Case Study
CCI drives 20% sales growth for Solo Fresh with targeted HAQM DSP strategy
Goals
- Maximize top-line sales
- Establish evaluation metrics for various ad types
- Visualize and understand the customer journey
- Create a framework for full-funnel campaign evaluation
Approach
- Leveraged AMC to comprehensively evaluate the performance of multiple ad types
- Analyzed first-touch and last-touch attribution to measure effectiveness in customer engagement
- Used AMC insights to study customer purchasing behavior and identify key conversion points
Results
- Achieved a 20% increase in overall brand sales
- Increased brand search lift by +75% following awareness campaigns
- Repeat purchase rate among ad-driven customers reached 75%, exceeding the average of 60%
Solo Fresh Coffee System, a Japanese consumer goods company, offers the "Drip Pod," a capsule coffee system that combines the quality and innovative technology of UCC Ueshima Coffee Co., a leader in the coffee industry. This system enables an authentic coffee experience at home and has garnered high praise from coffee enthusiasts. Since launching its HAQM store in September 2016, the company has steadily expanded its customer base, maintaining a strong presence in the growing coffee machine category.
To accelerate category expansion, Solo Fresh appointed CARTA COMMUNICATIONS (CCI) as its digital commerce partner in early 2024. As an HAQM Ads partner, CCI effectively supports clients by combining HAQM's advanced advertising solutions with professional expertise to drive sales growth, enhance brand awareness, and strengthen customer loyalty on the HAQM store.
Solo Fresh and CCI developed a comprehensive advertising strategy centered around four main objectives: maximizing sales, establishing evaluation metrics for HAQM Ads, visualizing customer purchasing behavior, and creating a framework for evaluating campaigns across the entire funnel. Through this approach, they aim to gain deeper insights into customer engagement and conversions on HAQM store, surpassing traditional metrics.
Enhancing customer engagement through data-driven insights
To uncover the correlation between advertising investment efficiency and customer retention rates, CCI leveraged HAQM Marketing Cloud (AMC) along with Solo Fresh's campaign insights. This analysis provided visibility into metrics such as repeat purchase rates and customer engagement, revealing valuable findings about customer acquisition costs and overall return on investment (ROI). For Solo Fresh's coffee products, which rely on fostering repeat purchases, accurately assessing the value of long-term customer relationships is crucial.
Using insights from AMC, CCI evaluated the impact of HAQM DSP and Sponsored Products on Solo Fresh's target audience, identifying areas where advertising investments should be strengthened. This analysis demonstrated that a strategic balance between awareness-building and engagement-enhancing initiatives maximized ad effectiveness within Solo Fresh's audience segments. Based on these findings, CCI proposed increased budget allocation to mid-funnel and repeat customer campaigns, deploying strategies to further unlock the brand's growth potential.
Visualizing the customer journey to identify key conversion points
By leveraging AMC dashboard insights organized by campaign type, targeting strategies, and Solo Fresh’s product categories, CCI created a detailed map of audience behavior from initial ad contact to conversion. This analysis revealed that HAQM DSP, combined with Sponsored Products using non-branded keywords such as "coffee maker" and "coffee machine," significantly enhanced conversions. These signals helped demonstrate the value of connecting with shoppers at different moments and channels, creating multiple opportunities to build brand awareness and engage audiences throughout their shopping journey.
Investing in tools like HAQM Marketing Cloud provides invaluable insights for shaping impactful marketing decisions. By utilizing AMC, we can visualize both the immediate returns on investment and the long-term growth potential, enabling precise ad budget allocation to ensure Solo Fresh's sustained success.
— Ayako Takei, Director of EC Marketing, CARTA COMMUNICATIONS Inc.
Driving engagement and conversions across the entire funnel
Through an analysis of Solo Fresh's shopping journey, CCI achieved effective investment allocation across the entire marketing funnel, creating a balanced and comprehensive approach from awareness to conversion. Attribution analysis of both first-touch and last-touch interactions clearly demonstrated that HAQM DSP and Sponsored Products play a pivotal role in helping shoppers move from the consideration stage to purchase.
HAQM DSP was instrumental in maintaining brand recall among audiences previously interested in coffee products and enhancing brand awareness throughout the funnel. Furthermore, HAQM Marketing Cloud provided cross-channel insights, including brand search lift, incremental reach, and organic repeat purchases, enabling CCI to optimize ad placements. This approach allowed Solo Fresh to achieve effective audience engagement and establish a foundation for sustainable growth.
Driving new customer acquisition, conversion rates, and total sales growth
CCI's HAQM Ads campaign achieved significant growth in key metrics. During the campaign period, total brand sales (including organic channels) increased by 20%.1 The effectiveness of awareness ads led to a 75% increase in brand search conversions, boosting brand recognition among the target audience.2 Additionally, 75%3 of customers acquired through advertising made repeat purchases, exceeding the usual repeat rate of 60%.4
Reflecting product updates in strategies to gain a first-mover advantage, and identifying successful patterns through a swift Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) cycle, requires a close partnership with collaborators. This collaboration enables prompt responses to shopping trends and the effective planning and execution of strategies, ultimately contributing to maintaining and enhancing brand advantage.
— Hiroyuki Kote, Department Head, Solo Fresh Coffee System Co., Ltd.
1-4 Solo Fresh Coffee System, Japan, 2024.