Context
MiniKids is an online store that sells children’s clothing. The collaboration with the agency began in 2018, when there was a need to scale the account to generate a sustained volume of purchases.
MiniKids fit perfectly into the classic business model started from scratch, where the owners initially handled online promotion, especially Facebook Ads. The transition to an agency came both from the need to scale the business and the desire to free up time spent on paid promotion.
At present, the results from Facebook and Instagram campaigns represent over 56% of the site’s total sales.
In this study, we analyzed Q1 2021 vs. Q1 2019 (January – March 2021 vs. January – March 2019). We wanted to examine the account’s evolution over a longer period, as 2020 was an atypical year.
Since taking over, the objectives have focused on sustained account growth by increasing the budget while keeping acquisition costs under control and improving ROAS, objectives that we have achieved.
Compared to 2019, in 2021, the budget was increased by 740%, purchases from Facebook and Instagram campaigns also increased by 745%, and the value of purchases grew by 708%. These results are quite good, especially given all the algorithm changes, rising promotion costs, and competition.
Usually, increasing the budget does not mean exponential growth in results, and we emphasize this in discussions with our clients. Budget supplementation is done both for the most performing campaigns and to test new campaigns/targeting and ads. Some work, while others fall into the test category. Therefore, it is quite challenging to always maintain a proportional increase in results with the budget invested.
The good quality-price ratio of Minikids products has helped the account scaling process by discovering lead products, increasing traffic, and recording a large volume of data.
2019
In 2019, we ran performance campaigns: conversions and catalogue sales, optimized mainly for purchases. We used both interest-based and lookalike audiences and had a remarketing strategy implemented, especially through dynamic catalogue sales campaigns, based on user actions on the site.
Over time, the increased budget allowed us to diversify targetings, especially lookalikes of different sizes (1-10%) of site traffic, top users based on time spent on the site, and site actions such as adding to cart, customers, etc.
2021
Most campaigns at the beginning of 2021 were dynamic, feed-based (catalogue sales), optimized for purchases. Among the most effective targetings were 7% and 8% lookalike audiences of customers and 6% lookalike audiences of users who visited at least 17 pages.
These conclusions came after numerous tests, but they are not universally applicable to all advertising accounts.
Remarketing focused on retargeting site users based on the products they viewed or added to the cart over various time periods. The most efficient was retargeting users who added products to the cart in the last 2 days but did not purchase. Tests were also run on the last 7, 14, 29, 60, or 90 days. Previous site customers were retargeted with new promotions or complementary products, reminding them of the Minikids brand.
To separate new traffic from old traffic, exclusions were used in targetings. This way, we built a funnel for users to follow a clear path in the purchase process.
Separately, we ran conversion campaigns with specific ads for new arrivals and promotions. Here, the ads were diversified, with carousel ads being the most effective, followed by video ads.
Facebook is a dynamic platform, and we need to constantly adapt. To develop the account, CBO (campaign budget optimization) campaigns and broad targeting were implemented to allow the algorithm to automatically optimize the campaign. Both manual placements (Facebook and Instagram feed and stories) and automatic placements (all available placements) were used. Each campaign had at least four ad sets with the same audience, with the difference being at the ad level. Over time, only the most performant ad sets were retained.
For greater account automation, we started running more tests with dynamic creatives (dynamic ads with up to 5 primary texts, 5 headlines, 5 descriptions, 10 banners/videos). These are considered a must, accelerating the A/B testing process at the ad level.
A small hint: what we have observed working increasingly well are organic posts with tagged products from the shop. These can be used with post IDs in both engagement campaigns (to generate reactions, comments, etc.) and conversion campaigns (recommended) to boost purchases.
Results Q1 2019 vs. Q1 2021 from Facebook & Instagram Ads Campaigns
- 740% increase in budget
- 762% increase in impressions
- 684% increase in users visiting the site
- 745% increase in total purchases from Facebook and Instagram
- 708% increase in purchase value
- ROAS maintained at similar values
Scaling an account involves various actions: diversifying campaigns, new targeting, reducing cost per acquisition, optimizing based on ROAS, etc. However, when working on an account that already has low acquisition costs, scaling can also mean increasing the volume of orders by raising the budget while maintaining the cost per acquisition within close parameters, without significant fluctuations. These objectives needed to be achieved on accounts in the context of rising promotion costs. This was also the case with MiniKids.
We managed to generate a considerable surplus of orders at controlled acquisition costs. This would not have been possible without constant monitoring and a strategy with scalable results.
Testimonial
„Before we started working with the Gun Media team, we handled the promotion ourselves. The campaigns delivered results, but we couldn’t scale them. Recently, even the classic boosts stopped working. We decided to give it a try, especially since we no longer had the time to manage the promotion ourselves.
Initially, they tested various strategies and figured out what worked. After three months, sales were increasing more and more. We continue to be on an upward trend. One thing we appreciated is that they explained when and why we needed to increase budgets to maximize results.
The collaboration with the Gun Media team has proven to be a real success. Communication is top-notch (both by phone and email), with detailed monthly reports on sales, growth, and campaigns run.”
Cătălin Stancu
Owner minikids.ro