My experience with Maci Moo Treats so far has been a wonderful learning opportunity for the field I want to work in, which is e-commerce marketing. Maci Moo Treats is a small, family-owned startup, so its been exciting to work with the owners and hear of their experience in creating this company.
I am a marketing strategy intern for Maci Moo Treats and am currently working on website optimization for macimootreats.com. This has required me to do a lot of benchmarking of other pet company websites. I have been trying to examine which logistics successful e-commerce companies commonly use, such as Chewy. These logistics I am referring to are small details on a website, but they can truly attract or retract any potential customer. For example, color schemes, pictures, text size, and even where certain site buttons are located can have a big impact on conversion rate. With this in mind, I would take note of similarities on competitor websites, such as promotional website banners at the top of a homepage. These similarities indicated a pattern in conversion success rates, given how big the company was that I was benchmarking, so I recommended them to my supervisor.
Once I have received her approval on how I want to optimize their company website, I would create a number of layout previews, each including different features. One important detail that I keep in mind while optimizing the website is the fact that Maci Moo Treats currently wants to promote their home delivery service. For this promotion, I recommended adding a website banner with an enticing headline that included, “FREE shipping” which leads to a page that further explains their home delivery service. Their current customer base’s acknowledgement of this is crucial since this is the only way they have been able to attain revenue since the start of the pandemic.
Prior to the pandemic, they would promote themselves at farmer’s markets, but that has not happened for over a year. Since Maci Moo Treats is only composed of two owners, they have had a hard time figuring out how to promote themselves solely through e-commerce. So, my position is preparing me to attract and maintain customers in a way that drives in more revenue without the physical promotion of the company at a farmer’s market.
Aside from adding a new page for their home delivery promotion, I have also suggested adding an ‘About Us’ page, that includes pictures of my supervisor, her sister (the other owner), and their dog Maci, the company’s namesake. This page would include all necessary information and fun facts of the company. I will eventually add onto this page by disclosing ingredients in our dog and cat treats, which will further ensure how organic and healthy the products are for pets. Without disclosing this sort of important information, I have found pet owners may find Maci Moo Treats to be a dealbreaker when it comes to buying treats.
I also work with another intern who is in charge of setting up and monitoring the website analytics. During our weekly Zoom meetings, she presents her ideas and recent findings after I do. Our supervisor has stayed very open-minded and has allowed us to express ourselves in a way that makes me confident for future positions that require presentation.
As of our most recent meeting, my supervisor has approved my most-preferred website layout for the company. However, I asked if she was going to change the pictures of the products that are sold since they look like they were taken on a bed. Fortunately, she has mentioned that she knows a photographer that will take more appealing photos of the products, so I am currently waiting on those before I publish the new and improved website layout.
From what I have learned so far, I understand the difficulty of maintaining a business, even a small local one like Maci Moo Treats. I also realize the significance of keeping a target persona in mind with every action you consider. These are some specific questions I remember when creating content: How will the customer view this? Could this possibly be misinterpreted by the customer? Will this intrigue the customer to read more into this or convert?
After this internship has concluded, I plan to keep in touch with my supervisor so I can hear customer feedback on the features I have added to their website. I have enjoyed getting to know my supervisor and appreciate her honest critique of my ideas.