CAROLINA LIFESTYLE
The homegrown retail store added an Advantage+ shopping campaign to its usual marketing mix on Instagram and Audience Network and saw a 30% lower cost per action compared to its usual campaign.
Founded in 2011, Australian retail brand Carolina Lifestyle sells a large range of accessories, shoes, hardware, hats, gifts, knitwear and clothing. All Carolina Lifestyle products are made in limited quantities, designed in Australia, and handcrafted mainly in Colombia, offering customers exclusivity and uniqueness to fit and flatter every shape.
lower cost per purchase from Advantage+ shopping campaign plus usual campaign, compared to usual campaign alone
lower cost per thousand impressions (CPM) from Advantage+ shopping campaign plus usual campaign, compared to usual campaign alone
higher reach from Advantage+ shopping campaign plus usual campaign, compared to usual campaign alone
The retail store hoped to boost online conversions and sales while making its campaigns more efficient.
THE SOLUTION
Trying on a new strategy
To make its campaigns and sales more cost-efficient, Carolina Lifestyle added an Advantage+ shopping campaign to its usual campaign of carousel ads. The campaign featured videos and images of the retail brand’s products on Instagram and Audience Network and used machine learning to help Carolina Lifestyle reach valuable audiences and streamline the creative management process. Advantage+ shopping campaigns simplify the campaign setup process and provide more opportunities to reach people likely to purchase a product. The ads encourage people to Shop now by providing a call-to-action button that directs people to where they can purchase a brand’s products.
Carolina Lifestyle then ran an A/B test to understand the efficacy of the Advantage+ shopping campaign. The test compared a control cell of the brand team’s usual campaign, comprising video and photo ads using a conversion objective, and a cell with the usual campaign plus the Advantage+ shopping campaign.
While the Advantage+ shopping campaign uses machine learning to identify and deliver ads to a broad audience of the highest-value customers likely to be interested in the brand and its products, the usual campaign was targeted to people interested in boutiques and Australian activewear brands. These customers were part of a custom audience of existing followers and a lookalike audience based on the custom audience.
The August 4–18, 2022 A/B test revealed that adding an Advantage+ shopping campaign was an effective strategy for the Carolina Lifestyle team, achieving:
- 30% lower cost per action from Advantage+ shopping campaign plus usual campaign, compared to usual campaign alone
- 6% lower cost per thousand impressions (CPM) from Advantage+ shopping campaign plus usual campaign, compared to usual campaign alone
- 8% higher reach from Advantage+ shopping campaign plus usual campaign, compared to usual campaign alone