Hubo and the annual garden catalogue
Hubo has been sending its prospects an annual garden catalogue for years to give every handyman and nature lover spring fever. That catalogue is a collection of available products and inspirational pages that consumers can use to enjoy everything their gardens and homes have to offer.
But the garden catalogue doesn’t just drop into the letterbox: it’s also available online. More importantly, the webshop is available to create the smoothest user experience possible. But how do you make sure your efforts deliver results? In 2017, iO came up with the answer to that question.
Put Hubo’s annual garden catalogue on a map in a clever way.
An omnichannel approach with remarketing and extensive targeting.
Omnichannel: advertising from A to Z
To put the garden catalogue – and Hubo – on the map, we created an omnichannel strategy. We invested in Search Campaigns, but also Universal Shopping, Display, Smart Display and Video Campaigns. Additionally, we created a funnel from awareness to loyalty through remarketing. This allowed us to support consumers in every part of the customer journey.
Smart strategy
The Smart Display campaigns displayed their strength. Smart Display was responsible for 75% of the revenue that was generated by the Display campaigns – with a ROAS of 12 and a CTR of 1.22%, which is exceptionally high for a Display campaign.
Moreover, we generated more conversions and revenue with Custom Intent Audiences and used campaigns in the upper funnel and the lower funnel.
Rising revenue thanks to Universal Shopping Campaigns
In 2018, we switched from regular Shopping campaigns to Universal Shopping Campaigns. These campaigns use every consumer signal to generate as much revenue as possible. More importantly, Universal Shopping doesn’t just advertise in the Search Network, but also in Gmail, YouTube, and the entire Display Network.
Because of this campaign type, revenue and conversions rose considerably. The ad spend was slightly higher, but a ROAS of 13 and an increase of 552% in revenue is quite impressive. Another thing that’s striking: the bounce rate of the campaign was a lot lower than that of a normal Shopping campaign.
Adding maximum performance
When Google launched the campaign type Performance Max in 2021, our Shopping ads were transferred to this new ad type. Our most important goal? Hold onto the success we had the years before.
We spent quite some time on A/B testing to get our approach just right. After six months, the switch to Performance Max turned out to be a success.
Elaborate targeting and tracking
Custom Intent turned out to be an amazing targeting feature. It allows us to reach people who haven’t visited the website but have entered relevant search queries or visited relevant websites.
When it comes to an elaborate strategy like this one, our iO experts like to keep track of their efforts so we can monitor the results (and improve our approach). Thanks to Store Visits, we can clearly see the impact our campaigns had on the number of visitors at Hubo shops.
Results that led to a long-term relationship
The omnichannel strategy led to exceptional growth in traffic in 2018 and gave us the opportunity to approach consumers in a targeted way, even if they came from different channels.
By generating more brand awareness, we made the public search increasingly for Hubo products and we made consumers more inclined to buy them.
These spectacular results led to a long-term partnership with Hubo that still stands today – even after a pandemic and during an economic crisis.
The effect of the pandemic
A while ago, we were all chained to our houses. That meant we had more time to give our homes a bit of TLC. We unleashed our inner handymen and renovated a lot, which meant Hubo was doing great.
Now, we’re as mobile as can be again and we can feel the effects of inflation and an increasing cost of living. And that means fewer renovations and DIY-projects. But that doesn’t mean that Hubo can no longer support its customers.
Meeting the future together
The world is changing quickly, and Hubo can feel that just as well as any other. The garden catalogue will from now on only be distributed and advertised digitally and Hubo will focus more on the digital field in general. A smart move, given the ongoing digitalisation and the quickly changing demands of the target audiences. And even in times of crisis, iO is a loyal partner. That’s why we’re brainstorming with Hubo about the next cost-efficient moves to protect and stimulate the DIY and home improvement chain.
What we did
