Our work for DŌST Ebikes
DOST Bikes sold $20 million online over 24 months and grew its social following by 400% during its work with our Vancouver ecommerce marketing agency. Selling $4,000+ e-bikes meant answering detailed product questions and giving buyers reasons to trust an online purchase. We brought web design, marketing automation and performance marketing together around that buying process, with lower acquisition costs and better conversion rates during the engagement.
Web Design for a $4,000+ Purchase
Buying an e-bike online takes research. We designed a custom ecommerce site that made product details, reviews and purchase options easier to use. Conversion rates rose from 1.2% to 3.8%, and qualified leads increased by 65%.
Performance Marketing Across 24 Months
Audience targeting and marketing automation connected paid campaigns with the follow-up buyers needed before purchasing. Over 24 months, DOST recorded $20M in online sales and a 35% reduction in customer acquisition costs.
Content From Trails to a World Record
Video, photography and social campaigns showed DOST bikes in use and documented its Guinness World Record campaign. That work supported the brand’s story across paid and owned channels, alongside a 400% increase in social followers.
Selling Premium E-Bikes Online for DOST
DOST Bikes had a long-range electric bike and a direct-to-consumer plan. The challenge was selling a $4,000+ product online when buyers had plenty of alternatives and detailed questions before committing. As an ecommerce marketing agency in Vancouver, we needed to account for that longer decision: help people understand the bike, compare its features and feel comfortable buying without a showroom visit. The website, advertising and follow-up all had a part to play.
The Buying Journey Before the Rebuild
DOST was developing long-range e-bikes, but its website was not supporting the volume of sales it wanted. The steps from product research to purchase felt disconnected. Engineers understood the bikes’ value; first-time buyers had a harder time seeing it. Marketing arrived in separate campaigns, without a shared plan for content and performance. Competitors were investing in paid ads and influencer marketing, making that gap more pressing.
The work centred on three priorities:
- Rebuild the ecommerce platform around speed and the buying decision
- Connect marketing automation from first enquiry through follow-up
- Develop performance marketing capable of supporting $20M+ in sales
Traffic alone would not answer the brief. We needed to understand which activity produced sales, what it cost to acquire a customer and where the buying process was losing people.
Finding Where Buyers Dropped Out
We began by auditing DOST’s website and marketing through our Vision Mapping™ framework. First-party analytics and heatmaps helped us locate the points where people stopped. Many shoppers left during checkout, often after comparing specifications or reading reviews. Those findings gave the team concrete problems to address before increasing campaign spend.
We then grouped audiences by purchase intent, location and previous interactions with the brand. Our performance marketing team planned paid search, paid social, retargeting and influencer partnerships around those groups, using shared ROI tracking to compare the channels rather than judging each in isolation.
The automation work covered nurture emails, lead scoring and retargeting. A buyer still researching needed different information from someone ready to order. We tested and revised those steps through our Scale & Optimize™ methodology, from the first click through the period after purchase.
Showing the Bikes in Use
We worked with DOST on professional photography and video production, taking the bikes onto Vancouver trails, city streets and community events. Showing the product in those settings gave buyers a clearer sense of the riding experience and the people using it, alongside the technical information they needed to compare models.
The custom ecommerce website used UX/UI to put specifications, reviews and purchase options within easy reach. We added 3D visualization so shoppers could inspect a bike from different angles. Each shoot also supplied material for website banners, social stories, retargeting ads and educational content, keeping the product story consistent across those formats.
DOST’s Guinness World Record attempt gave the content team a story to follow over time. We documented the journey and shared it through owned and paid channels. The campaign combined social media marketing, influencer partnerships and user-generated content, giving customers a role in telling that story too.
What We Delivered
The work covered the site, campaigns and content:
- Custom ecommerce platform: A faster shopping experience with clear trust signals, abandoned-cart triggers and post-purchase up-sell flows. Each part supported a specific stage of the sale.
- Performance marketing campaigns: Google Ads, Facebook/Instagram retargeting, influencer activations and automated email nurture flows, planned as connected parts of the buying journey.
- Photo and video content: 200+ custom assets covering products, riding, education and the brand story, prepared for the website, advertising and organic channels.
- Marketing automation: Lead scoring, CRM integration, segmentation and automated retargeting, with messages chosen around what a buyer had already done.
- Analytics and reporting: Scale & Optimize™ dashboards for clicks, conversions and retention metrics, giving the team current information for campaign and site decisions.
The build also covered schema markup, relevant product descriptions, page speed and local context where it helped a buyer understand the offer. Designers, developers and marketers worked from the same sales priorities, so an ad or product-page change could be assessed against the wider buying process. Product information had to serve both search visibility and the questions customers brought to the site.
Results Reported for the Engagement
Results as reported in Setsail’s published DOST case study. These figures describe that engagement; they are not a forecast for another business.
- $20 million in ecommerce sales in 24 months, with reported 15% month-over-month revenue growth
- Conversion rates lifted from 1.2% to 3.8% following the ecommerce website relaunch
- 400% growth in social following alongside video, photography and influencer marketing
- Average order value up 25% with targeted up-sell and personalized content
- Customer acquisition costs down 35% during the automation and performance marketing work
- 4.8/5 average customer satisfaction from post-purchase surveys and online reviews
The Guinness World Record campaign also brought PR coverage and user-generated content to DOST’s brand story.
DŌST Bikes
“Setsail integrated so well with our internal team, we feel like we’re the same company.”
What the Work Showed
Three parts of the project informed our approach:
- Plan the channels together: The website, content, automation and paid campaigns addressed different parts of one purchase. Shared data helped the team see where those parts supported each other.
- Give automation a specific job: Lead scoring and relevant follow-up helped us use acquisition spend more efficiently. The flows were designed around buying decisions, then reviewed against their cost and contribution.
- Put product detail beside real stories: The Guinness campaign gave people a reason to follow the brand. Specifications still mattered, while the riders and record attempt supplied context those specifications could not.
For another high-ticket ecommerce business, a useful starting point is its own buying journey. Review where customers leave, decide which problems to tackle and agree how to measure the work before choosing channels. Our ecommerce marketing agency brings web design, marketing automation and performance marketing into that discussion.
Related: Explore our ecommerce website work, or read about marketing automation for ecommerce.
Project FAQs
How does an ecommerce marketing agency drive sales for electric bike brands?
For an electric bike brand, web design, performance marketing and automation need to support a considered purchase. The site answers product questions, campaigns reach people researching bikes and follow-up keeps useful information in front of them. Sales, conversion rates and acquisition costs show how that work performs.
What are the benefits of marketing automation for ecommerce businesses?
Marketing automation can handle follow-up emails, retargeting and messages based on a shopper’s interests or previous actions. For ecommerce teams, that reduces repetitive work and makes it possible to support buyers over a longer decision. Acquisition cost and conversion data help assess whether those flows are useful.
Why is custom web design important for premium ecommerce brands?
A premium ecommerce site needs to make a high-ticket purchase feel understandable. Buyers should be able to compare specifications, read reviews and find purchase details on a phone. Custom web design gives the business control over those steps, which mattered for DOST’s electric bike range.
How do you measure ROI for performance marketing campaigns in ecommerce?
We look at online sales, conversion rate, customer acquisition cost and average order value, alongside the costs of the campaigns. Shared analytics let the team compare channels and review changes over time. Those figures describe campaign performance more clearly than traffic or clicks alone.
How do I get started with Setsail Marketing for my ecommerce brand?
Book a Growth Strategy call with Setsail Marketing to review your ecommerce goals and current buying journey. Our Vancouver team can discuss where web design, automation and performance marketing fit, what needs attention first and how the work would be measured for your business.
