392% Growth in October 2023 | eCommerce Case Study
Strategies You Can Apply to YOUR Business this Month
Can you relate to the following?
You've had low or no sales for a while. However, those who purchased your products loved them, recommended them to others, and some even left glowing reviews.
You tried running ads to attract more customers, either by yourself or by hiring freelancers and agencies.
But you stopped because you didn't achieve a 2+ ROAS, your results were inconsistent, or you were hesitant to spend more on ads.
You then explored other avenues:
Organic Social
SEO
Website Optimisations
Email & SMS
Amazon
TikTok Shop
etc.
But you quickly realized that learning these platforms, channels, and strategies and then applying them to your business was time-consuming. Keeping up with rapidly changing technology and marketing best practices became overwhelming.
You recognized that you couldn't do it all by yourself.
You attempted to hire inexpensive VAs, freelancers, and agencies. Due to your low sales, you opted for the most affordable options, hoping for the best returns.
You learned the hard way that they were merely using your brand to experiment and gain experience.
If you can relate to this, I just want you to know that you are not alone.
I have seen this again & again for the past 10+ years.
I'm sharing the following insights, hoping they'll help you in some way.
Context
This business was stuck below AU$5K for 2 years.
The owner, my client, can only give 2 hours/day X 5 days a week, to their business.
And all they can do with that time is pack and ship the orders, going to the post office.
As much as they want it, they simply don't have the time to work on its growth.
We started growing it last year. But they thought that the ads weren’t working. They tried others this year, but numbers went down & finally, they returned to us last month.
Insights
Major Driving Force Behind this Growth? Advertisement. With <2 Blended ROAS & ~ AU$60 CPA.
Scary, right?
“Ads are not working. Why waste money?”
“Try organic social, email, SEO, CRO ...”
“Need higher ROAS, lower CPA. Try different strategy/media buyer/agency”
Let me show you how generic advice and inexperienced guidance like the above are holding many brands back.
Each business & business owner has a unique capacity to invest time & money. Unless your Business Growth Strategy is tailor-made for that, it’s going to fail, today or eventually.
The owner of this brand, my client, does not have enough time to work on its growth.
“But they can always hire someone to grow their brand & use tools, right?”
Nope. They can’t invest in the right team or tools unless their sales increase. Let me show you why.
Most business owners fail to make the right decision at the right time because they overlook finance.
Do you review these numbers monthly?
Total Sales
COGS, Ads & Other Variable Costs
Your Income, Subscriptions, Salary or contractor fees, etc Fixed Costs
When your sales are low (e.g. $2K/m), even if you save money not spending on Ads, your budget for hiring help is also low, to grow using other channels.
Anyone who can actually help you take your business to $1M a year, won’t come cheap.
Only if you have personal knowledge and experience in growing a business in your niche and possess training/SOPs that anyone can follow to ensure consistent growth can you achieve significant results, even with budget-friendly and inexperienced hires.
If you lack this expertise, you need seasoned professional guidance.
Quality expertise comes at a price. If someone can elevate your business to $1M a year, they'll charge accordingly.
But if your revenue is low, you can't afford them.
The Strategy
The strategy for this client, who has limited time and capital and a stagnant business:
Break-even and Grow
No expectation of Income or Profit increase for the next 3 months
Aim for $20K+/m Revenue to allow room to invest in Marketing & Growth
Launch Consumable Products to increase LTV through Repeat Orders & Increase Profit
Expert-led optimization of the entire funnel, all customer touchpoints, and business operations to bring down CPA & increase sales from other channels
Why am I confident in this strategy?
We can spend more on ads and reach more target audiences with confidence to convert, as we have product-market fit.
High Search Volumes & Competition on Search and Amazon
Top competitors have thousands of reviews, new ones coming in regularly
Our customers love our products, recommend others, and answer queries from skeptical potential buyers on Ads
Our product is as effective as our competitors, plus has USPs
Lot of opportunities to optimize various channels, touchpoints, operations, etc.
In case you don’t want to spend this much on Ads. and wondering
if you can grow your brand without Ads:
Why not? In fact, I recommend selling your products without Ads first, before starting Ads.
If you have time, plus knowledge & experience in growing a brand in your niche, you can accomplish a lot without Ads & inexpensive VAs.
Unfortunately, most first-time business owners, do not have the time to learn & then grow their business alone or with inexpensive hires.
If you too don’t have the time & experience, or if you have tried other channels & it didn’t work, then why not invest in ads?
Know that you have access to better guidance, help, tools, strategy when you up your game.
Ad platforms rarely deliver better business results at lower budget
Tools, Skills & Guidance that can actually help you grow your business are only affordable when you are selling more
It‘s much easier at a higher revenue level to bring down ad cost or scale profitably by investing on:
Better Ads
Improving Conversion Rate
Better Retention Strategy
Improving AOV & LTV
Data & Attribution
Sales & Support
New Channels & Markets
Better Fulfilment Solution and lots more!
Review the last 3/6/12 month’s data from your store analytics and accounting solution.
Is it working?
If yes, keep doing whatever is working. Don’t get distracted.
If not, make changes.
It might not be what you want to hear, but it's essential.
You can't expect to grow with such low revenue.
If it were possible, you would have achieved it by now.
If someone claims it's doable, challenge them. If they succeed, follow their lead; if not, you know where to turn.
I despise spending on ads. But what pains me more is witnessing a fantastic brand, backed by quality products/services and a dedicated owner, falter due to not investing in ads when scaling was possible.
Once you're in a position to invest more in superior skills, tools, and other channels, reduce the percentage of your revenue spent on advertising. That's the ideal time, not now.
Change is difficult & uncomfortable. But necessary.
How you got here, might be the very thing that is keeping you stuck here.
To take your business to the next level, first think next level.
The Key Lesson:
Staying in a low-revenue state perpetuates a cycle of limited resources. By strategically investing in high-return areas, even with a tight budget, the brand could break out of this cycle.
Relating to Your Business:
You might be facing similar challenges – limited time, tight budgets, and the need to prioritize effectively.
The lesson here is not to shy away from making strategic investments. It's about identifying areas with the highest potential return and focusing your efforts there.
I'm sharing this story not to sell you anything but to offer a perspective that might help you in your journey.
If you see parallels in your own business and would like to discuss strategies, I'm more than happy to have a conversation.
Remember, every business has its unique challenges, but often the underlying principles of growth remain the same.
I'm here to support you in navigating these challenges and finding the path that works best for you.
Wishing you all the best in your endeavours,
Always wishing the very best for you & your brand
Sourav
In case you are wondering, what’s going on with this brand this November. We are nearly crossing the entire September’s revenue in a day.
We finished November growing topline further, though ads got really costly and competitive near the end, as expected.
