Pet-tech brand: scaling a premium GPS collar at half the acquisition cost

The client is a brand in the pet products industry offering a modern GPS collar that helps dog owners look after their pets' safety: real-time tracking, safe zones, and alerts when the dog moves away from them. It combines technology, artificial intelligence, and functional design in a premium solution.

• Costly conversion. The high unit price (USD 700–990) and the one-off nature of the purchase meant that acquiring a new customer had to stay within a low CAC threshold (max. USD 160).
• Seasonality problems. Fluctuating demand led to inefficient budget allocation: burning through funds during periods of low sales and underinvesting in peak months.
• Lack of full attribution. A long purchase cycle (4–6 weeks) and the absence of advanced measurement tools made it difficult to attribute conversions to awareness-building campaigns.
• Product ratings. The product had an average rating of around 3 stars, mainly due to fake reviews from people who had not made a purchase.

The foundation was a focus on CAC (customer acquisition cost) and bROAS, a metric that takes into account operating costs as well as revenue.

Campaign restructuring

Campaigns were divided by sales funnel stage: top-funnel (awareness), new customer acquisition, remarketing, and brand. Until then all of these had been combined into a single Performance Max campaign, with too large a share going to brand searches. After the change, one Performance Max campaign handled only brand queries, while the other focused on new users and growing market share.

Data analysis and advanced attribution

The external analytics tool Northbeam was implemented to track both ad clicks and impressions, attributing conversions to campaigns whose effects had previously been difficult to measure (e.g. YouTube or Google Display). Integration of data from Northbeam and the Haus tool, which enabled analysis of the incremental impact of campaigns on sales results, gave a fuller picture of which activities were actually driving conversions. Budgets moved to channels with a real impact on sales and away from those generating only apparent traffic.

Keyword strategy and message personalization

Keywords were divided into three categories, each with its own message:

• Product phrases, such as "GPS wireless dog fence": technological sophistication, precise GPS, no physical fences.
• General category phrases, e.g. "electric dog shock collars": safety, the absence of impulses, the advantage over shock collars.
• Competitor keywords: appearing among people who already knew other products but were looking for a better alternative.

Awareness and remarketing campaigns

Dedicated brand awareness campaigns on YouTube, Google Display, and Demand Gen (formerly Discover) educated the market about solutions without physical fences or electric impulses, and fed remarketing.

Budgeting in line with seasonality

Data from the ad account, the CRM system, and sales from previous years showed the greatest interest from the end of February to June, matching Google search trends. Spending was increased in periods of high conversion and reduced in months with low effectiveness, instead of being spread evenly.

Identifying the product ratings problem

Although review management was not on the agency's side, the low average rating (around 3 stars) was identified as a barrier to conversion; many negative reviews came from people who had not made a purchase. Specific actions were recommended and implemented by the client before the high-demand season.

Year-over-year (YoY) comparison, as stated on the source:

• Digital media spend fell by 33.96%, and the company's marketing costs decreased by 39.60%.
• Revenue grew by 18.97%, and the number of products sold by 22.66%.
• The revenue generated by Google ads grew by 117%.
• Return on ad spend (ROAS) improved from 1.95 to 3.84.
• The cost of acquiring a customer (CAC) fell from USD 332 to USD 163.
• The client's share of its target market category increased by 60%.

The results exceeded the goals originally set and enabled the client to achieve sustainable growth and strengthen its position in the pet safety segment.