– Higo Apparel is a small business that creates custom leotards for gyms and athletic teams across the U.S. Despite their niche focus and dedication to quality, their online presence was limiting their reach and failing to effectively support their business goals. Further, their internal processes relied on labor-intensive manual efforts that did not allow for growth.
This case study examines how JHMG has helped Higo Apparel to overcome these challenges and scale.
Initial Challenges
When Higo Apparel first approached us, the business was facing several impediments to growth:
- Unscalable Processes
The founder could not feasibly hire new team members, as the current custom order management processes were too cumbersome to train a new resource to handle. Custom design requests, custom orders, and sizing set requests were submitted via PDF, email, or phone, and the resulting information was entered by hand into spreadsheets. Information later had to be copied from the spreadsheets into separate systems and updated according to undocumented business logic. - Unclear Custom Design Order Process
The steps to request custom designs and place custom orders were not clear to site visitors, resulting in customer confusion and lost potential sales. - Customer Order Confusion
With no customer portal allowing them to review previous orders, customers would inadvertently place repeat orders for the wrong products, resulting in costly errors.
- Outdated Website Design
The site had served the business well during its first years, when the site visitors were already knowledgeable about the business. However, for visitors new to the business, the site’s design distracted from the product line. Navigation was not intuitive, making it difficult for users to find in-stock products and information. Slow low times and technical problems on the backend also contributed to user experience issues. - Lack of SEO Optimization
The website lacked effective SEO strategies, leading to poor search engine rankings and reduced visibility. - Need to establish branded apparel stores
Certain organizations were interested in making branded gymnastics apparel available to their customers, but the current eCommerce setup did not allow for this.
JH Media Group
Established in 2002, we are a white-glove technology partner providing website maintenance plans, web design and development, and more complex web application development.
Solutions
To address these issues cost-effectively, we implemented project management tooling, workflow automations and integrations, and a no-code customer portal, as well as a Wix website redesign focusing on aesthetics, usability, and search engine optimization:
- Work Management System Implementation: Monday.com tables were created to house custom design requests, custom orders, and sizing set requests, with flexible permissions that accommodated virtual assistants as well as production factory users. Monday WorkForms were used to transition away from PDF forms in favor of user-friendly online forms that connected directly to the appropriate table.
- Integrations: Integrations were established within Zapier to automate key business processes:
- Creation of projects in ReviewStudio when custom design requests were submitted,
- Updates to custom design request status in Monday.com upon customer approval or revision request in ReviewStudio.
- Creation of invoices in QuickBooks when custom orders were submitted,
- Creation of shipping labels in Shippo upon new custom orders or sizing set requests, and
- Creation of expenses within QuickBooks once factory prices were available for custom orders.
- Email Automations: We also automated routine customer touchpoints, for example via email reminders to return sizing sets if the status indicated they had not yet been received.
- Customer Portal: By leveraging Softr’s Monday.com integration, we were able to spin up a customer portal within 4 hours. By pulling the customer and custom order data from Monday.com, this portal allows customers to view their previous custom orders including product thumbnails, removing all ambiguity regarding repeat orders.
- New Website Design: We created a modern, clean, and visually appealing design that better represents Higo Apparel’s brand. This included an easy-to-navigate layout, high-quality images of the products, and consistent branding elements to enhance the user experience.
- Optimized Website Loading Times: By optimizing images, leveraging efficient coding practices, and using faster hosting solutions, we significantly reduced the site’s loading times.
- Intuitive Site Navigation: We restructured the navigation menu to be more user-friendly and intuitive. Categories were clearly defined, and a search function and filters were prominently featured, enabling users to find products and information quickly and easily.
- Correct Use of Collections System: We reorganized the product collections, ensuring they were set up correctly within Wix. This improved the browsing experience and made it easier for customers to discover related products.
- Comprehensive SEO Optimization: We focused on SEO by optimizing each page and collection with targeted keywords, page titles, and meta descriptions.
- Branded Apparel Stores: We developed branded stores on Wix using the dynamic page feature to create personalized shopping experiences. By assigning a custom “brand” attribute to products linked to a specific gymnastics organization, we generated dynamic pages that automatically pull in only the products associated with that brand. The result is a tailored page that exclusively showcases the selected organization’s products, providing a seamless and engaging shopping experience for members, fans, and supporters.
PRODUCTS page BEFORE/AFTER
About Us page BEFORE/AFTER
Results
The workflow automations, strategic website redesign, and SEO optimization led to substantial improvements:
- Efficiency: Implementation of a work management system, integrations, and automations saves approximately 3 hours of labor per custom design request and subsequent custom order.
- Ease of Onboarding: With the level of organization made possible by the work management system, Higo Apparel has been able to onboard two different assistants thus far, creating possibilities for further growth.
- Increased Custom Orders: Clarifying the custom design request and order processes resulted in more inquiries and orders from new customers, boosting revenue. While the customer portal is new, it is anticipated to improve customer retention by reducing errors and removing pain points from the reorder process.
- Enhanced Brand Appeal: The new design received positive feedback from customers, who appreciated the clean and professional look of the site.
- Improved Website Performance: Faster loading times led to reduced bounce rates and longer visitor sessions, contributing to increased sales.
- Better User Experience: Simplified navigation and clear categorization made it easier for customers to find what they were looking for, improving overall satisfaction.
- Effective Product Organization: Proper use of the Collections system enhanced product discovery and browsing experience.
- Boosted Search Engine Rankings: The SEO efforts led to first page rankings for new, critical target keywords such as “custom gymnastics leotards” and “teen leotards,” translating into more potential customers discovering Higo Apparel.
- New Business Opportunities: The capability to add branded apparel stores has enabled a new business model, expanding Higo Apparel’s revenue streams.
Conclusion
Streamlining and automating Higo Apparel’s business processes resulted in them being able to handle greater sales volume, as well as grow their team for the first time in years. The redesign and SEO optimization of Higo Apparel’s website transformed it into a powerful tool for customer engagement, sales, and brand visibility.
If your business operations could benefit from improved tooling, automation, and integrations, or if your website needs a transformation to deliver results, contact us or visit our portfolio.