How BAM Achieved a 400% Increase in ROAS for Culligan With Meta Advertising
Culligan Water is a leading global provider of water treatment solutions, established in 1936. The company specializes in offering a wide range of products and services designed to improve water quality for residential, commercial, and industrial use. With a strong network of dealers worldwide, Culligan has become a trusted name in water treatment, emphasizing innovation, sustainability, and customer satisfaction.
Paid Social IS A Lead Generation Platform For Service Businesses… With The Right Spend
Achieving a strong return on ad spend (ROAS) is essential for businesses looking to maximize their Meta advertising investments. This case study explores how BAM increased the ROAS for Culligan from 0 to 4:1 by increasing ad budget and using a different approach to testing and creativity.
Over the past year, BAM implemented a data-driven approach that resulted in significant improvements in lead generation, user engagement, and overall sales performance for a large Culligan Water dealership.
To ensure your advertising dollars are not being wasted, it is crucial to increase ad spend to surpass the budget threshold that this case study has uncovered.
We’ll examine the following impact areas for this social media campaign:
- Business-Related Effects
- Sales Effects & Qualified Leads
- Campaign Delivery
- Campaign Efficiency
Key Findings:
1. Business-Related Effects – Ad Spend vs. Sales Volume
Businesses that spend more, earn more. Over the past 14 months, as ad spend has increased, so has website forms submitted. Subsequently, sales volume followed suit. Culligan began their paid social programming in April of 2023 with a monthly budget of $850. In February of 2024, they increased their budget to slightly more than $3,000 per month.
Key Takeaways
- Over the latest 6 month period, the average monthly budget increased by 54.11% from $1,477.10 to $3,219.02.
- This increased investment was strategically allocated to maximize returns, leading to higher overall performance.
- So far in 2024, Culligan has received 99 forms attributed to Meta advertising… more than 600% from the previous period.
2. Sales-Related Effects & Qualified Lead Data
Quality over quantity. More quality leads are generated with a higher ad spend. As seen in the figure below, in the past 4 months, with an average spend of $3,251 per month, the leads generated reliably convert into quality appointments – they aren’t “junk leads.” These ads have yielded a total of 366 leads since launch in May of 2023, with all of those leads coming through in the last 8 months.
Key Takeaways:
- Only 160 of those total leads were captured in the most recent measured period (February-July 2024), and they boasted a 19% lead-to-appointment ratio.
- By contrast, the 206 leads from the previous period had a lead-to-appointment ratio of 3.8%.
- There were more leads in the previous period, but they were lower quality and did not convert into appointments. The lead-to-appointment ratio has increased by 20%, with a larger ad spend.
Over the past 6 months of this case study, the cost per lead has increased by 85%, from $10 per lead to $72 per lead. Because the $72 leads have a higher chance of converting to an appointment, and perhaps even a sale, the more expensive cost per lead is justified.
Furthermore, of the 31 appointments from our current period, those appointments resulted in $41,386 in gross sales/rentals. This results in roughly a 4:1 ROAS for Culligan’s paid social media ads: $10K spent, $40K sold.
3. Campaign Delivery
If there is more spend, success will naturally overflow into common ad objectives. This includes campaign delivery metrics, such as reach, impressions, clicks, and engagement.
| Metric | Number | Percent Change |
| Reach | 9.5K | +13% |
| Impressions | 1.9M | +27% |
| Clicks | 13K | +41% |
| Engagements | 12K | +47% |
| Sessions | 10K | +176% |
| Total Website Users | 9.5K | +162% |
| Conversion Rate | .79% | +90% |
| Forms | 84 | +394% |
The effects of a strong paid social campaign drive purchases offline. Campaign delivery results are positive side effects. All eight metrics above have a cumulative effect on the success of a brand. These metrics play a part in keeping your brand top-of-mind when a purchase decision is made offline. A recent Nielsen study found that 74% of U.S. internet users said they often or sometimes research products online before making offline purchases. A strong online presence can directly influence offline sales. This is especially true with a high ticket item consumers are more likely to spend time researching. A more robust presence on social media can effectively drive your customers to know your brand, find out more about you online, and ultimately make a purchase outside of social media.
4. Campaign Efficiency
Meta ads are just like any other part of business: You’ve got to spend money to make money. Because BAM is generating higher-quality leads, the cost of executing those ads was bound to go up. Despite those increases, the costs are justified by better ROAS and Lead-to-Appointment Ratios.
While it may appear that increases in both the cost per click (CPC) and cost per impression (CPM, cost per 1000 impressions) are theoretically negative outcomes, these are the prices to pay for sending higher-quality traffic.
Key Takeaways:
- The cost per click rose by 54.70% from $0.96 to $1.49. Despite the higher cost, the improved conversion rates (.79%) justified this increase.
- The cost per thousand impressions) also increased by 71.82% from $5.77 to $9.91. However, improved targeting and creative optimization ensured that these impressions were more valuable and more likely to lead to conversions.
- The click-through rate (CTR) saw a modest increase of 11.07% from 0.60% to 0.67%, suggesting the ads were more relevant and engaging to the audience.
Strategic Creative: The Secret Sauce
Campaign success is not exclusively attributed to an increase in ad spend. BAM made strategic adjustments along with the campaign.
- Running multiple offers in tandem with each other. More offers give Meta’s algorithm more to distribute, which is favorable for ad performance.
- Updating creative on a regular basis (for BAM, creative is swapped every 3-4 weeks). BAM performed extensive research on how long ads should run before experiencing “ad fatigue”, which affects deliverability.
- Using strategically provocative and localized copy. When an ad calls out a pain point, or something relatable to the customer the result is higher engagement rates and click-through rates.
- Alignment with Culligan corporate brand creative. Culligan Corporate runs ads on a shared platform. While BAM wants to emphasize uniqueness and local messaging, brand visual alignment is important for a consistent user experience to maximize engagement.
- A/B Testing: To ensure the best possible outcomes, BAM conducted A/B testing on various elements of the campaigns, including ad copy, images, and call-to-action buttons.
Creative Examples:
Conclusions… You Get What You Pay For
Culligan’s success story demonstrates that in the world of paid social media, spending more—when done wisely—can indeed lead to getting more if you have the right expertise and a strategic approach.
The average paid social budget amongst our current roster of clients is roughly $845 a month. For the past 8 or more years, special media has been a pay-to-play platform, and it’s becoming even more that way as time goes on.
To ensure your advertising dollars are not being wasted, it is crucial to increase ad spend to surpass the budget threshold that this case study has uncovered.
The partnership between BAM and Culligan serves as a powerful example of how a strategic, data-driven approach to Meta advertising can yield impressive results.
The ads setup and execution by our team, combined with the talented and skilled salespeople at Culligan have yielded very positive figures. By focusing on a strategic ad spend strategy along with creative optimization BAM was able to overcome the initial challenges and deliver a 400% increase in ROAS.
If you’re interested in seeing success for your brand in paid social media, drop us a line at [email protected].
