Case Study: Upgrading Montville Coffee to a New Shopify 2.0 Theme With Improved Tech Stack

TL;DR

• After connecting with Montville Coffee via Australia’s Food Agribusiness Network, we upgraded the brand’s existing Shopify theme to Online Store 2.0, creating an improved experience for both customers and staff.
• We also architected a new tech stack, including Recharge, Klaviyo, Okendo and Littledata, with the intention of capturing more first party data, building consumer trust, simplifying site administration, and improving the quality of GA4 data.
• The Montville team are delighted with their upgraded ecommerce site and are looking forward to using it to drive increased revenue through online channels.

Montville Coffee: Brand overview

Established in 2000, Australian certified B Corp Montville Coffee is a Fairtrade specialty coffee roaster based on the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. It sources ethically produced, organic certified beans from around the world and roasts them on the East Coast of Australia. The team at Montville are passionate about people, coffee and the environment.

Montville’s products are sold directly to consumers, as well as to cafés and retailers on a wholesale basis. For customers who don’t want to miss their daily caffeine fix, they can set up a coffee subscription and get their favourite blends delivered to their door.

The company is NASAA Certified Organic and is a proud member of 1% for the Planet, an international organisation whose members contribute at least 1% of their annual revenue to environmental causes.

Montville has amassed a loyal customer base over the past 20+ years. Its patrons appreciate Montville’s ethical values, the team’s ‘human’ approach to business, as well as, of course, the delicious taste of the company’s coffee.

Where it began: Food Agribusiness Network

The team at Montville connected with Swanky via the Food Agribusiness Network (FAN), a leading food industry cluster for East Coast regions that supports collaboration, accelerates innovation, and drives trade locally and globally.

As two active members of FAN, it quickly became clear that Swanky and Montville were a good match, as Sean McGowan, General Manager of Montville Coffee, explains:

“We liked that Swanky was actively looking to support our industry and merchants in our growth phase. We bought into your team, the way you presented and we really enjoyed the authenticity of your team. It felt like a privilege to have access to your team’s skills and expertise.”

With a view to expanding their business – and increasing revenue through online channels as part of this – the Montville team engaged our Shopify experts in Australia to reinvigorate their ecommerce site.

Project scope

A primary aspect of this project was upgrading Montville’s existing, heavily customised Shopify theme to one that was compatible with Online Store 2.0. This would unlock greater flexibility and ownership for the team, ultimately creating a more sustainable ecommerce site that would better support the brand through anticipated growth. We discuss advantages like these in our article about the benefits of upgrading to Shopify 2.0.

We were also tasked with incorporating UX best practices to improve the customer journey across the store, as well as better communicating Montville’s brand story to consumers.

How Swanky helped

Upgrade to a Shopify 2.0 theme

We upgraded Montville’s store to Online Store 2.0, opening up a range of features for the team there to enjoy.

As well as a more intuitive theme editor and more streamlined website management, an upgrade to 2.0 brings with it increased customisability through ‘sections everywhere’. The team can now easily add, remove and edit sections across the site, without having to rely on developer input. This allows for faster implementation of on-site changes and unlocks budget for other growth-focused activities.

Greater flexibility also means that the Montville team can lean into storytelling across the site, leveraging sections however they like to better present their brand and its values.

Online Store 2.0 offers much improved metafield functionality as well, which we leveraged across Montville’s product pages to strengthen the display of product information. Namira Putri, Project Manager at Swanky, explains more:

“Product pages are a particularly important ingredient of an online store selling food and drink – they play a key role in a purchase decision. In coffee ecommerce, there are lots of details to convey to shoppers to make it as easy as possible for consumers to understand what they’re purchasing – including things like ingredients, tasting notes and brewing method.

“On the Montville site, we’re using metafields to display a product’s origins, strength, notes and brewing methods in a clear and engaging way. As you can see in the screenshot below, this information is encapsulated in a coloured box that matches the label on the product image – a nice finishing touch to draw attention to key information and provide an elevated product page experience.”

Reflecting on the upgraded 2.0 site, Sean McGowan said:

“The site is performing well and we’re finding it easier to manage. We think it looks brilliant and the upgrade to Store 2.0 has given us a lot more control over the site.”

Improving UX

After a UX review, we identified several ways to improve the customer journey and buying experience for both new users, who are looking for the right information to justify their purchase and proceed with a conversion, and for returning users, who require a smooth, distraction-free route to conversion.

Let’s take a look at the UX issues we addressed on three key page types.

1. Homepage

The homepage was heavily weighted towards conveying brand information, with not enough focus on Montville’s products. Whilst brand story and credentials certainly play their part in a good customer experience, there is an important balance to strike.

A snapshot of Montville’s previous homepage.

We therefore made a number of changes to optimise the homepage, including:

• altering the layout, with a focus on moving products higher up the page;
• adding product photography – an essential ingredient of food and beverage ecommerce websites, especially for users who are new to your brand;
• clearly showcasing the variety of blends available;
• providing clearer routes to purchase for coffee, tea and new products;
• explaining how a subscription works and what the benefits are for customers – important for building confidence amongst consumers and encouraging sign-ups;
• reducing the amount of information on the page to remove distractions; and
• adding reviews as a form of social proof – for adding credibility and building trust, particularly amongst new users.

A snapshot of Montville’s new homepage on Shopify Online Store 2.0.

2. Collection pages

Whilst Montville’s previous collection pages clearly communicated the characteristics of each blend, including visual indicators of strength and brew methods, these pages lacked any product photography. We also identified a number of distractions from the buying path, such as a poorly located FAQs section.

An example of a collection page on Montville’s previous Shopify store.

Therefore, improvements we implemented on these pages included:

• adding product imagery – to set clear expectations around what a customer will receive if they place an order;
• making CTAs more obvious – essential for creating a clear and obvious route to checkout;
• including star ratings and review counts on each product tile – a great strategy for building trust;
• streamlining page content and removing FAQs from this page template; and
• making the newsletter sign-up section less prominent.

A snapshot of a new collection page Montville’s Shopify 2.0 store.

3. Product pages

Similarly, on product pages there wasn’t enough emphasis on product photography and the path to purchase was unclear. On mobile, a long scroll was required before reaching the Add to Cart CTA, which could have been jeopardising conversions.

The use of colour and iconography, however, was something we identified as wanting to keep in Montville’s new-look 2.0 store.

An example of a product page on Montville’s previous Shopify store.

We addressed our product page concerns by:

• emphasising the buying path and moving the CTA above the fold;
• highlighting subscription options; and
• making product photography more prominent, ensuring that the first image is always a photo of the product.

As the image below shows, we retained the colourful blocks, creating on-page elements that emulate tasting cards. The short and snappy copy, paired with on-brand icons, is an engaging way to communicate key product information without overwhelming shoppers.

A snapshot from the new version of the ‘The Curator’ product page, after the move to Shopify 2.0.

Consulting on and implementing a new Shopify tech stack

We leveraged our experience working with other coffee ecommerce brands to architect a new, integrated tech stack for Montville. This consolidated Shopify tech stack will allow for seamless data flow across solutions, whilst improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Recharge

We migrated Montville’s subscription data from Bold to Recharge, a subscription management solution that we believe will scale with the company as it grows thanks to advanced subscription functionality.

Okendo

Okendo’s review functionality will enable Montville to capture and showcase user generated content, which works to build trust amongst would-be consumers. We talk more about this in our article on social proof.

An example of two Okendo-powered reviews on the new Montville site.

Reviews also act as a window into the brand’s customer base – providing useful insights for the Montville team, as Project Manager Namira explains:

“By creating custom attributes for reviews, Montville can learn more about their customers. For example, the product reviews ask questions about a consumer’s age range, brewing method and state. It will be useful for the team to analyse these reviews, draw out trends and then use these insights to inform product and marketing strategies.”

We also implemented Okendo Quizzes, which will allow the Montville team to inspire shoppers with personalised product recommendations, whilst capturing valuable zero-party data that can be leveraged throughout the customer journey. Creating a guided shopping experience with a product quiz can help to boost conversion rates and increase sales.

Klaviyo

Another key solution in Montville’s new tech stack is marketing automation platform Klaviyo, which enables brands to connect with customers seamlessly across channels.

We integrated Okendo and Klaviyo to automate the review capture process and provide increased personalisation across customer communication. In this case, two weeks after their purchase, customers will be sent an automated email requesting a product review.

Littledata

This is the marketing-leading provider of GA tracking solutions for ecommerce brands on Shopify. We often recommend Littledata to our clients because of the way it enriches data coming from Shopify to GA4.

With a simple integration, you can get full visibility in GA4 on who your customers are, where they’re coming from, and how they’re behaving on your site. And all with out-of-the-box server-side tracking, with zero maintenance required.

What happens next for Montville Coffee?

With an upgraded Shopify store now part of their business armoury, the Montville team will be turning their attention to paid ad strategies to help market their beautiful new site and increase ecommerce revenue.

Speaking of next steps, Kevin Fraikin, the company’s Executive Director, commented:

“We are really excited to grow our online sales, improving our margins and building a far higher dollar per kilogram revenue stream.

“We have a great relationship with the Swanky team and are excited about what growing our ecommerce sales can do for our business over the coming year.”

Explore the Montville Coffee store here.

Upgrade your online presence with a Shopify 2.0 theme

To talk to our team about upgrading to Online Store 2.0, please get in touch and we’ll be happy to discuss your website and requirements.