”The ability to target previous customers... has been extremely effective for us”

Charles Hachtmann
Chief Marketing Officer
NOVICA

What they wanted to do

NOVICA was set up in 1999 with one really good idea, to help struggling artisans in developing countries use the Internet to sell their wares around the world. Today silk batik shawls, gemstone jewelry, Andean wool rugs, and djembe drums from West Africa can all be found for sale on Novica.com.

When NOVICA needed a better way to spread the word about their products and drive sales, they turned to Google AdWords.

How they did it

"We have a great story and we offer an exclusive selection of products, all of which needed to be shared with online shoppers," says Charles Hachtmann, Chief Marketing Officer at NOVICA.

Not wanting to rush into anything, NOVICA started with Google Search. "It lets us position the NOVICA brand to search engine shoppers," says Hachtmann. "With our product catalog of over 30,000 unique handmade items from eight world regions, the ability to use laser-focused keywords has been instrumental in scaling our growth. For example, targeting shoppers looking for 'Batik scarves of Bali' or 'Taxco jewelry from Mexico.'"

With search proving successful, NOVICA moved on to try other Google products, including mobile search, product listing ads, and the Google Display Network. Because NOVICA uses both text and banner ads, in addition to AdWords remarketing, they can really get in touch with people who are already interested in their crafts. "The ability to target previous customers with product-relevant creative has been extremely effective for us," says Hachtmann.

NOVICA doesn't take anything for granted though and it measures its results carefully, focusing on how many new customers they attract, how much this costs, conversions, and clickthrough rate. "We are very much ROI focused," Hachtmann notes. "All our campaigns are set up to use enhanced CPC, and the data we collect on a daily basis is used to optimize and continuously improve conversions."

Did it work?

"We've seen a big increase in new customer acquisition," says Hachtmann. "We also recently focused on geographic targeting, to feature our ads in international markets. This was a suggestion from our Google team, and we are very excited to see how this performs."

"The key to our success is continuous optimization. As we maintain a positive ROI and continue to scale, we hope to allocate more funds towards our Adwords campaigns." Sounds like it's worked well so far.