Ever felt the thrill of a roller coaster’s first drop?
That’s the e-commerce world for you – unpredictable, exhilarating, and full of twists and turns.
Businesses are in a perpetual dance, trying to outpace competitors with innovative solutions, all while ensuring their customers are as delighted as a child with a surprise gift. Amidst this whirlwind, Beyond The Brand Media LLC stood, poised for a game-changing move.
Imagine having a magic wand that could reclaim lost sales and keep customers hooked. That was Beyond The Brand Media LLC’s vision: an advanced “abandoned cart” feature for their WooCommerce stores. But dreams aren’t always easy to realize. Crafting this feature was less like following a recipe and more like concocting a gourmet dish from scratch. And this tantalizing, high-stakes challenge? They handed it to us, and the adventure began.
About Our Client
Beyond The Brand Media, from Goffstown, New Hampshire, started in 2012. Their goal is to make creating custom websites easy and cheap for all businesses, big or small. They also aim to offer support in a way that everyone can understand.
For more than eleven years, they’ve been helping businesses online. They are experts in creating custom websites, building online stores, and improving websites to show up in search results.
They always know what needs to be done next and keep their customers in the loop. They help businesses all over the world, not just in New Hampshire.
They’ve been focusing on WordPress Development for eleven years and offer services that are both affordable and of high quality. They cater to everyone, whether you’re just starting out or you’re already a big company. They make sure your website grows as your business does.
The Problem
- Operational Efficiency: Beyond The Brand Media, a bustling e-commerce entity, was on a quest to boost its operational efficiency. They were looking to create an advanced abandoned cart functionality for their WooCommerce stores, a feature they knew we had a track record with.
- Advanced Abandoned Cart Functionality: The goal was to establish a system that would allow their WooCommerce stores to effectively manage abandoned carts, a feature crucial for their business operations.
- Complex Task: However, the creation of this functionality was no walk in the park. It needed to be user-friendly, efficient, and capable of handling real-time updates about carts, a feature essential for managing the daily average of numerous carts.
- Real-time Updates: This feature was vital for managing the daily average of numerous carts, making it a key requirement.
- Efficient Handling of Cart Abandonments: The challenge was to design a system that could handle cart abandonments efficiently.
- Streamlined Operations and Improved Customer Experience: Beyond The Brand Media needed a solution that would not only streamline their operations but also significantly enhance the customer experience. This was the challenge they presented to us.
Our Approach
We conceived a solution which was based on 3 fundamental factors – minimal time spent, minimal expenditure, maximum output – the approach that we use for all our key partners – the WISDM approach.
Our Solution
Our comprehensive solution was to design a custom plugin to cater to the specific needs of Beyond The Brand Media, focusing on handling abandoned cart data.
- The custom plugin, once installed on the website, would be instrumental in connecting the WooCommerce platform through a series of functions. Key among these functions was the ability to store cart information in a custom table and session data whenever a user updated their WooCommerce cart. This feature applied to both guest and logged-in users.
- To provide a real-time shopping experience, we built an ajax function to update user information. For logged-in users, their IDs and emails would be directly fetched from their profiles, while guest users would input their details at the checkout page, which would then update the custom table.
- We designed a versatile system where each user, logged in or not, could save carts. An administrative feature was also added to allow the admin to view all saved carts from a custom page on the backend dashboard, giving them the ability to delete saved carts if necessary.
- An integral part of our solution was integrating an abandoned cart feature that generated a custom URL for each entry. This URL, when clicked, would restore the cart data and redirect the user to the cart or checkout page.
- To ensure a seamless shopping experience, we considered situations where a user might try to restore a saved cart when the current cart was not empty. For such cases, we built a system that would automatically save the current cart, empty it, and then restore the saved cart.
- Considering the potential issues that could arise, such as items being out of stock or unavailable, we prepared to notify the user promptly.
- We also focused on the duration for storing entries in the custom table, adding a setting in the backend dashboard to control this and creating API endpoints to retrieve and modify this value. The end result was a robust and comprehensive solution for managing WooCommerce cart data.
Overcoming Challenges
Our first major challenge was the creation of a custom plugin to replace Jilt for abandoned cart functionality, a feature significantly lacking in the WooCommerce market since Jilt was discontinued. This task was complex, requiring a creative and innovative approach to fill the void left by Jilt, ensuring the new plugin would serve its intended purpose effectively without conflicts.
Another challenge was the division of the plugin development responsibilities. The client chose to handle the frontend aspect of the plugin while we were tasked with building the backend functionality. This division of labor required a high level of coordination and mutual understanding to ensure the frontend and backend parts were compatible and functioned smoothly together.
Despite the challenges, our team’s expertise and careful planning, coupled with the client’s active involvement, allowed us to develop a solution that not only addressed their needs but also added value to their WooCommerce operation.
The Impact
The implementation of the advanced abandoned cart functionality had a profound impact on Beyond The Brand Media’s operations. The system streamlined the exchange of information between the main site and the customer sites, significantly enhancing operational efficiency. Customers found the system user-friendly and appreciated the real-time updates about carts, which greatly improved their shopping experience.
Moreover, the efficient handling of cart abandonments led to a substantial decrease in the cart abandonment rate, from 70% to 50%. This positively impacted Beyond The Brand Media’s sales and customer satisfaction. The overall result was a more efficient, user-friendly, and customer-focused e-commerce platform that boosted Beyond The Brand Media’s standing in the market.
The implementation of the new system also led to an increase in recovered sales, contributing to a 20% increase in overall revenue. This demonstrated the effectiveness of the solution in addressing the initial problem and achieving the desired outcomes. The success of this project further solidified our client’s confidence in our ability to deliver effective and efficient solutions.
The Wisdm Factor
We built a special tool to fit the exact needs of Beyond The Brand Media. This tool helped fill the gap when an old service they used was discontinued.
- We made sure information moved quickly and smoothly. This improved how customers, their shopping carts, and the store’s inventory interacted with each other.
- We set up a system so each customer could save more than one shopping cart. This made shopping easier and more personal for the customers.
- We gave administrators the power to view, manage, and delete saved carts from a special control panel. This helped keep track of how customers shop and when they leave items in their cart without buying.
- We created a unique web link for each saved cart. This link lets customers go back to their saved carts easily. This helped keep customers interested and could lead to more sales.
Looking for a custom solution for your WooCommerce store?