Act of Dog Accelerates Their Life-saving Mission by Fusing the Power of Art with the Smart and Empowering GemPages Design Capabilities on Their Storefront

The Seller: An Act of Dog Painting Lifelines for Shelter Animals

An Act of Dog, founded by Marina and Mark Barone in 2011, is a pioneering nonprofit organization dedicated to using art to advocate for dog rescue and saving veterans' lives. Artist, Mark Barone, painted 5500 portraits of shelter dogs to educate for change, and PBS created a poignant documentary about his 4-year journey for their salvation. An Act of Dog charity donates 100% of their sales to save the discarded shelter animals and veterans, and use their art to stir the conscience of the nation for the emergence of a more compassionate generation.

Mark Barone, co-founder and the artist of An Act of Dog, painting his beloved dog Santina

Their story touched many people around the world and inspired even young people to make a big difference in their own communities. An Act of Dog's success lies not only in its impactful mission but also in its innovative approach to online fundraising and outreach. With GemPages' transformative storefront design solutions, An Act of Dog has seen a significant increase in conversions, engagement, and donations, allowing them to expand their life-saving work.

The reputable charity An Act of Dog is featured on several national channels

The Challenge: Restrictions in Expressing the Essence of the Charity Due to Limited Design Flexibility

A website is an indispensable tool for any organization to reach more audiences, not to mention that An Act of Dog is an organization that uses artwork to raise funds. Therefore, they need a visually stunning website where they can feature their high-resolution images and videos without affecting the website's loading speed. 

An Act of Dog’s large-sized artworks that need to be featured on the website

Before integrating GemPages, however, An Act of Dog faced significant challenges with their online presence. Their previous Shopify theme was highly restrictive, hindering their ability to creatively showcase their artwork and tailor the web pages in a way that delivers a compelling message. This limitation resulted in fewer conversions and made it challenging to effectively engage with their audience. 

“While we had a very nice template as a website, it had many restrictions in the sense that we couldn't be fully self-expressed creatively. It did not allow us to really get our message across in a compelling way, and in a way that would lead to more conversions or customers, more donor engagement.”

- Marina expressed.

The Solution: GemPages Streamlining Charitable Impact with Ease and Speed

“I was able to completely transform the front page. It's nothing like what it was. GemPages allowed me to make it more like a magazine, you know, because people's attention span is short. It allowed me to break it up into interesting pockets and create that visual interest, use powerful language, and put more buttons in for conversions from Donate to Purchase.” 

- Marina thought of GemPages as the solution to their problem.

Having discovered GemPages, An Act of Dog uncovered a tool for crafting visually stunning and impactful pages that deeply resonate with their audience. By leveraging GemPages' intuitive interface, Marina and Mark transformed their homepage into a compelling narrative that captivated visitors and drove conversions. Within just three months, their sales and donations surged by an impressive 212%, showcasing the profound impact of GemPages on their store's performance.

Assisting in tailoring a visually appealing website

GemPages has a unique, effortless drag-and-drop interface, allowing Marina and Mark to easily create custom pages, showcase their artwork effectively, and tell their meaningful story. 

“I would say the thing about GemPages is that it's so easy to use, you don't have to be tech-savvy or know code. It's very easy to drag and drop and create what you want to create. So that made it really easy for us. ”,

said Mark.

An Act of Dog website was tailor-made with GemPages’ user-friendly Drag & Drop Editor

Regarding the time spent getting used to GemPages, Marina highlighted:

“I spent very little time actually learning because the learning curve is very short on GemPages. I didn't find it complicated. I found it pretty simple once you learn where everything is. And, when I had questions, I could easily contact GemPages to clarify and to help me understand something better.”

Optimizing the best visual content while reducing page loading speed

The artist of the charity, Mark Barone, painted 5500 portraits of shelter dogs and  PBS filmed his 4-year journey, creating an awe-inspiring 30-minute documentary. The full-length documentary and other videos need to be uploaded onto the website and able to play smoothly without affecting the page speed. 

With GemPages, the charity experienced a significant improvement in loading speed, enabling them to seamlessly feature not only their film and videos but also large-sized artwork imagery on their product pages. This enhanced performance was crucial for maintaining visitor engagement, as slow-loading pages can deter potential supporters. 

“The GemPages platform has allowed us to load beautiful, high-resolution imagery at lightning speed and still keep that powerful look, which is important because if the page is not loading quickly, people disappear. And when they disappear, that means, as a charity, we’re being affected.”

- Mark remarked.

Showcasing products with high-resolution images while ensuring a fast-loading speed

Driving donations and purchases with high-converting CTAs

GemPages empowers An Act of Dog to seamlessly integrate interesting yet high-converting calls to action (CTAs) throughout their website. Leveraging GemPages’ intuitive interface, the charity can strategically place CTAs such as "Donate Now" or "Buy One Now" at key touchpoints, optimizing engagement and conversion rates. 

Whether it's prompting visitors to make donations, subscribe to a newsletter, or purchase merchandise, GemPages provides the flexibility to customize CTAs according to the specific goals of the charity. By placing CTAs and guiding visitors through the desired actions, GemPages helps maximize the impact of the charity's website, ultimately driving greater support from the community.

An Act of Dog’s unique CTA button encourages visitors to make donations to the charity

Wrapping Up

The transformation of An Act of Dog's website through GemPages has been nothing short of remarkable. By offering an alternative to their previous Shopify theme and making room for flexibility and creativity, GemPages enables An Act of Dog to elevate their online presence and streamline user experience to increase visitors’ engagement. With GemPages accompanied, An Act of Dog can effectively convey their message of saving lives, thus making a tangible difference in the community.