eBusiness UK helps BuyATankard.com thrive online

Blackburn-based eBusiness UK has been working with entrepreneur David Pryke’s new ecommerce operation, helping him improve security levels and increase mobile conversion rates by 450% - all while saving him money.

Background

When entrepreneur David Pryke bought his online business, it featured three websites: buyatankard.com, buyaquaich.com and buyahipflask.com

The sites sell hand-made pewter gifts which can be personalised with its high quality engraving service.

The websites were built on Magento and running successfully, playing their part in the business finding sales throughout the UK and in countries such as the USA, Canada and Australia.

Challenges faced

By his own admission, David was not an ecommerce expert. He knew how to run a successful business, but was overwhelmed by the thought of getting hands-on with the Magento software.

However, updates needed to be made. The sites were not running on the latest version of Magento, which above all was a security problem; they did not have a mobile-friendly design, which was hurting conversion rates; and the sites were prone to faults, causing costly downtime.

David said: “I searched around for a Magento developer, but most providers were only interested in building a new site from scratch. I had just paid a lot of money for this business, I didn’t want to buy all-new sites!

“eBusiness UK offered to work on the existing set-ups, which was perfect for me. And because they already had success with their own ecommerce operation, I knew they had a good understanding of the challenges facing my business.”

We soon got to work with David, and implemented a three-part plan: Repair what didn’t work Maintain the sites on an ongoing basis Develop the sites for the future

How we helped

Repair what didn’t work:

Our first priority was to update the Magento software which underpinned the three sites.

PayPal, which handles the company’s payments, has strict demands on the levels of security implemented by the businesses it will work with. Without upgrading its security certification, David’s business risked losing its payment processor - or much more severe consequences had the business been subject to cybercrime.

Add mobile compatibility:

Today’s websites, ecommerce operations included, must be mobile-friendly. Search engines such as Google ranks sites lower if they don’t make provisions for mobile users, hurting the volume of traffic which finds you.

Customers are also turned off by clumsy websites, and David’s websites were difficult to navigate when viewed on a phone. Potential customers who may otherwise have made an order, were much more likely to shop with a competitor who had a more user-friendly site.

Once we optimised his sites, conversion rates increased almost five-fold, up to 2.3%!

Reduce costs:

Through an analysis of David’s websites, hosting packages and associated services, we determined that he was paying too much for capabilities and capacity he wasn’t using. He had arrangements in place with third parties which were better suited to larger organisations, and by drawing up new specifications, based on the knowledge we’ve gained through working on ecommerce sites of various operations, we are able to dramatically reduce his monthly costs.

Respond to emergencies:

Websites break sometimes, and it can be for reasons completely outside of your control. Once you’ve done all you can to reduce the risk of something going wrong, it’s vital to put in place a plan to fix any problems that do emerge. David hired us on a maintenance contract, knowing he could call on us any time he had a problem.

David said: “Most companies insist you raise an online ticket to have your emergency dealt with, but I know I can always call eBusiness UK on the phone and talk to someone.

“Running an ecommerce website will always throw up random problems - I’ve had a broken plugin and been the target of spam, which all rendered my sites unusable - but it’s reassuring to know that eBusiness UK are there to talk to and have the knowledge to fix problems and quickly get my sites back online.”

Results

Since working with David, we have: Improved security across his sites and online payment systems Increased conversion rates among mobile users by 450% Fixed a number of problems which had taken his business offlineDavid said: “eBusiness UK is an ideal partner for my business. They are easy to talk to, they are very knowledgeable, and they also run their own ecommerce operation which gives them first-hand experiences to draw on.“Knowing I can call on them any time gives me great peace of mind, and because they are helping me to reduce my operational costs they will soon have paid for themselves!”