Zea: Growing with trust, one review at a time
What started as a small family experiment with a little-known Tasmanian plant has become a national wellness brand built on trust.
Zea embraced Judge.me early to validate their hero ingredient – Kunzea oil – transforming customer reviews into a powerful force for credibility and growth.
Key Results
More than 13,000 five-star verified reviews
Maintains a 4.9-star average rating
Reviews power product pages, ads, email flows, and SEO
Strong social proof helps fuel expansion into Southeast Asia and the UK
The Challenge: Selling the benefits of an unfamiliar product
When Hayden Brass founded Zea with his family in 2016, he was introducing something unfamiliar to the Australian market: Kunzea, a native Tasmanian botanical with powerful therapeutic benefits.
However, as selling online meant customers couldn’t see, smell, or try the product, earning trust wasn’t just important; it was everything.
As Zea scaled from local markets to major retailers like Woolworths and TerryWhite Chemmart, Hayden needed a way to prove the product worked at scale and with authenticity.
“We had a brand-new product and no credibility at first. We needed to show people it really worked.”
The Solution: Trust through testimonials
From day one, Hayden treated reviews as a strategic pillar, not just a post-purchase formality.
To build early credibility around Kunzea oil, he implemented Judge.me from the start and made it a core part of Zea’s growth engine.
Today, the brand has evolved from a local venture into an international success, expanding into markets such as the UK and Southeast Asia.
Judge.me helped Zea scale trust and authenticity with minimal overhead:
Automated, founder-led review requests
Review emails are sent directly from Hayden, framed as genuine requests for feedback, not just ratings.
This personal approach resonates strongly with Zea’s older customer base and reinforces the brand’s caring identity.
It works, just look at the results. Zea still to this day maintains high review rates and a 4.9-star average across 14,000+ reviews published.
Video reviews from brand evangelists
To generate compelling user-generated content around their Kunzea-based wellness products, Zea invites customers who’ve experienced genuine pain relief and improved quality of life to share video testimonials.
These heartfelt stories serve as powerful social proof, boosting trust, enhancing credibility, and driving higher conversion rates across Zea’s marketing channels.
Reviews embedded across the brand
Collected reviews are reused in product pages, welcome flows, cart recovery emails, ads, landing pages, and blog content, ensuring every great review supports Zea’s entire marketing ecosystem.
Actionable insights from real feedback
Customer language informs product descriptions, guides new product messaging, and even influences R&D, turning reviews into a continuous loop of product and brand improvement.
“Judge.me has been reliable and an important part of our growth in terms of collecting customer feedback.
Judge.me makes reviews a hands-off yet high-impact part of Zea’s daily operations - building trust, boosting conversions, and supporting growth at every stage.
Hayden’s advice for other Shopify merchants
After nearly a decade growing Zea into a national wellness brand, Hayden Brass has learned that great products need great proof. Here’s his top advice for other merchants looking to scale with trust:
Make review collection important from day one
Collect reviews from day one. Each review, especially those from your first few customers, lays the foundation for long-term trust and credibility.
Stay authentic
Personal, honest communication matters. When customers feel like they’re supporting a real person, not a faceless brand, they’re more likely to share meaningful stories and return for more.
Treat reviews like research
The language your customers use is powerful. Zea uses feedback to refine product descriptions, inform ad copy, and even guide new product development.
Your reviews are a free, ongoing focus group - so use them!
“We talk about our vision to help people improve their health. That makes people more willing to share their experience. Genuine feedback is one of our most valuable business tools. It builds trust and it shows us how to grow.”
