Extreme Shopify Store Makeover
Back to My Roots
Way back in 2009 I lived in Madison, WI, and was part of an organization called the Underground Food Collective.
“Organization” is probably the wrong word. It was more like a loose-knit disorganization of culinary misfits who somehow came together to create one of the more unique and influential restaurant groups not just in Madison at that time, but in the wider Midwest slow food scene ever since.
This is because Underground managed to connect the farm-to-table dots better than any other game in town by forming truly direct relationships with farmers around the Midwest.
There was a magical collaborative spirit that came out of that group of entrepreneurial creatives who, at the end of the day, just wanted food to be better. Before long, Underground grew from being a local catering company that did periodic, below-the-radar popup dinners in NYC, to a slow food restaurant with Brooklyn vibes called Kitchen.
Unfortunately, Kitchen was only open 9 months before it literally went up in smoke, along with my investment in it.
But out of the ashes grew a handful of other great businesses, all under the umbrella of the Underground Food Collective, including a wholesale charcuterie business called Underground Meats.
In 2011, I became the sales manager for Underground Meats, schlepping our cured meats to retailers and restaurants all around Wisconsin and Chicago.
Fast-forward 13 years – during which time my career evolved from being a B2B sales rep to a DTC digital marketer – and my old alma mater is still rolling along with many of the same faces.
I noticed that their website was woefully underselling the quality of their products and their sourcing standards, so I offered to give it a makeover.
The Makeover
Below I present a “before and after” comparison of their website, which you can click through for a closer look and to read my annotations.
This store makeover involved completely rewriting all of the copy, which I did after conducting a series of interviews with the founder and the head production manager. I also worked with the founder to unearth various photos and assets that we could use to tell the story better.
Read on after the reviewing the “Before and After” for an analysis of how the site upgrade has performed.
The Proof is in the Analytics
Not only does the new website do a better job of telling their story and reflecting the playful seriousness of their endeavor, it also does a better job of selling their products.
Since launching the new site in August 2024, our core metrics are all up compared with the previous period last year:
We’ve driven up the AOV through upsells, higher priced bundles, higher discount minimums, and a free shipping bar in our Recharge slide-out cart. Meanwhile we’ve reduced the overall amount that we’re discounting via the strategy I outline in this post.
It pains me to admit, however, that our conversion rate is down 4%. I would have loved to see the new website resulting in a higher conversion rate from its improved UX. However, I also know that conversion rate is often influenced by factors outside our control, such as the overall state of the economy and the willingness of customers to pull the trigger on non-essential purchases.
It also just means there’s room for improvement: further optimizations to be made to improve conversion rate.
The lesson here? There’s always room for improvement.