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Cookology
Client
Industry
Home & Kitchen Appliances
Cookology is a leading online kitchen and home appliance brand, but it wasn’t always this way. While working with Brave, they desired a fresh brand relaunch to mark a change in ambition, and we helped them rebrand, migrate and launch to dizzying new heights within the home appliance industry.
During our partnership, we not only surpassed set goals but also witnessed Cookology’s remarkable growth, fuelled by a shift towards agile account management, a commitment to a test-and-learn ethos and a dedication to innovation. Across the partnership period, Cookology saw:
Our task was to relaunch Cookology’s online presence with a dedicated direct-to-consumer (DTC) website. This involved us migrating brand equity to a new domain and creating a platform that looked modern, converted well and could compete with household names.
Our design approach prioritised the brand’s ability to connect with its target audience. By analysing user needs and product positioning, we crafted a distinctive, modern design with a signature technological edge. User experience and conversion stood at the forefront throughout; every page, from landing pages to the account area, was carefully designed to ensure effortless navigation. Subtle interactions brought the site to life while showcasing Cookology’s product range.
After the initial brand launch, we launched a full-scale audit to assess both opportunities and pitfalls. This included a technical audit focusing on the health of the website; a keyword audit from a per-page perspective; a content audit ensuring blogs were linked to the correct category pages; and CRO audits to identify friction points and areas for conversion improvement.
From the audits, we found that Cookology was overly reliant on informational keywords. Traffic was coming in, but not converting. Additionally, the keyword audit revealed that some blog pages were ranking highly for core keywords, but could be improved by having the main category page rank in its place, shortening the customer journey for transactional keywords.
In addition to the internal audits, we analysed the industry within which Cookology competed. We faced a tall order – the kitchen appliance eCommerce market was dominated by household names whose brands were so strong in the brick-and-mortar space that they held the top positions due to name recognition alone. This included not only retailers such as Curry’s and AO, but also manufacturers such as Bosch and Beko.
Big players had breadth of content, but our opportunity lay in depth. Similarly to how we cut through the garden furniture market with Kettler, we saw a route to domain authority by picking up the slack left by coasting established brands, and sought to create content and category strategies that cut through, targeting intent-heavy searches and giving users what they actually needed to make buying decisions.
The reboot of Cookology gave us the opportunity to build a clear roadmap for both our team and Cookology, reducing scattergun efforts across SEO, paid media and email marketing.
We began an email marketing channel through Klaviyo, with which we are certified partners, and planned richer, commercially-led content aligned to purchase intent and let it inform SEO, paid advertising and email campaigns, so we could outmanoeuvre slower-moving competitors. Our focus was on one area of Cookology’s range at a time to give clear direction for both the team and the client, and also send strong signals to Google.
Our SEO strategy began on the technical side, putting in place the foundations by enhancing page speed, mobile optimisation and intuitive navigation. We then took things modularly, focusing on one main product category and moving on only when that area was in prime shape. This ensured the site was positioned for visibility ahead of peak product periods, and sent clear signals to Google while building topical authority with tightly aligned blog and product content.
Where competitors had breadth, we built depth. By creating high-quality content, enhancing FAQs and structuring pages to serve both user needs and search engines, the brand gained domain authority and visibility over time.
The key challenge was shifting client perception away from keyword-chasing towards a more strategic, long-term plan. SEO is not a place for quick wins, but the work put in today will show in six months’ time. We planned accordingly, for instance, preparing drinks fridge content months before summer required trust in the process. Over time, Cookology gained rankings for competitive generic terms, which in turn strengthened branded searches.
We inherited Cookology’s Google Ads account from a previous agency and rebuilt it from the ground up. Product titles and descriptions were optimised for Google Shopping, attributes were refined for query matching and robust tracking was implemented. Collaboration with developers on CRO implementations – such as adjustments to the navigation bar to make them more accessible – improved performance across campaigns.
Starting with a modest budget upon the Cookology brand relaunch, we quickly scaled up to 16x the original budget within two years, all while maintaining an 8+ ROAS – a rarity when scaling aggressively.
Pushing for higher average order value (AOV), our paid media team encouraged the addition of bundling features, such as pre-built appliance bundles and the USP that was the “bundle builder”, allowing users to create their own appliance bundles and save money in the process. This had its intended effect, increasing AOV and further strengthening profitability.
Eighteen months into the new brand era of our partnership, we introduced Meta Ads to diversify Cookology’s reach. We had already built a rich data pool for the channel by implementing Meta Pixel before launching, allowing us to deliver strong results immediately – achieving a 15+ ROAS in the first month.
Unlike Google Ads, our Meta Ads strategy focused squarely on brand awareness, positioning Cookology against established household names. We leveraged customer list uploads and lookalike audiences to accelerate growth, and within three months, spend scaled 10x while sustaining performance and even driving sales. In a show of how both Google and Meta Ads work best in tandem, Meta boosted branded search volumes on the search engine.
We launched Cookology’s email marketing channel via Klaviyo, unlocking a crucial new touchpoint. The initial focus was on cleansing the database through a warming series and building automated flows, including welcome flows, abandoned cart and browse flows, and trade-specific automations. As the channel matured, we layered in seasonal campaigns, upsell flows for filters and accessories, back-in-stock notifications, and list segmentation.
The challenge was balancing a sales-driven strategy with the risk of subscriber fatigue. Through continual testing, refined flows and regular list maintenance, we achieved open and conversion rates well above industry benchmarks. Standout campaigns included a Wimbledon-themed competition that not only drove thousands of sign-ups but also gained traction on social media.
In the same philosophy as all our content marketing campaigns, Cookology’s content strategy balanced creativity with data-led insights. We refined category content to be concise, useful and aligned with Cookology’s evolving tone of voice. Initially cold and technical, we injected personality, brand storytelling and customer-focused details, helping both engagement and search performance.
In terms of new site content, buying guides and FAQ-driven articles were particularly effective in winning featured snippets and guiding customers directly to products. Seasonal content planning kept the brand ahead of demand, while competitor analysis ensured content stayed fresh and relevant.
We employed heatmapping and user testing to continually refine website, advertising and email performance. When it came to on-site CRO, it was the small changes that made the big difference, as one seemingly small change to widen the trigger point for the mega menu hover significantly improved interaction rates. Other conversion-focused experiments included altering CTA placement and button colours.
In advertising, we A/B tested product titles, experimenting with brand and product-first versus feature-led titles (e.g., “frost-free freezers”). Ad copy, on the other hand, was split tested to provide greater options.
In terms of email marketing, every element was scrutinised through A/B tests, from the layout, graphics and personalisation features to subject lines, emoji usage and CTA text. Because our audiences were well-segmented, different audiences had different reactions, meaning different versions of the same emails were sent out regularly, paying off with increased open and conversion rates.
The kitchen and home appliance market is not inherently seasonal, yet there were some clear seasonal rhythms that played a central role in strategy. Rather than reacting to peaks and troughs, we built campaigns around a “hero product” in focus, meaning growth could be sustained year-round, eliminating volatility and creating consistency.
For SEO and content, we worked three to six months ahead of demand, creating and optimising content well before the seasonal jump. Fridges and mini fridges, for instance, see a sharp rise in searches as summer approaches, so content was researched, written and published in spring, giving Google time to index and rank pages ahead of peak interest. Equally, oven and cooker categories were prepared in late summer, ready to catch the autumn and winter rush as families turned to home cooking and festive planning.
In paid media, seasonality became crucial during Black Friday and Christmas. The first year saw a simple blanket 10% discount sitewide, but as our partnership developed, we collaborated on more sophisticated strategies: tiered promotions, category-specific offers rolled out week by week, and an exclusive VIP early-access campaign. By the third year, Black Friday had evolved into a month-long window, matching the aggressive scaling of spend. Beyond Black Friday, our paid media team segmented campaigns to spotlight products when they were most in demand: mini fridges during heatwaves, wine coolers in the run-up to Christmas, and so on.
Email marketing provided the connective hub between these seasonal pushes. For instance, Father’s Day emails highlighted beer fridges and BBQ-friendly products, while autumn emails focused on ovens and cookers. VIP customers received early access to Black Friday deals, rewarding loyalty with a sense of exclusivity.
The results of Cookology’s relaunch and growth strategy were nothing short of transformative. The brand saw organic sessions increase 3.8x year-on-year, and organic revenue followed suit, up 2.5x. The growth trajectory only accelerated through 2024: climbing by 2x again. CRO improvements resulted in stronger transactions, with total orders placed up 12%, wishlist additions up 35% and revenue growing by 32% year-on-year. These gains were underpinned by a 3.5x increase in organic traffic value and a 38% improvement in SEMRush domain rank, showing their newfound authority in the market.
Paid media scaled profitably. Google Ads delivered a sustained 8.38 ROAS in December 2024, even after the budget had been scaled 16x compared to the relaunch. Meta Ads proved equally powerful, delivering a 14.01 ROAS by December 2024.
Email marketing quickly became a powerhouse channel. By December 2024, subscribers had more than doubled year-on-year, with a 37% increase in sign-up notifications. Revenue attributed to Klaviyo campaigns grew by 23.6% YoY, while performance far exceeded industry benchmarks: campaign emails achieved a 49.4% open rate (vs. 35.9% industry average), flow emails 55.6% (vs. 50.7% industry average), and conversion rates from flows reached 25.6% – over twice the industry standard of 10.8%.
Altogether, Cookology achieved a 37% increase in overall website orders, a 22% uplift in organic revenue, and a 9.7 Google Ads ROAS across the partnership period.
This growth was not only significant within the business but also in the wider market. In May 2024, SimilarWeb named Cookology the UK’s third fastest-growing digital home and garden company, confirming its position as a brand no longer chasing the leaders, but becoming one.
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