Advanced Ecommerce Techniques: Presented by Irish Titan

In today’s ecommerce environment, competition can sometimes seem omnipresent and can bear a burden on all levels. With the addition of rising customer acquisition costs the pressure is mounting, forcing businesses to adapt to survive. As anyone who has ever ventured to create something new knows, the answers can often come too little too late. Things in retrospect seem to make perfect sense, but never in the midst of action. 

All the optimism in the world cannot compensate for a lack of direction. Oftentimes, it's not any singular factor that holds us back, but the aggregation of many. Some of the most informed players in the ecommerce space happen to be agencies who specialize in all things ecommerce and digital marketing. They are recognized as masters of execution and strategy, making them a reliable partner.

This article is dedicated to those agencies who have demonstrated authenticity, skill, and a history of success. We find it true that when we happen upon a great idea, we tend to see some of the most lasting and long term effects. A strong foundation empowers us to compound on what we can trust, and only a few agencies compare to Irish Titan.

The Defining Values of Irish Titan - POTIS

Any successful organization begins from within, namely the values that they represent and accept as being self-evident. These values have a way of manifesting themselves in the end result. Passion could very well be the most critical of the five Irish Titan values, as the impetus to their success.

• Passion - One fire from inside
• Ownership - Carry your own bag
• Teamwork - If you want to go far, go together
• Impact - Run the ball north and south
• Skills - No amateurs allowed

The Irish Titan Approach

“Start with Why” - Simon Sinek

What makes employees and customers believe in a company? Simon Sinek proposed that the answer lies in its purpose. At the heart of the problem is an emotional core or “The Golden Circle'' which substantiates all the reasons why people engage with a business. He believes that this represents the foundation of an organization; a theme that is continuously revisited. In Irish Titan’s words, here is their golden circle. 

The Why: Business First. Online Second.℠

The big one. Marketing maven, Sinek was the first to explore the “Start with Why” concept and “The Golden Circle” model, challenging us to examine the emotional core of what makes employees and customers buy into a company. It’s not about the bits and bytes, the pixels, or the keywords. It’s about solving a real business problem for our clients. We don’t do cool stuff for cool stuff’s sake. We’re listening to the client, getting to know their business and their growth strategies, and then and only then, are suggesting the online strategies and activities that we know so well. We believe in it so much, we have it trademarked℠.

The How: Partnerships, Not Transactions.

We could just take people's money and walk away, but that's pretty greasy. Not our style. If we're in the trenches with our clients, you better believe that we're forging lasting relationships with them. We do this through our Diamond Model (no bowtie model, never a bowtie model). We're in business for a partner, not for a transaction. We're not here to nickel and dime our clients, we're here to work shoulder-to-shoulder with them to grow their businesses.

The What: Build & Grow Ecommerce Channels

Somehow, this is the simple one. We BUILD ecommerce channels (read, websites) using Shopify, BigCommerce, and Shopware. We've been doing this for years, working on sites big and small. We love the nitty-gritty, the connections, the minutiae of it all. We also GROW ecommerce channels. We like to say "Build it and no one is coming”, you have to tell them you built something." Our performance marketing digs into real-time data to drive powerful creative and marketing outcomes.

Taking a peek at the Irish Titan Process

In a commitment to authenticity, the Irish Titan Process follows very precise steps to deliver consistent results. This process ensures that their work has real long-term viability and continues to improve as the situation changes.

01. Discover

We've never been accused of being quiet BUT we love to listen. It might be our most important skill. We learn about your business (with some serious active listening). We're looking for pain, potential obstacles, and your exact goals for the project. You tell the tale, we'll write it down.

02. Plan

After a lot of listening, it's time for some action. Outlining, drafting, ideating, all that kind of stuff. If we're building a castle, this is the blueprint stage (or green print as we call it). We hand you a Master Greenprint that covers all your pain, obstacles, and goals that we heard. It also covers responsibilities, budget, and delivery timeline.

03. Execute

Somehow, this is the easy part. We know how your business works, we've felt your pain, we have a plan. Now we just execute the plan. It's so simple. We bring our full suite of engineering, creative, and ecommerce strategists to build that castle big and strong. Your project is managed...by a project manager (huh, that makes sense). They make sure we hit that timeline and budget to a T. After that, it's all about growing the kingdom.

04. Iterate

Think it stops there? We’re just getting started. This lovely process kicks off a cycle that never ends, we’re rolling up our sleeves and digging in, kilt to kilt with you. We’re driving actionable improvements to your site, we’re suggesting new marketing approaches, and we’re carrying these changes out. We’re ready to roll back into the discovery process on the next phase.

The Irish Titan Strengths

Titan Only Model

We do 100% of our work with only our Titans, no freelancers, contractors, or offshore resources. It's partly culture, and partly that the best work happens when everyone's working shoulder to shoulder. This one is non-negotiable, a sacred cow. We're not only different because of it, but better because of it.

High Touch, Full Service, Deep Expertise

We have rich ecommerce experience. We’ve been doing it for more than 20 years, forging deep bonds with partners that are also in it for the long haul. We’re all about a ‘green-glove’ experience (like a white glove, but better). 

Unlike Dev Shops…

• Irish Titan has crazy design skills and mad performance marketing chops. We like seeing the whole picture, end to end. We’re no one-trick pony, we have so many tricks. 
• Full UX/UI, including Design and Creative 
• Performance Marketing, including SEO, Email, Paid Media, Conversion Rate Optimization 
• Content Creation and Copywriting 
• Omnichannel Strategy and Management 

Unlike Marketing Shops…

• Irish Titan has crazy dev skills. We’ll make things pretty, but more importantly, we’ll solve problems. That’s Business First. Online Second.℠
• Front and Back-End Development 
• Platform Migrations
• Data Hygiene and Migration 
• Extensive Integration Experience 
• Scoping and Requirements Definition 
• Support, Maintenance, and Hosting

Irish Titan: Keys to Ecommerce Domination

Know your customer through and through. The basis of a great brand is a great understanding of your customer’s wants and needs. 

• Talk to customers on the phone, pour through customer service complaints, understand their pain and pleasure to deliver the best products to them. A good place to start is with some of your highest-value customers!
• All the best projects start with plenty of axe sharpening. Take the time to INVEST in understanding your audience.

Building a rock solid ecommerce store that functions well for all, is a pleasure to use, and delights your customers.

• This looks like a great foundation for user experience. Make sure your website is easy to navigate and checkout. Then (and only then) make it sing your brand on every page.
• UX/UI isn’t an afterthought or ‘making it pretty’. It’s the difference between a high converting site and one that’s left behind.

Investing in performance marketing to drive customer acquisition, conversion, and retention. “Build it and they will come” is a silly phrase. “Build it and no one knows you built it” is much more likely. Tell people you built it. 

This includes paid media advertising on Google, social channels like Meta or LinkedIn, SEO management like keyword research and targeting, and rich content marketing like video, social, owned media, and more.

We suggest usually holding 20-30% (depending on the industry) for marketing a new site and the other 70-80% for a new site build. Those two budgets should be thought of completely separately, they’re BOTH important for your success.

The “Buy” button is just the start of the process. The cost of acquiring a new customer can be 4-5x higher than retaining a good customer. Nurture the relationship with people that have purchased from you, they’re worth their weight in gold.

Nurture these buyers with loyalty programs, early access or discounts on new products coming soon, product recommendations on their purchases, or access to VIP experiences.

All good things take time. This isn’t a process that’s done in 6 months, the best brands are working at this forever. There’s no finish line for ecommerce, there’s just bigger and better.

We asked one of our best and brightest clients: Answers She’d Want to Know Before Starting an Ecommerce Project. She nailed the brief, and she’s an ecommerce expert in her own right. Her suggestions are linked here.

Irish Titan Success Stories

Surdyk Liquor - Family Owned Business

Key Facts:

• BigCommerce
• Custom Development
• Responsive Design
• Complex Website
• Performance Marketing
• Food and Beverage

The Surdyk family has been serving the community of Northeast Minneapolis since 1934. Over the years they’ve managed to cultivate a reputation of being the food and drink lover’s go to destination. Their knowledgeable staff and superior array of liquors have been captivating customers for years garnering substantial customer loyalty.

Around 2019 they were faced with a decision. Their current ecommerce platform Mangeto was being replaced by a newer model, and they were deeply unsure if they wanted to continue operations. They realized how much time and resources they were wasting away by operating the complicated platform and they never felt in control of their online store. Ultimately, they wanted to focus on expanding their market and not trying to wrangle their store into order. It was obvious that their current ecommerce store was holding them back and that a change was needed.

How Irish Titan transformed their ecommerce store

After a consultation and complete audit, Irish Titan advised them to transition to BigCommerce. This made site changes easier and faster, while also being able to handle the thousands of SKUs that they needed. They refreshed their site with new branding and iconography, which reintroduced their website. Irish Titan also built a custom function for their POS system and introduced a loyalty app for a fully integrated experience. Irish Titan ensured their loyalty program

What results was Surdyk Liquor able to realize?

After Surdyk’s transition to BigCommerce, they realized just how much easier it was to control their online store. Their operations became more efficient and they eliminated those pesky bottlenecks that had been burdening them for so long. This change also helped them strengthen their identity with unified branding across all their touchpoints and channels. What truly elevated Surdyk from competitors was their loyalty program that enriched their customer experience.

+19.14% Sessions / +23.45% Conversion Rate / +48.91% Revenue / 60-80% Open Rates for Loyalty Emails

Keller Heartt Lubricants - 80 years in Business

Key Facts:

• Shopify
• Paid Media Management
• Ongoing Spend Optimization
• Omnichannel Management
• Development Support
• Oil and Gas

Keller Heartt has been in operation for 80 years as a full service lubrication provider in the Midwest. Keller Heartt is known as a leading oil and lubricant distributor for brands like Shell, WD-40, American Lubrication, and their own brand called TRUEGARD.

Irish Titan was tapped to solve their back-end problems and to replace the agency they were already working with. Over time Irish Titan became a trusted partner, expanding their scope of work to include PPC, email campaign management, full Shopify management, eBay and Walmart paid media management, and more.

How Irish Titan rejuvenated Keller Heartt online store

The process began with an optimization effort on their ad spending, including highly targeted industry verticals. They then introduced Klaviyo and implemented email automations that saved massive amounts of time and drove abandoned cart revenue, repeat business, and promotional deals. Irish Titan continued to manage their Shopify platform, improving their backend with better information sync across their systems.

What difference did Irish Titan make for Keller Heartt?

Since taking over Keller Heartt’s online assets, Irish Titan has continuously demonstrated excellent decision making, ad placement, and return on investment. As results rolled in, Keller Heartt awarded the Irish Titan with more and more responsibility.

+13x Return on Klaviyo first 30 days / +55% Boost in Sales / +22% Increase in AOV / +87% Sales Growth from Marketing

Northstar Bison - Grass-Fed Open Pasture Bison

Key Facts:

• Shopify Plus
• Marketing
• Website Design
• User Testing
• Performance Marketing
• Food and Beverage

‍
Northstar Bison is a Wisconsin-based bison ranching company. They raise 100% grass-fed bison on open pastures. Using their own “Zero Stress Field Harvest”, they’re able to humanely raise and harvest their bison for the highest quality and healthiest animals around.

Their company was doing well offline, but their website was holding them back. They faced issues such as high cart abandonment, poor mobile experience, and confusing user journeys. While the other areas of their business were flourishing, their online presence was seriously lacking. They needed a complete site audit, a detailed marketing assessment, to re-evaluate their customer journey, and introduce scalable integrations.

How Irish Titan transformed their website:

Shopify was a natural fit for Northstar Bison. It has both the flexibility and integrations that they needed, while being an intuitive ecommerce focused platform. After a site audit, Irish Titan was able to suggest major changes to their user experience. These included changes to their main navigation, product description pages, full checkout process, and a complete overhaul of the mobile suit. After these changs, Irish Titan suggested several additional integrations that fit their specific needs. Irish Titan continued to work closely with Northstar Bison to ensure that the best practices were followed.

What results was Northstar Bison able to realize?

Northstar Bison saw an explosion of sales. Their site literally got out of their customer’s way and the orders began to roll in. Mobile orders surged and their conversion rate doubled. The better designed checkout process required half as many pages to checkout as their past site. Their site paid for itself in just the first 5 days of operation. In the first year on Shopify, Northstar Bison doubled their next best selling year.

+136.1% Sessions / +75.27% Conversion Rates / +288.5% Revenue / -51.03% Pages per Session

White Oak Pastures - Carbon Negative Beef

Key Facts:

• Shopify Plus
• Complex Websites
• Responsive Design
• Custom Development
• Food and Beverage

White Oak Pastures was founded in 1866, specializing in regenerative agriculture. For six generations, White Oak operated a farm and general store to sell their products. As a stance against standard industry practices, White Oak pastures made carbon negative practices their priority. They coined this methodology as “Radically Traditional Farming” which makes up the foundation of their business.

During COVID-19, they noticed a surge in online sales which inspired them to take action, reaching out to Irish Titan for some much needed rejuvenation. Previously, ecommerce sales made up less than 10% of their proceeds, and a 3x increase in the first month of the pandemic forced them to reconsider its importance. They initially used Pipeline, a lesser known platform that was slow, complicated, and cost a small fortune to develop. Irish Titan was tasked with transforming their online store and turning it into their primary sales channel. 

How Irish Titan transformed their website:

White Oak Pastures relied heavily on their ERP so they needed an ecommerce platform that could combine well with their current operations. Irish Titan knew instantly that Shopify was a great fit because of its versatility. Shopify also made it possible for White Oak to manage their website on their own without the need for developer assistance. With the addition of several customizations and important integrations, they managed to create the ideal solution for their operations. Irish Titan also gave the team at White Oaks Pastures a tutorial on how to create effective landing pages with the help of Hubspot, ensuring that they could stand on their own feet.

What results was White Oak Pastures able to realize?

White Oak saw an immediate lift after transitioning to Shopify. They were able to beat the surge they saw during the pandemic with an increase in revenue and average cart size. White Oak Pastures saw potential in ecommerce during COVID and were proven true ever since then.

+28% Revenue / +18% Average Order Value / +167% Sessions / +13% Sales Attributed to Marketing

Conclusion

We consider the ecommerce industry as a competitive environment where brands are constantly looking for an advantage, often without any clear direction. Agencies such as Irish Titan have an established reputation and deliver expert guidance based on an extensive history of success. We believe that there is a winning formula and we are lucky to be hearing from one of the most trusted names in the agency space. As is the case for many agencies, we find a well defined approach in almost all areas of focus.