With years of triple-digit growth, CleverMade had a good thing going. The company, based in Carlsbad, California, began in 2013 designing and producing collapsible storage crates, and today offers a range of products from coolers to totes.
CleverMade launched its Amazon store, and business was strong. But in a story well-known to ecommerce businesses, everything changed in 2020 with the Covid-19 pandemic. As global supply chain issues started impacting costs, lead times, and customer loyalties, CleverMade took a microscope to their marketing strategies.
“We were forced to raise prices, plus we had to cut our ad spend,” says Tim Clark, CleverMade’s director of ecommerce. “It was the last thing we wanted to do, but we didn’t have a choice.” Clark joined CleverMade in 2016, and started in his current role in July 2020—the same year the company teamed up with Intentwise.
CleverMade began using Intentwise Ad Optimizer to manage Amazon advertising. Within the first two months of using our machine-learning bid automation, CleverMade’s advertising cost of sales (ACOS) improved by 60% and revenue grew more than 55% when compared to their pre-Intentwise bid management strategy.
“Intentwise worked closely with me to optimize our ads and automate our campaigns in a way that continued to drive sales. Even within our limited budget. I could not have done this on my own,” Clark says.
Even with a reduced ad budget and a challenging sales climate, CleverMade was able to show growth in sales from both new and existing customers by focusing on efficiency, and relying on Intentwise’s machine-learning algorithms to find gaps in their strategy.
“If you don’t have an automation strategy as an ecom business in today’s environment, you’re wasting money,” Clark says.
Learn more about Intentwise Ad Optimizer.
