Vex Clothing
MEET VEX
Vex’s mission is to allow clients to express themselves through their clothing by creating unique handmade latex pieces with a personal touch. Over the last two decades, fashion designer Laura Petrielli has brought her vision to life with a steadfast dedication to quality and individuality.
THE CHALLENGE
Laura initially needed help getting her website up to standards for web accessibility. I initially helped her with the Alt Tags for her products and images on her website, but after completing this project, I transitioned into a remote business operations and project manager role.
At the time, Vex was operating as a small team with a high volume of orders that needed to be more organized. Unclear processes for custom orders and reactive approaches to key industry holiday dates started to take a toll on the business.
During the pandemic, e-commerce business boomed, and their usual smaller scale e-commerce business of one-off custom or celebrity orders was ready to go mainstream. To handle the influx of new e-commerce orders, they desperately needed to improve and streamline their service processes to accommodate e-comm shopping vs. high-profile custom orders. This new revenue stream was centered around a VERY different customer with completely different needs.
THE SOLUTION
CREATING AN ORGANIZED SYSTEM TO STREAMLINE BUSINESS OPERATIONS
I started by implementing a ClickUp project management flow to give Laura a place to centrally collaborate and delegate key tasks to her various contractors:
Copywriter
Social Media Manager
Studio Manager
Intern
I documented routine tasks with due dates to clarify expectations and implemented monthly team calls with key contractors to streamline communication and business updates. As their team grew, I built SOPs and training videos with Loom to make it easier to train contractors on routine tasks and properly delegate expectations.
Next, I built a custom ClickUp promo calendar to outline marketing events and sales for her e-commerce business. A centralized promo calendar allowed them to prepare for high-volume holiday sales and track revenue to determine their best sellers. They could now also centrally track important industry events to post about and prepare rental outfits in advance.
I processed her bi-weekly sale changes via Shopify automations with Theme Scheduler and Gem Pages (built custom collection landing pages), Bold Discounts, Shopify collections, and Custom Theme management from her web designer.
The next step was to create routine checklists for product tags so all products were cataloged consistently on the site. I also built a showroom inventory management system for rental items to help track and easily refer to information for these specific products.
IMPROVING THE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE TO INCREASE CONVERSIONS
First up was taking on the role of the daily business problem solver, customer service enhancer, and process improver. I expanded their customer FAQs to improve consistent communication and clarity to increase purchase conversions: https://vexclothing.com/pages/new-faq
During the pandemic, Laura struggled to figure out how to pivot and offer custom outfits and fittings virtually. This task needed an improved process, especially in regards to documentation. Many repeat questions were coming in from customers, so I built email templates to solve this time-consuming issue. I then tested various customer returns and shipping insurance apps to find the best solution for her customers with Seel Return Assurance and Route. Ultimately, I provided customers with what they needed to get a clear overview of the service and what was needed from them to fulfill their orders.
To reduce the amount of international package loss and claims, I executed changes to shipping options for customers, resulting in improved customer satisfaction and less back-end workload.
I also wanted to update her website and blog to be more user-friendly for her customers. E-commerce websites are the main source of not only shopping for customers, but also information. I fixed all of her website blog images for consistent sizing and a more professional look. Then updated their press and celebrity product features to increase sales: https://vexclothing.com/pages/media-celebrity
I also implemented email marketing best practices and created a monthly newsletter showing snippets of Laura’s daily life along with behind-the-scenes looks to build a community of trust with her customers.
To increase sales and lower customer acquisition costs, we launched a customer loyalty program through Loyalty.io that encouraged repeat customers.
OUR WORK TOGETHER
Project Manager & Operations Manager
As a project and operations manager for Vex, Virtual Sidekic helped:
Increase hand-made turnaround time from 6 weeks to the standard 3-4 weeks
Serve e-commerce customers and high-profile clientele more efficiently
Build an on-site studio with her husband to meet with customers in-person
Understand key metrics and act as a leader in her business
Prepare for important holidays and events in advance
Are you ready to improve your processes and your profits? Book a call with me, and I’ll show you how I can help your business take off!