Upturn Growth

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a gourmet food and confectionery gifting business with our own brand sold through some of the best known department stores in the world. I am the owner and CEO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Upturn Growth?

For many years our business was focused on sales through our retail partners with little going through own web site. During the pandemic we experienced a surge on our direct to consumer sales through own web site but noticed a slow down when things began to get back to normal. We wanted to continue growing our own ecommerce sales through our own web site and and hired Upturn to first develop our ecommerce strategy and then help us implement it by managing our inhouse team

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched for several online digital strategy companies and received proposals from many. Upturn's analyses of our business, approach and past experience but more importantly their data driven approach led us to choose them as our partner.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Upturn first audited our web site as well as all of our social media and third party sales channels. They went on to identify all the gaps in our arsenal from design shortcomings to technical ones as well as our digital marketing efforts. After the audit, the first thing they did was to ensure we have our data collection and analytics set up correctly. They then proposed a strategy and set up targets, milestones and regular monitoring of data so that as we implemented they recommendations we were able to see the results almost real time and together with their help able to adjust what we did to better the results. Once the initial heavy lifting was done , Upturn provided ongoing monitoring and implementation support to ensure the strategy put in place was actioned and remained effective

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with Upturns CEO Cenk as well as their marketing guru Gozde. Upturn also introduced us to contractors as and when needed

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Thanks to the strategy implemented, we were able to double our conversion rates, reduce our bounce rates, increase our traffic all of which led to increases sales with no additional increase in advertising costs

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very, Upturn organised online project management tools with very clear work streams for all team members. We also had regular scheduled meetings at least once a week though in reality Cenk was available pretty much any time one of us needed to get in touch. Communication was smooth and reliable. Even during holidays we were able to reach Cenk if we needed to

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They are experts at what they do with many years of experience but I felt that they are also on top of all new technologies and trends. For me though what was most impressive was how they were so analytical and were able to back everything up with data

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I think it took them a while to get some industry specific know how when researching our competitors which meant this took a bit longer than was originally planned but with feedback from us it was a relatively quick fix and worked out really well

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work as a E-Commerce Group Manager in Marks & Spencer and Aeropostale Turkiye for more than 6 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Upturn Growth, and what were your goals?

We were trying to increase conversion rates on our online channel and wanted to position our social media channels as one of the main acquisition channels for our Ecommerce. We decided to work with the company for their CRO and social media services for their case studies before and consult digital marketing strategy.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

After doing research and shortlisted, we have invited four companies and wanted them to prepare a summary of the audit for M&S ecommerce and social media accounts. Upturn Growth's preparation deck was so professional and seemed to pay attention. We have selected them according to their audit, experience and domain knowledge.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and marking tools used.

They have prepared an advanced audit document for the analytics and marketing part of our eCommerce and developed a digital marketing strategy including acquisition, retention and some tactical ideas for conversion both for uplifting sales and creating awareness on social media channels.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We mainly worked with a data analyst, growth marketing expert and marketing consultant.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our in-house marketing and ecommerce team has started to work on optimisation iwth Upturn Growth consultancy based on their audit and strategy reports. We have uplifted our conversation rates significantly YoY and our social media channels bounce rate decreased and became an important part of our sales acquisition funnel.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

One of the most potent aspects was their workflow and process management. We'd have meetings online and also by email. Additionally, they used kanban project management tools to update all the progress and send us weekly/monthly update reports.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have both analytical and strategical know-how with many years of marketing experience. Hence, once we've started working with them, they understood our brands, needs, and barriers very quickly and immediately created solutions.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No