During the unprecedented times of Covid-19 in 2020, many businesses faced the biggest upheaval and uncertainty since the 2008 recession, both in B2B and B2C. One certainty that had become clear is that an online search strategy was more important than ever. Our client in the retail (and more specifically) giftware industry continued to invest in the knowledge and expertise of our SEO and Content specialists and the positive impact of that decision speaks for itself.

A common knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic was to reduce or halt any marketing spend until some sense of normality was restored but those businesses who maintained their online presence came out stronger through the other end.

"Zelst took the time to understand our company and business goals. They helped us to accelerate our business growth through their expert management of our account. They are always on hand for advice and they are reactive to any short term marketing strategies that need to be turned around quickly and successfully.

Zelst continually produce fresh engaging content which represents our brand and its values and I recommend them to anyone who is looking to grow their online business in a structured and managed way."

Giftware Industry
Managing Director

The strategy was simple:

• Undertake extensive market and competitor in the new climate and commence detailed keyword research to outline any new strategic keyword targets.
• Continue to refresh, update and develop on-page and blog content to accommodate newly identified search terms and provides a valuable experience for the user.
• Maintain the intensive technical optimisation of the website alongside this work to ensure a seamless experience for both users and Google.

This study by Google outlines the changing consumer behaviour in the wake of pandemic. The article also explores the general shift to more online shopping and interestingly, the pandemic wasn’t the only catalyst.

The main reasons are as follows:

1. Easier to find a specific product
2. It’s more convenient
3. I don’t want to visit stores due to COVID-19
4. Easier to make a choice
5. I can have products delivered to my home
6. It is cheaper online
7. Easier to find new products

As an ecommerce client, we had to make sure their brand visibility was still dominant but also ensure their website is serving the shift in customer’s online expectations and assists with the needs outlined above. We needed to make sure we were getting traffic but most importantly, conversions and revenue in such an unpredictable financial climate for retail.

After an initial decline following the immediate impact of the lockdown, you’ll notice the resumption of the growth trajectory that our client has been on over the last nine years.

You can see this graphically in the data taken from Google Search Console. This is measured by search impressions (the number of times they are seen in Google Organic Searches) and search clicks (the number of clicks they receive from Google Organic Searches) over the last half of 2020.

From July to December 2020, traffic from organic search increased by 51.55% compared with the same time last year.

Search visibility also climbed through the same period by 34.55% as has the range of keywords that the site is now found for.

Moreover, the ecommerce site is now attracting a whole new audience with more than double the number of new users acquired via ecommerce and this has led to a 63.03% increase in overall revenue during that period.

By the end of 2020, sales were at record levels and the return on investment was huge:

• Return on Ad Spend (ROAS) of 10.52 in November
• Conversion Rate up 39.2%
• Orders up by 93.7%
• Achieved their entire December sales budget by 9th December

So much so, the client asked if we could pause their paid campaigns in December in an effort for them to catch up! This is the level of success we love to help our clients achieve, especially during an unstable financial climate for businesses. If you would like your business to achieve success like this, please get in touch with our experts, we’d love to help.