Paid media strategy unlocks over 5,000 new visitors for retailer

Topps Tiles is the UK’s #1 tile specialist for anyone considering home renovations.

The Challenge

The pandemic saw the online ecommerce space become more competitive than ever before. Businesses needed to adapt fast and consider new ways to attract their audience and stay ahead of increasing competition and Topps’ was no exception.

Already working with Impression’s paid media team, they challenged us to innovate their paid search account and to implement new creative initiatives to help push their business to the next level. They also asked us to explore whether or not their focus on certain channels was cannibalising efforts elsewhere.

Specifically, we were tasked to:

• Innovate the account by implementing a new test every two months across a 6 month period
• Maintain YoY traffic despite physical stores reopening
• Maintain specified ROAS
• Increase unique visitor share to secure a third of all unique visitors in the market by December 2021

The Strategy

Over the course of 6 months, we set out to implement a series of new tests:

The first test we implemented aimed to review whether or not Topps' paid media account was cannibalising efforts elsewhere. We produced a robust testing methodology with a view to running this for four weeks, or until statistical significance was achieved. This activity proved to be a great success and ultimately, opened up the opportunity for us to implement a schedule of new tests over the coming months.

We knew that as physical stores reopened, the only way to maintain YoY traffic was to reach out to newer, broader audiences by venturing into new generic activity. We launched dynamic search page feeds that targeted a broader range of search terms, as well as tailored ad copy to see what appealed to Topps’ target audience the most.

Based on user information gathered through our reports prior to testing, we saw an opportunity to reach a high-intent audience. We spent time developing Inventory Management campaigns that maximised the visibility of Topps’ products in the SERPs and drew users to the appropriate areas of their website

The Results

Over a six month period we introduced four new tests in order to innovate Topps Tiles’ paid search account. We exceeded our targets and changed our ways of working, promoting agility in account management, pushing for a continuous test and learn approach, and striving for innovation.

As a result of the tests implemented, our efforts achieved:

• 1.3M additional impressions (June-September)
• 5,465 new site visitors7% increase in CTR (across tested campaigns)
• 2.9% increase in traffic when compared to the same period in the previous year – despite physical stores reopening!
• Maintained ROAS (April-Sept 2021)
• 33.3% of unique visitor share achieved, securing ⅓ of all unique visitors in the market by September 2021 (ahead of December’s target!)