New subscription based ecommerce website for Ella & Co

Entering a new, immature market can be super challenging, but MintTwist believed in Ella & Co’s concept.

Ella & Co approached MintTwist as they looked to enter the crowded pet food market with an innovative new raw food product for dogs. No easy feat.

They wanted to build an ecommerce website that was simple and easy to use, as they were one of the first to market with raw dog food, which itself has a complex, often mythical reputation.

Using a subscription model, the startup aims to offer nutritionally-complete, portion-controlled dog food, as well as inform subscribers of the benefits of raw food for the health and wellbeing of their pups.

Customers are able to create a detailed profile of their canine companion and receive their food at customized intervals, tailored specifically for those with busy lifestyles.

The end product is a wonderfully easy-to-use website design with a creative look and feel, simple sign-up process and simple, effective subscription-management area.

We built fully-bespoke, subscription-based ecommerce management technology.

Supporting Ella & Co to continually improve their website, we are helping to accelerate their growth online.

After a strategic review of the existing website, we undertook a series of updates to the website, including redesigning key elements and building a series of back-end administration improvements in their WooCommerce system.

Supporting a complex ecommerce installation presents some challenges, so it was important to us that we split the work into a series of updates based on site sections, with the user experience and conversion being the highest priority with all updates.

In a new space, gaining buyer trust is our highest hurdle. So we concentrated on creating a best-in-class user experience.

Whilst the product itself is new and generally untested in the UK market, the subscription model has become a common, tried-and-true ecommerce method.

The challenge for the user experience was to ensure the correct balance of promoting the benefits and nutritional value of a raw diet with the task of converting visitors into customers. Ample calls to action interspersed in strategic locations throughout helps nudge people in the right direction. Education about the product and its benefits was key, so it was important to balance sales calls to action–designed for conversion–with signposting to more information about the product, the manufacturing process and the health benefits for the pups who will ultimately be eating it!

Each visitor’s entire journey from first visit to navigating their subscription is accounted for, with emphasis on keeping the journey effortless and concise.

Since this product was new to market, it was a challenge keeping up with the shifting subscription business model. User testing indicated the need for some adjustments throughout the process, but our ability to rapidly iterate allowed for a super efficient change process.

Product launch and beyond

We continue to work closely with Ella & Co from a website support point of view, building on top of what we’ve already done to continue looking for opportunities for improvement.

We’re excited to continue our work in helping such a wonderful business continue to grow.