New case study
Zest Meals website: the story behind the Addy
We did it again! This year, we pulled it out of the bag for our clients, Zest Meals, by building them a website that won a SILVER Addy courtesy of the 2022 Caribbean Advertising Federation (CAF) American Advertising Awards (AAA) and is a verified ROI machine!
Zest Meals is a leading meal kit delivery company. We revolutionised its digital presence by completely rebuilding its platform from the ground up. Following this transformation, we spearheaded its growth marketing efforts, employing a comprehensive strategy that amplified its reach and significantly enhanced customer engagement.
Here’s a little more about their website and how it came together.
The origins
When Zest came to us, they ran a straightforward Shopify store for their chef-curated meal kits and pre-prepared meals in Cayman.
Recognising the unmet potential of their initial setup, our team undertook an in-depth analysis to identify key areas for improvement. The goal was to transform Zest’s online presence into an interactive, user-friendly platform that showcased their gourmet meal kits and made the shopping and checkout process as seamless as possible.
On top of refining their e-commerce management, Zest also wanted a better way to manage subscriptions. They needed something less limiting to free up the monthly time to update their products and handle sales. They knew that if they freed up their time, they could grow their business and concentrate on what they loved most, making delicious meals convenient.
The solution
From the very start, this has been a partnership. Our team is part of the Zest family and is fully committed to growing the company. The open relationship we cultivated with Zest helped us have honest conversations and track ROI from day one.
We started with a new website, which was migrated to WooCommerce. We created a completely customised solution that fits Zest’s needs using WordPress custom development from the ground up.
The transition to WooCommerce was pivotal, enabling Zest to use a more versatile e-commerce platform that was completely customisable to their needs. We integrated advanced features like subscription management, customer profiles, and an intuitive meal customisation tool into the site, allowing consumers to tailor their orders to their dietary preferences. This level of personalisation significantly improved the user experience, leading to increased customer satisfaction.
Subscriptions on Woo-Commerce can sometimes seem challenging to design for those new to the platform, but our development team created a super slick process for customers and staff. This included a customised kitchen management system built around three core elements.
- Procurement
- Fulfilment
- Delivery
The website tracked the entire journey from ordering ingredients to the final delivery to a customer’s front door.
Since food costs are often the most significant expense for businesses of this nature, we focused on reducing waste and creating efficiencies through automation. Once the kitchen team is ready to go shopping, they print an exact shopping list based on each dish that customers purchased that week. The result is reduced waste, reduced time to prepare, and reduced food costs.
The icing on the cake
We weren’t done with just a website. We also created an end-to-end marketing strategy that included emails, social media, and pay-per-click ads.
The comprehensive marketing strategy devised for Zest was multifaceted, targeting various digital channels to maximise reach and engagement.
We tailored our email campaigns and automations to nurture leads through informative and compelling content, driving initial sales and repeat business. On social media, we focused on creating vibrant, engaging posts highlighting Zest’s offerings’ fresh, customisable nature, encouraging shares and interactions. Our pay-per-click (PPC) ads were optimised to target potential customers based on their search behaviours and interests, ensuring that Zest’s message reached the most relevant audience.
This integrated approach enhanced Zest’s online presence and significantly boosted its customer base and overall market visibility.
Plus, Zest Meals now has a series of custom-designed and coded email automations (over 60 sequences) that talk to the right people at the right time (from meal reminders to abandoned carts). Emails now make up around 30% of the team’s revenue and act as salespersons 24/7.
On top of this, the Zest team now knows the exact value in sales any channel has for them thanks to custom dashboards and real-time attribution tracking. So they’re not guessing when it comes to their marketing strategy.
The results
The results speak for themselves. Within six months of launching the new site, Zest witnessed a significant boost in online sales (360%%) and a remarkable increase in new customer acquisition and retention rates.
Following the implementation of these comprehensive changes, the feedback from the Zest Meals team was overwhelmingly positive. They were particularly impressed with the seamless integration of technology into their operations, which optimised their workflows and significantly saved time. The custom kitchen management system received special praise for reducing food waste and costs, embodying the client’s commitment to sustainability and efficiency. Engaging the team in the project’s development phase ensured that the solutions were tailor-made to meet their specific needs.
Are you really that geeky?
Zest allowed our team to dig deep into data and unleash our wild side when it comes to nerding out. So, yes, we are that geeky.
We created real-time and automated reports to forecast profit and hook into useful tools like Google Tag Manager. This meant we could accurately calculate how much every user action was worth to the company (down to the average value of a page view).
Where can I learn more?
We have a more detailed case study on Zest meals here.
Can you do this for me?
Sure! Get in touch, and we can scope out an award-winning website and ROI machine for you.
