Driving Little Greene’s 93% increase in revenue through enhanced eCommerce capabilities and strategies

Data & analytics
SEO
Email marketing
Paid Media
Social media & influencer
Content marketing

Client overview

Little Greene is an independent manufacturer and supplier of luxury paints and wallpapers, committed to promoting socially and environmentally responsible production. As a key player in the UK’s home improvement market, Little Greene sells directly to consumers online and in-store, alongside selected retail partners.

With a strong emphasis on quality, their exquisite colour palette and innovative designs, developed in collaboration with the National Trust, reflect their dedication to craftsmanship and sustainability.

As a trusted partner, CTI Digital has been instrumental in enhancing Little Greene's eCommerce presence since 2015, including projects such as digital transformation and analytics and compliance.

The challenge

Little Greene faced the challenge of effectively boosting their online visibility and engagement within the competitive luxury paint and wallpaper market. While they had a strong reputation for quality, their digital presence needed improvement to rank higher for critical terms such as “paint” and “wallpaper.” Initially, long-tail keywords were the primary focus, but as their digital authority grew, the need to compete for broader terms became apparent.

Additionally, ensuring that international clients landed on the correct regional websites added a layer of complexity to their digital marketing strategy. With 6-7 international domains, including at least 4 in English, implementing proper hreflang solutions was crucial to prevent Google from presenting incorrect regional links in search results.

Their social media presence, while professional, felt too formal and corporate, failing to generate the engagement needed to compete with established rivals or emerging challenger brands. The company lacked the internal resources to manage influencer partnerships effectively, despite recognising their potential value.
"It has been a great experience working with CTI. Our online sales have gone from strength to strength, thanks largely to CTI’s excellent work on SEO and paid ads. The team has been super to work with. Always available, quick to respond and proactive in their approach. I have particularly appreciated their can-do attitude to dealing with challenges."
— Steve McNamara eCommerce Manager

The approach

To elevate Little Greene's digital presence, we implemented a comprehensive marketing strategy comprising various interconnected services:

Content development

Since 2018, our content development strategy has been rooted in close collaboration with their internal content team.

  • Creative briefs

    We work together to create comprehensive creative briefs that align with the brand’s goals and target audience. This collaborative process includes conducting in-depth research to ensure the content resonates with potential customers and addresses their needs.

  • Search visibility

    Once Little Greene’s internal team produces the content, we take on the responsibility of optimising it for search visibility and user engagement. This includes refining keywords, enhancing readability, and ensuring all content meets SEO best practices. 

  • Internal expertise

    By leveraging the expertise of Little Greene's specialists in their respective areas, we ensure that the final output is not only compelling and informative but also effectively drives traffic and conversions. This partnership has significantly improved Little Greene’s digital presence, enabling them to rank for competitive terms in the market.

Technical SEO

Having worked with Little Greene for more than five years, our search optimisation project has spanned multiple website launches and migrations. Marketing and SEO teams were heavily involved in the digital transformation process. We embedded SEO best practices at the heart of their commerce build to create a competitive, high-performance website.

Key actions included: Improved crawlability and indexability through site structure optimisation; updated robots.txt rules; enhanced internal linking; delivery of best-in-class SEO modules to simplify optimisation for the Little Greene team; close collaboration with the content team to produce keyword-targeted editorial content; implementation of comprehensive international SEO solutions with proper hreflang tags across multiple domains to ensure users land on the correct regional site.

Paid advertising

The strategy included regular meetings across paid search, social media, and content teams to ensure cohesion and mutual support among all marketing efforts. We explored promoting content through paid channels if content initiatives weren't meeting expectations. Targeted Google Ads campaigns were focused on relevant keywords and user intent, maximising ROI and driving traffic to the new site. This coordinated approach has delivered strong year-on-year growth with excellent tracking performance.

Email marketing

Our email marketing strategy for Little Greene was designed to navigate the long buying cycle typical in the paint industry. To nurture leads and enhance engagement, we set up automated email campaigns that guide customers through various stages of their journey with timely and relevant communications.

Key automation flows trigger emails based on specific user actions, such as requesting a colour card or browsing products. Moving forward, we aim to extend these email campaigns to maximise conversions and build further customer loyalty in the competitive luxury paint market.

Social media management

When we began our strategic partnership in 2022, Little Greene had an established presence and solid following but weren't seeing the engagement they needed because the content was too formal and corporate. It felt professional but wasn't accessible to people. We developed a comprehensive social media strategy built around several key approaches.

  • User-generated content

    We prioritised user-generated content, showcasing real customer projects and transformations to create community and authenticity.

  • Lo-fi content

    We moved away from editorial-style video, embracing lo-fi, mobile-first content that used trending audio to improve performance, particularly on Reels.

  • Cultural moments

    Our strategy also embraced cultural moments, pairing Little Greene shades with iconic film scenes and global trends to spark conversation. 

  • Brand assets

    We used the beautifully designed paint tins and delivery boxes as standout features in product photography, building brand recognition digitally. 

  • Behind-the-scenes content

    We placed Ruth, Little Greene's Creative Director, at the heart of our strategy through mobile-filmed, informal videos addressing common design queries, giving the brand a personable, expert voice. Behind-the-scenes content, from satisfying paint pouring to factory footage, highlighted craftsmanship in formats that consistently drove engagement.

Influencer partnerships

Previously, Little Greene had never really worked with influencers on a paid basis and struggled to see how it would work for them internally, lacking the resources to organise that kind of activity. Our influencer strategy combined a two-pronged approach, balancing high-profile names' reach with homegrown content creators' creativity.

  • Household names & interiors influencers

    Household names brought organic press attention, while interiors influencers delivered beautifully curated, transformational content in aspirational settings. We prioritised creators who were genuine fans of the brand, ensuring every partnership felt natural.

  • Scroll-stopping content

    Influencers were encouraged to transform a space using Little Greene, producing scroll-stopping before-and-after content that resonated with audiences.

  • Remarkable transformation

    Over 350 influencer collaborations later, engagement is now consistently high, with influencer partnerships now forming a core part of Little Greene's marketing strategy.

The results

The implementation of our comprehensive digital marketing strategy for Little Greene has yielded impressive outcomes that underscore the effectiveness of our collaborative efforts. These results highlight Little Greene's strengthened position in the luxury paint and wallpaper market and demonstrate the value of our ongoing efforts to innovate and adapt in line with their business goals. As Little Greene continues to grow, our partnership has equipped them with the tools necessary for sustained success and future expansion.

  • The enhanced eCommerce capabilities and strategic marketing initiatives have resulted in a substantial boost in overall sales, significantly elevating the brand's financial performance.
    93%
    increase in revenue
  • This significant uplift demonstrates the power of effective SEO, compelling content marketing, and targeted advertising strategies that have attracted more customers.
    232%
    increase in digital revenue
  • Our focus on SEO efforts has driven higher visibility in search results, leading to a greater number of visitors engaging with the Little Greene website.
    40%
    increase in organic sessions
  • Our targeted paid advertising campaigns achieved exceptionally efficient customer acquisition, demonstrating the effectiveness of our coordinated approach across search, social, and content teams
    £6.97
    cost per acquisition
  • 188,000 new Instagram followers representing 60.6% growth since 2022, with over 350 influencer collaborations reaching a combined following of over 51 million
    60.6%
    social media growth
  • Video views increased 18x through authentic, mobile-first content, whilst story interactions were 6.5x higher thanks to more engaging formats. Content featuring in-house creative saw 42% higher engagement rates.
    42%
    increased engagement across channels

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