DTC Lessons: eCommerce strategy secrets with Wiro

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 Tom Rees, serial-founder in the eCommerce space who leads WIRO, TOAT and Clay Studios. 

Take it away Tom…

Interview with Tom Rees, Founder at WIRO, TOAT and Clay Studios. 

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

I'm the founder of WIRO, TOAT & Clay, my day-to-day is full of chatting with new and existing clients, onboarding new projects and retainers. 

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

With annual increases and rising costs of CPA and ROAS down, it makes sense for ecom brands to leverage their focus and investment into retention and increasing conversion onsite – by improving CX in key ecom areas. Micro-enhancements and small decimal percentages to conversion, can have huge financial reward to merchants.  

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

We work with Piglet in Bed, to drive sales among other objectives. A project we worked in particular, recently - was a bundle builder, designing and implementing product upsells and add-ons - to increase the AOV. We increased AOV from £137 to £176.

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We designed and built for Eat Sleep Live, who came to us looking to build on Shopify 2.0 after working with another Shopify Plus agency, who unfortunately hadn’t delivered. After 6 months of building, our newly designed site (which followed core design principles and best practices) managed to increase their AOV by 20%, Returning Customer Rate by 127% and increase conversion rate by a whopping 43%, post launch.

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

We see a lot of brands assuming their site is intuitive because internally they know how to use it and the value of their products. My advise would be to annually hire some users to complete several actions of your site, with a recorded walkthrough of their journey with a voice over. Seeing it through their eyes will help you get perspective on what makes and breaks their buying experience!

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

• Bundle builders - great for increasing AOV and making the product feel more customised the consumer
• Monogramming & Personalisation - Awesome for customising the product to feel unique to YOU and perfect for gifting
• Moving to Shopify 2.0 - Whilst the change got made from Shopify over 18 months ago, its staggering the amount of brands we talk to and support, that haven’t got a 2.0 optimised theme that could be benefiting internally from using component and modular blocks, metafields better 

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

Stop allocating budgets to low hanging fruit that doesn’t move the needle on conversion. Think about what’s really going to improve your CX, and the return of undertaking different initiatives - not just on what’s top on your list of bug bears on the site! 

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

Double down on their eCommerce Strategy, planning and execution – without taking their foot off the pedal. Stick to the plan and trust the process!

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

1. Paul Rogers at Vervaunt
2. Tim Richardson at Your Basket is Empty 
3. Tim Masek at 1-800-D2C

Thanks Tom! Where can we hear more from yourself & Wiro?

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