The Problem / Goal
Although The Sockery had a differentiated product offering, scaling an eCommerce brand in Australia’s competitive sock market presented several hurdles:
- Driving profitable growth on limited budgets. The team needed to acquire new customers at an acceptable cost and generate strong return on ad spend (ROAS).
- Standing out against mass retailers. The category includes discount chains and global fashion brands. The Sockery needed to highlight its local credentials, sustainability and quality to attract value‑conscious shoppers.
- Balancing acquisition and efficiency. Peak periods like Black Friday boost reach but often erode efficiency. Finding the right mix of awareness, retargeting and conversion‑focused activity was crucial.
- Improving on‑site conversion rate. Visitors had to quickly understand the brand’s value proposition, find the right product and trust the checkout process.
These challenges are common to many independent eCommerce founders who want growth but cannot afford to burn cash on ineffective marketing.
The Solution
Multi‑Channel Advertising Strategy
The Sockery’s growth plan combined Meta (Facebook/Instagram) and Google Ads to cover the full funnel:
- Awareness & Engagement on Meta. Video ads showcased product features and gifting themes, while dynamic catalogue ads pulled live products from the store. Creatives highlighted novelty prints, premium fabrics and the joy of gifting socks. Broad interest and look‑alike targeting built reach, and retargeting campaigns followed up with visitors who browsed but didn’t buy.
- Search & Shopping on Google. Campaigns targeted high‑intent queries such as “socks Australia,” “novelty socks” and brand terms. Separate campaigns for men’s, women’s and compression socks allowed budgets to be optimised at a granular level. Shopping ads placed the brand directly in Google’s product listings, competing effectively with larger retailers.
- Performance‑Based Budgeting. Budgets were weighted toward campaigns with the highest ROAS. On Meta this meant scaling video and catalogue campaigns while limiting spend on low‑impact post‑engagement units. On Google, spend favoured men’s and women’s campaigns that delivered conversions below A$12 per ordernoammarkting.reportgarden.com.
Creative & Keyword Optimisation
The team continuously tested ad formats, messaging and keywords:
- Funnel measurement tracked landing‑page views, add‑to‑carts, checkout initiations and purchasesnoammarkting.reportgarden.com. Drop‑off points informed adjustments to creative, targeting and landing pages.
- Creative testing compared carousel versus single‑image versus video ads, as well as gifting‑friendly versus functional messaging. The best‑performing ads had simple product shots with clear calls to action and copy emphasising novelty designsnoammarkting.reportgarden.com. Underperforming creatives were paused quickly.
- Keyword & query optimisation involved reviewing search queries weekly. High‑converting terms like “socks Australia,” “cool socks” and “novelty socks Australia” delivered click‑through rates of 14–18 % with low CPCs of A$0.13–$0.26 noammarkting.reportgarden.com. Non‑performing keywords were culled, and match types adjusted to limit waste.
SEO & CRO Improvements
Paid media success was underpinned by solid SEO foundations and conversion‑oriented design. Category pages were built around intuitive, keyword‑rich headings (e.g., novelty socks, work socks, compression) and descriptive copy explaining the benefits of each range. Product pages contained unique descriptions, material breakdowns and sizing guidancethesockery.com.au. Micro‑copy near the buy button addressed free shipping thresholds, compostable packaging and returns. Trust badges declared “Specialists in socks,” “30‑day hassle‑free returns” and “Australian owned & based”thesockery.com.au. A testimonials section with verified reviews encouraged buyersthesockery.com.au. Technical SEO fundamentals (structured data, internal linking, mobile‑first design) were addressed to support organic rankings.
The Results
Facebook & Instagram
- Spend and reach. From 1 May 2025 to 25 Jan 2026, spend totalled A$30,624.49, a 246 % increase versus the previous period. This investment delivered 1.87 million impressions and 43,423 clicksnoammarkting.reportgarden.com. Reach exploded to 488 K people, more than quadruple the prior periodnoammarkting.reportgarden.com.
- Funnel performance. Add‑to‑carts grew to 9 861 (+344 %), checkout initiations to 2 683 (+285 %) and purchases to 1 484, a 309 % uplift noammarkting.reportgarden.com. Video and catalogue campaigns alone accounted for 659 and 517 purchases respectivelynoammarkting.reportgarden.com.
- Efficiency and revenue. Despite higher spend, efficiency improved: the blended ROAS reached 4.16, up 18.9 %, and purchase conversion value totalled A$127.33 K, an increase of more than 311 % noammarkting.reportgarden.com. Average CPC fell to A$0.71 (–7.8 %), and click‑through rate settled at 2.32 %noammarkting.reportgarden.com.
- Social proof. The Sockery’s Facebook community grew from 1 470 to 1 672 fans (+13.7 %)noammarkting.reportgarden.com, while video views on the page hit 321 K (+413 %)noammarkting.reportgarden.com. On Instagram, the account recorded 562 K views, 382 K reach, 1 474 followers (+41 %) and 1 235 engagements (+73 %)noammarkting.reportgarden.com. Giveaways and product‑focused reels drove hundreds of engagements and sharesnoammarkting.reportgarden.comnoammarkting.reportgarden.com.
Google Ads
- Traffic & conversions. Google campaigns delivered 56 937 clicks (+40 %) on 2.79 million impressions (+4 %)noammarkting.reportgarden.com. Conversions rose to 4 129 (+58 %), while the average cost per conversion dropped to A$12.12 (–17 %)noammarkting.reportgarden.com.
- Campaign performance. Men’s and women’s campaigns drove the bulk of volume. The [CD] Humphrey Law campaign produced 1 338 conversions at ≈A$12.13 per conversion, and the [CD] Mens campaign delivered 1 327 conversions at ≈A$11.41 per conversion noammarkting.reportgarden.com. Smaller test campaigns such as “Mens Socks V2” achieved an efficient ≈A$8.36 cost per conversion noammarkting.reportgarden.com.
- Geographic & keyword insights. Top converting cities were Brisbane, Melbourne and Sydney, each delivering around 2 000 clicks at CPCs of A$0.75–$0.91 noammarkting.reportgarden.com. High‑intent search terms like “socks Australia,” “novelty socks Australia” and “cool socks Australia” generated click‑through rates between 14 % and 18 % with low CPCsnoammarkting.reportgarden.com.
Business Impact
Collectively, paid media efforts generated significant revenue growth while keeping costs efficient. The Sockery saw its digital advertising revenue exceed A$127 K, with ROAS consistently above 4noammarkting.reportgarden.com. Conversion rates improved across the funnel, and the strong growth in social followers and engagement provided an owned audience for future campaigns. Importantly, the brand achieved these results while staying true to its values of local sourcing and sustainability.
— Founder of The Sockery
