How We Helped Smokai Double Their Online Revenue

Background

Smokai is an eCommerce store that sells premium smoke generators, with a range of 4 different models. The main product Smokai came to us with was the ‘1 Litre Classic Smoke Generator’, which they wanted to push further to the market and drive revenue.

Six months ago, Smokai approached us to help them with their online sales strategy. They were running Google ads themselves, but without Google Analytics installed - nothing was tracked. As we began our work with Smokai, it was impossible to identify where the revenue was coming from; we suspected it was from old campaigns, but we couldn’t confirm it without tracking in place.

The Issue

Smokai had set up some Google ads themselves, which did drive some revenue, but it was hard to determine where it was coming from without tracking in place. Of the Google ads set up by them, the Cost Per Click (CPC) was high, there was a low Click Through Rate (CTR), and their ads were tired - which is where we came in.

We installed Google Analytics to get a grip on their target market - what was driving customers to their site, the number of users compared to sales, and user behaviour. With their Google ads campaign, we used the best practices that we have seen create more profit in the past, including running relevant ads, removing broad keyword terms, and improving their quality score.

The main things we found:

1. No tracking was set up.
2. Unable to see what was driving revenue.
3. No detailed analysis of user behaviour in the store.

Return On Ad Spend (ROAS)

Before we start getting into the technicalities to grow Smokai’s online revenue significantly, understanding what we mean by ROAS will make it that much easier to comprehend. ROAS stands for Return On Ad Spend, which is essentially a marketing metric for measuring the revenue earned from each dollar spent on advertising. If you’re familiar with Return On Investment (ROI), it is the marketing term for the same purpose.

The Initial Solution

Once we had their data at our fingertips, we were able to start implementing solutions and find what worked for Smokai’s store. How users landed on their page, if they were purchasing, and if they weren’t.

With Smokai’s main products being the different sized smoke generators, we looked to Text ads as an option. Text ads are often overlooked in the eCommerce industry, but they are an excellent opportunity for online advertisers to take advantage of the market.

We set up Text and Google Shopping ad campaigns across New Zealand, Australia and the US. The Google Shopping campaigns weren’t hitting the mark. We changed the Google Shopping campaign to an automated bidding strategy to significantly improve the ROAS.

We added negative keywords to prevent the ads from showing up in irrelevant searches and platforms by refining the Google Shopping campaign. But even making those changes didn’t do much - we saw Smokai gain relevant traffic but no increase in the conversion rate.

On the other hand, the Text ads were performing surprisingly well. The volume of sales and conversions weren’t there, but ROAS was. We decided to make some changes and paved the platform for scalability.

The initial solution process:

1. Used Text ads as a strategy.
2. Integrated a Google Shopping campaign.
3. Analysed the campaign’s results
4. Implemented an automated bidding strategy
5. Pivoted to a new campaign.
6. Added negative keywords.

Rolling out the new campaign strategy.

At the beginning of 2021, we turned our attention to a Smart Shopping campaign and decommissioned the old shopping campaigns. We focused on Smokai’s leading products - their four smoke generators. While we gauged what campaigns worked well and what didn’t, we optimised other parts of the strategy.

As we rolled out the Smart Shopping campaign, we focused on the quality score of the shopping store and ensured the feed, titles and categories were optimised to how Google saw it.

After optimising the store for the Smart Shopping campaign, we saw an increase in impressions and how the ads were optimised for not just Google Search results but on Youtube and other platforms. We minimised wasting clicks on products and places that weren’t relevant to the audience.

Results:

1. Improved quality score.
2. More impressions.
3. Optimised PPC spend by only bidding on relevant phrases.
4. Higher ROAS.

Compared to the original Google Shopping campaign, the Smart Shopping campaign resulted in achieving a higher ROAS and more impressions.

Harvesting the fruits of the new strategy.

From the months of trial and error and gaining a knowledgeable understanding of Smokai’s market, it was time for Smokai to harvest the fruits from the months of work we completed for them.

Before we implemented the Smart Shopping campaign and optimised the Text ad campaign, Smokai was underperforming. It truly goes to show that there is no one-size-fits-all approach for any store or campaign.

Since implementing the Smart Shopping campaign, we reinvested time back into expanding out Text ads, choosing the keywords and targeting the longtail category keywords. We pivoted away from the standard and went above and beyond to implement the Smart Shopping option.

The Outcome

Once we saw an increase in ROAS and favourable results for Smokai, we took the foot off the gas. We’ll admit that a lot of time can be chewed up focusing on purely shopping campaigns, so we looked to the future about the next steps with Smokai and how to not only make their store better but how to drive even more revenue.

Manual Shopping campaigns are beneficial for some stores, as long as ROAS is there. But we really saw Smokai experience ROAS targets through our Smart Shopping campaign.

Summary

From Smokai running their own campaigns without tracking to rolling out a complete custom tracking solution, not only can we see an increase in revenue, but we also notice where the increase in revenue stems from.

We don’t like spending time on areas or strategies that are not worthwhile, which is why the 60 to 90 day test period is just as important as the end results. We drew back to the drawing board when something wasn’t working and analysed why - pointing us in the right direction to move forward.

With our journey with Smokai, here are the successes:

1. Installed Google Analytics to identify where revenue was coming from.
2. Narrowed down the top 4 products.
3. Setup Text ads and optimised them for Google.
4. Trialled a Google Shopping campaign with an automated bidding strategy.
5. Analysed the Google Shopping campaign and switched to a Smart Shopping campaign.
6. Reinvested time into expanding Text ads, choosing keywords and targeting long-tail category keywords.

Since hitting ROAS targets and achieving the ideal scalability, we are now working with Smokai on their next marketing step. Our focus is on on-page optimisation and improving their funnel; Smokai’s customer journey - from visiting their store to the checkout process. We are also putting a heavy emphasis on onsite merchandising and email marketing using Klaviyo. We want to ensure Smokai’s sales turn into repeat purchases - implementing aftersale support and technical queries.

With Smokai, we continue to build on their strategy, what we like to call the Snowball Effect. We pumped traffic using performance marketing, and now we nurture traffic using email marketing and on-page personalisation and funnels.