Crocs Inc. is a world leader in innovative casual footwear for women, men, and children. In Spring 2023, Merkle partnered with Crocs to bolster the brand's visibility and performance in key EMEA markets (UK, FR, DE) ahead of the peak summer season. The focus was on enhancing Crocs' online presence for its sandals range, aiming to capture the surge in consumer interest during May and June, the trending period for sandal searches.

Services
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Industry
Retail

Market
Europe

Tech Partners
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Crocs faced several challenges in maximising their online reach and conversions for the sandals category. The brand's category pages lacked sufficient content to drive unbranded queries to the site effectively. Additionally, the absence of a blog or content under the H1 tags limited opportunities for enhancing organic search visibility. Moreover, a gender bias in search results for broad terms like "sandals" skewed visibility towards women's products, necessitating a strategic re-optimisation. These challenges were compounded by resource constraints on Crocs' side, requiring Merkle to adopt a proactive and innovative approach.

Merkle's strategy revolved around in-depth market and keyword research, focusing on "People Also Ask" (PAA) queries related to Crocs sandals. This research informed the implementation of FAQs on Crocs' sandals category pages, incorporating secondary keywords and unbranded terms. This strategy not only aimed to address the content gap but also to enhance internal linking and improve page crawlability. The FAQs, coupled with carefully crafted romance copy, were designed to satisfy searcher needs and target a broader keyword spectrum. Merkle utilised tools such as Bright Edge, SEMrush, and Answer the Public to ensure the FAQs provided helpful and relevant answers. Despite the challenges, including the need to re-optimise pages due to search biases and the implementation of FAQs without the display in SERPs due to a recent Google update, Merkle recommended marking up FAQs with Schema to aid search engine comprehension and ranking.

The campaign exceeded its objectives across the UK, FR, and DE markets within a 2-month timeframe:

• UK Market: Clicks surged from 4,273 to 13,960 (+226% increase), impressions from 306,233 to 910,236 (+197%), and organic revenue from €2,823 to €7,047 (+150%).
• FR Market: Clicks increased from 919 to 2,217 (+141%) and impressions from 165,650 to 285,492 (+72%); however, organic revenue couldn't be tracked due to a reporting issue.
• DE Market: Clicks rose from 1,062 to 3,116 (+193%), impressions from 138,162 to 256,358 (+85%), and organic revenue from €962 to €2,311.87 (+140%).

The campaign's success underscored Merkle's ability to adapt and innovate within the constraints of resource limitations and the dynamic SEO landscape. By transforming Crocs' category pages into informative hubs through the strategic use of FAQs and internal linking, Merkle not only expanded the marketing funnel from transactional to comprehensive but also significantly enhanced Crocs' online visibility and sales for its sandals range across key markets.