The Limited
Focusing efforts give an edge in a very competitive retail apparel space.
The Challenge
The Limited and iProspect began working together in 2012, and in 2013, the brand saw substantial performance improvements after going through iProspect’s restructuring process. During that initial engagement, we managed a top-to-bottom overhaul of The Limited’s SEM strategy, including taking a fresh look at keywords, categories, match types, device-specific strategies, and a whole range of other best practices.
This made 2014 the team’s “sophomore” year, and – having won such success their first time out – the pressure was on for a repeat performance. The Limited chose to focus on improving efficiency in a consistent and comprehensive way over the course of the year with a $5 ROAS goal.
The Results
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81%
more revenue YoY driven by paid search
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32%
limited increase in investment
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6%
reduction in CPCs when improving relevance
With a strong foundation beneath them, The Limited and iProspect were able to fine tune each element of their overall SEM strategy – streamlining processes and optimizing performance by paying attention to detail at a granular level while still keeping the big picture of their customer profile and experience clearly in mind. Because of these focused efforts, paid search is now The Limited’s best-performing digital channel, with a budget that has grown substantially in just two years.
The Strategy
Coming out of the 2013 restructure, The Limited had a strong SEM foundation; but before moving forward with a diversified optimization strategy, the brand coordinated with iProspect on realignment around who their core customer was and what she wanted. Originally, the audience target had been fairly young, but data from both iProspect and The Limited indicated that the brand’s most profitable customer was actually a more sophisticated, career woman.
With this new customer profile in-hand, the team developed an in-depth optimization plan that included refinement and expansion of core SEM strategies, CTA testing in ad copy the integration of several technologies and tools, and special attention for a few key promotion periods.
Throughout 2014, The Limited and iProspect implemented several dozen small-scale optimization initiatives across dozens of micro-strategies. This granular approach enabled the team to maximize every opportunity to reach and influence the brand’s audience.
They [iProspect] don't always want to take the easy way out or always want to do what we have always done - they come with new ideas on how we can better optimize and better improve our ROAS year over year.