ABOUT THE BRAND
Seriously luxurious athleisure with a strong community
Bombshell Sportswear has made a name for themselves in the activewear space with their luxurious line of body-hugging, lifting, and US crafted active and loungewear. Their new line of dresses, active sets, and bodysuits can be found all over social media worn and beloved by anyone who wears their pieces.
Recently, we sat down with Bombshell’s Senior Ecommerce Manager, Olivia Shapiro, to discuss the company's experience partnering with Tapcart to create its mobile app.
THE CHALLENGE
Bombshell wanted an instant mobile checkout option for its VIP customers
Bombshell knew from product surveys that its customers craved a more personalized shopping experience. The team also knew that to meet modern consumer expectations, it needed to find a way to offer frictionless instant checkout and a truly VIP experience for its highest-intent customers.
Bombshell realized that they could more easily meet the personalized ecommerce trends more and more with their own mobile app. The app creates a unique, intimate, and frustration-free customer experience that would ultimately strengthen their relationship with their customers in a whole new way. This, in turn, would drive customer loyalty.
“It's really important to note that our customers who download the app are the most invested. We value having a direct relationship with them and providing them with something exclusive and streamlined.”
Olivia explained that app customers are returning customers with the highest intent to buy and are the most loyal to the brand. Customers who download the app self-declare as “loyal,” and being able to communicate directly with them and provide a VIP experience is an essential retention strategy.
Unsurprisingly, Olivia was right: with a majority of app downloaders opted in to push notifications, paving the way for Bombshell to send free messages to these VIPs directly on their home screens. Olivia also believes that since many businesses now exist only in the digital space, a great online customer experience is essential for the success of direct-to-consumer brands like Bombshell.
“Tapcart,” she said, “has become absolutely essential in our repeat return customer strategy. They're already on their phones, too, so I think it's the perfect storm. We really created an environment for customers to want to continue shopping with the brand. It’s fun, it's easy, it's right at your fingertips… so why not?”
Olivia went on to explain that when a customer gets a push notification, all they have to do is perform a single click, and they’re in the app, engaging with beautiful content on a curated, frictionless, and branded platform. Beyond that, none of that app content (or traffic) is slowing down the website. Bombshell can host as much content as it wants in the app, which is vital to Olivia and her team. After all, she believes that modern customers consume apps or websites like social media, and offering that immersive scroll-and-engage experience is crucial to the direct-to-consumer business model.
THE SOLUTION
Bombshell’s app and key integrations elevate the VIP experience
Olivia was quick to underscore just how fast, easy, and fun building an app with Tapcart was.
“It was a no brainer to partner with Tapcart because they made it incredibly easy to create the app. Plus, the turn around time only took one week. And when we first launched it didn’t require that many downloads to see the ROI. The investment piece in addition to Tapcart's team being wonderful to work with made this the best choice possible.”
Plus, as soon as Bombshell’s mobile app was ready, integrations with Bombshell’s favorite tech tools like Klaviyo and Loyalty Lion immediately helped power even better CX for those loyal VIPs and a seamless internal workflow.
Klaviyo, one of Tapcart’s most popular integrations, allows Bombshell to umbrella all its marketing communication in one place. It can sequence and customize SMS, email, and push notifications (forming the retention flywheel). It also makes it easy for the brand to determine when to dispatch all three forms of communication or just one or two.
“We love Klaviyo," she said, “and we love Tapcart, and we love the marriage between the two.”
The integration also allows the Bombshell team to be more operationally efficient by allowing the brand to reach different segments of their audience and efficiently engage with them over the right channels at the right time without working harder or tapping more resources.
To rapidly reoptimize pre-existing content into blurbs for push notifications, Olivia reports that she often repurposes email copy to quickly create an effective push notification. Creating push notifications is much easier for the team than designing an email, and it’s less pressure (and money) than deploying an expensive, sometimes-invasive SMS. The best parts are that she sees instantaneous results with push notifications, and it’s free to send unlimited messages.
For now, the Bombshell team uses push notifications for bigger moments such as new product launches, restocks, and sales. These messages are low-hanging fruit and perfect for high-intent users. After seeing the results from big moments, such as session and revenue increases from just one push, Bombshell is starting to lay the plans to utilize this feature to send out non-transactional messages and reach their community more frequently.
“Creating push notifications is easier and quicker than emails. It’s a perfect addition to the marketing mix because it’s a free tool they can use to engage with their customers, and because it’s free they can send as many as we want! Thus making A/B testing easier than ever. The best part, she says, is that she sees instantaneous results and completely free to send unlimited pushes."
The Loyalty Lion integration is also important. As the brand incorporates more loyalty into its strategy, Bombshell can directly leverage the loyalty programs its customers love into the app. Overall, the app is an insightful tool that enables Bombshell to easily engage with its community and better understand its top customers.
THE RESULTS
Today, Bombshell’s low-lift app boosts AOV and keeps high-intent customers close (and spending)
There is perhaps no better anecdote for the smash success of Bombshell’s app than what happened during its one-hour BFCM app exclusive presale.
It went down like this: an hour before Bombshell’s Black Friday Cyber Monday promotion began, app users were given early and exclusive access to holiday pricing. During that single hour, the company made 75% of sales for the first day alone of the holiday weekend as a result of the exclusive early access.
The app's success only reinforced what Bombshell already knew: that the users who download the Bombshell app are its highest-intent, most loyal customers. After all...
- Mobile customers boast an 20% higher average order value (AOV) in the app vs. on the website
- The conversion rate comparison is also impressive: 100% higher CVR in the app vs. on the website
The app’s higher AOV and CVR are especially important for a brand like Bombshell because the company is so focused on its products. An owned mobile app makes it easy for Bombshell to gamify the customer experience and understand user behavior, which is critical to keeping the company revenue efficient.
Olivia also noted that as the brand explores engaging more directly with its customers, its app's low-lift nature and free, right-to-your-home-screen push notifications will make a huge difference.
Plus, the stats speak for themselves. In 2023, Bombshell saw 23% of its total sales attributed to its mobile app, up from 18% the year before. That year-over-year growth of in-app sales matters: it validates the app’s revenue potential and underscores the importance (and likely ROI) of putting more effort into app strategy year after year.
In the coming year, Bombshell plans to focus on the app as an optimized ecommerce platform that can supplement traditional marketing efforts. The team, as mentioned, plans to use push notifications more as an engagement tool and leverage even more app exclusivity following the success of 2023 BFCM. In fact, the retention rate of mobile app users is at a strong 96.7%.
The way Olivia sees it is simple: mobile apps strengthen brand presence. After all, only a few brands have apps — and those unique, tailored experiences say something about the companies that prioritize offering them to their customers. Every business has a website, and often, a lot goes on on those pages. But apps, Olivia believes, are consolidated, unique, and special…and customers know it.
She feels that a brand with a strong enough presence to have an app is a testament to that company’s success and its relationship with its customers. Simply by creating that curated experience for those VIPs, you can keep those customers close — and engaged and shopping — for years to come…for a lot less work than you might think.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Seriously luxurious athleisure with a strong community
Bombshell Sportswear has made a name for themselves in the activewear space with their luxurious line of body-hugging, lifting, and US crafted active and loungewear. Their new line of dresses, active sets, and bodysuits can be found all over social media worn and beloved by anyone who wears their pieces.
Recently, we sat down with Bombshell’s Senior Ecommerce Manager, Olivia Shapiro, to discuss the company's experience partnering with Tapcart to create its mobile app.
THE CHALLENGE
Bombshell wanted an instant mobile checkout option for its VIP customers
Bombshell knew from product surveys that its customers craved a more personalized shopping experience. The team also knew that to meet modern consumer expectations, it needed to find a way to offer frictionless instant checkout and a truly VIP experience for its highest-intent customers.
Bombshell realized that they could more easily meet the personalized ecommerce trends more and more with their own mobile app. The app creates a unique, intimate, and frustration-free customer experience that would ultimately strengthen their relationship with their customers in a whole new way. This, in turn, would drive customer loyalty.
“It's really important to note that our customers who download the app are the most invested. We value having a direct relationship with them and providing them with something exclusive and streamlined.”
Olivia explained that app customers are returning customers with the highest intent to buy and are the most loyal to the brand. Customers who download the app self-declare as “loyal,” and being able to communicate directly with them and provide a VIP experience is an essential retention strategy.
Unsurprisingly, Olivia was right: with a majority of app downloaders opted in to push notifications, paving the way for Bombshell to send free messages to these VIPs directly on their home screens. Olivia also believes that since many businesses now exist only in the digital space, a great online customer experience is essential for the success of direct-to-consumer brands like Bombshell.
“Tapcart,” she said, “has become absolutely essential in our repeat return customer strategy. They're already on their phones, too, so I think it's the perfect storm. We really created an environment for customers to want to continue shopping with the brand. It’s fun, it's easy, it's right at your fingertips… so why not?”
Olivia went on to explain that when a customer gets a push notification, all they have to do is perform a single click, and they’re in the app, engaging with beautiful content on a curated, frictionless, and branded platform. Beyond that, none of that app content (or traffic) is slowing down the website. Bombshell can host as much content as it wants in the app, which is vital to Olivia and her team. After all, she believes that modern customers consume apps or websites like social media, and offering that immersive scroll-and-engage experience is crucial to the direct-to-consumer business model.
THE SOLUTION
Bombshell’s app and key integrations elevate the VIP experience
Olivia was quick to underscore just how fast, easy, and fun building an app with Tapcart was.
“It was a no brainer to partner with Tapcart because they made it incredibly easy to create the app. Plus, the turn around time only took one week. And when we first launched it didn’t require that many downloads to see the ROI. The investment piece in addition to Tapcart's team being wonderful to work with made this the best choice possible.”
Plus, as soon as Bombshell’s mobile app was ready, integrations with Bombshell’s favorite tech tools like Klaviyo and Loyalty Lion immediately helped power even better CX for those loyal VIPs and a seamless internal workflow.
Klaviyo, one of Tapcart’s most popular integrations, allows Bombshell to umbrella all its marketing communication in one place. It can sequence and customize SMS, email, and push notifications (forming the retention flywheel). It also makes it easy for the brand to determine when to dispatch all three forms of communication or just one or two.
“We love Klaviyo," she said, “and we love Tapcart, and we love the marriage between the two.”
The integration also allows the Bombshell team to be more operationally efficient by allowing the brand to reach different segments of their audience and efficiently engage with them over the right channels at the right time without working harder or tapping more resources.
To rapidly reoptimize pre-existing content into blurbs for push notifications, Olivia reports that she often repurposes email copy to quickly create an effective push notification. Creating push notifications is much easier for the team than designing an email, and it’s less pressure (and money) than deploying an expensive, sometimes-invasive SMS. The best parts are that she sees instantaneous results with push notifications, and it’s free to send unlimited messages.
For now, the Bombshell team uses push notifications for bigger moments such as new product launches, restocks, and sales. These messages are low-hanging fruit and perfect for high-intent users. After seeing the results from big moments, such as session and revenue increases from just one push, Bombshell is starting to lay the plans to utilize this feature to send out non-transactional messages and reach their community more frequently.
“Creating push notifications is easier and quicker than emails. It’s a perfect addition to the marketing mix because it’s a free tool they can use to engage with their customers, and because it’s free they can send as many as we want! Thus making A/B testing easier than ever. The best part, she says, is that she sees instantaneous results and completely free to send unlimited pushes."
The Loyalty Lion integration is also important. As the brand incorporates more loyalty into its strategy, Bombshell can directly leverage the loyalty programs its customers love into the app. Overall, the app is an insightful tool that enables Bombshell to easily engage with its community and better understand its top customers.
THE RESULTS
Today, Bombshell’s low-lift app boosts AOV and keeps high-intent customers close (and spending)
There is perhaps no better anecdote for the smash success of Bombshell’s app than what happened during its one-hour BFCM app exclusive presale.
It went down like this: an hour before Bombshell’s Black Friday Cyber Monday promotion began, app users were given early and exclusive access to holiday pricing. During that single hour, the company made 75% of sales for the first day alone of the holiday weekend as a result of the exclusive early access.
The app's success only reinforced what Bombshell already knew: that the users who download the Bombshell app are its highest-intent, most loyal customers. After all...
- Mobile customers boast an 20% higher average order value (AOV) in the app vs. on the website
- The conversion rate comparison is also impressive: 100% higher CVR in the app vs. on the website
The app’s higher AOV and CVR are especially important for a brand like Bombshell because the company is so focused on its products. An owned mobile app makes it easy for Bombshell to gamify the customer experience and understand user behavior, which is critical to keeping the company revenue efficient.
Olivia also noted that as the brand explores engaging more directly with its customers, its app's low-lift nature and free, right-to-your-home-screen push notifications will make a huge difference.
Plus, the stats speak for themselves. In 2023, Bombshell saw 23% of its total sales attributed to its mobile app, up from 18% the year before. That year-over-year growth of in-app sales matters: it validates the app’s revenue potential and underscores the importance (and likely ROI) of putting more effort into app strategy year after year.
In the coming year, Bombshell plans to focus on the app as an optimized ecommerce platform that can supplement traditional marketing efforts. The team, as mentioned, plans to use push notifications more as an engagement tool and leverage even more app exclusivity following the success of 2023 BFCM. In fact, the retention rate of mobile app users is at a strong 96.7%.
The way Olivia sees it is simple: mobile apps strengthen brand presence. After all, only a few brands have apps — and those unique, tailored experiences say something about the companies that prioritize offering them to their customers. Every business has a website, and often, a lot goes on on those pages. But apps, Olivia believes, are consolidated, unique, and special…and customers know it.
She feels that a brand with a strong enough presence to have an app is a testament to that company’s success and its relationship with its customers. Simply by creating that curated experience for those VIPs, you can keep those customers close — and engaged and shopping — for years to come…for a lot less work than you might think.
