I’ve done quite a few case study guides, and this was certainly another fun one to do. If you’ve been in the world of eCommerce, then you’ll certainly recognise some of the brands mentioned in these case studies, as well as many of the tools/platforms that helped them achieve some awesome results.
What are some of the key things to look out for when reading through these Shopify case studies?
There are numerous things you can find (and hopefully some golden nuggets) that can help stimulate new ideas/strategies for your own brand’s growth. Make sure to keep an eye out (and make notes of):
- Performance results (backed with data) - what led to increased performance?
- What key elements made the campaign? This is especially relevant for design-improvement studies (like CRO)
- Do they disclose budgets/ROI?
- Specific tactics they implemented
- What tools/technology did they use to help with setup, implementation, etc?
Without further ado, my Shopify marketers/founders, let’s dive into these awesome case studies.
1. Pura Vida Bracelets made over $1 million by using web push notifications
(Image credit: Firepush)
Pura Vida Bracelets used a low-touch web push strategy to generate $1.4 million in revenue, which helped put their total return on investment at 106x.
Key takeaways I noted:
- Pura Vida Bracelets implemented automated web push campaigns, including key welcome messages and the use of product recommendations (with personalisation).
- The company also used web push notifications to upsell and cross-sell products, resulting in an average order value increase of 11.7%.
- By maximising notifications during promotions and sale seasons, such as Black Friday, they were able to grab the attention of buyers with money to spend immediately.
2. Ruby Olive, a jewellery company, increased their revenue by 500%
Ruby Olive partnered with Zipify to increase their revenue by optimising Shopify pages.
Key takeaways:
- They focused on creating great outlines and experiences so customers would want to stay on key pages longer.
- Facebook ads were also utilised to boost visibility and publicity, including using creative media formats such as videos and testimonials were highlighted to capture attention.
- Over the long term, this doubled sales year-on-year, on top of the 500% jump in revenue.
3. Jenny Craig, a food subscription business in Australia, turned to Shopify to debut its online store
Jenny Craig used Shopify Plus to help customers build the custom menu experience they’ve gotten used to in on-site stores.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They implemented features such as a personalised meal plan, easy-to-use checkout, and live chat support to make the customer journey more seamless.
- Online stores were also integrated with their offline locations to create a more omni-channel experience for customers.
4. LSKD, an awesome athletic apparel brand, used a mobile app to increase revenue by nearly 50%
(Image credit: Tapcart)
LSKD partnered with Tapcart to launch their mobile app and drive sales, where they incentivised customers by giving discounts and exclusive limited-time offers purchases to promote the app.
Key takeaways I noted:
- The team added features like product recommendations, personalised promotions, and a loyalty program to encourage repeat purchases.
- Optimisation of the app's speed and performance to reduce load times improved the overall user experience.
- This ultimately resulted in higher conversion rates on the app than on the website.
5. This famous coffee company doubled their conversion rate after moving to Shopify
Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf improved their UI/UX experience to improve their attractiveness to their consumer base.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They particularly targeted their subscription program as it drives repeat sales.
- Adding features like customisable subscription options, a loyalty program, and a refer-a-friend program drove more purchases.
- Their team also optimised the checkout process to make it easier for customers to manage and modify their subscriptions.
6. This online store increased its abandonment recovery rate by 45%
ShopPhone partnered with Chubby's to create a text message marketing campaign to recover abandoned carts.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They offered a discount to customers who left items in their cart, which resulted in a 10% conversion rate.
- The campaign was optimised by implementing an abandoned cart sequence and adding urgency to the messaging.
- As a result, the conversion rate increased even further to 55%.
7. Battlbox, a tactical gear subscription store, used A/B testing to increase sales
Battlbox optimised their Shopify page to make sure they’re making the most out of their approach.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They tested different variations of their product pages, checkout process, and pricing structure to identify the most effective combination.
- Through these tests, they found that simplifying the pricing structure and using clear, bold font on their product pages resulted in the highest conversion rates.
- They also implemented an exit intent pop-up to capture email addresses and incentivised sign-ups with a discount offer.
- A complete site redesign increased the brand's attractiveness to the relevant audience.
8. This health supplement brand increased its revenue by almost 70% after an iOS update
iOS 14 hindered the marketing performance of Obvi, so they worked with Triple Whale to get more specific information that would help their brand.
Key takeaways I noted:
- Their Facebook ads became more efficient as they made decisions backed by data, decreasing CPA by almost 50%.
- They also optimised their reporting as automation came into the picture, saving them over 2,500 hours of manual work.
9. This makeup mirror brand increased their engagement by 1 million within 9 months
(Image credit: Pagefly)
Vanity Table faced various challenges, such as low traffic, low conversion rates, and high cart abandonment rates.
Key takeaways I noted:
- To tackle these issues, the store owner made changes to the website's design and optimised the checkout process.
- She tweaked the layouts and improved the UI/UX, going as far as adding better graphics.
- The bounce rate diminished by half, and the conversion rate was doubled.
10. A jewellery brand named Lily Charmed increased return customers by 40% over one year
Lily Charmed implemented social proof tools such as photo reviews, wishlists, and social login.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They rewarded customers with discounts whenever they left reviews, driving hundreds of reviews to come in.
- This helped them stand out even in Google Shopping.
- Growave's marketing tools ultimately helped them improve repeat purchase rates and implement key social proof features pretty quickly.
11. Tush Bidet increased sales by hundreds of thousands just by optimising one page
Tushy Bidet teamed up with ReConvert to optimise their post-purchase thank-you page and upsell customers.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They just added product recommendations and upsold offers on the thank-you page, making sure they’re personalised to the customer.
- This made the customer journey more seamless and helped people pull the trigger on their purchases.
- As a result, Tushy Bidet saw a 174,000% return on their initial investment with ReConvert.
12. Florence by Mills doubled their conversion rate by using a quiz
Florence by Mills partnered with Octane AI to create AI product recommendation quizzes that helped customers find products best suited for their skin type and interests.
Key takeaways I noted:
- Florence by Mills provided exclusive discounts off the back of the personalised AI quiz maker, highlighting to those who completed the quiz with offers, such as first access to new products and the ability to make purchases directly.
- The brand also used the bot to provide personalised recommendations and upsell products based on the customer's purchase history.
- Utilising this quiz strategy helped increase Florence by Mills’ average order value and conversion rate.
13. This home decor brand increased its AOV by over 50% (and 32x ROI)
To increase customer spending, Lush Décor used PickyStory to create complete looks, combo products, and customer build-your-own bundles.
Key takeaways I noted:
- This allowed the brand to easily manage inventory, assign discounts, and display deals anywhere across their store.
14. Allbirds launched a store locator for improved CX
Allbirds was looking to develop an application that would allow them to offer a unique shopping experience to their customers.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They partnered with Hydrogen to create a store locator that maps out their 50 stores in over 30 nations.
- Launching after less than just a month, the team was able to move forward with some of their more business-based goals.
15. A/B testing helped this jewellery retailer increase conversions by 300%
(Image credit: Justuno)
The GLD Shop used A/B testing to analyse their website's performance and tested various pop-up strategies to target potential customers.
Key takeaways I noted:
- Through the implementation of personalised messaging and smart targeting, the GLD Shop saw an increase in its conversion rate by 300%.
- They also used better images, larger pop-ups, and better contrasting colours to visually appeal to the consumer.
16. ReserveBar saw an ROI of over 25x after optimising its approach
ReserveBar partnered with Attentive to grow its SMS marketing channel and increase conversions.
Key takeaways I noted:
- Through Attentive’s segmentation and targeting features, ReserveBar could send relevant and personalised messages to subscribers.
- They also implemented a two-tap sign-up feature to grow their SMS subscriber list.
- As a result, ReserveBar saw a 16% higher AOV delivered by SMS as compared to paid social media marketing.
- Bounce rates also decreased by 12%.
17. Four Sigmatic, a wellness brand, increased its subscribers by improving the experience
Four Sigmatic needed to improve its customer communication channels to promote its subscription services and increase revenue, so it partnered with UpScribe.
Key takeaways I noted:
- UpScribe helped Four Sigmatic by optimising their email marketing campaigns and implementing a pop-up for their website.
- With the pop-up, they were able to collect more email subscribers.
- Meanwhile, the optimised email campaigns helped increase their active subscriber rate by 50%.
18. Siksilk, a British fashion brand, improved its search capabilities to improve conversion rates
Nosto has provided an eCommerce personalisation platform for Siksilk for years now, but SikSilk has been looking to improve performance further.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They shifted to improving personalised product recommendations, dynamic onsite content, and personalised emails.
- However, it was the integration of an improved search engine optimisation that allowed the customer experience to thrive, as pain points in relevancy were reduced.
- This diminished site exits and increased their conversion rate by 25%.
19. Fabletics doubled their revenue by improving search functionality
Fabletics partnered with Searchspring to improve their website's search and navigation experience.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They banked on features like predictive search, typo tolerance, and the ability to search by product attributes to help customers find what they were looking for.
- The team also added refinements and filters to improve CX/UX.
- As a result, Fabletics saw a 21% increase in their AOV.
- Additionally, Searchspring provided Fabletics with actionable insights about their customers' behaviour and preferences, helping them make data-driven decisions about merchandising and marketing.
20. This Shopify store increased AOV by over 25%
This was done by implementing an upsell strategy using the app "In Cart Upsell".
Key takeaways I noted:
- The app enables merchants to offer relevant product recommendations to customers while they are in the checkout process.
- They created targeted upsell offers based on the customer's cart value and previous purchase history, significantly increasing their AOV.
21. City Bonfires increased sales by over $100,000 by using reviews
City Bonfires sought to increase customer engagement and social proof for their products.
Key takeaways I noted:
- So, they used Loox to collect and display customer reviews photo-first.
- City Bonfires also experienced an increase in AOV and a bump in social followers.
22. This Italian butcher online store uses SMS to maintain communication with customers
By sending targeted text messages, Macelleria Callegari saw an uptick in rev and engaged segments.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They also use SMSBump to send automated reminders about pre-orders, which has reduced the number of missed pickups.
- The ability to segment its audience has allowed the company to send personalised messages to different customer groups, such as those who prefer certain cuts of meat or specific cooking styles.
- This means that even if they don’t run an online store per se, they still get to see the benefits of this medium.
- As a result of this improvement, they made $100,000 within a hundred days.
23. An online coffee store increased its subscription revenue by 50x within 3 months
Grind experienced a significant boost in revenue after pivoting to eCommerce during the COVID lockdown.
Key takeaways I noted:
- After adding online subscriptions (after minimal online presence prior to the pandemic) and building a data stack to inform new promotion methods, Grind's business scaled to 50x revenue in just a few months.
- The company was able to accurately measure its online customer lifetime value (LTV), improve checkout flow, build customer profiles, and retarget customers using dynamic social ads.
- With this technology, Grind saw massive subscriber growth across paid and organic channels, going from £10k to £500k monthly eCommerce revenue and expanding internationally.
24. Nuun boosted its year-on-year growth by over 50% by optimising Shopify
(Image credit: Shogun)
Nuun used Shogun to create a new Shopify store with a customised checkout process.
Key takeaways I noted:
- With the new design, they increased conversions by 34%, reduced checkout time by 25%, and decreased bounce rates by 33%.
- A drag-and-drop editor allowed Nuun to create custom pages, and the "Add to Cart" CTA was moved to a more prominent position, resulting in a better user experience.
- Additionally, Shogun's custom checkout allowed them to simplify the checkout process, resulting in faster completion times and higher conversion rates.
25. This tool bags company saw a rise in AOV by 35% just by using a chatbot
Veto Pro Pac was able to increase its conversion rate and average order value by implementing a chatbot on its website.
Key takeaways I noted:
- The chatbot provided a personalised shopping experience for the customers by asking them relevant questions to understand their needs and suggesting the best products accordingly.
- This approach helped Veto Pro Pac to improve customer satisfaction and loyalty, resulting in a 50% sales increase and a 48% drop in CS tickets.
26. Prima increased SKUs purchased by almost 50%
Prima Coffee used PureClarity's AI-powered personalisation solution to improve its website's user experience and increase revenue.
Key takeaways I noted:
- The algorithms of Pure Clarity helped analyse customer behaviour data (like purchase patterns/browsing, etc), to personalise the shopping experience for each user.
- It uses real-time data to display personalised product recommendations, relevant search results, and targeted content.
- This enabled the brand to create highly targeted campaigns based on user segments, such as frequent buyers, first-time visitors, and those who abandoned their carts.
- Ultimately, they saw a 6.% increase in AOV across the board.
27. Lively boosted their customer lifetime value by 40% through loyalty programs
Lively uses LoyaltyLion to reward customers for their purchases, any referrals they make to their friends (with their unique link), and other tracked behaviours.
Key takeaways I noted:
- The program incentivises customers to refer friends, leave reviews, and follow Lively on social media and offers discounts on future purchases.
- Through this, the brand has seen an increase in customer lifetime value and engagement and a boost in customer retention.
- There was also a 21% increase in AOV.
- Additionally, they gained valuable insights into their customers' behaviour and preferences through the data collected by the platform.
28. This sports federation increased email open rates by over 20%
US Soccer wanted to increase its engagement with fans and improve their overall experience.
Key takeaways I noted:
- To achieve this, they built a comprehensive, data-driven marketing strategy that allowed them to personalise messages and content for each individual fan.
- They used customer data to identify high-value segments and delivered targeted messages through email, push notifications, and SMS.
- In the process, they were able to improve the relevance and timeliness of their messages, resulting in higher engagement and retention rates.
- The federation also saw a significant increase in ticket sales and merchandise purchases and a boost in overall revenue.
29. This audio store improved its new user acquisition by 12% using a referral program
BoAt created a referral program with InviteReferrals, offering a discount to customers who referred friends to the store.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They set up a targeted email campaign to announce the referral program, and the program was also promoted on the website and social media channels.
- This led to a 30% increase in online engagement and a 7% increase in sales.
30. Incu, a fashion retailer, boosted their sales by 300% after improving their online engagement
(Image credit: Shopify)
Incu already operates both brick-and-mortar stores and an online store powered by Shopify Plus, but they wanted to take things to the next level.
Key takeaways I noted:
- They then leveraged Shopify Plus features such as customisable checkout, wholesale, and multi-currency support to offer a seamless shopping experience to customers in Australia and internationally.
- The company also used integrations with tools like Recharge and Klaviyo to manage subscriptions and email marketing.
- The conversion rate improved by 15% and the average session engagement was boosted by 91%.
31. Seafolly changed up its platform to support its company growth
Seafolly was already a brand known worldwide, but it came to the point that its existing structure could no longer support its growth.
Key takeaways I noted:
- The company had been facing several challenges, including a lack of control over its product data, poor visibility into inventory levels, manual order processing, and poor data management.
- So, they selected Comestri to integrate their technology stack and unify their eCommerce channels.
- Comestri helped Seafolly to streamline its workflows, gain greater visibility into its operations, and optimise the customer experience.
- This resulted in a 60% improvement in online inventory updates, with 0 downtime.
