Ina Herlihy believes e-commerce brands are missing out on organic traffic and potential revenue by relying on third-party community sites like Reddit and Facebook Groups.

With increasing new user acquisition costs, brands need to focus on increasing retention and organic traffic. By hosting onsite communities, brands can enhance retention and drive more organic traffic as the community resides on their own domain.

In late 2022, Herlihy set out to develop community software for brands to host communities on their own websites, resulting in AddGlow.

'Owned community is the next major marketing channel for the $17 trillion e-commerce market,' Herlihy stated. 'Brands often foster community through Facebook Groups, but there are gaps for both customers and brands. For instance, customers lack context on who is posting. We address this with detailed user profiles to allow brands to own the data and streamline the purchasing process.'

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The New York-based startup collects data using brand-specified profile attributes (e.g., skin concern, hair type) to personalize the homepage, product descriptions, emails, and SMS. AddGlow integrates with a brand's catalog, enabling community members to tag products when discussing them, facilitating seamless additions to cart without leaving the community.

An onsite engagement-based loyalty program allows community members to earn points for various actions, customizable by the brand. AddGlow has raised $1.7 million in pre-seed funding to propel it into the next stage of development.

While still in its early stages after a year of product development, AddGlow secured funding from Stellation Capital, Precursor Ventures, StoryHouse Ventures, and strategic angel investors. The influx of capital has enabled Herlihy to onboard engineers and a designer with experience at renowned brands, paving the way for revenue generation in the upcoming year.

By focusing on partnership expansion and enhancing functionality to support larger brands, AddGlow aims to provide a sense of belonging and foster a safe space for community members to connect and seek advice.

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