Case Studies


Lanson Running
www.lansonrunning.com

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Background
Lanson Running are a relatively new but growing sports retailer specialising in the dynamic and fast moving running sector. Currently they have one shop (with plans for more) and an increasingly important web based sales presence. Sales from the web are and will continue to be important and will play a key role in the future growth of the company.

The on-line running sector is both crowded – with several well known and long established brands - and extremely competitive. Added to this is an underlying reluctance on the part of the consumer to buy clothes and shoes on line without trying them on.

Issues
Whilst the Lanson site performed reasonably well on natural search, analytics suggested that the conversion rate (visits to sales) could be improved. However, the budget was limited and this constrained what could be done.
 
Actions
SmartGrowth working with the client audited both the Lanson site as well as the competition.
Key points were:

  • On opening the home pages Lanson and the competitor sites were visually largely interchangeable
  • Similar looking and undifferentiated propositions meant that the better known competitors were perceived as more ‘reliable’ and eased consumer concerns about buying online
  • In the absence of clear propositions price became an important factor
The objective was to make simple yet compelling amendments to the Lanson home page that quickly gave customers confidence in the brand and encouraged sales.

The changes included:
  • Developing and communicating a clear, competitive and differentiated proposition for Lanson Running which created stand out from the competition
  • Add value to the Lanson offering by increasing the prominence of existing customer benefits on the home page and make a good case for visitors to buy.
These included:
  • Free delivery and returns for all items
  • Seven point customer guarantee
  • Highlighting customer testimonials which instils consumer confidence
  • A clear call to action
 
Results
e-commerce sales conversion rates rose by 0.7% which represented 45% improvement in sales
This was achieved in the face of a postal strike PLUS with a negligible amount of money spent on the site.