Terraba

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CMO of a regenerative agroforestry agency. We plant local tree species and valuable crops like turmeric to create regenerative farms. We also manage an ecotourism regenerative farm in Costa Rica and have recently launched a product line in the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Terraba?

They manage our Amazon account.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide strategies for listing our products on Amazon, manage our customer service, and help us navigate Amazon as a whole.

What is the team composition?

We interface with just one person regularly, but we’ve met with two other people too.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $5,000–$7,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2020 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement? 

I’ve heard that Amazon is notoriously tricky, but it took them several months to get our product listed on Amazon. There were times when they asked us to provide some information, but once we sent it to them, they responded and told us to do it a different way. It was really frustrating because we didn’t know what to expect and they didn’t tell us how to execute certain things.

For example, they didn’t tell us to include a specific detail for one of our product applications, and as a result, it was classified as a hazmat rather than an essential oil. Another one of our products was wrongly classified as a fertilizer.

This is the first time listing our products on Amazon and they haven’t provided us with enough support. Everything that could have gone wrong, has gone wrong. We’re still working with them, but are currently looking for another provider.

How did Terraba perform from a project management standpoint?

It is very frustrating to communicate with them. They often are unavailable to talk. For a while, we weren’t sure if the customer service person we talked to was AI or an actual person until we met her on the phone. If we asked the same question multiple times, she just gave us the same answer rather than giving us more details.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve eventually been able to get the work done, but it has never been as simple as it should be.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to beef up their communication. If they provided more support and gave us information upfront, we would have been able to avoid a lot of frustration.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend that new customers shop around and do a trial period with them.