CASE STUDY: How Crockford Carlisle used Popcorn Metrics to grow Revenues 27%

Imagine how good YOU would feel if you increased your client revenues by a whopping 27% in the coming months?!

As one of our first clients, back in 2014 when we started, they hold a special place in our hearts. In fact, if you visited their offices at 922 Stanley St, Brisbane, on the wall, you'd see "Add Popcorn Metrics Tracking" as one of the steps listed in running campaigns.

We interview Jerry Crockford and Elizabeth Forbes-Rohde about how they managed to grow repeat revenues over 27% in just months.

Below you will read their frank words-- the good, the bad and the ugly. Nothing has been held back.

READ the Case Study: HOW Crockford Carlisle used Popcorn Metrics PPC Conversion Tracking Tool to grow repeat Revenues by 27%

Company:

Crockford Carlisle, Digital Agency

Summary:

Crockford Carlisle is an Australian based Digital Agency, specialising in eCommerce Websites, Email Marketing & Copywriting, Branding, Conversion Optimisation (CRO), Contact Forms, Landing Pages, Hubspot, AdWords, SEO, Google Analytics & ReMarketing.

Work Role / Position:

Jerry Crockford (above left) is the MD of Crockford Carlisle, a 22 year old digital agency in Brisbane, Australia. Elizabeth Forbes-Rohde (above right) is Studio Manager at Crockford Carlisle.

Website:

http://c-c.com.au/

Number of employees:

10

Number of years in business:

23 years

QUESTION: Tell us about your company?

“We’ve been going 22 years, (long before the Internet and email) and have seen a LOT of changes.

One thing that has been consistent throughout has been the genuine desire to focus on generating profitable leads for our clients — rather than “just producing marketing collateral”.

“We’ve been going 22 years. We have a strong culture of collaboration.”

For this reason, we have a long-standing heritage of testing, measuring and improving.

The entire team has a strong buy-in to this. We have a strong culture of collaboration, so that ALL team members (whether their expertise is design, coding, copywriting or analysis) have a clear understanding of the client’s objectives for growth.

“We have a long-standing heritage of testing, measuring and improving.”

This ensures that we keep our eye on the ball, and can make the best of every opportunity to help our clients to build on their success.

This has resulted in us enjoying long-lasting relationships with our clients, as they see us as a partner rather than a supplier.

It means our regular client meetings are valued by all participants, and we genuinely celebrate their successes and wins.”

QUESTION: What challenges were you trying to solve?

“There are many (many!) different solutions on the market.

One of the main reasons we were drawn to Popcorn Metrics initially was its very simple implementation. Rather than having to involve our coders whenever the team wanted to set up a new KPI, Popcorn Metrics enables the copywriter or digital analyst to put it in place quickly and easily.

Also, the integration with Analytics pulls all our data into one central point, which enables clearer reporting for clients — while saving a considerable amount of time for us with monthly reporting.

“finding a way to report .. our clients’ business goals and KPIs, rather than ... the standard AdWords/Analytics reports”

Most of all, Popcorn Metrics enables us to report on metrics that MATTER to our clients… showing them the value of the changes we are making and how it impacts their profitability.

The key challenge was finding a way to report on meaningful data that was customised to our clients’ business goals and KPIs, rather than merely downloading the standard AdWords/Analytics reports that focus on clickthrough rates and traffic source ratios, which was relatively meaningless to most clients.

“showing [Clients] the value ... ”

Of course the other challenge related to this was finding a way to achieve it without sucking up internal resources who should have been spending their time on doing the work that actually produced those results.

“having a small team was making this problem all the more significant”

And having a small team was making this problem all the more significant. The result of this was a constant balancing act between time spent doing what clients were paying us to do vs time spent on trying to document the results of what we did.”

QUESTION: How were you solving the problem before you used Popcorn Metrics?

“The battle of trying to produce the data we wanted… while not soaking up too much time was constant.

“We had tried various other solutions over the years, but there was missing holes in the data.”

Tag Manager was OK, but like other options, was time consuming. We had tried various other solutions over the years, but found that there was missing holes in the data.

“a hodge-podge of different software packages,
all taking time and money”

The result was a hodge-podge of different software packages, all taking time and money.

The flow-on with this is that we were sometimes missing opportunities to measure data, because it was all ‘too hard’.

Popcorn is easy, so we do more with it.”

QUESTION: What was the previous solution costing your business?

“There were two key costs to the business with these challenges:

Firstly, the cost of having someone with coding skills and experience get involved with tracking conversions and on page behaviour/events.

“the cost of losing clients who could not see the value to their business ”

Depending on the size of the client account, much of this would have to have been done as a direct cost to the business, affecting profitability enormously.

Secondly, the cost of losing clients who could not see the value to their business of AdWords or Inbound Marketing because we weren’t taking the time to report thoroughly enough on the results of this work.

Although we can’t put a figure on this, that’s big money to any agency.”

QUESTION: What would have happened if you did not identify a solution?

“Among other things, not having a solution was knocking the joy out of it.

As I said at the outset, at heart, we love making a difference for clients. We have a great deal of expertise when it comes to strong, persuasive copywriting and good UX design, and that’s what we wanted to do. Struggling with metrics was just a ball and chain. It was slowing us down, causing frustration and stopping us from doing what we do best.

“struggling with metrics was
stopping us from
doing what we do best.”

We would have continued on with constant requests to our coder for tracking code to be implemented, which depending on workload might have taken a few days. In the meantime, we’d be missing the opportunity of collecting data immediately after a change was made or new content added.”

QUESTION: How did you hear about Popcorn Metrics?

“One of our coders was looking for a way to empower the creative team to do their job, WITHOUT having to ask to have snippets of code installed all over the place.

So he got onto Google to do some research… and here we are, happily Popcorning!”

QUESTION: What made Popcorn Metrics stand out as a potential fit for your needs?

“We liked it’s simplicity. And it became very clear, very quickly, that the support is very good.

They are a young company, and are keen to listen to input and feedback from their customers and ACT on it.

We felt that we had a team behind us, and were not left to ‘figure things out” for ourselves — with MORE time wasted in the process.

And because of its simplicity any member of our team could quickly set up data tracking on new events or goals right from the word go.”

QUESTION: What other solutions did you consider?

“In our search for a solution to help fill the gaps in our conversion and web visitor behaviour tracking,

we found a number of online software packages that offer certain tracking abilities such as heatmaps, funnels and mouse movement recordings.

“we didn’t find any other solution
that was as complete”

These packages have their place.

However, we didn’t find any other solution that was as complete in its tracking ability as Popcorn.”

QUESTION: What was most important to you when evaluating your options?

“For me as manager, one of the most important things I look for is the enthusiasm of the team member who is recommending the solution.

They have no barrow to push except looking for a way to get things done more easily with a good outcome for clients.

“a significant contribution
to the value
we could offer our clients.”

The web coder who unearthed Popcorn is a quiet, thoughtful professional who knows his stuff. When he said he had found a solution and was enthusiastic about it, I could see that it would be embraced… would be utilised… and would make a significant contribution to the value we could offer our clients.

We could see that Popcorn would allow any member of our team to track almost any on page events quickly and easily, so we could just keep the work flowing rather than bottlenecking with our coder. No other solution we found offered this.”

QUESTION: What was your decision making process for choosing Popcorn Metrics?

“Well Paul… we liked it… so we signed up. As a small team, we probably lack the internal red tape of larger organisations when expenditure is involved.
Popcorn was a ‘no brainer’ for us.”
Who was involved in the decision making process?
“Once our coder had found it, the next step was to have ALL stakeholders on the team evaluate it.

This means that it was checked out by our Content Manager, Digital Analyst, AdWords Manager and copywriters.

Each were asked if they could see how it would make their job easier, and they all gave it the thumbs up.

“the next step was to
have ALL stakeholders
on the team evaluate”

Two of the team members also did their own research, looking at alternatives and comparing their performance/price against Popcorn Metrics.

The results showed that it was the clear winner.”

QUESTION: What difference did you expect Popcorn Metrics would make?

“Mostly big time savings, but just as important, a lot less hassle for our poor coder!”

QUESTION: How easy was it to set-up Popcorn Metrics?

“It was surprisingly easy.

In hindsight, we had been conditioned by previous solutions to expect dramas and challenges.

As it was, it went very smoothly — with even non-technically minded team members quickly putting it into action.”

QUESTION: How long did it take to get installed and configured?

We had it running on a test site in one day, and from there, progressively worked through the other sites we manage.

“we were able to monitor the results of changes we made to sites to increase conversions”

It quickly became evident that a whole new world of measuring had opened up to us, as we were able to monitor the results of changes we made to sites to increase conversions, sign-ups etc.”

Who was involved in the installation process?

“The coder installed the snippet of code, and away we went from there.”

In what ways does Popcorn Metrics help your competitive advantage?

“There is no doubt that it has significantly impacted our business.

It has created a momentum in our rolling monthly cycle, and it has enabled us to more easily make strong, confident recommendations to our clients.

Since we switched to Popcorn Metrics, nearly 70% of our revenue is from repeat, monthly ongoing optimisation work. This has lifted significantly from around 55%.”

How long did it take for you to get value from Popcorn Metrics?

“The value we get from Popcorn Metrics showed up right away.

Clearer data meant better reporting opportunities, and that led to clearer decision-making.

“The value we get from Popcorn Metrics showed up right away.”

In the first couple of months, we were dragging behind as we had to change our reporting to make the most of the opportunities that Popcorn Metrics brings in the way of analysis, but once we had that in shape, we were on a roll.”

Is there a particular aspect of the product or service that you rely on most?

“It’s hard to pick just one aspect that we’ve come to rely on, but definitely the speed and ease of use……

and the technical support is the best we’ve ever experienced.”

“speed and ease of use”

Compared to your initial expectations, how has Popcorn Metrics achieved, exceeded (or fallen short) of your objectives?

“It has turned out that it has well exceeded our expectations, certainly in terms of how much time has been saved and how workflow has been boosted.”

“time has been saved and
workflow has been boosted”

QUESTION: What are the main reasons you would recommend Popcorn Metrics?

1. Easy to set-up and use.
   2. Allows anyone to track almost anything online
2. Integrates with so many other programs and that makes the tracking and reporting process so seamless
   4. The technical support is second to none.”

We hope you enjoyed hearing the views of a happy, satisfied, and more productive customer - in their own words.