5 Minute Read

With Courage and Message, this is how Joshua used Shopify to bring a community closer.
Peace, Love and Inclusion. Many parts of the world treat real people with obscurity based on their way of life. Many of the mistreated lack the support they need to brave the cruel world. Many people out there need a bit of support to let their true colours shine. Joshua Lloyd stands at the forefront, driving acceptance in the name of Love, plain and simple.

Joshua Lloyd is heralded as the UK’s fastest-growing gender-neutral, inclusive fashion brand, which today proudly provides in excess of 1,000 inclusive LGBTQ+ accessories, clothing and homeware sold internationally, through Shopify and Apps like Growave.
The mission is alive and well for the sterling Joshua Lloyd, and his efforts extend much further than just an inclusive shop front. The brand continues to spread the message of inclusion, most notably in their partnership with leading LGBTQ+ charities and organisations such as LGBT Foundation and The Consortium for LGBT+ giving back to the community whilst providing much needed support from within the community.
History of Joshua Lloyd
Joshua Lloyd was founded in 2019 after Joshua himself noticed many, including some friends and family members within the LGBTQ+ community, struggling to find unique inclusive clothing and accessories other than the ‘generic’ pride clothing that would appear each Pride season of the year. What purpose is the generic to a culture of Individuality and Identity?
Joshua’s passion project had inter-mingled elements of purpose and virtue. Initially Joshua set out to create a completely inclusive brand that did not segregate by gender, and instead opted for an inclusive everything for everybody approach. What originally began with gender-neutral inclusive T-shirt designs sprouted into something much more. The brand quickly expanded as more opportunities arose and the love started to reciprocate into pride accessories, homeware, digital downloads and much more!

Giving Back with Loyalty Programs
The Joshua Lloyd brand had a very principled beginning, so loyalty was fundamental to their growth. As they grew they tested and implemented numerous customer loyalty programs, they immediately realized how complicated the process was. In the beginning they went as far as manually rewarding loyal customers, which could only ever be a temporary fix. Any brand that goes the same lengths to reward their customers is truly one of a kind. Such practises speak volumes about the sort of brand they were trying to be, but those same practises are no longer viable.
That wasn’t until they discovered Growave that everything changed, as Joshua explains below:
“We’ve utilised numerous loyalty programs, reviews and referral apps through Shopify in the past with great success, however they were very limiting when it came to scaling the brand. Growave provides everything in one place with an amazing team who have worked with us to scale the business with our vision in mind. It’s clear that Growave has increased our customer growth and retention for a much more competitive price when compared to other alternatives available.”
Joshua Lloyd currently provides over 15 different rewards, across 3 VIP tiers that have worked wonders for their retention strategy. They have tried several Shopify-Apps in the past, but only a few alternatives were able to support similar performance as Growave. Joshua highlighted how much value Growave brought them, but the real surprise was how positively his customers responded to the change.

Authentic Social Proof
With expansion in mind, they knew that their store needed something extra in order to grow. Joshua started out with the standard Shopify reviews app which served its purpose well, believing that the default application was a safe bet. It was a brilliant starting point for the brand, until it became apparent how the standard model lacked many important features which were limiting to the brands growth.
One of the biggest challenges the brand faced in their initial stages was gaining adequate social proof. Joshua expresses this sentiment brilliantly, “As a fresh new brand, there wasn’t much available to showcase to potential customers that our products were to a great standard and perfect for them.”
“We originally used Shopify Reviews as it was an easy-to-use, out-of-the-box default reviewing platform, for us to gain new reviews on our products. Although this was great as a starting point, we felt there was so much more that we were missing out on when it comes to reviews and more ways to build social proof for our brand.”
In search of an alternative, he reviewed a wide range of Shopify Apps. Until coming across Growave that immediately stood out for its multi-functionality. As he became more and more acquainted with Growave, he was especially drawn to its comparably seamless integration and extensive customization. He found that the loyalty rewards programme and Wishlist were particularly conducive with his overall objectives. He originally set out to improve his stores trust factor and in turn received a more complete package, that was full of surprises.
With added customizability and a very supportive team they integrated quickly and created a reviews section that truly fit their brand image. Joshua’s hard work and dedication began to manifest as their visibility began to broaden. Reviews began to pour in and in turn increased the stores social proof significantly. This was a first large step towards market legitimacy.

Finding Products Loved By Customers
Joshua is all about his loyal friends and customers, that’s why creating an inclusive brand is more about listening then self-imposing your will. Managing a large catalogue has its complications, especially without any customer feedback to guide your decisions. Joshua Lloyd was and always will be about creating a brilliant shopping experience for everybody. On paper this sounds difficult with a standard featureless store front. There are many ways where Growave helped generate a feedback that provided important strategic information.
With such an expansive catalogue, it is common for items to sell out or be delayed in re-stocking, especially with the current global climate. The Wishlist allowed them to understand customer demand and help them make more informed decisions. This feature helped stock managers by highlighting popular products, while also allowing for product testing on new items. The Reviews and Q&A function also played a part in providing valuable insight, helping Joshua’s internal function to understand consumer sentiment even better.
There is no limit to how valuable information is in managing an online store. Many of the hurdles we cross today are due to misinformation and disconnections between parties. Growave is bridging that gap between market and manager, most of all with creative thinkers like the team behind Joshua Lloyd.
10% Increase in Email Click-Through-Rate
Joshua Lloyd utilizes several applications and services to amplify their marketing, including email campaigns. Email marketing is a benchmark for any successful business as it allows you to follow up and keep in touch with your clientele. Joshua actively included Growave email automation in their marketing strategy to ensure that customers receive updates they are interested in.
The Growave all-in-one platform simplified the marketing process. Joshua could now contact clients automatically, providing updates in a variety of ways that are entirely under his control. He would encourage referrals through rewards, update clients when sales are in force or offer perks for reviews and loyalty. All things considered, Joshua stated that the brand noticed an increase of more than 10% in click through rates on their emails. This was a sort of confirmation that he was reaching his target demographic and that there was interest accumulating for his store.
Marketing Boost
Joshua utilises all areas of Growave Shopify App to truly maximise the brands market potential. The app boosted their current marketing strategy, Joshua mentioned how they have undoubtedly seen an increase in customer retention and sales since migrating to Growave. Something they have noted was not possible when using multiple individual apps.
“Growave ties in perfectly with our daily marketing goals and activities and helps the brand truly reach those who are most likely to engage whilst also allowing us to reach our audience where it matters. Growave has definitely helped us increase brand awareness and improve the delivery of our message.”
A Word from the Truly Amazing Joshua Lloyd
Working alongside Growave has been an amazing experience, with them constantly impressing us along the way. They have proven to be such a supportive commodity for our brand, making themselves ever present to our needs. The Growave team helped us implement our plans for our brand and ensured that we kept our objectives optimized without fail.
As we start off new year with a blast, we’re glad that we have Growave fully integrated into our store. With their continuous support and exceptional standards, we are looking forward to any updates they may create to further improve our brand.