CMO & Chief Digital Officer AAXIS | 2012 – 2018
THE GOAL
KEEN wanted to increase DTC sales in an effort to drive top-line growth, improve margins and build direct relationships with their community of passionate consumers.
While increasing ecommerce sales, KEEN also wanted to minimize channel conflict with key retailers, such as REI, Zappos, Amazon and others.
THE SOLUTION
Working with KEEN’s CEO, CMO and CFO, I led the strategy and full execution of the following:
- Strategy – Revised DTC channel strategy, based on market analysis and brand strength, that allowed KEEN to grow DTC sales while minimizing sales impact to any single retailer.
- Operations – Fixed DTC inventory challenges, to equally support KEEN’s DTC sales channel and 3rd party retailers, as online sales opportunities were frequently missed due to majority of product being reserved for retail channel.
- Acquisition – Introduced formal SEO program to increase non-pad traffic, as paid advertising was seen as a threat to channel partners.
- Conversion – Improved overall website usability, allowing customers to more easily browse products, with changes to information architecture, site search, navigation, and product merchandising.
- Retention – Unified social media with ecommerce, creating a flow from authentic user stories to products users could buy online.
THE RESULTS
- Total YOY sales increased by $700k
- Sales from SEO increased by 65% YOY, boosting organic traffic by 30%
- Conversion rates increased 16% and average order values improved by 12%, due to website user experience changes