Stone Refurb: 269% increase in Revenue from Google Ads by knowing how to scale profitably
THE RESULTS
48% | increase in conversion rate by bringing focus to the price |
81% | increase in conversion rate by highlighting total savings |
32% | increase in conversion rate by reducing white space |
269% increase in Revenue from Google Ads by knowing how to scale profitably
Stone Refurb refurbish and sell computers that would otherwise end up in landfill. They reduce the impact of e-waste by making IT hardware last longer, and they provide businesses and consumers with high quality, affordable devices.
Growth had plateaued for Stone Refurb. Previous agencies were unable to meet their return on ad spend (ROAS) targets without reducing media spend, which would have reduced revenue. This was incompatible with wider business targets.
Stone Refurb’s customers are price-conscious. They’re people like parents of school children who don’t have the spare cash to buy expensive brand-new tech. Or students, who need something reliable to work on without breaking the bank. Or new business owners, who need decent quality kit but don’t have much cashflow.
They all need good, reliable technology - but at an affordable price. They also need the peace-of-mind of good aftersales support, and confidence that the tech they’re buying will be good quality.
Our task for Stone Refurb was to work closely with their internal e-commerce team to scale performance across PPC, SEO and Paid Social. We needed to do the following:
- Scale PPC activity profitably, to gain more market share
- Use SEO and Paid Social to reduce reliance on PPC
- Use Conversion Rate Optimisation (CRO) to maximise traffic value and reduce customer acquisition costs
PPC ROAS targets had limited the scalability of the campaign
Most of Stone Refurb’s revenue came from PPC, but performance had hit a ceiling. Their previous agency couldn’t meet their 3:1 ROAS target without reducing media spend. This meant that the campaign couldn’t grow to meet Stone Refurb’s business targets.
When we looked into Stone Refurb’s PPC account, we saw that it wasn’t set up badly. With some refinement, it met our best practice guidelines.
The main improvements we made related to how data was managed, and how the budget was spent to get the desired ROAS.
Our strategy focused on two key things:
- Making sure we were spending in areas where Stone Refurb’s unique selling points were competitive.
- Using new measurements and tracking that showed the true value of each user, making sure every click was counted.
Ensure competitiveness with the right product focus
Stone Refurb were paying for ads in some highly competitive markets. For example, in the laptops and desktops category they were competing with giants like Dell and Apple. ROAS on these terms was negative, meaning that a rethink was needed.
Our keyword research found several specific product niches that fit better with the refurbished tech Stone Refurb specialised in. These included:
- Refurbished items. Focusing on keywords like ‘refurbished laptops’ and ‘second hand pc’s’ moved us away from the largest players who were pushing brand-new products.
- High-stock items. At the time, there was a stock shortage in the tech industry. Focusing on high-stock items gave us a competitive advantage. We were also able to be more aggressive with bidding, due to larger profit margins.
- Gaming PCs. We capitalised on a spike in search volume around Gaming PCs. We captured a section of the market that couldn’t afford the high price for a brand new model by targeting parents who wanted a Gaming PC for their children with price-focused ads.
- Third-party terms. We focused on key reseller brands like Apple and Dell where we knew Stone Refurb were price competitive. While hardcore Apple customers might not be interested in a refurbished device, average users were excited to get modern tech for a fraction of the cost.
We adjusted budgets and campaign structure to support this strategy and soon started to see positive results. In fact, we had to constantly monitor stock levels and adjust ads as products ended up selling out regularly.
Understanding the true value of the user
PPC ads were assisting purchases through other channels, despite some limitations from the 3:1 ROAS target. To help better understand campaign performance overall rather than just at channel level, we started using the marketing efficiency ratio metric.
This meant we could increase media spend, and target higher up the marketing funnel. This drove consumers to the site that were previously missed due to return on investment (ROI) limitations. We then applied a multi-channel approach so Stone Refurb would be visible all through people’s research journey.
Google Analytics data showed that users, on average, purchased within ten days after their first visit. So we prioritised getting users onto the site initially, and implemented a robust remarketing strategy.
Our first chance to try this out was Black Friday. We knew that Stone Refurb’s conversion rate would increase in the run-up to Black Friday, along with purchase intent. So, we reduced ROAS targets to between 200% and 225% to give Google freedom to spend more and find more converting users. This let us build up the remarketing list leading up to Black Friday weekend.
This strategy had a powerful impact on performance. It significantly increased Stone Refurb’s revenue, and comfortably hit their business target. It also helped to achieve the 3:1 PPC ROAS they wanted.
- 2.5 to 3.1 ROAS increase
- 269% revenue increase
- 382% increase in assisted conversions
Growing visibility by 86% in Organic Search to reduce reliance on paid activity
Getting the foundations right and targeting the right terms
Our focus with Stone Refurb’s SEO was to get the foundations in place. Getting the site up to scratch from a technical perspective would improve rankings, then more time could be spent on comprehensive content and link-building activity.
We identified the following technical issues that we expected to have an immediate impact:
- Crawl Bloat
- Poor PLP Experience
- Core Web Vitals Ignored
- Minimal Supporting Content
Crawl Bloat: Implementing no-index and canonical strategies
Crawl bloat is when too many pages on a website are indexable, leading to Google not knowing which ones to prioritise and rankings suffering.
We worked with Stone Refurb to identify the key pages that should be ranking - and which ones Google could ignore. These ranged from pages with duplicate information to sensitive information pages that really shouldn’t be visible in search.
This information was then used to no-index and canonicalise many pages on the site. No-indexing a page simply tells Google not to look at it or show it in search results. Canonicalisation tells Google which of several pages it should rank.
Core Web Vitals: A bunch of technical fixes
Our technical audit highlighted some serious page speed issues on the Stone Refurb site. Page speed is a major factor in Google’s ranking algorithm, and was stopping the site from ranking as well as it could.
So, we worked with Stone Refurb’s development agency to improve the site’s crawlability and speed. We installed an app on their CMS to automatically convert images to highly-optimised, next gen formats and implemented a range of other fixes to boost page speed.
These changes improved the core web vitals of the whole site, and let us focus our efforts on improving on-page content.
Poor PLP Pages: Improved keyword targeting and user experience
We reviewed Stone Refurb’s product landing pages (PLPs) against their competitors to identify the improvements we could make.
First up was the simple stuff, like making sure every PLP was fully optimised with meta tags, rich content and a logical page structure.
Then, we improved the product cards on the pages, to provide a better experience for users and improve conversion rates. This included prominently displaying things like key product features and stock availability, and using simple, easy-to-read iconography.
Minimal Supporting Content: Implement blog and resource section
Our content review showed that the Stone Refurb site was lacking informational content compared to competitors. So, we started creating simple how-to guides for popular queries, and information around things like software updates.
This allowed us to quickly build a base of content to provide users with valuable information and send positive signals to Google. We were then able to develop this content base over time, adding more in-depth articles around areas that were particularly relevant to Stone Refurb and their customers.
These more in-depth articles gave Stone Refurb some high-ranking pages for highly relevant search terms, and helped to build up their site authority with Google.
Stone Refurb saw a lot of immediate improvements from the technical changes we made. But the real impact was over time, as the content was regularly optimised for steady, consistent growth.
- 86% visibility increase year-on-year
- Traffic up by 89% year on year
- Organic revenue up 78% year on year
Scaling Paid Social to 4x revenue to establish a new channel for customer acquisition
After a successful peak period and record Black Friday, Paid Social became an established part of Stone Refurb’s marketing mix. Focusing on Facebook and Instagram with a full-funnel approach we showed Stone Refurb what could be achieved.
They lifted the previous budget limits and asked us to implement a strategy to continue to scale the account profitably.
The initial success of the campaign came from strong creative, good use of remarketing lists and a well-thought-out campaign structure that targeted people at all points of the funnel. We knew that just adding more budget would provide limited results. We needed to scale the account while maintaining profitability.
To do this, we focused on several areas we knew would support continued growth. These included
- Establishing key content pillars. These featured messaging the ‘always on’ ads could centre around.
- Utilising dynamic ads to more products to a wider audience.
- Maximising ad formats to make sure we stopped the scroll.
- Using highly targeted campaigns at strategic points in the year.
Establishing content pillars to better speak to our audience
Through constant analysis, we identified three core content pillars to be used on always-on ads that focus on core messages we knew resonated with the target audience. These were constantly tested while they were live to make sure we stayed in touch with customers' needs and desires.
The content pillars we found worked best were:
- Price. Research suggested that Stone Refurb’s audience was price-conscious, and our ad testing backed this up.
- Quality. We found that higher-funnel content that educated people on the quality of refurbished tech was effective in engaging a new audience and convincing people to drop objections.
- Reviews and testimonials. Ads that used the experience of existing customers consistently performed well, whether they were static or video based.
These were then supplemented with promotional and feature ads. We used these to introduce new messaging and concepts, and to constantly test against the pillar content.
Using dynamic ads to introduce more users to Stone Refurb’s products
Dynamic ads became the bread and butter of campaigns early on. They let us promote Stone Refurb’s entire catalogue of products to potential buyers, and meant we were always pushing ‘in stock’ items.
We also used Stone Refurb’s first-party data to maximise performance. This allowed Meta to identify the right intent signals for the right users and get the right product in front of them at the right time.
We knew Facebook and Instagram would favour these formats and, quickly after launch, they were utilising a large proportion of media spend and driving mega returns.
Ensuring the ads stopped the scroll
Fresh creatives are essential to prevent ad fatigue. Stone Refurb gave us creative freedom to explore various styles and formats, as long as we stuck to their brand guidelines. These included:
- Lifestyle ads
- Graphic ads
- User-generated content (UGC)
- Reviews and testimonials
- Video ads
- GIF-style videos
We ran a lot of copy testing, and we analysed everything. From this, we quickly identified that short-form copy performed better, especially when it included emojis. They added personality, connected with the target audience and gave ads a visual flair to stand out in the feed.
This approach, along with our standard optimisations, saw a constant increase in performance. Year on year we saw improvements across the board:
- 421% increase in revenue
- 383% increase in sales
- 112% increase in conversion rate
Using strategic campaigns at peak time to cut through the noise
To diversify creative away from just ‘always on’ campaigns and with high profit margins, we suggested going bigger on the sale campaigns that were used every year. These included the spring, summer, back to school and (of course) Black Friday campaigns.
Data showed that whilst Black Friday is the largest trading day of the year for Stone Refurb, demand steadily increases over the month before. This reduced the reliance on the success of a single day.
To capitalise on this, we launched the ‘Green is the New Black’ campaign at the start of November to run until after Cyber Monday. This meant the campaign was out of the learning phase and highly visible when customers were ready to buy later in the month.
We ran a dual approach on Facebook and Instagram. We continued our high-performing always on campaigns with over a year of data, but we also added a separate Black Friday offer-specific campaign to drive awareness and consideration.
Our research also showed a growing market for Gaming PCs, driven by the popularity of esports. But the entry price for a brand-new Gaming PC was too high for many people. So, we used high-impact ad creatives to showcase the quality of refurbished Gaming PCs, and targeted users who might be looking for Christmas gifts, particularly for younger family members.
This Black Friday campaign alone resulted in:
- 37% decrease in cost per acquisition (CPA)
- 91% increase in revenue
- 44% increase in return on ad spend (ROAS)
This approach let us scale Facebook and Instagram from a virtual standing start to being a seven-figure revenue stream for Stone Refurb in less than a year.
Maximising conversion rate to drive an additional 35% in revenue
In the run-up to the last quarter of the year, Stone Refurb set new revenue targets. All their channels were performing well as the strategies we implemented over the last twelve months paid dividends.
This meant there wasn’t much more room for growth in those channels. Despite this, we were challenged to find a way to double the expected Black Friday revenue three months away from the big day.
Maximise the traffic and attention we are already generating
We knew there was limited movement in the core channels. Strategies were already in place and changing them would probably damage performance. Our only option was to make that traffic work harder.
We conducted a heuristics review of the site, looking for core user experience (UX) issues that could be causing problems. We also looked for ways to better highlight Stone Refurb’s core USPs.
We fed this into an A/B testing plan that could be executed quickly. This gave us time to implement any successes we found before Black Friday season.
We ran six A/B tests over six weeks, all to statistical significance on high-traffic parts of the site. The results we got were massive!
Out of the six tests we ran, only one failed to generate a statistically significant positive uplift in conversion rate. We saw:
- 48% increase in conversion rate by bringing focus to the price
- 81% increase in conversion rate by highlighting total savings
- 15% increase in conversion rate by bringing CTA above the fold
- 32% increase in conversion rate by reducing white space
- 11% increase in conversion rate by highlighting best-selling products
The combined impact of the testing increased revenue by over 35%, setting Stone Refurb up perfectly for the peak period.
By refining the PPC strategy, optimising SEO performance, and scaling Paid Social, we helped Stone Refurb break through their growth plateau to drive record-breaking revenue.
Our data-driven approach to PPC led to a 269% increase in revenue, while SEO improvements boosted organic visibility by 86% and increased traffic by 89% year-on-year. Paid Social became a seven-figure revenue stream, with a 421% increase in revenue, proving its place as a key acquisition channel. And through CRO testing, we unlocked an additional 35% in revenue by optimising the conversion funnel.
Most importantly, this wasn’t just a short-term success. The strategies we implemented set Stone Refurb up for sustainable, long-term growth—giving them a strong foundation to continue scaling profitably in the years ahead.
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Our Work
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