Case Study: The CRO Program That Topped 150% of the Additional Revenue Target

Many brands concentrate their attention solely on driving traffic to their website through search engine optimisation. But with Swanky’s help, leading veterinary joint supplement brand YuMOVE have taken the next step by optimising their website to continually improve user experience (UX) once users land on their site, increasing the chances of turning new site visitors into customers.  

With the help of our commercially-guided conversion rate optimisation (CRO) program, YuMOVE exceeded their target revenue for 2020, surpassing their annual target for additional revenue through CRO in the first four months alone! And in the first quarter of 2021, they have already seen some fantastic results, including:

•  +155% in revenue year-on-year
• + 217% in transactions year-on-year

This case study will explore the challenges YuMOVE were facing, the solutions Swanky implemented, and the results these have driven.

The challenge

After Swanky launched their new Shopify Plus website in January 2020, YuMOVE engaged our Growth Accelerator team to drive revenue for the brand by implementing data-backed CRO and personalisation strategies. 

“Before working with Swanky, our team had never carried out CRO and we hadn’t realised the importance of testing or its influence on the customer journey. We have appreciated the expertise and in-house knowledge of Swanky’s CRO team and have been amazed by the results. We were particularly impressed by the additional revenue CRO can generate and we had to double our initial target to reflect the results.”

Benita Birak, Website Manager at YuMOVE

When YuMOVE first met with the team at Swanky, they had three clear objectives they wanted to hit in order to continue to grow their brand online:

#1 Add additional revenue by improving conversion rate

Through detailed analysis of the customer journey, and by making small adjustments to their website, they wanted to see improvements to UX so that more customer journeys result in conversions.

#2 Grow their number of subscriptions 

When YuMOVE first came on board with Swanky, subscriptions was an area they wanted to give more focus to. The nature of YuMOVE’s product range lends itself well to repeat subscriptions, encouraging customers to move from a one-off purchase to repeat orders. Having seen how popular subscriptions were among customers, and with an understanding of the benefits a successful subscription service could offer the brand, YuMOVE wanted to build their whole site around the ReCharge subscription process. 

#3 Increase average order value (AOV) through cross-selling and upselling

Driving traffic to a website is costly, so increasing the AOV of each transaction on your site will have a valuable impact on your return on investment (ROI). YuMOVE asked Swanky to look at innovative ways of increasing the value of each order by highlighting other suitable products to customers. 

The approach

To begin, Swanky’s Growth Accelerator team completed a full data review of the YuMOVE site to establish their position and identify the areas that needed optimising.

We combined data from Google Analytics and Hotjar with more detailed exit intent surveys and live user surveys to gain a deep insight into user behaviour. Whilst analytics and heat mapping are a great way to discover how users are interacting with pages, surveys provide key additional information as to the reasoning behind browsing behaviour. 

During live surveys, users are asked to buy a specific product, with the team able to watch the user journey in real time. Here, we discovered some key information specific to YuMOVE’s customer demographics that gave us a richer understanding of how the site could be improved. For example, for customers from older demographics, small font size was an issue in identifying important information. 

Following the data review, Swanky created a detailed list of possible CRO tests for the YuMOVE site. These were prioritised based on commercial impact and cost/complexity to implement, in order to maximise ROI.

In consultation with the ecommerce team from YuMOVE, we began implementing these tests, beginning with the “quick wins” –  changes that are simple and cost-effective to make, but which had a high commercial return. 

Testing is a vital stage of any new website change, because it provides concrete evidence to prove the effectiveness of each new strategy before we deploy it. Each change is A/B tested against the existing site, to compare its results. 

During the testing period, half of all site visitors – selected at random – view the new variant, whilst the other half continue to see the control version. Performance metrics such as conversion rates can then be compared and analysed, with the best performing version finally being rolled out to all users. 

The solution

The testing program that Swanky rolled out was structured into several strands to ensure YuMOVE were able to hit all of their KPIs for the website. 

#1 Add additional revenue by improving conversion rate

In order to boost conversion, we focused on two main user segments. These were:

1. New users coming to the website who didn’t know about the brand or which products they wanted. 
2. New users who had been referred by a friend.

To target the first segment, we created a landing page for new traffic driven by our generic PPC targeting. This was fully optimised with Hotjar, based on data we gathered on who these users are and where they were looking on the page, as well as using exit intent surveys to understand the main reasons why users might leave without converting. 

As a result of this optimisation, the conversion rate on the landing page is now almost double that of the rest of the website.

For the second segment, we looked to increase brand value by showing social proof on the product page, by showing how many people had purchased the product in the last week. The test found that these social proofs had no positive impact on returning visitors. By contrast, there was an 11% uplift in transactions among users who had entered the site on referrals, along with an increase in revenue of 5.91%.

Therefore, when we rolled out the variant across the site, we made it visible only for new users entering the site through referrals, social media or paid ads. This enabled us to improve key metrics for referred users, without crowding loyal YuMOVE customers with additional unnecessary information.

#2 Grow the number of subscriptions

“A subscription model makes forecasting projected revenue so much easier to do because you have a steady income flow. There are far less peaks and troughs throughout the year and the customer lifetime value is greatly increased.”

Benita Birak, YuMOVE

We created a subscription flow journey to help guide new customers to the correct subscription package. During the flow, new users answer a series of questions around their pets’ needs and are offered product suggestions that fit their requirements.  

In order to give more focus to subscriptions, we added subscription options to the product pages – something that wasn’t previously available. This gave returning users a quicker, simpler way to subscribe for products they are already buying regularly. The result was a 31.11% increase in the number of subscription purchases, translating into a substantial uplift in revenue once the variant was rolled out across the site. 

Using experience optimisation platform Dynamic Yield, we also redesigned the homepage to target customers displaying subscription behaviours with a personalised experience that prioritised subscription messaging based on their purchase history.

The personalised elements included a hero image of the animal the user has shown preference to and a title in the centre of the page indicating the product the customer is most likely to be looking for, reinforced with a product image. We also made the subscription button more prominent and provided a step by step description of the subscription process.

Here’s what the original homepage looked like:

And here are the two new versions of the personalised hero images:

Before full deployment, we tested this strategy for a two-week period so that we could measure the effectiveness of the variant (personalised subscription messaging) compared to the control (original homepage). Our primary metric to test the success of this strategy was the number of transactions completed.

Test results showed that the personalised homepage led to a 10% increase in purchases. Clear calls to action to ‘Shop Now’ or ‘Subscribe’, alongside the prominent depiction of products based on the user’s purchase history, have increased the efficiency of site usage for returning customers. This streamlined, personalised customer journey has led to a 31% increase in revenue in comparison to the control variant to-date.

With the test results providing concrete evidence to prove the effectiveness of the personalised subscription messaging on the homepage, we could then roll it out to all customers.

#3 Increase AOV through cross-selling and upselling

In order to increase AOV on the site, we looked to cross-sell additional products to subscription customers. We highlighted multi-subscription options, offering a discount code over the Black Friday sales period. 

In addition, we ran tests based on different pricing structures to learn which had the greatest impact on sales value. Testing proved that customers prefer a price-per-tablet structure rather than combined price, and so this has been rolled out across the site.

Results

“The direct results of CRO on revenue are very visible. This has helped our ecommerce team present back to stakeholders and secure future budgets, since we are able to demonstrate the ROI of our CRO spend.” 

Benita Birak, YuMOVE

Swanky’s work to optimise YuMOVE’s website during 2020 and 2021 has helped this ambitious brand move from strength to strength. 

In the first four months of 2020, they hit their target for the year in additional revenue through CRO. The target was increased, and was again superseded, meaning YuMOVE ended the year having achieved more than 150% of their original CRO revenue target with Swanky’s help!  

When it came to the subscription conversion rate, Swanky’s commercially-guided CRO program boosted YuMOVE’s subscription conversion by over 10% – once again exceeding the objective.

Coming into 2021, YuMOVE were able to greatly increase their targets for the following year, and once again this fantastic brand is seeing some impressive growth, with year-on-year transactions up by 217% in the first quarter and year-on-year revenue up by 155%. 

Swanky’s team are continuing to enable YuMOVE to improve and optimise their website, to offer their customers the best possible onsite experience. 

Your conversion rate optimisation agency

As a finalist for CRO Agency of the Year in the 2021 UK Digital Growth Awards, we’ve been recognised for our expertise in driving real, tangible results through CRO. Indeed, our data-led application of creative CRO techniques produces exceptional outcomes for ambitious ecommerce brands, resulting in shoppers buying more products, more often. And our team of experts do all this in-house.

To find out more about our CRO services and how they could transform your bottom line, get in touch with our Shopify Plus Experts today!