Postfly

Improvement of a Subscription-Based Fishing Supplies Service

About the client

Postfly is an American subscription service that provides fishing supplies. Customers can subscribe to one of three membership plans to receive a flybox once a month. Each box comes packed with flies, gear, and stoke. The Postfly team of guides curates each box based on location, season, and species, so customers always have what is needed to catch more fish.

Postfly began its business in 2013 as a small start-up and now ships over 100,000 fly fishing accessories internationally and counting, every month. It has grown to be the largest D2C fly fishing distributor in the world.

Project Highlights

Industry

Fishing

Service

Web development

Technology

Shopify

Location

USA

Challenge

The business owners were looking for a way to optimize their customers’ buying journey - they wanted to improve the user experience and see an increase in the website’s conversion rate. Operating a subscription model using Bold Subscriptions for Shopify, which enables subscription logic only on product pages, Postfly was limited in design variation for the website and was looking for subscription logic customization.

Previously, Postfly subscriptions looked something like this:

Page 1:

Customers started on a page where they could choose the type of box they’d receive between “Regular” or “Guide,” each differed in the number of flies, special products included each month, and much more.

Page 2:

On the next page, customers had to specify the type of fish they would be fishing for (this information was used to determine the type of fishing tackle).

Page 3:

The next step was to choose the subscription term - 3 months, 6 months or 12 months.

Page 4:

Then, customers were redirected to the shopping cart containing the corresponding Postfly box, where they could finally place the order and move to checkout.

The need was to eliminate all those cumbersome steps on different pages that took place before even getting to complete the order, and instead locating all the logic for choosing a box type on a single custom collection page.

Solution

When integrated, out-of-the-box logic of the Bold Subscriptions app adds a JavaScript library to a Shopify store. After the customer chooses the product for subscription, the script takes the details of this product and transfers them via API to Bold, so the system can understand for what sum and during which period to repeatedly charge the customer.

The complexity of the modification for Postfly was the default functionality of Bold Subscriptions - to work only with a single product, so, one entity on a page. As the idea of buying journey improvements was placing all types of products and subscriptions on a single page - two main products with numerous variations, we had to customize the underlying logic of Bold Subscriptions.

We developed a JavaScript that customizes the logic of Bold to enable it to operate using data from two or more products on a single page. Our script extends the script of Bold on the side of the Shopify store and modifies the default app behavior.

In conjunction with this, we fully reworked the subscription page design and customized the default Shopify checkout process to make it work as a one page checkout instead of multiple steps that required inputting shipping address, selecting the shipping methods and then entering payment details on separate pages before actually placing an order. Now, after our modifications, when the customer chooses all the product options, the product is added to their shopping cart right away and shown in a pop-up window. After clicking the Check Out button, the customer is redirected to a checkout page where they can complete the order.

Results

Now, that our work is completed, the Postfly website has modern collection page design and an optimized checkout process. The store enjoys an improved conversion rate by shortening the ordering process from seven to three steps. The store Engages the demanding clients more efficiently by providing a unique customer experience.

All the custom logic we’ve developed is tailored exactly to the Postfly’s business model and target audience, and was made in accordance with the best development practices. It is smoothly integrated with the native Shopify and Bold Subscriptions logic and serves as a reliable foundation for future business growth.