‘The number of successful tests was too low. We felt like something wasn’t quite right, the process wasn’t going the way it was supposed to be.” Looking for a new partner, Krull and his team of young and passionate data and product people discovered ClickValue in 2020. The partnership significantly boosted conversions and increased revenue.

CRO Focus

Rick Weij, Managing Consultant at ClickValue explains why the collaboration with Tamaris is such a perfect match. “We have a lot of fashion customers, so we have quite a bit of industry knowledge. Although it is different for every company, we generally know what works and what is important. We can use the insights we have gathered over the years and take them into account. Of course, we will continue to test. After all, what works for one company doesn’t necessarily have to work for another. But in general, I think our experience in this area benefits everyone involved.’

In addition to being particularly good at fashion, ClickValue specializes  exclusively in CRO. Where insight providers often offer multiple disciplines at the same time, the CRO focus is a clear advantage, according to Weij. ‘Especially when it comes to the specific challenges that the fashion industry faces. For example, returns are always a big topic and that has become increasingly challenging over the years. We’re really trying to figure out how to optimize a website to reduce the number of returns. Customers like Tamaris can really benefit from this.

New account solution

Aside from returns, one of Tamaris’ problems was  figuring out why a large portion of her new customers were having trouble creating an account. Of course, this is a process in which webshops can lose many potential new shoppers. In the case  of Tamaris,  this was particularly challenging, as the vast majority of her clients are new customers. The team saw that there was a drop-off on the login page, between shopping cart and checkout. This was because the login was prioritized over guest checkout, Krull explains. ‘We recognised this bottleneck and then wanted to see how we could get people to go to the cash register and at the same time offer them a secure opportunity to create an account afterwards. At this point in the customer journey, they don’t have to worry about that.’

ClickValue helped Tamaris come up with  a website solution that  was as simple as changing an order; explaining to customers that they now don’t have to worry about creating an account and that they might as well continue as a guest. Krull: ‘Guests don’t have to worry about logging in or creating an account. They just want to take a look and order their shoes.’ The results of this relatively simple adjustment were amazing. Thanks to the easier checkout, Tamaris saw  a conversion increase of 3.2%. Furthermore, Krull also saw that more people opened an account after checkout. “We had a positive impact on two metrics: the conversion rate, which resulted in more sales, and we generated new accounts while retaining customers in the final process.”

Small changes, big value

ClickValue has an experimental mentality. According to Weij, experimentation is in the company’s DNA. “This is what we do every day. We want to make sure we truly understand our customers and our customers’ customers. That is why we do a lot of research to understand user problems and to see if the solutions to these problems are really an improvement for the customers.’ For Weij and Krull, this is a continuous process. The entire website is constantly examined, from the homepage to the cash register. Weij: ‘Depending on the priorities of our customers and the insights we gain from data, we determine how we can optimise the website.

For Tamaris,  we focus in particular on the overview and product page, where changes are aimed at improving product and color selection, return policy and improving overall usability. We have seen that relatively simple changes can bring a lot of value.’

He gives an example: “We changed the way the colors were shown on the overview page. Instead of showing a product and saying: this is available in four colors, we actually show the color with a small, clickable icon, so you can go directly to it. Such small changes work very well. Of course, we also tested more complex changes further down the funnel , such as payment methods and delivery costs.’

Data-driven approach

Constant improvement is a requirement in a competitive market. Even the smallest adjustments can make a big difference. The pandemic has accelerated this trend even more, Krull says. “Because all the stores were closed, many companies were looking for other ways to sell their products. Online competition increased enormously.’ Working with ClickValue brought Tamaris a more data-driven approach, he adds. “We used to have an idea and test it. We’ve been doing that for a while. But now it’s much more supported with data and user research. This has certainly made us more customer-oriented and increased our success rate.’

The collaboration between Tamaris and ClickValue will provide many more insights in the coming years. These are desperately needed, Krull knows, because the online fashion sector will only become more competitive. ‘We need to be even faster in testing new things and innovations. So we keep the pace and even increase it.’ Weij appreciates the open way of communicating with Tamaris. ‘We are constantly trying to learn from each other, especially when it comes to identifying developments and opportunities. Cedrik and his team always challenge us to become better.’