Case: Turning zombies into heroes for Sephora

About Sephora

• Sephora is a French multinational retailer of beauty products and cosmetics
• Founded in 1969
• Headquarters in Paris, hub for Romania
• www.sephora.ro

About Publicis Media

• Publicis Groupe is a French multinational advertising and public relations company
• Founded in 1926
• www.publicisgroupe.com

ABOUT PRODUCTHERO

• Comparison Shopping Service (CSS Google Partner)
• Software vendor for Shopping Ad tools
• Headquarters in Amsterdam (The Netherlands)
• www.producthero.com

CHALLENGE: INCREASE RESULTS THROUGH PRODUCT DISCOVERABILITY

Mihai Ciurea, a PPC specialist at Publicis Media, faced an issue with managing campaigns: He needed a new approach to product listings optimization, in order to scale results as well as reduce the number of products without clicks, often referred to as “zombies”.

APPROACH BY PUBLICIS MEDIA: COMPARING SOLUTIONS

Mihai researched the market and compared four tools, taking into account the following criteria: Client’s pain point, ease of onboarding, access to Google Analytics data, and pricing. As the client’s policies prevent him from leveraging Google Analytics data, he ultimately determined Producthero as the winning solution. He used Producthero’s Google CSS solution– which comes with a 20% margin difference for the auction bid and thus a lower cost-per-click (CPC), as well as its ability to simplify and enhance the management of PPC campaigns as main selling points when he pitched the solution to the client.

IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING OF PRODUCT PERFORMANCE

After onboarding the client with Producthero, Mihai used the Labelizer strategy to set up automated buckets in Google Ads for different product groups and their performance. He monitored the campaigns closely to adapt the targets where necessary. He explained the platform in detail to ensure the client was comfortable and familiar with its functionalities. The campaigns were continuously analyzed to optimize performance, and the strategy was adjusted to reduce the budget of “villains”, products with clicks but no conversions and to push previously underperforming “zombie” products to get more impressions.

RESULTS: EXCEEDING TARGET ROAS AND TURNING ZOMBIES INTO HEROES

The implementation of Producthero led to remarkable improvements which are measured on a year-over-year period:

• 8.29% increase in clickthrough-rate;
• 25.43% decrease in cost-per-click;
• 17.10% increase in revenue;
• 29.92% increase in ROAS;

FUTURE: TESTING NEW SOLUTIONS TO OPTIMIZE THE SHOPPING ADS

Mihai’s initially advised on all digital channels but now primarily focuses on Google Ads. At the agency, he has the freedom to test new solutions and optimizations to stay up-to-date on developments in advertising. He also shares Price Benchmark data with his client, aiding Sephora in making informed decisions regarding the competitiveness of product offerings.

CLIENT TESTIMONIAL BY SEPHORA

“Producthero has been a game-changer for our Google Ads campaigns. Before using it, we struggled with optimizing real-time product feed data. Since implementing Producthero, we’ve seen a significant improvement in our ad performance. The tool’s automated feed optimization and real-time data have helped us achieve significantly better results such as 25% decrease in CPC and a +30% increase in ROAS.” – Cătălina SOARE, Demand Generation Manager @ Sephora.

COLLABORATION BETWEEN PUBLICIS MEDIA AND PRODUCTHERO

“The Producthero solution is very clear and easy to implement without the need for technical knowledge. All contact moments that we had with Producthero were great. We also had a call with a shopping expert, and while we did have some different structural ideas for the shopping ad campaigns, it was great to have someone to exchange ideas to get more insights. I’m really happy to work with you guys.” Mihai Ciurea, PPC specialist at Publicis Media.

ABOUT THE PPC SPECIALIST: MIHAI CIUREA

Mihai Ciurea is a dedicated PPC specialist at Publicis Media, passionate about leveraging innovative marketing tools to drive client success. With a background in digital media planning, Mihai’s strategic approach and deep understanding of Google Ads have consistently delivered outstanding results for clients. “A part of me hates Performance Max and another part of me loves it. While some insights of it are hidden by default, the results ultimately speak for themselves. I talk constantly with our Google Rep to ensure that we’re getting the best results possible from our campaigns and explore together ways to diversify the mix through Google’s latest Performance Max updates.”