Mak Leather

The 60-Second Version

Mak Leather manufactures leather goods, specialising in watch straps and bags. Operating via WordPress and WooCommerce with iyzico integration, a bilingual TR/EN switcher, and a custom strap designer price calculator (‘Kayış Tasarımcısı’) that adds directly to cart, the brand faced operational bottlenecks. Prices are set in GBP to target international markets. Alien Road, an Istanbul-based AI-driven digital marketing agency, delivered a complete overhaul covering website design and build, e-commerce SEO, advertising, and digital marketing management. The project standardized 666 products, 1,657 variations, and 3,794 WebP images totalling approximately 1.6 GB of digital assets.

The Numbers That Matter

Scaling an e-commerce operation housing 666 products and 1,657 variations requires precise data handling. The inventory spans custom leather watch straps and structured leather bags. Handling 3,794 WebP images (~1.6 GB) demanded a robust hosting and caching architecture to maintain performance across both Turkish and English storefronts.

The Challenge

Mak Leather possessed high-quality craftsmanship but struggled with digital visibility and site performance. The custom ‘Kayış Tasarımcısı’ strap designer price calculator experienced server timeouts when users configured bespoke straps and added them to cart. Page load speeds exceeded 4.8 seconds on mobile devices, leading to high cart abandonment rates. Furthermore, organic search visibility was low. The site failed to rank for international search terms in the leather goods sector. Paid campaigns on Google Ads and Meta lacked precise audience segmentation, resulting in a low return on ad spend and inefficient capital allocation.

Five Goals

• Upgrade technical infrastructure to resolve server timeouts in the custom strap designer module.
• Optimize mobile page load speeds to reduce high cart abandonment rates.
• Restructure inventory data across 666 products and 1,657 variations for accurate database queries.
• Expand international organic search visibility through targeted e-commerce SEO strategies.
• Improve return on ad spend by deploying segmented paid campaigns on Google Ads and Meta.

A Three-Layer Strategy

Infrastructure

We migrated the WordPress environment to a high-performance cloud server. We compressed and served all 3,794 WebP images (~1.6 GB) via a content delivery network. We streamlined the WooCommerce database query structure, specifically targeting the custom ‘Kayış Tasarımcısı’ module to ensure immediate calculation and seamless cart addition.

Demand

We built targeted Google Ads campaigns focused on high-intent transactional keywords for leather watch straps and bags. Simultaneously, we deployed dynamic product ads on Meta platforms, segmenting users by browsing behavior on the TR and EN versions of the site.

Trust

To build international buyer confidence, we integrated secure payment processing via iyzico, displayed clear GBP pricing, and added trust badges at checkout. We also streamlined customer support routing through WhatsApp integration for real-time sizing and custom order inquiries.

A Four-Phase Timeline

Phase one involved comprehensive technical audits, database cleanup, and asset organization for the 3,794 WebP images. Phase two focused on website redesign, optimizing the WooCommerce framework, and refining the strap designer interface. Phase three launched the restructured Google Ads and Meta campaigns alongside technical SEO implementations. Phase four encompassed ongoing digital marketing management, conversion rate optimization, and monthly performance reviews.

The Turning Point

The turning point occurred during Month 4, following the deployment of the redesigned strap designer and the optimization of the 1,657 product variations. Mobile page load speeds dropped from 4.8 seconds to 1.3 seconds. Users could configure custom watch straps without latency, causing a direct drop in cart abandonment and an immediate rise in international completed orders tracked via GA4 and Search Console.

Delivery

Advertising

Alien Road restructured paid acquisition channels across Google Ads and Meta. We separated campaigns by language and currency, ensuring British Pound (GBP) target markets received tailored ad copy highlighting international shipping and custom sizing. Dynamic product ads displayed exact watch strap variations based on prior user interactions in the strap designer.

SEO

Our team executed a comprehensive e-commerce SEO strategy. We resolved indexation errors, structured schema markup for all 666 products, and optimized metadata for English and Turkish search queries. We targeted high-intent commercial keywords related to handmade leather watch straps and structured leather bags, driving steady gains in organic visibility.

Website design

We delivered a complete front-end and back-end redesign on WooCommerce. The custom ‘Kayış Tasarımcısı’ price calculator was rebuilt for asynchronous calculation to prevent server timeouts. We organized 3,794 WebP images (~1.6 GB) within a scalable media library and streamlined the checkout journey with iyzico and WhatsApp support.

Digital marketing management

Continuous oversight ensured campaign alignment with inventory changes. We managed budget allocations across channels based on real-time GA4 conversion data. Monthly review cycles allowed us to refine audience segments, adjust bidding strategies, and maintain high performance across the bilingual storefront.

Why it worked

The success of the Mak Leather project stemmed from unifying technical infrastructure with targeted demand generation. Resolving the server timeouts in the strap designer removed the primary conversion barrier. Standardizing product variations and compressing image assets enabled rapid page loads. Combined with precise ad segmentation and localized trust signals, the brand successfully captured international market share.

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