Building and evolving brands

Hi, I'm John, Chief Creative Officer at Herman-Scheer, a strategic and creative brand consultancy. We believe the businesses that prioritize connection over transaction are the ones that succeed. 

Since 2010, Herman-Scheer has helped change the way businesses make people feel. We have big heart and daring instincts. A sunny disposition and assertive gait. 

I consider myself a people-people kind of person, enamored by how brands connect to people and how people connect to brands. I love working with businesses that—put simply—keep people healthy and happy.

My career journey has been about embracing the idea that friction makes fire. 

I believe in mixing the intuitive and familiar with the audacious and novel, creating a healthy tension to captivate and engage. This friction, this interplay of ideas, is where I believe brands find their true voice and distinctive edge.

Alongside Chapin, (The Herman to my Scheer), we’ve built an agency with a strong POV: great health and self-care brands create narratives and identities aimed at changing behaviors—experiences so compelling that customers stick with a product or service even before they see the tangible benefits.

If you're in the wellness industry looking to evolve your brand toward lasting impact, let’s talk shop.

Feel free to reach out here or email me at john@herman-scheer.com.

John Scheer

Roughly 3 years ago, Chapin Herman and I were on a road trip -- he turned down whatever podcast we were listening to and said something along the lines of...

"John, I think we should go all in on this health & wellness space. It aligns with our own values, the work we've been doing already, and I am really bullish on where the industry is headed..."

The potential of closing off the door to the amazing variety of work I assumed we would miss out on kinda bummed me out at first...

After a wee bit of rumination, I realized this was the opportunity to help build and transform the brands that keep people healthy and happy.

Purpose!

And personally, I had just had my kids, my folks were getting older and battling disease, middle age breathing down my wife and I's neck...

I was in.

Fast forward to today. 

Our business has never been healthier, nor have I! 

The companies that work with us are no longer comparing and contrasting us to a bunch of other great agencies with amazing-looking portfolios. 

Instead, they're making a decision to start on third base. 

A choice to work with people who have completely immersed themselves in the world of healthcare, self-care, and well-being.

Who deeply understand the psychographic profiles of early adopters of preventative health modalities, to the mother of 3, juggling life through the aisles of mass market retail.

We’ve now helped dozens of businesses at all different inflection points navigate and grow within this growingly competitve and complex space.

And dare I say we’ve had some fun doing it...

If you’re ready to pull the future of health care, self-care and wellbeing forward…give us a shout and stay tuned with my posts :)

Building and transforming the brands that make generations healthier.

If you've had your finger on the pulse of D2C marketing at all in the last ten years or so, you've no doubt heard of my friend, Nik Sharma...

After years of reading his trusted weekly newsletter, shared clients and fun event run-ins -- I finally got the chance to chop it up with him and talk shop on his podcast Limited Supply. 

Nik asked me about my POV on branding, what it really means - specifically at Herman-Scheer.

If you don't have the time to listen, I've asked Chat to TLDR(L) our convo; 

📌Branding isn’t your logo. It’s your clarity.

In the latest Limited Supply episode, Nik Sharma and John Scheer break down what branding actually means — and it’s not just colors and fonts.

✅ Branding is strategic, not cosmetic
✅ It’s about clarity: who you are, who you serve, and why you matter
✅ Great branding starts before design or marketing
✅ Your brand strategy should align with your business goals
✅ Skip this, and you’ll pay for it later in confusion, wasted spend, and weak positioning

Your brand is the foundation, not the finishing touch. Build it with intention...

Open article: S15 E3: How to Actually Think about Branding by open.spotify.com

S15 E3: How to Actually Think about Branding

Sheldon Adams

I'm Sheldon, and I help Shopify brands capture more revenue from every visitor using our Human-Obsessed approach to CRO.

75% of your site works just fine. But that other 25% will silently wreck your performance in the background, without you ever even knowing. At Enavi we find and fix these on-site fires, fast.

Enavi was built to locate and put out these fires through customer research and A/B testing. Our data-rich approach and unique internal data allow us to rapidly improve the performance of Shopify stores in an ROI-positive way.

The end result for you is a wildly intuitive customer experience that generates more revenue from every visitor who enters your online store.

Want to get started? Sign-up with the link below to receive one of our acclaimed, free, Discovery Audits.

☎️ Request a Conversion Audit: https://www.enavi.co/pages/discovery-call
🚀 Learn more about Enavi: https://www.enavi.co

Head of Growth

A CRO program doesn’t start with an A/B test. Not even close.

In most cases, we are introducing multiple test concepts on a kickoff call, and launching them in week two of the program.

But, so much happens even before that point that most people never see.

❑ GA4 <> Shopify Audit - Can we trust the data and conversion tracking setup in place?
❑ QA Smoke Test - Can we identify bugs hiding in certain browsers, devices, for immediate improvements?
❑ 90 Day Growth Plan Finalized - Do we have improvement targets we are aiming for in the first quarter (with clear and fair baselines)?
❑ Heuristic Analysis & UX/UI Audit - Can we start to zero in on potential sources of anxiety, friction, frustration, etc?
❑ A/A Test - Is our A/B testing setup calibrated properly to provide trustworthy results?
❑ Tracking and Data Enrichment - Are there advanced data points we need to start gathering immediately to help provide the context needed for analysis?

All of this gets you to about Wednesday of week two in a program.

When we say the value of CRO is far more than just A/B testing, this is what we mean.

Head of Strategy at Enavi | We elevate the performance of Shopify stores | Pioneering Human-Obsessed CRO

Everything that happens before the first A/B test

- [ ] GA4 <> Shopify Audit
- [ ] QA Smoke Test
- [ ] 90 Day Growth Plan Finalized
- [ ] Heuristic Analysis
- [ ] UX/UI Audit
- [ ] A/A Test
- [ ] Tracking and Data Enrichment

I used to think a "good" CRO program meant religiously sticking to your roadmap no matter what.

Then I got smacked in the mouth enough by reality, watching months of a carefully crafted strategic testing roadmap get derailed by something higher priority for the brand internally.

These days I’m far less dogmatic about roadmaps.

On one hand I love prioritization and knowing that by design we are tackling the biggest problems possible for a client. That’s the beauty of our Metric on Fire approach.

But in the next breath I will acknowledge that factors outside of the program will always shape a roadmap and it’s better to bend but not break.

Product catalogs evolve, competitors emerge, COGS shift. A good program can roll with the punches without losing all discipline.

“The most powerful force in the world is compound interest.” Dubiously attributed to Einstein, but a wonderfully applicable description of what we strive for in our CRO programs.

Here’s a perfect example:

- Two years of work
- Hundreds of A/B test concepts
- Winning tests implemented throughout the funnel

The end result?
+$395k in monthly revenue - on a steady march upwards
+62.1% in Average Revenue Per User

All on flat traffic volumes. 

Not every program looks like this. But to me it is the gold standard of consistent, steady, profitable growth that becomes undeniable over time.

You think your Shopify store is as good as it’s going to get.

I think you could capture another 20-25% in revenue from every visitor.

After working with hundreds of ecom stores, I’m happy to back myself in this one, especially for anyone sitting in the $10-20m range.

There is a lot of untapped potential in Shopify stores.

On a foundational level they tend to have:
❑ Confusing product discovery
❑ Subpar sales pitches
❑ Overwhelming cart and checkout processes

All that combines together to create a very inefficient site experience. And we haven’t even gotten to higher order activities.

That is why at Enavi we believe so strongly that your store can and should be considered a growth lever and not just a place that takes orders.

We have seen countless stores alter the trajectory of their business just by getting more out of their on-site experience. And that is why we are happy to partner with Convert again for our latest webinar:

The Growth Lever You're Ignoring: Why 75% of Shopify Brands Underperform
February 11th - 1 pm EST / 10 am PST

Here is a belief I will go to the mat on. The best way to improve a Shopify store is shoring up the foundation first, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘯 trying to raise the ceiling. 

What does that mean?

- Menus and collections that are easy to navigate through
- Product pages that are persuasive and proactively answer the right questions
- Carts that don’t overwhelm with add-ons and upsells
- Checkouts that exude safety and reassurance

Many brands scoff at the notion they have any work to do there. But 9 out of 10 fail on at least one of those steps.

Nail them and your marketing will be light years more efficient.

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The Battle

John Scheer

Sheldon Adams

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