We share our experience in setting up targeted advertising for a company that produces and sells transforming tables on the Polish market. The project proved to be dynamic and required continuous adaptation of strategies, particularly after a significant technical change - the migration of the website to the Shopify platform, which affected all marketing processes.
The main focus of this case will be the effectiveness of the advertising campaigns during the Easter promotion, which served as a successful sales activation during a holiday period and enabled increased conversions.
About the Client
Gotsul Furniture PL is a family-owned business with 20 years of experience in furniture manufacturing. The company adheres to the principles of using natural materials, high quality, and focusing on the customer.
The core product of Gotsul Furniture PL is transforming tables, including the popular Spider model. This coffee table can replace several pieces of furniture. The model features a stylish modern design and a wide height adjustment range.
Client advantages:
- the transforming table has a lightweight construction,
- the product design is minimalist,
- the table easily transforms from a coffee table into a dining table,
- the product performs multiple functions without taking up much space,
- the table does not require assembly;
- the client’s company fulfills orders quickly,
- the table comes with a 2-year warranty and a lifetime warranty on the mechanism,
- free delivery is available.
Gotsul Furniture PL uses exclusively natural solid wood in its production, ensuring that the products meet European and international quality standards. The company actively implements its own unique solutions and technologies, which allows it to provide a lifetime warranty on the mechanisms of its products. The company’s mission is to create durable, high-quality, reliable, and multifunctional furniture that will serve its owners for years.
Work progress
We have been working with the client since October 31, 2023. The purpose of their request to ITForce was to set up targeted advertising aimed at product sales. An additional task was to increase brand awareness among the target audience.
First-month work:
- Checking the correct setup of the advertising account, Facebook Pixel, and the payment card for ads.
- Competitor analysis.
- Development/selection of advertising creatives.
- Writing ad copy.
- Preparing banners for advertising.
- Collecting target audiences across key segments.
- Setting up targeted advertising.
- Testing various objectives to achieve the best results.
- Regular monitoring of advertising campaigns.
The advertising campaigns are configured to achieve the set objectives:
- Traffic and Engagement: campaigns aimed at maximizing engagement with the target audience on the website to increase brand awareness and establish initial interaction.
- Conversion campaigns are designed to generate as many target actions as possible (initiated checkout, form submission, downloads, etc.), which directly impacts return on investment (ROI) and business growth.
- Direct Messages: campaigns facilitate direct communication with potential customers, enabling quick responses to questions, personalized consultations, and effective guidance toward making purchase decision.
The configured advertising campaigns operate actively across Poland 24/7. To reach the widest possible audience with relevant interests, we use both mobile and desktop devices.
Let’s look at the effectiveness of the configured campaigns over one week of operation. From November 13 to 19, 2023, three campaigns were active in the advertising account with the objectives Video Views, Website Traffic, and Conversions (Initiate Checkout).
The Conversion campaign was launched to initiate checkouts, which were triggered 22 times. The cost per initiated checkout is less than 10 zł. This is a moderate cost that indicates Meta Ads is finding a relevant audience ready to move further down the funnel. The ratio of impressions to reach indicates a low frequency of impressions, which is normal at the initial stage.
The Website Traffic campaign was launched to generate views of the target page (852 views at a cost of less than 1 grosz per view). This is a very low and efficient traffic cost, indicating high ad relevance and effective campaign optimization for attracting visitors. Additionally, 19 initiated checkouts were generated.
The Video Views campaign aimed to generate video views to further build a “warm” audience. Less than 1 grosz per video view is an exceptionally low cost, making this campaign highly effective for reach and increasing brand awareness through video.
Overall, the first week demonstrates positive trends in traffic acquisition and interest formation, while the conversion campaign is delivering initial results.
General results of the first month of work:
The Conversion campaign generated 215 initiated checkouts. This is a significant increase compared to the first week (22 results). The cost per result decreased by 55% zł compared to the first week. Overall, the campaign’s performance indicates effective optimization and scaling.
Video Views - the campaign’s results for the entire period are significantly lower than during the first week (1,141 views), as it was temporarily paused. At the same time, the costs for this campaign are minimal. The cost per result is less than 1 grosz and remains extremely low.
The Website Traffic campaign delivered 3,336 target page views for the client. The campaign continues to effectively generate traffic to the web resource. The cost per result is less than 1 grosz, meaning it remains consistently low and highly efficient, which is a positive indicator for visitor acquisition.
Conversions Special Campaign: 17 initiated checkouts. Although the number of results is small, this may be related to the short duration of the campaign or the specifics of the promotional offer. The cost per result is significantly higher compared to the primary conversion campaign (+460%). This may indicate lower audience effectiveness, banners, or conditions of this specific promotional campaign.
A total of:
- 6,714 target page views on the website
- 326 initiated checkouts
- 96 post saves
- 16 shares (forwards)
- 16 comments
- 1 purchase
6,714 target page views on the website indicate successful traffic acquisition. The ads are appealing to the audience, and the targeting is working effectively at the early stages of the funnel. 96 post saves, 16 shares, and 16 comments are strong user engagement indicators - the content is interesting, useful, and encourages interaction and sharing. This helps increase organic reach and brand awareness. 326 initiated checkouts is a significant number that demonstrates strong interest in the product and intent to purchase. 1 purchase out of 326 initiated checkouts indicates a problem at the checkout completion stage. The sales funnel breaks at this point. Targeted advertising successfully brings the target audience to the threshold of conversion, but something on the website or in the checkout process discourages potential buyers.
To improve conversion metrics, we suggested the following to the client:
- Updating ad banners for the Website Traffic campaign: develop new, more attractive, and relevant banners. This would help increase ad click-through rates and attract higher-quality traffic to the website, which is the first step toward boosting sales.
- Adding banners with the promotional offer “Free Delivery” for the conversion campaign: given the identified issues at the checkout stage, where users abandon their carts, we assumed that a free delivery offer could become a decisive factor. A clear visual message highlighting this benefit directly in the conversion campaign’s advertising materials would motivate users to complete their purchase, minimizing the percentage of abandoned carts.
The steps outlined aim to resolve the “bottlenecks” in the sales funnel and directly stimulate target actions, leading to increased conversions and improved overall advertising campaign performance.
Repeat competitor analysis
In March 2024, we conducted a repeat analysis of the competitive landscape. We found that the majority of the client’s competitors focus their advertising efforts on contextual advertising, using it to reach an audience that already shows direct interest in specific products or services. At the same time, there is an almost complete lack of activity on social media (particularly on Instagram), which creates a niche and an opportunity for differentiation. Our client is building a strong presence on Instagram, which is a significant competitive advantage. The company’s profile is not only aesthetically designed but also highly informative. It contains a large number of posts that clearly demonstrate the product, its use, and its advantages, while avoiding “empty” or irrelevant posts that could reduce content quality and engagement.
Regarding targeted advertising, competitors' primary strategy is carousels that showcase the product assortment from the catalog or combinations of banners. This allows them to visually cover a wide range of offerings. The analysis of competitors’ ads underscores the importance of listing all key product features and advantages in the ad text, as this serves as a strong motivator for potential customers when making a purchase decision.
Compared to competitors, our client stands out with a significantly better and more informative Instagram profile. This advantage allows not only for more effective attention capture from the target audience but also for deeper engagement and the formation of brand loyalty in a segment that most competitors overlook. This is a substantial strategic asset for further promotion.
- Competitors of the gotsul.pl website offers a similar assortment of transforming tables.
- Compared to gotsul.pl, some competitors place greater emphasis on design and quality, while others focus more on practicality and affordability.
- For gotsul.pl, it is critically important to differentiate in quality, design, and price competitiveness. The ability to stand out in these areas is key to attracting and retaining customers in a highly competitive market environment. One of gotsul.pl advantages is the active use of targeted advertising, which is absent among competitors. This channel makes it possible to precisely reach the target audience and effectively communicate key messages.
Based on the analysis of competitors’ advertising campaigns, where the use of carousels is a clear trend, we recommend launching advertising campaigns using this format. It allows for effectively showcasing both individual catalog products and themed sets of banners that highlight the variety and advantages of gotsul.pl offerings. We also recommended that the client maintain their Instagram profile more actively — posting at least twice per month.
Based on the analysis data, we developed a unique branded style for the client’s advertising creatives. Its key features include muted, delicate tones and a minimalist banner design. The approved approach allows the brand to stand out favorably from competitors and contributes to creating an elegant and appealing visual identity that aligns with the aesthetics of the client’s products.
Migration to Shopify
In September 2024, an important milestone occurred - the client’s website migrated to the Shopify platform. This strategic step required our team to execute a series of technical configurations to ensure seamless operation and maintain the effectiveness of advertising campaigns:
- Verification of all target pages (a thorough check was carried out to ensure the functionality and correct display of all landing pages on the new platform).
- Meta Pixel setup (the Pixel was reconfigured to ensure accurate tracking of user actions on the website). Configuration of key event data transmission:
- adding products to the cart;
- checkout initiation;
- conversion value.
Some advertising campaigns were reconfigured due to the technical inability to directly replace the old pixel with the new one. For other campaigns where the pixel was directly replaced, we created new audiences. This allowed us to accumulate up-to-date data and optimize targeting according to user behavior on the updated website.
In the first month after migrating to Shopify (from 29.07 to 27.08), the ads were shown 246,972 times and reached 121,454 users. The campaigns with the objectives Add to Cart and Initiate Checkout were still in the learning phase and had not yet accumulated enough data, which is why the cost per conversion differs from the prices observed earlier.
Advertising results:
- 4,673 target page views on the website
- 79 initiated checkouts
- 172 add-to-carts
- 37 post saves
- 9 shares (forwards)
- 14 comments
- 4 purchases
- ROAS - 1.68
The Website Traffic campaign continues to effectively attract visitors to the website at a low cost, less than 1 grosz per target page view.
The Video Views campaign remains extremely inexpensive for reach and awareness, also less than 1 grosz per view.
Кампанія Трафік на сайт продовжує ефективно залучати відвідувачів на сайт за низькою ціною – менш як 1 грош за перегляд цільової сторінки.
The number of add-to-carts is a moderate indicator of interest. Compared to page views, the conversion rate at this stage is acceptable, although there is potential for improvement. Out of 172 add-to-carts, 79 progressed to checkout initiation, which indicates some drop-off, but overall reflects a fairly high level of interest. The conversion rate between initiated checkouts (79) and actual purchases (4) suggests that users are not yet accustomed to the new website (possible difficulties with checkout, payment, or general trust toward the new Shopify site, etc.). A ROAS of 1.68 (or 168%) means that for every 1 złoty spent on advertising, 1.68 złoty of revenue was generated.
The engagement metrics (number of post saves, shares, and comments) show that the content is interesting to the audience, encourages interaction, and supports organic distribution and increased brand awareness. In other words, at the upper and middle stages of the funnel (page views, add-to-carts, social engagement), the advertising performs well, indicating accurate targeting and appealing creatives.
Setting up the retargeting campaign
In November 2024, we test-launched a Retargeting campaign to engage a warm audience and drive conversions. We created the corresponding audience and launched the campaign. However, despite our expectations, the campaign did not perform as intended. Our specialist suggested testing a new retargeting ad using product cards.
Period 23.12-22.01:
Despite the retargeting being designed for a “warm” audience that has already shown interest, generating only 2 purchases at a high cost is an extremely unsatisfactory result. We continued monitoring the performance of this campaign and optimizing its settings.
Project specifics
The main challenge of the project was seasonality - specifically, the decline in sales during the winter period. This required a flexible approach and ongoing adaptation of advertising strategies.
To achieve the set goals, we used various types of advertising campaigns in Meta Ads that reached users at different stages of the sales funnel:
- Traffic and Video View campaigns aimed to increase reach and generate initial interest in the brand.
- Direct Message engagement campaigns facilitated direct communication with potential customers, providing opportunities for personalized consultations.
- Conversion campaigns with the objectives Initiate Checkout, Add to Cart, and Purchase.
The highest effectiveness was demonstrated by campaigns focused on Add to Cart and Initiate Checkout, as for customers considering a high-value purchase, it is easier to take a simpler action (adding a product to the cart or starting the checkout) rather than making the final purchase immediately. Importantly, campaigns optimized for Initiate Checkout and Add to Cart have a lower cost per desired action than Purchase campaigns, while still effectively contributing to final sales.
During the testing and optimization period, we found that in this case, the most effective audiences were Meta’s Advantage+ audiences, whose use significantly improved targeting and optimized advertising costs.
The success of the project was largely based on close cooperation with the client: we maintained constant communication and aligned all adjustments and interventions. This allowed us to promptly implement strategic decisions and adapt to market conditions.
Easter promotion
The Easter advertising campaigns were configured with two objectives: Initiate Checkout and Traffic. The campaigns ran from April 1 to May 7.
We have 2 screenshots with the configured campaigns:
21.03-17.04
18.04-16.05
During the promotion period from April 1 to May 7, the following were running:
- 2 promotional advertising campaigns;
- 5 ongoing advertising campaigns, including 2 traffic campaigns and 3 conversion campaigns, retargeting with the Purchase objective;
- 33 purchases were obtained, whereas during a regular period, only 5 to 8 purchases are typically achieved;
- the page was visited more than 11,000 times.
The number of visits confirms the effectiveness of the traffic campaigns and the overall audience engagement in the promotion. Increased traffic forms the foundation for conversion growth.
The Initiate Checkout_Easter_Promo campaign demonstrated significantly better performance (the cost per result was 58% lower than usual) compared to the main active campaign. This highlights the importance of relevant seasonal offers and their effective use in advertising creatives.
Traffic and Video View campaigns continue to show high efficiency in attracting audiences at a low cost, indicating successful work in reach and initial interest.
The Easter promotion proved to be extremely successful in terms of increasing sales volume. A х4-6 increase in purchases (33 compared to the typical 5-8) demonstrates that holiday offers and corresponding advertising campaigns act as a strong motivator for customers. The combination of different campaign types ensured a wide influx of potential customers and a high number of target actions. Overall, the campaigns launched for Easter contributed to improved advertising results by increasing the number of purchases and, importantly, reducing the cost per result.
