Paspaley Digital Transformation
(2018–2024)

Scalable digital marketing intelligence ecosystem boosts website sessions 717%, increases ROAS 8X, and doubles year-on-year sales for three consecutive years

The Background

Paspaley, Australia’s premier luxury pearl brand, came to us in 2018 with a vision to modernise their marketing approach and reach new digital audiences. Known for exquisite, ethically sourced South Sea pearls, Paspaley wanted to establish a digital footprint that could enhance customer engagement, drive both online and in-store sales, and ultimately expand their luxury brand presence across Australia and internationally. At the beginning, Paspaley’s digital investment was non-existent; the brand had relied solely on traditional advertising, with no structured reporting, tracking, or digital insights framework.

Initial Situation:

• Zero digital investment in 2018
• Limited customer data insights
• No structured reporting or tracking framework for digital performance

The Task

We led Paspaley’s digital transformation, creating a scalable and future-proof digital marketing intelligence ecosystem for reporting, tracking and performance. This system uses mathematical and statistical optimisation of metrics to deliver accurate and efficient solutions, while aligning with the brand’s growth objectives and generating data-driven insights and predictive modelling to drive ongoing success.

This project went beyond simply launching digital channels; we built a comprehensive 360-degree feedback loop to connect digital media and online interactions with in-store and e-boutique activity, designed real-time data visualisation tools for agile decision-making, and established a performance framework to maximise leads and revenue, ROAS, customer acquisition, and brand loyalty.

Key Objectives:

1. Crafting and executing a digital marketing intelligence ecosystem with a reporting and tracking strategy from the ground up.
2. Developing an integrated a 360-feedback loop to connect media with online and in-store insights.
3. Implementing data visualisation tools to provide actionable, real-time insights.
4. Establishing and refining a performance scorecard by channel, funnel stage and campaign for consistent tracking and optimisation.

Through dedicated, technically-led projects, we tailored each strategic element to align with Paspaley’s premium brand identity, carefully selecting channels and curating insights to resonate with its high-end clientele and support the brand’s long-term digital growth.

The Challenge

Beginning from a zero-digital baseline presented several unique challenges:

• We needed to develop a reporting, visualisation, tracking, and measurement approach that delivered insights to a range of stakeholders—including media execution teams, marketing, and senior executives—on both performance and strategic impact.
• Tracking engagement across each stage of the sales funnel—Awareness, Consideration, Intention, and Conversion—required an integrated approach covering all media channels and online and in-store touchpoints.
• The new data visualisation framework had to provide immediate insights into media performance, customer engagement, and sales, enabling proactive campaign adjustments, while also offering the flexibility to view data at both a high level and in detailed reports.
• Digital initiatives had to embody Paspaley’s high-end brand ethos, ensuring all touchpoints communicated the value and prestige of the brand.

Our Solution

Our phased approach, starting with foundational setup and expanding into advanced reporting and feedback mechanisms, provided a scalable solution for Paspaley’s digital transformation. Here’s how we did it:

To launch Paspaley’s digital transformation, we started by establishing a baseline for digital activity through well-defined media strategies and plans. These targeted each stage of the marketing funnel—Awareness, Consideration, Intention, and Conversion—by tracking outcomes aligned with each stage, such as Impressions (CPM), Clicks (CPC), Leads (CPL), and Sales (CPA), all while maintaining the brand’s luxury and exclusivity.

We invested in foundational channels, including Search, SEO, and targeted campaigns on Meta and YouTube, to boost visibility and drive brand awareness. This phase introduced Paspaley to digital advertising, with a focus on key seasonal events such as the June Month of Pearl, Mother’s Day, Christmas, and Lunar New Year. By capturing high-intent audiences around these peak times, we successfully drove online traffic and increased brand engagement. This targeted approach resulted in a steady increase in conversions, allowing Paspaley to experience the immediate impact of digital media on sales growth.

As Paspaley’s digital marketing intelligence ecosystem evolved, establishing an advanced data capture and tracking system became essential for understanding the role each digital channel played in driving both in-store foot traffic and online sales. To meet this need, we began with a comprehensive tracking audit of all customer touchpoints, mapping each interaction to its respective funnel stage and identifying the most relevant metrics. To ensure that our tracking implementation would align with business goals and provide the most valuable insights, we created a structured measurement plan as a foundational step.

A well-defined measurement plan allows a business to focus on collecting data that directly support its objectives, helping avoid “data overload” and instead hone in on the insights that drive meaningful decisions. For Paspaley, our measurement plan addressed the following objectives:

  1. Business Goals: Primarily, the objectives were to drive foot traffic to Paspaley boutiques and increase traffic and sales on the e-commerce platform. This meant that we needed to focus on tracking metrics that reveal customer behaviour both online and in-store.
  2. Website Objectives: To increase new visitor acquisition, encourage longer site visits, and drive engagement with collection pages. We focused our data collection on measuring visitor growth and content engagement to understand how effectively the website attracted and retained new users.
  3. Tactics and KPIs: Although specific KPIs were not in place initially, the measurement plan established a framework to measure future tactics effectively. This flexibility allowed Paspaley to adapt as new strategies and metrics were implemented over time.
  4. Tracking Objectives: Our measurement plan identified metrics and tactics that were not yet being tracked. By pinpointing these gaps, we ensured that every critical customer interaction—from web engagement to in-store visits—was accurately captured and aligned with Paspaley’s business goals.

With this measurement plan in place, we seamlessly integrated conversion tracking across online and in-store channels. This enabled us to create a feedback loop that provided holistic insights into customer journeys, helping Paspaley make data-driven adjustments in real time. The result was a robust tracking and reporting structure that offered clarity on the performance of digital channels in achieving core business objectives, laying a scalable foundation for future growth.

The establishment of the feedback loop and measurement plan involved the following steps, each with a dedicated project that had a clearly defined scope of work:

  1. Tracking Audit & Tracking Setup
    To ensure Paspaley’s digital ecosystem was set up for optimal data tracking and actionable insights, we conducted a thorough tracking audit and set up key conversion tracking points across all relevant customer touchpoints. This audit involved verifying the functionality of all existing tags and goals, ensuring that lead and sales tracking operated correctly and in alignment with Paspaley’s business objectives.We then developed a detailed measurement plan to prioritise the most valuable data for decision-making, focusing on metrics that support both in-store traffic and online engagement. This plan served as a blueprint for collecting, organising, and interpreting data that directly impacts Paspaley’s growth goals, from increasing site visits to tracking key sales funnel conversions.As part of our setup, we implemented best practice configurations and a clear naming convention for all events and tags, streamlining event identification and reporting for Paspaley’s team. We also documented all workflows, events, and engagement processes to provide a comprehensive reference, ensuring that tracking efforts remained consistent and scalable. This approach not only strengthened Paspaley’s data infrastructure but also empowered their team to monitor, interpret, and act on valuable insights with greater accuracy and efficiency.
  2. Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Setup
    To set up Paspaley for effective long-term data analysis and decision-making, we transitioned from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4), completing the migration well in advance of the UA sunset date on July 1, 2023. GA4 offered us several advantages that aligned with Paspaley’s digital transformation goals. Unlike UA, which focuses on total users, GA4 centres on active users and specific events, providing a more detailed and actionable view of user engagement across web and app properties. This shift to event-based tracking allows us to make more informed decisions by focusing on real-time user interactions that directly impact campaign performance and business goals.To maximise data quality and accuracy, we conducted a parallel data collection phase, where we tracked data in both UA and GA4 from July 2022 to June 2023, enabling a seamless comparison and continuity in analytics. During this period, we set up a GA4 tag and profile in Google Tag Manager (GTM) and configured custom events that aligned with Paspaley’s specific business requirements, such as tracking user behaviours around key collection pages. We also established a best-practice setup for standard GA4 events and designed a structured naming convention for custom events, making it easier to maintain consistency across the platform.Our approach also included providing hands-on training for the Paspaley team, ensuring they were comfortable using GA4 and accessing insights through Looker Studio dashboards. This training, combined with GA4’s ability to create custom, streamlined reports, enables Paspaley to access relevant data quickly, facilitating better and faster decision-making. Overall, adopting GA4 positioned Paspaley to capture richer, future-facing insights, enhancing program effectiveness and aligning their analytics infrastructure with the latest industry standards.
  3. Google Tag Manager (GTM) Setup
    To enhance Paspaley’s analytics capabilities and streamline data collection, we implemented Google Tag Manager (GTM) alongside the transition to Google Analytics 4 (GA4). GTM complements GA4 by serving as a centralised platform to manage all tracking tags, enabling Paspaley to easily monitor critical marketing metrics such as customer conversions, site analytics, and engagement without requiring frequent developer intervention. This setup not only maximised data capture across all digital channels but also simplified the process of tracking updates and customisations, which allowed Paspaley to prioritise and action real-time, reliable insights.Our approach included configuring custom events in GTM to align with Paspaley’s business objectives, such as tracking user interactions with high-value pages and specific product collections. GTM allowed us to maintain a single location for all tracking code tags (events), reducing the risk of human error and eliminating the need to make frequent backend code adjustments. GTM’s version control was particularly beneficial, as it provided an archived record of every update, allowing Paspaley to test, implement, or revert changes seamlessly.This streamlined setup not only saved time but also empowered Paspaley’s team to make data-driven decisions with ease. GTM’s integration with GA4 and other platforms, such as Meta and Google Ads, enabled a comprehensive view of performance across all channels, delivering organised, actionable insights to optimise campaigns and inform future strategies.
  4. Looker Studio Dashboards: To empower Paspaley with real-time, actionable insights, we developed an advanced interactive dashboard in Looker Studio. This dashboard strategically aggregated data from multiple sources, including Google Analytics 4 (GA4), Google Ads, DV360, and external connectors like Supermetrics for Meta and Pinterest, creating a centralised hub for data-driven decision-making.Each visual component of the dashboard was purposefully designed to focus on key performance areas such as channel effectiveness, sales funnel metrics, purchase trend heatmaps, geo-tagged engagement data, and category-specific performance. These insights enabled Paspaley to fine-tune campaigns on the fly, optimising budget allocation, CPC, CPA, and other essential metrics in response to real-time shifts in data. This framework helped to not only measure immediate campaign success but also provided guidance for future strategic planning.To enhance usability, we created dedicated, easily navigable pages for each media data source. Each page featured a high-level scorecard summarising critical data points, complemented by drill-down options that allowed the Paspaley team to explore detailed metrics for each campaign. This granular view empowered them to answer in-depth questions and make strategic adjustments across all platforms.Leveraging our expertise in UX, UI, and data visualisation best practices, we designed intuitive visuals that aligned with the Paspaley brand. Each chart was selected and crafted based on the data’s structure, update frequency, and intended audience.
    For example (See visuals below):
    Pie vs. Doughnut Charts: Used to represent clear, proportional insights on fewer data points, helping to showcase percentages of a whole effectively.
    • Bar vs. Line Charts: Chosen to illustrate trends over time, enabling easy comparisons between variables.
    • Pivot Tables: Provided a structured overview of layered data, facilitating quick reference to complex metrics.4. Campaign Specific Tracking Refinement
    To refine campaign-specific tracking for Paspaley, we implemented targeted configurations to capture key eCommerce data across multiple platforms. First, we set up detailed tracking for the checkout process, allowing Paspaley to monitor and analyse each stage of the purchase journey. Recognising the importance of multi-platform insights, we activated eCommerce tracking for Magento, Shopify, and GA4, ensuring data was captured comprehensively across these platforms.During setup, we encountered a staging and production environment data issue, as well as a URL rewrite conflict that impacted reporting accuracy. To resolve this, we developed a tailored solution to clearly differentiate between staging and production data, preserving data integrity and ensuring accurate reporting.Additionally, we addressed data transfer limitations between GA4, Looker Studio, and other media platforms like Meta and Pinterest. By integrating an external connector, we overcame quota limit restrictions, enabling consistent and uninterrupted data flow for real-time insights. This refinement allowed Paspaley to track campaign performance across channels seamlessly, enhancing their ability to make informed, data-driven decisions across platforms.
  5. Funnel View & Scorecard Development
    To fully understand the effectiveness of campaigns across the sales funnel stages, we developed scorecards and dashboards that streamline data into visually digestible insights. By integrating key metrics at each funnel stage—Awareness, Consideration, Intention, and Conversion—scorecards provide a structured view of campaign performance, enabling the Paspaley team to assess engagement and pinpoint drop-offs with precision. This setup empowers them to make timely, data-driven decisions and refine tactics based on real-time campaign insights.
    Each scorecard synthesises metrics like impressions, cost-per-thousand impressions (CPM), clicks, cost-per-click (CPC), leads cost-per-lead (CPL), and conversions (CPA) to highlight performance across the funnel stages. This view allows the team to quickly detect trends and patterns, making it easy to spot areas for optimisation within each funnel phase. By tracking these metrics within the custom-built dashboards, stakeholders gain the ability to identify shifts in user engagement and conversion rates that might indicate areas of friction or opportunities for growth.Additionally, interactive visualisations have been set up to support both strategic and tactical decision-making, including heatmaps for purchase trends, geo-tagged engagement insights, and channel performance metrics. By using built-in connectors for Google platforms (like Google Analytics, Google Ads, and DV360) and partner connectors (such as Supermetrics for Facebook), we ensured a seamless integration of diverse data sources. Each page within the dashboard is organised by media source, featuring scorecards and detailed visualisations that offer a quick, consolidated overview while allowing users to drill down into specific campaign aspects. This capability provides a comprehensive view of campaign impact, making it easy to optimise current campaigns and inform future marketing strategies.

By establishing a robust measurement plan, advanced tracking, and custom dashboards, Paspaley now benefits from a unified, data-driven feedback loop that enables real-time campaign insights and strategic optimisation across all digital channels. This setup not only empowers the team to make informed decisions at each stage of the customer journey but also lays a solid foundation for sustained growth through continuous refinement and insight-driven strategies.

Whilst applying ongoing enhancements to tracking, data visualisation, and scorecards, in August and October 2024, we meticulously optimised our reporting structure to ensure that each component was fit for purpose and aligned with the evolving needs of the business. The updates aimed to streamline information delivery, improve document consistency, and provide Paspaley with a stronger historical record for analysis.

1. Foundational Setup & Channel Expansion

2. 360-Degree Feedback Loop & Measurement Plan

3. Data Tracking & Infrastructure Setup

4. Looker Studio Dashboards For Real-Time Insights

Baseline Digital Strategy: We began by creating a comprehensive media strategy across the marketing funnel—Awareness, Consideration, Intention, and Conversion—tracking key metrics such as impressions, clicks, leads, and sales.

Channel Selection: Core channels like Search, SEO, Meta, and YouTube were selected to boost visibility while maintaining brand exclusivity. Campaigns were timed around high-impact seasonal events (e.g., June Month of Pearl, Mother’s Day), effectively capturing high-intent audiences.

Impact: This phase successfully introduced Paspaley to digital advertising, driving online engagement and measurable sales growth through targeted audience engagement at key times.

Advanced Tracking: A tracking audit was conducted to map customer touchpoints across the funnel stages and ensure metrics aligned with both in-store and online business goals.

Structured Measurement Plan: We established clear objectives—such as driving foot traffic to boutiques and increasing online engagement—and focused on collecting data relevant to these goals. This approach prevented data overload and ensured meaningful insights.

Metrics Alignment: The plan included KPIs like visitor growth, site engagement, and conversion tracking, establishing a scalable feedback loop that helped Paspaley refine strategies in real time. This framework was foundational for future growth and ongoing optimisations.

Tracking Audit & Setup: A thorough audit of existing tags and goals ensured tracking accuracy across all digital channels, aligning closely with Paspaley’s business goals.

GA4 Migration: Transitioned from Universal Analytics (UA) to Google Analytics 4 (GA4) for a more refined, event-based approach to user engagement, capturing richer insights and enabling long-term data analysis.

Google Tag Manager (GTM) Integration: By centralising tags in GTM, Paspaley could manage tracking configurations without developer intervention, enhancing both data capture and reporting accuracy.

Interactive Dashboards: Custom dashboards in Looker Studio consolidated data from GA4, Google Ads, DV360, and external sources like Meta and Pinterest. These dashboards provided insights into channel effectiveness, sales funnel metrics, and geo-tagged engagement.

Visualisation Best Practices: Visuals, like pie charts for proportions and bar charts for trends, made data easy to interpret. Each dashboard element was designed to align with Paspaley’s brand aesthetics, enabling clear, user-friendly reporting.

Granular Navigation: Dedicated pages for each media source allowed the team to explore metrics in depth, supporting both strategic planning and tactical adjustments.

5. Campaign-Specific Tracking Refinement

6. Funnel View & Scorecard Development

7. Ongoing Optimisations & Enhanced Reporting

8. Advanced Optimisation Through Real-Time Insights

eCommerce Tracking: Set up detailed tracking across platforms like Magento and Shopify, enabling Paspaley to monitor each stage of the purchase journey and resolve issues like staging vs. production data conflicts.

Real-Time Integration: External connectors overcame data transfer limitations, providing uninterrupted insights across channels for ongoing performance analysis, enabling agile responses to market changes.

Scorecard Metrics: Each scorecard tracked essential funnel metrics—like CPM, CPC, CPL, and CPA—across stages, highlighting where users engage or drop off.

Strategic Insights: By visualising purchase trends, geo-tagged engagement, and channel performance, Paspaley could quickly identify optimisation opportunities across its campaigns.

Streamlined Weekly & Monthly Reporting: Weekly updates were reformatted into concise, branded slides for easy review, while Monthly Highlights provided a clear overview of channel-specific insights.

Enhanced Specific Campaign Reports: Continued focus on in-depth analysis for major campaigns, including funnel data and feedback loop scorecards, further improved actionable insights.

New Quarterly and Ad-Hoc Reporting Processes: Ad-hoc reporting was formalised and budgeted separately to ensure thorough analysis without disrupting other initiatives.

Forecasting & Historical Analysis: Added forecasting features and pivot functionality for high-level insights, offering a top-down and bottom-up view of media progression across user journeys.

Unified Data-Driven Model: By combining GA4 with Looker Studio, GTM, and real-time reporting, Paspaley now has a streamlined infrastructure for data-driven decision-making.

Team Empowerment with Data: Training and structured documentation empowered Paspaley’s team to monitor, interpret, and act on insights, strengthening their ability to make informed decisions.

The Paspaley reporting structure comprises five key components: (1) Weekly Updates, (2) BAU Monthly Highlights, (3) Specific Campaign Reporting, (4) Adhoc Quarterly Reports, and (5) Random Tasks. Below is a summary of the changes made to each reporting component:

Reporting Structure
Before After
Weekly Updates
Sent via email with bullet points and screenshots for BAU and non-BAU campaign performance. Often not reviewed by the client before the Weekly WIP meeting.
Reformatted into a UEC-branded single slide with clear headings for skimmable updates. Now consolidated in a single deck each month, creating an accessible historical record. This new format emphasises CCC (clear, concise, cohesive) communication, focusing on key metrics and insights without losing information detail.
BAU Update Monthly Highlights Previously an extensive deck, later condensed to a Word document overview with highlights, performance summaries, and key takeaways for each channel. This format, however, was time-intensive and not fully aligned with the project’s budget and time allocation. Streamlined into a Monthly Highlights deck with one slide per channel, keeping insights clear and brief. The report now uses alternate colours to distinguish it from other reports, and includes Weekly Update slides in the appendix, providing context and a record of actions and recommendations. This has increased the report’s readability and made it easier to produce within allocated budget and time.
Specific Campaign Report Produced only for distinct campaigns outside of BAU with a dedicated budget. Included in-depth visualisations, funnel data, and feedback loop scorecards. This process remains largely the same, as it has proven effective. We continue to improve each report iteration to refine the reporting quality further, which has contributed to valuable insights for Paspaley and informed optimisations across other client reports, such as those for the Children’s Medical Institute.
Adhoc Quarterly Reports No formal structure or budget allocation for these reports, which sometimes required heavy involvement from marketing intelligence teams for funnel analysis and scorecards. There is no financial risk since you are paid a wage to do work and the employer takes all the risk.
Adhoc Reporting Requests Previously handled ad-hoc, with data requests sometimes embedded in campaign management or digital media reporting. For instance, the Monthly Results Tracker originated from such a client request and was gradually optimised. Monthly Results Tracker now aggregates results from each platform into a single, high-level view with easy pivot and transformation features. A general funnel visualisation based on the workflow from each stage of media and and the workflow/ user journey for paid and non-paid media as they land on the site and move through the home page, category pages, product pages through to checkout has been added, providing insight into media progression and data aggregation. Additional enhancements include a forecast function based on the media plan and historical data, allowing for more strategic, top-down/bottom-up data analysis.

By establishing a robust data model and framework, implementing tracking best practices, and continuously optimising insights delivery, we transformed Paspaley’s approach to digital marketing. Each element—from foundational setup to advanced scorecards, dashboards and shared Excel workbooks that pivot and transform data into digestible and meaning information – enables Paspaley to make data-driven decisions, maximise ROI, and align digital strategy with brand goals.

Results

Our partnership with Paspaley has driven significant digital growth and optimisation outcomes over the last six years:

  • Strong Digital Presence Established: Paspaley’s digital footprint expanded from no digital activity to an integrated, multi-channel presence with high visibility and engagement.
  • Increased ROAS by 8X: Channel optimisations led to a twofold increase in ROAS as we refined audience targeting, campaign structure, and ad placements.
  • Enhanced Customer Engagement: Seasonal and event-specific campaigns consistently delivered double-digit growth in website traffic and social media engagement.
  • Actionable Insights in Real Time: Our dashboards provided Paspaley with live metrics for faster, data-driven decision-making.
  • Improved Funnel Performance: Our funnel view framework enabled strategic insights, refining performance at each stage and doubling sales year-on-year for three consecutive years.

Paspaley’s digital transformation journey has positioned them as a data-informed, customer-centric brand with a streamlined, results-focused digital strategy that will continue to drive business growth. This partnership highlights our capabilities in driving strategic, impactful digital transformations for luxury brands.

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