Case Study: Sportsbras.ca

Sportsbras.ca is a small company that is trying to change the way women shop for sports bras. The owner, Brigitte Lessard has been selling bras since 2000 when she founded and managed the Women Sports Store with Canadian Olympic Gold Medalist, Danielle Goyette. After closing the sports store in 2003, Brigitte created www.sportsbras.ca , at the request of her customers. Brigitte used Front Page as a platform to design her own website and kept in contact with her customers through emails and a regular newsletter. The website was only a part-time business at the start.

Brigitte had been collecting email addresses since 1999. In 2005 she joined Constant Contact with a list of under 2,000 active customers. Constant Contact was chosen because it was very user-friendly and delivered a high quality newsletter.

In 2012, the owner of Sportsbras.ca met the owner of Conscious Commerce, Brandon Klayman at a live seminar offered by Constant Contact.

In early 2013 the decision was made that it was time to focus on, and seriously work to grow the business. A business plan was put together and work started on making www.sportsbras.ca a website that offered exceptional customer service along with a very personal shopping experience – and thus it became a full time business.

The website ( www.sportsbras.ca ) is “supported” by a brick and mortar fitting room located in Calgary. It also has a mobile fitting room called the “BOOBMOBILE ™” (fitting room designed inside a trailer) - the BOOBMOBILE™ is equipped to go to any location indoor or outdoor. More fitting rooms and BOOBMOBILE™(s) are in the works for other Canadian cities.

In January 2014 Brigitte approached Conscious Commerce to redesign a new website. The website needed to be visually pleasing and attractive, with professional graphics, and user-friendly to make the experience memorable for customers - but also high tech to help streamline purchases, email collection and appointment booking for the owner. The website needed to be engaging, and had to not only sell more bras but collect more emails to aid the growth of the business.

Conscious Commerce was able to achieve ALL the lofty goals set out by the owner, and it was all done in a timely fashion at a very reasonable cost. Conscious Commerce understood the needs of the company and had the expertise to integrate Constant Contact to the website in the most efficient way. On Saturday, April 12, 2014 the new website launched. It was announced through Constant Contact with a brand new professional newsletter template designed by Conscious Commerce.

By June 2014 sales started increasing! Between 2013 and 2014 SPORTSBRAS.CA saw an increase of 28.12% in internet sales .

A professionally designed Constant Contact sign-up form button was integrated on the home page to encourage customers to sign up for the Newsletter and become a VIP customer.

In early 2014 the decision was made to revamp the website to make it completely Mobile Responsive. It was discovered that an average of 63% of customers were landing on the website through a mobile device. A new platform and fully mobile responsive template was chosen. And the new website re-launched in March 2015, once again using Constant Contact.

Conscious Commerce also incorporated to the website, the client engagement platform VCita for quicker response to customer needs.

ICapture was also introduced to the business to allow the company to capture even more emails at tradeshows and events.

As of June 2015 the company has seen another increase of 57.34% in sales . For a total increase of 106.72% in internet sales since 2013 (prior to the new website designed by Conscious Commerce).

Since the new website launch, SPORTSBRAS.CA has also seen an increase of 1255 new customers on the Constant Contact customer sign-up, an increase of 31.18% , for a total of 5280 active customers (July 2015); all grown organically. A monthly Welcome Email is sent to every single customer with information about the company and everything we do, and a discount offer for becoming a VIP Customer. This email has had an opening rate of 68.5% since January 2015!

Brigitte also started a new women’s group called WOMEN TALK which is sponsored by SPORTSBRAS.CA and it is growing very quickly. Both of the companies are about “supporting” women and will promote one another through Constant Contact Newsletter and emails.

The company uses social media but Constant Contact was the crucial tool that kept the company connected to its customers for 10 years, until the owner was ready to focus on and grow the business. It will continue to be a crucial tool that will help build a very strong community of Canadian women. Constant Contact made it possible to stay connected with customers over the years, and was, and continues to be, a very important part of the success of the new website.

With the large increase in email contacts, a new monthly newsletter format is now in the works. The new format will keep customers engaged and allow for the sharing of valuable information. It will also include articles from other related professionals and will help create a real sense of community for all the women involved. Constant Contact will become an even more important connective part of the business.

History

1999 - Women Sports Store incorporated

2003 - Women Sports Store closed

- www.SPORTSBRAS.CA website created

2005 - Joined Constant Contact

2008 - Constant Contact All Star Award

2011 - Constant Contact All Star Award

2012 - Constant Contact All Star Award

2014 - New Website

-Internet sale increase of 28.12%

2015 - Mobile Responsive website

-Internet sale increase of 57.34%

Constant Subscribers

2005 2194

2006 2565

2007 2479

2008 2773

2009

2010 2878

2011 2886

2012 3895

2013 4025

2014 4913

2015 5280 – Increase of 31.18% since new website