NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--For thousands of Shopify’s biggest brands such as Allbirds, Figs, and Skims, EnquireLabs post-purchase surveys have been informing the “why” behind consumer behavior. Today, the company announced its $4.5 million seed fundraise led by Silicon Valley venture capital firm True Ventures, as well as the release of its flagship Question Stream™ product, and software development kit (SDK) beta program for compatibility across all verticals.
“We generate more consumer responses in a week than many research-based survey platforms do in a year,” said Matt Bahr, CEO and co-founder of EnquireLabs. “That’s not a knock on traditional survey tools — it just proves we’re using consumer insights for integration and automation, rather than long-term research. Traditional survey data tells a product team what to launch in the next year; our data tells an email platform what to send in the next minute.”
While Bahr initially created EnquireLabs to solve marketing attribution gaps in an increasingly splintered media landscape, the recent onslaught of consumer privacy initiatives has since led ecommerce brands to reevaluate their reliance on third parties — multiplying the value proposition of EnquireLabs’ direct-from-consumer data platform as a sustainable competitive advantage in direct-to-consumer (DTC) relationships. This shift comes as traditional retail brands find themselves losing market share due to a lack of DTC exposure, driving major players in automotive, CPG, finance and other industries to pursue new product lines and business models where they can operationalize direct-from-consumer data for the first time.
“Ecommerce companies in particular are shifting their money from performance marketing to more organic customer acquisition channels; they want to understand their customers on a deeper level and fast,” said Jon Callaghan, co-founder of True Ventures. “We’re excited to see Matt and Curt create a tool that can help brands draw really smart consumer insights quickly so they can anticipate future behaviors and respond intelligently at the next touchpoint.”
Led by True Ventures, the round included participation from venture firms V1.VC, FiDi Ventures, Hawke Ventures, and Silicon Ventures, along with notable angel investors and DTC leaders including the founders of Chubbies, Ted Wang, Harris Barton, Daphne Carmeli, and Casey Armstrong.
EnquireLabs now operationalizes survey data to deliver ground truth from the consumer across personalization, conversion optimization, and customer experience, alongside attribution. Each insight is individually routed to its rightful destination in the marketing stack for immediate activation, and because the insights also append customer data, responses remain linked to the shopper and their transactions.
“Customers show loyalty to the brands that are constantly improving to meet their needs, and even anticipating future needs,” said Benny Joseph, Co-founder and Partner at V1.VC. “Meeting these expectations requires a proprietary understanding of each unique customer. EnquireLabs empowers companies to create mutually beneficial customer relationships by directly asking questions in context and at scale — with those insights, brands can improve offerings to delight customers beyond their expectations, creating a win-win flywheel.”
The latest development from EnquireLabs is the company’s Question Stream™ product + platform: a chronological campaign of questions, each served through programmable rules and context along the customer journey.
“Because each question is individually served when it’s most relevant to the customer,” states Bahr, “we’ve seen response rates start around 50% and climb toward 100% with each subsequent question. Consumers are seeing the value exchange in this low-latency survey feedback, and are becoming more familiar with the Question Stream™ experience as we grow.”
The always-on nature of Question Stream™, in concert with its high response rates, enables brands to get the same utility they’re accustomed to through third-party data, while future-proofing their business to run on a foundation of proprietary, direct-from-consumer data.
Previously available exclusively to Shopify brands, EnquireLabs has now launched its SDK beta program to expand into new verticals, increasing the degrees of freedom with which brands can harvest and automate zero-party data at scale. Both versions of Question Stream™ offer new clients a 14-day free trial.
About EnquireLabs
EnquireLabs operationalizes direct-from-consumer survey data, harvesting and automating proprietary insights for thousands of brands seeking to reduce their reliance on third party data platforms, while retaining speed and scale across their marketing stack. EnquireLabs is a remote-first company, headquartered in NYC. Learn more at https://www.enquirelabs.com.
About True Ventures
Founded in 2005, True Ventures is a Silicon Valley-based venture capital firm that invests in early stage technology startups. With more than $2.8 billion under management, True provides seed and Series A financing to entrepreneurs in today's fastest growing markets. The True team believes creativity flourishes when founders are supported fully and empowered to pursue brave ideas. To that end, the True Platform offers programs that inspire professional and personal growth. To date, True has helped more than 300 companies launch and scale their businesses, creating over 25,000 jobs worldwide. To learn more, visit www.trueventures.com.
