A journey alongside consumers
Swedish cosmetics brand and global producer of makeup, Isadora, is no stranger to online competition. Strengthening the brand’s digital position was high on the agenda, and the main reason why Bombayworks got the task of streamlining their online customer journeys. The purpose of the project was to develop a redesigned and highly flexible new site, fit for present and future needs - a digital makeover if you will.
Isadora’s search for a new digital partner began when they started experiencing limitations in their existing setup back in 2019. They wanted something modern and communicative - a snug fit for picky, digital consumers. Bombayworks won the assignment as one out of four agencies.
– We take full advantage of our digital channels, and we do all the work inhouse. We were in dire need of an advisor, someone to help us make all the right decisions, says Daria Ignatova, Marketing and Product Development Director at Isadora.
– We picked Bombayworks for three main reasons: proficiency, efficiency and proximity. We wanted someone in the neighbourhood, someone easy to work with.
Facing the future
Streamlined content and campaign management were top priorities when launch-preparations began in Autumn 2019. The idea was to allow future growth with a scalable ecommerce platform, spanning the global cluster of 30 markets. Meanwhile, in order to appeal to a wider audience, a new graphic profile was produced. Isadora went from a darker spectrum to a bright and uplifting counterpart - all thanks to an early design collaboration between Isadora and Bombayworks.
Numerous workshops were dedicated to listing pros and cons of various digital platforms - Wordpress, Umbraco and Episerver were on the shortlist. The final decision was made easier thanks to a deal with Episerver, giving BW access to a customisable setup - one that would benefit the project while developing the platform at scale. Episerver has excellent support for language versions and ecommere, plus nifty ways of connecting to Isadora’s image bank.


SEO - The guide to great content
By starting off with an initial analytics workshop we earned a deeper understanding of Isadora’s online purpose, audiences, goals and KPI:s. An extensive keyword analysis provided useful SEO guidelines in content creation, granting Isadora ownership in the user journey, while collecting actionable data to boot.
The new site, isadora.com, was launched in December 2019, slightly overdue. This early version was meant to grow continuously over the next couple of years.
– Autumn came with a few internal bumps in the road as people came and went, resulting in us having to reschedule and push the deadline, but the Project Manager at Bombayworks handled this surprisingly well. She kept deadlines and worked proactively with solving problems as they came along, says Daria Ignatova.
– We’ve kept an open dialogue and close collaboration from start to finish, which amounts to a lot of meetings and weekly stand-ups. I can’t remember the last time I had so much fun in a project, says Gabriella Cogias, Project Manager at Bombayworks.
An Agile approach - all the way
Development was divided into several sprints spread across summer and autumn of 2019. It was carried out by development teams in both Malmö and Mumbai, with operatives running the show from Sweden. Testing was performed in India - analysis, SEO and project management in Sweden.