Case Study - Pretty Pollution

On the BC Platform…

What do your clients like about using BC?

We LOVE Business Catalyst and so do our clients! Pretty Pollution provides solutions for medium to large sized business, and we find Business Catalyst perfect for their needs. Our focus is website and online marketing that looks fantastic, is feature packed, is well thought out, and is reliable. Our clients brag about the ability to log in and measure the success of their email marketing campaigns. And the detailed reporting helps them track return on their investment.

Pretty Pollution's favorite Business Catalyst report is the Google Search Phrase report. We utilize that data to further optimize and enhance client websites – they love this extra attention to detail. Within a few minutes our Marketing Manager can see exactly what is, and isn't working on a client's website.

Our clients love ranking on the first page in Google – who doesn't! So when Pretty Pollution implements websites we ensure extra time and care is invested to make sure our websites are built to be Search Engine friendly as well as easy to update and manage. There are lots of techniques that make this happen and the Business Catalyst System is very compliant.

How is developing on BC different from your previous development process?

Pretty Pollution chooses Business Catalyst as our preferred CMS because it caters for the variety of requests our clients have. The core features of Business Catalyst are outstanding and the list of module add-ons is extensive and inexpensive in comparison to other systems. The requirement for custom development is limited as the options included in the system are so well thought out.

That said - some clients request features that can be tricky. Pretty Pollution has specialized in Business Catalyst for over 6 years and as a result we've worked the BC system hard. Our development team are Business Catalyst dedicated and specialist developers, and have been able to provide some pretty funky solutions that work well and deliver to client expectations. When it comes to difficult jobs, Pretty Pollution has the experience to help.

What are the strengths of BC compared to other systems?

In the mid sized enterprise space - there's rarely an engagement where Business Catalyst is not appropriate. It provides a complete package of website management, ecommerce, CRM, email marketing, reporting and analytics, without extensive system integration activities.

When clients choose Business Catalyst they get continuous system updates as part of the package. Our early clients who have been hosting with Business Catalyst for over 6 years still get free access to the latest updates and features as they get released. This keeps the functionality current, the costs down and the usability relevant to contemporary web practice.

In Pretty Pollution's experience - once you go BC - you won't go back!

On Being a BC Partner…

What are your favorite aspects of the Partner Program, and why?

There will always be client management duties but the Partner Portal eases the pain of administration, helping keep our website portfolio on track and management tasks up to date!

Partner Connect is great fun too. We love to show off and we love the feedback! Currently the second most voted on website in the Partner Gallery is a Pretty Pollution website. You'll find a lot of Pretty Pollution websites in the top 50 most loved websites (as voted by BC Partners). Partner feedback lets us know when we are hot.

Looking back, how do you feel about your decision to become a BC Partner?

Pretty Pollution took a gamble based on a recommendation. We experimented with one website, then two, then three. It's been a gamble that's paid off! After 6 years, Business Catalyst is now intrinsic to the Pretty Pollution offering.

Business Catalyst welcomes our feedback and offers support and suggestions too. It's definitely a relationship that works both ways.

How has BC helped you grow your design business?

Our business is in an intensive growth phase. We have recently relocated to larger premises with harbour views, have doubled our staff and turnover in less than two years, and are meeting more clients through word of mouth, referrals and web search than ever before. Great design and fantastic processes are at the heart of what Pretty Pollution offers our clients. We give our clients a great image, backed by successful systems including Business Catalyst.

What makes Pretty Pollution different? We partner with our clients, getting to understand their business and what their goals are. Having a marketing department as well as resources to assist with the bigger picture (ie marketing, branding, print, and strategy) makes Pretty Pollution a very attractive option for clients seeking a Premium BC Partner to align with. The Business Catalyst solution has contributed to that growth through its reliability and product relevance.

We can't wait for the next 6 years!

Show Us Some of Your Work on BC…

• Shilla

  Shilla approached Pretty Pollution after hearing about the outstanding work Pretty Pollution has been doing in Business Catalyst. The website was built in another CMS. Shilla required something more striking, and better functionality and control. They also required some customized features that aren't included by default in Business Catalyst (an area that Pretty Pollution excels in).

  The website needed to look exceptional so we worked with our photography team to come up with themes to compliment the seasonal collections. Every 3 months we revisit the design, which includes a photo shoot on location. Then the website is refreshed, new products uploaded, new media items updated and a newsletter blasted to all subscribed members.

  Shilla has had a very positive response to the new website and are thrilled with the feedback from clients. We went on to design and develop a new project for the business - www.lolavsharper.com.au.

  Testimonial: "The new website looks AMAZING!! We have sent it to all our agents and customers and they are all very impressed! All the guys at Pretty Pollution have been great and most helpful during this whole process – thank you"

• Vegan Online

  Vegan Online is a start-up business aimed at educating and fulfilling the gap in quality vegan food online. Vegan Online was referred to Pretty Pollution as a Premium Business Catalyst Partner offering advanced Business Catalyst websites and Ecommerce solutions. As the business was a start-up business the initial task was to design a brand/identity, the brand was then rolled out to the website, stationery, business cards, promotional and marketing collateral and assets, uniforms, email marketing etc.

  Week after week Vegan Online experiences more traffic, and more sales. Vegan Online continues to work with Pretty Pollution to come up with new ideas and new marketing techniques to further grow the business and test new waters.

  Testimonial: "I cannot put into words how excited we are that Vegan Online now has such a professional and easy to use website. I must say thank you from the bottom of my heart to Pretty Pollution for producing such a superb website"

• Madison Lane

  Pretty Pollution re-designed the Madison Lane website on Business Catalyst to take advantage of more advanced shopping cart features and control than their old CMS offered. The upgrade included some Advanced Business Catalyst customization and other solutions to provide a seamless experience for the customer.

  Initially the traffic and conversion rates were slower during the cut-over. However after six months the website was getting more traffic than ever before, and more conversions as a result. The client continues to work with Pretty Pollution on making the website work even harder by reinvesting the additional income (generated from the additional sales) into targeted online Marketing Strategies with Pretty Pollution. Madison Lane has just opened a retail shopfront after 12months of being online and Pretty Pollution has catered to all the design requirements including signage, swing tags, promotional material and more.

  Testimonial: "Wow! What can we say? We have a beautiful website that is supported by a superior team! Our journey with Pretty Pollution has been fantastic and your business professionalism has provided us with a great experience that we have and will continue to recommend to others. Keep up the great work... you have a superior product with fantastic customer service"

• Australian Arab Chamber of Commerce

  An area that Pretty Pollution specializes in is Paid Membership and Subscription websites. Pretty Pollution first went through a comprehensive branding exercise to establish a new identity and brand for the existing business. Pretty Pollution then used Business Catalyst to develop a website that sells Membership Subscriptions online with Reoccurring automated payments. This approach drastically reduced staff overheads and increased membership retention. The website offers a variety of membership options at different pricing and encourages membership by offering special benefits to logged in members and a comprehensive Business Directory for members to promote their own services through the website. Event and Function bookings are also sold online along with a raft of other cool features.

  Pretty Pollution has a lot of experience with Membership based websites and has successfully helped many companies including; the Australian Institute of Export and the British Chamber of Commerce as well as many others to increase their membership base by implementing automated reoccurring billing on memberships. We have integrated many challenging custom options, extending Business Catalyst to cater for the needs of our clients.

  • Reoccurring Billing on Membership subscriptions
  • Customised solution for selling Events and Functions online
  • Newsletter subscribers segmented into regions for targeted email marketing
  • Company Business Directory offering
  • Secure Photo and Audio library setup
  • Advanced reporting and secure zone setup

Thank you, Brett! You can find out more about Pretty Pollution and what their clients had to say about their work at prettypollution.com.au