Case Study: How Swanky’s Strategic Digital Marketing Services Helped DockATot Navigate an Ecommerce Rebrand

About DockATot (previously Sleepyhead of Sweden)

Originating from Sweden, DockATot is the brand behind the must-have nursery accessory winning the affections of parents across the globe. Its multifunctional ‘docks’ provide a safe and comfortable space for babies and toddlers to lounge, with only the highest quality materials used in their production. These versatile baby loungers come in a spectrum of colours and patterns, from floral to marble, designed to fit seamlessly into a stylish home.

Since the success of its flagship docks in both Europe and the US, DockATot has broadened its range of products to include nursing pillows and Moses baskets. It has also introduced its sister-brand, Aristot, which sells luxury, customisable bassinets.

Most recently, the European arm of the business, ‘Sleepyhead of Sweden’, merged with the American name, ‘DockATot’, to create a single international brand. The Swanky team was tasked with helping maintain and grow online revenue through this transitional period.

The challenge

Having worked with Sleepyhead since 2019 to support their direct-to-consumer expansion in the UK, Swanky’s Growth Accelerator team were well placed to provide strategic, multi-channel marketing consultancy and implementation to aid in the smooth transition to the DockATot brand identity.

At the time the Growth Accelerator team was engaged on this project, the brand transition was already underway, so the team responded quickly and adeptly to the challenges.

The Swanky team anticipated that creating brand awareness of the new brand name amongst the existing EU audience would be an essential outcome of the strategy. The key channels and touchpoints in the user journey were identified by the team through data collection and analysis of user behaviour on the DockATot EU website. The findings showed that returning customers appeared to be confused about the Sleepyhead to DockATot transition, particularly the change in product names and visuals.

At a time when brand recognition and loyalty is crucial for retailers, and with DockATot’s products facing growing competition from other online retailers, it was essential to emphasise the value of the brand and the unchanged high-quality products throughout the brand transition.

How Swanky helped in this ecommerce rebrand

#1 Analysis of user behaviour and customer insights

The first step was to gain a greater understanding of how the audience were responding to the name change on the website, along with its impact on their propensity to purchase.

Swanky utilised HotJar to gather customer insight through exit intent surveys and heatmaps. With a greater understanding of why customers behaved the way they did on key pages and how the rebrand was influencing their intent to purchase, the team could design a detailed list of proposed website changes to smooth the transition from Sleepyhead to DockATot, while increasing conversions.

We discovered that many returning customers were confused by the rebrand and were struggling to even find the website since they were still using the old brand name to search for it. When returning customers landed on the website, they no longer recognised the brand, and in the absence of any prominent narrative to explain the journey of the rebrand, conversions were dropping.

With these findings in mind, the team set about designing and implementing tests on website content and marketing campaigns to win back existing DockAtot customers and gather a new audience under the new brand name.

#2 A/B testing the homepage design

To help reduce confusion over the ecommerce rebrand, as well as promote the unique selling points of DockATot’s acclaimed docks, the Swanky design team reimagined the site’s homepage. Their aim was to communicate the rebrand more clearly, whilst also better emphasising the product benefits.

The new design promoted the most popular DockAtTot products in prime position, moving them above the fold.

The team also created a carousel showing new product names, complete with links and pictures. The hope was that these clear, image-based categories would make navigating the site far easier, enabling users to find products more quickly and intuitively. This also sends a clear message with regards to the rebrand, reassuring customers that these are still the same much-loved products, just with a new name.

The original design of the DockATot homepage.

The homepage reimagined.

A/B tests of the new homepage promoting the rebrand saw an overall uplift in revenue per user of an impressive 71.44%.

This was driven by a 32.92% increase in the number of users adding a product to their cart and a 42.19% increase in the number of transactions for users who were shown the homepage with the rebrand banner.

#3 Explaining the ecommerce rebrand on product pages

Following the success of the rebrand tests on the homepage, the team then rolled this out across the site to include product and collection pages as well.

It was evident from Google Analytics that a large proportion of customers entered the site directly onto product pages, therefore bypassing the homepage. The follow-up survey indicated that customers who had searched for products using the old brand name were confused when they landed on DockAtot product pages.

In order to avoid confusion, reduce cognitive load and increase conversions, the team concluded there should be a visible link to the former brand name shown on whichever page a user landed on.

Further A/B tests were introduced to test this hypothesis and the team found this change delivered a 40.21% uplift in revenue per user, generated from a 28% increase in conversions, with the greatest effect being seen amongst mobile users.

#4 Implementing a multi-channel approach to communication

One of the great strengths of Swanky’s Growth Accelerator program is the opportunity to share learnings and deliver campaigns across multiple channels. Following the success of the rebrand communication on the website, the team reflected this across DockATot’s pay-per-click (PPC) and email marketing campaigns too.

PPC campaigns

Since DockATot joined Swanky, the PPC experts have taken on the management and optimisation of their EU Google Ads account, implementing strategies to drive traffic to their online store and profitably acquire new customers.

As a team driven by data gathered through a continuous test and learn cycle, the strategy grew and evolved with the more interactions and results the ads generated.

The team identified that the term “Sleepyhead” was still being regularly searched for and it made sense to continue targeting that brand keyword. The team used related keywords to direct users towards the new site, explaining the rebrand in the ad description to reduce confusion.

The destination page for these ads was a relevant landing page with a banner that again highlighted the change in brand name, which served to reduce confusion and build confidence.

Email marketing

As an established brand with a strong and loyal customer base, extending the ecommerce rebrand communications through email marketing was an essential part of the strategy. The team used the customer engagement and email platform Klaviyo to develop an email marketing approach with two distinct tactics:

1. Campaign emails: offering discounts for specific events like Mother’s Day, or to promote a new product launch.
2. Email automation flow: a series of emails generated automatically at different stages of the customer journey (for example, an abandoned cart email to remind customers of products they didn’t complete a purchase on).

The rebrand messaging was seeded throughout each strand of the email marketing strategy. This initially took the form of an FAQ explaining the merger, with further reminders developed to follow up. This once again helped to educate DockATot’s loyal customer base on the name change and assure them that they could continue to expect the same high standard of quality, style and innovation as always.

#5 Merging with Aristot

In addition to the merger of the DockAtot and Sleepyhead of Sweden brands, DockAtot also asked Swanky to help to incorporate its sister brand, Aristot, into their ecommerce site and marketing strategy.

Aristot sells high-end, luxury baby products aimed at a slightly different audience to DockATot. The challenge therefore was to integrate a different look and feel website into the DockAtot store, without straying too far from the rest of the site.

The team designed the Aristot pages on the DockATot site specifically to create a VIP experience that reflects the exquisite style and sophistication of the brand’s products and speaks to the target consumer.

An emphasis on chic lifestyle images and a clear narrative provide a more immersive experience, whilst an interactive feature allows you to browse styles and build your own bespoke version of the Aristot.

Results

A merger or ecommerce rebrand can present challenges for even a well-established brand like Sleepyhead of Sweden, now DockATot. Customers must be reassured that they are still getting the same quality of product and service that they have been used to in the past.

Swanky’s team has helped DockATot to communicate their merger with their customers, in order to retain previous clients as well as building a customer base around the new brand. The combined efforts of Swanky’s Growth Accelerator team – combining expertise in conversion rate optimisation alongside strategy for PPC, email and content marketing – helped the brand to maintain a consistent message across their channels.

The rebrand messaging on the homepage generated an uplift in revenue per user of 71.44%, whilst the same messaging across product and collection pages increased revenue per user by 40.21%.

Your ecommerce marketing agency

Are you an American brand looking to branch into the European market? With a decade of experience working with successful, forward-thinking brands like DockATot, we know what it takes to build a powerful growth strategy for your store – one that leverages tried-and-tested marketing tactics to drive awareness, boost conversions and create revenue.

Get in touch with our friendly team of experts to find out about our Growth Accelerator Program and how it could poise your brand for sustainable scalability!