ABOUT THE BRAND

More than threads: fashion with a taste of freedom

Patriotism never goes out of style. Fashion apparel company Grunt Style wears its heart on its sleeve with t-shirts and other clothing and accessories that represent their love for their country.

More than just a t-shirt company, they were founded by a former army drill sergeant in 2009. They also give back to U.S. military veterans with the Grunt Style Foundation, focusing on mental health and wellness, transition and sustainment, food insecurity, and homelessness.

Grunt Style’s clothes do come with a catch: you have to love freedom, bacon, and whiskey. Of course, maybe their kids' apparel customers are exempt from the last requirement.

‍

THE CHALLENGE

Good things demand attention, especially apps 

You can’t ignore a good thing. 

The Grunt Style team saw how easy it was to build and maintain a mobile app with Tapcart, it was a no-brainer. And with 80% of their customers shopping on their mobile phones, they knew they had to build a better mobile experience.

“The great thing about Tapcart and Shopify is that it has a fairly easy native integration which we were able to get up and running pretty quick.”
_{Alex Meza, Director of Marketing & Customer Insights}

But once they built it, they didn’t really know what to do with it. Sure, they updated the collections to match the products on the website, but they didn’t see the app as a marketing tool.

Until the app started taking off, while other channels declined.

‍

THE SOLUTION 

From SMS to Push -> A major comms upgrade

Managing the mobile app with Tapcart is a breeze for the Grunt Style team. Their app is meant for an easy, frictionless shopping experience. Instead of focusing on their company mission, they let their products do the talking inside the app.

“[Customers] are going to stay there because they enjoy the experience. They enjoy the simplicity, the personalization, and we really see customers kind of stay there. Once we push them there, you know, they go the shop and really just have a good customer experience overall within the app.”
_{Jonathan Villanueva, Digital Marketing Specialist}

The team pulled men's and women’s collections (their biggest sellers) into the app, and they used the featured section to share new arrivals. Since mobile app users check out new products more often than web visitors, they frequently add new products.

The team redirected their time and energy into it as the app started to overtake other popular marketing channels like SMS text and email.

How’d they spend that extra time?

• Sending push notifications that reflected their brand
• Creating and curating in-app gift guides, like top Father’s Day gifts
• Marketing the mobile app with a web banner, SMS messages, and emails

Grunt Style thought outside the screen and took their app marketing to a whole new level. The San Antonio Rodeo (yee haw!) is a big event in Texas, and the team took advantage. They handed out stickers with a QR code to download the app and hosted a subscriber sweepstakes. They give away several PlayStation 5s and earn a ton of downloads.

They’re also vibing with push notifications. SMS messaging isn’t cheap, and any extra image, emoji, GIF, etc., costs them more. In fact, adding just one emoji almost doubles their cost.

Because SMS messages can get pricey (and the ROIs are only sometimes worth the splurge), messages have to be on point. The marketing team has to be much more selective and targeted with what they send to who to make it worthwhile. 

Plus, there are lots of SMS regulations that clash with Grunt Style’s vibrant brand. Between the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA), the Cellular Telecommunications Industry Association (CTIA) guidelines, and various wireless carrier’s rules, Grunt Style finds SMS limited and costly. They have to consider regulations like:

• Comply with quiet hours restrictions and do not send messages between 8 pm and 8 am.
• Keep messages to under 160 characters (or spread across multiple messages)
• Include various compliance language such as “MSG & data rates may apply” and opt-out instructions.

On the other hand, push notifications are much more chill. They’re free to use emojis, cuss, and share images that feel more true to their brand. Grunt Style can be more authentic to their brand. Plus, without the steep costs, the team knows they’ll score high ROIs. 

“Tapcart allows us to be the true lifestyle brand that we are and market to our customers directly the way we want to market to them without having to worry about any legal technicalities or any budget constraints."
_{Alex Meza, Director of Marketing & Customer Insights}

Grunt Style customers also have a much higher tolerance for push notifications. While SMS text messages and emails feel spammy and oversaturated, pushes still feel fresh and helpful. It’s not as intrusive. This means the team can send more messages more frequently—and see more results.

‍

THE RESULTS

Push Notifications let Grunt Style be authentically itself

Even with minimal time investment, the mobile app results were so good the Grunt Style squad couldn’t ignore the channel’s marketing ability.

This year, the mobile app revenue is up 88%, while at the same time, all other channels (like SMS) are trending down 30–40%. And that’s not for lack of trying. 

SMS messaging was the brand’s best performer for several years, but the app has continued to grow. Now, the app is the best-performing marketing channel the brand has.

With over 400,000 push notification subscribers, they’re close to surpassing their SMS list.

Now, they’re using SMS in tandem with their mobile app, sending deep links with their product messaging to drive more app traffic. And they’re crushing it.

The mobile app is now 15–20% of their total online revenue (double what it was last year), and it’s still climbing. 

“Even during the hard times when we see email or SMS or paid advertising down, whether it's for increased spend or whether it's for changing platforms, the app is the number one constant that's always up.”
_{Alex Meza, Director of Marketing & Customer Insights}

And their focus on creating a seamless user experience is working. The app boasts a 95.8% retention rate, and sessions have increased by 176% year-over-year.

The team has also found unique ways to use the app to their benefit. Megan Moyer, e-commerce merchandise manager, says they’re using the app to test-run new products. The operations team orders small runs of eight to ten t-shirts as app exclusives to test their popularity. Then they select a few top performers for a full manufacturing run. This should help lower costs and leave them with less dead inventory.

‍

THE FUTURE

Hyping BFCM and looking to the future

During BFCM in 2022, the Grunt Style team didn’t spend much time marketing the app, but they still saw some excellent results. This year, they plan to leverage it to the max.

Their BFCM app marketing strategy is still in the planning phase, but these are some ideas they’re currently throwing around:

• Special product bundle 
• App exclusive items
• Download incentives
• Release the BFCM sale one day early in the app
• Overall experience improvements

The Grunt Style squad also knows this is just the beginning. The more time they invest in marketing and improving the user experience, the higher their sales will climb.

‍

Find out how Grunt Style and other top brands — like Kaged, BÉIS, and Glamnetic — are breaking boundaries and sales records with Tapcart. Let's chat.