DTC Lessons: How to increase site conversion with Trellis

Each week, we're chatting to an expert in the eCommerce space to share their wisdom on building a resilient DTC brand in 2022 and beyond. This week we're handing the mic to Isaiah Bollinger, CEO at Trellis. Trellis are a full service digital agency combining expertise in marketing & web design with data driven strategies to traffic, engagement & conversion for DTC merchants.

Take it away Isaiah…

Interview with Isaiah Bollinger, CEO at Trellis

Let us know your role and what you do day to day.

CEO of Trellis! I work with the leaders of Trellis to become the best eCommerce agency possible.

It’s a tough year for eCommerce. Which area should DTC brands be focusing their time and efforts towards, and why?

I believe they should be focusing on unit economics. Maximizing margins on their cost of goods, logistics costs, operations costs, software costs, marketing costs etc. Now is the time to get hyper-efficient and cut wasteful spending. Many things can be automated and improved so that you can invest more in better customer experience.

At Trellis you help leading brands to grow and scale. Can you give us 2 success stories with DTC brands. 

One of our clients Maiden Home had significant trouble with the complexity of their business and making that work online. They had two agencies that made the process disjointed and difficult to scale. By consolidating all efforts to Trellis, they were able to get far more done and scale the website and back office systems to reach new heights.

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Another client, SusieCakes, had a complex vision to get same-day delivery to their customers. Trellis helped them with a phased approach to migrate to a better platform in phase 1, improve the user experience in phase 2, and is currently improving operations in phase 3!

You specialize in scaling DTC brands - what piece of advice would you give to DTC brands who want to improve their conversion rates? 

The number one thing that will help improve conversion rates is to make your shipping far more transparent and cost-effective to the end user. So, for instance, show delivery dates and multiple options, and make the entire logistics journey far more clear from start to finish in terms of product page level updates to post checkout confirmation emails.

What are the biggest trends you’re seeing right now in DTC? Which of these should brands jump on, and which should they avoid?

I think the DTC brands that are embracing first-party data are winning. Meaning they are getting email sign-ups, SMS, account sign-ups, quiz data, and much more actually to get to know their customers. They can then use this data to be much more personalized and thoughtful. 

If you could tell DTC brands to stop making one mistake, what would it be?

1. Stop ignoring your analytics and turn them into actionable data-driven decisions.
2. Test, test, and test some more. 
3. Leverage your Partner, Success Manager, at Shopify, Klaviyo, Yotpo (etc) and/or the Partner Manager at your agency. They are the experts and can help audit your account and find areas of optimization.

Complete the sentence: DTC brands that survive and thrive in 2022 will ____.

.... “Balance their merchandising efforts with thoughtful marketing and user experience backed by efficient operations.”

Who are 3 people in the eCommerce ecosystem you look up to and recommend everyone should follow?

1. Rick Watson
2. Paul Do Forno
3. Phillip Jackson

Thanks Isaiah! Where can we hear more from yourself & Trellis?

You can find out more about Trellis via our website, and you can follow me on Linkedin!