DVO Suspension sells high-quality, fully-developed mountain bike suspension products from Valencia, CA.
When Bryson Martin Sr left his previous business after it was sold to a large corporation, founding his own suspension company was an excellent opportunity to start from scratch. Needing graphic design assistance, he turned to his bikeoholic son – despite Bryson Jr having no previous experience in visual design.
“Fast forward to 2021, I do all graphic design work, industrial design, 3D modeling with Fusion 360, photography, and use my background in racing to test and develop the products,” smiles Bryson – affectionately known as “Lil B”.
He also took on the “giant task and learning process” of building DVO Suspension’s online store with a lone developer for assistance “I used WooCommerce in the past and never had issues with it,” Bryson says on his decision to go with open-source eCommerce. “I felt comfortable and trusted [Woo’s] products. We’ve never had a problem with it, and it works great.”
“We make all our products available online – we were one of the first suspension companies to offer that.”
The business has grown substantially over the last nine years – a testament to hard work and dedication. “We launched the company with a unique product – the Emerald – that had never been done before,” explains Bryson. “Nothing can beat a great product matched with great customer service.”
Today, he and his team have developed a wide range of high-performance products, serving customers looking to upgrade their current ride or learn more about DVO-equipped OEM bikes.
“We make all our products available online – we were one of the first suspension companies to offer this. [Our website provides] easy access to spare parts, or you can buy a complete fork or shock directly. It seems common practice today, but when we started, nobody was doing that in our field.”
Top-quality MTB products don’t create themselves, however. “Mountain bike suspension is extremely difficult to design and produce. That’s the reason there’s only a small handful of companies at the high-end level.”
“Everything must be perfect, or the product won’t meet the expectations for performance and durability,” Bryson cautions. “It’s an art form and one of the most difficult things to do right. When you finally pull it off and see the smile of the customer, that’s the most rewarding thing – it keeps you fired up.”
This emphasis on quality over quantity means that John is always looking to improve the customer experience, both offline and online – that’s why he chose WooCommerce Payments to increase conversions.
“When we introduced WooCommerce Payments, [canceled orders] significantly dropped – it was a big help. Having a second form of payment was just what we needed.”
“We previously only had PayPal on there, [and] we noticed we were getting a lot of canceled orders at the last second in checkout.” When Bryson introduced WooCommerce Payments, the number of cart abandonments “significantly dropped.”
“It was a big help…just what we needed,” he smiles.
Bryson is “incredibly thankful” that the mountain bike industry has grown during the COVID-19 pandemic, with many people hitting the trails due to lockdowns “Looking into the future, we want to keep DVO Suspension at a manageable level to produce great products and maintain top-notch customer service.”
