Case Studies
Cascadia Vehicle Tents is the industry leader of Roof Top Vehicle Tents, Awnings and Car Camping Equipment for trucks and SUVs. They are a family business, whose passion is to help explorers outdoors - from hardcore overlanders to weekend campers. They are part of the Gathr Outdoors family of brands, and contribute to the overall Gathr Outdoors Purpose which is to inspire time spent together outdoors by promoting a passion for adventures big and small.
Let’s start from the beginning. The Team at Cascadia Vehicle Tents (CVT) observed that there was room to improve their conversion rate at check out. They were seeing shoppers make it all the way to check out and then abandon their orders. It’s not hard to imagine why this might be.
Buying a tent for your vehicle has a high consideration process. There are many elements that go into making sure the tent will fit your truck, that the tent will weather the storm no matter where you’re traveling to, and so many more. It’s a costly purchase, and if not 100% correctly ordered, could be a nightmare to return. Buying a vehicle tent can be a large investment, especially for someone who is new into overlanding or weekend camping.
We share this to say, the team had a hypothesis that if they provided more clarity, assistance, and confidence in the buying process that they wouldn’t only improve their conversion rate, but they could also improve their AOV, too.
Humankind is the leading Conversational Commerce platform that enables eCommerce brands/retailers to launch 1:1 human-led personalized shopping experiences via SMS profitably and at scale.
With Humankind, CVT could add a person, an expert in the CVT catalog and a true fan in the overlanding and camping world, into the buying process to help shoppers feel supported throughout their eCommerce buying experience.
The eCommerce experience supported by Humankind starts with a questionnaire which helps the CVT expert know what the shopper is looking for during that visit. Once the expert and the shopper are connected via SMS, the expert can pull together the right recommendation(s) for the shoppers specific use case. Because the recommendation is completely tailored to the shoppers needs, the stress or fear of misordering is completely eliminated. The buyer can feel confident that they won’t have to worry about a potentially trip-ruining return.
Adding this level of personalization has improved CVT’s conversion to 27%, meaning for every person who engages with the Humankind experience, that 27% convert to check out. An extraordinary conversion in the eCommerce landscape.
If you’re wondering about their hunches regarding impact to AOV, you’ll be pleased to hear they were on to something..
There may be additional odds and ends to consider when purchasing vehicle tents that “the first timer” might not be aware of. There might be an upgrade to a tent that the shopper might not know will make their overlanding or camping experience that much more enjoyable. But you know who does know these types of things? The Cascadia Vehicle Tent Expert, JD.
JD is able to give a full picture recommendation for purchase, AND shoppers are taking advantage of the full picture recommendation. This has ultimately increased AOV by +45%.
Whereby, simply adding in an expert who can make a more educated recommendation than the shopper, we’re seeing a very organic, and natural shift for a buyer to spend more during a single purchase.
For starters, the success of adding Humankind into the ecommerce experience was so apparent, that Gathr Outdoors introduced another brand, Klymit, to Humankind.
Even beyond Klymit, Humankind is working with Gathr Outdoor to create a program where all of the Gathr Outdoor brands are able to take advantage of Conversational Commerce. The way this would unfold is that a single expert would be able to recommend products from all the Gathr Outdoor brands. Imagine not only being able to recommend the CVT tent, but the Klymit sleeping bag, right down to an ORCA cooler! Talk about customer-centric, talk about making it easy to find what you need, talk about creating a meaningful relationship.
At the core, finding a way to simplify the buying experience, providing the assistance needed, instilling shopper confidence, and creating a lasting impression is still the primary goal. The CVR and AOV are the byproducts of making sure the above elements happen.
We’re excited to continue to watch this partnership evolve! If you’re interested in learning how to launch 1:1, human-led personalized eCommerce shopping experiences profitably and at scale, let’s talk! Visit gethumankind.com.
