Launching a digital–first lifestyle brand in 3 months.

Barkism is a premium dog–treat subscription service enjoyed by increasing numbers of discerning dogs across the UK.

In a unique partnership with creative studio Barbara, we defined and launched this digital–first brand, from conception to their first subscription in just 3 months.

Positioning Barkism in the market

Our market research extended from dog walker interviews to subscribing for a monthly shave. We scrutinised what ‘good’ looked like across the entire service experience, in order to design something extra special. Once we’d exhausted the competitor landscape, we found a hole in the market and designed a brand to fill it.

A tight creative team

Working in close collaboration with art direction duo Barbara, we were able to be playful with the visual identity as it was being developed. Together we designed bespoke brand assets and a slick UI, to bring the brand to life through the digital–first experience.

A streamlined subscription journey

Launching a new brand means the UX has to be seamless in order to instill trust with the users. This applies as much to exploratory journeys as to the conversion flow.

We optimised the subscription journey to as fewer steps as possible, accommodating personal and gift purchases within one UI. The simple form updates according to your preferences, minimising the steps between you and your first doggy delivery.

Bespoke Shopify subscription build

Building on top of Shopify’s native and third party APIs, we created our own APIs and app to enhance the customer experience during checkout and then account management.

Subscriptions were configured to work best for both Barkism and their customer’s needs. We used React to quickly build, test and iterate on the Subscription interface which had to consider multiple different user journeys.

The majority of Barkism’s users use the website on mobile so our Subscription interface was further optimised for those users.

Test, learn, optimise

At Maido, usability testing is embedded into our process and Barkism was no different. We recruited suitable dog lovers to test the proposition and key user journeys through the site.

Key findings were then captured on a backlog and actioned within days, optimising the service offer and experience as we learnt.

Having launched Barkism in August 2018, we’re now equipped with real user data and continue to optimise the journey between dogs and their treats.