A scientific approach to maximize ROAS

Soma’s smart shopping

Chico’s FAS, a North American fashion retailer, comprises three unique brands: Chico’s, White House Black Market, and their intimate apparel boutique, Soma. Chico’s FAS came to Adlucent (now BarkleyOKRP) to reach new customers and grow sales, specifically for their Soma brand. After successfully running Google Smart Shopping campaigns on Soma, we advised testing Google’s new campaign technology, Performance Max, to improve their return on ad spend (ROAS).

Challenge

Through the pandemic, the women’s fashion retailer saw incredible growth with their intimate apparel boutique, Soma, as consumers sought products like wireless bras and all-day loungewear. While the intimates category is highly competitive, Chico’s FAS wanted to maximize its digital advertising investment while ensuring Soma’s continued growth.

Insight

Starting with successful Google Smart Shopping campaigns for Soma, we aimed to push the results further by constantly testing and adjusting strategies. We recommended upgrading to Google’s Performance Max, which captured greater demand by integrating lower-funnel strategies like Search and Shopping with upper-funnel formats like Display, Discovery, and YouTube. This approach ensured Soma’s intimate collections were visible to customers throughout the entire consumer journey.

Solution: Performance Max triumphs

In just two weeks of testing Performance Max on Chico’s FAS’ Soma brand, we saw a 38% revenue increase and a 5% CPC decline, leading to an over 80% ROAS improvement. Buoyed by this success, we tested Performance Max on White House Black Market, resulting in doubled conversion rates, a 23% ROAS increase for denim, and a 31% ROAS increase for tops in 30 days. Watch the video to hear more from Chico’s FAS SVP of Marketing Kimberly Grabel and Adlucent CEO (Now BarkleyOKRP) CPO Ashwani Dhar on how Performance Max boosted search revenue and reduced CPCs.