Introduction:
Onport, a UK-based multi-vendor marketplace and dropshipping software provider, had established itself as a key player in the e-commerce space despite being fully bootstrapped. With a reputation for strong customer loyalty and retention, Onport's growth was impressive. However, their sales-driven go-to-market strategy was becoming a bottleneck, particularly as they aimed to scale. The company faced challenges with high-touch onboarding processes and the need for a more sustainable customer acquisition strategy. Seeking a transformative approach, Onport turned to us to help them shift to a product-led model that could drive scalability and efficiency.
Work Done:
After extensive discussions with Onport's leadership team, we identified two critical areas of focus: user onboarding and acquisition strategy. Our work was divided into the following key initiatives:
- Product-Led User Onboarding:Onport’s original onboarding process was cumbersome, relying heavily on manual support and a static checklist of actions. This approach was not sustainable as the company grew. We redesigned the onboarding experience to be product-led, focusing on the essential actions users needed to perform to become Product Qualified Leads (PQLs).We built a guided onboarding flow within the product, allowing users to self-serve and reducing the need for handholding. To ensure users stayed on track, we also implemented customer engagement metrics that allowed the team to proactively reach out when users showed signs of struggling.
- Onport’s original onboarding process was cumbersome, relying heavily on manual support and a static checklist of actions. This approach was not sustainable as the company grew. We redesigned the onboarding experience to be product-led, focusing on the essential actions users needed to perform to become Product Qualified Leads (PQLs).
- We built a guided onboarding flow within the product, allowing users to self-serve and reducing the need for handholding. To ensure users stayed on track, we also implemented customer engagement metrics that allowed the team to proactively reach out when users showed signs of struggling.
- Feedback Loop Design:Understanding the customer’s journey was essential for Onport’s growth. We transformed the demo process into a valuable feedback loop by incorporating Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) questions and recording each conversation. This provided continuous insights that informed product development and go-to-market strategies.
- Understanding the customer’s journey was essential for Onport’s growth. We transformed the demo process into a valuable feedback loop by incorporating Jobs-to-be-Done (JTBD) questions and recording each conversation. This provided continuous insights that informed product development and go-to-market strategies.
- Acquisition Strategy Overhaul:We conducted comprehensive keyword research to better understand the market landscape, which revealed an opportunity to reposition Onport slightly from a dropshipping solution to a multi-vendor marketplace. This subtle shift attracted higher-quality leads.To maximize the effectiveness of our top-of-the-funnel efforts, we designed data-driven competitor landing pages and a robust content strategy that resonated with the target audience.We also restructured Onport’s paid ad campaigns, focusing on Shopify ads over Google Ads. This decision was driven by past data showing higher competition on Google and better performance on Shopify. The results were impressive, with significant improvements in click-through rates (CTR) and cost-per-click (CPC).
- We conducted comprehensive keyword research to better understand the market landscape, which revealed an opportunity to reposition Onport slightly from a dropshipping solution to a multi-vendor marketplace. This subtle shift attracted higher-quality leads.
- To maximize the effectiveness of our top-of-the-funnel efforts, we designed data-driven competitor landing pages and a robust content strategy that resonated with the target audience.
- We also restructured Onport’s paid ad campaigns, focusing on Shopify ads over Google Ads. This decision was driven by past data showing higher competition on Google and better performance on Shopify. The results were impressive, with significant improvements in click-through rates (CTR) and cost-per-click (CPC).
Outcomes:
The shift to a product-led go-to-market strategy yielded remarkable results for Onport:
- Onboarding Time Reduced: The new product-led onboarding flow drastically reduced the time and effort required to activate new users, transforming a high-touch process into a scalable, low-touch experience.
- Higher Quality Leads: The repositioning and targeted content strategy attracted more qualified leads, aligning better with Onport’s value proposition.
- Improved Ad Performance: The optimized Shopify ad campaigns delivered a nearly 7% CTR (four times better than Google ads) and a cost-per-click of just $1.80, significantly lowering customer acquisition costs (CAC).
- Sustainable Growth: With a CAC of $60 and an industry average LTV of over $6,000, Onport’s acquisition strategy became not only sustainable but highly profitable, paying off the CAC within a month.
This transformation not only solved Onport’s immediate challenges but also positioned the company for continued growth and success in a competitive market. The collaboration with Onport stands as a testament to the power of a well-executed product-led strategy.
