Built to Bundle: How Buckeye Brownies Lifted AOV 53% With a Custom Box Builder
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Built to Bundle: How Buckeye Brownies Lifted AOV 53% With a Custom Box Builder

Buckeye Brownies' best customers don't buy one brownie. They build a box. Zettler Digital rebuilt the store around that behavior with a custom bundle builder, a purpose-built cart app, constant split testing, and coordinated Klaviyo, Meta and Google programs. Bundle builds now drive more than half of online revenue.

About Buckeye Brownies

Buckeye Brownies makes three-layer, half-pound brownies by hand in Akron, Ohio, and bakes every order fresh before it ships nationwide. Founder Zack Buckeye built a cult following on bold flavors like Peanut Butter Paradise and The Dark Knight, and the brand has earned more than 16,000 five-star reviews.

The product is made for mixing and matching, and that is how customers like to buy it. Zettler Digital was brought in to run the full ecommerce growth stack: Shopify development and CRO, Klaviyo email and SMS, and Meta and Google Ads.

The Challenge

A Box-Buying Brand Running on Borrowed Tools

Buckeye Brownies had strong demand and a product made for bundling, but the store wasn't built to sell that way.

Bundling ran through a patchwork of apps Two separate builders did overlapping jobs, each with its own logic, styling and limits. The brand couldn't control the experience its most valuable shoppers depended on.

Free gift offers relied on third-party rules Gift-with-purchase and win-back offers ran through app rules that were hard to configure, easy to break, and impossible to tailor to how Buckeye actually runs promotions.

Site changes were slow and untested Merchandising and layout decisions were made without a structured testing program, so there was no reliable way to know what moved conversion.

Channels weren't working as one system Email, SMS, Meta and Google each ran on their own calendar, and core Klaviyo flows hadn't kept pace with the brand's monthly flavor drops and limited-edition boxes.

The opportunity was clear: make building a box the easiest, most rewarding way to buy, then point every channel at it.

The Solution

One Builder, One Cart, Every Channel Pulling the Same Direction

Zettler Digital treated the box as the product and rebuilt the store, the cart and the marketing around it.

A Custom Build Your Brownie Box Experience Zettler Digital replaced both legacy builders with a single, native Build Your Brownie Box built directly into the Shopify theme. Shoppers pick a 4-, 8- or 12-pack with per-brownie pricing and savings shown at every size. Rewards scale with the box: the 8-pack unlocks free Cookies and Cream Fudge Cups, and the 12-pack adds free rush baking and free shipping. Everything is configurable in the theme editor, so Buckeye's team can swap flavors, tiers and offers for each monthly drop without a developer.

A Purpose-Built Cart App Instead of stacking more third-party apps, Zettler Digital built and deployed a custom Shopify app, Zettler Digital Cart Tools, to handle the cart logic Buckeye's promotions depend on. It automatically adds free products to the cart when a qualifying code or condition is met, starting with the brand's win-back offer, and each function lives in its own module so new promotion mechanics can be added without another subscription.

Continuous CRO and Split Testing Zettler Digital stood up a structured testing program on Shoplift, with tests live on the builder and key product pages, and keeps refining layout, copy and the mobile experience between tests.

Klaviyo Email and SMS Lifecycle flows were rebuilt and expanded, including new browse, cart and checkout abandonment flows, a full post-purchase shipping series and a review request flow. The campaign calendar was rebuilt around drops, with every flavor launch, limited box and sale coordinated across email and SMS.

Meta and Google Ads Acquisition campaigns were pointed at the builder, sending new shoppers straight into the highest-value path on the site.

The Results

Bigger Boxes, Healthier Retention, and a Store Built to Keep Testing

Within the first two months, building a box became the dominant way Buckeye customers buy, and the retention program got measurably sharper.

  • 54% of online revenue now comes from bundle builds
  • Bundle orders average $61.80, 53% above non-bundle orders ($40.49)
  • August net sales up 25% year over year, with orders up 23%
  • Email flow click rate up 2.4x, from 1.48% to 3.61%
  • SMS unsubscribe rate down 40%
  • An always-on Shoplift testing program, so every builder and merchandising change is measured before it becomes permanent

  • 54%

    of online revenue from bundle builds

  • +53%

    higher AOV on bundle orders

  • 2.4x

    email flow click rate

“

"The level of detail Zettler Digital provides has been absolutely exceptional. From running tons of split tests to constantly making the smallest changes to optimize the website, I cannot recommend them enough."

”
AvatarZack BuckeyeFounder, Buckeye Brownies

Every Drop Launches Into a System Built to Sell Boxes

Buckeye Brownies shows what happens when the store, the cart and the marketing are all built around how customers actually buy. With a native builder, a custom cart app and every channel pointed at the box, each new flavor drop turns one brownie craving into a full order. Next up: reading out the first Shoplift tests, builder-specific Klaviyo flows, and a holiday gifting season built around the 8- and 12-pack.

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