Wakefit drives efficiencies with search advertising

Background

Headquartered in Bangalore, Wakefit started as a sweet dream that would revolutionize the mattress market in India. Founded in 2016, Wakefit understood that there were several gaps in the existing market including the use of poor raw materials and inflated prices. In response to these challenges, Wakefit launched as an online-first direct-to-consumer brand that provides superior foam mattresses with a 100-day return policy. In a span of four short years, Wakefit now employs over 600 personnel, and are targeting a revenue of INR 450 crores in FY2021.

As a brand that is focussed on the ever-evolving needs of our consumers, it was critical for us to meet them where their journey began. In India, often the customer journey begins with a simple query on a search engine.

— Srishty Mishra, Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing, Wakefit

The journey

In 2020, COVID-19 changed the way consumers look at their homes. As they began to spend more time indoors, many looked to upgrade their surroundings. It no longer was simply a place to rest after a long day at work. It had become a place of work, play, relaxation and much more. Wakefit observed that the demand for the home solutions segment had evolved and multiplied.

“Consumers are now looking for ergonomics and functionality in addition to comfort and aesthetics. The demand for value for money products has also shot up. We have seen a rise in demand for our sleep and home offerings during the pandemic, especially for products like mattresses, sofas, work desks and ergonomic chairs. We believe that the pandemic has opened up avenues for online furniture brands to thrive in the Indian market”, says Srishty Mishra, Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing, Wakefit.

Finding high-intent shoppers with search

With the goal of meeting consumers where they were, Wakefit partnered with Microsoft Advertising to leverage paid search and drive high-intent traffic to their online retail platform and unlock sales. Given the extensive nature of Wakefit’s product offerings, the team devised a targeted strategy to ensure optimum results. Wakefit was advised to run separate, curated campaigns based on different products and match types, giving the team greater control over the campaigns. The team also engaged in weekly audits, conducting keyword scrubbing exercises, syndicate site optimizations, and bid optimizations to drive greater return on investment (RO)I.

The Wakefit team boasted of an impressive 100% adoption rate of product features and they used the following to great success:

Expanded Text Ads
Responsive Search Ads
Action Extension
Sitelink Extension
Callout Extension
Price and Structured Snippet Extensions

Wakefit search ad on Microsoft Advertising network

Brand campaign fuels top-of-funnel impact

However, what truly set this campaign apart was Wakefit’s ability to appreciate the true impact of intent-based marketing and search advertising by not merely leveraging it as a bottom-of-the-funnel activity. As a brand that understands the pulse of Indian consumers, Wakefit launched a search for branding campaign just in time for the Indian Premier League, the most watched cricket league in the world, in a country where the sport is considered nothing short of a religion.

“As a brand that is focussed on the ever-evolving needs of our consumers, it was critical for us to meet them where their journey began. In India, often the customer journey begins with a simple query on a search engine,” says Srishty Mishra, Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing, Wakefit.

Wakefit siliconised microfibre reversible comforter

The partnership with Microsoft Advertising enabled us to achieve a 10X on Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), month on month. As we continue to grow across markets and product lines, we are excited to expand our reach with search through our partnership Microsoft Advertising.

— Srishty Mishra, Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing, Wakefit

Impact

Through its partnership with Microsoft Advertising, Wakefit raked in phenomenal results. The brand drove a quarterly growth of 80% in the website traffic through Microsoft Search Advertising, consequently resulting in a 71% rise in revenue while maintaining an ROAS of 10. Notably, through the search for branding initiative on Microsoft Search, Wakefit gained remarkable mindshare by owning IPL related keywords. This made a significant impact with 44% of total traffic driven by Microsoft Search Advertising coming in from the search for branding campaign which led to a few conversions as well. As a result of these campaigns, the brand saw a 131% growth quarter on quarter in overall search volumes on the Microsoft Search platforms. Wakefit continues to remain at the forefront of search advertising and is excited to expand its reach through the new features like Customer Match, Shopping, and In-market Audiences.

“The partnership with Microsoft Advertising enabled us to achieve a 10X on Return on Ad Spend (ROAS), month on month. As we continue to grow across markets and product lines, we are excited to expand our reach with search through our partnership Microsoft Advertising,” says Srishty Mishra, Sr. Manager of Digital Marketing, Wakefit.

Wakefit orthopedic memory foam mattress

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