In 2024, Ein guter Plan, a German ecommerce brand known for its mindfulness calendars and planners, aimed to accelerate its growth in Q3.In 2024, Ein guter Plan, a German e-commerce brand known for its mindfulness calendars and planners, aimed to accelerate its growth in Q3.
We began early in Q2 with a robust brand awareness campaign, utilizing Meta Ads, Google Ads, and YouTube to engage audiences through UGC and build excitement for upcoming product launches. At the same time, we implemented a targeted upsell strategy, focusing on loyal customers who had previously purchased Ein guter Plan’s books.
By optimizing each campaign and leveraging tactics like lookalike audiences, detailed demographic targeting, and remarketing, we successfully achieved a 55% YoY growth in sales and a 43% increase in revenue from paid channels – all without increasing the media budget.
About the Client
Ein guter Plan is a Germany-based brand known for its holistic appointment calendars and mindfulness books, which are sold primarily through its e-commerce platform. Founded by two friends with a passion for promoting healthy lifestyles, Ein guter Plan helps people navigate their busy work lives with a range of thoughtfully curated products.
Their flagship product, the yearly planner, is designed to foster self-awareness and mindfulness without resorting to clichés or superficial advice. They also offer the Ein guter Plan Edu, a very popular planner among students. Since 2019, Ein guter Plan has relied on our agency to drive their business growth through paid advertising and performance marketing strategies, consistently managing campaigns across platforms like Google Ads, Meta Ads, and more
The Challenge & Goal
Ein guter Plan’s peak sales season begins in August with the launch of their flagship calendar, extending through January. In previous years, while sales saw steady growth from Q2 to Q3, the trend was gradual. This year, however, we aimed to deliver a stronger sales uplift by strategically planning our campaigns early in Q2.
A key challenge was the increasing competition, as more brands entered the market with similar products, making it harder to stand out. Additionally, Ein guter Plan needed to ensure that their Edu Book, launched every June, would sell out by August. The overlap between promoting the Edu Book and the yearly planner, Ein guter Plan 2025 added complexity, as both products required focused marketing efforts during the same period. This made it critical to optimize paid campaigns and precisely target the right audiences to maximize conversions for both products.
Solution
Our strategy was to invest in brand awareness initiatives during Q2 through Meta Ads, focusing on Instagram and Facebook, as well as Google Ads. We used UGC to highlight how Ein guter Plan’s products could be seamlessly integrated into daily routines, generating hype ahead of the upcoming launches.
We also tested various audience segments on Meta and Google, using lookalike audiences and interest targeting for students and teachers to promote the Ein guter Plan Edu. One of the tactics involved running ebook download campaigns to build interest in the student planner, followed by retargeting those who engaged with content related to mindfulness and study techniques.
Our strategy for promoting Ein guter Plan 2025 was also based on upselling to existing customers who had previously purchased the yearly planners, capitalizing on their loyalty to the brand.
Implementation
- On Meta Ads, we implemented Advantage+ campaigns, testing lookalike audiences and interest groups relevant to students and teachers for the Ein guter Plan Edu promotion. We also optimized campaigns toward ebook downloads, offering a sneak peek of Ein guter Plan’s Edu to create a pipeline of potential buyers.
- Simultaneously, we ran traffic campaigns on Meta, targeting users who visited blog articles about mindfulness techniques, which we later retargeted for conversions.
- On Google Ads, we utilized YouTube ads with a strong focus on demographic and in-market audience targeting, using UGC to increase engagement. Our key performance metric for YouTube was CPV, which allowed us to optimize the content for high visibility.
- We also executed the upsell strategy by launching remarketing campaigns aimed at previous customers, informing them of the latest product launches.
Ads
Results
The strategy delivered impressive results:
- 55% YoY sales growth: during the crucial peak season (Q3 2024 vs. Q3 2023), we achieved a 55% increase in total sales. This growth was fueled by a well-executed upsell strategy targeting existing customers and a carefully crafted brand awareness campaign in Q2, which primed the audience for upcoming product launches.
- 43% increase in revenue from paid channels: despite growing market competition, our paid advertising efforts on Google Ads, Meta Ads, and YouTube contributed to a 43% YoY increase in revenue. The combination of precise targeting and creative optimization ensured a strong performance across all channels.
Maintained budget efficiency: remarkably, these results were achieved without increasing the media budget from the previous year. By focusing on high-ROAS strategies and optimizing campaign performance, we improved the return on ad spend (ROAS) by 2 points YoY, maximizing the impact of every advertising dollar.
Conclusion
The success of this project lies in our strategic focus on upselling to existing customers and creating anticipation for Ein guter Plan’s product launches through targeted brand awareness campaigns. By engaging the right audiences early and leveraging user-generated content, we managed to deliver significant sales and revenue growth without increasing the media budget. The key to success was optimizing campaign performance across platforms and maintaining efficiency, proving that thoughtful, data-driven strategies can drive exceptional results even in a crowded market.
