Trust, Personalization & Data: Ashish Ranka’s D2C Insights

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What makes a D2C brand truly click with its audience? In this episode of GrowthFit, we got an inside look at the answer with Ashish Ranka, currently Director and Head of Product at Virgio—a rapidly growing D2C fashion brand. Ashish’s journey spans some of India’s most iconic tech and commerce brands like Flipkart, CoinSwitch, Protonn, and Rivigo, making him uniquely positioned to decode product-led growth for D2C.

And here’s the refreshing part: it’s not about fancy funnels, performance marketing wizardry, or throwing discounts left and right.

It’s about trust. UX. Real personalization. Crisp PDPs. Measured growth.

Let’s dive into the key takeaways.

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UX = Trust: The Hidden Growth Engine

Ashish makes a strong case upfront—most D2C brands are underestimating how critical trust is, and how directly it's influenced by UX.

“If your website looks shady—like an HTML relic—you’re already losing the user,” he says bluntly.

For D2C brands, where your website or app is often the only storefront, user experience becomes the digital version of your store layout, staff interaction, and billing counter—all rolled into one.

A bad UX doesn’t just irritate; it creates doubt.
Would you enter your credit card details on a clunky, glitchy site with inconsistent messaging? Neither would your customers.

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The Mistakes Most D2C Brands Make with UX

Ashish highlights a few patterns that consistently pop up across brands struggling with conversion:

• Over-designing the homepage with too many sliders, banners, and pop-ups that confuse rather than guide
  
  
• Neglecting the PDP (product detail page)—the one page that actually converts
  
  
• Adding friction during checkout, especially on mobile devices
  
  

“Every additional click or scroll is a risk,” Ashish says. “You lose users one friction point at a time.”

He urges teams to obsess over not just aesthetics, but also predictability and flow. The user should feel gently guided, not overwhelmed.

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Real Personalization Is About Context, Not Gimmicks

Ashish is clear about one thing—personalization isn’t about clever greetings like “Hi, Ashwin.”
It’s about relevance.

If someone clicks through a winterwear ad, they should land on winterwear, not your all-season homepage. If the ad shows “3 kurtas under ₹999”, your PDP better carry that same message.

“It’s not about tech—it’s about continuity,” Ashish explains. “The story that starts on the ad should end on the checkout. If you break the story mid-way, the user drops off.”

At Virgio, personalization means creating smooth, contextual journeys that feel human.

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Why Most Analytics Dashboards Miss the Full Picture

Ashish doesn’t stop at metrics like bounce rate, CTR, or session duration. While those are helpful, they don’t explain why users are behaving the way they are.

For that, Virgio’s team uses:

• Heatmaps to see where users hover or click
  
  
• Scroll-depth analysis to know how far down the page they go
  
  
• Session recordings to actually watch user behavior
  
  

These tools help answer questions that dashboards alone can't:

• Are users struggling to find size guides?
  
  
• Is a popup blocking a CTA?
  
  
• Are people rage-clicking somewhere?
  
  

“Quant tells you what. Qual tells you why,” Ashish says.

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Don’t Copy-Paste Playbooks from Unicorns

One of the most underrated takeaways from this episode is Ashish’s caution against blindly copying large brands.

Just because Myntra uses 8-step onboarding or Nykaa has 10 PDP banners doesn’t mean that’s right for your ₹5 crore D2C brand.

“You have to build your own funnel, your own intuition, your own data muscle,” he says.

Smaller brands should use agility as their superpower. Test fast, learn faster. The ability to course-correct is more valuable than mimicking a unicorn.

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Educate Before You Sell: Let the PDP Work Harder

Ashish believes that many brands over-focus on performance creatives and under-focus on the page that actually converts—the PDP.

At Virgio, they craft product detail pages to not just show a product but to explain it, sell its story, and build confidence.

Key elements they focus on:

• What’s special about the product?
  
  
• How should it be worn or used?
  
  
• What’s the result the customer can expect?
  
  
• What are other users saying about it?
  
  

They even use tools like Lucky Orange to validate what content users spend time on and iterate accordingly.

“If your PDP reads like a catalog, you’re missing a huge chance to convert,” Ashish warns.

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Future of D2C: Native Commerce and Instant Adaptation

When asked about what excites him for the future, Ashish lights up at the idea of real-time commerce.

Imagine your homepage adapting to the weather in the user’s city. Or your inventory scarcity nudges update instantly as products go out of stock. Or a homepage that highlights “just viewed” products on the fly.

“The brands that win tomorrow are the ones that adapt instantly to user signals,” he says.

He sees a lot of potential in tools like CustomFit.ai, which help brands get closer to this vision—where the website experience adjusts just like a good salesperson would.

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Final Thoughts: Don’t Manipulate. Stay Consistent.

Ashish’s closing message is refreshingly grounded.

He’s not chasing hacks or overoptimising. He’s advocating for consistency, contextuality, and listening to your users.

“Users are smart. They know when something feels off. Keep your journey consistent, your product real, and your expectations grounded.”

In a world where D2C brands are constantly fighting for attention, this episode is a reminder that growth isn’t about gimmicks. It’s about building trust—one clean UX, one relevant message, and one satisfied customer at a time.

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Want more such real-world lessons from operators in the trenches?
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