“eMazzanti has given us the ability to talk about a very important part of our business in a way that pushes our growth and communicates the things that we’re excited about.” Connor Swegle, CMO, Priority Bicycles
Business Needs
A Small NYC Company with Big Dreams
Priority Bicycles (Priority) launched as a direct-to-consumer bicycle brand for the masses. As dedicated entrepreneurs, the company’s leadership is committed to making the best bicycles in the world at an affordable price. Their simple strategy of high-quality parts, an efficient supply chain, low overhead and an online business model has gained national attention.
“Our goal was to make cycling simple by creating high quality, low maintenance bikes, and by selling them customer direct,” related Connor Swegle, CMO. “We’ve always believed that you’re not going to find a better bike for the price.”
Addressing a Growing Fleet Business
Increasingly, the company found that promise to be very appealing to hotels and resorts, campuses and even corporate clients focused on health and wellness. “There are a lot of brands that like the idea of partnering with a bicycle company to tell a story about health and wellness,” explained Swegle.
Over the last few years, that part of the company’s business has organically expanded in a big way. To address the growth in the segment, Priority needed to speak to that audience a little differently.
“Our challenge was how to retain the message of high-quality, low maintenance at a great price but talk to the fleet customers as well as consumers,” stated Swegle, “hotels, resorts and others too, to let them know we can do a custom bike for them in a marketing partnership.”
Smart Way to Bring it to Life
Having served as a Microsoft consultant and software company leader, Dave Weiner, CEO valued his relationship with Carl Mazzanti at eMazzanti Technologies. After he spoke with a few other companies to explore the development project, he decided to go with eMazzanti.
“We preferred a developer that could work with our design and come up with a smart way to bring it to life,” related Swegle. “Carl and Dave had a relationship, and we didn’t have to explain a million things.”
So, Priority’s leadership engaged eMazzanti with the goal of creating a stand-alone and robust web destination that communicates their message to fleet customers while still being connected to who they are as Priority Bicycles.
Solution
Scalable Dynamic Content
Susan Chait, Marketing Manager at eMazzanti, served as the primary contact and coordinated the eMazzanti team to get things rolling. Priority had come to the table with some initial designs and functionality, but with over 300 fleet customers, a big question remained.
“We had a good idea of what we wanted it to look like, but we didn’t know how to build that in a way that works online and is scalable?” explained Swegle. “For each fleet, we wanted to be able to tell that story, blast it out, and feature that dynamically. It needed to be constantly pushing content out there.”
WYSIWYG Dashboard
The eMazzanti team looked at those designs, refined them, and over a 10-week period created a stand-alone site and user-friendly, WYSIWYG dashboard to enable Priority’s concepts in the web space.
“The dashboard is very intuitive with some nuances that we explained to get them comfortable,” related Chait. “We took a comprehensive approach to their satisfaction and put together a guide with 1-2-3 instructions for each section.”
“They came to us with a vision, respecting our expertise and wanting to collaborate,” she continued. “And that’s the best kind of client you can have. As marketers, they are very sharp.”
Visually and Functionally Excellent
Following two rounds of discovery, design, development, testing and training, the site was up, and Priority was adding content. eMazzanti had developed the site in a way that Priority could update and use every day.
“Visually, it looks great, and the technology enables all the functionality we need,” related Swegle. “The tech is changing all the time, so they were able to help define that and give us feedback like, ‘Hey if you do it this way, it’s going to work better for you.’”
“It’s super responsive,” he continued. “And, what’s great about the eMazzanti team was them being able say intuitively, ‘I think you’re trying to achieve this, so let’s build it in this way,’ and coming up with solutions on the fly.”
Leadership in the Development Process
eMazzanti took Priority’s designs and helped guide them through the process of making it work in a web and mobile environment. “It’s a media-rich site that can host hundreds of video case studies, fills and copy,” said Swegle. “For us, to have that all in one place was a mighty task.”
“I am extremely happy with how intuitive the technology is to use,” he added. “Effectively, it’s a drag and drop solution to a media-rich website. I really appreciate eMazzanti’s ability to take leadership in the development process because they have the expertise in that space.”
Benefits
An Impressive Priority Bicycles Website
Following two months of intensive effort, the new Priority Bicycles fleet website launched to rave reviews. “eMazzanti has given us the ability to talk about a very important part of our business in a way that pushes our growth and communicates the things that we’re excited about,” summarized Swegle.
“Personally, to have people be impressed viscerally by the site when they see it shows that we’re doing the right thing. That’s a great feeling for us to have as a business.”
Priority’s eMazzanti-built website also excels as a valuable platform that is helping the company as market conditions evolve. “Its powerful and responsive features enable us to communicate quickly and effectively with our audience. Adapting to changing market conditions has never been easier!”
Credibility and Likeability
Priority’s customers don’t care about all the work that eMazzanti put into the back end of the website. “But when somebody just looks at the site and says, wow, that looks awesome, then that’s the first step in creating success as a retail brand,” reported Swegle.
“You’ve opened the door from a credibility and a likeability standpoint,” he continued. “From there, you get into the brass tacks of what we make and how much things cost.”
A Great Experience
In the end, Swegle raved about the eMazzanti team. “I had a great experience working with Susan, period. She’s very responsive.”
“I can’t stress it enough,” he continued. “When you go to a development company, to have someone as an intermediary who communicates well to both parties what’s needed on the business end and what the development team is doing, it’s just so important.”
“And, feeling like you’re taken care of is also important,” he concluded. “That came from working with the entire eMazzanti team.”
“It’s a pleasure to work with a client that comes to you for your expertise with a clear picture of what they want to do,” added Chait. “Our team partnered with them, took their vision for the site and made it happen with the right tools and expertise in an economic way. We’re all about giving customers what they need to grow their business.”
Add Microsoft
Priority Bicycles has recently been featured in several Powered by Microsoft Commercials. As the Pandemic hit, Priority was faced with revenue that came to a halt and put their business in jeopardy.
With relentless entrepreneurs at the helm, and a strong partnership with Microsoft – the business developed a personalized shopping experience through Microsoft Teams that was now available to the world. They showcased their bicycles to customers – as though the buyers were personally in the show room. Sometimes a setback is really a step forward.
Where there is a team, there is a way. Powered by Microsoft.
Watch video
