Outdoor apparel company Cotopaxi, named after the famous volcano in the Andes, builds community into its mission to “Do Good” through adventure and sustainability. The Cotopaxi team was looking for a way to interlace social media storytelling with the brand's social impact to foster a more connected audience – all while working seamlessly with their ecommerce platform, Shopify Plus. This quest led the Cotopaxi to Pixlee TurnTo, which has enabled Cotopaxi to organize and showcase user-generated content across every ecommerce and social channel.
Cotopaxi wanted to take advantage of the abundant UGC already produced by its consumers and spotlight prominent voices across social media and their ecommerce channels. Through Pixlee TurnTo and Shopify Plus, Cotopaxi was able to streamline content collection and embark on creating relationships with potential Brand Ambassadors.
“It's been really great to develop relationships with our users who are posting content. Over time, there are the users that rise to the top of the ranks by consistently posting this awesome content. Those standouts are who we identify as great potential ambassadors.” - Paisley Wildman, Social Media Manager
To build that relationship with their community even deeper within the site, Cotopaxi uses Shopify Plus and Pixlee TurnTo to highlight community content in every channel. This seamless integration not only helps the team easily use UGC on all channels, it also translates to an increase in revenue. The brand saw a 2.3x higher conversion rate after introducing Pixlee TurnTo-managed content.
“We currently use Pixlee TurnTo UGC in welcome, abandon cart, abandon browse, and winback email flows. We’ve seen some pretty good revenue from the UGC in emails. Those that are clicking through are spending a good amount. The email galleries were super easy to set up. All I had to do was copy their code over and everything populated.” – Annika Erickson, Digital Marketing Specialist
Cotopaxi’s Questival events cultivate outdoor exploration in the community through 24-hour scavenger hunts in various locations guided by the brand’s app. Following the COVID-19 outbreak, Cotopaxi launched a nationwide “Questival Quaranteam” through Pixlee TurnTo, offering virtual challenges and encouraging participants to upload photos and videos of their endeavors to social media and the brand’s app.
“I love the way that we can leverage [Pixlee TurnTo] to facilitate communal, adventure-inspiring media. As a brand, we believe in the power of adventure to make the world a better place. Just seeing our customers going out in real life and living that is incredible.” - Paisley Wildman, Social Media Manager
The virtual race saw the best engagement metrics Cotopaxi had seen, a boost in audience size, and skyrocketing sentiment from fans. Cotopaxi ended this novel online challenge with an arsenal of UGC to promote future events and product launches through the voices of its audience, continuing conversations around the Questival once it was over.
“Pixlee TurnTo allows us to see all of our tagged content and connect with its creators in a streamlined way. From there, we can curate displays of quality media made by real people, which has played an integral role in building our brand. So I really just love that it's made that whole process possible.” - Paisley Wildman, Social Media Manager
With Pixlee TurnTo and Shopify, Cotopaxi’s tailored product galleries feature interactive customer photos that show different ways products are used. This paved the way for a community-driven content strategy encouraging users to engage with others using the products they’re interested in. Customers were 321% more likely to return to Cotopaxi’s site after interacting with Pixlee TurnTo content, and average time spent on site increased 117%.
“One of the ways Pixlee TurnTo has helped us is in showcasing different ways to use our products. Take one of our most popular items, the Allpa Travel Pack. This pack was designed for nimble across-the-world adventures, and geared towards airplane travel with overhead compartment compatibility. With long-distance travel on pause, we're able to lean into different use cases for the packs like road tripping and day trips through selective UGC. Sharing this type of content via our PDP and collection page displays, as well as on social media, has enabled us to continue offering relevant solutions for our users in light of the changes we've all experienced this year.” - Paisley Wildman, Social Media Manager
The Allpa Travel Pack collection, handcrafted based on the feedback of Cotopaxi’s fans, is one of the brand’s top selling products. Using Pixlee TurnTo to collect and comb through customer content featuring previous models of the pack, Cotopaxi utilized a new approach to Brand Ambassador management in launching a 42L version of the product.
With Pixlee TurnTo & Shopify Plus, Cotopaxi was able to continue pioneering the brand’s core values while optimizing workflow and social media presence through a single platform.
Pixlee TurnTo’s mission is to enable brands to celebrate and market with the voice of their own customers.
Pixlee TurnTo’s mission is to enable brands to celebrate and market with the voice of their own customers.