Fifteen years ago, Warby Parker disrupted the eyewear industry with a fresh, customer-first approach, so its store communication platform had to be just as intentional and engaging as its brand. But with retail teams spread across the country, ensuring alignment was no small feat.
The challenge? Delivering critical updates from HQ in a way that didn’t just inform employees—but engaged and empowered them to represent the brand.
“We’ve been with Zipline for about five years now, and one of the things that really attracted us to the platform was the ability to completely customize the dashboard,” says Kay Gursoy, Senior Manager, Retail Communications at Warby Parker.
“I feel like when you use other vendor platforms, it obviously sometimes feels like you’re a part of that vendor’s site, and the site doesn’t feel reflective of your brand, your brand ethos. So we really love Zipline because the dashboard is completely customizable.”
Building a Communication Hub that Feels Like Warby Parker
From the moment employees log in, Warby Parker’s communication hub is an extension of its brand—intuitive, thoughtfully designed, and engaging.
1. A Customizable Dashboard for Seamless Navigation
Rather than a static interface, Warby Parker designed its Zipline dashboard as a dynamic, ever-evolving experience.
“One of the first things we did was put a template in place,” Kay explained. “This helps our team strategize so we’re not reinventing the wheel every time we make updates. It also holds us accountable to communication cadences we’ve set.”
By maintaining a consistent structure, store teams always know exactly where to find what they need—saving time and reducing friction in their day-to-day tasks.
Watch Kay’s ZipTalk from NRF to see how Warby Parker built its branded dashboard:
2. Elevating Key Initiatives with Homepage Takeovers
Warby Parker doesn’t just announce major initiatives—it makes them impossible to miss. At key moments throughout the year, the company transforms the Zipline dashboard into an immersive hub where employees can instantly see and access priority updates.
“Takeovers are something we do sparingly, but they’re an exciting way to make sure store teams feel the impact of major initiatives,” Kay said.
Each takeover is designed with a specific business goal in mind—whether it’s driving execution, improving customer service, or reinforcing brand culture. These updates don’t just change the look of the dashboard—they provide a single place where employees can find essential information and align on what matters most.
Here are some of Warby Parker’s most memorable dashboard transformations:
The Great North American Solar Eclipse
When Warby Parker distributed free solar eclipse glasses in stores, the initiative drove a massive spike in both customer service (CX) and retail traffic. To celebrate the event, the homepage got a full makeover.
“All of our stores were distributing free solar eclipse viewing glasses, and it drove just a ton of traffic to our business for both CX and retail,” Kay explained. “So to kind of honor that work, we took over the homepage for the week of the initiative, and the site kind of went dark—that kind of mimicked, like, the moon covering the sun in an eclipse.”
Holiday Hub
Just as Warby Parker stores transform for the holiday season—complete with festive window displays and merchandising—the dashboard also gets a seasonal refresh.
“In the same way that our stores are getting a full visual makeover of merchandising and window displays, we want to do the same thing for our site,” Kay said. The takeover includes a dedicated Holiday Hub where teams can quickly access key seasonal updates, deadline reminders, and collection launches.
Halloween Fun
Not every takeover is about operations—some are purely about creating moments of connection. For one day only, Warby Parker’s Zipline dashboard gets a ghostly transformation, bringing some seasonal fun to store teams.
“For 24 hours and 24 hours only, we just wanted to celebrate the season a little bit more,” Kay said. “So we kind of did this ghostly makeover of the dashboard—just purely for fun.”
While it may seem like a small detail, these lighthearted takeovers serve a larger purpose: They help create shared experiences across locations, making frontline employees feel more connected to the company and each other.
“We want the dashboard to reflect what’s happening in stores. Even if an employee doesn’t click on anything, they should instantly understand what’s most important at that moment in time,” Kay explained.
3. Making It Easy to Stay on Brand
One concern with keeping a dashboard visually dynamic is the extra time and resources it might take to maintain. But Warby Parker’s team has found a simple, scalable solution: repurposing brand assets that are already being created for social media, emails, and marketing campaigns.
“We align widget sizes with assets our brand team is already producing—so instead of creating new content from scratch, we can seamlessly pull visuals from Instagram, email, or Facebook,” Kay said.
This approach ensures the dashboard always looks polished and on-brand—without adding extra workload to the team. By working smarter, not harder, Warby Parker keeps its communication hub engaging, fresh, and reflective of the brand’s identity.
Measuring the Impact
A beautifully designed dashboard is great—but does it work?
Warby Parker pulled early data to measure whether its homepage strategy was driving engagement.
150% Increase in Viewership
Messages and resource pages featured on the homepage saw up to 150% more views, proving that reinforcing key initiatives upfront makes a measurable difference.
Team Performance Tracking
Store leaders use Zipline’s performance widget to track engagement, ensuring teams stay accountable to execution and readership over time.
“Our store teams have very little time on the site each day. The more we can make important information immediately visible and engaging, the better,” Kay explained.
Strengthening Culture Through Connection
Beyond just streamlining communication, Warby Parker uses Zipline to bring leadership and store teams closer together.
Weekly Founder Videos
Every week, Warby Parker’s co-founders personally record bite-sized video updates from their company-wide All Hands meetings. Instead of a lengthy email recap, store teams get a direct line to leadership—right from the dashboard. These updates make the leadership team feel more accessible and help reinforce company values.
Customer Praise Highlights
Warby Parker showcases top customer reviews for its doctors and store teams on the homepage, giving employees a constant stream of recognition for their work.
“Our teams love multimedia content, and boosting these videos has been a really successful way to make employees feel connected to the brand,” Kay shared.
Looking Ahead
For Warby Parker, communication isn’t just about delivering messages—it’s about keeping employees engaged, inspired, and aligned with the company’s mission.
By creating a platform that reflects its brand, prioritizes clarity, and encourages engagement, Warby Parker has turned its store communication hub into a powerful driver of culture, connection, and operational success.
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