Operationalizing Influencers and Other Lessons from Kelsey Knight of Slumberkins - Episode 412

Ecommerce Braintrust

🎙️Interview with Kelsey Knight of Slumberkins

DESCRIPTION

Welcome to The Ecommerce Braintrust podcast, brought to you by Julie Spear, Head of Retail Marketplace Services, and Jordan Ripley, Director of Retail Account Management.

Today, we’re excited to be joined by Kelsey Knight, Chief Commercial Officer at Slumberkins, an emotional learning brand dedicated to helping children grow into caring, confident, and resilient individuals.

We first connected with Kelsey at eTail East, where she led an engaging session on the evolution of influencer marketing. Her perspective was both insightful and inspiring, and we’re thrilled to bring that conversation to our listeners today.

Tune in to find out more!

Quote:

“Our top-performing content is coming from our influencer or influencer affiliates. We really can see what's working organically and then lean into that from a paid perspective.”

Kelsey Knight

KEY TAKEAWAYS

In this episode, Julie, Jordan, and Kelsey discuss:

• Kelsey Knight’s career path and her motivation to join Slumberkins

• Slumberkins’ mission & growth: A brand teaching kids emotional skills through plush “creatures,” books, and media. Kelsey Knight’s career in social and DTC led her to join for its mission-driven focus.

• Influencer as a growth engine: The brand began with grassroots social efforts and now uses the Siral platform to scale influencer programs. UGC from parents and teachers drives strong engagement and fuels paid ads more effectively than traditional creative.

• Paid media rebalancing: After reaching efficiency limits on Meta, Slumberkins cut spend to invest in organic channels (influencer, email, SEO). Once healthier, they returned to Meta profitably, keeping first-purchase profitability as a non-negotiable metric.

• Loyalty & community: Their Radium-powered loyalty program goes beyond points, running challenges (reading, seasonal, routines) to foster parent/teacher engagement, generate UGC, and deepen brand loyalty.

• Amazon as a channel: Amazon sales are steady and profitable, but treated as part of a wider ecosystem. Off-Amazon marketing efforts (ads, influencer, organic) consistently lift Amazon sales within days.

• Search everywhere optimization: With AI disrupting discovery, Slumberkins invests in SEO, PR, and organic content to surface in LLMs and new search tools. Early results show AI-driven traffic is small but far more engaged.