A growth-stage US maker of rust protection for vehicles, selling online and through a network of applicators.
A busy season, an off season and customers in different places
Sales come in a rush each fall and slow down in the rest of the year. Past customers sat in the store and in old spreadsheets, so there was no easy way to email them or see who came back. Google Ads results had been falling year on year.
Ads, customer data and email working together
Took over Google Ads
Rebuilt campaigns around products and new buyers, including dedicated new-customer campaigns. The budget stayed conservative: the same $10k a month all year, rising only for the fall high season.
Brought customers into HubSpot
Imported 17,000 past customers and connected the online store. Before this there was no way to segment their data, and they knew little about who their customers were. Now they can see who buys what and how often, and segmented emails are next.
Filled the gaps with AI
HubSpot's data agent and smart properties fill in missing customer details, like state, automatically, so segments and emails are built on complete data.
Split customers into groups
High-value customers, customers who bought one product line but not another they'd likely want, people who open the emails but don't buy, and buyers who don't open the emails, each with its own message.
Built the emails
Emails meant to nurture ended up selling and generating leads. One October email alone brought in 78 orders worth $23k.
Trained the whole team
From younger, tech-savvy staff to sales people less at home with new systems, each at their own pace.
Before and after
Before
- Ads results falling
- Past buyers in spreadsheets
- One list for every customer
- One-off emails
After
- 31% more Google Ads purchases
- 17,000 customers in one place
- Groups by value, purchases and engagement
- Emails that bring in orders
More orders from new buyers, and bigger ones
Google Ads purchases went from 967 to 1,265 for January to September, up 31% on the year before. 83% of orders from paid search come from first-time buyers. In the off season, each order had 22% more items than a year before. One email in October brought in 78 orders worth $23k.
Before, there was no CRM and no email marketing beyond an autoresponder and the odd one-off campaign, so around 110 leads and 115 new customers a month got no follow-up. Now every inquiry and buyer gets a nurture track (consumer or applicator), and product emails go to past buyers based on what they bought, with win-back emails next.
On the sales side there is a system for the first time. Applicators and retail/distributor deals have their own pipelines, inquiries from the inbox and website chat land in HubSpot with their source, and the team was trained to use it. Paid search now brings in sales deals as well as online orders, and every one can be traced back to where it came from.
"She understood our business quickly, introduced smart ideas, and connected dots across marketing, sales, and lead generation that had an immediate impact on our bottom line... Alyssa adapted her training to meet everyone where they were, and she did it with patience, clarity, and a lot of understanding."
G. GoldbergMarketing and FranchisingWhy it matters
Customer data the business can act on. The team can see who buys what, sell more to people who already trust the brand, and point ads at new buyers instead of paying again for old ones.
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