Boosting business by 65%: How Ecobalanza’s new website is driving powerful results
Boost! Collective collaborated with Aimee Robinson, owner of a nascent, specialty furniture workshop to align her website, her most important sales tool with her most powerful asset: her story. The outcome: Streamlined operations provided a boost in cost-effectiveness and a 65 percent increase in sales from September 2015 to September 2016.
A rapid ascent for Ecobalanza
A tiny desk, wood frames, textile swatches, wool batting and couches in various stages of construction have claimed every spare inch inside a tiny SODO warehouse space. Standing at the center of it all, Aimee Robinson is bringing big ideas to life.
“To me there are certain crafts we should treasure and I believe it’s important that we preserve them,” Aimee explained. “So I set out to create furniture that ensures the craft endures and the product lasts—instead of ending up in a landfill—and, most important, that it is toxin-free.”
Aimee founded EcoBalanza seven years ago to be the anchor for her personal, philosophical and professional equilibrium. The mission: to discover how to create a sofa with integrity. To reach her destination, to build a small, custom, truly toxin-free and sustainable furniture design studio in Seattle, she had to blaze her own trail and draw her own roadmap.
“To make a go of it, you have to get creative, embrace the problem-solving it requires” she recalled. But ultimately, she added, it’s about forging relationships with each and every player in the supply chain. Like the four points on the compass, Aimee identified the master craftsmen anwomen, local family-owned sheep farms to source wool for organic batting and Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified wood for the frames she would build.
Real clients, real needs, real business challenges
From finding non-toxic finishes to sourcing organic upholstery textiles, creative problem-solving to create truly toxin-free and sustainable furniture is no small task. However, Aimee was convinced that her products would address real client needs.
“I have a child with a medical condition that keeps him on the sofa much of the day,” explained Vicki, who ordered a couch for her New York City home. “As a mom, my paramount concern was not only that he be comfortable, but that he wouldn’t be exposed to toxins or chemicals that would aggravate his condition. I made an investment, it’s for my son, it’s for my peace of mind. It’s been totally worth it.”
There’s no shortage of blind curves and steep climbs on the road to growing a small but mighty enterprise. Random orders and unsteady cash flow put a crunch on scheduling, ordering and delivery. Overwhelmed with dead-end inquiries and tending to the nitty-gritty details of manufacturing demanded Aimee’s non-stop attention. She had little time to care for herself. Yoga classes fell by the wayside. Scheduling a vacation was like tracking a unicorn.
“I was like Atlas carrying the world,” Aimee recalled.
The EcoBalanza website had also become dusty. It wasn’t guiding new clients to her product like a beacon. Instead, Aimee felt like she was always in motion, but the website kept business marching in place, never forward or upward.
“It was a mess, it was confusing and our customers’ questions were a good clue that it wasn’t providing much useful information.”
Transformation is just one story away
“The Boost! Collective team did a lot of upfront work to truly understand what gets me up in the morning and why customers are willing to pay a premium for one of my pieces,” she explained. “In the end, they were just as excited about the work we are doing as I am.”
Boost! helped Aimee discover the power of her personal story and put it to work. By weaving together hard-won insights from the frontlines of greenwashing and her journey toward creating a values-based business with images and fresh design, a compelling and effective online sales platform emerged.
“The challenge was differentiating Aimee’s products when the other “green” options are often built on false promises,” said Janinne Brunyee, co-founder of Boost! “It’s not just a toxin-free option, her pieces are built to be heirlooms, so we developed the site and the content to showcase this.”
Aimee has also gained broader customer interest in and support for her mission.
“With the optimization of our website, we’ve had increase over increase in sales and much of it is because our message is so much clearer,” she said.
Scott Concinnity, who spearheads EcoBalanza client care, agrees. “Now customers call in with a sense that what we do is special, that we are genuine and that we are an authority on the subject. And they get it,” he said, “And that makes my job so much easier.”
Aimee and Scott both find that the new website has been transformational. It has pushed the business to grow financially—and now requiring a larger space—and opening the view to long-cherished hopes: to work on innovative designs, develop collaborative projects and to become a zero waste company. She is starting to develop new products from leftover scrap materials, such as organic, non-toxic dog beds.
Taking a deep breath, Aimee Robinson has more good news to share. She’s getting her personal life back.
“I’m going to yoga in the mornings and am getting ready for a two-week vacation,” she said. In her voice the promise of possibility is clear. Aimee is longer Atlas carrying an unbearable burden. She is a successful small business owner with the confidence of a long-distance trail hiker who has finally hit her stride and EcoBalanza is making a rapid ascent.
WHAT WE DELIVERED
We started by working collaboratively to define Ecobalanza’s unique value proposition before crafting a messaging framework. We took the time to understand Ecobalanza’s sales process and what information customers need to make a buying decision. Then we defined the site architecture, developed content and identified images for each of the pages. Finally, we built the site using SquareSpace which is a cost-effective yet flexible solution that allows Aimee and Scott to easily manage and update content themselves.
Take a virtual tour of Ecobalanza’s Seattle-based workspace.
Contact Ecobalanza to learn more
Boost! Collective is a story-driven marketing and communications firm. We work collaboratively to discover, create and tell powerful stories that drive deep engagement with your audiences.
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