Koi Koi Droplets: From 1.07x to 10x ROAS Using Customer Language

Running a collectibles business solo means wearing every hat: sourcing products, managing inventory, running ads, writing copy, posting on social media. For the founder of Koi Koi Droplets, a New Zealand-based collectibles store, the marketing side was the biggest challenge.

Like many small business owners, they turned to generic ChatGPT prompts for ad copy and marketing guidance. The result? Confusing campaign structures, wasted ad spend, and a disappointing 1.07x ROAS that barely covered costs. They were working 12-hour weeks on campaigns that didn't convert, guessing at what their customers wanted based on Facebook group chatter.

Something had to change. The alternative, hiring a digital marketing agency at $1,500+ per month, was out of budget. They needed a solution that understood their market and their constraints.

The Challenge: Guesswork Marketing with Generic AI

The problems were stacking up fast:

• Generic AI guidance led them astray: ChatGPT suggested incorrect ad goal types and copy angles that didn't match what collectibles enthusiasts actually cared about
• Wasted ad budget: With a 1.07x ROAS, every dollar spent on ads barely returned its cost
• Abysmal conversion rate: Landing pages converted at just 0.3%, meaning 997 out of 1,000 visitors left without buying
• Expensive leads: At $35 per lead, customer acquisition was bleeding the business dry
• Time drain: Creating a single campaign took 12 hours of researching, writing, and second-guessing

The founder knew their products were quality. The traffic was there. But the messaging wasn't connecting. They were speaking about collectibles, not speaking the language of collectors.

I was basically throwing spaghetti at the wall, hoping something would stick. Generic ChatGPT gave me copy that sounded professional but didn't resonate. I had no idea what my customers actually cared about.

Discovering WeThryv: Customer Language on a Coffee Budget

When evaluating options, the choice was stark: pay $1,500+ monthly for a digital marketing agency that might not understand the collectibles niche, or find a way to get real customer insights on a solopreneur budget.

WeThryv's Starter plan caught their attention immediately. For less than the cost of a few coffees per week, they could:

• Mine real conversations from collectibles communities to understand customer language
• Extract pain points and emotional drivers directly from their target audience
• Generate customer personas based on actual behavior, not assumptions
• Create ad copy, landing pages, and email campaigns grounded in real insights
• Get clear guidance on campaign structure, no more guessing at ad goal types

The decision was easy. WeThryv offered everything a marketing agency would provide, customer research, strategic guidance, professional copy, but at a fraction of the cost and on their schedule.

Implementation: From Insight to Campaign in 2 Hours

The transformation started immediately. Instead of spending days researching customer needs and writing copy, the founder established a streamlined workflow:

Monthly Insight Mining

At the start of each month, they run WeThryv's insight analysis to capture fresh customer language from forums, reviews, and social conversations in the collectibles space. The platform automatically:

• Identifies recurring pain points (like pricing concerns and shipping speed)
• Extracts emotional drivers (the thrill of finding rare items, fear of missing out)
• Maps the exact phrases and terminology collectors use
• Highlights objections that prevent purchases

Rapid Campaign Generation

Armed with these insights, they generate three complete campaigns each month covering the entire funnel:

• Top of Funnel (TOF): Awareness ads using customer language to attract new collectors
• Middle of Funnel (MOF): Consideration content addressing specific pain points discovered in insights
• Bottom of Funnel (BOF): Conversion-focused messaging that speaks directly to buying triggers

The entire process, from signing up to launching their first full-funnel campaign with WeThryv insights, took just 2 hours. Previously, a single campaign required 12 hours of work.

The Breakthrough: A Single Insight Changes Everything

The turning point came from one critical insight WeThryv surfaced from customer conversations: pricing and shipping speed were the #1 concerns, not product rarity or collectibility, which the founder had been emphasizing.

This revelation completely shifted their strategy:

• Restructured pricing to be more competitive and transparent
• Emphasized fast shipping prominently in all marketing
• Led with affordability angles in ad copy instead of exclusivity
• Used the exact phrases customers used: 'great price,' 'ships quick,' 'won't break the bank'

Pricing was the biggest concern of my customers but I just wasn't aware of it. Once I reduced the overall pricing structure and shipped quickly, the orders kept flocking in.

The impact was immediate and dramatic.

The Results: 10x ROAS and $110K Revenue Increase

Within months of implementing WeThryv insights, Koi Koi Droplets saw transformational results across every metric:

Performance Metrics

• ROAS exploded from 1.07x to 10x: Every dollar spent now returns $10, making ads highly profitable
• Conversion rate jumped from 0.3% to 5.7%: A 19x improvement, landing pages now convert nearly 6 out of every 100 visitors
• Cost per lead dropped from $35 to $5.44: An 84% reduction in customer acquisition cost
• Annual revenue surged from $10,000 to $120,000: A $110,000 increase in just one year

Efficiency Gains

• Campaign creation time: 12 hours → 3 hours: 75% time savings per campaign
• Launch speed: 5x faster time-to-market for new promotions
• Cost savings: $1,500/month by eliminating expensive agency and copywriter fees

Beyond the Numbers

The quantitative wins tell part of the story, but the qualitative impact transformed how they run the business:

• Confidence in messaging: No more guesswork, every campaign is grounded in real customer language
• Deep market understanding: Clear picture of what drives purchase decisions in the collectibles space
• Professional-grade copy: Marketing materials that rival big-budget competitors, created solo
• Eliminated decision paralysis: WeThryv insights provide clear direction on what to say and how to say it

I love how I got the exact pain points of my ideal customer profile and used their emotional drivers to drive my copy. Absolute game changer.

The Sound of Success: Too Many Cha-Chings

Perhaps the most telling indicator of success? The Shopify notification sound that signals a new sale.

Before WeThryv, the founder heard it once in a blue moon. Now? It's constant.

When I kept hearing the Shopify cha-ching sound... It happened once in a blue moon in the past, now it's getting too much for me to handle.

This 'problem' of too much success represents the ultimate validation: understanding and speaking customer language directly translates to sales. The messaging now resonates so strongly that the challenge has shifted from getting orders to fulfilling them.

The Path Forward: Full-Time Collectibles Business

What started as a side project constrained by time and budget is now on track to become a full-time venture. The 1,100% revenue increase and dramatic efficiency gains have made this possible.

The founder continues to use WeThryv's monthly insight mining to stay ahead of customer needs and generate three campaigns per month. The workflow that once took 12 hours now takes 3, freeing up time to focus on sourcing better products, improving customer experience, and scaling operations.

Their advice to other small business owners considering WeThryv?

I couldn't recommend this app more. For a small coffee sacrifice per week, I've quadrupled my revenue and I'm on track to being able to pursue this FULL TIME.

Key Takeaways

• Customer language beats generic AI: ChatGPT can't tell you what your specific audience cares about, real conversations can
• One insight can transform everything: Discovering that pricing mattered more than rarity completely changed the marketing approach
• Speed matters for solo entrepreneurs: Reducing campaign creation from 12 hours to 3 hours is a game-changer when you're doing everything yourself
• Affordable tools level the playing field: WeThryv's Starter plan delivered agency-quality insights and copy at a fraction of the cost
• Data-driven decisions eliminate waste: Knowing exactly what customers want means every ad dollar works harder