3Q/DEPT recommended a two-stage approach to grow the brand’s D2C/eCommerce revenue.
Stage 1: Rapid Analysis and Immediate Actions.
3Q/DEPT’s dedicated team analyzed customer personas, competitive landscape, and promotion effectiveness. Purchaser and persona analysis revealed the following:
- Large revenue opportunities in D2C at the bottom of the marketing funnel (search & shop)
- People’s immediate desperate need for walking, running, comfort, and work shoes
- Two major purchase groups previously undervalued by the client
- Critical differences between the two underserved personas
- Several common characteristics among all the brand’s purchasers
- Specific products that aligned perfectly with each persona’s buying criteria
Next, 3Q/DEPT conducted an analysis of promotional ad fatigue to discover the optimal promotion strategy to maximize Return on Ad Spend (ROAS). This also included the analysis of competitors’ ad spend and budget distribution.
Based on the rapid, in-depth research results, the client followed 3Q/DEPT’s core recommendations. They immediately ramped up their media budget and heavily promoted products to suit both the at-home and at-work consumers who were searching and shopping online. They scaled search, display, and shopping budgets from March to June of 2020, the core lockdown period for most of the world, and also supported price markdowns and promotional savings to become price-competitive in the market.
Key to these efforts was the development of the company’s two undervalued personas for more effective targeting. Using these personas, 3Q/DEPT built an activation plan around the client’s first and third-party audiences, leveraging DMP implementation to build richer customer and lookalike profiles.
Stage 2: Brand Awareness and Ongoing Growth.
Following the initial marketing push, 3Q/DEPT shifted focus to boosting brand awareness for the second half of 2020. The first step was implementing targeted ads on various platforms including YouTube, Hulu, TikTok, and Pinterest. The efficacy of each channel was then measured by studying brand and search lift. 3Q/DEPT also ran a series of ongoing growth initiatives, including:
- Using algorithmic data to target consumers at the ideal touchpoints in their journey
- Forecasting monthly performance and media mix budgets based on the rapidly-evolving business climate
- Partnering with the brand’s internal business intelligence team to support enhanced reporting workflows
Following this, the client launched a new website for the back-to-school season. 3Q/DEPT’s experts developed a conversion rate optimization roadmap for that site, which led to improved shopper UX and higher conversion rates. With the new site performing well, 3Q/DEPT was able to help the brand support the markets that remained open during the holiday selling period with TV commercials and digital advertising.
