Is your business feeling the pinch of covid-19 and the devastating it’s having on the world’s economy, then you’re not alone.
As of the time of writing, Australian brick and mortar businesses have essentially been shut down.
Only supermarkets, pharmacies, takeaway food and a handful of other ‘essential’ services remain.
Hotels, gyms, the events and arts industry, travel and tourism and all the businesses that support those verticals are in freefall – one that has never been seen in modern times.
Many jobs are at risk, casual staff have been laid down, and the worst thing is, nobody knows exactly when this nightmare will end.
However, in any recession period (like the 2008-9 global financial crisis), many businesses take off into the stratosphere and revenue starts to soar. Why, it’s all down to changing consumer behaviour.
With the whole of Australia being confined to their hastily made home offices, with limited access to leave home in order to prevent the spread of novel Corona Virus, consumers spending habits have moved from brick and mortar stores into the online world.
Case Study: BabyHeart
We’ve been privileged to work with BabyHeart since mid-2019, and online eCommerce store that primarily sells fetal heart dopplers to newly expectant mums around Australia.
These dopplers enable you to listen to bub’s heartbeat at home and share the joy of a new life with the whole family.
Pre Covid-19
BabyHeart’s daily revenue fluctuated between $1500-$2000 per day, selling 15-20 units a day. Our Facebook campaigns we’re generating a solid amount of that revenue, alongside BabyHeart’s Google Ads campaigns. On average, the brands return on ad spend (ROAS) from social sat around the 6-7x mark.
During Covid-19
Covid-19 shifted from a virus that was causing havoc in China, Italy and Iran, into the forefront of Australian minds on Friday 13 March (I know, what a fluke).
This was the day a raft of high profile sporting events were cancelled, such as the Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix.
The first wave of social distancing restrictions were put into place, which meant that many festivals and events scheduled between March and June were postponed or cancelled entirely.
Looking at BabyHeart’s revenue data in Shopify, there appears to be little, if any impact on revenue.
In fact, on the 15 March, revenue increased to nearly $3,000.
As the foundations were stable, the brand could breathe a small sigh of relief that, despite many businesses crashing and burning, their revenue was still intact.
The next stage was to expand their product offering to suit the needs of the current market.
BabyHeart had already ordered a new batch of Infrared Thermometers, ready to sell on their store.
A test campaign was set up on Facebook, targeting parents of all children, from newborn age all the way through to teenagers. The same ad was also served to BabyHeart’s website visitors and
customer lists.
This ad didn’t have many bells and whistles. There was no video, no interactive ‘canvas’ ad element, the copy was short and to the point, the headline simply stated the offer in its simplest form.
We didn’t even bother split testing the ad.
There was no 2-hour strategy meeting, no long email thread with 8 revisions to the copy or image.
Why? Because we needed to get this ad out there – fast! Speed was everything.
A very timid test budget of $50 a day was tested. The target was simple, to achieve a 7x return on ad spend or above and have a maximum cost per purchase of $15.
The results on their website were explosive.
Day 1: $8,479
Day 2: $5,123
Day 3: $16,839 (by 3pm that day!)
Our Facebook campaign directly provided $7,780 of that revenue, and also aided direct and organic sales to the website. Day 2 was helped along by a $10,000 order that placed on the phone by a business who needed thermometers for their offices, warehouses and factories.
The results crushed it with a CPA of $6.23 and ROAS of 18x.
Needless to say, this campaign is being scaled by $100 per day, so by the time you read this, who knows what exponential growth BabyHeart will have had, and it was all down to three simple things.
Right product, right timing, right channel.
As schools were still open, but in the process of closing, more and more parents needed an infrared thermometer so they could keep an eye on their child’s temperature at home.
More schools, universities, daycare and medical facilities needed this product to check the temperature of people walking into their confides.
The workforce has predominantly shifted to their homes. Some people unfortunately lost their jobs and had an awful lot of free time on their hands. All ‘offline’ social activities were null and void, which meant the time spent on social media platforms such as Facebook, skyrocketed through the roof.
It was the perfect storm for BabyHeart to succeed.
The Knock on effect
Is selling a thermometer a short term strategy? Quite possibly – it’s too early to tell yet. What happens when life returns to normal in several months’ time? The early signs for BabyHeart are that this burst of activity will have a positive effect on sales.
Sales of their core products have been dragged up with the rising tide – fetal heart doppler revenue has increased by 30%.
More traffic to the website equals more chances to upsell their product, more brand awareness more people added into their funnel for retargeting on Facebook, Instagram and Google.
There’s also opportunities to diverse their product range with a mix of ‘in demand’ and evergreen products.
Whilst other industries have spiralled out of control and come to a grinding halt, this pullback in spending media on Facebook has opened up opportunities for nimble, adaptable eCommerce brands to take centre stage. The CPM (the cost per 1000 impressions) has dropped 20%, which means the privilege of advertising on Facebook is cheaper than it has been for many months.
Are you looking for ways to scale your brand and make the most of this revolution in online sales? Get in touch with us today.
