September 24, 2022

How a national meal kit service found 20,000 new clients using mover advertising

If you’ve ever moved—and chances are you have, since Americans move an average 11 times in their lifetimes—you know the scene. Someone asks “What’s for dinner?” but you haven’t had time to go grocery shopping and the delivery app is right there on your phone. Before you know it, it’s three day’s later, and the pizza boxes are moving in with you. Something’s got to give.

A national meal kit service hadn’t yet tried mover advertising, the angle was clear. “Movers want a home-cooked meal, [and] they don’t know the restaurants yet around their home,” explained Liz Cronin, vp of sales at Audience Town. A kit subscription would stop the takeout cycle in its tracks. After all, eating healthy is the best way to keep your energy up during this particularly stressful time, according to Moving.com. But it’s not always easy to plan. 

Audience Town’s wealth of mover advertising analytics gave it a clear insight into what mover advertising grabs attention when it comes to meals. Movers are primed to spend, too: in general, movers spend 600% more than non-movers, on items ranging from home furnishings to food. 

The goal of the campaign, which would run in the first quarter of 2022, was customer acquisition, specifically having people submit their email for more information about the meal kit service.

From audience insights to action

One month in, the campaign was performing well. At a $17 CPA, the campaign was performing well below the client’s threshold. But as the brand’s mover advertising experts, the Audience Town team knew it could do better. With just a few creative tweaks, they were able to drop the CPA by 25%. 

The original creative was a rotating animation highlighting the ease of making meals, which caught the eye – but the offer was only visible to the viewer for three seconds. The brand logo figured prominently, but the mouth watering ingredients were missing. 

Most importantly, the copy didn’t mention moving either.  Thanks to their deep understanding of mover advertising, the Audience Town team knew just what to do.

“We knew that our audiences respond to ads that speak to their current situation and its stresses: coordinating packing and moving, but you still gotta feed your family,” added Ian Barbo, Audience Town’s vp of operations. “We also know that our audiences respond better to creatives that are static, and have a message that stays persistent on the page.”

Creative adjustments

Audience Town was able to offer actionable feedback: “We gave them suggestions on language specific to movers, [a] better CTA, [advised them to] put the actual product in the ad itself. The old ad had their logo, but no [meal kit] box,” explained Cronin.

With the creative adjustments, Audience Town was able to provide the client a $4 drop in cost-per-acquisition and a boost in CTR. Over the course of the campaign, the client saw 20,000 form-fills, which greatly exceeded client expectations.