If it’s broke, fix it: implementing a ‘funnel-before-channel’ ecom marketing strategy

Stick or twist?

That is the scenario facing today’s marketers. Whilst Paid Search and BOF marketing have been trusted allies for the best part of a decade, the current landscape means this way of working is no longer tenable. 

Unfortunately, the fix isn’t as simple as switching to Paid Social, or diverting all investment towards TOF. Instead, advertisers must adopt a more nuanced approach – one that prioritises balance.  

Our latest event explored this theme in greater detail. Breaking the Google cycle: cross-channel strategies for sustainable growth examined what best-in-class full-funnel, cross-channel strategies look like. The session, which featured Shaun Loughlin, Global Head of Ecommerce at equestrian brand LeMieux, was presented by a number of Nest’s industry leaders: 

• Luke Jonas, Chief Growth Officer
• Chris Howard, Chief Operating Officer
• Beatrice Quarshie, Joint Head of Paid Social 
• John Clarke, Joint Head of Paid Social

The (digital) winds are blowing

Chris Howard kickstarted the session with a history of performance marketing, explaining the immediate impact that Paid Search had on the industry. “The opportunity to have a consumer tell you exactly what they were in the market for – and then serve them a relevant ad – was direct marketing gold.” 

Google was a constant in the Paid Search marketing mix, thanks in no small part to its ability to deliver a steady stream of reliable, trackable conversions. And this isn’t ancient history – the UK will spend north of £23bn on search advertising in 2024, almost double the amount in 2019. 

Chris then explained the spark that ignited retailers’ initial interest in Meta (and by extension, Paid Social):

“The launch of dynamic product advertising was similar to Google’s offering, inasmuch as it was tailored towards BOF activity. This tool allowed previous visitors to be seamlessly redirected towards websites, as well as be retargeted with ads based on already-viewed products.”

To put it simply, the reason that BOF advertising grew so quickly over the past two decades – whether it was Paid Search, Paid Social or Affiliate Marketing – was that it delivered almost instant results. However, the certainty that these investments would provide predictable, positive returns is coming to an end. And that’s because the cycle isn’t performing in the way it was three or four years ago. 

The changing of the guard

John Clarke’s segment began by introducing Nest’s core proposition. “Our perspective is that brands should be funnel-centric, rather than being fixated on a particular channel or stage of the funnel.”

The reality is that whilst BOF activity remains incredibly important – after all, this is the conversion stage – marketers have to ensure that there’s a steady flow of users coming in. Without continuously gaining new customers, the entire funnel starts to dry up. And this will cause costs to rise and efficiency to falter.”

John acknowledged that making these changes can be a scary thought, particularly when BOF has been prioritised off the back of its ability to drive a clear ROI. However, his counterargument – that marketers need to ensure they’re actually supporting the customer journey – cannot be ignored. 

“If you only do BOF activity, you’re automatically going to treat all customers the same – in other words, talking to them in a salesy manner and trying to get them over the line. Neglecting the other stages of the funnel will see you struggle to show what your brand stands for. You’re not going to warm users up or highlight your USPs – and more importantly, why they should continue their journey.” 

Putting the wheels into motion

Switching to a full-funnel strategy sounds great in practice – but if it was easy, everyone would have already done it. John explained Nest’s strategy for reshaping the marketing mix, and identified three pillars that underscore this approach: 

• Find your North Star
• Adopt a funnel-centric mindset
• Prioritise incremental gains

In regards to the North Star (otherwise known as an overarching business objective), it’s important to remember that this shouldn’t be a small, day-to-day differential. Instead, it’s a guiding value or overall mission that drives your company forward. And whether you’re aiming to grow sales by a predetermined percentage year on year or boost brand awareness in a new market, your strategy towards achieving this objective should remain the same – establish the overarching goal first, and subsequently build your funnel around it.

Again, John was keen to hammer home the importance of being channel-agnostic. “Using your North Star, identify what your marketing funnel needs to make that goal a reality. Are you focusing on establishing your brand story? Or do you want to get in front of new customers? Understanding this allows you to map out your funnel and ascertain the best channels to achieve this.”

John’s segment ended with arguably his most important takeaway. “Incrementality is absolutely key, ensuring that as you’re spending more money and introducing more channels, they’re having a noticeable, positive impact on your bottom line.” 

Tools such as search, brand and conversion lift studies make this process significantly easier. The same goes for third-party attribution partners, who tie all the data together to provide one source of truth – and by extension, a holistic view of the outcome of your investment.

Weathering the storm

Like with any strategic change, progressing from Google-centric activity to a social-first approach is going to cause a moment of turbulence and instability. Beatrice Quarshie advocated that the role of marketers is to weather the storm and preempt the changes that are coming. 

“You need to advocate that the best ROI comes from riding the wave and refusing to allow the initial bump to destabilise the situation. In Nest’s experience, the three biggest hurdles preventing a seamless shift away from Google dependency are implementation, measurement and creative.” 

All three of these issues can be eased by leveraging the insights that you’ve already got to hand. Make your data work harder for you; this is essential to unlocking budget efficiency. For example, if your CAC rises on Paid Search, are there insights that can be applied on Paid Social that allow you to scale your budget and reach new audiences? 

From a measurement perspective, Beatrice accepted that a potential rise in CAC will cause eyebrows to raise. The onus is on marketers to demonstrate that this is only a short-term rise.

“The platforms will advocate for their own platforms – why wouldn’t they want to mark their own homework? Whilst in-platform metrics have a role to play, it’s important to consider which measurement systems prove the genuine value of activity. This is where regression analysis comes into play.” 

This process utilises backend metrics, using them as an impartial benchmark from which to judge all marketing effectiveness.

Compared to media mix modelling, usually considered the gold standard, regression analysis doesn’t come at an additional cost – and provides you with a data point that you didn’t previously have access to. 

Beatrice’s final point of call was to bring attention to creative’s importance. “It’s hard to juggle the demands of creative, particularly when operating across Paid Search and Paid Social. However, it’s not just a case of showing as much content to as many audiences as possible – as this risks creative fatigue. You also need to ensure there’s enough diverse content being piped out to different audiences in a cost-effective manner.” 

Don’t just take our word for it

Shaun Loughlin walked attendees through LeMieux’s journey to implementing a full-funnel strategy. Although the equestrian brand had enjoyed significant growth in the three years prior to partnering with Nest without investing in marketing – specifically, 150% growth over three years – it recognised that this wasn’t sustainable long-term.

“We had an amazing year in FY 2021, thanks to a spike in new customers. However, this was driven entirely by the pandemic and the subsequent habit changes, with people opting to shop online. By the following year, this growth had started to tail off.”

As a private equity-backed business, growth was mandatory for LeMieux. This meant that it focused on fee-driven, BOF marketing efforts – with the focus being predominantly on Performance Max, which saw spending aggressively scaled from nothing to £100,000 in a matter of months. Unfortunately, short-term gains (in this case, almost triple-digit growth in new customer acquisition) were followed by dwindling returns. 

Nest recommended a cross-channel, full-funnel strategy that would allow LeMieux to reach wider audiences while maintaining strong conversion rates. Overseeing both Paid Search and Paid Social enabled Nest to seamlessly share insights across channels, with audience observations and conversions on Google informing audience targeting on Meta, improving overall efficiency. With Nest’s guidance, LeMieux achieved 38% YoY growth for FY 2024, with 32% YoY growth in new customers and 56% YoY growth from existing customers.

After breaking down the reasoning behind adopting a full-funnel strategy, Shaun went on to examine the learnings from LeMieux’s journey with Nest. Specifically, he highlighted the six factors that had the biggest impact on the company’s success: 

1. Expertise
2. Patience
3. Measurement
4. Incrementality
5. Creative
6. Experimentation

Shaun rounded the session off by accepting that although abandoning a Paid Search-exclusive approach can be daunting, your competitors are in the same boat. What’s more, it’s the brands that are brave and put their faith in the process that will reap the rewards. Case in point, LeMieux experienced 212% overall growth since beginning its performance marketing journey with Nest. 

Check out our latest report for an in-depth look at how to effectively implement a full-funnel, cross-channel digital marketing strategy. Feel like you’ve missed out? We’re hosting a webinar on the same subject on 3rd October.