City centre-based Verb has secured a contract with the well-known Staffordshire kitchenware brand and already the partnership is already yielding results. Tony McDonough reports

Leading UK kitchen appliance-maker Swan has hired a Liverpool marketing agency to grow its sales – and just a few weeks in there has already been a surge in orders.

In August it was reported that Liverpool city centre-based Verb Marketing had secured, or was in negotiations, on new contracts worth almost £500,000 with companies in a number of sectors.

One of those companies was Stoke-based Swan, which since the 1920s has produced a range of cookware and kitchen appliances that are sold both online and in retail outlets across the UK.

Swan was keen to increase its sales online via its own site and on secondary sites such as Amazon. Verb specialises in “conversions” – persuading more people who visit a website to actually buy something.

Website hits

Verb founder Dean Currall claims that in the less than five years since he launched his business, he has generated around £25m in extra sales for his clients. Starting Verb in his bedroom, Dean now employs a team of 14 people.

His deal with Swan will be worth more than £100,000 a year to the business. He said: “Too many agencies put all the focus in bringing traffic to their client’s website. That’s fine but there is little value in increasing the number of hits if you don’t convert enough of those visits into sales.

“We go right through a client’s site with the aim of making it as easy as possible for people clicking on to actually buy something. It’s amazing how many merchant sites look fantastic but actually make it difficult for people to go from choosing a product to buying it.

“In the first few weeks working with Swan our thorough process has already started to yield results with conversions already up by more than a third. Swan is a fantastic brand – a household name. It is our mission to make the most of that brand value.”

Several deals

In recent months Verb has won marketing and web development deals with martial arts clothing and equipment supplier Kicksport; British Military Martial Arts; online swimming club management firm Swim Club Manager; specialist consultancy Techlift and hydraulics manufacturer Yuken.

Dean added: “It doesn’t matter what sector a business operates in – that all want to make money. It is not about how many hits your website gets, it is about the sales – conversion is a key pillar of sales growth.”