Ironwood Brewing Co.: Local Brewery / Craft Beverages

The Challenge: Ironwood Brewing thrived on buzz around seasonal taproom events, drawing big crowds for launches and live music nights. But once the events ended, traffic dropped sharply. Their e-commerce storefront was clunky, making it hard for visitors to buy cans online or snag branded merch after an in-person experience. As a result, one-time event goers rarely converted into long-term fans, and merch sales underperformed.

How Kestrel Loop Helped: By mapping the lifecycle arcs of different customer types, Kestrel Loop uncovered key momentum gaps. “Event-goers” spiked traffic but fell off within 30 days, while “community regulars” showed consistent value but needed nudges between visits. Meanwhile, online buyers hit friction in the checkout flow and abandoned carts at high rates. Ironwood used these insights to reposition events as entry points into ongoing engagement — supported by a rebuilt e-commerce journey and targeted merch drops.

Key Insights Delivered:

• Taproom events generated strong spikes but weak lifecycle continuity

• Poor e-commerce UX created a bottleneck for follow-up sales

• Merch had high latent demand but wasn’t sequenced into the customer loop

• Regulars responded to exclusivity perks, while one-time visitors needed nudges to re-engage

Modules Integrated:

• Osprey Spike to capture demand around taproom events and channel it into sustained campaigns

• Merlin Stack to align limited-release flavors and merch with local psychographics

• Goshawk String to refine the brewery’s narrative, shifting events from “one-night buzz” to “community belonging”

Results:

• Repeat visits increased by 23%

• E-commerce sales grew 31% after UX fixes and event-to-online tie-ins

• Merch revenue doubled after being repositioned as part of the loyalty cycle

• Seasonal events delivered longer-lasting engagement instead of single-night spikes