Mont Marte
Mont Marte is an Aussie-established art supplies brand that doesn’t just provide the tools. It inspires and empowers people to create because nothing should get in the way of making art. Its mission is to empower everyone to explore their creativity and the business has made its wide range of art materials accessible through a variety of retailers. Mont Marte also recently launched its own Australian eCommerce store to help more budding creatives access affordable art supplies.
The Goal
When Mont Marte came to Status Agency, it already had a strong wholesale presence. However, the team needed a paid social media strategy that would increase brand awareness and build Mont Marte’s online audience when the eCommerce store launched in September 2022.
In order to achieve greater brand awareness for both retail stores and online sales, the team needed to figure out how to reach artists no matter where they were in their creative journey with relevant products and messaging. However, they had minimal conversion data to learn from and reached out to Status Agency for expert guidance as they set their benchmarks.
The Challenge
Mont Marte has strong, long-term relationships with its wholesalers. That meant that the launch of the online store needed to support both online and in-store shoppers. There was also no purchase conversion data within Mont Marte’s paid social media accounts, meaning that there would be a longer learning process for new ads. The brand-new website also didn’t have any customer reviews yet, so the campaigns would need to work harder to create trust in the online store.
The Insight
Mont Marte is a 20-year-old business and has prioritised building its customer database. Using first-party data, Status Agency was able to learn about the brand's existing customers and determine which ad formats, creatives, and targeting approach to get started with. This meant Status Agency could hit the ground running when launching the new eCommerce store, despite the privacy changes that have impacted Meta in the last few years.
The Solution
Status Agency facilitated a soft launch for the website via Facebook and Instagram ads. It used ad copy that encouraged people to shop in-store or online and a ‘learn more’ call to action. This would educate customers about the products that were available online for their convenience, rather than tell them to shop online instead of in-store. Campaigns were also set up using a framework that enabled continuous testing and optimisation.
Status Agency used Mont Marte’s first-party data to target high-value audiences and speed up the learning process. It also tested a variety of campaign objectives, creative, and ad copy while ensuring that the quality of website visitors was high.
During this learning phase from September to October 2022, the team quickly discovered a combination ads that drove awareness and sales throughout the customer journey. Status Agency doubled down on this strategy from November onwards. In addition, shoppable ad formats, such as collection and dynamic ads were incorporated to help potential customers explore the online range while continuing to drive the dual in-store and online accessibility message.
A shared framework was also set up to keep track of high-performing ads and stock levels. This ensured that Status Agency was always promoting in-stock products, while Mont Marte was gathering valuable insights about the target market’s response to different product lines.
The Result
Using these strategies and a 40% increase in paid media budget, sessions increased by 159%, the conversion rate increased by 260%, and revenue increased by 565% comparing November - December 2022 to September - October 2022. Mont Marte’s cost per lead was also kept below $0.60.
During a key retail selling season, the paid social strategy had a significant impact on the new eCommerce store. It generated 54% of new users and 40% of total business revenue from November - December 2022. As a test-and-learn approach has been adopted since day one, the team also has new learnings and a growing customer database to leverage in future brand campaigns.
159% increase in sessions
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260% increase in conversion rate
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565% increase in revenue
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159% increase in sessions 〰️ 260% increase in conversion rate 〰️ 565% increase in revenue 〰️
Testimonial
“It’s been great to partner with Status Agency. They’ve been responsive, flexible, and able to pivot quickly when we’ve needed to. We can be transparent about our goals and not only have a partner who listens, but who genuinely wants to achieve results above the mark. We’re looking forward to growing our brand audience with them.”
Salome Van Herp, Marketing Manager, Mont Marte
