Case Study: Undrdog Surface Products
The Short Version
- A detailing chemicals brand in Texas, launched from nothing during the pandemic, into a fragmented blue-collar industry owned by bigger chemical companies with better distribution.
- I was one of the founders and owned tech and marketing end to end: the brand, the Shopify Plus store, a Carfax VIN integration, Pro detailer verification, a lead map, Klaviyo and a community that did the retention work software couldn't.
- Several thousand verified Pro detailers, a recognized brand in the industry and a cart recovery sequence that cut the sales cycle from 7 days to 3.
What They Do
Undrdog makes auto and marine cleaning and protective chemicals and tools for professional detailers and serious enthusiasts. Texas-based, launched from scratch during the pandemic.
My Role
The founder and I had worked together before, and he wanted to build something new. I came in before the brand existed, assembled the team and built everything: identity, copy, website, e-commerce, CRM, community. Not a consulting gig. A co-founding role where tech and marketing were mine.
The Challenge
Zero. No brand, no site, no customers, no infrastructure. A pandemic, a small ad budget and established chemical brands with more money and better distribution.
The industry is scattered: micro-businesses of one to three people, new detailers coming in every month and about as many going out. Detailing is discretionary (a shiny car isn't a fixed roof), so loyalty and community matter more than in a commodity market.
What We Built
Brand, Site & E-commerce Infrastructure
The whole brand from scratch (identity, copy, positioning), launched on Shopify Plus with three custom pieces a standard agency would have skipped:
Carfax VIN integration. A detailer entered the VIN of a car they'd worked on and the service record went to Carfax. Carfax's integration options are thin, so this was hard, and it mattered more than anything else in the industry. Verified accounts only, approved by hand.
Pro detailer verification. Detailers applied for Pro status with their business documents. We reviewed and approved manually. Pros got trade pricing, exclusive products and dedicated support. Several thousand of them at peak.
A lead map with matching and real-time notifications, connecting consumers with local detailers in the network.
CRM & Community Strategy
Community first, CRM second.
The Facebook Group was the CRM. Not a social media play: relationship infrastructure. The CEO got on calls with newer detailers personally, answered questions, explained products. Not scalable in the usual sense, and it built loyalty no email sequence could. Different software, same function: relationships with people you know, engagement you can see, marketing to customers you've talked to.
Non-promotional SMS. Three texts a week. No links, no codes, no CTAs. A "we see you, keep going" to people running small businesses. The response was overwhelmingly positive. You can't attribute revenue to it, and the affinity showed up in retention and in the group.
Klaviyo ran the classic layer alongside: segmented flows, Pro pricing triggers, abandoned cart tuned to this customer (browse abandonment removed entirely, because Pros already know the products) and a diminishing-discount cart recovery that cut the sales cycle from 7 days to 3.
Results
- A recognized brand in professional detailing, from a blank page
- Several thousand verified Pro detailers in the database
- Referrals and word of mouth became a real acquisition channel
- The Carfax integration live, the first of its kind in the segment
What This Project Taught Me
The best CRM isn't always software. Undrdog's strongest retention mechanism was a founder who picked up the phone. My job was to build the infrastructure around that (verification, community tooling, SMS, Klaviyo) without flattening the human layer.
The SMS program went against every best practice about measurable ROI, and it worked because it wasn't trying to sell anything. I'm still proud of it.
Stack
Shopify Plus · Klaviyo · Custom Shopify Apps · Carfax API · Facebook Groups · SMS (non-promotional) · Manual verification workflows