Shades of Texas patio shade installation

Case study · Shades of Texas · Strategy + paid ads

Profit up 29%

How Shades of Texas had its best year in 36 years of business by partnering with Lobster Ferret.

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The results

+29%Higher gross profit. Up nearly 30% in three months after shifting spend from print to digital, without increasing the total budget.
$19.21Cost per lead, down 95% from as high as $375 in print to $19.21 with performance ads.
16×More leads, from as few as 20 a month on print to 328 a month, with better quality and faster conversion through instant booking.

Client: Shades of Texas
Timeframe: Three months
What we ran: Strategy, tracking and paid ads

Where they started

Before

Too much in print, too little in performance

For years about $7,500 a month went to print and magazine placements. It brought in roughly 40 leads a month, most of them low intent and hard to track.

Expensive, low-quality leads

At that spend, cost per lead ran as high as $375, and many inquiries never turned into paying customers.

No clear view of ROI

Print offered no attribution or performance data, so there was no way to adjust creative or messaging based on what was working.

What we did

The strategy

01
Custom conversion tracking, tied to revenue
We connected the ad platforms directly to their CRM so every click, form and booking ties back to real revenue. Google and Meta don’t do that out of the box. It took custom work.
02
Shifted spend to high-profit services
With clean revenue data in place, we found which service lines had the best margins and moved budget toward them.
03
Tested, refined and reinvested
Steady creative and audience tests kept performance climbing, with every decision made on revenue data.
04
Removed friction with instant booking
We helped launch an instant consultation system that turned more leads into real appointments, faster.

THE TURNING POINT

Our test campaign beat their print budget in two weeks

Within two weeks of starting digital ads, leads took off with clear ROI. Shades of Texas cancelled every print contract on their own and went all in on digital. What started as a small test became their whole marketing plan.

“We've handed the team at Lobster Ferret a high level of autonomy in our marketing strategy and are truly astounded by the results. We're converting at higher rates than ever in our company's 36 years in business.”