7% Increase in Orders
17.2% Increase in Revenue
10.6% Increase in AOV

Our Challenge Reviving performance before peak season

Orelia Jewellery came to us just before their most important trading period of the year. Performance had been declining throughout the year and the business needed to turn things around quickly ahead of Q4.

Their goal was clear: increase revenue during peak while maintaining profitability.

However, the account structure had become inefficient over time. Campaigns lacked clear segmentation, budgets weren’t aligned with product margins, and the setup made it difficult to scale efficiently during the most competitive period of the year.

With peak season approaching fast, the challenge wasn’t just to improve performance, but to rebuild the foundations quickly enough to unlock profitable growth during the busiest quarter.

Our Strategy Rebuild the foundations and scale what works

To maximise performance ahead of peak, we focused on two key priorities: improving account structure and aligning spend with profitability.

Fixing the foundations

We began with a full account review to identify inefficiencies across campaign structure, bidding and budget allocation.

Campaigns were restructured to give clearer control over performance and allow budget to be directed toward the most profitable products and categories. At the same time, we worked closely with the brand to better understand their margins and profit thresholds, ensuring growth wouldn’t come at the expense of profitability.

This allowed us to build a structure designed to scale efficiently during peak demand, rather than simply pushing more spend through the existing setup.

Smarter budget allocation

Once the new structure was in place, we focused on directing budget toward the areas driving the strongest returns.

By aligning bidding and spend with product profitability and performance signals, we were able to increase efficiency while still capturing more demand during the busiest period of the year.

This approach ensured growth came from better optimisation and smarter allocation, not just increased spend.

The brand had demand. But the setup wasn’t allowing it to convert profitably.

The Results Strong peak performance
across every key metric

From October to December (YoY) the impact of the changes were almost immediate:

  • Revenue increased 17%
  • Purchases grew 7%
  • Average Order Value increased 11%
  • ROAS improved 17%
  • CPA decreased 6.5%

The result was significantly higher revenue and profitability whilst spending less than 1% more in ad spend.

The Overview Conclusion

Turning around performance before peak requires more than simply increasing budget.

For Orelia, growth came from improving the structure behind the campaigns, aligning spend with margins, and creating a setup designed to scale efficiently during high demand periods.

By rebuilding the account foundations and focusing on profitable growth, we helped the brand deliver 17% more revenue YoY without an increase in spend during their most important trading period.

“Our brand have worked with Sarah on paid search for years. We’ve always loved how passionate she is, and all of the ideas and insight she has brought to the table. We followed her to The Ad Lounge after working with her at a different agency, and now we have the added benefit of Cam too. They’ve helped restructure our ad account and get it to a really positive place, and the numbers are looking great. They’re super hands on, responsive, and knowledgeable. Thank you both!”

– Anna (Orelia)

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79% Decrease in CPA
260% Increase in net profit margin
185% Increase in CVR

The Challenge Turn strong existing demand into profitable growth by fixing an inefficient account, poor feed setup and unprofitable acquisition strategy.

Operating in a highly competitive, price-driven pet food market, the brand was under constant margin pressure and competing in a race to the bottom.

Before working with us, several key challenges were holding performance back:

  • Non-brand search was declining, limiting new customer growth

  • CPAs were too high, eroding already thin margins

  • Net profit sat below 5%, making scale unviable

  • The Google Ads account lacked structure and control

  • Product feed quality was limiting Shopping performance

  • High spend, but low profitability and inefficient growth

  • No paid social, leaving the brand overly reliant on search

The demand was there, but the setup wasn’t built to convert it profitably.

Our Strategy Shifting to SKU-level margin data, prioritising profitable products and eliminating wasted spend.

SKU Level Margin Audit

Resellers often face margin variability across product lines, and this brand was no exception. We conducted a deep SKU level profitability audit to:

  • Identify products driving vs. draining margin
  • Understand COGS and shipping impacts
  • Analyse margin by brand, size and product type
  • Prioritise high margin products in Search and Performance Max
  • Shift spend away from low profit lines

This created a profit first foundation for scaling.

Full Google Ads Account Restructure

We rebuilt the entire Google Ads ecosystem from the ground up:

    • New, profit aligned campaign setup

    • Rebuilt Performance Max with strong audience signals and structured creative

    • Complete feed overhaul with heavy feed optimisation (somehow didn’t include weight or protein percentages in previous setup)

    • Better segmentation, cleaner targeting, and relevant exclusions

    • Tracking fixes and enhanced conversion setup

    • Margin informed bidding and clear product grouping

The result: dramatically improved efficiency and scale.

Reversing the Non Brand Decline

Non brand performance had been sliding for months.
Within weeks of taking over, The Ad Lounge:

  • Stabilised & built out non-brand traffic
  • Improved profitability
  • Reduced waste
  • Restored & grew ROAS from 0.7 to 3.2

This turned non brand from a drain into a profitable engine for new customers

Meta Ads Launch

Two weeks prior to writing this case study, we launched Meta Ads with one objective: Drive incremental new-customer acquisition without cannibalising Google.

Initial signals have been strong:

  • Healthy CPMs for a new account
  • Strong add to cart volume
  • High engagement across broad and interest based audiences
  • A scalable creative framework ready for 2026
  • Meta is now set to become a major top of funnel growth driver.

The Results 79% reduction in CPA

The impact of the changes was amazing in less than 2 months:

  • 185% increase in conversion rate
  • 79% reduction in CPA whilst increasing spend levels
  • 22% increase in average order value (AOV)
  • Net margin lifted from under 5% to 18%
  • Ad spend scaled comfortably beyond the £10k+ range
  • Non brand search returned to strong, profitable growth of 3.2 ROAS in the first month
  • Non-brand search returned to strong, sustainable growth
  • Meta already showing promising early new customer traction

Conclusion From inconsistent performance to predictable, profitable growth.

Every brand hits a wall at some point, especially in competitive spaces like premium pet food. What mattered here wasn’t just the numbers, it was giving the client clarity, confidence and control again. Seeing their relief when CPAs fell, margins grew, and performance became predictable was one of the highlights of our work together. This case study is a great example of how a smarter Google Ads setup, improved product feed, and data led optimisation can completely reshape an ecommerce business in months, not years.

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122% Increase in sales
55% Increase in revenue
21% Decrease in CPA

Our Challenge Growing a natural deodorant brand in a competitive skincare market

We were approached by Shift deodorant in the early stages of its launch. As a newcomer in the natural skincare and personal care space, they were up against large competitors, with very limited margins and little room for error on paid media spend.

Shift had been offering free trials in an effort to drive volume and build a customer base, but this approach was not converting into long-term, profitable sales. With cost per acquisition (CPA) too high and customer lifetime value (LTV) uncertain, their current strategy was not sustainable.

Our Strategy Shifting focus from free trials to full-price subscriptions

1. Understand the CAC

Our first step was to understand the customer acquisition cost vs. payback period. This meant looking closely at profit margins, subscription retention, and the cost of goods sold (COGS). Once we established that the free trial model would not support growth at scale, we worked with the founder to reposition the brand and rebuild the paid media strategy.

2. Proving the model was not scalable

We supported the initial free trial campaigns to generate performance data and prove that the required CPA for profitability was unachievable. The numbers were clear. Even at modest scale, the business would lose money with every customer unless retention was nearly perfect, and the payback period was much too long to support ongoing investment. This gave the client confidence to pivot away from the free trial offer.

3. Repositioning the value of a premium product

Initial creative was built around a typical “natural vs chemical deodorant” comparison, which suited a challenger brand voice but clashed with the brand’s premium price point. We helped shift the positioning to focus on product value, quality ingredients, and long term benefits. This supported full price sales and better aligned with the brand’s ideal customer.

4. Restructuring Meta ads and building a creative testing framework

We rebuilt the Meta ad account to improve efficiency and targeting. Then, we launched a creative testing strategy that included different content formats and messaging angles to determine what worked best across the funnel. This allowed us to gradually lower CPA and increase conversion while building customer trust.

The Results 122% increase in sales volume

After moving away from the free trial model and focusing on full price conversions, Shift saw major performance improvements:

    • 122% increase in sales volume

    • 21% decrease in CPA

    • Most new customers have remained subscribed past the four-month mark, indicating strong product satisfaction

    • The founder gained a clear understanding of financial performance, cost of acquisition, and realistic scaling potential

These results came from aligning the ad strategy with the actual economics of the product and understanding what it truly takes to grow a direct to consumer (DTC) brand in the health and beauty sector.

Conclusion From unsustainable, promotion-led growth to a profitable, retention-driven model built to scale.

Scaling a DTC brand in natural beauty isn’t just about driving traffic, it’s about understanding your margins, CPA and when that spend actually pays back.

Once this brand moved away from free trials and focused on stronger creative, realistic pricing and retention, growth followed naturally.

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