PPC

Lights & Linen

Overview

When we took over Lights & Linen’s growth marketing, the goal was not a quick spike. It was to build a reliable sales engine that could scale, withstand change, and keep paying back month after month.

This is a more complex story than a straight line up and to the right. The business backed us through a period where the market shifted, buying behaviour changed, and performance became harder to hold. We stayed close to the data, kept iterating, and by the end of 2025 we brought the brand back to its strongest monthly sales levels, including a return to £20K+ in a month.

To make sure we were not telling a story from a short snapshot, we analysed 16 months of consecutive performance data across Shopify and Google Ads, covering Sep 2024 to Dec 2025. That timeframe gives real substance to the “chapters” in the journey, because we can clearly see what changed, when it changed, and how the recovery actually happened.

Alongside that 16 month window, we also used additional Shopify months before and after for context (baseline and seasonality), but the core analysis and timeline is anchored on that consistent 16 month period.

One key context point for this category is attribution. We consistently see that reported platform conversions understate influence, because in home interiors it is common for one person to click, browse, shortlist, then someone else completes the purchase later. Because of that, the visible conversion numbers are often only part of the picture, even when the revenue trend is very real. As a practical rule of thumb for this case, we assume conversion counts shown inside ad platforms can be materially understated and in many months could be closer to double once you factor in shared decision making and cross device behaviour.

The Challenge

We did not face one problem, we faced two different problems at different times, plus the wider reality that consumer behaviour does not stay constant.

Challenge 1: A market shift that changed what people were willing to spend

In the earlier baseline period, Lights & Linen was steady but capped.

  • Monthly sales sat around £6K

  • Conversion rate was typically around 2%

  • Traffic levels were consistent, but growth needed a more scalable structure

From late summer into Q4 2024, the business stepped up materially:

  • Sales moved from roughly £10K in August 2024 to £12K in September, then £13K in October

  • Q4 became the strongest run, reaching about £17K in November and £16K in December

  • Conversion rate improved in this period, lifting to around 3%, which matters because it signals quality, not just volume

Then January 2025 arrives, and the pattern changes in a very specific way:

  • Sales drop from about £16K in December 2024 to about £10K in January 2025

  • Sessions stay roughly similar (around 7K)

  • Conversion rate remains about 3%

  • Orders remain relatively strong (roughly 270 in December vs 239 in January)

That combination matters because it is rarely an “ads stopped working” signal. When revenue drops sharply but traffic and conversion rate do not collapse, it is more consistent with changes such as:

  • average order value shifting (product mix, discounting, smaller baskets)

  • increased price sensitivity in the market

  • customers still buying, but trading down

  • tougher competition compressing higher value orders

You can see it directionally from the implied averages. Using Shopify’s rounded figures, December’s implied average order value is materially higher than January’s. People did not stop buying, they bought differently.

February 2025 stabilises and begins to recover slightly, which tells us the business was not “broken”. It was navigating a tougher environment.

Challenge 2: A colder market where conversion rate became the enemy

Mid 2025 is where the challenge becomes behavioural rather than simply economic.

  • April reaches about £14K, a strong month again

  • Then May through August dips, with August around £4K

  • During this stretch, conversion rate declines from around 3% earlier in the year down towards 1% in the weakest months

This is a different problem to January’s drop. A conversion rate slide of that magnitude usually means one or more of the following are happening:

  • purchase intent is colder in the market

  • traffic mix has shifted towards less ready buyers

  • the decision cycle has lengthened, people need more touches before buying

  • competitive pressure has intensified and users hesitate longer

  • buying friction increases, even small issues compound when demand is tight

This is the part of the story where experience matters most, because the solution is rarely “spend more”. It is about tightening focus, improving quality, and rebuilding momentum in a way the market will allow.

The hidden complexity: shared decision making and under credited influence

Because this is often a shared household decision, we had to interpret the data with the reality that the clicker is not always the buyer. That changes how you read conversion signals, how you judge what is working, and how you prioritise consistency across the decision cycle. It is also why Shopify revenue movement can be strong even when platform conversions look modest.

Lights & Linen

The Results

The recovery is not a single moment, it is a series of measurable steps across the 16 month window.

What happened on Shopify

There are three clear performance chapters in the numbers.

1) Baseline and early build

  • May to Jul 2024 sits around £6K per month in sales, a stable base

2) Growth and peak performance

  • Aug to Dec 2024 climbs strongly, reaching the high teens per month

  • Conversion rate lifts to around 3% in Q4, a strong quality signal

3) Disruption, then recovery

  • Jan 2025 drops hard on revenue while traffic and conversion rate remain relatively steady, signalling spending behaviour changed rather than demand disappearing

  • Mid 2025 becomes the toughest period for purchase intent, with conversion rate trending lower and sales dipping to around £4K at the low point

  • By Dec 2025, the business is back above £20K in monthly sales, supported by roughly 10K sessions, around 2% conversion rate, and 327 orders

The standout detail is that the late 2025 recovery is not fragile. It is supported by two things happening together:

  • traffic scales again

  • conversion rate improves compared to the mid year low

That combination is what makes a return to £20K+ repeatable rather than a one off.

What happened inside Google Ads (explained as themes, not proprietary structure)

Across the same period, the ad account evolves in a way we expect from a business that goes from “early growth” to “resilient scale”.

Early on, performance is heavily dependent on broader coverage activity and a smaller number of big contributors. As the year progresses, performance becomes more resilient because revenue is coming from multiple demand themes, not a single lever.

By the end of 2025, the account is effectively running as a portfolio of strong demand drivers rather than relying on one hero. That shift is a big part of why sales can climb back to record levels after a tougher mid year period.

How We Solved The Problem

We solved this by evolving the account and the approach in line with what the market was doing, without being trapped by any single tactic.

We had to win in three environments:

  • a growth environment where scaling was rewarded

  • a disrupted environment where buying behaviour shifted and basket value compressed

  • a recovery environment where we rebuilt demand and conversion quality, then scaled again

Here are the themes of what changed, without giving away the exact mechanics of what we do.

1) We moved from broad coverage to structured intent capture

At the start, broad demand capture is useful for reach and learning. It builds volume and it builds data.

Over time, we increased control by organising activity around clearer buying intents and shopping behaviours, so the account could lean into what was working even when the market softened. This is one of the most important shifts because it creates stability. When demand changes, you can pivot spend towards the strongest intent pockets rather than hoping a single catch all approach continues to hold.

2) We built resilience by spreading performance across multiple demand pockets

The late 2025 recovery is strongly associated with multiple demand themes contributing meaningful value rather than one lever doing all the heavy lifting.

That matters because when the market shifts, you do not lose everything at once. You can protect performance by keeping more than one route to revenue open, and you can scale with confidence when several parts of the account are proving they can carry weight.

3) We treated the mid year slump as an optimisation and discovery window

When conversion rate dropped and demand cooled, we did not try to brute force growth.

We tightened focus, iterated, and refined, with the goal of identifying scalable pockets of demand that remained efficient. Once we had clear winners, we scaled those themes when the data supported it. This is what allowed the comeback to be built on solid ground rather than being a short lived spike.

4) We managed performance with the reality of a shared decision journey

Because this is often a shared household decision, we optimised with an understanding that the click is not always the purchase.

That means we value consistency across the research and consideration cycle, not only last click signals. It also means we interpret platform conversion counts carefully, because for this type of product it is common for influence to be under credited, even when the sales curve proves that momentum is building.

Why this case study is different

A lot of marketing stories are told as if the market stays constant. This one did not.

We kept performance moving through changing conditions and delivered a result that speaks clearly:

  • from a mid year low around £4K, we brought the business back to £20K+ in monthly sales

  • we did it with a structure that was more diversified and resilient than earlier periods

  • we did it using a 16 month evidence base, not a short snapshot

The business showed faith in us through that whole arc, and we delivered on it.

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