How Hims & Hers Built an $8 Billion Brand transcript

Hims and Hers built a $8 billion empire and almost no one talks about the real reason it worked. They didn't win by selling products. They won by engineering a system. The first step is distribution. So the first step in understanding distribution is that Hems understands that they need a lot of active ads to be able to appeal to their audience. In fact, they're running over 710 active ads right now. That is a lot of creatives. for their other sister brand, hers, which focuses on the women's market.

They have over 600 ads active as well. And you'll notice no one ad is alike. The main thing that works with them in distribution is covering every buyer persona, every problem out there. And they do this with different delivery mechanisms. And that can be UGC videos, that can be direct callouts, that can be special offers, that can be talking about a problem and a solution, as well as all of the personalized stories, before and afters, educationbased videos because they know they have to cover every angle to possibly take somebody from an unaware buyer stage all the way to fully aware and actually convert.

And they do this better than anyone else. If you look at the other brands out in this space like Adigen Hair who only has 10 active ads and most of you are in the same boat, you only have a few ad angles and that is because you're missing out on understanding what are all of the different unique ad formats that you want. And what hims and hers is doing best is they understand personalization. And what I mean by that is if you look at adaptogen hair, here's an ad example they have.

Everything you've tried for hair loss sat on the surface. the damage is happening underneath. That already sounds pretty complicated. And then they're saying take our quiz and it says where DHT strangling your follicles started years before you noticed. Like this is a very complex graphic for such a simple thing around hair loss. And then if you look at this video, they have three signs your hair loss is about to get worse.

You're finding more hair around your bathroom. You notice your hairline [music] in every photo you take and every mirror. This is like such a ridiculous angle. Like you don't think people don't know they have hair loss if there's hair on the counter. It's pretty obvious that they're just pointing out the thing that is already very clear to the end consumer's mind. They don't need to be reminded that hair falling off their head means [music] they're having hair loss.

They already know that. Same thing with, you know, actually saying, "Oh, my before and after photos look different." You don't think they've already realize that. Hims understands this so much more than the average brand. And a lot of you can learn from what they're doing. So most of you are running creatives in this exact styling. It's very basic. It's complicated. It's not very clear on exactly who your persona is.

So when we go and look at some of their ad creatives, what Hems is doing really well is understanding their actual market. They're saying, "Hey, regrow your hair in 3 to 6 months." They walk people through what that timeline looks like for the outcome. And then they say, "I wish I had started sooner." Because they already know their customer understands that they have hair loss. They're not saying, "Hey, if hair is falling off your head, you need to buy this product." No.

What they're saying is, "We already know you have hair loss. We know that it is a concern of yours, but here is what you could be doing right now before it gets worse," which is a valid concern people will have. And then they break that down by showing how to use the product. They use UGC style, which is why I should choose this. They have, "Can this hair be saved?" Which is, you know, a common question people may have.

They may be fine with their hair loss and are like, you know, this is happening to me. This is just what happens with old age, but then when they see an ad with, well, did you know this actually can be prevented and this can be recovered? That is a intriguing question they lead with. And then they have personal POV stories. They have educationalbased graphics to break down exactly how the process works so people know what life could look like with thicker, fuller hair.

And so whenever we look at this, here's where most brands are sitting. Most of you understand what your audience's problem is. And that could be hair loss. So you're leading with that angle. You say, "Hey, if you have this, then you should try this product." That is extremely direct. Have this problem? Try this. And this is one of the most basic forms of advertising. It's very direct. It's if you're having hair loss, you should start using our product.

So this is the problem and their products is just a solution. And these ads can work. They can get 2 3x rorowaz, but they're not going to be at scale and it's not going to have the same level of distribution that hems has designed their system around. But here's what the difference looks like when you actually correlate this. They're not just saying, "Hey, here's the problem. They're understanding their audience first, which is men 35 to 50 who are going into the later half of their years that are starting to experience and see signs of, you know, thinning hair and their hair going away.

And so then they lead with an actual format that breaks down what the growth timeline could look like and how their product is framed as that solution, but they go even deeper than just that. What is the goal of this ad? Well, it's achievement. They're actually showing what the end result can look like, whereas the other one doesn't even show you the result. They just say, "Hey, here's our product. Trust us that we're right." Well, he actually understands that the buyer may be concerned about the fact that they've tried other products in the past.

What does that look like? Well, this is the end result, right? This is the achievement. So, what is the goal somebody wants? That's the goal. And then they have their solution, right? Where they actually pair the product with that. And they do this in so many more cases. They go deeper than just the hair loss itself. What is the core reason that people actually want to even fix their hair to begin with? Well, it's self-esteem.

And what's a deeper layer than that? Dating. So, they lead with those angles. Feel confident with thicker, fuller hair. So that way you can attract somebody in your life. Maybe they have a very low confidence and they're upset about their hair loss. So HIMS focuses on those angles to derive truly what is the outcome somebody wants. You're not just fixing your hair for the heck of it. No, you're fixing your hair because truly you want to have a better look because you want to go on date and not be self-conscious.

That is the real result and that's what HIMS dives into. So when you think about your ads, you want to frame it from your audience first. Who's it for? What is the problem that we're solving that is the basic understanding, but on a deeper personalized level? What is the real underlying truth that we're truly solving beyond just hair loss? It's really not hair loss. It's the self-esteem. And then even deeper than that, it's the fact that they want to go out and date.

And there's hundreds of angles that they can lead with this. And so this is just one ad example. They have thousands of variations of this to be able to derive exactly all the core reasons somebody would buy this product. What most brands are doing is they'll take you to a basic landing page or a quiz in their case, which is a presentation with a video, and they kind of just go straight into selling you the product. And they're not selling you benefits.

They're just selling you what you get. Hey, if you buy this, you get a bottle of this. You get a bottle of this. You're going to get all of the things that you can use. Here's the price. There's no outcome focus here. And then we're just having somebody present, you know, why I was nearly bald and here's how I got it back. It's an okay angle and the funnel is very basic and there's not much more to it than that. The visuals are very simple and the timelines just don't really make sense.

And then they end up going to like a basic product page where it's just here's our bottle. There's no breakdowns. There's not really any result. And then their descriptions are if you asked our founder John Goss, he would say this is the closest thing to liquid gold. I mean, this isn't very specific at all. Like this is like very Houdini language. And if you watch this free presentation, which I just showed you a second ago, then you will discover the real one and the only actual cause of hair loss.

It's not that deep. And this is just so far-fetched out there in minoxidil treating the symptom, restriction of blood flow. We're getting a little too complicated here. And we're using all these wild words and descriptors, topical solutions, so different, so powerful. It's very generic, but it sounds very high level at the same time, which isn't really going to lead to conversions. And it says new subscriptions. It's just a very basic setup.

And a lot of you are following the same path and expecting to get this crazy rorowaz and crazy scale out of your business. If you want to actually understand what the billion-dollar companies are doing, it is far from this basic breakdown. What HIMS understands better than anybody else is personalization. And you can see it in their brand. Thicker, fuller hair in 3 to 6 months. That is a simple call out that addresses the issue.

The before, the after, and their product framed right in the center of it. And where does this lead? Well, what are your hair goals? They want to understand their end consumer. And you might be saying, "Well, this other brand you just showed me is just a DTOC brand." That's right. But other people in the Tellah health space do a very similar thing. They just send them to a basic opt-in and then they ask for their information up front and it's not personalized at all.

It says, "Get started with Mochi. Please answer a few questions, but we're asking for their email." They don't even really know what's going on. But HIMS, they say, "What are your hair goals? Stop hair loss. Is it to regrow your hair?" Both. And are you looking for a convenient treatment plan? Yes. Are you interested in RX treatments? Yes. Well, from there they then take you into a further quiz to really understand the end persona.

So that way they can make better ads. It makes their funnel smarter. It feels personalized to the end consumer. It increases the trust and it lowers the friction because now the user actually feels like they're getting a solution that they're looking for and it's actually personalized to them. So which best represents your hair loss? Is it a receding hairline and you want to slow its progress or experiencing hair loss and you're trying to figure out what to buy?

Or is it that you're ready to start treatment ASAP because you're already been educated? This matters because depending on which ad they were served, it impacts how they're going to answer this quiz. Maybe the ads have already fully warmed them up and they're ready to start treatment right away. And what notices are they actually experiencing? Is it the top? Is it the hairline? This is different because it's not like, hey, this is our all-in-one solution. and we're magically just going to grow brand new hair on top and it's all going to be perfect at the end.

No, they're actually breaking down. Is it the front of your hair? Is it at the top? Where is it? Because the way we actually personalize your treatment plan could be very different. And that touches people at a very emotional level and makes them trust him even more. So, as they go through this, how much hair have you lost? A lot. Some. When did you start noticing changes? And so forth and so forth. they continue to drill down all of the actual insights and as they get to the very end, they want to better understand what it is that this is causing.

So, this just keeps going until they get all of the factors fully aligned so they can recommend the exact product and solution for them. And at the very end, they start reviewing all of those questions. That data then gets used and then they start to break down all of the science behind it. before. If you show all this up front and make it super complicated, it's just going to be washed out with numbers. But they break it down in bite-sized chunks so that way they can prep people for the end result.

And then their AI system and calibration algorithm goes through and deres the treatment plan where you finally then create an account after you've already spent so much time filling this out. the opt-in rate is going to be extremely high because they put in a lot of work to get to this point, which your conversions on this is going to be substantially higher because they made such a big commitment. And because it feels so personalized after this step, when they actually get on with the provider, the trust is fully built.

They feel like they're getting an all-in-one solution and actually understand what it is solving for them. And then they move forward with him. And it makes sense why their revenue is stacking month over month and year-over-year from this exact setup. Lots of brands out there need to understand. You want to personalize the experience for the user. You want to understand what use cases people are coming to you from. Is it a specific problem?

Is it the self-esteem? Is it the confidence? What is the end result people are looking for? And how do you personalize that to break down those buyer beliefs? And that's exactly what personalization at scale looks like. And HIMS understands that the best. They understand the customer segments and the journey that they take people through and all of the unique ad formats they need to be able to do that. They're not just only using education.

They're using problem solution. They're using personalized stories. They're talking about self-esteem. They're talking about the end result. They're showing how the process works. They're breaking down the science, the stats, all of these things. And as you go through the personalization, you're capturing all of the emails that you can then eventually remarket to them for each specific outcome. They're not dropping you on a collection page and saying, "Hey, we have all these products.

We have a lot of solutions. Come figure out which one you want." No, everything is fully guided into specific tranches to guide the user to their specific outcomes, whether it's weight loss, hair loss, GLP1, and that user experience is what converts. And so there's a second system that they attached to this. This was not the end result. The end result is actually much deeper. Beyond just the achievement of being able to get fuller hair, there's going to be outstanding concerns that haven't been fully addressed.

[music] And that is where that personalized quiz comes into play. Is it truly, you know, just the goal is to get thicker, fuller hair? Yes. But how do you do that? Is it too costly? Can I afford this? They [music] break down that concern. Is this going to be private? Maybe because their self-esteem is so low, they don't even want to go into a doctor's office or go into a public place to buy, you know, the actual product on a Walmart shelf because they're nervous about what people will think.

That is a true thing. And then delivery mechanism. Is it an injection? Is it a pill? Is there like a routine you use with it? How does it work? Is it going to be timeconuming? And is it truly going to deliver the result? That's where the personalization layer comes in because as they go through all the questions, all of those buyer beliefs get broken down. And then they get thrown into these different segments that walk them through over time, the actual results, what to expect, how it works.

So that way by the time they receive their product, they're fully educated and fully understanding. And then finally, what is the trust factor? Well, it's the credibility of tellahalth in their case, a doctor hopping on. Now you may not have a tellahalth business but in your case what is the personalization layer? You can still direct people customize it and make the personalized experience from the ads from the audience from the outcomes from the emails the SMS and have personalized quizzes to direct people to the best fit product.

And then you break down that trust layer by all of the actual reasons why people are seeing successes and the education behind that. and your product is then framed as the solution to buy. So by the time they get there, the conversion rate is extremely high. And HIMS has figured out at their scale that there's not a one-sizefits all. Now, you may have seen this before. There's creatine powder, right? And then there's creatine gummies, there's creatine gels, there's different ways of consuming creatine.

It's even in food. And the delivery mechanism has an impact on your overall return on ad spend. [music] So what they did was they derived different ways of taking a product and getting the same outcome based off of the delivery mechanism people care most about. What industries understand is the players who are the biggest have long figured out that some people prefer mixing creatine and a powder and drinking it. Others realized that they don't actually take that product as often.

They don't like mixing drinks. They want a quick fix. So they started doing it in gummies. Others figured out that people want to be able to grab something on the go and have it in a gel format where they can quickly squeeze the gel out and get it that way as well. And so HIMS has derived all of these different product breakdowns to be able to give them all of the solutions based off of the personalized experience and what they actually care about and offer that to them rather than trying to cram a one-sizefits-all down to everybody.

Everything has been personalized from the very beginning. And this is very important. This doesn't mean you have to go create a bunch of different products and offer all of this stuff. If you only have one form of a product, you just need to cater it and personalize it to that specific audience segment. So that way you can get the highest conversion rate and return announcement as possible. Next up is their website is designed like a personalized engine as well.

So we just saw how they send people through quiz funnels and direct them all the way through, but what if people just go to the actual website? Well, they understand that they should be framing the product in a very specific way. And I'm going to show you what it looks like in a bad scenario. Here's an example from another brand that is out there and they have backed by science, trusted by experts. It's a very generic fluff word.

Then we have stronger, more innovative ingredients. We don't even know what that means. Personalized formulas. They're saying it, they're not doing it. So, they're telling you we have personalized formulas and we have precision medicine. and we're assuming that we just have to trust them and we have it developed by top dermatologists. Who are the dermatologists? What are the personalized formulas? What is the precision behind the medicine?

What are these innovative ingredients that you are alluding to? They're assuming that people are just trusting from the get-go. Whereas HIMS doesn't even [music] frame it in that psychology. They frame it as start your weight loss today or regrow your hair. What is it that they first actually want? Hems is framing it in that direction and they're pairing their product as secondary and then they're actually giving you the stat lose up to 25% body weight.

They're not saying our trusted body weight advisors. No, they're telling you what the actual stats are behind it and showing you the actual breakdown. They're not saying hey trust our innovative ingredients. No, they're saying here's what actually activates and recepts in your brain. Here's the technology that enhances this and absorbs [music] in your stomach and how it actually visually works. and you can go and actually validate the truth behind what they're trying to tell you.

This is the difference between brands that are scaling [music] and the ones that aren't. And they continue to break this down with the actual road map where you'll have all your biomarkers. This isn't a typical DTOC brand. This is a diagnostic layer that has been built into the science and the personalization that they have led with and the screening, the biomarkers. And then they actually show you the top board that they have, who they are, what they do, what their faces are, because people truly want to know.

You can't just say, "Trust us." You can say, "The best care by the best in medicine," but meet the team. Let's actually meet them and walk through who they are because those are the questions people really want to know. [music] And the brands who get it are the ones that are able to scale their spend and accomplish the objectives that they set out to do. And they're not saying, "Hey, just join our weight list." They're saying, "Unlock our guide.

Here's the guide. Here's your plan. Here's what you're receiving." These are the things that matter if you want to be able to rapidly grow your brand. It's understanding from a end consumer's point of view. Put yourself in their shoes. Wouldn't you like a personalized set of ads, an actual guided method, breaking down every little piece so that way you can feel fully comfortable in the process? That is the level of true care that you want to have from your ads to your website to your funnels into the end solution.

At the end of the day, the product is just the vehicle. So don't just sell the product. Sell the outcome. Sell the end result. Sell the true desire, the actual core problem beyond just fixing hair. You're selling self-esteem. You're selling confidence. That is where your ad copy, your ad creatives, your lander, and all of your messaging needs to go. So, I would highly advise you to think about this video and start to take some of these action items and think about how you could reframe things and how you could actually show the proof behind the pudding that you're trying to sell.

That way, you can actually get to a point and see how that affects your conversion rate and how that affects the amount of scale you can achieve in your ads. So, here's the real insights you need to take away. Hims and Hers didn't just build a DTOC brand. They built a diagnostic layer on top of the e-commerce that they're doing. And most brands are just pushing products him and hers pulls users towards solutions. And this is why they convert better, scale faster, and have great margins.

And it isn't luck. It's infrastructure designed around personalization. This strategy has worked for him and hers and many other brands. But if you're a DTOC or CBG based brand and you want to understand all of the creative formats and the true creative funnel structure behind this, then you need to check out this video because it's the exact framework we're using to 2x, 5x, even 10x brands in 6 months with this exact system.

So go check out that video so you can understand the first step to this and getting your creatives out there.