How Slingshot publishes to its Shopify store 40% faster with Talkoot
40% faster
to web
99% content
accuracy
Improved customer experience
A COVID-induced surge in popularity of outdoor sports combined with the launch of their new, critically acclaimed hydrofoil product line brought a tidal wave of new customers to Slingshot and its sister brand, Ride Engine.
That steep rise in demand was made even more challenging thanks to a strategic shift to digital sales that created an equally sharp rise in the need for deep, accurate and consistent product storytelling.
“Our existing tools and processes couldn’t support our content needs.”
—Lyndee Talmage, Marketing Communications Manager, Slingshot
The Challenge: Unify and simplify product content production across all retail channels and end points
With skyrocketing growth comes skyrocketing challenges. Slingshot needed multiple types of product content throughout the sell-in and sell-through process—from wholesale tech sheets and Amazon-ready content, to deeper product stories for their own DTC site. The challenge was compounded by two brands with two very different product lines and content needs.
Manual, inefficient processes
Before Talkoot, valuable product content was spread across different systems, documents, and servers. The Slingshot team spent weeks copying and pasting product content from system to spreadsheet to system, leaving no time for more strategic activities.
Product pages had incorrect information, in the wrong format
Every channel and retail endpoint required different content formats, character counts, feature/benefit bullets, and image sizes. Without a way to enforce these restrictions with their systems or easily publish product content, descriptions got cut off, feature bullets were missing and images were distorted. It all added up to a sub-par consumer experience.
Product changes & feedback weren’t consistently tracked or communicated
Changes to the product, plus feedback from buyers and internal stakeholders, were captured in some systems but not all, and no one knew which version of copy was the most accurate. So, after multiple people took time to review and update product copy in one place, the final PDP page would still end up with the wrong copy.
“Publishing new SKUs to Shopify used to take 40 hours of cutting & pasting. With Talkoot it’s a simple 30-minute process.”
—Monique Anderson, eCommerce manager, Slingshot
The Solution: Onboard a system and process that could help the team scale to support skyrocketing demand for product content
With Talkoot, the Slingshot team was able to cut the time and resources it took to publish to its Shopify store by 40%. Now all team members, from product manager to marketers to creatives, have one system to create, track and access the most current product stories, images, specs and feature/benefit copy.
Standardized workflows increase efficiency
Working together, the Talkoot and Slingshot teams were able to create efficient workflows, then configure those workflows into the system so Slingshot was able to ensure consistency and accuracy of the content while also experiencing significant efficiency gains.
99% content accuracy across channels
In Talkoot, the Slingshot team uses content templates to ensure they’re meeting each channel’s requirements with accurate content. They can easily view and correct all versions of product information, across all channels and seasons at once. Critical changes, feedback and approvals are automatically tracked, ensuring product stories match product info.
Seamless flow of product content to all endpoints
Talkoot’s smart integration made it possible to publish different content to different platforms via a direct Shopify integration. The integration allows them to push unique content to their DTC and B2B sites, as well as their Amazon store.
Up and running in just 5 weeks
Talkoot was able to onboard the Slingshot team—from discovery to training and implementation—in a matter of weeks, which meant they started seeing the benefits of a more streamlined process within the same season they selected Talkoot as their system of choice.
Conclusion
With Talkoot, the Slingshot team brought the chaos of creating, tracking and publishing their product content under control. Now they’re prepared for anything success throws at them. Slingshot’s steep trajectory shows no sign of relenting, but now they have the systems and processes in place to seamlessly support that growth.
Talkoot is an AI-powered product content production platform that helps the world’s most loved brands create deeper, more valuable connections with customers everywhere they buy through more scalable and powerful product storytelling. To see how Talkoot can do the same for your brand, get in touch with one of our consultants.
Talkoot pays for itself many times over
OUR CUSTOMERS EXPERIENCE:
4x greater efficiency
40%+ savings on content production
3x reduction in errors
10%+ conversion rate increases
99% on-time copy deliveries
A happy team & more loyal customers