Case: Revitalizing Online Sales for a Korean Cosmetics Brand: A Comprehensive 6-Month Marketing Strategy

In early 2023, a leading online retailer specializing in Korean cosmetics faced significant hurdles. Despite the rapid growth of Korean beauty products worldwide, the online store was witnessing a stagnation in its sales and struggling to maintain its competitive edge. With a robust inventory of high-quality skincare, makeup, and beauty accessories, the brand needed to maximize its reach and sales, but several factors were hindering its potential.

The online store had been operating for several years but had failed to achieve the explosive growth expected in the competitive e-commerce market. A lack of cohesive marketing strategy, fragmented advertising efforts, and a limited understanding of audience preferences contributed to a plateau in revenue. In addition, their website traffic had declined by 18.7% over the last six months, and the return on advertising spend (ROAS) was dropping steadily, sitting at just 1.7x by January 2023. This ROAS was well below the industry standard of 3x to 5x for online beauty retailers.

Another pressing issue was customer retention. The store had a low repeat purchase rate, with only 21.5% of customers returning for a second order, largely due to the absence of a personalized CRM system and ineffective email marketing strategies. Additionally, their cart abandonment rate was alarmingly high at 78.9%, and conversion rates remained low at only 1.9% of total website visitors. Without a structured approach to CRM marketing and consumer outreach, the brand was losing potential sales opportunities every day.

Finally, the store’s SEO performance was underwhelming. Their website ranked poorly for key search terms related to Korean cosmetics, occupying an average position of 65th for critical high-intent keywords like “Korean skincare” and “best K-beauty products,” which contributed to a limited organic traffic flow. The lack of optimization meant they were almost invisible to potential customers on search engines.

Faced with these challenges, the company sought an integrated marketing solution that could address multiple aspects: a strong presence in Google search, optimized CRM outreach, a more efficient advertising strategy, and an improved SEO ranking. In February 2023, they partnered with our agency to implement a 6-month, data-driven, comprehensive marketing campaign aimed at revitalizing their sales, improving customer retention, and strengthening their overall online presence.

To kick off the project, our agency conducted a comprehensive audit of the client's existing digital marketing setup. This included analyzing their Google Ads performance, email marketing campaigns, CRM strategies, SEO ranking, and web analytics data.

• Google Ads: Our initial review revealed that the client was overspending on underperforming keywords. They were targeting broad, low-intent search terms that generated a high click-through rate (CTR) of 5.3% but led to minimal conversions. The cost-per-click (CPC) was $2.65, but conversion costs were averaging $85.45, well above the industry benchmark of $40 per conversion in the beauty sector.
• SEO Analysis: A technical audit of the website showed that the site had multiple issues affecting its SEO performance. Broken links, missing alt text, and poor mobile optimization resulted in a low domain authority of 26.3 and a page load time of 4.7 seconds, far beyond the acceptable range of 2-3 seconds for e-commerce websites.
• Email and CRM: Our team analyzed the existing email campaigns and found that open rates hovered around a dismal 12.6%, with a click-through rate of 1.9%. The email list had a significant number of inactive subscribers, with approximately 42.5% of the list showing no activity in the past six months.
• Website Analytics: The bounce rate for the site was high at 69.4%, indicating that users were landing on the homepage but leaving without further interaction. Further analysis of user behavior revealed that the checkout process was overly complex, contributing to the high cart abandonment rate.

This extensive audit provided a clear roadmap for the changes that needed to be implemented.

Based on the audit, we completely restructured the store's Google Ads campaigns. The primary focus was shifting from broad, general keywords to more targeted, high-intent terms. We leveraged data on customer behavior and industry trends to build a tiered campaign structure.

• Keyword Segmentation: We divided campaigns into three segments: branded keywords, product-specific keywords (e.g., “Korean anti-aging serums”), and category-level keywords. For branded keywords, we improved the ad copy to enhance relevance, which resulted in a 23.4% decrease in CPC within the first month, bringing the cost down to $2.03.
• Smart Bidding: Implementing Google’s Smart Bidding algorithms allowed us to focus on conversions, leading to a significant reduction in wasted ad spend. Within three months, the conversion rate improved from 1.9% to 3.7%, and the cost-per-conversion dropped by 42.8%, from $85.45 to $48.85.
• Retargeting Campaigns: Retargeting efforts using Google Display Network were also introduced, specifically targeting users who had visited the site but did not complete a purchase. This resulted in a 17.5% lift in overall conversions by July, with the ROAS improving to 2.6x by the end of the campaign.

By August 2023, the total ad spend had decreased by 12.6%, but the total number of conversions increased by 52.7%. The ROAS was now at a healthy 3.3x, nearing the industry benchmark.

To address the low customer retention and poor email performance, we executed a CRM overhaul, which included segmenting the email list into active and inactive subscribers and implementing personalized email marketing strategies.

• Email Segmentation: We reclassified 37.8% of the email list as inactive and created a re-engagement campaign targeted specifically at this group. Over the course of three months, this campaign achieved a 14.9% reactivation rate, with 6.8% of previously inactive customers making a purchase within two weeks of receiving re-engagement emails.
• Personalized Email Flows: Automated email flows were designed to target different customer journeys, including abandoned cart emails, post-purchase thank-you messages, and product recommendation emails based on browsing history. The abandoned cart email sequence alone led to a 25.4% reduction in cart abandonment, recovering $73,200 in lost sales over the 6-month period.
• Improved Metrics: By mid-June, the email open rate had increased from 12.6% to 19.3%, and the click-through rate reached 4.2%. The repeat purchase rate rose from 21.5% to 33.9%, a key metric for customer retention. By the end of the campaign, email marketing had contributed to 18.5% of the total revenue, up from just 9.3% in February.

We launched a full-scale SEO campaign to address the store’s low search engine ranking. This included both on-page and off-page SEO strategies aimed at improving visibility for high-intent keywords.

• On-Page SEO Improvements: We optimized product descriptions, meta titles, and alt tags for over 500 product listings. In addition, we compressed images and optimized the site’s mobile layout, reducing the page load time from 4.7 seconds to 2.6 seconds. This contributed to a 23.7% reduction in bounce rate and a 15.4% increase in organic page views.
• Content Strategy: A content plan was developed that included weekly blog posts focused on skincare routines, ingredient highlights, and product comparisons. The goal was to drive traffic through long-tail keywords. By August, the site was ranking on the first page of Google for 27 key search terms, including “best Korean moisturizers” and “Korean beauty essentials.” Organic traffic increased by 48.2%, and the store’s domain authority improved to 38.5 from its initial 26.3.
• Backlink Strategy: We built a network of 120 high-quality backlinks from beauty bloggers and influencers, contributing to a 42.3% increase in referral traffic. These backlinks were instrumental in boosting the site’s authority and improving rankings across a range of product-specific keywords.

By the end of the campaign, organic search traffic accounted for 34.6% of all site visits, up from just 21.8% in February, contributing to a 58.4% increase in total revenue from organic sources.

We recognized that improving the customer journey was crucial to maximizing conversions. After analyzing user behavior data, we implemented several changes to the site’s structure and functionality.

• Simplified Checkout Process: The previous checkout process was overly complicated, with five separate steps, contributing to a high cart abandonment rate. By condensing the checkout to a three-step process, we reduced the cart abandonment rate from 78.9% to 52.4% over six months, leading to an estimated $94,500 in recovered revenue.
• Improved Product Pages: We added customer reviews and product recommendations to each product page, boosting user engagement. Pages that included reviews saw a 23.6% higher conversion rate compared to those without, while personalized product recommendations increased the average order value (AOV) by 12.3%.
• Mobile Optimization: As 61.8% of users were accessing the site via mobile devices, we prioritized improving the mobile shopping experience. After implementing responsive design changes, mobile conversions improved by 37.9%, significantly boosting the overall site conversion rate.

In parallel with these efforts, we expanded the store’s social media presence to drive brand awareness and create buzz around new product launches.

• Social Media Advertising: We launched targeted Facebook and Instagram ads aimed at beauty enthusiasts, focusing on demographic and behavioral data. The campaigns achieved an 8.6% click-through rate and contributed to a 29.4% increase in traffic from social media platforms.
• Influencer Partnerships: We collaborated with 15 beauty influencers, each with a follower base of over 100,000, to promote new product lines. These collaborations generated over 65,000 engagements (likes, comments, and shares) and brought in over $125,000 in direct sales attributable to influencer campaigns.

By August, social media accounted for 18.3% of all site traffic, up from just 9.7% in February.

By the end of the six-month campaign, the Korean cosmetics online store had undergone a significant transformation. The integrated marketing strategy had addressed the core challenges of low visibility, inefficient ad spending, poor CRM engagement, and a suboptimal customer journey.

• Revenue Growth: Total revenue increased by 78.9%, from $620,500 in February to $1,110,500 in August 2023.
• Improved Customer Retention: The repeat purchase rate climbed from 21.5% to 33.9%, showcasing the effectiveness of our CRM and email marketing strategies.
• Cost Efficiency: Google Ads spending was optimized, leading to a 42.8% decrease in cost-per-conversion and a more sustainable ROAS of 3.3x.
• SEO Success: Organic traffic surged by 48.2%, with the site now ranking on the first page of Google for 27 key terms, generating consistent, high-intent traffic.
• Customer Journey Improvements: The simplified checkout process and improved site functionality reduced cart abandonment by 26.5%, contributing to a significant increase in overall conversions.

This case highlights the power of an integrated, data-driven marketing approach, tailored to the specific needs of an e-commerce business in the beauty industry. By optimizing each element of the digital marketing funnel, we were able to drive sustainable growth and set the stage for continued success.