The Client
Buy Organic Formula (buyorganicformula.com) is a US online store for European organic baby formula: Holle, HiPP and Lebenswert. We rebuilt their Google Ads in 2019, which grew monthly ad revenue about 10x and earned $410K+ in 11 months.
Parents looking for European formula search by brand and by stage, "Holle stage 1", "HiPP combiotic", "goat milk formula", and they reorder every few weeks. A store that wins the first search can keep the customer for a year.
"About $6,900 a month in ad revenue in 2018. About $72,000 a month by the summer of 2019."
The Challenge
Google Ads for a baby formula store is a narrow, competitive market:
- Brand-driven searches. Parents search for a specific brand and stage, so generic campaigns waste money on the wrong product.
- Many resellers, one product. Several US importers sell the same Holle and HiPP formulas, so price and visibility decide the sale.
- A low return before us. In 2018 the account spent $44K+ and returned about 1.8x.
- Tracking that needed rebuilding. Purchases were counted through Google Analytics goals, not a Google Ads purchase tag with order values.
What We Built
1. A Google Ads Purchase Tag
We installed a Google Ads purchase conversion with order values, so the campaigns could bid on revenue, not just on orders.
2. Brand-Specific Search Campaigns
Separate Search campaigns for Holle, HiPP and Lebenswert, each with its own ads and budget, so the store's biggest brand never competes with its smallest for the same money.
3. Shopping Built Around the Best Seller
An exact-match Holle Shopping campaign and a catalog Shopping campaign, run alongside the store's Smart Shopping campaign, which bid to maximize conversion value across the whole catalog.
4. Remarketing and Bidding Tests
A Display remarketing campaign for visitors who left without ordering, and an A/B test of a top-of-page bidding strategy on HiPP searches.
5. Daily Optimization via Ad Campaign Concierge™
Every campaign was reviewed daily through our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ system: search-term mining, negatives, bid changes and budget moved to the brands and products selling best.
The Results
- $410K+ in ad revenue from 3,200+ orders in 11 months, April 2019 to February 2020.
- About 3.3x ROAS on $120K+ of ad spend, up from about 1.8x in 2018.
- About 10x the monthly revenue: about $6,900 a month in 2018, about $72,000 a month from July to September 2019.
- Best month: August 2019, $96K+ from 750+ orders.
Key Takeaways
- Bid on revenue, not clicks. A purchase tag with order values let the campaigns chase the biggest baskets.
- Split by brand. Holle, HiPP and Lebenswert buyers search differently, so each brand gets its own campaign and budget.
- Lead with the best seller. An exact-match Holle Shopping campaign put the store's top brand in front of the parents already searching for it.
- Scale only what returns. Spend grew several times over and the return still went from about 1.8x to about 3.3x.
Frequently Asked Questions
What ROAS can a baby formula store get from Google Ads?
Buy Organic Formula's Google Ads returned about 3.3x across our engagement, April 2019 to February 2020: $410K+ in ad revenue on $120K+ of ad spend. In 2018, before us, the account returned about 1.8x.
How fast can Google Ads scale an online baby formula store?
Monthly ad revenue averaged about $6,900 in 2018. From July to September 2019, after we rebuilt the campaigns, it averaged about $72,000 a month, roughly 10x, and the best single month brought in $96K+ through the Google Ads purchase tag.
Should a baby formula store run brand-specific campaigns?
Yes. We built separate Search campaigns for Holle, HiPP and Lebenswert and an exact-match Shopping campaign for Holle, the store's biggest brand. Holle Search was the largest Search campaign in the account during our engagement.
Does Google Shopping work for baby formula?
It carried the account. A Smart Shopping campaign for the whole catalog, bidding to maximize conversion value, and an exact-match Holle Shopping campaign ran alongside Search, and Smart Shopping was the largest campaign in the account during our engagement.
About This Campaign
E-commerce Google Ads for an organic baby formula store, built with our proprietary Ad Campaign Concierge™ optimization system.
Industry: E-Commerce (Organic Baby Formula) Platforms: Google Ads (Search, Shopping, Display Remarketing) Location: United States (nationwide shipping) Account Duration: April 2019 to February 2020. The engagement has ended.
Ad revenue and orders for our engagement are the Google Ads purchase conversion we installed (order value), April 2019 to February 2020. The monthly comparison (2018 against July to September 2019) uses the Google Analytics ecommerce transactions imported into Google Ads, the one source that covers both periods. A second purchase action that recorded the same orders is not added on top. All amounts are in US dollars and rounded down.