Wērkt
Wērkt, an award-winning design firm, wanted transformative copy to complement a major website redesign for the nation’s #1 provider of online education management. Impressed by our team-staffed, ROI-driving approach, Wērkt partnered with MarketSmiths. Together, we launched a site revamp that boosted student enrollments by 55%—and sent the client’s stock prices soaring.
Client
“The purpose of this initial project was to increase spring’s conversion rate as dramatically as we could.” - Ian Hamilton
Since COVID-19, a surge in online education providers has given parents more homeschooling options than ever. In a sea of competition, edtech companies must swim against the current to differentiate themselves and drive enrollments.
To prepare for the bustling spring enrollment season, Wērkt’s edtech client hired 1,000 customer service reps to man the phones. But first, they needed a new website to attract prospects and make those phones ring.
As lead project manager for the website refresh, Ian Hamilton came up with a multi-phase plan to rewrite and redesign 137 web pages. Since content oversight also fell under Ian’s purview, he would need a support team.
After a quick Google search, Ian found an article on top NYC copywriting agencies. The article praised many agencies for producing affordable copy. “But when it came to MarketSmiths,” Ian recalled with a smile, “The article said: If you’re willing to pay just a little bit more, you’re sure to get top-quality copy. I liked that comment because I was willing to pay a little bit more to get top-quality copy.”
After reading through our website, Ian decided to give MarketSmiths a shot.
He then introduced us to Melanie LoBue, a creative director responsible for building processes that would ensure all web pages were:
- On-tone
- On-theme
- On-time
“I was met with excellent creatives and strong process orientation. I haven’t had the opportunity to work with people as seasoned as the MarketSmiths team.”
— Melanie LoBue, creative director
Challenges
“One of our key goals was to get away from the old website’s way of talking to the user.” - Ian Hamilton
As with any company undertaking a website redesign, Wērkt faced a number of challenges:
1. “The quality of copy that we had was okay, but not sterling.”
Wērkt wanted high-converting copy to match their compelling designs. They had hired another copy agency for a previous project, but the partnership ultimately fell short. “I graded their copy on the old website a B-minus,” Ian explains. “And we came to a consensus that we needed to level up for the new pages we were designing.”
2.“Our existing process wasn’t agile enough.”
Given the size of the project, Ian needed a copy partner that could adapt to Wērkt’s fast-paced process. The previous agency insisted on a rigid process involving many hands, unnecessary steps, and slow turnarounds. “For us, it was too linear, too sequential, and would just take too long,” Ian explains. “Not to mention, the quality wasn’t showing up in the end product after all that effort.”
3. “We wanted to give simple feedback and have revisions turned around right away.”
With looming enrollment deadlines, there wasn’t any time for hand-holding or lengthy revisions. As creative director, Melanie wanted to avoid “situations where writers aren’t quite getting it.” She needed a talented team she could trust from the start.
4. “We needed copy that speaks to the average parent out there, across all 50 states.”
The project also required a crucial tonal pivot to increase enrollments. “One of our key goals was to get away from the old website’s way of talking to the user,” says Ian. “The old pages were encyclopedic, with heavy verbiage and conceptual breakdowns of each topic. The average user doesn’t respond to that very well.”
They needed a change—and MarketSmiths was up for the challenge.
Shared Success
“All the stars aligned when we brought on MarketSmiths.” - Ian Hamilton
Fast-forward to today, and it’s clear that our collaborative effort was a resounding success.
Qualitative Results
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Creative Strategy: “They tell a story from top to bottom in the right kind of language.”
“What we wanted—and what we got—from MarketSmiths was colloquial writing that speaks to the average parent out there, across all 50 different states,” Ian says. “We wanted writing that has hooks, phrases, metaphors, and imagery, rather than spelling out every logical detail. I think our new pages really speak—they tell a story from top to bottom in the right kind of language.”
What Ian described is our motto: Copywriting for Humans®. Facts alone can only go so far. It’s emotions that tug at parents’ heartstrings and stir them to action. They want to see themselves in the stories of other families who once yearned for change. They want to imagine their child thriving in a new school—learning, discovering interests, and making friends.
“MarketSmiths found the sweet spot in balancing the facts with creativity,” says Melanie. “The team brought a lot of ideas to the table and took an active interest in finding something to be passionate about in the writing.”
She particularly appreciates how our team “always asked the right questions—seeking clarity and digging deeper, without complicating.” As creative strategists, we scrutinized each page through a user experience lens, making suggestions on storytelling approach and page layout. “You would often see things that we blatantly missed or, frankly, didn’t consider,” says Melanie. “It was always very helpful.”
She also liked that we provided multiple options to help guide her creative direction. Reviewing different headlines, themes, and approaches, Melanie was able to land on the perfect voice and tone for an evolving client. “I so loved reading through the pages,” she says. “It’s great to see that level of creativity and what’s possible.”
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Flexibility: “All our problems have been resolved by working with MarketSmiths.”
From both a creative and process standpoint, “All our problems have been resolved by using MarketSmiths,” Ian says. “The team was very nimble in following our direction and producing high-quality copy—and you’ve been affordable, from our point of view. All the stars aligned when we brought on MarketSmiths.”
Melanie enjoyed the peace of mind our partnership brought, too. “Working with MarketSmiths, I was met with excellent creatives and strong process orientation,” she says. “The work was very consistent and reliable. It was easy to give feedback on places where we could punch it up a little bit and have revisions turned around right away.”
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Efficiency: “We stayed on target the entire time.”
In the end, “We hit all of our deadlines and stayed on target the entire time,” says Melanie.
“I haven’t had the opportunity to work with people as seasoned as MarketSmiths—perhaps ever, or at least not in quite some time,” she adds. “I’d love to work with the MarketSmiths team again and highly recommend your agency.”
Quantitative Results
The goal of any copy investment is, of course, to generate a financial return.
Here were our results:
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After we rolled out batch one, student enrollments increased by 30%.
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After we rolled out batch two, student enrollments increased by another 25%—bringing total conversions to +55%.
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The client’s net revenue increased by 18.4%.
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During this period, the client’s stock price increased by 25%.
“These are big numbers,” Ian explains. “To put it into perspective, a 10% increase in enrollments would have been great after batch one rollout; 30% exceeded expectations.” With each enrollment worth about $7,500, everyone was thrilled. “We’ve had success with the client,” says Ian, “but this was the first big success.”
Looking ahead, Werkt plans to finish rolling out the client’s new and improved website in January 2024. “I wouldn’t be surprised if we increase conversion rates by at least 30% again—which amounts to a lot of new customers for our client,” says Ian. “If we hit a mark like that, it will be legendary. People will be telling stories about it for years to come.”
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