Sam operates a family regenerative farm in Brenham, TX where for the last seven years has sold grassfed beef, pastured pork, chicken and some of the best eggs you’ll ever eat. When we first met, he was on a legacy e-commerce platform, only shipping within Texas and was starting to build a strong following on Instagram documenting his journey on the farm.
We got to work and established a few goals
We started with a full migration over to Shopify where I helped lead the site design, product organization and introduction of offers.
The biggest focus here was designing something that clearly defined the high quality nature of all Shirttail products while also providing a frictionless customer experience from product identification to check out. Before truly scaling the business, we needed to create a shipping experience that was both enjoyable for the customer and profitable for the business.
All shipping and operations remained on site, but what to charge for shipping was a consistent balance. Over charge and nobody buys. Under charge and lose money on each order.
We ended up deciding on a regional tier approach where the further you live from Texas, the more you pay. Plus a 2 Day shipping option to get delivered ASAP.
One of the most effective ways for Sam to sell product was sending out emails highlighting updates from the farm and family. His emails felt like an honest behind the scenes perspective of daily life, so email became a big priority to keep customers informed. I lead the plans to expand emails with automation flows and weekly email campaigns.
We started with the typical flows every e-commerce business needs. Welcome, abandoned cart, browse abandonment and abandoned checkout. But after looking more closely there were some key parts of the customer journey that could be improved with email. Products frequently sell out so we built a back in stock flow that would let customers know once the product is back in stock.
They sell several large quantity products that would take weeks to eat so I designed a winback flow that followed up with those customers after 45 days to see if they’d like to reorder. On the campaign side, we kept it very straightforward and simple: one email every week at 4pm on Thursday from Sam. This consistency has become a core part of the business where customers go to place an order from the farmers market, see the best deals of the week and stay in touch with a local rancher who is busting his ass to provide the highest quality product possible.
From the beginning, it was clear their most loyal customers are hyper focused on their health.
With all the misinformation today, many of these customers rely on content creators to help educate on the best health solutions including what to eat. We expanded the relationship with some of the largest podcasts, influencers and Twitter thought leaders to educate them on our products to create effective content.
Outside of recommendations from a friend, this is now the leading source of new business for Shirttail Creek - I’ve had the opportunity to be at the farm before and it’s truly an amazing place. You can even book a stay at their Airbnb if you want to see for yourself!
