As an up-and-coming D2C brand on Shopify, Opopop turns to Narvar to offer a polished, professional tracking experience that extends and reflects its premium product offering. 

Officially launched on June 3, 2021 via Shopify, "Opopop was founded to revolutionize the entire popcorn marketplace, bringing innovation and excitement to a category that has lacked both for a long time," explains Alex McEvoy, Founding Partner at Opopop. 

Embodying this spirit of innovation is the company’s first publicly released product: Flavor Wrapped Popcorn Kernels available in flavors like Vanilla Cake Pop, Cinnalicious, Maui Heat, and Chedapeno. "It's similar to a peanut M&M," Alex explains. "All of the flavoring is enrobed around every kernel. No one's ever done this before, so we had to invent the whole manufacturing process."

In developing the company’s proprietary popcorn-producing processes, Opopop encountered one major hurdle: the risk of shipping an item with a moderate melting point of its kernel coating. According to Alex, "we’re launching strictly direct to consumer (D2C) right now. And since we decided to launch this product in the summer, that posed some challenges from a shipping and fulfillment perspective." 

"Getting this product to our customer in the form it's meant to be enjoyed in and not melting is extremely important to us,” he continues. “If our product arrives melted, we could lose that customer for life."

Popping in with important information

Opopop looked to Narvar not just to streamline its shipment tracking notifications—to ensure the perishable goods were taken off the porch quickly—but to educate and empower its consumers as well. 

"When we realized we were launching a perishable product in the middle of summer," Alex states, "we started looking around for every advantage we could possibly have to make sure this product arrives to our customers in the shape we wanted. We ship the product with light insulation and gel packs to keep it cool. But even with all of that, the customer needs to be aware of when their box is delivered so that it doesn't sit on the porch and bake for 10 hours." 

Not only did Narvar’s automated shipment notifications help keep Opopop’s customers apprised of their orders' status, they created a critical opportunity to share recommended handling instructions. “Narvar's emails allow us to educate the customer that this product is perishable, and that they need to pay close attention to when it's going to be delivered.”

Facilitating a flavor revolution

Beyond educating buyers, Alex appreciates the way Narvar’s Track platform helps reduce demand on Opopop’s customer service function and creates a polished brand experience.

As a growing, early-stage startup, Opopop’s customer experience is currently managed by a small team. Alex explains, "We do get emails asking, 'Where's my package?' or 'When is it going to be delivered?' Narvar's emails that automatically trigger based on anticipated delivery or when an order gets delayed help reduce the number of customer service requests that come in."

"We're moving so fast. Narvar has helped us accelerate the whole customer experience."

Alex also likes how easy it is to style Narvar’s tracking pages in a way that fits with Opopop’s brand. "In a world where there are so many things online that people can buy, even if you make an innovative product, it's the brand that really pulls people in and brings people back," he concludes. 

It’s this branded tracking experience that is performing higher than Narvar benchmarks for Opopop’s industry. First, the marketing collateral on their tracking pages has a 13% click-through rate, higher than the 11% average. And, their CSAT score is 23% higher than other similar businesses using Narvar. 

"Having that brand experience that's the same through the fulfillment process, thanks to Narvar, makes us look and feel like the premium brand we are."