Repositioning a wholesale brand into a luxury fashion retailer
Mutt Couture had a developed an incredible product line up of dog collars and leashes. There were no companies in the pet apparel space that appealed to the fashionable, tattoo-covered dog owner. That was who Mutt Couture was built by, and the demographic that Mutt Couture was created for.
Unfortunately, despite a killer product and an untapped market, Mutt Couture was only able to secure distribution in a few regional pet stores, and online sales were practically non-existent.
Mutt Couture needed a strong brand, more traffic, and more sales. Here is how we pulled it off.
Old homepage design
New homepage design
Product page before the redesign
New product page
The 4 part strategy
Increase short term web traffic through Google Ads
Increase organic reach by creating blog posts and posting on social media
Improve the website so that visitors from both sources are more likely to make a purchase
Optimize the content strategy of the website to create exclusivity
Ads
Text Campaign
The goal of the Google Search text ads was not to create sales, rather it was used to A/B test headlines and content so that we could quickly determine what copy would work best on the site.
Our initial thought was that Designer Dog Collars was the best keyword to focus on, as it had high search volume and was an accurate description of the product.
Through the Google Ad campaign, we learned that Luxury Dog Collars had a much higher click-through-rate (CTR) than Designer Dog Collars, and we pivoted the messaging to tell that story.
Ads
Google Shopping Campaign
This is where the magic happened, with a one click install of the Google Shopping Shopify app, and luxurious new product photography, we increased sales by 400% in one month, with profits far higher than Mutt Couture’s distribution partners. Paid ads instantly created cash flow that we re-invested in product, marketing, and packaging.
The quickest wins for any Shopify store
Take beautiful photos of your products
Run Google shopping ads
3X ROI on Google Ads
3. Website Design Optimizations
There were four major problems with the website
The website was not mobile optimized
The design and photography was dated and felt like a wholesaler rather than a retailer
Each collar came in 12 sizes, making choosing the right size daunting.
Original product photography
Content
Social proof
Mutt Couture didn’t even provide the option to leave reviews. This further reduced the likelihood of a new visitor making a purchase, as the site didn’t offer any evidence that it wasn’t a scam. Reviews also show in Google Search results as well as the Google Shopping ads and increase the likelihood that people will click on the ad.
We needed a review system that would:
Allow customers to post reviews on the website
Send emails requesting reviews after a customer made a purchase
We ended up using the Stamped.io Shopify plugin, which was simple to set up and had us up and running with reviews in about 30 minutes. Customers are prompted to leave a review right from their inbox. We chose the Smiley Face review request template rather than a traditional Star Rating to make writing the review feel like an emotional response rather than a clinical task.
Content
The VIP List
A critical component of our strategy was to cultivate an email newsletter filled with loyal fans of the brand. Social media and google ads could dry up tomorrow, and we feel that having a well established email marketing channel is crucial in a turbulent world.
Exclusive Insights
The VIP list is simply a re-branded newsletter, where each month we share news, content, behind-the-scenes photography, share exclusive deals, and even have newsletter subscribers participate in product development.
Exclusive Distribution
We did take the exclusivity one step farther and created VIP only collections that are only viewable when logged in AND subscribed to the newsletter. It’s easy to sign up and get access, and once people do so, they feel like they’re part of something special.
