Watchfinder is a leading UK retailer of premium, pre-owned watches. The company was founded in 2002 as an online-only store selling watches from more than 80 premier manufacturers. Today, it has an annual turnover of £25 million and has recently opened a flagship boutique in the London Royal Exchange.

Counting the hours 

Considering the average order value on Watchfinder’s site is over £3,500, the company found buying decisions tended to take time, often spanning weeks or months. In fact, less than 1% of visitors were completing purchases on their first site visit. Watchfinder’s challenge was to re-engage and also maintain a conversation with these visitors, encouraging them to return and make an order. In addition to driving customers back to its site, Watchfinder also wanted to encourage customers to visit its new physical boutique in the London Royal Exchange.

Watchfinder’s agency Periscopix – a Google Analytics Certified Partner – suggested Remarketing with Google Analytics as a great way to reconnect with users. Remarketing with Google Analytics allows advertisers to tap into valuable insights about website visitors who show an interest in products, identify the most relevant audiences, and run ads across the Google Display Network that are tailored to that audience using the industry’s most powerful segmentation capabilities.

Periscopix created 20 highly focused lists of visitors who demonstrated intent but did not purchase. Specifically, lists were based on various aspects of user context such as location, language, and what stage of the purchase funnel they were in. On-site behavior helped establish groups that had spent a certain amount of time on the site or had viewed a certain number of pages. Other lists were created around users who had viewed a specific watch brand on the site.

Additionally, traffic performance analysis across a variety of GA dimensions revealed that certain ISP’s in the London financial district yielded traffic with much higher engagement and above average conversion rates. As a result, Periscopix designed segments around investment banks like JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs to engage with employees at these companies.

Google Analytics’ functionality enabled Periscopix to convey tailored messages to these key groups of interested consumers. For example, London-based users were retargeted with ads encouraging visits to the new London store, while visitors to the .co.uk site from France were retargeted with ads promoting the French site. 

Thanks to clear reporting in Google Analytics, it’s been easy to see the impressive results from Watchfinders’ remarketing campaign. Six months in, Periscopix reveals the return on investment is 1300%. Average order value on the site has also increased by 13%, resulting in 34% lower CPAs than Watchfinder’s non-brand search campaigns. 

Across all tactics used, the remarketing list that produced the highest conversion rates, both in terms of goals and transactions, was made up of visitors who browsed for 10 minutes or more on their initial site visit without purchasing.

Given Watchfinder's early success with Remarketing with Google Analytics across the Google Display Network, the brand is excited to increase investment in this area going forward.

Be sure to check out the whole case study here.