Boutique Hotel Chain Turns Homepage Exiters into 9.5x ROAS

Recent changes to the client’s site experience pushed its homepage bounce rate higher than usual. The team was already working on adjustments to bring it back down, but those fixes take time, and every visitor who left the homepage in the meantime had no way back.

The client needed a way to win back homepage exiters that did not depend on the site changes landing first. The target was an incremental ROAS of 6x or more.

A second goal sat alongside it. The client wanted to grow its CRM by 5,000 sign-ups a month, supported by a competition to win a once-in-a-lifetime hotel weekend for two over the peak summer break.

Optivo was deployed on the client’s homepage to capture visitors as they exited. A lightweight pixel matched anonymous UK visitors against esbconnect’s database of 17 million opted-in UK consumers, so every person identified had already given consent to receive marketing by email.

Over six months, Optivo identified 28% of homepage visitors and retargeted them on a 3x cadence. Each identified visitor received a sequence of emails designed to bring them back to the site and keep the client’s hotels front of mind.

The sequence also promoted the competition. Visitors were invited to join the client’s CRM for a chance to win a once-in-a-lifetime hotel weekend for two over the peak summer break. This gave exiters a clear reason to return and gave the client a route to turn anonymous visitors into known contacts.

Across the six-month programme, Optivo delivered on both goals:

• 28% of homepage visitors identified and retargeted
• 9.5x ROAS, ahead of the 6x incremental ROAS target
• CRM sign-ups averaged 6,200 a month in the 90 days leading up to the competition deadline, 24% above the 5,000 target
• Homepage exiters recovered while the client’s site adjustments continued in parallel

The client now has a retargeting channel that works on every homepage visit, and a competition mechanic that has proven it can grow the CRM well beyond its monthly target.