$12,000 Plus 12 Weeks Equals Great Success
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Bold ventures sometimes pay huge dividends, as demonstrated by entrepreneurs Richard Kershaw and Steven Pavlovich. The two co-founders of the experience day company Wish.co.uk took a leap of faith when they spent $12,000 on the four-letter domain name and launched their successful online business in just 12 weeks.
A Path to Success
Kershaw and Pavlovich met at PubCon in 2007 and ever since have been planning to start a business together. The opportunity finally presented itself in the form of Wish.co.uk, a company that offers unusual and exciting experience days to its adventure-seeking customers. Created in 2011, this fledgling brand has enjoyed a rapid rise to success, carving out its own slice of the gift and entertainment markets.
Business Branding: Keep it Brief
Kershaw and Pavlovich knew that they needed to brand their business with a short, catchy name. When Wish.co.uk became available on a domain name auction site, they paid £7,500 (around $12,000) to acquire the name. Although that figure might sound like a lot of money, competition for catchy four-letter domain names is intense and prices can rise much higher.
The new owners of Wish.co.uk certainly believe that they have bagged a bargain. The exciting young business has quickly risen to the top of the experience day and gift markets. This rapid growth and success is due to the effective strategy implemented by the Wish.co.uk team to attract attention and convert as many site visitors as possible into sales.
Attract Attention
Of course, the unusual products offered by Wish.co.uk make it easier for the business to attract attention. From the usual driving and spa days to more unconventional activities such as shooting zombies or driving a tank, Wish.co.uk aims to provide its customers with experiences they will never forget. Many of the most popular experience days are the more unusual choices, including zombie experiences in which participants are trained by military personnel to resist and overcome a zombie attack. It’s like a real-life video game and has massive appeal not only among Brits, but also visitors who fly in from all over the world to take part. Wish.co.uk has attracted world-wide media coverage because of the highly unusual and quirky experiences it offers.
Convert Visitors to Sales
Attracting attention is one thing, but converting interested website visitors into paying customers is another task. The website of Wish.co.uk is highly attractive and user-friendly, which entices curious visitors to stick around and browse through the pages of the site. Browsing through different types of experience days is easy and fun, and the site will also suggest suitable gifts for men, women, couples, groups and kids. Prices are clearly laid out and the site developers have worked hard to make sure that the terms and conditions of each experience are clear. The result is a highly informative, conversion-rate-optimized website that inspires trust and enthusiasm in the potential customer, leading to boosted sales and high levels of customer satisfaction.
Beat the Competition
Wish.co.uk strives to offer the best possible deals to customers, in the belief that good customer service, combined with a fun and easy-to-use online shopping experience, will build the business’s reputation and brand loyalty. Before Wish.co.uk was born, experience days had already become popular in the UK thanks to promotions by the popular group discount website Groupon. However, Groupon has received criticism because some of the deals offered on the site turned out to be not as good as they were presented to be. The founders of Wish.co.uk believe that they can outperform Groupon and their other rivals by offering a much better customer experience.
How to Become a Success Story
The story of Wish.co.uk is an inspirational one for entrepreneurs who are just starting out on a new venture. Wish.co.uk has proved that the combination of an unusual product, clever conversion rate optimization, superior customer service and widespread marketing efforts is an effective formula for success. Entrepreneurs would be wise to follow this example when launching their own innovative projects in order to create a big splash.
Jack Harding has been coaching small business owners for over a decade. He enjoys sharing inspirational success stories that involve accomplished entrepreneurs. To learn more about the Wish founders, visit their website.
Category: Business
