Bearproof: ~60% Revenue Growth Case

The project

The client was Bearproof AS, a hunting and outdoor e-commerce company. The goal was to sell more of Bearproof Precision ahead of the autumn 2020 hunting season. The work had two builds: a redesign of the web store at bearproof.no, and a dedicated sales page for that one product at salg.bearproof.no. Around them I handled the tracking setup, the content and the Facebook Ads.

For confidentiality and competitive reasons I won’t go into the detailed Facebook strategy or the full marketing plan here. The process, the results and the lessons are all below.

The challenge

Bearproof’s revenue had been declining since 2017 and the company needed help with marketing. It had historically spent almost nothing on it. Growth came organically through the Villmarksmessa trade fair, and the Bearproof Precision product itself had earned free press coverage (Avisa Nordland).

The managing director was genuinely interested in learning digital marketing himself. But learning it and applying it takes time, and that made outside help the more profitable choice.

I started by auditing the web store to see how the system fit together. It runs on 24nettbutikk, a Norwegian platform, and it took me a while to learn after working with foreign ones. It has pros and cons, but it fits this company on both price and functionality. The storefront itself was cluttered, with poorly organized products that were hard to find.

One signal stood out. Sales of Bearproof Precision among Norwegian customers were strong. If paid advertising could push the product at scale, that would show the growth potential for markets like Germany.

The solution

After several meetings we landed on a setup that would cut marketing cost while keeping conversion high. I delivered five things:

• A redesign of the web store on bearproof.no.
• Design, development and copy for a dedicated sales page for Bearproof Precision on salg.bearproof.no.
• Data collection infrastructure with Google Tag Manager.
• The advertising content, both the ad video and the product photography.
• Strategic marketing through Facebook Ads.

A confused customer always says no, so clarity mattered more than cleverness. The content had to make people realize the product is necessary. The design had to be stylish but readable, so first-time buyers feel comfortable and confident. Trust is the barrier for a young brand, and weak design undermines credibility.

Execution

The web store (bearproof.no)

The store stayed on 24nettbutikk, so the redesign worked within that platform. I restructured the product segments so products were easier to find, cleaned up the storefront, and put Bearproof Precision up front on the home page.

The sales page (salg.bearproof.no)

The store covers everything from weapons and optics to clothing, but the campaign was about one product. So Bearproof Precision got its own sales page on the subdomain salg.bearproof.no, with one message and one action. Buyers go from there to the product page in the store to check out.

Every section was sketched on A4 paper first, then digitized in Adobe XD. A sales page is built to sell, so once the design was locked I developed it in Webflow and hand-optimized the code in VS Code. The page has its own write-up: Bearproof Precision: Sales Landing Page.

Photography and video

I had no studio equipment, so I shot the products against plain single-color backgrounds and finished them in Photoshop. Those images later became sales page assets. I outsourced the ad video to a partner after I moved to Oslo, since my machine wasn’t powerful enough to edit before September. I wrote the script and supplied the footage, and it took two revision rounds. It turned out surprisingly well.

The data layer

The sales page and the store were ready, so time to launch Facebook Ads? Not quite. The Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics were installed correctly, but the Pixel never fired between salg.bearproof.no and the product page on bearproof.no, most likely because of the subdomain placement or an unresponsive web host. The fix was Google Tag Manager, which lets you manage all collection scripts through a single line of code, with faster loads and better control over data distribution. The tradeoff is a lot of manual configuration compared to a standard Pixel install. I couldn’t integrate GTM on the 24nettbutikk side myself, so I contacted their support and they installed it.

A detour worth taking

During my bachelor programme in autumn 2020, Knut Bjørgen (formerly of Red Gruppen, now director of brand and marketing communications at Hill+Knowlton Strategies) guest-lectured on an award-winning campaign. The method and strategy were brilliant, so I approached him afterwards and told him I was running a campaign for Bearproof. He called me the next day with feedback on the sales page: good overall, better with a few changes, and entirely my call whether to apply them. I noted every point, agreed with the reasoning, and shipped the revisions.

The policy wall

After verifying the Pixel we were ready, and Facebook stopped us. The product is a firearm accessory, and policy section 7 states: “Ads must not promote the sale or use of weapons, ammunition, or explosives. This includes ads for weapon modification accessories.” The rules were vague. Ironically, “plastic guns, swords and toy weapons” are allowed. I submitted every ad set for manual review. It cost us a few days, but every set was accepted.

Audience research

We mapped the target group with Google Trends, Facebook Audience Insights and the store’s own CMS data, then split-tested audiences “scientifically” to understand the segments. Targeting covered 18+, Hedmark, Aust-Agder and Oppland, shooting ranges, hunting and hunting teams (elk, deer, ptarmigan), nature and outdoor life.

Results

After 3 to 4 weeks of advertising in September I had spent about NOK 15,000 on ads, and the store had made about NOK 500,000 in revenue. Sales were up roughly 60%, and September came within a hair of an all-time record. August had historically been the strongest month, and August 2020 had been very weak at around 300k.

Order data from the last three years showed a decline. The 2017 trade-fair appearances had driven spillover sales online, that activity faded, and Corona didn’t help. One caveat I always apply: Facebook Ads Manager under-reports (ad blockers, connection and browser differences), so campaign numbers have to be reconciled against the actual accounts and store orders. That’s exactly how the 60% was verified.

What I’d do differently

The project combined disciplines that usually need several separate vendors: design, development, photography, video, data engineering and media buying, all in one loop. Problems showed up, but we fixed them quickly and stayed on schedule.

Next time I’d research the market size more thoroughly, start earlier in the season, tailor the Facebook strategy better to the Norwegian market, A/B test more ad creatives, and use a different platform for the sales page.

I also expected more than 60% from NOK 15k. Looking at the hunting industry’s competitors showed that email marketing is more common there than Facebook Ads. It’s cheaper and often more effective, though limited to an existing list. The customer base has grown now, so email is the natural next step for Bearproof.

Thanks to Bearproof for the trust and the opportunity.