Wild Planet Taps Smartrr for Subscription Success

The TLDR

Already a leading brand in the CPG retail space, Wild Planet needed the right partner to help them scale their online subscription business. Dana Lusted, Brand Manager – Digital at Wild Planet, opted to migrate from their existing solution to Smartrr for its Shopify native solution, customer-first approach, and integration capabilities. After a seamless migration, Smartrr has delivered an exceptional customer experience for Wild Planet and its customers alike, instilling confidence that Smartrr is the right partner to drive continued subscription growth for years to come.

“I’m very happy with the decision to move to Smartrr. Everything has been great thus far.”
– Dana Lusted, Brand Manager – Digital at Wild Planet

The Full Story

The Context: An Established Brand Goes Digital

Wild Planet was established in 2004 and since then, it has expanded to become the leading sustainable canned seafood company in the United States. Initially launching exclusively in brick-and-mortar retail stores, Wild Planet soon recognized that their abundance of loyal customers needed an online sales channel. Seeking a smoother eCommerce experience for its customers, Wild Planet migrated from WordPress to Shopify in April 2022 and made their first foray into subscriptions.

As recommended by their web developers, Wild Planet initially launched subscriptions with an alternative subscription platform. And while this app fulfilled basic subscription functionality, Dana and her team faced a few hurdles:

1. Limited functionality put too much development pressure on Wild Planet
2. Poor customer experiences were resulting in too many support tickets
3. Data was not flowing cleanly to Netsuite, a necessity for Wild Planet
4. Lack of support and advice to help grow their subscription program

The Solution: A Seamless Migration to Smartrr

After being introduced to Smartrr via a webinar in December 2022, Smartrr’s subscription management features and overall flexibility immediately caught Dana’s eye. Dana worked closely with the Smartrr team to investigate if it was the right solution for Wild Planet. Smartrr impressed Dana in three key areas: Smartrr is native to Shopify, would integrate cleanly with Netsuite, and would greatly improve the online experience for Wild Planet’s customers. And even though a subscription migration was “terrifying”, Dana felt positive about making the switch to Smartrr after her experience with the team.

“The fact that the [Smartrr] team took the time to hear me, was patient with me, and didn’t look to sell me on anything, but instead thoughtfully considered how they provide me with what we were looking to achieve meant a lot to me.”

The Result: A Superior Experience With Smartrr

After a seamless migration to Smartrr in July 2023, Dana described the experience as being superior from the start.

The customer account portal offered a much-improved experience for subscribers, all with minimal customization. Features like social feeds integrated into the account portal and retention actions for canceling subscriptions have further enhanced Wild Planet’s customer experience and built trust with their subscribers. Plus, Smartrr’s integrations with other Shopify apps, such as Klaviyo, have streamlined customer communication and increased Dana’s opportunities to engage subscribers.

“There are fun bells and whistles that come with the Smartrr platform. The fact that I can put social feeds into the account portal is incredible. For us, being able to show social proof across the website wherever we can is always going to be beneficial for brand awareness and potential increase for conversions.”

Dana described feeling satisfied with the ability of her subscribers to easily manage their subscriptions, and it shows; customer complaints revolving around subscription management have decreased, resulting in a happier and more efficient customer service team.

“My customer service team is happy and has had much fewer issues with customers since moving over.”

Wild Planet reported significant improvements in their data too, directly improving the ability to provide better insights to their leadership team.

All of these improvements can already be seen in the data, with an 85% increase in subscription revenue and 95% monthly subscriber retention on average over the past 3 months.

“I love the fact that I can confidently go back to my leadership team and provide them with reliable and accurate analytics. It really helps us learn how to improve and perform better as a company.”

Looking Ahead: A Real Partner in Subscription Growth

With eCommerce remaining in focus heading into 2024, subscriptions are set to play a critical role in Wild Planet’s growth. Dana feels confident with Smartrr as a long-term partner as they continue to expand their online presence, especially as Smartrr continues to take feedback into account and iterate on subscription offerings.

“I think that we’re going to be working together for a long time as Wild Planet continues to grow.”