Crafting Scent-Driven E-commerce Success | Mike Hewitt from Aroma Retail

Rick: Pathmonk is the AI for website conversions. With increasing online competition, over 98% of website visitors don’t convert. The ability to successfully show your value proposition and support visitors in the buying journey separates you from the competition online. Pathmonk qualifies and converts leads on your website by figuring out where they are in the buying journey and influencing them in key decision moments with relevant micro-experiences like case studies, intro videos, and much more.

Stay relevant to your visitors and increase conversions by 50% by adding Pathmonk to your website in seconds. Let the AI do all the work and increase conversions while you keep doing marketing as usual. Check us out on Pathmonk.com.

Hello everyone. Welcome to today’s episode of Pathmonk Presents. Today we are joined by Mike Hewitt, the Director of Marketing at Aroma Retail. Mike, welcome to the show.

Mike Hewitt: Hello. How you doing?

Rick: Doing well, how are you, sir?

Mike Hewitt: Good.

Rick: Very good. So let’s get into the basics, Mike. I want to start right away by talking about your company. Can you tell us a little bit about the big idea behind Aroma Retail? If you were explaining it to a friend over coffee, how would you describe what you do?

Mike Hewitt: Aroma Retail started in 2017. Our owner used to make the fragrances for the resorts. He made pure-grade fragrance oils, which was a new type of thing that was non-toxic because it was being pumped into hotels and public areas without consent. So they couldn’t just use any scenting product—it had to be really high-end. It’s kind of like a triple-distilled essential oil where you take out all the VOCs.

He worked on these for years, building them for the hotels, and then had the idea to do it for himself and create a retail version. You couldn’t even buy these scents at the hotels—they wouldn’t even sell them in the gift shop. If you wanted the exact scent from the hotel and that same quality, you couldn’t find it. So we brought it to the market for retail, and it’s just been blowing up ever since.

We didn’t realize how many people really wanted hotel fragrances in their house, but a lot of people have key memories at these resorts. Especially the bigger ones around the globe like Marriott and Hilton—they all use the same scents, and most people are loyal to one resort and will visit it all over the world. So it’s something they always want in their home, and now we can deliver it.

Rick: That’s pretty cool. So what’s the best customer fit for your product? You’re talking about people who want to relive that experience, and aroma is a big one. Maybe talk about your ICP—your ideal customer profile—and what they can expect.

Mike Hewitt: We have our demographic that we model our promotions after—who we want to see. But scenting is pretty much for anyone who has a nose, so it makes it a little easier. It’s a much wider net.

We do both B2B and B2C. We’ve identified 20 to 30 different categories of businesses that would benefit from having scenting in their environment. If you have customers coming into your storefront, or a large office with many employees, scenting makes for a better environment. And then there’s anyone who has pets or odors they want to combat—or just wants their home to smell better.

That’s why we ship across the globe. Anyone is a potential customer, which makes it both easier and harder. It’d almost be easier if you could focus on one persona. So mentally, we try to keep a focus, but the truth is anyone could be a customer.

Rick: I can see how that’s a double-edged sword. So how do most people discover you? Are there any channels that have become your go-to for bringing in customers?

Mike Hewitt: About four years ago, I would’ve said 95% came from Google. It was always a platform that worked well for us—people searched online and came directly to us. But in the past few years, we’ve grown, and our great marketing team has found new ways to bring in traffic.

We’ve been using Meta, TikTok, and even Pinterest. I never thought about Pinterest, but it works well—people pin our products as gift ideas, and we get success from that. We actually do our own podcast too (we’ll have to have you on). It’s mostly about our industry, and we create a lot of good content from it. We get way more views on the podcast clips on Instagram and TikTok than on the full podcast itself. So now we have a lot of different ways to reach people.

Rick: That’s a good strategy. Diversifying makes sense—bring people in through different buckets and funnel them to your website. So as a follow-up, how much of a role does your website play? Have you seen anything that really works or things you want to improve?

Mike Hewitt: We’ve seen a huge increase in our storefront. We have a brick-and-mortar location in Vegas, close to the strip, so there’s been a big influx there. But the easiest way to reach us is through our website. Even if you’re local in Vegas, it’s easier to just order online and have it shipped.

That’s still the majority of our business. I’ve also seen mobile completely take over. Just in the past couple of years, mobile went from 5% to 70% of our users. It’s crazy how fast things change—you’ve always got to be adapting.

Rick: Makes sense, especially since you’re on Meta and TikTok—that traffic is naturally mobile. So, based on your experience, what makes a great e-commerce website convert? Any tools or tactics that have worked for you?

Mike Hewitt: That’s the million-dollar question. If you can completely figure that out, you’re set. But we’re always adapting and trying to improve.

We have a flow on our website that explains what we do and helps you find the right fragrance. Scent is hard to choose if you’re not actually smelling it, so we have a fragrance quiz to help guide you based on your preferences. Then we recommend products based on that—there are over 100 fragrances and 12 products with different sizes and delivery methods (machines, candles, etc.).

So we guide people: what size is your space? What do you need to scent it properly? We built a little flowchart to help people make those decisions and get straight into the experience—explaining what we do, how to find what they need, and how we solve their problem.

Rick: That’s smart. I imagine people want to smell it first. But it sounds like you guide them well through preferences.

Mike Hewitt: We do the best we can based on their preferences. Our fragrances have 10 to 15 notes, and we have very descriptive profiles so people can get a good idea of what to expect.

We also offer blotters—little swabs with fragrance oil. People can order these from anywhere in the world and try the scent before committing to a full purchase.

Rick: That’s awesome. Solves the problem. Switching gears for a second—let’s talk about you as a Director of Marketing. What does your typical workday look like?

Mike Hewitt: I’ve done this for 25 years, and I don’t think I’ve worked for a company with as high a level of production as this one. We have a lot going on—we’re constantly growing, expanding, and improving.

We have six people in marketing alone, and no one ever has a free moment. I’ve built this team as an extension of myself. Whatever I can’t get to, someone else does. It’s a super team—I don’t think I’ve worked with one this good before. They’re super productive.

In one day, I might be working on Amazon, then ads, then collaborations. We probably touch 15 different things every day. It’s nonstop.

Rick: Sounds like you’ve got your hands full.

Mike Hewitt: Oh yeah. And everyone has their role. Everyone is bombarded with work—which is a good thing.

Rick: Speaking of being bombarded—there’s so much content out there. How do you stay focused and keep learning? Any routines or resources you rely on?

Mike Hewitt: When I got into marketing, I knew it was going to be a lifelong learning process. You always have to adapt and grow. Just in the last five years—let alone 25—things have changed massively. What worked before may not work now. Email, for example, used to be wildly successful, then fell off, and now it’s back and one of our top performers.

We do a lot of training here. The owners are very supportive—they paid for me to do a Cornell course on updated marketing trends. Everyone on the team is constantly learning—our web designer takes coding courses, graphic designers are learning animation and video editing. It’s like half school here.

We have a podcast room, and team members use it to attend online classes during the day. We’re always learning.

Rick: Sounds fun. Let’s jump into our rapid-fire questions. Just for fun and to keep things snappy. For a concise question, we expect a concise answer. Ready?

Mike Hewitt: Yeah.

Rick: Do you prefer watching or reading?

Mike Hewitt: Watching.

Rick: What’s the latest piece of content—video, podcast, article—that you picked up? Any gems or ideas that stuck?

Mike Hewitt: Inner Excellence. I don’t read much anymore—I usually learn online—but I actually read that book recently. Found it pretty interesting.

Rick: If you had a magic wand and could fix one frustrating thing in your marketing life with tech, what would it be?

Mike Hewitt: Ordering labels and other repetitive stuff. Takes too much of my day but has to be done manually.

Rick: What’s one repetitive task you’d love to automate forever?

Mike Hewitt: That’s definitely the one.

Rick: Understood. If you could go back and give your past self a pep talk—25 years ago at the start of your career—what advice would you give?

Mike Hewitt: Buy Bitcoin. But also—always be adapting and learning. Stay ahead of trends.

Rick: Good wisdom. Mike, thank you so much for being on the show. Final word is yours—if someone forgets everything else, what’s the one thing they should remember about your work?

Mike Hewitt: Always be adapting. That’s the theme of this episode. Keep learning, keep adapting, and keep your eye on the prize.

Rick: Love it. If people want to check out Aroma Retail, where can they go?

Mike Hewitt: Aromaretail.com. We’re on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn—every platform you can think of. Our podcast is called The Scenting Guy—it’s available on YouTube. Come check us out. See you at the smelly bar.

Rick: Amazing. Thank you again, Mike. Maybe we’ll see you again before the end of the year—either on your podcast or ours. Let’s keep it going.

Mike Hewitt: Anytime. Thanks, Rick. Appreciate it.

Rick: Of course. See you all.