In this op-ed, Peggy & Finn co-founder Oliver Parsons shares how the brand has re-engineered its marketing spend to reduce costs and increase revenue.
The speed at which digital innovation has progressed, particularly over the past two decades, is a close parallel to the dynamic nature of the fashion industry. From design and manufacturing to retail and customer experience, technology has touched all aspects, reshaping the way we create, consume, and interact with fashion. In the ever-evolving landscape of digital innovation, the secret to running a successful business is optimisation.
At Peggy and Finn, we have implemented key changes across our advertising, customer targeting, and augmented reality streams to optimise our digital business; we’ve seen a 7% increase in revenue YoY as a result.
Advertising
We shifted our advertising budget strategy from spreading it across multiple channels to focusing 80% of our spending across Facebook and Instagram. After conducting a thorough review, we determined that our initial strategy of spreading the advertising budget across multiple channels was effective in generating short-term visibility. However, it didn’t align with our long-term goal of sustained growth. These findings were in line with sales results which saw short bursts of growth followed by a steep decline.
Since increasing our investment across Facebook and Instagram, we recorded a 31% reduction in cost per acquisition of customer YoY and increased return on ad spend by 6% YoY over the 2022 Black Friday/Cyber Monday period. Additionally, we have also noted a decrease in our cost per acquisition which is a testament to the optimisation capabilities offered by Meta.
AI enabled customer targeting
Facebook and Instagram use an AI based discovery system to curate unique feeds for each user based on their interest. This means it can become difficult to keep track of multiple campaigns all of which may be targeting a specific demographic.
To assist with this, we use Advantage+ shopping campaigns which use Meta's AI to find the right person, with the right message, at the right time and drive sales.
It’s helped to take the guesswork out of the customer targeting by:
- Combining prospective and existing customer audiences under one campaign
- Streamline ad delivery optimisation to achieve higher performance, including lower CPA
- Automate testing of up to 150 creative combinations to deliver the highest performing ads
Augmented Reality
We are always exploring new avenues to improve the shopping experience for our customers. As most of our products consist of accessories, we wanted to offer a way for people to try out different products from our catalogue to create the best outfit.
Using Meta’s Spark platform, we created an AR filter which has been immensely popular for men looking the right tie for an occasion. This technology has made it easier for new customers to experience our products which in-turn drives sales conversions.
Furthermore, the AR filters have bolstered our existing community by offering them a unique way to demonstrate their unique style and share it among their friends or with us to showcase on our channels. This content can then serve as another data point for the AI to automatically optimise our content in line with the latest trends.
By implementing these core changes, we have been able to optimise our go-to-market strategy and automate parts of our campaigns to drive more sales.