Meet Our Heroes
Evolution Fragrance isn’t your average candle company. Founded by Marie Yangambi, this brand was born from a simple but powerful belief: home fragrance should be both luxurious and clean. No synthetic fillers. No mystery ingredients. Just organic, natural products that transform spaces without compromising health.
While giants like Bath & Body Works and Sephora dominated the market with massive budgets and household recognition, Evolution Fragrance was carving out its own lane in the growing clean living movement. Their core offer, a generous 15% discount for first-time customers, was designed to lower the barrier to entry and invite curious shoppers into a world of natural scents that didn’t sacrifice quality for purity.
But passion and product alone don’t pay the bills. Marie had tried running ads before. Facebook and Instagram engagement campaigns in November. A Google Ads experiment over the summer. Both fizzled out without much to show for it. By the time she came to Digital Time Savers, she had an $800 monthly ad budget, a small but loyal email list, and a website that looked the part but wasn’t converting traffic into customers.
She was ready to grow, but the path forward wasn’t clear.
Their Goals
Marie’s vision was straightforward: she wanted to increase website traffic and, more importantly, turn that traffic into sales. Evolution Fragrance had the product quality to compete with the big names, but they needed a way to consistently reach the right people, people who cared about clean ingredients, elevated aesthetics, and supporting small businesses.
The goal wasn’t just to throw money at ads and hope for the best. It was to build a sustainable, profitable ads system that could scale with the brand. She needed to prove that her $800 budget could do more than just generate likes and comments. It had to generate revenue.
The Challenge
When we first audited Evolution Fragrance’s digital presence, the problems became obvious fast.
First, the previous ads weren’t optimized for conversions. Running engagement campaigns on Facebook and Instagram might boost visibility, but they don’t drive purchases. The summer Google Ads campaign had been set up without proper keyword research, audience targeting, or conversion tracking. Money was being spent, but there was no clear line between ad spend and revenue.
Second, the website wasn’t conversion-ready. Traffic means nothing if visitors bounce. Evolution Fragrance’s site was visually appealing, but it lacked the strategic elements needed to guide shoppers from browsing to buying. The first-time customer discount was mentioned, but it wasn’t prominently featured or integrated into the user journey in a way that created urgency.
Third, there was no retargeting strategy. In the fragrance and home goods space, purchase decisions aren’t always instant. Shoppers browse, compare, think it over. Without a system to bring those warm leads back, Evolution Fragrance was losing potential customers who just needed one more nudge.
Finally, the competition was brutal. Competing with Bath & Body Works and Sephora meant going up against brands with massive ad budgets, brand recognition, and sophisticated marketing machines. Evolution Fragrance needed to differentiate itself not just on product quality, but on messaging, targeting, and creative execution.
Marie had the foundation. She just needed a team that could turn it into a growth engine.
Our Process
We knew that with an $800 monthly budget, every dollar had to work hard. This wasn’t a spray-and-pray situation. It required precision, testing, and a phased approach that balanced quick wins with long-term scalability.
Phase One: Laying the Groundwork
Before launching a single ad, we audited everything. We reviewed the website’s user experience, mapped out the customer journey, and identified conversion bottlenecks. We also dove deep into audience research to understand who Evolution Fragrance’s ideal customers were and where they spent their time online.
We discovered that the brand’s core audience, women aged 25 to 45 who valued clean living, sustainability, and elevated home aesthetics, were highly active on both Facebook and Instagram. They engaged with content around wellness, home decor, and eco-friendly products. On Google, they were searching for terms like “natural candles,” “organic home fragrance,” “non-toxic candles,” and “clean burning candles.”
With that intel, we built out a multi-platform strategy that would hit them at different stages of the buyer journey.
We also worked with Marie to refine the messaging. Instead of just promoting “organic candles,” we leaned into the emotional and lifestyle benefits: creating a sanctuary at home, choosing products that align with your values, and supporting a small business that cares about what goes into every jar.
Phase Two: Facebook and Instagram Ads with Intent
We started with Facebook and Instagram, splitting the budget between prospecting (cold audiences) and retargeting (warm audiences who had visited the site but didn’t purchase).
For prospecting, we created carousel ads and video ads showcasing Evolution Fragrance’s top products, the story behind the brand, and the first-time customer discount. The visuals were clean, lifestyle-focused, and designed to stop the scroll. The copy emphasized the “why” behind choosing natural fragrance: healthier homes, better ingredients, and guilt-free indulgence.
We targeted lookalike audiences based on Marie’s small email list, as well as interest-based audiences who followed wellness influencers, home decor brands, and clean beauty companies.
For retargeting, we set up dynamic ads that showed visitors the exact products they’d browsed, paired with social proof (customer reviews and testimonials) and a reminder about the 15% discount. We also created urgency with limited-time messaging to nudge hesitant shoppers off the fence.
Phase Three: Google Ads That Actually Convert
Next, we rebuilt the Google Ads strategy from scratch. We focused on high-intent search terms, people actively looking for what Evolution Fragrance offered. We structured campaigns around product categories (candles, diffusers, room sprays) and used a mix of branded, competitor, and generic keywords.
We also optimized the landing pages. When someone clicked on an ad for “organic soy candles,” they landed on a page that immediately reinforced that promise, with clear product benefits, trust signals, and a prominent CTA featuring the first-time discount.
Conversion tracking was set up properly this time, so we could see exactly which keywords and ads were driving sales, not just clicks.
Phase Four: Test, Optimize, Scale
Once the campaigns were live, we entered testing mode. We A/B tested ad creatives, headlines, CTAs, and audience segments. We monitored performance daily, cutting underperforming ads quickly and doubling down on what worked.
We also worked with Marie to build out an email flow for abandoned carts, ensuring that even if someone didn’t convert immediately, they’d receive a follow-up nudge with the discount offer and product reminders.
As performance improved, we strategically increased spend on the top-performing ad sets, scaling profitably without blowing through the budget.
Results
Within the first 90 days, Evolution Fragrance went from sporadic, ineffective ad campaigns to a streamlined, data-driven system that consistently delivered results.
ROAS jumped from barely break-even to 4.2x. For every dollar spent on ads, Evolution Fragrance was bringing in over four dollars in revenue.
Website traffic increased by 340%. The combination of Facebook, Instagram, and Google Ads brought a steady stream of qualified visitors to the site, many of whom had never heard of the brand before.
Conversion rate improved by 68%. By optimizing the website experience and pairing it with retargeting ads, more visitors were turning into customers.
First-time customer acquisition cost dropped by 52%. Better targeting and creative testing meant Evolution Fragrance was reaching the right people at a fraction of the previous cost.
Revenue from paid ads grew to over $28,000 in the first three months, a massive leap for a brand that had struggled to see any meaningful return from previous campaigns.
But beyond the numbers, the real win was momentum. Marie now had a repeatable system, a playbook she could trust. She wasn’t guessing anymore. She had clarity, confidence, and a path forward to scale even further.
Evolution Fragrance proved that you don’t need a massive budget to compete with the big players. You just need the right strategy, the right team, and the willingness to play the long game.
