast Asia retail landscape at NRF Tour 2025 APAC in Singapore, join us on Our Add to Cart tour group available for less than the standard ticket price. Discover all the retail opportunities, the cool tech, the amazing store design, and do it with an amazing bunch of people. Details and registration at Add to cart.com au as always, a huge shout out to our partners, Shopify and Klaviyo for making today's episode possible. Now, quick warning. If you've got little ears in your backseat, or if you're not quite ready to dive into a bit of pleasure before your morning coffee, this is your official warning. Things may get a little bit raunchy, little bit cheeky, but a hell of a lot of fun. Here's Viv Conway, co founder of Girls Get Off. Viv, welcome to Add to Cart.
[Voiceover]: Hello. How are you?
Nathan Bush: That is the best hello I think we've had on Add to Cart. That is the most amazing hello ever.
[Voiceover]: I'm excited. This is so great.
Nathan Bush: Well, I'm gonna start by saying happy faniversary to you. Four years.
[Voiceover]: Thank you so much, Nath. Yes. Four big years Girls Kid Off. We're so excited. And, you know, every year I think we forget our birthday's coming up until about the day before, and we go, what day is it? I can't remember what day is it? So we put it in the calendar this time. Still can't remember the date, but at least I know it's in my calendar from now on.
Nathan Bush: I don't remember the date, but I remember your LinkedIn post that just called it Happy Fanniversary. And I was like, that is the best. That is brilliant.
[Voiceover]: Do you know what I learned about LinkedIn last year, though? Is that. And look, I'm already going off topic. Less than 1% of people, people post on LinkedIn more than twice a week or something. And I just thought, that is the biggest opportunity I've ever seen. So that's why I've been posting more on LinkedIn lately, talking about faniversaries and anything else I can decide to stir the pot up with. It's a great place.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, but yours is useful as well. Like, we were talking about AI beforehand, and now LinkedIn is a cesspool of AI posts and you can see them a mile away. But yours, like, even though you're into AI and you're loving it, when we were talking about all the ways we're exploring it, but yours are so authentic, it feels like you get your phone out of your pocket and you go, oh, I've got a brain dump. I'm gonna put that into LinkedIn. And they get the best engagement.
[Voiceover]: That is exactly what I do.
Nathan Bush: All right, four years into Girls get off, is it still as fun as it was the day you created it?
[Voiceover]: It's so fun. I mean, it's probably more. You know, the headaches are different headaches now. But it's like any business. Heaps of fun. Great work stories. I mean, particularly in this industry. There's always something new and random happening, which we've got to like. We've actually got a Slack Channel now, which is called for the plot, which we just dump anything in that makes us laugh. Because like anyone in any business, you get to the stage where something funny happens and it's not even funny to you anymore. You're so desensitized. So, you know, when FedEx won't ship our product because it's classed as obscene material, you know, that's just like, oh, another day in the industry. But it's like, all right, it's got to go on the Slack channel because that'll be funny to look back at one day. So highly recommend that.
Nathan Bush: That's hilarious. You must bring people into the business who are like, oh, that's funny. Or that's interesting. And you're like, I've seen it all before now.
[Voiceover]: Yeah. Someone asked me, what did you do at work today? And I said, well, today I put water all over a sex pillow to make it look like someone had squirted there. And then I proofread one of the ebooks on giving good blowjobs. How was your day? So you've got to write these things down because it just becomes your every day, you know, that is brilliant.
Nathan Bush: All right, so let's go back to the start. If you've come in and I've given you no context on this, that's what I might do. I might skip the intro and just come in with your hello and then get straight into that chat. All right, tell me, girls, get off. Where did the idea come from?
[Voiceover]: Okay, picture this. Couple of socially distanced beverages on Joe's driveway during lockdown. Must have been 2020 at that stage. And we had wanted to go into business together. Joe, my business partner, had a personalized cookie business at the time.
Nathan Bush: And how did you know Joe before this?
[Voiceover]: So I had Ace the Gram with a friend. So we did organic Instagram marketing. And through that we met Jo. Her business was E Commerce, personalized, you know, on a grazing table. They've got the fondant cookies with the stamps in them. That was her business. So we knew we kind of wanted to work Together, we looked at a few different ideas and we realized, wow, this industry is trending. People around us are buying all their sex toys.
Nathan Bush: Especially in lockdown.
[Voiceover]: Especially in lockdown, exactly. However, the way that people were finding out about them was either their friend had told them about it or maybe there'd been like a viral review online. So in Amazon, you had Tracy's dog going viral on different radio stations, and in New Zealand and Australia, you had the Satisfy pro because of a few reviews that had been written by certain individuals in the industry. So the ways that people were finding out about these products weren't the same way as women find out about, say, their skincare. You know, we see it on Instagram, we see influencers. And then second to that, if you decide, okay, it's time for me to dip my toes in, I want to buy my first toy, you've either got to go to the weird shop down the road, which, I mean, they're improving now, but the one down the road from us, you walk straight in the back door to a sex swing. So it was very full on. And then the alternative, not safe from
Nathan Bush: a workplace health insurance, safety either.
[Voiceover]: No, no, honestly. Well, you could take the front entrance if you did want to, but you know, there's a back entrance for a reason. And then you've got the.
Nathan Bush: I'm not even innuendo. It's not even innuendo. It's actually real. Like we're talking about doors and shops.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, this is real life. Oh, you had online, right. And I remember initially doing our product research, going toys for her on one of the big retailers. It's like 800 different results. There's like the Dongblaster 3000 and like a fisting glove and we're like, oh, my goodness, this is so hardcore. So the reason we started Girls get off is because we wanted to create a customer experience and a product that was A, it was like a fun, simple, positive buying experience, but B, it just like took the taboo out of it, you know, like made it as normal as buying skincare all the way through from having a laugh on Instagram. Okay, we'll hold your hand through. Okay, Having a little giggle and then take you on the website makes you laugh a bit more. Maybe you share that with your partner or something all the way through to you buy it. It's discreet shipping. The toy itself doesn't look out of place on your bedside table. And we just take people on that journey that no one else was really doing at the time.
Nathan Bush: Awesome. And has it changed a lot since then because we've interviewed a few in the industry, for example, Lucy from Normal, and a similar philosophy, not exactly the same approach, but similar philosophy around demystifying it, making it accessible, making it female friendly. Have you seen much movement in the industry or is it pretty much the same still?
[Voiceover]: We've seen a lot of movement and Lucy's great. We had lunch the other day actually. It's all just the industry itself has changed a lot and particularly Covid gave it the boost that it sort of needed to bring it out into the open. But I think when there's more competition as well for these, even for the bigger brands, like with our smaller brands coming out and using all these different marketing tactics, it sort of pushes them to be better as well. And we're all then having more conversations, encouraging people to talk about these things. And so while the industry has changed and I think people's perceptions of it has changed a lot, I mean, I also don't have like a fair. That's not really a fair test. You know, everyone who I hang out with is pretty open about it now, aren't they? But if I.
Nathan Bush: And they're gonna tell you you're great.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, exactly. But if we get like a news article, for example, we know for a fact that that can be, you know, some of their highest traffic news articles. Cause there's still a lot of people out there who this has been really taboo for them. Or if I go to an expo and, and talk to people in person, people are like quite shocked that there's sex toys there. So the industry has changed a lot and it's more out in the open, but we are still facing like a lot of challenges that all the other brands like Lucy, like Lovehoney and all that will face where we are really restricted by the advertising that we can do. So it has changed, but it's still got a long way to go before we are seen as like a wellness product in the eyes of those big corporations.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, okay. Do you care about the big corporations?
[Voiceover]: Well, do you know what, it's actually, I mean it'd be lovely if Zuckerberg would let us do some advertising. But. Or do you know, just if TikTok wouldn't ban us all the time, that'd be epic. Yeah, but I mean it's a double edged sword, right? On one hand you've got. That means it can be really hard to get in front of people. And like we were very lucky to start at the time that we did. But on the flip side, you also can't just be outspent by your competitors. So where, you know, if I had a clothing brand and I'm competing for Black Friday sales, he or she who spends the most money is gonna, you know, I mean, creative does come into it, but they have way more of an advantage. Whereas for us it's like content. I don't know, we're all who can get the influencer first. Like it's a little bit different. I mean, it can be a challenge because it's not as scalable in some ways, but it does force you to be more creative, that's for sure.
Nathan Bush: It's pretty wild. When I heard your story about the bank of New Zealand experience, I was like, what the fuck? Like, how does that. Can you tell our listeners about that? Because I think that's wild. And when you talk about Facebook and everyone goes, yeah, cool. Well, it's not cool, but I understand and I've heard it before that TikTok and Facebook, their standards are all over the shop. But when you have trouble getting a bank account, that to me is wild.
[Voiceover]: So I guess for context as well, yeah, the taboos around the industry stretch a lot further than just those social media channels. So I've mentioned, you know, FedEx wouldn't ship our product once we've had, oh, we've tried to put billboards up and they wouldn't let us have them at certain areas because the landowners were too conservative. We have had like it gets declined all the time by things. Right. It's just non stop. And now it's desensitized. But the banking thing was so funny because we're so desensitized to it now and just get told no all the time. We know kind of how to, you know, play it now. So we applied for a bank account. This is just such a. We just wanted a bank account, I think. Cause we wanted to change banks and they rejected us. And after having had a phone call with my business partner, they go, mm, actually something's flagging here. It's not gonna quite work. I'll check with my manager. Checked with her manager and we got an email back saying your industry's against our terms of service or something like that. So we got denied. But the thing is about those situations is that immediately it was like, this is going to be perfect for media because if you're struggling to get attention in any way possible, any time we can get in the media is like, huge win. So got this email from bnz. I don't know if I'm getting In trouble for this. I had like Confidential at the top. I just crossed that out and I was like, joe, give it to me, I'll send it in. Pretend, you know, so incriminating. Anyway, I thought, I'll deal with that later, and sent it off to media and they just lapped it up like, come on, everyone hates the banks anyway. Don't they hate the banks? Here's this. All these girls, just small business, New Zealand they're doing, having such a hard time. Anyways, I think we got on the front page of the Herald in New Zealand. We were the first article in their app on like a Sunday. So we can, yeah, price list. Like, I can tell when the article's gone live as well because we'll get the orders start coming through and it's like, Keith, Margaret Louise, I'm like, yes, this is the audience that we know and love.
Nathan Bush: Who are you selling to? 70 year olds.
[Voiceover]: Like, literally, if we can get in front of the older demographic, that can just be so perfect for us because, you know, as millennials, we've had some conversations about sex. We've been on social media, but for a lot of the time, 50 plus, they really haven't had conversations about sex. And there's been, you know, I've had the most incredible conversations with people who've like never masturbated before, never orgasmed in that age group and they've just felt so much shame around the topic. So anytime we can get in front of them and when it's in a context like that where they go, oh, here's these nice girls just trying to go about their lives and do their business and then, oh, that's quite a cool product. I'm going to buy some things and support them. It always just ends up being a win win. But then all of a sudden they've
Nathan Bush: retired and they're never seeing their families again.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, we had, I think we had two news articles. CEO of Banzai was calling my business partner. I had second in charge of Westpac calling me saying, can we do anything more for you? I'm like, oh, now everyone wants to bank for this. And even a couple of years before, we'd gone for trade finance with a few different banks and yeah, one bank wouldn't even consider our application because of the nature of our industry with their words. So it happens all the time. But, yeah, if we can leverage it, ah, there's nothing better, is there? And it's all happy days. Now we've got a really good relationship with the BNZ CEO who Said he'll be in some content with us. So I can't wait for that day when I go back to Auckland. We'll have to get him in the suit or something. I'm not sure.
Nathan Bush: Your content drafted, Ready to go. Come on, let's go.
[Voiceover]: The emails were incredible. I actually messaged him on LinkedIn because I thought, oh my God, this man. After the second article went up, I'm like, this poor guy. Like some computer systems just been like, no. And then this guy's getting dragged through it, like his face is on the first page. And I just said, hey mate, thanks so much for dealing with it, you know, thanks so much for taking it well, you're a great sport. Like, hope everything's well, like look to do, you know, work with you guys in future. And he was so good about it. So he said, oh my goodness, most of my team is female and you would not believe the shit I'm getting in the office at the moment for denying you guys a bank account. So it was all fun and games.
Nathan Bush: That's awesome. Well played by you though. Well played. To turn it into a positive. The market is shifting, costs are climbing and the pressure to do more with less is real. But when resources are tight, you can rely on Shopify, the platform that's consistently first with new capabilities. Shopify invests significantly in R and D and drops more than 150 updates every year, evolving with you and absorbing complexity so you can focus on what moves your business forward from AI powered insights to the world's best converting checkout. Shopify is designed for the next era of commerce, helping you sell more, scale faster and future proof your your brand build for what's next with Shopify. Visit Shopify for Enterprise to learn more. I love the contrast between what you're saying there around banks and ads on TikTok. But then you look towards your content and I saw one of Your videos on TikTok has 8.8 million views now. Is that right?
[Voiceover]: Does it? I don't know. Yeah, probably.
Nathan Bush: That was what I saw and I was like, holy moly, that's incredible. So for someone who TikTok goes, actually no, we'll block your ads occasionally and we won't take your money. But here's 8.8 million people, they'll view your free content. It's pretty wild.
[Voiceover]: TikTok's a funny one. I think we've actually had to start our account again before, so this is our second account. But TikTok's funny because it is way more hardcore in terms of if I even put up a video with a toy in it, it will pick it up and just flagged the whole thing. I'm pretty sure we flagged right now. But that one, yeah, 8.8 million. That went really well. The thing with TikTok for us is I think it's a little bit like Instagram. That's obviously our specialty. And we kind of repost everything over to TikTok. But for us, I've never seen it turn into sales. Like, this is our experience. I know this is different for other brands, but for us, we find it easy to grow on there, but we don't necessarily see that turn into sales. But I also believe that if we wanted to actually make sales on TikTok, I'd actually have to, A, spend a lot more time on there and B, create like TikTok centric content rather than just reposting from Instagram. Cause I don't think that quite works. Yeah, that's been our experience anyway.
Nathan Bush: And does your Instagram content turn into sales?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, Instagram's pretty consistent in terms of, like a really strong sense of community on that platform. And just constant content turning into web traffic is pretty reliable. Plus you've got those stories that you can pop up and directly link people through to products. So I do think, I mean, there's obviously customers are on TikTok, but it's reaching them in the right way for that platform, which we haven't quite put enough energy into yet.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, well, you'd probably want to turn into sales for some of the positions that you kind of have to put yourself in in some of those videos. Like, I'm not doing this shit for free.
[Voiceover]: No, I'm not doing this shit for free. I was talking to another friend the other day who's running Facebook ads and she just does four bits of content and then that's it. So she needs a refresh. I'm like, mate, I'm trying to pump out two reels a day at the moment and you're doing four. And then like, no, that's all good. These are working for now. I'm like, oh, my goodness, if only. But look, it forces us to be more creative. It's so good.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, and you can see the creativity. And you talked before around making sure your messaging is on point throughout all of your communication. So I saw the contact us section in your website. The address that people have to contact you on is Jellylegs earlsgetoff.
[Voiceover]: Do you know, I'm happy you find that so funny, because the coming up with the name for our contact email address actually held us back from starting our website. I believe in the early days, once we had our name, which took years, five, forever, we were like, we can't just have hello at Girls get off. What are we gonna have? It took us days and we stopped from signing up to things because of that. So, hey, that's just made it worth it.
Nathan Bush: I love it. That's brilliant. It gave me a good giggle. But then it goes all the way through to your packaging. And I can't remember what product it is, but on the COVID of it, it's like, it's got the product. It's like, grab a bop and bucket.
[Voiceover]: Oh, yeah, yeah. Afternoon Delighters.
Nathan Bush: Oh, that was brilliant. And so, like, all those little touches throughout obviously is helping break down some barriers and make people feel relaxed and comfortable. How do you know how far you can push it to stay cheeky and not kind of scare people away?
[Voiceover]: From the very beginning, we said to each other, let's like care about those little details because when people do get surprised and delighted, it makes such an impression and it's just so lasting. In an industry where we're never going to be able to compete against, you know, Berlin on what the latest technology is or on price with such the bigger players, all we have is our marketing and our brand. So when we are doing all these little things, it's so intentional. And the line, I guess, is, look, it's been a journey to figure out this line, but let me tell you, we've had some blunders and we've figured it out. So for us, we do have, like a set of questions, like we're working with, say, a new contractor or something. We give them like, it's like RAN guidelines essentially. But some of those things are like, is it gross? We don't even need to go into gross. But we've learned that from some of the confessions that came through. Is it gross? Are we laughing with someone or at someone? Like, we never, you'll notice in our content, and I'll use an example, when in this space, I guess, and on the Internet, there's a lot of content out there that will, like, bring other people down. For example, like, there's a lot of jokes about, like, oh, guys can't find the clit or something. And although in different contexts that might be a bit of a laugh, bit of dry humor, whatever. For us, it's like, we never want to be laughing at someone. We only want to laugh with them because that's what Builds community. Like, we're here to laugh with each other, not, like, bring anyone else down. So that's a really big part of it. And then just the general, like, yeah, gross. Are we laughing with them? Not at them. And also not. Not, like, full teenage boy humor, you know, because you could just go. You could go so far, but sometimes you just gotta pull it back a little bit and make it a bit more, like, subtle. And, yeah, we've had, like. We've had a mix.
Nathan Bush: I want to know what's left on the cutting room floor.
[Voiceover]: There's been some rogue stuff, too, that we've had to. You know, the way that we found our copywriter, which was really cool, and she's awesome, is she was actually writing a dating column for one of the newspapers in New Zealand. And I was like, this girl's so funny. I wonder if she will, like, write for us. And she was like, they're not even paying me to. That's not even my job. I just said I'd write that column for free. So we ended up, like, stumbling across this awesome copywriter, and the way that she writes is just so conversational, which is so key for us. So that helps a lot, too.
Nathan Bush: Amazing. And from a community perspective that you just mentioned there, what I picked up on was that I feel what you've created is more of a movement than it is necessarily a product or even a brand. You've got 40,000 members in your Facebook group. How much do they drive the jokes and the communication and the topics that you talk about? You mentioned, you know, the ebooks that you're creating. Do you get inspired by them to create content for them?
[Voiceover]: Yeah. The Facebook group is awesome because for context, it's called Girls Get Off Uncensored. People can go in there, ask anonymous questions, and we get everything from like, I'm staying at my boyfriend's house this weekend, but his parents are home. I need suggested sex positions for Suzuki Swift, you know, hilarious things like that, all the way through to, like, you know, something where someone might, you know, they've written a question and they're quite obviously in, like, a DV relationship and they need some help. So we've got some, like, I remember the first time that happened. I'm messaging my friend who's a social worker going like, oh, my God, please help me. I'm about to accept this post. So we get the whole spectrum from, you know, hilarious to quite serious. But in that, we then get to understand what goes on behind closed doors. What's the language that people are using and what are they struggling with? There's a lot around, like general relationship stuff and then lots around. Like someone literally asked yesterday, I don't want to spit when I give head anymore. Like, has anyone got any suggestions? Like just don't. Oh, sorry, I don't want to swallow someone's like, just spit it out. Like it's, it's very insightful. So. So a. It's a way for people to find us because if there's good conversations happening and like it's like you get all the juicy goss, you know, then people will add their friends. So it's a good way for people to find out about us. It's another like channel for us. So you know, we might go live or something or engage with people there. I make sure I go in every day just to comment and you know, drop any blogs or something where appropriate. But also the best thing is where, you know, word of mouth is always the strongest way for people to learn about your brand. And if someone says, oh, I've never had a toy before, what shall I use? I just approve the post and then I don't have to do anything. Like other people will say, you need to get Missy. You need to get Missy. You need to get Ms. C. And we don't like, it's like, well, that was easy because it's, you know, they're not gonna listen to me cause I'm the co founder but they'll listen to other people and take their word for it. So it's good.
Nathan Bush: That's awesome. And is moderation a nightmare or is it easy?
[Voiceover]: Well, I say I approve. I don't really approve any posts. I just go in like maybe 10.
Nathan Bush: You just go in and cause chaos.
[Voiceover]: And then yeah, I just go 10 minutes a day, make sure there's nothing I need to reply to. And then we've got a VA who does all the accepts people into the group which. But we also get their email as well. So then that goes onto our email list and then approves posts, get people to like change the wording if it's going to be censored or something. And it's not that difficult really.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. Cool. And does it open you up to international markets? I know you're very much focused on Australia and New Zealand as starting points, but does a group like that open you up internationally once people get curious?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, look, I guess. Do you know what? If we hadn't called it Girls get off Uncensored, like if we'd have called it like sex and dating I don't know what would be something people are searching for, you know, if we'd have been a little bit more SEO about it, maybe. But at the moment it's pretty New Zealand Australia focused, which, I mean, is pretty good in terms of, like, doubling down on the brand awareness.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. Is get off? Is that like an Australian, New Zealand thing or is it like, does it translate?
[Voiceover]: I'm not sure. I mean, I have also had feedback that people from the States won't respond well to the term girls. Like, they like to be called women. So that could go either way. Although I'm like, there's a really popular podcast called Girls Got to Eat as well, so I'm not sure how, how much that would stand up. But, yeah, get off. I mean, I think as far as I've found, it's pretty universal. People sort of get the picture. Very clickbaity. Yeah, yeah.
Nathan Bush: You kind of get the gist, right?
[Voiceover]: Yeah.
Nathan Bush: Tell us about how you launch products, because I think it's fascinating that Covid, you've gone, we need to change the way sexual health is accessible for females. We've got to take down some of the stigmas. You didn't just create a brand or even piece of content or a community. You only created product ranges from scratch. What's your product development process?
[Voiceover]: Oh, lots of rigorous testing. You know, like any good product developer. Look, first of all, we have to understand what our customer wants. So for us, we are catering to that beginner user. Maybe hasn't had a lot of toys before. As we've grown four years, like, people are now asking us, like, please bring out a vibrating butt plug. We're like, okay, this is not what you would have asked for three years ago, but we will do it for you.
Nathan Bush: You know, settle down, you're on the journey.
[Voiceover]: And, you know, we really understand what our customer wants in terms of like, something that looks cute and nice. And then second to that, yeah, look, we just go and we do test a lot of products, figure out what's working. I mean, I've been over to a couple of the trade shows in Germany and Hong Kong, which has been really cool and very eye opening. Certainly a lot of products out there that we don't sell. And we. Then we'll come back and say, I really like this part of this toy. I really like that part of that toy. And I guess that's probably what a lot of people do in product development. Just pull that all together. And then we've got awesome suppliers overseas who we actually, I mean, in the past we'd made the mistake. And I reckon that's probably not that uncommon with people who are designing products where you go and pay heaps of money to get like a technical person to do your 3D renders and stuff, but then quickly realize that your China supplier has all that technology. So we actually just have to come up with the concepts and work with them to make sure, like, the motor will fit in the size toy that we want and things like that. So, yeah, it's all a bit of a this and that, but it's. We just figure out what we want.
Nathan Bush: So you kind of go, I want a little bit of this. Maybe rough sketches. Are you talking.
[Voiceover]: Yep, rough sketches I might also like. So the other day I'll tell you about this vibrating butt plug that we're making the other day.
Nathan Bush: It's a conversation we haven't had on Add to Cart. So I welcome it.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, we need to remove the stigma around vibrating butt plugs. So the other day we've tried some. Look, I know it's on the market. I actually went into a sex toy store the other day because I quite like to understand what they recommend to people in person. And I said to her, you know, like, what do you normally recommend to women if they're having sex with a partner, what are you going to show them? She's like, well, actually a lot of the booty plugs are designed for males, so they're not designed for. To like stay in during sex, like for females wearing them. And I'm like, that makes so much sense to based on like, I'll go on and read like the negative reviews of other products on other websites. It's always a good way. And I can see that, you know, for some of them they're like, oh, it's slipping out too easily. So I'm like, that lines up with what she's saying as well. And she's like, because a lot of them are designed in that way, then we only really have like these two or three options to show people. This one's priced way too high, this one's not that exciting. So then we're sort of able to figure that out. So I do find in person as well is really good just talking to people. But we one day we'll get to the stage where we have tons of product testers, but it would cost us thousands to get samples to everyone. So at the moment it's just like a small group of us on the team who do it, which is, you know, it's always Hilarious.
Nathan Bush: It's an interesting staff meeting.
[Voiceover]: It's an interesting staff meeting. And only one of the girls on the team is, like, in a relationship, so she's often the one with the most consistent. You know, we're like, come on, Hannah, you've got to. You've got to. You've got to take one for the team. You know, like, it's hard work, I tell you. You know, these are problems we face every day.
Nathan Bush: Never sleeps. But I could imagine, though, that you feels like you've developed this personality as a brand where your customers will be the first to give you feedback. Is that fair?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, for sure. Yep. And there's definitely. I mean, that's the advantage in having such a strong community, right? Is that, like, the reason we're making this product right now is because everyone keeps DMing us for one or we literally. Someone messaged the customer service, replied to one of our emails the other day saying, capitals make more products. Like, we have all of them. I'm like, okay, so we get really good feedback from people who tell us what they want, tell us what they like, don't like. If people message in and say that they want a certain type of product, I'll ask them what they currently like using. Or if I'm at like an expo and someone starts talking to me and I can tell that they have toys and are comfortable talking about that, I'll say, tell me about your favorite ones to use at the moment, like, what do you normally go for? And then it sort of gives me an understanding of, like, where the trends are, what people like, what sensations most people are into. And that is always very insightful as well.
Nathan Bush: Is there much innovation?
[Voiceover]: Do you know what? There's actually these new toys coming out at the moment, which got me a lot of views on social media, and they're called creature cocks and they're like these fantasy. Like, for the most part, you walk around a sex toy shop or you walk around a trade show and it's all pretty. Same, same. Like, it all comes down to the branding and, like, the little tweaks people put on things. And obviously there's some really big differences in quality, but these are just the newest thing on the market. And I don't know whether it comes from, like, romance novels or something like these fantasy novels, but you've got, like, things that look like more eels or they look like tentacles, or there's ones where you can. That they have, like, eggs in them so you can like pop an egg into yourself or ones that, where you can buy fake semen and like it ejaculates mental. But the best thing about those is that Instagram doesn't know that they are sex toys. So I don't have to censor anything when I post those. It's a win win. People go, what the hell is that? And I'm like, well, I didn't have to blur anything out either.
Nathan Bush: That's hilarious. Me and my wife, she's one of the novelists and I'm like, oh, yep, there's the fairy porn again.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, the fairy porn. Watch out, you're going to have a creature cock in your room soon. So no, innovation wise, there's always going to be something new. Like there's always, you know, I try different technology, I'm like, wow, that's a different kind of vibration. But they're all very like subtle and it's moving in a different way. That would just be the most. That's the thing. People are going to be most interested to Google. I reckon that's the good stuff.
Nathan Bush: Oh, goodness me. Sorry for your search history, everyone listening, because you're going to get out some rabbit holes after this. And so tell me about growth. How do you. Because obviously when you are relying a lot on organic and there is only so much product that you can release at a time, how do you set yourself up for continual growth?
[Voiceover]: Oh well, that's a great question. I wish I knew how to do more of it. But look at the moment we just have been doubling down on our Instagram content. Like I think at the moment now is one of the best times to grow on Instagram because it's taken on that algorithm like TikTok where it actually shows you the people who aren't your followers. Like the length of time we were stuck on like 85k followers where giveaways weren't really working anymore. Influencers weren't really like doing what they used to. We were just so stagnant for so long. And then once Instagram gave us this opportunity we just went, all right, let's double down.
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[Voiceover]: like if there's one thing I've learned from years of creating content is that if something's working, go for it because it's not going to be around forever and you know there's always more you can be doing. But we really focus on that Instagram content. Email's huge for us. We probably get 30% of our revenue from email. So it's all about having the right opt ins and stuff. I think we've tested a number of things on our site before. You know, mystery discount versus 10% versus 5. 15 and 15's always been the best for us. So it's 15 at the moment and then otherwise if we can do like collaboration with influencers at the moment we are working. We've got one launching tomorrow with AJ and I think because you know we went through that Covid period where money was everywhere and it was so hard to work with influencers and it was just like everyone, I'm sure everyone in E commerce who had a brand at that stage could relate to just like burning money, like maybe not getting results that you know, ups and downs and ups and downs and it not always being super reliable and having to take on so much risk as well as a brand where you don't know whether someone's going to perform or you know, you think you've got everything right but then it just, you know they write the wrong thing or don't link you. So now it's exciting because you know we're in this position where the tables have kind of turned and we've been able to set these influencer collaborations up where we just do a 50, 50 profit split. So we're really transparent with them around. This is how much it like we'll design a toy with you, this is how much it costs and let's start out with like say a run of like 500, 1000. We'll do it over like a 90 day period. If we like how it's going, let's renew and we've just, yeah we've just been making the most of that at the moment. We've got one coming out tomorrow and then another probably in a couple of months. So just different ways of reaching those new people, you know, because we can entertain the people that we've got at the moment and those new products, they'll buy them and we can educate them around that. But, yeah, how can we leverage other channels has been big for us on
Nathan Bush: that revenue split model with influencer. That's really interesting, I think. What are you asking from the influencers for them to contribute for that?
[Voiceover]: They get paid for what they sell as well.
Nathan Bush: So just keep pumping out the content.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, they keep.
Nathan Bush: They do anything with product development.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, yeah, yep. So they will, like, test it, decide what they want. I mean, there's a little bit of, like, we'd had a bit of back and forth with one person we were working with and there's a part of you that kind of goes, you know, maybe we should just let them have full creative reign because, you know, you need them to be invested in it, otherwise they won't sell it. But then I think there's also, in our industry, there also comes a point where you go, okay, that's not like our recommendation would be slightly different or you can't actually fit. Fit the motor in that size or
Nathan Bush: can't have more creature out there.
[Voiceover]: Yeah, exactly. No more of those. But. Or, you know, or, or we know that this, you know, if you make it an internal and external, that's going to sell better than this one, you know, so there's. There's like certain amount of. It's like any brief for an influencer, right. You kind of want to let them go for it, but you still need to have all the bits together that you know is going to make it right. But the best thing about that is that you can say to them, content wise, do whatever you want. Like, I had a talk with AJ yesterday and he's like, do you want this? I'm like, aj, I literally do not care what you say. I'm like, you can say anything you want. We already know we've got the same, you know, we're aligned. I'm like, you just sell that toy however you want to sell it. I'm like, totally up to you. He's like, oh, thank God. I'm like, yep, go for it. So that's been really cool because then you're not trying to, you know, say, oh, you've got to talk about this and you're going to talk about that. They'll find out very quickly which kind of content sells and doesn't sell. So, yeah, that's been cool.
Nathan Bush: Love it. I noticed on your site you talked about email collection there. One of the cool things that I saw, you've got the pop up for email collection, but you don't just pop up and say, hey, subscribe to our email and get 15% off. You start with a survey which is literally four questions at the moment. Does that work? Like so asking four questions and then it feels like by answering the question and then putting your email, you're going to get personalized emails based on what you answered. Is that the case?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, you will get personalized emails. I can't take any credit for all the emails. That's all Brynlee King and her team. The Bays are the Gold Coast. Yep. They're awesome. So they just testing stuff all the time on there. But yeah, it does work though. That's so good when you split people off like that. Especially if they're like gifting versus buying for themselves.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, that's a great idea. I love it. And last question I've got on Instagram because I'm really interested that you said how well it's performing for you at the moment because it goes against what other people are saying at the moment. They're going, I just can't get through on Instagram. So my question to you is, have you kind of forgotten now around chasing followers and just doubling down to your point on content, individual pieces of content? And when you say doubling down on pieces of content, what do you mean by that? Do you mean putting paid spend behind them or creating more content that's similar to it or pushing that content through other channels? What do you mean by doubling down?
[Voiceover]: By doubling down, I mean just doing more content. Because I think the biggest mistake people make when they are creating content for Instagram from a brand's perspective is they forget that people don't care what you have to say. Like people do not care what you have to say. And you are competing for eyeball, eyeballs against that person's best friend, against their person who got married, against someone's baby, like against the funny meme, like Europe, against beige, cardigan, brown. What is it? Brown cardigan or something.
Nathan Bush: And you've Cardigan isn't the same.
[Voiceover]: You know, you're up against the, you know, batuda advocate and you've got to seriously create some content here that's going to cut through because that's what you're up against. So we're creating content. Like even if we want to talk about our toy or we want to like sell some more, it might not be the Best way to bring people in. So, and you'll see on our page we'll do like industry adjacent content. We'll do stuff that is around about our topic. So we are going to attract our target audience in general and then normally we're going to see the sales come through from things like stories. It's a really hard balance because I think at the moment, you know, there were these videos I did of like me giving like hand job tips to bottles and they just cranked and I'm like, but even though if I wanted to build heaps of followers, I should just go and do that over and over and over and over again. I'm like, but what am I going to attract? Like how, you know, is that really going to build community? No. So, you know, we can like think of the sales, think of sales. So there's like a heart at the moment, I'm like, you know, there is a bit of a balance between building the community, pulling people in, making sure it's all really relevant. But I think for us, I think for anyone listening, if you can think about who's my target customer, what problems do they have and how can I help them with A, my product or B, like my knowledge or education or offer value in some kind of way, that's the best place to start. Because for us, if we look at our audience, I know that our audience, let's say she's probably like 30 to 40 on Instagram, she wants to feel more confident in the bedroom and she's always down for. And a lot of our audience is in a relationship as well. So she'll share something with her partner. So if I focus on different tips and things that will help in the bedroom or just make her laugh that are relevant, then you know, like I put up a reel today of like, where do you listen to your smart. Cause I heard someone was listening to their romance novels while running the other day and I was like, that is ridiculous. So anything like that that's gonna like just make her stop scrolling. That's why we create the content that we create. I think it's different if you had a product that was very visual and that kind of is the value. Like I saw an ad for a backpack the other day that you could like vacuum seal and like fit so much stuff in it to then go on Ryanair or something, one of those EU brands that's really intense with the luggage rest. So unless your product is like very
Nathan Bush: visual like that, maybe there's a partnership there.
[Voiceover]: Vacuum pack all your toys in There
Nathan Bush: going on a family vacation.
[Voiceover]: Well, like, it all comes back to that value and like what problem you're going to solve. So I think that if you feel like you're not getting through, it's because you have got to change the content. But once you get it, then it's just like magic and it just takes heaps of trial and error. Like at the moment, the last few videos we've done haven't done as well as I thought they should have. But it's all little things. I'm like, the hook's wrong, the quality's gone a bit here. Oh, I haven't done a good enough sticker. And yeah, so it's all just trying heaps and the only way you learn is by doing heaps of it.
Nathan Bush: Yeah. And did I hear right in that the stories are really working for you in terms of converting to sales? And is that because you can put the link sticker on the stories?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, I think stories are a funny one. I kind of reckon I've got my hypotheses about stories at the moment. I reckon to get more story views because ours have been really up and down, you need to get more interactions. I reckon the more people. You know, I'm going off topic, but this is my theory. You know, like all those a. I think it's the male era of the male influencer at the moment. You know those guys eating like whole foods off their chopping boards and stuff. Have you noticed how a lot of those, like all like real estate and stuff, they're all getting people to reply? They're getting people to reply to their stories, then they're got like closers in the DMS and stuff like that. We had a story get like 40,000 views, which is crazy. Like normally we might get like 10 or 20 max, but the interactions on their story were like over a hundred. And it was replies and it was some likes, but it was a lot of replies. And I thought actually if we wanted to get our views up, we probably need to focus more on how we can get those interactions. And yes, I'm going off topic here. I don't think people are watching stories as much as they used to. That's why we're not seeing influences work as well as they used to, because we used to use lots of stories. I think people are scrolling reels and. Yeah, we then do just rely though on the people who are watching stories that we, you know, slip some links in there. Especially like reviews and stuff are always really good too. Yeah.
Nathan Bush: The head of Instagram I think it was head of Instagram a couple of weeks ago, came out and said how important shares were going to be in the algorithm. He's seen that as well. Interesting, because I can imagine your brand is. Is perfect for direct sharing, right?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, lots of sharing. Sometimes. I mean, it just depends. I think, again, that's why the tips can be so great, because you know that someone's gonna share with their partner or save it for later. That we get lots of saves too, which is great. So, yeah, that's pretty good. The probably the one. The other thing I probably hadn't mentioned was manychat. We like a lot of other brands will. If I do say I put a review as a reel or something, I'll say comment missy, if you want the link or something, and then automatically send it over to people. That also helps, too. That's great.
Nathan Bush: Yeah.
[Voiceover]: I just wish you could broadcast all of those contacts at once, which I don't think you can unless they're Facebook yet. But anyway, we'll get there one day.
Nathan Bush: That's awesome. There's some brilliant tips for Instagram, so thank you for that. Last question. I've got for you. Secondhand Marketplace. Any thoughts, ideas?
[Voiceover]: So the other day, someone posted in the Facebook group saying, oh, my God, is this from ggo? Someone's trying to sell their old vibrator in marketplace. And it was like the local loop page. And someone's posted, they're like, this is a vintage toy. This is the toy we first launched with. This thing must be like 3 years old and it's still in the box. So I don't know whether they've used it or not, but, yeah, they've put it up. And I could not for the life of me find the actual link. And the person didn't send me the link. So I was like, I would have lived to see the comments on that post.
Nathan Bush: That is next level.
[Voiceover]: It was hilarious. Right? But I've got a reel coming soon. I actually found some websites where you can tell you use toys. So if you want to get rid of that creature cock, I've got an answer for you.
Nathan Bush: Or if you want someone else's creature cock in your bedroom, then seen some things at Creature Cock. There we go. All right,
[Voiceover]: places.
Nathan Bush: I never thought I was going in this podcast. All right, Viv, what is going on for the next 12 months for you and the team at Girls get off. What's the focus?
[Voiceover]: The focus for the next 12 months will be more of the same, I guess. Yeah, more, more, more. We are Just like I say, more content, doubling down, building the audience. I think it's a pretty tough economic time out there for most E commerce brands. I mean, we all have come through the back of like just, you know, what was it? I saw Mel Chia talk about how, you know, e commerce in general just was just up 20% per year purely because people were buying online. And now I think we're in this space where it's like, we're really having a hustle for these sales and I think everyone can relate to that. But I also think that the more content we do now, the more brand building we do, the more audience building we do then, like, even if it takes years before it turns around, when it does, then we'll all be able to reap the rewards. And I think it also, you know, the challenge means that we are just so pushed to come up with creative solutions and not like, you know, burn money. So that's good. And we've also got some like, waterproof blankets. Our freak sheets are about to be restocked.
Nathan Bush: So of course they're called freak sheets. Of course they are.
[Voiceover]: Of course they're called freak sheets. So I cannot wait to put some freak sheets on Meta ads. Thank God. Imagine, imagine if we can just, you know, sail away into the distance with some income from meta ads. That'd be amazing. So can't wait to sink my teeth into that as well.
Nathan Bush: That's awesome. But I do love what you're saying around building the foundation of a brand because I think that is a thing for a lot of COVID baby businesses, is that these businesses boomed over Covid great ideas. Boom. Because on the back of Facebook and Instagram ads, which you didn't have the luxury of, but now face the problem of go, oh shit, that rug's being pulled out from under us. As well as, you know, you've got your own unique products as well. So that's another moat that you've got. So I think it's an exciting time for you because it is swinging back to brand.
[Voiceover]: It is definitely swinging back to brand. And like, it's a challenge to keep that brand together because we're in a time where like, look at the after payday sale. It was like half the revenue of the last four day sale we did. You know, it was like, wow, that's, that's a lot. But also because we're competing against all the other people trying to have, you know, sales and like clear stock that isn't really moving. So it's pretty hard to keep Your, you know, we don't want to turn into the next, like, you know, discount brand and we see a lot of brands doing that at the moment. So, yeah, as much as we can, like holding on to the. The brand and what it is is so important for us at the moment.
Nathan Bush: Yep, yep. You definitely don't want to be discount.
[Voiceover]: Dildos.com/dildos is so funny.
Nathan Bush: Oh, goodness. I just want to throw product names around. Can I just come in?
[Voiceover]: Discountdildos.com that's hilarious.
Nathan Bush: Oh, there we go. All right. But if people want to know more, maybe go visit your Instagram channel, Shop Girls get off, maybe get in touch with you. What's the best way to go about all of that?
[Voiceover]: Yeah, of course. All right. We're earlsgetoff on Instagram. That's our main hub of activity. I've mentioned Girls Get Off Uncensored, our Facebook group. I am on Instagram as vivconway underscore, but LinkedIn is probably the best place to catch me as well. Just Viv Conway, I think. Am I Vivian on LinkedIn? I don't know. I think I shortened it to Viv. Yeah. Who knows? But thanks, mate.
Nathan Bush: That's all right. And discodos.com as well.
[Voiceover]: Discodos.com yeah, that's good stuff. All girlsgetoff.com Obviously, that's the main one.
Nathan Bush: Yeah, go there first and then the spin off will come. Viv, thank you so much for joining us on Add to Cart Legion.
[Voiceover]: Thanks for having me on.
Nathan Bush: My goodness, I haven't had that much fun on the podcast for a long time. Viv's story, it isn't just hilarious and out there, it's packed. If you look at at it with practical strategies for those who may not even be in sexual wellness, but those just facing advertising restrictions, shoestring budgets, or just need more brand attention. Here are three quick takeaways that I took from that conversation. Number one, content is your competitive edge. When ad channels get blocked out, create instead of outspend. Viv doubles down on engaging Instagram reels, hooks people with playful language in all areas, including packaging, and then converts them via smart email flows and Instagram story links. You don't have to be in sexual wellness to do any of that. She's just done it so well. If you take the time to make every bit of copy and every bit of content meaningful, treat organic content with the same rigor that you'd give paid campaigns, test, refine and scale up. Number two, turn rejection into rocket fuel. Denied a bank account, Viv flipped that setback into front page headlines and a LinkedIn DM from the CEO. It's a great example of reframing obstacles into wins. If you face ad bans or nervous payment partners, think about it and see if you can seize the moment to tell a bigger story. Bring your fans on the journey and number three, let your community write the roadmap. A 40,000 strong Facebook group is Viv's Go to for honest feedback and product direction. If you give your customers the space to share and you take their feedback seriously, they'll tell you exactly what you want to do next. All of this without stuffy focus groups or forced surveys. The answers are actually all out there if you cultivate it now. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. Maybe one that really loves their branding and content and can get a lot of inspiration from Viv's story. If you have time, leave us a review on Spotify or Apple Podcasts. It makes a huge difference. And always please support our partners Shopify and Klaviyo who help make add to cart possible. Thanks again for listening. And until next time, keep those customers adding to cartoon.
