ABOUT THE BRAND
Vosges sells ultra-luxe chocolate that tells a story in high-art packaging.
With bestselling, experiential flavors like Naga (housemade and toasted curry masala + coconut puree + deep milk chocolate) and Black Pearl (organic Wakaya ginger + freshly grated wasabi + cacao dark chocolate + ceremonial matcha), Vosges Haut-Chocolate is known for its superior sourcing and truffles that, according to many five-star reviews, will change your life.
Founded by chocolatier and alchemist Katrina Markoff, who studied under Ferran and Albert Adria of the famed El Bulli in Spain, Katrina wanted to find a way to tell stories about the world’s diverse cultures and Vosges was born. Today, the brand is considered one of the best chocolatiers in the world with awards from Bon Appetit's Food Artisan of the Year and National Geographic's Best Chocolatiers in the World.
Recently, we sat down with Natalie Markoff, Chief Marketing Officer, to discuss how an app has boosted brand affinity and elevated Vosges’s customer experience to stand out.
THE CHALLENGE
Vosges’ website didn’t translate well on mobile, so it needed an app for its returning customers.
When Vosges first launched a mobile app with Tapcart in 2022, the company decided to solve its mobile CX challenges with an app. After all, the company’s website wasn’t translating well on mobile phones, where more and more customers shop daily.
An app was a natural solution, but Vosges had some reasonable caveats.
Mainly, the Vosges team were chocolate people, not software engineers — and they didn’t want to spend a fortune on a solution to their mobile CX problem or wait a year to see it solved, either.
“It was tough for us to get that conversion rate from the desktop to the mobile site,” Natalie said. “So when I reached out to Tapcart and we started to work on the app, I realized that it was a seamless mobile experience with the lightest lift possible.”
Tapcart offers a plug-and-play, owned channel solution that functions as an extension of an existing Shopify store. Tapcart native apps are smartly and swiftly engineered for businesses of every shape and size that want to provide seamless mobile shopping experiences for their customers.
Natalie and her team wanted control of their app without hours and hours of extra work each week. Tapcart’s user-friendly, low-lift interface made that possible.
“For us, we’re extremely entrepreneurial, and we seem like a big brand, but we're very small. So, having a partner that executed and understood our complex and luxurious brand was seamless for us. I think we launched this app in two weeks.” Natalie Markoff, CMO
THE SOLUTION
A low-lift app that boosts conversion, provides key data and helps foster VIP community building
Vosges was intent on creating a low-lift app that provided shoppers with a more seamless shopping experience optimized for mobile. But there was more to the strategy than just increasing conversions — which, of course, the app did. (App users convert 227% better in the app than on mobile web and 113% better in the app than on desktop.)
On top of leveraging its app as a shopping channel, Vosges uses its Tapcart app to drive community engagement with content features like a section for a blog, recipes, and rituals and experiences where customers can click through a guided chocolate tasting, learn to pair cocktails with their truffles, and even do a meditation. And since Vosges is such a profoundly emotional brand, the company leans on its app to help it with storytelling.
As Natalie sees it, the app is “almost YouTube, Apple News, and our website all in one — a place where you get to like to see videos, read a story, be educated, and buy something.”
“It’s really easy and seamless for people to switch back and forth between shopping and an immersive experience, which doesn't happen on the desktop, right? With a desktop, you’re just concerned about converting, converting, converting, whereas the app is immersive. And then, because of that immersion, our average order value on the app versus our desktop is about 30% more.” Natalie Markoff, CMO
Vosges also leverages Tapcart’s extensibility with our tech partner integrations, using the Klaviyo-Tapcart integration the most.
“We're really trying to decipher who responds best to what messages they’re getting via email, SMS, and push — and then not bombarding them with an SMS that they're getting a push and vice versa,” Natalie said. “So we really want to start to customize where we talk to people and how they want to hear our messages and interaction in the right time, in the right space. So that's what we're trying to really do with our tech stack in that way.”
These efforts allow Vosges to create a more emotional, powerful, and engaging line of communication with its customers. And that, according to Natalie, brings them even closer to the brand — to the point that they feel a part of it.
“The app's immersive experience helps our brand presence because it helps us have deeper connections to our consumers. I know it's chocolate, but we're really deep about what we create.” Natalie Markoff, CMO
So, how does the Vosges get those customers to download the app, where all this magic happens? In its quarterly emails, Vosges teases the VIP value of the app, careful not to push too much but to highlight exclusivity. Of course, the company also advertises a promotional discount for first app orders. It also uses Klaviyo and SMS lists to promote the app to existing customers.
Instead of attempting to move every customer to the app, Vosges zeroes in on its top 30% of customers and then treats them with VIP experiences, such as exclusive launches or first access to launches. One example is Cravings, Vosges’ once-a-week, afternoon-slump promotion. At around 3 pm, the company sends out a push notification with content, a promo, or a new product launch.
Whether the event boosts sales, builds community, or both, it brings customers where they belong: even closer to the brand.
THE RESULTS
The app builds loyalty and boosts retention while increasing AOV and LTV
Vosges also relies on push notifications to communicate with customers efficiently without extra cost… and without annoying customers.
“Push notifications are free, text messages are not, and they're not as intrusive as text messages. Now, people don't want so many text messages. The incoming revenue is efficient and easy with push notifications, and it's so much easier to design or send a push notification rather than going through the content creation and uploading into view and then setting the send times and getting the right list. But you just have your VIP push list already on the app. So it makes it easy. Like we're just able to do it in a second. If we have an idea, we can implement it right away.”
And in 2024, Tapcart and Vosges intend to level up the app in a brand new way. Tapcart is currently engineering a calendar so app customers can purchase chocolate now, and have it shipped at just the right time. This will allow customers to cash in on promos and exclusives they want, even if they're not ready to eat or gift chocolate until later.
Natalie also believes a great app and a great brand, together, are the perfect recipe for customer loyalty.
“The app automatically drives loyalty and increased AOV. It is so simple without even trying. Listen, we have an amazing brand. It's immersive, it's emotional, and the storytelling and the images are all there. When people have a brand like that, which there are so many in the world, and Tapcart works with some of the best of them, just putting that brand on the app is enough. The app is so well-designed and intuitive that it automatically drives a higher average order value and a more immersive experience." Natalie Markoff, CMO
But it isn’t just emotional. A Tapcart app also offers a trove of data and analytics that allow Vosges to keep getting smarter and smarter. The app provides numbers and figures that show precisely just how many people are coming back to immerse themselves in the brand, even if they’re not making a purchase.
Even when Vosges is simply sharing content with its customers, Natalie knows that, eventually, they will make a purchase. They are becoming believers in the brand, and when customers become family, that will boost LTV.
ABOUT THE BRAND
Vosges sells ultra-luxe chocolate that tells a story in high-art packaging.
With bestselling, experiential flavors like Naga (housemade and toasted curry masala + coconut puree + deep milk chocolate) and Black Pearl (organic Wakaya ginger + freshly grated wasabi + cacao dark chocolate + ceremonial matcha), Vosges Haut-Chocolate is known for its superior sourcing and truffles that, according to many five-star reviews, will change your life.
Founded by chocolatier and alchemist Katrina Markoff, who studied under Ferran and Albert Adria of the famed El Bulli in Spain, Katrina wanted to find a way to tell stories about the world’s diverse cultures and Vosges was born. Today, the brand is considered one of the best chocolatiers in the world with awards from Bon Appetit's Food Artisan of the Year and National Geographic's Best Chocolatiers in the World.
Recently, we sat down with Natalie Markoff, Chief Marketing Officer, to discuss how an app has boosted brand affinity and elevated Vosges’s customer experience to stand out.
THE CHALLENGE
Vosges’ website didn’t translate well on mobile, so it needed an app for its returning customers.
When Vosges first launched a mobile app with Tapcart in 2022, the company decided to solve its mobile CX challenges with an app. After all, the company’s website wasn’t translating well on mobile phones, where more and more customers shop daily.
An app was a natural solution, but Vosges had some reasonable caveats.
Mainly, the Vosges team were chocolate people, not software engineers — and they didn’t want to spend a fortune on a solution to their mobile CX problem or wait a year to see it solved, either.
“It was tough for us to get that conversion rate from the desktop to the mobile site,” Natalie said. “So when I reached out to Tapcart and we started to work on the app, I realized that it was a seamless mobile experience with the lightest lift possible.”
Tapcart offers a plug-and-play, owned channel solution that functions as an extension of an existing Shopify store. Tapcart native apps are smartly and swiftly engineered for businesses of every shape and size that want to provide seamless mobile shopping experiences for their customers.
Natalie and her team wanted control of their app without hours and hours of extra work each week. Tapcart’s user-friendly, low-lift interface made that possible.
“For us, we’re extremely entrepreneurial, and we seem like a big brand, but we're very small. So, having a partner that executed and understood our complex and luxurious brand was seamless for us. I think we launched this app in two weeks.” Natalie Markoff, CMO
THE SOLUTION
A low-lift app that boosts conversion, provides key data and helps foster VIP community building
Vosges was intent on creating a low-lift app that provided shoppers with a more seamless shopping experience optimized for mobile. But there was more to the strategy than just increasing conversions — which, of course, the app did. (App users convert 227% better in the app than on mobile web and 113% better in the app than on desktop.)
On top of leveraging its app as a shopping channel, Vosges uses its Tapcart app to drive community engagement with content features like a section for a blog, recipes, and rituals and experiences where customers can click through a guided chocolate tasting, learn to pair cocktails with their truffles, and even do a meditation. And since Vosges is such a profoundly emotional brand, the company leans on its app to help it with storytelling.
As Natalie sees it, the app is “almost YouTube, Apple News, and our website all in one — a place where you get to like to see videos, read a story, be educated, and buy something.”
“It’s really easy and seamless for people to switch back and forth between shopping and an immersive experience, which doesn't happen on the desktop, right? With a desktop, you’re just concerned about converting, converting, converting, whereas the app is immersive. And then, because of that immersion, our average order value on the app versus our desktop is about 30% more.” Natalie Markoff, CMO
Vosges also leverages Tapcart’s extensibility with our tech partner integrations, using the Klaviyo-Tapcart integration the most.
“We're really trying to decipher who responds best to what messages they’re getting via email, SMS, and push — and then not bombarding them with an SMS that they're getting a push and vice versa,” Natalie said. “So we really want to start to customize where we talk to people and how they want to hear our messages and interaction in the right time, in the right space. So that's what we're trying to really do with our tech stack in that way.”
These efforts allow Vosges to create a more emotional, powerful, and engaging line of communication with its customers. And that, according to Natalie, brings them even closer to the brand — to the point that they feel a part of it.
“The app's immersive experience helps our brand presence because it helps us have deeper connections to our consumers. I know it's chocolate, but we're really deep about what we create.” Natalie Markoff, CMO
So, how does the Vosges get those customers to download the app, where all this magic happens? In its quarterly emails, Vosges teases the VIP value of the app, careful not to push too much but to highlight exclusivity. Of course, the company also advertises a promotional discount for first app orders. It also uses Klaviyo and SMS lists to promote the app to existing customers.
Instead of attempting to move every customer to the app, Vosges zeroes in on its top 30% of customers and then treats them with VIP experiences, such as exclusive launches or first access to launches. One example is Cravings, Vosges’ once-a-week, afternoon-slump promotion. At around 3 pm, the company sends out a push notification with content, a promo, or a new product launch.
Whether the event boosts sales, builds community, or both, it brings customers where they belong: even closer to the brand.
THE RESULTS
The app builds loyalty and boosts retention while increasing AOV and LTV
Vosges also relies on push notifications to communicate with customers efficiently without extra cost… and without annoying customers.
“Push notifications are free, text messages are not, and they're not as intrusive as text messages. Now, people don't want so many text messages. The incoming revenue is efficient and easy with push notifications, and it's so much easier to design or send a push notification rather than going through the content creation and uploading into view and then setting the send times and getting the right list. But you just have your VIP push list already on the app. So it makes it easy. Like we're just able to do it in a second. If we have an idea, we can implement it right away.”
And in 2024, Tapcart and Vosges intend to level up the app in a brand new way. Tapcart is currently engineering a calendar so app customers can purchase chocolate now, and have it shipped at just the right time. This will allow customers to cash in on promos and exclusives they want, even if they're not ready to eat or gift chocolate until later.
Natalie also believes a great app and a great brand, together, are the perfect recipe for customer loyalty.
“The app automatically drives loyalty and increased AOV. It is so simple without even trying. Listen, we have an amazing brand. It's immersive, it's emotional, and the storytelling and the images are all there. When people have a brand like that, which there are so many in the world, and Tapcart works with some of the best of them, just putting that brand on the app is enough. The app is so well-designed and intuitive that it automatically drives a higher average order value and a more immersive experience." Natalie Markoff, CMO
But it isn’t just emotional. A Tapcart app also offers a trove of data and analytics that allow Vosges to keep getting smarter and smarter. The app provides numbers and figures that show precisely just how many people are coming back to immerse themselves in the brand, even if they’re not making a purchase.
Even when Vosges is simply sharing content with its customers, Natalie knows that, eventually, they will make a purchase. They are becoming believers in the brand, and when customers become family, that will boost LTV.
