Irakli Zviadadze | Content Marketer | Sugatan.io 

March 9, 2021

Top 33+ eCommerce Marketing Case Studies You Need to Swipe

One of the best ways to grow your eCommerce business is by reading up on some real-life, practical, and proven case studies.

Whether you’re a new or seasoned eCommerce marketer, there’s always something new you can learn from other brands with proven results in eCommerce.

The problem?

There aren’t many case studies out there that provide the practical step-by-step of what they did that worked.

This is why we’ve compiled this long list of the best eCommerce marketing case studies and strategies you need to know about.

This is going to be the single most comprehensive article you’ll read on eCommerce case studies. So, you might want to save the link.

Looking for a specific eCommerce marketing channel you want to read up on?

Feel free to skip ahead:

• Facebook Ads Case Studies
• Influencer Marketing Case Studies
• Email Marketing Case Studies
• SEO Case Studies
• Other Case Studies (Storytelling, sales hacks, plugins, copywriting, and more).

If not, let’s start from the top:

Facebook Ads Case Studies

1. Sugatan – Step-by-Step eCommerce Scaling from 50k/mo to 520k/mo With Facebook Ads

Yes, that’s us.

But we achieved some serious results in this case study and learned a lot of stuff that’s worth sharing.

Results:

• $520k+ in monthly sales with 3.79x ROAS throughout the funnel.
• 2.35x ROAS at TOF spending $100k+/monthly.
• $410k in revenue during Black Friday with 7.27x ROAS

Case Study Summary:

In this case study, we scaled one of our clients using Facebook ads and went from $15k monthly ad spend to $140k  in only 4 months and through 9 main steps.

Here’s the short version of how we did it:

1. Fleshed out the customer-centric marketing funnel (TOF, MOF, BOF) and installed Hotjar to get insights on consumer behavior.
2. Started testing different video creative types, placements, targeting, and other details. Used the Waterfall method to test the creatives (ad styles, buttons, thumbnails, headlines, and more).
3. Started preparing to scale. Killed off smaller ad-sets with the same audience and increased the budget by 20%-30% TWICE per day for 2-3 days.
4. Increased the budget 1 month prior to the Christmas and Black Friday sales. Launched Facebook messenger and email collection campaign before the sale started. Also created different VIP sale for people who either: a) gave us their email address or b) subscribed to our messenger list.
5. Once we had built up bigger remarketing audiences for flash sales, we started running Facebook ads for the whole Black Week and gave 10% off to everyone who we pixeled and 20% off for VIP sales (only for 24h).

And this is only the tip of the iceberg.

Read the whole eCommerce Facebook ads case study here to learn what else we did to scale and our approach to creatives.

Also check out our separate guide to eCommerce Black Friday to learn how we generated 45% of yearly revenue in 3 months!

2. GrowRevenue.io – 0 to 29.5x ROAS in 3 Months for Furniture eCommerce Site Using “See, Think, Do” Strategy

Results:

• Went from spending over $2,000/mo on social campaigns with 0 to 29.x5 ROAS in 3 months.

Case Study Summary:

eCommerce store specializing in niche furniture style with an AOV of $1,300 applied a “See, Think, Do” Facebook ad strategy to significantly improve their ROAS.

The essence of the strategy is to create specific campaigns with different targeting, creatives, and CTA for each stage of the marketing funnel. Here’s what they did:

1. Uncovered past mistakes and did an audit of their previous social campaigns. Found that ads weren’t set up correctly, audiences were too broad, they weren’t using URL tags, and more.
2. See phase: They created a video view campaign that was launched as a general prospecting tool with the effort to gain brand recognition with new audiences.
3. Think phase: The information from the ‘See’ phase was used to update and refine the audience for the ‘Think’ phase. When it was time to run the traffic campaign, after the success of the reach and video view campaigns, the leads visiting the eCommerce site were significantly more qualified.
4. Do phase: By this stage of the funnel, the audience was already familiar with the brand and the products and more prepared to take action. Finally, they narrowed down the audience and launched a conversion campaign.

Sometimes, fixing past mistakes can have a huge impact on your ROAS. Check out the full Facebook ads eCommerce strategy to learn what they did in more detail.

3. Depesh Mandalia  – $7M in eCommerce Sales With 21x ROAS Using Facebook Ads

Results:

• $21x ROAS in November generating $7M+ revenue with $341K ad spend.
• Generated $15M+ revenue total in Q4.

Case Study Summary:

This eCommerce store sells ski and snowboarding apparel and gear with an AOV of $200 and had a great understanding of their target audience. Here’s a quick rundown of this case study:

1. Defined the target audience and creative personality elements early on. They wanted to make it clear that the brand was a snow/ski apparel brand. With the creatives, they wanted to sell the experience itself and make the customers feel something.
2. Approached ads with a fast bite-sized testing method: Set up the campaign structure for rapid testing, used fast-paced testing at scale, used test insights to build ads ready to scale, and used ad impressions for high output testing.
3. Used ‘soft scaling’ rules focusing on horizontal scaling through duplicating ad sets and segmenting into ad, gender, placements, devices, and so on.
4. Implemented their testing process in multiple countries to test new markets.
5. Used FOMO with past knowledge of purchasing habits around Black Friday and made sure they wouldn’t sell out quickly during Black Friday.

A lot of this case study was based on testing and evolving around Facebook’s algorithm. Read the full Facebook ads eCommerce case study here for more info.

4. Valentina Turchetti – How a Beauty eCommerce Generated $14K in 5 Days With Facebook Ads

Results:

• Generated 14,325$ in 5 days with $1,568 ad spend on Black Friday with a single ad (9.13x ROAS).

Case Study Summary:

Here’s what the beauty and haircare eCommerce brand did to generate 166 purchases with a single ad:

1. Created a conversion campaign and tracked purchases as an ad event.
2. Used retargeting to target audiences who: visited the website in the last 60 days, made a purchase in the last 60 days, added products to their carts in the last 60 days, email leads of customers of the last 3 months, and used lookalike audiences. Also targeted their audience for interests (hair brand names and beauty interests), and women aged 24-55 in Italy.
3. Wrote minimal, clear, and specific copy. Focusing on main keywords like “Black Friday”, “hair”, “beauty”, and “sale”. Made sure the sale amount (50%) was the focus of the ad image and focused only on the discount with the copy. Also used SEMrush’s Topic Research feature to find relevant keyword ideas.
4. Used a high-quality picture of a collage of real products and a clear “Shop Now” CTA.

Sometimes, simple ads and creatives perform best. Learn more about this eCommerce Facebook Ads strategy here.

5. Growth Cave – $18K in Revenue at 659% ROAS For an eCommerce Company In 4 Months

Results:

• Generated over $18,700 in revenue at 659% ROAS in 4 months using Facebook ads.

Case Study Summary:

In this case study, Growth Cave used their ‘8 Figure Framework’ to grow an eCommerce company to $18K in revenue. 

The framework is based on 3 simple core campaigns: 

• Retargeting.
• Previous customer upselling and cross-selling.
• New customer prospecting.

Here’s what they did:

1. Create a carousel of products retargeting customers who had interacted with those products and offered a 20% discount coupon to encourage them to complete the purchase.
2. Set up campaigns upselling their newest products. In the ad copy, they made sure to call out these previous customers and thank them for their support throughout the year.
3. To find new customers, they did 2 thi9ngs: 1. Created a list of all their high AOV customers. 2. Created a list of all of their repeat customers (people that purchased 2 or more times in the last 6 months). For this eCommerce business, their new customer prospecting campaigns were designed to showcase only the best selling products in simple, clean ad formats (slideshow videos).

And that’s it! The best part about this case study is that the above core campaigns in theory can work for nearly every eCommerce business regardless of their budget, size, and so on. Check out the full Facebook ads eCommerce case study to learn more about the campaigns and how much each of them generated.

6. Common Thread Collective – $1M Ad Spend at 4x ROAS

Results:

• Generated $4M in sales.
• Made a 4x ROAS on the first $1M and 3.8x ROAS on the full $1.5M.
• Sold over 80,000 pairs of pet-themed socks over the course of 45 days.

Case Study Summary:

In this case study, Common Thread Collective (CTC) built, managed, and scaled a campaign of epic magnitude. The brand (pet-themed personalized socks) was spending $500 per day on Facebook ads and wanted to make millions over the holiday season.

Here’s what happened:

1. To prepare, they created multiple ad accounts and raised the ad account spending limit to $100,000 a day through their Facebook rep. Made sure the website could handle the traffic and fixed other technical issues for scaling.
2. Ran PPE campaigns for 7 days before going into aggressive scaling to find the winning ad creative that gained a 4xROI.
3. Created 50+ lookalike audiences, 200+ custom audiences, 500+ variations of lookalike and custom audiences broken out by placements, bid types, etc.
4. Killed off ad sets that weren’t working and scaled the winning sets. If they got 4-5 add-to-carts, they made a call on whether to kill or to scale the ad sets. 
5. Duplicated winning ad sets and increased the budget (3x-4x depending on the size of the audience) and used auto-bidding. Then, they duplicated that winning ad set again 3-5 more times with different manual bids.
6. Used influencer marketing to increase their reach. Used the same ad creative but changed the ad copy so that it felt more organic and native to their community.

It’s rare to see ad campaigns planned out at this level. Read the full eCommerce Facebook ads case study for more info and main takeaways.

Influencer Marketing Case Studies

7. Sugatan – How to Generate $350k/Mo with Influencer Marketing

Just so happens, influencer marketing is also one of our specialties.

Results:

• $350k/Mo from influencer marketing with an easily replicable 3-step process

Case Study Summary:

2 Main priorities we look at within influencer marketing are:

1. Generating revenue – Measured through discount codes, Google Analytics, so on.
2. User-generated content (UGC) – Measured through the number of creatives.

Here’s a breakdown of our process :

1. First, we define our influencer marketing goals. Usually, it’s generating sales or getting user-generated content.
2. Then, we define our influencer type. We mostly consider celebrity influencers, macro, micro, or nano influencers – depending on the audience and niche.
3. We use Scope to find potential influencers, filter them down to our requirements, and Yesware for our email outreach campaigns.
4. Then, we upload the list of influencers (either generated from Scope or the manual research is outsourced) to Yesware, set up our outreach templates and add at least 3 email follow-ups to the flow.
5. From there, we negotiate the price, process, and deliverables. Unless the influencer requests a high rate or we need something very specific, we don’t do contracts.

Obviously, some things depend on case-to-case here. But for the most part, our process stays the same.

Check out our full eCommerce influencer marketing for a more detailed look into our process and the exact variables we define for our marketing.

8. Gymshark Growth Story – How Gymshark Grew by 200%+ Year On Year and Hit $57M in Sales

Results:

• Grew 200%+ Year on Year and generated $57+M in sales.
• 193% compound sales growth from 2013-2016.
• Achieved worldwide cult-like following in around 7 years.

Case Study Summary:

The Gymshark story is a classic tale of influencer marketing and social media done right. Here’s how they disrupted the gym apparels market:

1. Only selected specific influencers and used scarcity to associate Gymshark brand with high-quality.
2. Sponsored various social networks, organized meet-ups, and flooded just about every social media channel with different kinds of influencer content (Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, even Twitter, Pinterest, etc). Even created a Gymshark Spotify playlist to reach a broader audience.
3. Partnered with fitness and lifestyle influencers on TikTok.
4. Announced the “66 Days | Change Your Life” challenge on social media platforms where followers were asked to choose a personal goal and upload an initial photo of themselves. 66 days later, they had to update their photo for a chance to win a year’s supply of Gymshark goods.
5. Built long-lasting relationships with fans and were present on the biggest social networks engaging with their fans.

See the full Gymshark influencer growth story here:

9. HiSmile – Growing From $20k Investment to $40M eCommerce Powerhouse in 3 years With Influencer Marketing

Results:

• Went from $20k investment from the founders to over $40M in sales from over $100k customers across the globe.
• The founders recognized a gap in the oral hygiene market that they capitalized on with the right teeth-whitening product (vegan, cruelty-free) and branding.

Case Study Summary:

HiSmile is a teeth whitening company that’s dominating the teeth-whitening niche. In just over 3 years, the 2 founders achieved explosive growth by targeting millennials and working with some of the biggest influencers in the world (Kylie Jenner, McGregor, and many other huge celebs).

1. Did a ton of customer and product research and created a strong, no-hassle offer: vegan, cruelty-free teeth-whitening product with a full money-back 30-day refund guarantee.
2. Took a “throw spaghetti at the wall and see what sticks” approach in the beginning and published a lot of content for everyone from 15-35 years of age. Then, they found the biggest component of their social media strategy – targeting media influencers.
3. Invested nearly all of their initial $20k into targeting micro-influencers at first and sent out their products in hopes of getting mentioned on social media.
4. Started posting on social media a lot once they gained traction and used influencers’ content to increase their reach. Created different types of content for each channel (e.g. under 45 second videos on Facebook talking about the product).
5. Invested in improving their website user-experience, set up subscription pages (e.g. monthly toothpaste), improved site speed and SEO, and started getting major media coverage – gaining explosive growth from all sides.

The truth is, they utilized more than just influencer marketing, but HiSmile’s success was no fluke. Check out the full HiSmile case study to learn more about their overall digital and social marketing strategy.

10. Coconut Bowls – Instagram Giveaway That Resulted in 41K Emails, 37K followers, and 15K Shares using VYPER

Results:

• With less than $1,000 Coconut Bowls was able to generate over 41K emails in 4 weeks using influencer and viral marketing.
• Reached over 222,263 pageviews, added 37,703 new social followers, and generated 41,820 new email leads.

Case Study Summary:

Coconut Bowls is a Shopify eCommerce brand that sells coconut bowls. Getting people to share and engage with household products like bowls is no easy task for a marketer. And with less than $1,000, they wanted to generate a huge amount of buzz focusing on social shares, referral loops, and engaging content (UGC).

Here’s how:

1. Built a specific giveaway landing page for one of their highly sought-after products using VYPER. Used highly converting features and tricks (FOMO, countdown, CTA styling, etc.) to achieve a 18% landing page conversion rate.
2. Started creating Instagram content and leveraged UGC to get the ball rolling.
3. Emailed their newsletter list.
4. Worked with partners and influencers to share their content.
5. Encouraged followers to comment and engage with the giveaway post by tagging their friends. Added reminders and updates in all emails to new followers.

This case study proves you don’t need a huge budget to succeed. Rather, a dedicated fanbase can go a long way. Learn more about the Instagram giveaway case study here.

11. MVMT – Bootstrapped From 0 to $300M Exit in 5 Years While Disrupting the Watch Industry

Results:

• Bootstrapped from 0 to $300M exit in 5 years.
• Sold over 1.5M watches, sunglasses, and other accessories in 160+ countries worldwide while disrupting the watch industry.

Case Study Summary:

What started as a journey at the age of 22 with $20,000 in debt, the 2 founders of MVMT managed to disrupt one of the oldest, most legacy-filled, and competitive industries in the world. They used crowdfunding, influencer marketing, paid ads, and SEO to grow their brand from scratch.

1. With Kickstarter refusing their pitch twice, they used Indiegogo with an initial goal of $15,000 – which they crushed by raising over $300,000 from 3,000 backers within 50 days – becoming the second most-funded fashion brand on the platform in 2013.
2. Targeted small-to-midsize influencers instead of going after the big celebrities. Created a “#JoinTheMVMT” platform and made it easy for influencers to become brand ambassadors on their website.
3. Started posting content on Facebook, YouTube (some of which gained 1M+ views), and Pinterest (7M+ UNIQUE viewers), Tumblr (which had the biggest impact).
4. Used Facebook, Instagram, and Google ads to push their products in front of the right people. Used on-brand style for the design and copy and pushed out new ads almost daily.
5. Optimized website for SEO and UX (page speed, usability, etc.), and used email marketing to further boost the revenue.

There’s a lot more to this eCommerce case study as MVMT achieved A LOT in just 5 years. Check out how they disrupted the watches industry here.

12. Fashion Nova – Beat Out Dior and Gucci to Become the Most Googled Fashion Brand in the World Using High-Level Influencer Marketing

Results:

• Generated over $400M within 18 months after launching their website.
• Grew Instagram brand with over 20M total followers on 3 different accounts at a growing rate of 600% year over year.
• Partnered with more than 3,000 high-profile celebrities (including Kylie Jenner, Cardi B, Khloe Kardashian, and more).

Case Study Summary:

Everyone’s heard of Fashion Nova at this point. But this wasn’t always the case. Here’s briefly what contributed to their huge growth:

1. Focused on distributing content on Instagram by updating their feed every 30 minutes in the beginning and built up their social media presence from scratch.
2. Used the Influencer Marketing Pyramid model which targeted 4 levels of influence. Customers & followers, superfans (“NovaBabes”), top-tier influencers. The level of passion and expertise increases from the bottom to the top. The levels are: “I Know It”, “I Like It”, “I Love it”, and “I Live it”.
3. Optimized for ultra-fast fashion and being so cheap that everyone could buy their products. This helped with their viral growth and was also highlighted by top-tier celebrities wearing such affordable clothes.
4. To make sure they wouldn’t fall behind, they started adding 600 new items weekly.

Learn more about the Fashion Nova growth case study here.

13. FrankBody – $20M in 2 Years Selling Unique Coffee-Based Skincare Product 

Results:

• Generated over $20M in 2 years.
• Over 800K+ followers for a project that started as a side project.

Case Study Summary:

Frank Body makes eCommerce skincare cosmetic products based on coffee. The project began with minimum funds, developed a lovable brand character (“Frank”), and used influencer marketing to grow and develop a loyal following.

1. Created a unique brand voice – a dirty-talking, lovable character called Frank that helped the company differentiate itself from competitors. This approach made the customers feel more engaged with the brand as they referred to a person instead of a corporation. Even the package they created was well-thought, minimal, and fun to make it appealing for new-generation customers.
2. Relied on user-generated content heavily and used influencers or everyday individuals in their social made showing the outcome or results. Every package came with a small note saying “We’d love to know what you think. Share your feedback using the #frankeffect” hashtag.
3. Along with UGC, they also started using influencers to quickly spread the word. 
4. Used engaging newsletter designs, offer, and copy to keep their customers coming back for more. Used punchy copy and design in product pages and featured real customer images in reviews.
5. Expanded across Facebook and YouTube which ended up being the main sources of traffic for Desktop users.

This summary doesn’t do the case study justice. Learn the full eCommerce case study and check out their branding to see why FrankBody was so successful.

14. Alphalete Athletics – Using Content & Community to Grow a Multi-Billion Dollar Apparel Brand

Results:

• Multi-million dollar annual revenue.
• Highly engaged 750k+ Instagram followers and thousands of fans showing up to meet-ups all over the world.

Case Study Summary:

To build an eCommerce brand, you need something to stand out. This was the case with Lululemon, Gymshark, and the case with Alphalete too.

1. The founder started documenting their journey early on with his vlogs on YouTube in 2015.
2. Decided to make Alphalete a launch-based eCommerce company with occasional restocks in between releases. Used FOMO-based marketing and authenticity to grow their loyal tribe.
3. Started creating quality content (extensive, professional photoshoots, guides, interviews, etc.) and used influencer marketing to work with sponsored athletes to open new markets.

Alphalete shows no signs of stopping anytime soon. This case study is a great example of an eCommerce company capitalizing on authenticity, quality production and branding, and die-hard customer interactions. Check out the full Alphalete eCommerce teardown here.

15. Attrock – Generating Sales Boost of $1.6M at 3.5x ROI From Influencer Marketing

Results:

• With an initial investment of $300K, the influencer was able to generate a sales boost of $1.6M
• Achieved a 5x ROI on influencer marketing activities.

Case Study Summary:

In this case study, Attrock helped a body fitness eCommerce CEO boost the company’s sales and maximize the ROI from their influencer marketing campaign. Here’s how it went down:

1. First, they optimized the body fitness website for better conversions. Revamped products, services, content, and designed a new logo for the company.
2. Reached out to other influencers to get the CEO of the company (also an influencer) featured on their body transformation posts (highlighting her fitness program).
3. Ran an email drip campaign aimed at driving sales and conversions once they started getting more subscribers. The idea behind this was to pitch more products and services to people who were already interested in the fitness brand.
4. Revamped the influencer’s content strategy and promoted her as a health and fitness influencer. The key theme of the campaign was to promote her programs and their ability to transform a person’s body.
5. Started offering bundled packages and services to cater to different customer needs and to upsell products and increase revenue.

Check out the full fitness influencer marketing case study here.

Email Marketing Case Studies

16. HustlerMarketing – Taking Eternity From $0 to $289K/Mo In Email Revenue

Results

• Went from $0 to $289K/mo in 11 months.
• Boosted store revenue $700K+ in the last 30 days.
• Email marketing brought in 40% of the store’s revenue.

Case Study Summary:

HustlerMarketing grew Eternity Modern (an online furniture store that sells mid-century modern furniture to customers globally) from $0 to $289K/mo in email revenue.

1. Defined 3 main challenges that were preventing the store from maintaining solid ROI early on.
2. Set up beautifully crafted email automation, got rid of spam issues to improve deliverability, and implemented 60-day content and promo-based marketing strategy.
3. Created 9 different email flows, including: Welcome flow (pop-up), browse abandonment, add-to-cart, add-to-cart pop-up, cart abandonment, 7-day email sequence, post-purchase order count split, special upsell/cross-sell flows, re-engagement, and win-back flows.
4. Added regular nurture and promotional newsletters to their existing list. Made sure to highlight news when possible (e.g. Black Friday, new product launches, etc.) to keep emails fresh and subscribers engaged.
5. Went from 2x a week emails to 4x a week over the months, sending more frequently during big holidays and related promo dates. Continued tweaking and experimenting with the engaged segment levels on a weekly basis, from 30-day engaged to 365-day engaged – depending on the list response.

Email marketing can save you a ton of time and effort. Check out the fully eternity modern case study for more info on what they did and the exact email creatives they used.

PS – Be sure to check out our podcast with Bostjan from HustlerMarketing for more info on email marketing as well as personal development here: Bostjan Belingar – 80/20 Rule in Life and Email Marketing.

17. Beardbrand – Going From $30 to $100K in Monthly Recurring Revenue Through 13 Different Marketing Tactics

Results:

• Built and grew a men’s grooming company from scratch to pulling in over $100K/Mo.

Case Study Summary:

In this case study, Sleeknote goes into detail about how Beardbrand (grooming eCommerce company) grew from scratch to generating over $100K monthly. In total, they used 13+ strategies to grow the eCommerce business.

1. Defined buyer personal incredibly in-depth and positioned the brand around the beard lifestyle. Opened a curiosity gap at checkout to turn prospects into repeat customers.
2. Created content first, grew organically, and then, as demand rose, began selling products. Created SEO-optimized content around top-of-funnel, middle-of-funnel, and bottom-of-funnel search queries based on their products (e.g. “how to grow a thick beard fast” and similar content). Invested in YouTube videos early on too.
3. Promoted popular content with Facebook ads and started answering every frequently asked questions in their content to overcome customer objections.
4. Utilized email marketing to turn prospects into customers with a drip email course and offered rewards upon completion, which they could only claim if they bought something else. 
5. Used cart recovery emails in their email marketing AND Facebook retargeting ad to close forgetful buyers.  

There’s a lot more that went down in this case study behind-the-scenes. Check out the full beardbrand marketing for more info and other strategies they used to grow the eCommerce brand.

18. TheKewlShop – 22% Boost in eCommerce Store’s Monthly Revenue With This Email marketing Strategy

Results:

• Grew company’s revenue by 22% in 12 months with minimal added costs.
• Started continuously converting 5% of email prospects into customers.

Case Study Summary

TheKewlShop is an eCommerce shop that sells dresses, shoes, and leggings online. Because women’s fashion products niche is a fiercely competitive online market, they had to get creative when acquiring customers as cheaply as possible. Here are the 3 main strategies they used to get more revenue.

1. Developed weekly email series only for existing customers on content, style tips, and other topics that the customers of that niche care about.
2. Profiled habitual discount-hunters to maximize their profit margins. Aligned individual buyer behavior and tagged leads in drip campaigns based on whether or not they believed the customers needed discounts to buy.
3. Set up product-page abandonment campaigns so that customers would get an email about the product page they were looking at if they hadn’t bought within 60 minutes.

Learn the exact email drips they used and more about the lifecycle marketing case study here.

19. DockATot – Making $87K With a Single Email and Kickstarting Explosive Growth

Results:

• Generated $87,000 lift in sales from a single community welcome email. Gained a 42% open rate and 6.2% click-through-rate on the same email.
• Follows up with a drip campaign that generated more than $110,000 in a year by giving their target audience (new mothers) an excuse to buy.

Case Study Summary:

DockATot sells a unique product that helps newborn babies gain better sleep and in turn, also helps new mothers gain their sleep back. The product is a combination of a blanket, cot, and a baby lounger. 

1. Created a strong welcome email that gets sent out when a customer joins the company’s community. Rather than trying to sell to new members, they emphasized three major ways in which the members would benefit from being part of the community.
2. Used multiple CTAs, with the main objective being to immerse new mothers into the DockATot community. 
3. Created educational content to invite new mothers to engage with the company’s FAQ. Made sure to also address objections and other concerns they had before purchasing. 

While DockATot practically invented a new product category, there’s also a lot you can learn from their email marketing efforts. Check out the full welcome email case study to see the full email and learn why it worked so well.

20. Harry’s – Reverse Engineering a $400M Startup and Recover Abandoned Carts With a Twist

Results:

• $250M in venture capital.
• $200M in revenue in 2017 alone.
• 3 billion monthly recurring customers and counting.

Case Study Summary:

Harry’s razor is a quality monthly subscription shaving eCommerce brand that competes with the likes of Gillette, Dollar Shave Club, and others. They used 5 main strategies that can be applied to just about any eCommerce store. 

1. Created 2 main emotionally-driven story archetypes for the brand: ‘The welcome prophet’ (remedy to the overly expensive razor blades problem) and ‘The scrappy underdog’ (David vs Goliath style branding that positions Harry’s as the underdog against the big shaving companies). Created separate branding material and marketing content for both archetypes.
2. Won new business with a replicable word-of-mouth referral engine through which they gained 100K email addresses through a week-long pre-launch campaign.
3. Built white hat SEO backlinks through 3 eCommerce link-building tactics: ‘The Best-of Backlink Builder’, The Poster Boy Formula’, and ‘The Marketer Magnet’.
4. Converted on-the-fence potential customers with 3 proven ad angles: Positioning, Objection handling, and Damage mitigation.
5. Engaged subscribers and increased product AOV with the CPS method – Cart recovery (with a twist), product praise, and stealth promotion.

The best part is all these marketing tactics are applicable to most eCommerce businesses. There’s nothing stopping you from trying out a similar marketing tactic. Swipe the full Harry’s marketing case study to see examples and more detailed explanation of each step.

PS – Check out our own guide to eCommerce email marketing to learn how to generate 40%+ of your revenue using emails alone.

SEO Case Studies

21. Huckberry – Going From $10K to $1M Revenue in 1 Year Through Affiliates, Content, and Email Marketing

Results:

• Went from personal investments of $10K to making $1,000,000 revenue in 1 year.
• Grew to 80+ employees and selling well over 750,000 products per year.

Case Study Summary:

Huckberry is a multimillion-dollar outdoor retail eCommerce company with a simple, yet undeniably effective approach to marketing.

1. Created a unique product website (everything from men’s winter clothing to quirky camping gear) and brand story.
2. Invested in affiliate marketing and ambassador programs early on when they didn’t have a lot of cash for advertising. Created valuable content in the form of roundups, gift guides, gear guides, and more so that SEO would kick in later.
3. Built a killer email drip campaign so that users would have to sign up to be a Huckberry member. Added value to customers instead of selling in emails. They even weren’t afraid to send their subscribers to other websites.
4. Experimented with Facebook and Instagram product abandonment retargeting ads. Optimized landing pages for conversion with A/B testing. Analyzed and understood every nuance of the customer journey.
5. Finally, started increasing repeat buyers by building authentic relationships with customers (by having ‘real talk’ emails). Then, built a loyal community through grassroots marketing.

By mixing old-school grassroots marketing and storytelling techniques with modern-day eCommerce growth-hacking tactics, they managed to create a winning formula that propelled them into a multimillion-dollar eCommerce business. Learn more from the Huckberry brand story here.

22. TrailBlaze – eCommerce SEO Case Study – From $0 to $900K in Less Than 3 Years

Results:

• $900K+ Revenue generated at 250% average ROI.
• Achieved 4% conversion rate and 245% average year-over-year user increase.

Case Study Summary:

In this SEO story, TrailblazeMarketing helped scale an eCommerce business from the ground up using SEO and other growth campaigns.

1. Started from the very beginning, chose BigCommerce to meet the business, user, and customer requirements and prepared a smart structure that could scale in the future.
2. Optimized the “money pages” (category pages), created a site-wide search engine, and whenever they would earn backlinks, they funneled that authority back to the product pages through internal linking.
3. Turned their focus to Google Shopping, focusing on quality and structure of each paid-campaign to decrease their acquisition costs.
4. Optimized website for desktop in a mobile-first world because that’s where most of their traffic was coming from (because businesses were a core audience for the eCommerce client).
5. Tried a few different attribution models to increase the accuracy of all their future optimization.

This case study is a prime example of what’s going on behind-the-scenes and the more technical sides of growing an eCommerce business. Check out the full eCommerce SEO case study for more detailed steps.

23. DiggityMarketing – eCommerce SEO Case Study – Going From $43K/Mo to $91K/mo in 8 Months

Results:

• Went from generating $43K a month to $91K a month – a 112% increase in overall revenue.
• Grew eCommerce client’s traffic by 417% in 8 months.
• Increased the positions for their core high-value keywords by 1467 positions on Google.

Case Study Summary:

In this case study, DiggityMarketing helped their eCommerce client work out the best approach for tracking organic search traffic. Here’s the custom strategy they came up with for the client operating within a small B2B furniture niche.

1. First, they established eCommerce E-A-T (Expertise, Authority, Trust) and started earning backlinks. Improved the eCommerce website’s low-hanging fruit like the UX, visual changes, mobile optimization, and more.
2. Did a technical audit, removed all traces of their old website from the Google index, removed duplicates, and cleaned up other legacy strategies.
3. Started creating evergreen, SEO-optimized content and added internal links to keep the customers on the website longer.
4. Did a page-by-page product and category page analysis. Then, started on-page optimization of individual pages.
5. Did a competitor analysis using Ahrefs, created more content (infographics), and launched backlink outreach campaigns to improve their Google ranking.

Organic traffic is no joke. Learn what they did in the full eCommerce SEO case study to find out how you can boost your own organic traffic.

24. Robbie Richards – 150,732 Visits With a 6-Step SEO Process Within the Drone Niche

Results:

• Increased organic traffic by 11,065% in just 6 months.
• Generated 20,314 organic page views with a single blog post and captured 2,335 emails.

Case Study Summary:

Robbie Richards outlines his 6-step SEO process to grow his client’s drone business website – a relatively new, but extremely competitive niche.

1. Performed keyword research from scratch and found evergreen topics targeting beginner pilots (core persona at the time).
2. Started targeting keywords related to educational content on how to fly quadcopter and other drones. Created the (at the time) best guide which was more in-depth and high-quality than the other articles that were ranking on Google.
3. Optimized the website blog for best on-page SEO practices, included a lot of external and internal links, improved page speed, and made the content more UX-friendly.
4. Inserted a pop-up and lead-box to start generating subscribers from the traffic they were gaining to the blog posts.
5. Promoted content on Quora, online forums, set up social media automation, distributed it to other channels, and used 4 different outreach strategies to build backlinks.

The full case study is incredibly in-depth in an interesting niche. Check out the full SEO case study here.

25. YouFoodz – Explosive Growth of Revenue by 3000% Through Customer Lifecycle Marketing and Keeping Churn Under Control

Results:

• 5%-10% sales growth week over week, 3846% increase over 14 months.
• Consistently kept churn rate under control and increased retention rate for customers (subscription/repeat orders).

Case Study Summary:

YouFoodz is a food delivery service. They don’t force users to subscribe to weekly or monthly delivery and the meals don’t have to be cooked. Their business model is very much like a SaaS company, but they used many eCommerce tactics you can also duplicate.

1. Found a strong product-market fit for customers who care about their health and are very passionate about the quality of life above most things. They also went the extra mile by lowering the barrier to entry – no delivery free, flexible payment options with zipPay, and customers can cancel any time.
2. Built a strong brand through word of mouth and SEO marketing. Spent millions of dollars into a media campaign across Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube, as well as programmatic video and display advertising. Also ran online co-marketing campaigns with publishers in the food and travel industry.
3. Used strong audience engagement to stay close to the customer and reduce the churn rate. Used email drips, reactivation campaigns, and retargeting to establish omnichannel touchpoints with customers – especially if they hadn’t ordered within 1-2 months. 
4. Reduced customer acquisition cost through referral programs (offered a free meal for a referral). Used SEO to bring in customers without any direct costs – gained traffic value of up to $58K in paid ads, for free!
5. Leveraged 4 main metrics for success: product-market fit, brand awareness, churn rate, and customer acquisition cost. 

YouFoodz approached their subscription meal delivery business like a SaaS business. And it paid off greatly. Check out the full YouFoodz marketing case study for more info on what they did to grow and how you can copy their process.

26. MeUndies – 9 Strategies to Grow by 1,583% in 3 Years

Results:

• Grew 1,583% in 3 years.
• Achieved an estimated annual revenue of $60M.

Case Study Summary:

MeUndies is a direct-to-consumer underwear brand. They used 9 main strategies to achieve explosive growth for the eCommerce brand.

1. Created a homepage quiz to turn visitors into buyers and help them “find their first pair” of underwear based on their preferences (style, feel, color, etc.).
2. Created ascension ladder to increase customer retention rate. Used several chances and upsells to upgrade a one-time purchase into a membership (monthly subscription with exclusive benefits).
3. Built a replicable referral engine to gain customers consistently. Wrote a killer headline and CTA for the referral program (“get free undies”, “Give 20%, get $20”). Simplified the referral process and UX to increase customer engagement.
4. Wrote a go-to gift guide which accounted for a lot of their direct traffic. Sponsored many podcasts which also gave them a backlink from the podcast page. Started getting featured in roundup/gift guide posts (men’s clothing guides, etc.).
5. Activated new subscribers with small wins, used persuasion triggers and cart recovery emails to boost sales, asked for feedback to improve products, and boost social engagement.

There are a lot of practical steps you can swipe from this case study. Check out the full MeUndies marketing case study for more detailed info on each step.

Other eCommerce Marketing Case Studies

27. BlendJet – Generating $163K in 30 Days Using Reduce Cart Abandonment Shortcut Plugin

Results:

• Generated $166,633 and recovered 3,406 abandoned carts in 30 days.
• Of 3,000 email subscribers that would have otherwise abandoned their cart or left the site, 1,336 converted into new customers – adding $63,861 to the store’s revenue.

Case Study Summary:

BlendJet runs an eCommerce store that sells portable blenders. Like many other stores out there, they were losing sales on abandoned carts. Here’s a simple trick they did to remedy this:

1. Installed the Reduce Cart Abandonment Shortcut (Sumo plugin) popup on their website and ran a Google Optimize test to see if it would increase or decrease their conversion rate.
2. Implemented a “10% off” popup offer for when users were trying to abandon their cart or checkout page. Shoppers who activated the offer could copy the discount code or click ‘Continue’ to add it to their order with one click.
3. Achieved 29.37% conversion rate because the popup was based on the visitor’s behavior – and wasn’t random.

Simple case study. But sometimes a simple plugin works best. Check out the full Shopify sales case study for more info. 

28. Shopify Store That Doubled Their AOV From $28 to $55.60 in 24 Hours Through Discount Sales Hack

Results:

• Increased AOV from $28 to $55.60 in 24 hours by A/B testing a simple two-step discount tier sales strategy. 
• Generated $2,035 in 24 hours.

Case Study Summary:

This simple sales discount strategy turned buying products into a game for the visitors. It takes advantage of the commitment bias as well. Here’s how this sales hack worked:

1. Created 2-step discount tier strategy. Discount tier 1: Offers visitors 10% off any order over $45. Discount tier 2: Offers visitors 20% off any order over $90 (after the visitor has added >$45 of products to their cart).
2. Once a visitor adds over $45 worth of products to their cart, the notification bar on the site updates to let them know the 10% off has been applied to their order. Then, it let the visitors know how much more money they needed to spend to get more savings.

By gamifying sales, you’re making spending more money with your business fun. When customers see the progress bar progress, they’re more likely to spend more on your eCommerce store to reach the next level. Check out the full eCommerce average order value case study for more info and which plugin they used.

And check out our 99+ eCommerce hacks to boost your sales for more quick hacks like this one that can instantly boost your sales.

29. Koala – From 0 to $13M in 12 Months Through Unique and Out of the Box Marketing to Break Through the Noise

Results:

• Generated $13M in sales in their first 12 months.
• Used some unique and out-of-the-box marketing tactics and strategies to sell high-quality mattresses.

Case Study Summary:

Koala is an Australian-made eCommerce company that sells high-quality mattresses. It’s hard to communicate with potential customers what a mattress feels like. Here’s what Koala did:

1. Created an incredibly high-quality product with a STRONG, risk-free offer (free shipping, 120 nights trial period, return warranty, $100 off your first purchase). Started creating high-quality content around their products (e.g. how to unbox the mattress) and made it easy for customers to buy by adding an Afterpay option.
2. Invested heavily into Facebook ads and unique video content that showed off their mattress with a ‘Zero Disturbance Test’. Starting running Google Ads Words on branded campaigns, competitor campaigns, and product campaign keywords.
3. Used persistent email marketing (4-6 follow-ups) to push customers to the first purchase.
4. Here’s where the out-of-the-box marketing tactics kick in. They used offline marketing tactics to break through the noise in a crowded market through billboards to communicate a mass-market message. 
5. Used podcast advertising and sponsoring to push their product in front of their target audience.
6. Ran a ‘Snooze Cruise’ campaign in which customers could book a time and then, a van with the mattress came to their location so that they could try it out for free.

They also thoroughly optimized their eCommerce website, checkout process, post-purchase follow-up flow campaign, committed to a good cause (helping Koalas charity), and MORE. This is one incredibly in-depth case study and they really pushed the boundaries to sell a unique product.

Check out the full Koala growth case study here.

30. Sleeknote – Increasing eCommerce Website Traffic by 63% Through Pinterest Ads

Results:

• Increased Pinterest referral traffic from ads (Buyable Pins) by 63%

Case Study Summary:

Here, Sleeknote realized the potential of Buyable Pins on Pinterest, and because most of their target market was on the platform anyway, they decided to experiment further.

1. Chose the ‘boost engagement’ advertising goal to grow their following.
2. Created own, custom audience based on women’s fashion interests and trends. 
3. Set up targeting to advertise to American consumers and set the maximum CPE bid to $0.95. Added UTM code to the destination URL for their Promoted Pin to track the results and analytics.

Simple campaign, but strong results. Pinterest is often underrated in eCommerce. Check out the full Pinterest ads case study to learn how to use Pinterest to grow your traffic.

31. Bellroy – 7 Million-Dollar Growth Secrets of an eCommerce Innovator

Results:

• Disrupted the wallet industry by creating a new and better product that bridged the gap between style and functionality.
• Used 7 unconventional strategies to get more traffic and higher conversions.

Case Study Summary:

Bellroy is an Australian-based, accessories eCommerce brand for all things carrying goods, men’s wallets, cases, and more. They gained a reputation for being “the best men’s wallet you can buy”. 

This case study is a bit different from the other ones covered, but it’s definitely worth reading.

Here are some of the many marketing strategies they used to grow the brand.

1. For Black Friday – created a subscriber-exclusive promotion list for customers to receive the discount (building FOMO through email creatives, copywriting, UX, and more).
2. Used “The Life Force 8” (concept from Cashvertising) to maximize their ad conversions. Which are as follows: 1. Survival, enjoyment of life, life extension. 2. Enjoyment of food and beverages. 3. Freedom from fear, pain, and danger. 4. Sexual companionship. 5. Comfortable living conditions. 6. Being superior, winning, keeping up with the Joneses. 7. Care and protection of loved ones. 8. Social proof.
3. Created unique offerings to market to the affluent (e.g. corporate gifting solutions and customized wallets to reward your team or clients). Played on the social approval angle and used clever copywriting for their buyer persona’s upsell.
4. Translated their website and ads into other languages to reach other countries (started with Germany).
5. Partnered with brands in similar vertices (ideally those with a wider reach than Bellroy) to create new products. E.g. partnered with Google to develop a sleeve for Google’s Pixelbook. Played on the social proof and exclusivity angles.

Bellroy is a very interesting brand to study and replicate their marketing tactics from. Check out the full Bellroy marketing case study to learn what else they did to generate more conversions.

32. GrowthRock – Increasing eCommerce Product Page Conversion Rate By 13.9% Through Benefits-Centric Copy

Results:

• Achieved multi-million dollar increase in annual revenues by rewriting product details page.
• Increased checkout conversion rate by 13.9% rate.

Case Study Summary:

GrowthRock used 3 advanced copywriting tactics to increase the conversion rate for their direct-to-consumer mattress eCommerce brand.

1. Went way deeper into the ‘Why’ of the product benefit. Instead of buying a drill, people don’t buy a “hole in the wall”, they buy the ability to hang family portraits in their house to make it feel like home. Realized that the more expensive, complicated, or important your offer is for the reader, the more your copy needs to connect with their deepest hopes and fears.
2. Focused on the customer gaining more energy and less pain as the main mattress benefit (instead of just “better sleep”).
3. Overcame customer inaction by painting the picture that doing nothing would lead them to be worse off. Positioned themselves as the market leader using comparative statements to deposition competitors.

It’s usually the little things that result in big change. This eCommerce copywriting goes way beyond than basic bush-league ‘features to benefit’ tactic. Check out the full guide to learn how to take your copywriting to the next level.

33. Sunski – From Vintage Pair Sunglasses into a $2M eCommerce Business Through Highly Engaging Marketing

Results:

• Launched the company with a Kickstarter goal of $9800. Later scaled to a $2M brand that redefined quality sunglasses for outdoor enthusiasts.

Case Study Summary:

Sunski created sustainable and high-quality sunglasses designed for modern style and outdoor performance. Here are some of the highly engaging marketing strategies they used to scale the company:

1. Created a virtual ‘try-before-you-buy’ feature on their website and made it so that customers could narrow down their products based on gender, head size, and face type.
2. Made a fun and unique FAQ page to answer visitors’ most pressing questions – using comedy, humor, and singing. This style of communication matched their brand and allowed them to stand out and be memorable.
3. Retained existing customers with an admirable loyalty club. Whenever customers took action, they were rewarded for doing so. Customers got $5 for joining, reviewing a product, sharing something on social media, and so on. Customers would also get a $5 cart abandonment email if they didn’t finish their purchase.
4. Because Sunski wanted to associate their products with quality and prestige, they added a lifetime warranty and made sure it was everywhere (banner, FAQ, product description, etc.). Made sure to also communicate their other values (environmental responsibility, product quality, recyclable packaging, etc.).
5. Leveraged package marketing to increase customer engagement. Used fun copy, thanked the customer for shopping with them, and used other engaging packaging. 
6. Increased their reach with a replicable referral engine. Enriched reviews and increased credibility with a multistep review sequence. For posting a review, customers would get a 20% discount code.

Check out the full Sunski marketing case study for a more detailed breakdown of their 9 engaging marketing strategies.

34. ManCrates – Turning $1000 into $10M+ Through Clever Storytelling, Content, and Branding

Results:

• Turned a $1000 loan into $10M+ worth eCommerce company.
• Scaled from a 3 team operation running out of a garage to a 50+ person company with multiple distribution centers across the U.S. At a staggering growth rate of 4900%

Case Study Summary:

ManCrates is a unique brand dedicated to redefining what it means to buy the perfect gift for a loved one. When it comes to gift-giving, ManCrates focuses on the buyer’s anticipation for finding (and buying) the perfect gift.

1. Used SEO search intent and optimized their main landing page for variations of “gifts for men” and “man crates” keywords. Optimized the landing page around finding the perfect gift as the main CTA – instead of making a purchase straightaway.
2. Used visual storytelling to build anticipation and clever copywriting to convince prospects that they’ve found the perfect gift through product descriptions.
3. Teased the product unboxing experience to reduce cart abandonment and used anticipation throughout the entire funnel to turn visitors into customers. By showing prospects what the package would look like upon delivery, they reduced the likelihood of cart abandonment.
4. Personalized the buying experience with pre-written, personal note notes. Created a share-worthy unboxing experience through fun packaging and copy.
5. Improved customer retention with personalized gift reminders. They encouraged customers to mark special occasions (e.g. gift for father, husband, brother, etc.) to encourage more purchases and increase retention. This way, they would have more purchases throughout the entire year, not just during gift-giving seasons.
6. Used gift guides, reviews, and other nudges to reduce decision fatigue and encourage on-the-fence buyers.

ManCrates is a perfect example of successful storytelling and brand awareness within eCommerce. See the full marketing case study for more info and examples.

Conclusion

And that’s a wrap!

Hope you found this guide useful. 

Whether you’re looking to grow your eCommerce business using Facebook ads, influencer marketing, SEO, or plain storytelling, there’s a lot you can learn from the above case studies.

And fortunately, we covered case studies of almost any eCommerce marketing done right.

Swipe the full studies, reverse-engineer their success, and start applying the above eCommerce concepts. And you’ll start seeing some serious results.

NOW – Did I miss any important eCommerce case study? Or do you have a marketing tactic you’d like to share for us to include? Let us know down in the comments.

And if you’re looking for more eCommerce marketing content like this – be sure to join our newsletter below or say hi in our private eCommerce marketing Facebook group.

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