What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We’ve always had a strong return on ad spend (ROAS). Hedges & Company was able to shepherd us through growth while increasing our ROAS year-over-year. We consistently saw our revenue growth outpace our costs, and I give kudos to their management for that. We had very little exposure to Google Shopping so it was helpful for them to handle all of that. They have a ‘secret sauce’ they apply to the Product Feed and I give them credit for being able to take our very complicated product data and turn it into something that could be used for Shopping campaigns.
They managed our retargeting campaigns for a brief period, but we decided it was better that we manage those ourselves, and then eventually moved our paid search campaigns in-house as well to manage costs and improve efficiency. They were professional to us to the very last day, and we were always happy with their performance.
How did Hedges & Company perform from a project management standpoint?
They were great partners. Since the beginning, we had an open, transparent relationship with Chris, who excels at account management. He was on the ball and would respond immediately if we had an issue or question.
Their weekly metrics reports were very, very detailed as well, letting us track the progress of each campaign. Every other week, we’d get on a call with Chris to get into more details with graphs and trends.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The team was very open, transparent, and hands-on in their account management. The level of detail in their metrics and reporting went above and beyond as well. They were always responsive to our inquiries, making sure to get back to us quickly, especially over e-mail, or take note of any questions we e-mailed about and address it all in our bi-weekly call. They helped us optimize our feed and product data throughout the years of partnership as well, doing a lot of work to identify issues in our product records like changing fitment and other things that we could then pass on to our tech and merchandising teams to remedy.
Are there any areas they could improve?
There were a few times Hedges did not follow an agreed upon plan for a gradual budget and bid increase, which resulted in inefficient spend with lower ROAS that could have been avoided had we stuck to plan. Additionally, an agreed upon monthly cap of their fees that was written into the contract was not honored when the time finally came to exercise that part of the agreement. In the spirit of partnership, we allowed Hedges to continue billing at a % of spend without the monthly cap, but it got to a point where their fee structure would impede profitable growth on our end. Interestingly, we might have continued with them had they honored the initial agreement we all signed. My advice to them would be to honor what they promise in an initial RFP response.
Any advice for potential customers?
Work with Chris if you can: he’s one of the best. Jon’s availability as a company owner willing and ready to check in at key moments is appreciated, we like that personal touch. Hedges prefers to be given a budget, goals and to let them do their thing, we’ve found that it’s a balance of being hands-off and hands-on to help drive successful results.
Their efforts increased the client’s ROAS and revenue year-over-year. Hedges & Company didn’t comply with an agreed-upon cap on monthly fees with increased spend, making them less cost-effective over time. Nevertheless, their detailed reporting and responsive management made for a solid partnership.