My client is an established, independent, family-owned business in the food and drink sector. They sell their luxury consumable products via their Shopify website, as well as through their physical shop. They take pride in sourcing premium, ethically-produced products for their loyal and discerning customers, who are based across the UK.
Like many of my clients, the owners of this brilliant independent business will not be found doing TikTok dances or pointy finger reels on Instagram. They value the personal connections and meaningful relationships that they have developed with their regular customers, and pride themselves on marketing their business in a way that is not pushy, aggressive, or overwhelming to their audience.
When I started working with this client, they already had an email subscriber list of several hundred people, fantastic quality products, and a loyal customer base. However, sales had fallen over the last year, and they wanted to inject consistent, organic growth back into the online retail side of the business.
After just 3 months of working with me, this client just had their best January ever:
Sales up 12% year-on-year
Orders up 19% year-on-year
Website sessions up 53% year-on-year
To add to that, their January sales even beat December’s!
Sales up 5%
Orders up 3%
Average order value up 4%
Website sessions up 5%
Read on to discover how I helped this fantastic client achieve these fantastic results, without relying on social media, videos, or creating masses of content.
Driving Organic Website Traffic and New Customers Through Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)
SEO does take time to start driving results. So, the first thing we did was implement an SEO strategy aimed at a select list of highly relevant keywords. This set the wheels in motion for increased search engine visibility and traffic, which would result in more new customers over time.
By choosing to target high-intent, specific keywords that directly described the products, we could attract website visitors who were actively looking to make a purchase. This meant we could turn traffic into sales more quickly.
As well as increased visibility, traffic, and sales from new customers, the SEO strategy has also helped this business to grow their email list. Website visitors are invited to subscribe to the email newsletter in exchange for a one-time 15% offer code.
Nurturing Customers and Driving Repeat Sales Through Email Marketing
As well as growing the email subscriber list, we nurtured that list through email marketing. The subscriber list is segmented into two main categories: all email subscribers, and email subscribers who have made at least one online purchase.
Each month, those subscribers who are existing customers (who have already purchased via the website) receive the monthly newsletter with an exclusive 15% offer code for a selected product. This helps to keep those loyal customers engaged, and encourages regular orders. We only send this offer code to those loyal customers, and they are the first to know about new products.
We also send regular emails to the entire subscriber list, including those who have never purchased. These emails cover seasonal events (such as Valentine’s Day, Black Friday, and Christmas), and the (very) occasional promotion or offer code.
These emails are designed to nurture potential future customers, who were interested enough to subscribe to the list, but have not yet made a purchase. Over time, these subscribers convert into first-time customers, at which point they move onto the existing customer list and receive more exclusive offers.
Increasing Profitability Organically, Consistently, and Authentically
Another aspect of my client’s strategy is aimed at increasing profitability by increasing the average order value (AOV). As well as nurturing customer loyalty through email marketing, we have made tweaks to the website to increase the AOV and profitability.
For example, we increased the free delivery threshold by £10, and increased the postage price by £1 for all orders below the new threshold. We introduced this change at the start of February, and have seen a 15% increase in the AOV so far in February.
Many customers are now ordering multiple items per order, rather than placing two smaller orders and incurring two sets of postage and packaging costs for the business. This has helped to reduce my client’s postage costs, and increase the profit margin on each order.
At a time when wholesale, postage and packaging costs are on the rise, profitability is essential. I don’t just want to deliver more sales for my clients - I want to help them grow a sustainable and profitable business that lasts.
What Comes Next?
Whilst we continue our SEO and email marketing strategy, we are looking at more ways to increase this client’s profitability and average monthly sales.
For example, I am currently supporting them with rolling out a monthly subscription option for some of their products. This is aimed at generating a regular monthly baseline of sales, which could support a reduction in wholesale costs and increase profitability.
All this, without relying on dancing TikToks, finicky social media algorithms, or constant content creation. We are simply focusing on maximising this Shopify website as a revenue-generating asset through consistent, organic, reusable content.
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About the Author
Rhiannon is an independent marketing consultant with 5 years’ experience helping growing businesses transform their websites into revenue-generating assets. She has worked with businesses in a range of sectors, from service providers in the equestrian industry to products brands in the affordable luxury market. Rhiannon helps introverted business owners liberate themselves from marketing burnout, so that they can grow their businesses authentically - without exhausting launches, constant social media visibility, or feeling like they have to be someone they're not.