Old Time Pottery
Old Time Pottery is the home décor store that lets you stretch your imagination without stretching your wallet. They had a large online presence, including an e-commerce site with a revolving door of products, and 39 physical stores in 11 states before being acquired by Gabe’s.
The Challenge
As a large B2C retailer, Old Time Pottery needed a cohesive marketing and design strategy to support its seasonal product launches and ongoing promotions. Initially, they turned to Mane Impact for auxiliary support with graphic design and email marketing—but it soon became clear that their needs extended much further. Old Time Pottery was struggling to maintain consistent branding and design across multiple marketing channels, especially as they transitioned from a “buy online, pick up in store” model to full e-commerce shipping in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Their existing website and checkout process were clunky, leading to a poor user experience and high cart abandonment rates, particularly on mobile devices. To support their rapid growth and increased online presence, they needed a streamlined website, a simplified checkout experience, and coordinated multichannel marketing campaigns that could be planned months in advance and quickly adapted for each seasonal promotion. With weekly email campaigns and a need for cross-platform consistency, Old Time Pottery sought Mane Impact’s expertise to transform its digital presence and ensure ongoing success.
The Deliverables
Web Design
- Custom web design and product page launches
- E-commerce functionality improvements
- Mobile-responsive design optimized for all devices
- User-friendly navigation and checkout experience
Graphic Design
- Print and digital creative assets
- Email marketing designs
- Social and web promotional graphics
Marketing Strategy
- Seasonal marketing campaigns
- Content strategy for weekly email campaigns
- Content writing for the website, emails, and marketing materials
Branding
- Brand photography direction
- Art direction for cohesion across multichannel campaigns
Web Design
In addition to delivering web design and content for various seasonal campaigns, Mane Impact provided strategic guidance to enhance the user experience (UX) of Old Time Pottery’s website. We led the effort to streamline the e-commerce checkout process, ensuring it was easy to navigate and stress-free for customers. Key design decisions focused on improving product browsing functionality, optimizing every page for mobile devices, and prominently showcasing new seasonal products and deals.
The navigation bar was updated to help users quickly find the right products, while maintaining visual consistency to support easier navigation and overall usability. Technical enhancements included SEO optimization, custom website themes, and templates, contributed to a seamless and user-friendly experience across all its locations, supporting Old Time Pottery’s multi-store business model.
Graphic Design
Mane Impact collaborated closely with Old Time Pottery to elevate their brand and boost customer engagement by implementing a consistent art direction across all communication channels. This comprehensive approach encompassed email marketing, print promotions, retail advertising, social media, web campaigns, and seasonal content.
Notably, multichannel marketing efforts for quarterly clearance events drove additional sales of previously slow-moving products, while coordinated promotions of influencer collaborations significantly increased sales of featured items in email campaigns. Brand consistency was maintained through the development of reusable templates and detailed brand and visual guidelines, ensuring a cohesive look and feel across every platform.
Consistent & Recognizable Brand
Through improved art direction grounded in a deep understanding of Old Time Pottery’s customers and target demographics, Mane Impact enhanced the brand’s presence across email campaigns, print design, and website content. This strategic approach led to a 5% increase in email open rates and boosted online shopping revenue via customer-centric and email-driven e-commerce initiatives.
Extensive research into the audience and competitors informed refinements in marketing, design, and website effectiveness. Brand consistency was achieved by implementing clear design guidelines for website hero images, weekly email campaigns, product images, social media templates, and other marketing materials. Key brand elements, such as email design templates that aligned with website product sections, consistent website banner images matching social media posts, and carefully crafted guidelines for text and calls to action, all contributed to stronger overall brand recognition for the organization.
