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Case: Unleashing Growth: Integrated Marketing Success for a Gluten-Free Online Store

  • 13.09.2024 / Reading time: 11 min.
In October 2022, a gluten-free online store, specialized in selling certified gluten-free products, approached our marketing and advertising agency with a significant challenge. Despite a loyal customer base, the company had hit a growth plateau. Their existing digital marketing efforts were stagnating, and they were struggling to increase revenue, acquire new customers, and retain current ones. Their conversion rates had dwindled, and site traffic was flatlining, with no significant growth for over six months. Competitors in the niche were also expanding aggressively, threatening to poach market share.

The store operated in a highly competitive, yet niche market, targeting health-conscious consumers with specific dietary needs. Despite strong branding and a loyal core audience, they were failing to expand their customer base beyond repeat buyers. Customer acquisition costs were soaring, with paid ads delivering diminishing returns and Google Search ads, in particular, underperforming. Organic traffic from SEO efforts remained minimal, while email campaigns were not converting leads into repeat buyers at the rates they once were.

By October 2022, the gluten-free store's monthly revenue had plateaued at around $75,000, and the team was seeking a comprehensive solution to scale sustainably. The primary goal was to achieve 40% revenue growth by March 2023 while reducing customer acquisition costs (CAC) by at least 15% and improving repeat purchase rates by 20%. Moreover, they wanted to diversify their sales channels, which were heavily reliant on paid ads and email marketing, creating a high dependency on external platforms like Google Ads and Facebook.

Our agency was hired to implement an integrated marketing strategy that combined SEO, CRM marketing, traffic management, and data-driven advertising to maximize the client’s visibility, conversions, and customer retention rates. This case study outlines the comprehensive approach we took and the detailed actions performed to achieve substantial growth for the client over six months.

Actions Taken and Results Obtained

Stage 1: SEO Overhaul and Organic Traffic Expansion

One of the first steps was to address the glaring underperformance in organic traffic. Despite being a niche product with strong market potential, the store’s SEO ranking for key terms was suboptimal. In October 2022, the website ranked in positions 30-50 for many crucial keywords like "buy gluten-free snacks" and "certified gluten-free flour."

We conducted a detailed SEO audit, which revealed multiple technical issues, including slow site load times (an average of 3.9 seconds), broken internal links, and non-optimized meta tags. Additionally, there were no blog posts or gluten-free-related content targeting long-tail keywords.

Actions:

  • Technical Fixes: Resolved technical issues such as slow site speeds (reduced to 2.1 seconds), missing meta tags, and broken internal links. This alone led to a 12% improvement in site rankings for key gluten-free terms within two months.
  • Content Strategy: Implemented a gluten-free lifestyle blog that produced four high-quality posts per week. Each article was optimized with both primary and secondary keywords, targeting over 100 long-tail variations of “gluten-free snacks,” “gluten-free recipes,” and similar phrases.
  • Backlink Campaign: We partnered with authoritative health and wellness websites to generate 70 high-quality backlinks, improving the website’s domain authority from 21 to 32 in just three months.

Results:

  • Organic traffic increased by 56% by December 2022.
  • Monthly visitors from organic search jumped from 12,500 in October 2022 to 19,600 by February 2023, contributing to a 17% rise in overall revenue.
  • By March 2023, the site ranked in the top 10 for over 25 target keywords, driving sustained organic traffic growth.

Stage 2: Google Ads Revamp and Optimization

Paid traffic through Google Ads was another significant pain point. The store was spending $18,000 per month on Google Search and Display Ads with only a 1.9% conversion rate and an average cost per acquisition (CPA) of $42. This was well above the industry average and far from sustainable. Our goal was to reduce CPA by 20% and improve conversion rates to 3.5%.

Actions:

  • Campaign Segmentation: We restructured the existing Google Ads campaigns, breaking them into tighter ad groups segmented by product categories like “gluten-free bread,” “gluten-free pasta,” and “gluten-free cookies,” optimizing bids for each group.
  • Ad Copy Optimization: Developed more compelling ad copy using A/B testing. New headlines emphasized pain points such as gluten-free guarantees, fast delivery, and exclusive deals, increasing click-through rates (CTR) by 24% within the first month.
  • Smart Bidding Strategies: Implemented automated bidding with Google’s “Maximize Conversions” setting, allowing the algorithm to learn and adjust based on performance data. This reduced CPA by 16% in the first 30 days.

Results:

  • Overall CPA dropped from $42 to $34 by February 2023, saving the company over $6,000 per month.
  • The conversion rate on Google Ads increased to 3.7%, while CTR improved by 29%.
  • Monthly ad spend remained the same, but revenue attributed to paid ads increased by 22%, from $26,500 in October 2022 to $32,300 by February 2023.

Stage 3: CRM Integration and Customer Retention Enhancement

Customer retention was another major issue. Although the brand had a loyal following, the repeat purchase rate was only 18%, while the goal was to raise it to 25% by March 2023. Additionally, the customer lifetime value (CLV) was $95, below the industry average of $125 for similar e-commerce businesses.

Actions:

  • CRM Integration: We integrated a full-scale CRM system that tracked customer behavior, purchase history, and engagement with marketing channels. This allowed for more personalized email and SMS marketing campaigns.
  • Segmentation for Retargeting: Customers were segmented into five tiers based on purchase history, total spend, and engagement with the website. Automated workflows were set up to trigger personalized messages offering product recommendations, discounts, and loyalty incentives.
  • Loyalty Program Launch: Developed a tiered loyalty program that rewarded repeat purchases with points, discounts, and exclusive content, which was integrated into the CRM and email marketing.

Results:

  • Repeat purchase rates increased from 18% in October 2022 to 26% by March 2023, surpassing the target by 1%.
  • Customer lifetime value increased from $95 to $122 within the same period.
  • Email marketing open rates improved by 14%, while click-through rates on personalized emails increased by 22%.

Stage 4: Email and SMS Campaign Revitalization

Email and SMS campaigns had been underperforming, with open rates of 15% and click-through rates of just 1.9%. Our objective was to revamp these channels to generate higher engagement and drive more conversions.

Actions:

  • Redesigned Email Templates: We created new responsive email templates that were optimized for mobile and included dynamic content blocks, personalized product suggestions, and time-sensitive discount offers.
  • Automated Flows: Implemented automation for abandoned carts, reactivation campaigns for inactive customers, and post-purchase upsell offers. These were triggered by CRM data.
  • A/B Testing on SMS: SMS messages were also redesigned and tested for various elements such as time of day sent, message length, and incentive structure.

Results:

  • Email open rates improved from 15% to 23% over the six-month period, while click-through rates increased to 4.2%.
  • SMS campaigns saw a 35% increase in conversion rates, contributing an additional $11,000 in sales by the end of the campaign.
  • Revenue from email and SMS marketing rose by 28%, from $12,200 in October 2022 to $15,700 in March 2023.

Stage 5: Social Media Advertising and Influencer Partnerships

Previously, social media ad spend had been inefficient, with a low ROI on Facebook and Instagram ads. We restructured the campaigns, prioritizing audience targeting and introduced influencer partnerships to drive brand awareness.

Actions:

  • Facebook and Instagram Ad Optimization: We implemented precise audience segmentation and lookalike audiences based on the CRM data, targeting high-intent customers.
  • Influencer Campaigns: We partnered with micro-influencers in the health and wellness space who had a combined reach of over 450,000 followers, creating collaborative content that authentically promoted the gluten-free products.

Results:

  • Social media ad spend delivered a 3.1x return on ad spend (ROAS), compared to the previous 2.2x, generating an additional $21,400 in revenue from November 2022 to March 2023.
  • Influencer campaigns drove 6,200 new visitors to the site, contributing $14,800 in direct sales over the six months.

Conclusion: Achieving Substantial Growth and Market Positioning

By March 2023, the gluten-free online store had not only overcome its growth plateau but also positioned itself as a market leader in the niche gluten-free sector. Revenue increased by 43% from $75,000 in October 2022 to $107,250 by March 2023, exceeding the initial target of 40%. Furthermore, customer acquisition costs decreased by 18%, while customer retention strategies pushed repeat purchase rates to 26%, well above the initial goal of 20%.

The multi-channel strategy we implemented ensured sustainable growth across both paid and organic channels. Organic traffic now accounted for 45% of total site visitors, up from 30% in October, while paid traffic became more cost-efficient with a CPA reduction from $42 to $34.

The integrated CRM and personalized marketing campaigns drove higher engagement and improved customer lifetime value by 28%, reaching $122 by the end of the campaign period. Additionally, the launch of the loyalty program fostered customer loyalty and increased average order values.

Overall, the success of this integrated marketing strategy demonstrates the power of a comprehensive, data-driven approach. By addressing each stage of the marketing funnel and leveraging a diverse array of tactics, we were able to help the gluten-free online store not only reach but exceed its ambitious growth objectives.

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