Hibbett Sports has a long history of selling high-caliber athletic footwear and apparel. Founded in 1945, the brand has been synonymous with quality for over seven decades. The cornerstone of their brand, the Hibbett Sports store, is a small-format, brick-and-mortar sports emporium with devoted fans all across the country that sets a high bar for customer experience.

They launched their ecommerce site in 2017, which was later than many of their peers. That gave them an advantage: they were able to learn from companies that had been doing ecommerce for longer. And the company’s ecommerce site was a blank slate, with no legacy system issues to conquer. Hibbett Sports wanted to fulfill their ecommerce vision and create a streamlined, modern, and customer-centric experience. And to build that experience, they turned to Narvar.  

Crafting best-in-class ecommerce

Hibbett Sports puts customer experience at the center of everything they do. “Customer experience really is critical these days, because you’re competing against third-party marketplaces and they can beat you on price and assortment,” explains Bill Quinn, VP of Digital Commerce at Hibbett Sports. “We had to be best in class the day we launched.”

He knew that in order to do that, his team needed to pay attention to all aspects of the customer journey, from browsing to delivery and beyond. That meant finding a single solution that would enhance communication about packages the whole way through.

“I really wanted to get past the ‘buy’ button and the order complete page because that’s not when customer experience stops,” says Quinn.  “In many ways, that’s when customer experience starts.”

“We really wanted best-in-class, so we looked for a company that provided a really good experience first and foremost.”
‍

Bill Quinn

VP of Digital Commerce

Finding a partner that can scale

“We really wanted best-in-class, so we looked for a company that provided a really good experience first and foremost,” says Quinn. “We also considered roadmap and growth, because being able to take advantage of a fast business model was essential for us. We knew that Narvar would be continuing to build upon its services and make them better, as well as provide new services.”

Quinn and his team used Narvar to implement a branded tracking page where customers can not only see all of their orders in one place, but can also view new releases, explore the loyalty program, and more, thanks to on-page marketing assets that boasted a 12.5% click-through rate, 2400% higher than the average CTR on an ecommerce display ad. Hibbett Sports also implemented Narvar’s notification solution, which sends customers automated emails when orders are shipped, delivered, or delayed. In the first few months of launching,  Hibbett Sports saw an incredible 35.8% opt-in rate. After all, 83% of shoppers expect regular communication about their purchases.

Hibbett Sports’ customers also like being in the know about new releases. The company includes a Launch Calendar feature on their tracking page to let customers know there will be a limited new sneaker release. This is a core aspect of the company’s business, driving urgency and sales, while also providing the proactive communications these highly engaged customers appreciate.

“To me, communication is paramount,” says Quinn. “You should send out emails, you should send out texts, you should have a landing page where customers can go. All of that should be part of one solution, which is addressing a customer’s need to understand where their order is.”

Putting customers first with Narvar

Thanks to this increased transparency, Hibbett Sports has been able to lower the demands on their customer service team. Contacts per order are now down over 20% after implementing Narvar, freeing up the team to focus on other things.

Specifically, Narvar lets the customer service team proactively get ahead of issues. Narvar’s built-in feedback feature lets customers give ratings and reviews. The customer service team at Hibbett Sports directs their attention toward customers who gave low ratings on their delivery experience and works to rectify problems.

With this new understanding, Hibbett Sports can fix common shipping and delivery hiccups so that customers never have an issue with their order in the first place. “It’s led to process improvements and bigger initiatives around lost packages,” says Quinn. “The information has been very valuable for us.”

Hibbett Sports remains focused on the customer, and sees post-purchase as an essential part of a great customer journey.  “For us, we see it as a necessity, as part of the customer experience that really has to be provided,” says Quinn. “And Narvar helps us provide it.”

‍