How Did a Creative Entrepreneur Get Enterprise-Level Customer Intelligence on a Founder's Budget?

WhatsTheMove founder Archie T. Comma partnered with User Intuition to deeply understand what his customers want — going beyond sales data and ad metrics to have real conversations with the people buying from his brand. For a six-figure fashion brand built on personal connection, User Intuition delivered consumer intelligence previously available only to companies spending $15K+ per study, at roughly 93% less cost, in under 72 hours.

The Tension: The Superpower That Couldn't Scale

Archie T. Comma built WhatsTheMove the way the best brands get built — one conversation at a time. As a singer-songwriter, DJ, and self-described tech nerd, Archie had a gift for connecting with people. Strangers would walk up to him on the street, ask about what he was wearing, and end up buying from his store. That personal styling instinct turned WhatsTheMove into a six-figure online fashion brand.

But personal instinct has a ceiling.

As the brand grew, every product decision got harder. Which new pieces to stock? How much inventory to commit to each style? Which trends were worth chasing and which were noise? Archie's gut had gotten him this far — but gut doesn't tell you why a customer chose that jacket over that one, or what they're actually looking for when they browse your site at 11pm on a Tuesday.

He'd already made smart infrastructure moves. Pen and Paper AI had helped him solve the data plumbing — Facebook CAPI restored the conversion tracking that iOS privacy changes had broken, and Klaviyo automation replicated his personal styling approach at scale, driving a 49% lift in ROAS and 40% more revenue. The data side was working. He could see what was happening.

What he couldn't see was why.

Why did some product drops sell out in hours while others sat? Why did certain customers come back monthly while others disappeared after one purchase? What were his best customers actually looking for that he wasn't offering yet? These aren't questions that ad metrics and email open rates can answer. These are questions that require actually talking to your customers — deeply, at scale, with the right methodology.

And for a creative entrepreneur juggling music, design, and business? Traditional consumer research wasn't even on the menu. A single qualitative study costs $15K–27K and takes 6–8 weeks. That's enterprise pricing for enterprise timelines. Archie needed something built for how he works: fast, affordable, and smart enough to ask the right follow-up questions.

The Mission

Archie needed to understand what his customers actually want — not just what they click on — and make smarter product selection decisions backed by real consumer voice, not just trend reports. He needed to know where to invest inventory with confidence instead of intuition alone, and engage with customers at a depth that was never an option at this scale. And it all had to happen without losing the personal, authentic feel that built the brand in the first place.

The Roadblocks

Sales data shows what happened — not why. WhatsTheMove had solid analytics from Shopify, Facebook, and Klaviyo. But analytics tell you that a product sold well — they don't tell you why someone chose it, what they almost bought instead, or what they wish you carried.

Traditional research is built for enterprises, not founders. Focus groups cost $10K+. Qualitative studies run $15K–27K and take 6–8 weeks. Even the cheaper digital tools charge $200–500 per interview. For a growing brand where every dollar invested in research is a dollar not invested in inventory, the math never made sense.

Surveys miss the depth. Archie's superpower was the conversation — hearing someone explain their style, understanding what they're really looking for, picking up on the things people say between the lines. A 5-question survey captures none of that. The customer insight that built the brand was qualitative and nuanced — any research approach had to match that depth.

Time kills trends. In fashion retail, a trend window is measured in weeks. By the time a traditional research project delivers results, the buying decision has already been made — with or without data.

How User Intuition Changed the Game

For Archie, User Intuition did something that had literally never been possible before: it gave a single creative entrepreneur the same depth of customer understanding that Fortune 500 companies get from their $500K annual research budgets.

Product selection — with receipts. Before placing a new order, Archie now runs a quick study through User Intuition. Within 48 hours, he has 30+ minute conversations with dozens of customers and target consumers about what they're wearing, what they're looking for, what's missing from their wardrobe, and what they'd pay for it. The AI moderator probes beyond surface answers — "I like streetwear" becomes "I want pieces that feel expensive but aren't trying too hard, something I could wear to a nice dinner but also to a studio session." That level of specificity directly shapes buying decisions.

Inventory confidence. Instead of guessing how much to invest in a product line, Archie uses consumer conversations to gauge genuine demand intensity. When 80% of respondents describe the same unmet need unprompted, that's a very different signal than a trend report saying "athleisure is growing." The depth of AI-moderated conversations reveals whether demand is real or performative — and how price-sensitive customers actually are.

Customer engagement that goes both ways. The irony of great ad targeting and email automation is that it's still one-directional. You're talking at customers based on their behavior data. User Intuition flipped that — giving Archie a direct channel to hear what customers are actually thinking, in their own words, at a depth that surveys and social media comments can't touch. It's the digital version of those street conversations that built the brand, except now it happens with hundreds of people simultaneously.

Intelligence that compounds. Every study adds to a searchable knowledge base. Six months in, Archie can query his Intelligence Hub for patterns across every conversation: "What do repeat customers say about pricing?" or "What styles do customers in their 20s describe wanting?" The answers come from real voices — not algorithms guessing from click data.

The Results That Matter

Customer understanding went from sales data and instinct to deep 30+ minute conversations with real customers — qualitative depth that was simply never an option before. Research cost dropped from $15K–27K per study (which had priced WhatsTheMove out entirely) to approximately $1,000 for 20 deep interviews, a 93% savings that made enterprise-grade consumer intelligence accessible for the first time.

Time to insight went from effectively impossible — Archie couldn't afford traditional research — to under 72 hours per study. Three days from question to answer. Product selection shifted from gut feel and trend reports to consumer voice data and demand intensity signals, giving Archie data-backed buying decisions instead of educated guesses.

Inventory risk dropped meaningfully. Instead of committing capital on intuition alone, Archie now validates demand before placing orders — smarter capital allocation for a brand where every dollar counts. And customer engagement depth transformed from one-way (ads and emails) to genuinely two-way conversations at scale — true understanding, not just targeting.

What Archie Says

"People always ask how I got into fashion from music and tech. The truth is, I never left any of it behind — I just found ways to make them all work together. Pen and Paper fixed my data. User Intuition gave me something completely different: actual conversations with my customers at a scale I could never do myself. I used to make product decisions based on what I thought my customers wanted. Now I know — because I asked them. And not with a survey. Real conversations, 30 minutes deep, where the AI asks the follow-up questions I would ask if I could be in a thousand places at once. For a brand built on personal connection, that's everything."

— Archie T. Comma, Founder & CEO, WhatsTheMove

The Bottom Line

For the first time, a six-figure fashion brand has access to the kind of consumer intelligence that used to require a six-figure research budget. 72-hour turnaround. 93% cost savings. Deep conversations — not surveys — with the people who actually buy from the brand.

Archie's story is the proof point for something User Intuition was built to do: democratize qualitative research so that understanding your customer isn't a luxury reserved for enterprise companies. When a creative entrepreneur can run the same depth of consumer study as a Fortune 500 brand — at a fraction of the cost, in a fraction of the time, without a research team — the playing field changes for everyone.

Pen and Paper showed WhatsTheMove what was happening in their data. User Intuition showed them why — and that combination is what turns a growing brand into a brand that knows exactly where it's going.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does WhatsTheMove use User Intuition for product selection?

WhatsTheMove runs User Intuition studies before making buying decisions — having AI-moderated conversations with dozens of customers and target consumers about what they're wearing, what's missing from their wardrobe, and what they'd pay for specific styles. These 30+ minute conversations probe 5–7 levels deep into preference and motivation, giving the founder consumer voice data rather than just trend reports to guide product selection.

Can small e-commerce brands afford User Intuition?

Yes. User Intuition starts at approximately $20 per interview with no monthly fees, making a 20-interview deep consumer study cost roughly $1,000 — compared to $15K–27K for traditional qualitative research. This pricing makes enterprise-grade consumer intelligence accessible to growing brands for the first time, without requiring a dedicated research team or budget.

How does User Intuition complement tools like Pen and Paper, Klaviyo, and Facebook CAPI?

Data infrastructure tools like Pen and Paper, Klaviyo, and Facebook CAPI capture what customers do — tracking conversions, automating email flows, and restoring ad attribution. User Intuition captures why customers do what they do — through deep AI-moderated conversations that reveal purchase motivation, unmet needs, and decision drivers. Together, they give brands both behavioral data and consumer understanding.

What kind of customer insights can fashion brands get from AI-moderated interviews?

AI-moderated interviews go far beyond survey responses. For fashion brands, they reveal: why specific pieces resonate emotionally, how customers describe their personal style aspirations, what price points feel right and why, how they discover new brands, what's missing from their current wardrobe, and what would make them recommend a brand to friends. The 30+ minute conversation format with 5–7 levels of probing captures nuance that quantitative data cannot.

How fast can an e-commerce founder get customer insights using User Intuition?

Studies can be set up in as little as 5 minutes, and User Intuition's integrated panel of 4M+ vetted consumers handles recruitment automatically. Most studies deliver results — including full conversation transcripts, quantified qualitative data, and automated reports — within 48–72 hours. This speed matches the pace of trend-driven retail, where decisions can't wait 6–8 weeks for traditional research timelines.

Does a founder need research experience to use User Intuition?

No. User Intuition was designed for non-researchers. The AI moderator — trained on McKinsey's laddering methodology — handles interview facilitation, asking the right follow-up questions and probing for depth. Founders and product leaders launch studies by describing what they want to learn, and the platform handles methodology, recruitment, moderation, and synthesis. WhatsTheMove's founder runs studies independently without any formal research background.

Last Updated: February 10, 2026 · Reading Time: 6 minutes

Categories: E-Commerce · Fashion & Apparel · Product Selection · Customer Engagement · Small Business · Qualitative Research