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Retail Search Strategies to Survive Thrive in a Downturn

IMPAQT Case Study: Retail

With uncertainties continuing to loom on consumer spending, retailers have begun shifting their focus to online and direct marketing channels in an effort to drive sales and increase ROI. Given the thinning market, our client, like many other retail marketers, emphasized their need to hone in on profitability and achieve maximum return from their ad spending.

However, after a significant increase in ROI followed by a dramatic decline, the luxury jewelry brand’s trust in the long-term effectiveness of Search was shaken. Not ready to throw in the towel, the brand decided it was time to re-evaluate their Search vendor and to develop a plan on how maximize Paid Search effectiveness during the downturn.

QUESTION:

How could IMPAQT re-instill the brand’s confidence in the value of Search and salvage their flawed Paid campaign?

REVELATION:

After concluding that a hands-on approach to their Paid campaign might be the ticket to sustaining a high ROI, the premier jeweler selected IMPAQT as their new Search vendor. This decision was based on our level of client care and our ability to provide savvy solutions. Knowing our new client’s brand-consciousness, our first recommendation was to reorganize their Paid campaign structure to include keyword research and targeted match types. We expanded their list of branded terms from 1,000 keywords to nearly 3,000 and then switched from broad match to exact and phrase match in order to lower CPC’s and increase relevant clicks. By doing this, we were able to cut CPC’s in half on branded terms - giving us 100 percent visibility at position one during the entire day. This helped to create excess budget for testing on non-branded terms. We were able to identify and test an additional 3,000 non-branded terms due to the savings on branded terms.

Additionally, we worked closely with the client’s legal and brand approval departments to develop multiple messaging in their ad copy and to ensure that all messaging was in line with their specific standards. For instance, the luxury good brand offers free shipping periods but did not want to use the term “free shipping” in the ad copy, although the term proves to yield increased conversation rates. IMPAQT worked around the client’s request and bought the term “complimentary shipping,” which performed exceptionally well. Cross-messaging, expanded keyword sets, and IMPAQT’s close attention to detail saved the luxury good brand’s PPC campaign.