Discover how Ria Mahesh used her LinkedIn presence to drive massive growth in visibility, engagement, and inbound opportunities for Appstle.
Results at a Glance
- 35.4% increase in followers
- 947% increase in impressions
- 812% increase in engagement
- 1,317 comments—highly discussion-driven content
- 5,983 reactions—resonant, value-packed posts
- 276 profile views in 90 days—heightened brand curiosity
About Rakshithaa Mahesh
Rakshithaa (Ria) Mahesh is Co-Founder & CEO at Appstle, the most powerful Shopify subscription & loyalty toolkit. An ex-BCG and ex-Amazon strategist (and Mensan!), Ria combines Fortune 100 discipline with startup scrappiness to solve merchants’ biggest headaches: customer retention and wallet share at tiered price points that scale from SMBs to enterprises.
The Challenge
Despite Ria’s impressive background and a best-in-class product, her LinkedIn presence was underutilized. She needed to:
- Establish thought leadership in eCommerce retention and loyalty
- Educate merchants on subscription best practices
- Humanize the Appstle brand through authentic founder storytelling
- Convert content engagement into qualified inbound conversations
Our Approach
We treated Ria’s LinkedIn as a branded media channel—her voice, her audience, our strategy.
1. Deep-Dive Kickoff
- Interviewed Ria to pin down her Ideal Customer Profile (ICP) and her unique POV on eCommerce retention.
- Defined key business outcomes: awareness, authority, and inbound leads.
2. Profile Revamp
- Headline & About rewritten to spotlight Ria as “the go-to strategist for Shopify retention.
- Added a clear CTA prompting merchants to connect for a discovery chat and learn more about her company.
- Featured section bolstered with Appstle’s achievement and success stories, along with top performing content pieces.
Content Pillars That Drove Growth
We structured content around four consistent pillars to maintain momentum and build recognition:
| Pillar | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Educational Tips | Helped merchants take immediate action, boosting saves and DM conversations |
| Brand Breakdowns | Positioned Ria as a strategist with a keen eye on the industry |
| Customer Testimonials | Added trust and relatability through real-world proof |
| Founder POV | Built emotional buy-in and authority through storytelling |
This structure made sure we never “posted just to post.” Every piece had a clear goal, whether it was to drive awareness, educate, or connect emotionally.
Content Strategy Deployed
We followed a value-first content strategy rooted in strategic POV, narrative storytelling, and consistent cadence. Here’s how we broke it down:
1. Authority Building
To position Ria as a subject matter expert, we regularly posted content around:
- Shopify algorithm changes
- Trends in eCommerce merchant behavior
- Shifts in customer expectations
For example, when Shopify introduced changes to checkout extensibility or announced updates to its app ecosystem, we published explainers from Ria’s POV, connecting those updates to merchant challenges around retention and user experience.
These posts helped tie Ria’s voice to real-time platform dynamics, creating immediate relevance and driving inbound attention from founders, operators, and Shopify experts.
2. Brand Strategy Breakdowns
To make her content relatable and actionable, we created mini case studies of how large retail and DTC brands execute loyalty and subscription strategies.
We analyzed:
- IKEA’s membership flywheel
- Nike’s retention ecosystem via the Nike App
- Alo Yoga’s use of exclusivity through memberships
- Alexa+ and how Amazon builds habit-driven retention
- Birchbox, Bliss Club, and other Appstle-powered success stories
Each breakdown included strategic takeaways, helping smaller merchants see how they could apply the same ideas using Appstle’s stack. These posts drove strong saves and shares and positioned Ria as a playbook-driven strategist, not just a SaaS founder.
3. Customer Testimonials + Product Impact
We showcased real customer outcomes from Appstle’s user base via narrative-style posts.
For example, we highlighted:
- A wellness brand that saw a increase in repeat purchases after gamifying its loyalty tiers
- A DTC coffee company that improved retention using Appstle’s smart billing flows
- Multiple merchants that reduced customer churn by integrating Appstle’s personalized portals
These stories helped humanize Ria’s brand, validate the product’s impact, and build social proof in the Shopify ecosystem.
Rather than showcasing generic “testimonials,” we framed them as strategic use cases, which led to more engagement and stronger inbound interest.
4. Educational Tips & Frameworks
We doubled down on tactical, actionable content designed for saves, DMs, and internal discussions.
Some high-performing topics included:
- “Common mistakes merchants make with subscriptions”
- “How to boost retention during BFCM and holiday season”
- “Why your loyalty program needs more than points”
- “The importance of offering a customer-facing subscription portal”
- “Gamification techniques to increase customer lifetime value”
These were bite-sized frameworks backed by Ria’s strategic POV designed to deliver value before promoting the product.
Top Performing Content Pieces
A look at the content that drove the most impressions, reactions, and qualified conversations on Linkedin.
Active Engagement
- Daily 15-minute comment blitz on posts by eCommerce leaders and target merchants.
- Prompt, personalized replies to every comment on Ria’s posts, fueling deeper conversations.
- Polls and AMA prompts to spark new threads and bookmarks.
Performance Tracking & Optimization
- Bi-weekly reviews of KPIs—impressions, engagement rate, follower growth.
- Pivoted to more founder POV and strategic breakdown posts when data showed these formats sparked the highest discussions and inbound interest.
The Results (365 Days)
| Metric | Result | Insight |
|---|---|---|
| Impressions | 20,956 | Healthy visibility considering the B2B niche. |
| Engagement | 7,300 | 35% engagement-to-impression ratio — strong for B2B thought leadership. |
| Comments | 1,317 | High comments indicate thoughtful, discussion-worthy content. |
| Reactions | 5,983 | Shows content was resonant and well-aligned with audience values. |
| Follower Growth | 2,591 (↑35.4%) | Sustained momentum in building relevant audience. |
| Profile Views (90 days) | 276 | Profile actively drives consideration and inbound curiosity. |
“This is exactly what I needed to start showing up as a strategic voice, not just a product founder. People now tag me in conversations around retention — which wasn’t happening before.”
— Rakshithaa Mahesh, CEO, Appstle
📌 TL;DR
By positioning the founder as the face of the brand, we helped:
- Build real authority and trust in a competitive niche
- Attract 2,500+ new high-intent followers
- Spark industry conversation around customer retention strategies
- Turn Ria into a go-to voice on loyalty and subscriptions in the Shopify ecosystem
This is what happens when you stop playing the impressions game and start playing the influence game..
If you’re a coach, founder, or creator looking to turn visibility into growth, let’s talk.
