Case Study: Regional Car Wash Chain Increases Visits and Memberships with Simpli.fi's Robust Solutions

Advertiser Overview
•  Full-service car wash with multiple locations in the southern U.S.
•  Sought to drive foot traffic and increase memberships
•  Ran a regional campaign with localized targeting by car wash locationAgency Overview
•  Data-focused digital agency in Louisiana
•  Partner of Simpli.fi since 2019
•  Works with Simpli.fi on behalf of 25+ advertisersResults
•  $2.88 Cost Per Action (Physical Visits)
•  0.26% Click Through Rate

DRIVING ACTIONS FOR REGIONAL CAR WASH LOCATIONS

Programmatic advertising goes beyond simply building brand awareness as more and more advertisers are looking to drive actions with both online and offline conversions. That is why U.S. marketers planned to devote more than 50% of their media budgets to programmatic spending in 2021 (Statista). A car wash chain wanted to run a programmatic campaign with the goals of increasing offline foot traffic and driving online membership sign-ups. The brand tasked their advertising agency with creating a campaign for eight stores in three cities. The partnership began in January 2020 and they extended the campaign to continue partnering with Simpli.fi throughout 2021 for an always-on campaign.

Their agency, a data-focused organization out of Louisiana, has partnered with Simpli.fi for more than 25 advertisers since November 2019. They initially chose Simpli.fi as their programmatic provider to leverage advanced Geo-Fence technology with detailed foot-traffic reporting at the individual store-level. Shortly after partnering with Simpli.fi, the agency recommended that the car wash chain use Simpli.fi’s solutions for their campaigns in 2020. The car wash chain wanted to drive traffic to eight locations in three cities and increase sign-ups for their membership program online with two distinct goals:

• First, the brand and agency wanted to achieve a $25 Cost Per Action, defined as an in-person visit to a car wash location, using location-based tactics.
• Secondly, they wanted to achieve a .15% Click Through Rate for visits to the membership sign-up page on their website using behavioral targeting.

Together, the brand, agency, and Simpli.fi created a custom strategy to accomplish these two goals. In order to drive traffic to their locations and track offline conversions, the team implemented location-based targeting solutions including Addressable Geo-Fencing and traditional Geo-Fencing. They also tapped into Simpli.fi’s Addressable Audience Curation tool to curate addressable audiences in real-time based on location data and over 700 demographic variables. As for online sign-ups, they deployed behavioral targeting tactics including Search Retargeting, Keyword Contextual Targeting, and Site Retargeting.
 

LOCATION-BASED TARGETING FOR EIGHT STORES

First, the advertiser and agency wanted to use specific criteria to target people who were likely to own a car. They used Simpli.fi’s Addressable Audience Curation tool to curate a list of homes located in ZIP codes near each store, containing occupants with an age range of 18-64, and with household income levels between $35K to $199K per year. The custom audience contained more than 110,000 homes in Texas and Louisiana. Simpli.fi’s Addressable Geo-Fencing solution used GPS data paired with plat lines to match each address to the exact physical location, shape, and size of the property. The system then automatically built a target fence around each property to serve an even mix of display, pre-roll video, and OTT/CTV ads across devices within each household.

In addition to Addressable Geo-Fencing, the team deployed Geo-Fencing with Conversion Zones to drive even more traffic to their eight locations by targeting shoppers of other businesses nearby. Simpli.fi drew 77 target fences around local businesses where shoppers were likely to own a vehicle – such as grocery stores, churches, fast food restaurants, and competing car washes – to capture users who visited those locations based on precise smartphone GPS data. The campaign then retargeted these users with display, pre-roll, and OTT/CTV ads.

Furthermore, the team wanted to measure visits to the car wash locations from users who were targeted via Addressable Geo-Fencing and Geo-Fencing. To accomplish this, Simpli.fi drew Conversion Zones around each of the brand’s eight car wash locations. This enabled the brand and agency to report on the number of visitors by location who were served an ad, and to see which locations were driving the most traffic to their stores down to the ZIP+4 and individual target fence-level.
 

BEHAVIORAL TARGETING TO GENERATE MEMBERSHIPS

The agency and advertiser also wanted to encourage membership sign-ups on their website. They leveraged Simpli.fi’s online behavioral targeting by deploying Search Retargeting and Keyword Contextual Targeting. This enabled the brand to capture users who were actively searching for and reading about car wash related content online. Simpli.fi implemented more than 1,200 keywords including car cleaning, auto detailing, car washing, and more. Additionally, the team used Simpli.fi’s Site Retargeting to retarget users who had visited their website without completing a membership sign-up.

Finally, Simpli.fi tracked online activity from users who were previously served an ad. The brand measured membership sign-ups by placing a conversion pixel on the sign-up confirmation page
 

MEASURING FOOT TRAFFIC AND NEW SIGN-UPS

Overall, the advertiser and agency have been thrilled with the results of the ongoing campaign. From January to September 2021, the team achieved a CPA of only $2.88 for the foot traffic goal and a CTR of .26% for the online membership sign-up goal. These metrics exceeded expectations and beat the goals of a $25 CPA and .15% CTR. Additionally, Simpli.fi attributed 329 online membership sign-ups at a $75.50 CPA.

The advertiser was happy with the CPA value because the lifetime value of the membership exceeded the cost of acquisition. Furthermore, the strategy has generated so much business that the brand opened three additional stores and continues to partner with Simpli.fi for their programmatic marketing efforts.

 
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