Butternut Box has been providing delicious, healthy meals for man’s best friend since 2016. And while it all started with co-founder Dave’s home-cooked suppers for his rescue dog, Rudie, there are now many more mouths to feed — both inside and outside the company. As they invested in growing their production capacity to keep up with demand, the team didn’t want to lose sight of what got them there in the first place: a focus on the relationship between dog and owner.

As the best brands know, creating an emotional connection with your customers is key to a sustainable business. So when Butternut Box enlisted Reaktor’s help to reimagine the buyer’s journey, we knew it had to be built around the bond between human and dog. This reimagined user experience has reduced churn and increased satisfaction while cultivating more confident dog owners.

Butternut Box is beloved by dogs and owners alike. So the experience of ordering meals needs to be just as good. 

The front end is all about the dog: breed, size, age, and preferences. To accommodate these changes, the backend had to be rebuilt with a new architecture. And because we wanted this to be a mobile-first experience, we built it in React Native to ensure seamless operation on iOS and Android.

To accommodate all the features needed, we built integrations for third-party services to handle things like payments, notifications, analytics, A/B tests, and feature rollouts. 

Our chosen technologies ensure seamless integration into Butternut Box’s other systems and services. It also helps future-proof the business as they grow into new markets. But most importantly, the app delivers an elevated customer experience that customers expect of the Butternut Box brand and mission.

We love data as much as dogs love Butternut Box’s food. So we took a research-driven approach to ensure dog owners became loyal, repeat customers.

It gets really interesting when you combine data with Butternut Box’s expertise in nutrition. The app is designed to evolve as the customer’s pup grows — suggestions for appropriate food come at the right moments, taking the guesswork off the owner’s plate. The result is happy, well-fed dogs, and confident, well-informed owners.

Clients don’t hire Reaktor just to build stuff. They want their teams to grow in skill and confidence, benefitting from ecommerce expertise that will long outlive the project.

From the initial selection of Reaktor developers and designers, through to the hands-on training sessions, it’s all about building a healthy mobile development culture. Together, we worked on upskilling in a number of areas: performance optimization, testing for multiple devices, app store review, and many more.

Because Butternut Box is a subscription service, it’s vital to optimize for convenience, retention, and nurture. This means empowering customers to find the right plan, personalize meals their dog will love, and find a convenient delivery slot.

Together, we started by revamping the onboarding process and creating accessible user journeys that build confidence with every step. Effective onboarding closes the gap between curious first-time users and invested customers. This sets the foundation for the rest of the customer relationship.

Finally, to serve owners who weren’t yet ready to commit to a subscription plan, we created a simplified way to purchase extra treats for their dogs.