Aventon

“adQuadrant is unique. They come to the table with partners
and added value that helps us pull levers more confidently
across all platforms. They are committed to helping us drive
the business forward.”
Adele Nasr, Chief Marketing Officer, Avant Sports

Challenges

Scaling an E-Commerce Brand in the
Changing Ads Landscape

When Aventon was pushing to grow, their advertising efforts began to stall. Chief Marketing Officer Adele Nasr was brought in to break the gridlock.

She says, “The agency we were working with was really struggling to scale the business. They’d hit a hard plateau.”

Although their advertising partner had helped establish Aventon in the paid space, Adele felt it was time to level up the strategy. But it didn’t seem like their former agency had the skillset to make the leap.

“They were a good fit for companies who are fixated on efficiency, but we needed to reinvest some of those returns back into growth.”

Adele told the agency she was comfortable sacrificing some CPA and ROAS to stimulate new growth, and she asked them to push the budget to see what was possible.

“They were afraid to scale and potentially see efficiency degrade. Even though I was asking them to shift priorities, they really didn’t want to take that risk. I think efficiency was their measurement of success from the beginning, making the transition harder. Unfortunately, it just wasn’t enough anymore.”

There were other issues that signaled it was time to find a new advertising partner. New platforms like TikTok and Reddit were capturing Aventon’s target market.

“The old agency was only comfortable working Google paid search, Facebook, and Instagram. They didn’t have the breadth or depth to expand into other channels.”

Knowing that it was time to embrace a bolder strategy, Aventon made the switch to adQuadrant.

Adele says, “They were very much aligned with my philosophy on growth and what it takes to scale. I was confident they would push us beyond our comfort zone and help us take the business to the next level.”

Solution

Omni-Channel Expertise that Builds E-Commerce Businesses

With their expertise in omni-channel strategy, adQuadrant brought a fresh perspective that allowed Aventon to overcome the limits of their old approach.

They zoomed-in on Adele’s top priority—growth—and developed a big picture strategy to expand key stages of the purchasing journey across a variety of platforms.

A Customized Approach to E-Commerce Growth

From the start, Adele was impressed with adQuadrant’s goal-oriented process.

She says, “Getting started with them was painless. The first thing they did was an exhaustive audit of all of our existing platforms, and they came back with a comprehensive review of the data and an assessment of what they thought was possible for us.”

The report included areas where the ads managers thought Aventon could most easily scale, including estimates of the growth potential and opportunities to realize it.

Adele says, “Then we had a dialogue about our goals. We filled out a questionnaire about our comfort level for ROAS, CPA, and all the metrics. They wanted to gain the best understanding of the KPIs that were of importance to us.”

The most eye-opening part of the onboarding for Adele was a conversation about whether Aventon and adQuadrant were aligned on how they wanted to approach the business goals.

She says, “It’s very different from other agencies who can be salesy and just want the business. adQuadrant was not afraid to say this may or may not be a good fit, and I appreciated that honesty. It made for a more fruitful decision to move forward with them, because we were both invested.”

Overcoming the Challenges of COVID

Within weeks of signing with adQuadrant, Aventon was faced with its greatest challenge yet: the COVID pandemic.

Adele spoke to her CEO about doubling-down on marketing. She truly believed the partnership was exactly what Aventon needed to survive and thrive in the challenging landscape.

“What I love about adQuadrant and their ethos is, despite everything, they are focused on a path forward. They’re cut from a growth mindset.”

Together, she and her adQuadrant team came up with a concept to anchor their ads in the moment.

They decided to focus on how Aventon’s bikes could help make commuting safer and help overcome cabin fever.

There was some concern the messaging might be criticized, but they took the shot.

Adele says, “It worked for us, and many of our competitors followed. The tactic got us over the COVID hump and then it snowballed. That first year, we shot up 500% in DTC alone.”

A Profitable Pivot After iOS 14

Next came the obstacles of the iOS 14 update, when advertisers everywhere lost critical targeting data.

adQuadrant stepped up again, with seasoned expertise and multi-channel perspective delivering value that other agencies simply couldn’t.

“adQuadrant did a great job overcoming the iOS 14 challenges by leveraging our first-party data. They unleashed a lot of opportunities with retargeting campaigns and helped us get involved with partners who offered fresh solutions, like Shopify and Criteo.”

By leaning into platforms with a strong first-party data strategy, they were able to create effective custom audiences without relying on hindered in-app algorithms.

“adQuadrant comes to the table with powerful collaborations that help your business overcome hurdles. They’ve been doing this for a long time, and their relationships in the industry will ultimately benefit you.”

A Unique, Strategic Partnership

Adele says that one of adQuadrant’s biggest differentiators over other agencies was the depth of their partnership.

She believes that their open dialogue about Aventon’s successes and goals set them up for success, and appreciates how adQuadrant never held back on resources that could truly benefit her brand.

“At every step of the way, we’ve been transparent with each other. I’ve given them access to everything they’ve needed to succeed and they’ve opened up new partnerships and opportunities for us to grow.”

A High-Touch Approach that Multiplies Opportunities

Another aspect of adQuadrant’s approach that set them apart was their intimate involvement with each advertising platform.

“Other agencies tend to invest heavily in technology and automation, getting tools to do a lot of the work for them. But adQ believes in being in the weeds, pulling the levers, and working directly in the UIs and algorithms.”

She says that with adQuadrant’s special relationships with Meta and Google, clients benefit from early access and other solutions they wouldn’t get through other agencies.

A Seamless Multi-Channel Experience

That attention to detail doesn’t just play out within channels, but across them. Adele has been blown away by the value of adQuadrant’s work on Aventon’s big-picture efforts, particularly with personalized content campaigns.

“We built landing pages and PDPs for specific personas, like adventurers, seniors, and more. They’ve been yielding improved conversion rates and results. Everything adQuadrant does helps us seamlessly integrate our approach so each platform works smarter, not harder.”

Not only did adQuadrant advise on copy and design throughout the funnel, but they also drove a budgeting strategy to balance efforts in the awareness, interest, and conversion steps of the buyer’s journey.

The team surprised Adele with their success on emerging platforms like TikTok and Reddit.

“Who would’ve thought that paid ads on Reddit would’ve been such a viable option? It’s been a nice win for us. adQuadrant helped us expand beyond our very limited channels because they had such breadth and depth of experience.”

Results

370% Increase in Sales Through One of the Most Challenging Years in E-Commerce

In just 12 months, adQuadrant helped Aventon skyrocket sales by 370%.

Considering that the growth happened during some of the biggest challenges ever seen in e-commerce advertising, it’s a staggering win.

The momentum shows no signs of slowing.

Adele says, “So far this year, we’re on track to double the business again. Not only that, but we’re starting to see ROAS markers that are even more efficient than goals.”

Watching revenue increase 403% YOY and orders grow by 234% YOY, she knew the partnership was built to last.

adQuadrant’s digital prowess, full-funnel strategy is also driving brand awareness and recall.

“We’re hitting 100 indexes and we’re up 60% in brand searches where our competitors are flat. adQuadrant’s well-rounded digital approach has helped us grow the business and drive big results on all key performance platforms.”

Her message to other e-commerce brands looking for an outstanding advertising partner:

“adQuadrant is unique. They come to the table with partners and added value that helps us pull levers more confidently across all platforms. They are committed to helping us drive the
business forward.”

Aventon

Aventon’s mission is to empower people to ride bikes regardless of their age or ability. Aventon’s monthly advertising goals were created and a stretch goal was set.

Through highly targeted omni-channel strategies and efficient optimizations, Aventon achieved recording-breaking growth doubling their ambitious stretch goal.

Challenges

Aventon was facing a challenge identifying the proper media mix to bring customers through the buying journey. With ambitious revenue goals, they needed a way to capture new audiences and scale effectively across multiple channels.

Approach

adQuadrant reverse engineered the customer journey, deploying strategies to effectively reach new audiences on Facebook and Google and convert buyer intent across Facebook, Google, Criteo and Bing. This strategy drove cost per acquisition down and increased overall conversion volume exceeding revenue targets.

Results

This omni-channel strategy yielded incremental scale that successfully introduced net new customers and converted bottom-of-funnel buyers. As a result, Aventon increased conversions by 74% and overall revenue grew by 70%. Aventon’s monthly revenue goals surpassed 200% in growth.

“adQuadrant has been an amazing addition to our marketing team! They hit the ground running from day one and helped us achieve 200% growth in paid search & 150% growth in paid social ” – Adele Nasr, CMO