There is no one-size-fits-all answer.
In the online world, every business has a unique definition of a successful website.
For Her Universe, success was when their website collected an astounding 31,000 new emails and raked in over $100,000 in sales from it.
However, getting there was not easy.
Here is their story.
“I remember back when I first started working with The Gallas Company. Her Universe had been going on for some time already – and we were doing well. But I felt that there was a lot more we could be getting from our website.”
You may have heard of Her Universe by now.
It’s a brand fangirls all over the country rave about, and no wonder!
Founded by Ashley Eckstein, the voice of Ahsoka Tano in Star Wars, it is an authentic “by the fans for the fans” company.
Today, Her Universe is a Hot Topic subsidiary, and they produce official merch for Disney, Star Wars, Marvel, Studio Ghibli, Star Trek, and more.
But it wasn’t always that way.
Before TGC started working with Her Universe, it was a still private business seeking more exposure.
Ashley was doing a tremendous job. Her fans and customers adored her products, setting Her Universe to blow up eventually. But it lacked a little spark.
And that is where The Gallas Company came in.
“I didn’t know much about online marketing back then, and Jeremy wasn’t an expert in the fashion industry either. But together, we put the pieces together and found a wonderful plan to take Her Universe forward.”
The first order of business was to understand the business.
Her Universe knew they could get more out of their website – but didn’t know what or how.
That’s why TGC spent the first weeks getting down and dirty studying Her Universe’s website analytics and how the business worked.
We had to find a way to transform the website into an ultra-valuable asset.
The solution?
Her Universe needed more emails.
Back then, Her Universe had a list of around 3,000 emails.
That might sound like a lot, but for a consumer company, it just isn’t enough.
When you are selling products, having an extensive email list is crucial.
Everyone needs to know when you have new products or when you’re going on sale.
It’s simple: the more people you reach, the more sales you will get.
That’s why we decided to put a strong emphasis on building the Her Universe email list.
But it wasn’t only the numbers we were looking for.
“We didn’t want an email list full of random people. We wanted a list full of people who were crazy about Disney, crazy about Marvel, crazy about Star Trek – we wanted the fangirls and the fangirls only.”
You can snatch every single email that comes your way.
However, you won’t get the results you’re looking for if you do.
Instead, we knew Her Universe needed an email list packed with fangirls – a.k.a their customer base.
To get this, we had to get creative.
Asking people to willingly give us their email and allow us to send them promotions is not easy.
It had to be done in a way that made them want to give us their emails.
So we ran low-cost Facebook advertisements, ran free giveaways, and created fangirl contests – everything to get the fans excited.
Also, we had to improve the website itself.
We added to the email list on checkout, coupon pop-ups on product pages, and a site-wide capture form.
This way, it was super easy for highly-valuable visitors to get into the email list.
“It’s crazy how much Her Universe has grown since then. And it’s been a tremendous joy seeing so many new people geeking out over our merch.”
The results?
The email list blew up.
In a year, it went from 3,000 emails to over 34,000!
And sales?
That went up by over $100,000!
When everything came together – the website improvements, the SEO fixes, and the email list growth – HerUniverse.com finally blew up.
It grew so much that it caught the eye of Hot Topic, who went on and acquired Her Universe as a stand-alone subsidiary.
Today, Her Universe has a humongous email list and makes millions of dollars in sales.
They have also expanded into the entertainment and lifestyle industries – and throw a “geek couture” fashion show every year at the San Diego comic-con.
And while Her Universe was destined to go big, one secret to their success was transforming their website into an ultra-valuable asset and bringing in thousands of new emails.
“We were a new, ecomm only business trying to get noticed on the world wide web among our major competitors. Had it not been for The Gallas Company, no one would have found us on the Internet! For any company looking to grow, SEO is not optional, it’s necessary, and The Gallas Company is the BEST company to work with!”
