Maxxtools Success Story

In addition to a wide range of items for home and garden, Maxxtools also offers pet, sports, and toy items. This online store from Belgium has been selling its items via bol since 2014. With warm days approaching, it's a busy time for them.

“Very important. We notice that competition on bol and other platforms is growing. Being on that first page, getting into the buy box: it's becoming increasingly important.”

With a wide product range in sun blinds, garden fireplaces, parasols, and garden sets, the summer period is an excellent time for Maxxtools to peak. Tom explains: “For us in Belgium, the summer period started on May 1st. That's a public holiday for us, and the weather was also incredibly beautiful. Based on previous years, we know exactly which items and product categories do well specifically in the summer. Parasols don't really sell in winter, as everyone will understand. With sponsored products, we boost the right items at the right time.”

Preparations for the busy period are in full swing. Sponsored products are important for more visibility. Ensuring everything is set up correctly is the foundation. “The title, photos, and item description together form a solid foundation you need to work with sponsored products,” Tom explains. “We also provide extra promotions. You can be at the top of the search results and have a good fixed price; but if an item has a 10% discount, it's just a bit more attractive to buy,” Tom clarifies.

“Especially the seasons guide us in trends and peaks. Our indoor product range under Maxxhome, with, for example, dining chairs and heaters, naturally slows down in the summer. From March, April, we turn off the sponsored products for winter items and reduce those daily budgets, to slowly increase those for summer items. As soon as the good weather lasts longer, competition will increase, and thus bids will also go up. A bid for a parasol might be 20 cents now, but within a few months, it could be around 80 cents or 1 euro. That's when you really notice that the summer period has begun.”

For Tom, sponsored products hold no secrets. He works with them intensively and knows all the ins and outs of Advertising via bol. What has he learned?

With sponsored products, it's all about trying things out, Tom has noticed. “Sometimes you discover unexpected things. For example, we once experienced an item not performing in manual campaigns. We had tried everything, but nothing worked. Until we added the item to a total campaign. What do you think? Suddenly, the item sold 10 times.” But playing with keywords also yields results. Tom says: “With the search trend analysis available via bol, we sometimes find keywords we hadn't thought of ourselves. Suppose 'parasol' is found less often than 'sun parasol', then it makes more sense to set that as a keyword. That's how we try to play with keywords and key phrases in the description. By experimenting, you find out what works and what doesn't. It can sometimes be in very small things.”

Throw your entire product range into one campaign? Tom explains: “Look, in manual campaigns, we are only visible for the keywords we advertise on, and the total campaign 'fills in the gaps'. For example, if a keyword is secretly missing, we are still visible for it thanks to the total campaign.” A kind of backup then. “Exactly. Of course, things can go wrong there too. Like an item that devours half the budget. Such an item within a total campaign is naturally less noticeable than in a smaller manual campaign. So, something to monitor closely.”

“I try to check it at least two or three times a week and make adjustments. Otherwise, a campaign might have spent too much somewhere without anything being sold. If you only discover that after a week, that's a week of wasted money. That's a shame, because that budget could have gone to another campaign and generated revenue.”

An important success factor for sponsored products: remove any obstacles to a sale. “A customer doesn't always want to actively search. So, it's important to make it easy for the customer,” says Tom. “Imagine: a customer wants a parasol, and we have a nice one in 5 colors. The customer sees the blue one but prefers it in yellow. If they first have to search for the same parasol in yellow, there's a good chance they'll find another one and the sale is lost. But if they can simply click on the yellow variant, the sale is practically secured!”

“Remember: the customer cannot physically view the item and has to rely on photos and the content they find on the item page. These really need to be top-notch. If there are any ambiguities, it's already a lost cause. Advertising on such an item means 40% wasted clicks, and thus wasted money. Bad for your ACoS. I also notice from customer questions and returns (when it's not what the customer expected) that this is the most important thing.”

“As mentioned: the basics must be in order. That's the first thing we do when we launch a new item. Do we see in bol's search trend analysis that the item isn't being searched for much yet? Then we start with an automatic sponsored products campaign. This automatically generates keywords we hadn't thought of ourselves, or that aren't in the search trends. We often see results within a week and a half. Then we start a manual campaign. Turning keywords on and off, turning items off or adding them: that's easier with this.”

“The budgets depend on how popular the items are on bol. If we see that there are only 50 items of a category on bol, a low budget is enough to get to the first page. Sometimes you don't even need a budget for that. But if we launch a new parasol, we will have to set higher bids and, of course, need more budget. Because it also doesn't have any reviews yet, which is also becoming increasingly important on bol.”

“If I could, I would write 100 reviews for an item myself, all with 5 stars, but of course, that's not possible,” Tom says with a laugh. “That's something customers have to do themselves. So, it's a matter of trusting the customer and hoping they will write a review.” And doing after-sales as well as possible, so you earn that extra star. “We are noticing more and more how important that is. Customers actually contact us about reviews. They call to ask: has that been resolved now? And based on that, they buy the item or not.”

• “Start with low daily budgets. You can still achieve results with those. In any case, start with a minimum of €15. Does something catch on? Then increase the daily budget. Don't necessarily increase the bid directly, but slowly increase the daily budget. If there are more sales, more budget will naturally become available.”
• “Especially try many things. You often learn the most from data and knowledge of campaigns that don't work. So, if you have a setback and a 'failed' campaign? Don't ignore that campaign, but really try to see: what went wrong? What can I adjust to make the new campaign work? For example: everyone knows that if you have a parasol, and you put the keyword 'parasol' in the campaign, it will be found and clicked on. But try it with the keyword cantilever parasol, or large cantilever parasol, small cantilever parasol… See what works there, try adding keywords. Try to excel in that. And dare to switch campaigns quickly. Try to be actively involved.”
• “Make sure the basics are in place. That's what the customer sees. Are the basics good? Then you can play with sponsored products and you will automatically see results. Are the basics not in order? Then you can throw as much money at it as you want, but it won't work.”
• “Try it step by step. It sometimes feels like a lot, even too much, to get everything perfectly in order. But I think few partners have everything 100% perfect. We don't have everything perfectly set up in our campaigns either, but the more you work with it, the better it gets. Like with everything, really. Patience is a virtue!