Doing More With Less
Cutting costs by 35% without losing an inch of market share
36%
reduction in CPA year on year
5%
increase in leads year on year
£7M
incremental kitchen sales driven by CRO
About Company
Howdens is a major UK supplier of kitchens and joinery serving the building trade exclusively, running hundreds of depots nationwide to connect local builders with products and services.
Company size
Enterprise
Industry
Home Improvement
Brainlabs featured services
CRO
SEO
Paid Social
Paid Search
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Speak to a BrainlabberThe challenge
Howdens came to us with a specific brief: cut marketing spend by 35% without losing market share.
The conditions making that hard were real. A cost-of-living squeeze had knocked consumer confidence, DIY disruptors were pulling at the bottom of the market, and traditional players like Magnet, Wren, and Wickes were all competing in the same media space, pushing costs up. Howdens runs on a depot-led, lead-generation model, so every wasted click is a wasted builder relationship.
Key friction points:
- Spiralling CPAs across a crowded competitive set
- An attribution model (last-click) masking inefficiency across the funnel
- Untapped mid-funnel audiences at a time when brand visibility mattered most
- Technical SEO and CRO issues silently suppressing conversion
Our approach
1. Restructuring Paid Search for efficiency
An audit of Howdens' accounts revealed their campaign structure had room to improve. We rebuilt it using our D'Artagnan best practice framework, which delivered a 26% reduction in CPA and a 6% lift in leads. We then moved from Max Conversions to TCPA and TROAS bid strategies, giving the algorithm clearer targets and freeing it to find higher-value converting audiences. That change saved a further 22% while driving an 11% increase in lead volume.
2. Building mid-funnel presence through Paid Social
Paid Social had delivered a 54% CVR increase in 2024, so we made it a focal part of the strategy for reaching new audiences at scale. Creative was quickly identified as the key growth lever, and in Q2 we developed the social-first Bill Bailey campaign. It drove a 43% increase in CTR and a 16% drop in CPA, which freed up budget to launch on TikTok and drive a 65% increase in sessions.
3. Removing conversion blockers across the site
A site-wide technical audit found that Howdens' mobile homepage and PLPs were not crawlable, contradictory directive signals were causing unwanted indexation, and there were interruptions in the consumer journey. We resolved the technical issues and worked with our CRO team on an alternative landing page experience, driving £7M in incremental kitchen sales.
An audit of Howdens' accounts revealed their campaign structure had room to improve. We rebuilt it using our D'Artagnan best practice framework, which delivered a 26% reduction in CPA and a 6% lift in leads. We then moved from Max Conversions to TCPA and TROAS bid strategies, giving the algorithm clearer targets and freeing it to find higher-value converting audiences. That change saved a further 22% while driving an 11% increase in lead volume.
2. Building mid-funnel presence through Paid Social
Paid Social had delivered a 54% CVR increase in 2024, so we made it a focal part of the strategy for reaching new audiences at scale. Creative was quickly identified as the key growth lever, and in Q2 we developed the social-first Bill Bailey campaign. It drove a 43% increase in CTR and a 16% drop in CPA, which freed up budget to launch on TikTok and drive a 65% increase in sessions.
3. Removing conversion blockers across the site
A site-wide technical audit found that Howdens' mobile homepage and PLPs were not crawlable, contradictory directive signals were causing unwanted indexation, and there were interruptions in the consumer journey. We resolved the technical issues and worked with our CRO team on an alternative landing page experience, driving £7M in incremental kitchen sales.
The results
Across a year of tightened budgets and increased competition, Howdens grew leads while cutting costs.
Since working with Brainlabs:
Since working with Brainlabs:
- 36% reduction in CPA year on year, achieved across a 35% budget cut
- 5% increase in leads year on year, more enquiries, less spend
- 43% increase in Paid Social CTR, from the Bill Bailey campaign
- 65% increase in sessions via TikTok, a new channel delivering from launch
- £7M incremental kitchen sales, driven by removing friction from the onsite experience
36%
reduction in CPA year on year
5%
increase in leads year on year
£7M
incremental kitchen sales driven by CRO
