How we utilized an incremental approach to channel testing to validate the efficacy of upper funnel spending and increase user demand quickly and efficiently.
How we utilized an incremental approach to channel testing to validate the efficacy of upper funnel spending and increase user demand quickly and efficiently.
Koji is a free digital storefront for creators who want to monetize their social media channels. The platform offers a range of templates that make it easy for users to sell products, collect donations, engage with customers, and earn affiliate commissions directly from their social media accounts without a website.
Increase in Total Users
Increase in Total Sessions
Increase in Organic Sign-Ups
TL;DR: During a two-week period at the beginning of 2023, our Paid Media team successfully implemented efficient, CPM optimized reach campaigns on YouTube to generate demand, driving over 22,000 new users to the site. Our efforts resulted in quick, high-impact wins for Koji with an 81% increase in organic sign-ups vs. the previous 20-week rolling average.
Like many new software solutions, Koji faced the challenge of generating demand and driving conversions in the highly competitive SaaS space. Koji needed to increase site traffic and creator signups with limited brand awareness and familiarity with its solution among its ICPs.
Koji partnered with Tuff to optimize its acquisition funnel and drive long-term growth through cost-effective paid media campaigns. In the initial months of our partnership, locating relevant and significant search volume proved difficult. We saw notable efficiencies from Google search but did not detect enough existing intent to scale that channel effectively.
We needed to activate new, untested upper funnel channels to efficiently reach Koji’s target audience, increase awareness, and scale results quickly.
Here’s how we tackled Koji’s demand generation challenge. ↓
After three months of limited success with mid and bottom-funnel efforts, we focused on top-of-funnel awareness campaigns to drum up brand recognition and intent.
To accurately measure the specific impact of different upper funnel channels on driving conversions and revenue, we adopted an incremental approach. We introduced one new channel at a time, starting with YouTube, while keeping all other factors unchanged. This allowed us to examine the influence of the YouTube platform in isolation.
YouTube was the logical first choice for two reasons. Not only did YouTube offer a substantial audience volume, but it also supplied a long-form video ad format that lends itself well to the types of educational content we were looking to deliver.
What We Did:
*Since YouTube is not the strongest driver of last-click attribution, we designed custom reports that used organic traffic and sign-ups to measure impact and campaign success.
After two weeks of testing, here’s what we found. ↓
During the two-week campaign run, we saw the highest weekly organic conversions to date, with an 81% increase in organic signups compared to the previous 20-week rolling average. In addition to organic signups, new users increased by 70%, and overall sessions increased by 52% compared to the previous month.
Isolate one channel at a time: if you’re looking to measure the specific impact of different channels, try isolating one variable at a time. For Koji, we utilized rapid testing to determine incremental lifts in organic traffic and conversions with YouTube while keeping all other factors static. This validated our hypotheses and delivered key insights for future campaign strategies.
Don’t ignore the top of your funnel: It can be easy to want to allocate all of your budgets to bottom-funnel, low-intent tactics that deliver the most efficient direct impact, but not feeding the top of your funnel is a mistake that often limits long-term growth.
Play to the strength of each channel: Every channel has things it excels at and areas where it faces short. YouTube is an excellent channel for reaching large audiences and generating awareness, but it is not as strong in generating last-click conversions. Think about strengths and weaknesses when building your media mix – and build your reporting to accommodate for channel shortcomings.
Meet prospects where they are: after struggling with low search volume in the initial months of the partnership, our team strategically shifted focus from Google to YouTube to drive greater acquisition efficiencies. We leveraged YouTube’s vast user base and engaging video content to locate Koji’s target audience, boost brand awareness, and scale up demand.
