Spreading the “Pura Vida” lifestyle globally and supporting local artisans

Spreading a message and one-of-a-kind artisan creations globally

Pura Vida is spreading the “pure life” (the English translation of “pura vida”) lifestyle around the world. They have teamed up with local artisans worldwide to sell their handmade jewelry. Since its inception ten years ago, they have expanded their storefront by securing licensing agreements with national brands like Disney, Sanrio, and Harry Potter to sell other jewelry and apparel. Their pieces are popular with Gen Z and Millennials who value quality, uniqueness, and “giving back” to their community. Pura Vida is also a proud supporter of over 200 charitable organizations worldwide, donating more than $4 million to date.

The company started when friends Griffin and Paul traveled to Costa Rica on vacation in 2010. They fell in love with the works of two local artisans, Jorge and Joaquin, who made colorful bracelets that captured the country's simple beauty. Griffin and Paul bought 400 bracelets from the duo, and when they returned home to San Diego, they sold all 400 through a local boutique within a few days. That’s when they realized there was an opportunity to support artisans like Jorge and Joaquin and bring their handmade products to the rest of the world.

Pura Vida’s struggles to meet customers’ post-purchase expectations

Pura Vida’s previous shipment tracking solution had a useful feature set, but there were too many gaps in the communication with their customers throughout the post-purchase journey. They were missing critical touchpoints on their top-performing sales channels with their Gen Z and Millennial customer: SMS and push notifications. Creating this transparent experience was vital to align with their brand message.

“We chose AfterShip Tracking because it was really important for us to honor our relationship with customers post-purchase and to create a seamless experience from end to end.”

Margaret Odisho, eCommerce Manager

Choosing a more customer-oriented solution

AfterShip Tracking's ability to send SMS and push notifications to customers based on a more robust trigger list was one of the features that attracted Pura Vida. Pura Vida knew that their customers wanted to be able to keep track of their order post-purchase. SMS messaging was a feature their existing provider didn't offer, but it was key because it would provide the transparency their customers demanded.

This added communication layer and the ability to integrate with over 1,000 carriers worldwide made AfterShip Tracking the perfect solution for them. This would make shipping their products throughout North America, Europe, and worldwide more efficient. It would also allow them to onboard new carriers in new regions at any time with minimal effort.

In one fell swoop, Pura Vida was able to improve the customer experience and free up time and resources internally to focus on other areas of their business.

Additional notification triggers decrease customer service calls

As a result of integrating AfterShip Tracking into their eCommerce process, they gave their customers the transparency they needed via SMS messaging. This integration also allowed them to see carrier delivery estimate data and use that information to adjust their messaging. For example, suppose they saw that FedEx was averaging 7 days to deliver packages instead of the previous 3-day estimate. In that case, they could adjust their messaging on their sales pages and post-purchase notifications to provide customers with more accurate shipping estimates.

As a result, this integration contributed to an improvement in CSAT (customer satisfaction score) by 5 percentage points, even amidst a switch to a new courier and a new customer service help desk tool.

In the end, their customers didn’t notice any disruption in the switch from Pura Vida’s previous provider to AfterShip, aside from getting more detailed and accurate notifications throughout the post-purchase process. The Pura Vida team also felt the smooth transition:

“The AfterShip Tracking team worked really closely with us to make sure that when we made the switch that there will be essentially no change from a customer's perspective and how they're being notified throughout the process. They really supported us and made sure the lines of communication continued even after the integration. That was a huge cost savings for us.”

Margaret Odisho, eCommerce Manager