Machineland & Hybrid: growing omnichannel together

Machineland & Hybrid

Machineland has built a strong brand reputation over the years with its six physical stores. Although the ambitions for e-commerce were just as high, online sales were not yet at the same level.

Hybrid mapped out all the data and transformed e-commerce into a channel that actively contributes to Machineland’s business objectives.

The Challenge

The transition to a more integrated online strategy was driven by the need to grow further and reach new markets—without compromising the quality of the customer experience.

For Machineland, it was crucial that their partner could provide continuity.

Geert emphasizes: “We didn’t want to depend on just one person. What appealed to us about Hybrid was that they have a full team behind them, ensuring continuity and expertise at all times.” This was a key decision-making factor for Machineland, as they were also looking for a partner who could think along with them for the long term.

Concrete Objectives:

• Attract more people and increase sales in physical stores
• Boost online revenue
• Achieve sustainable growth with a solid return on marketing efforts

The Solution

Machineland partnered with Hybrid to streamline their online marketing and increase visibility. The Hybrid team started by optimizing the website and Search campaigns while also reviewing the SEO structure. As Machineland’s digital transition progressed, the collaboration became increasingly intensive.

Geert explains: “For us, it was important to have not just someone who could handle the technical aspects, but also a partner who could provide strategic support. With Hybrid, we now have a partner who not only manages our online campaigns but also thinks along with us about the future. They truly help us stay on track and ensure that our marketing efforts deliver measurable results.”

Phased Collaboration

The set objectives were and still are ambitious, but achievable with the right focus. We implemented a three-step approach.

1. Analysis Phase: Performance Audit (Early 2021)

We started with an in-depth Performance Audit:

Data Analysis – We mapped out all available data, focusing on internal and external factors influencing Machineland’s performance at the time.

Competitive Analysis – We analyzed the competition to quickly identify opportunities and red oceans.

Product Analysis – We categorized products, calculated margins, and assessed profit forecasts and revenue potential for different product categories.

With these insights, we defined the initial direction: an omnichannel approach using a mix of channels (Facebook, SEO, Dynamic Remarketing), with Search Ads as the primary driver.

2. Implementation of Quick Wins (April 2021)

The Performance Audit revealed a massive opportunity in SEO. First, we gathered the key action points for Machineland’s developers, who got to work on them. This resulted in a win-win: the website became significantly faster and performed better in organic search results. We strengthened this effect by rolling out a link-building strategy.

The sky’s the limit: our performance marketers wanted to fully leverage Google. We went all in to dominate the results pages. We did this through an extensive shopping campaign, where budgets were allocated based on the most profitable revenue categories, margins, and individual sales potential.

3. Ongoing Collaboration

The partnership between Machineland and Hybrid is focused on building a solid digital presence with the goal of increasing (online) revenue. Since the start of their collaboration, Machineland has doubled its online revenue, largely thanks to a combination of performance marketing and optimizing the customer journey on the website.

“We’ve now reached a point where our webshop generates as much revenue as one of our physical stores,” says Geert. “That was a huge milestone for us. It’s great to see that all the work we’ve done with Hybrid is now paying off.”

The success of the webshop has even led to a broader strategic decision: Machineland has begun a complete restructuring of its ERP system to better integrate digital and physical processes.

One of the keys to success is the continuous communication between Machineland and Hybrid. Geert values the monthly evaluations, where the progress of campaigns and the overall strategy are discussed. “Every month, the lead from our Hybrid team comes to meet us to go over the numbers and discuss where improvements can be made. That personal contact and the detailed analysis make a big difference,” he says.

Our omnichannel reporting has grown into a compass for determining the direction of campaigns. During the ongoing optimization process, we continuously adjust campaigns based on their performance. Performance doesn’t just mean pure online revenue; we also track the impact on offline sales. For example, in recent years, Machineland has seen many customers visiting their stores who live dozens of kilometers away (from areas targeted by our campaigns) but prefer to drive to a specialist for the purchase of more expensive equipment.

Thanks to this compass, we can quickly minimize the underperforming channels and campaigns while doubling down on the most effective ones. For example, while Facebook was used less, Google Shopping campaigns were expanded.

In addition to the quick traction through paid channels, SEO was the other major pillar for attracting new customers. And the results of our SEO efforts and link-building cannot be overlooked. During the second year of our partnership, we accelerated even further by increasing link-building and creating new SEO content for non-branded keywords.

SEO efforts typically take time to show true results… But looking ahead to early 2024, the results from our focus on non-branded keywords are impressive. For almost all important category pages, we now rank #1, where we didn’t even appear four years ago. These efforts now bring in more than 6,000 extra website visits per month from the keywords below.

The Result

Thanks to the targeted campaigns and webshop optimization, Machineland has significantly increased its online visibility. The growth in the sale of large products, such as riding mowers, is particularly impressive. “We’ve had a lot of success by capitalizing on the gap left by Makro when they went bankrupt. We managed to capture a significant market share in riding mowers, which gave a nice boost to our revenue,” says Geert.

Additionally, the partnership with Hybrid has given Machineland better control over customer data and sales results. The company now has a clear understanding of where their customers are coming from, what drives them, and how they can align their marketing efforts with these insights.

Some concrete figures:

• Revenue growth +79% since launch
• ROAS improvement +13.9% (YOY growth)
• Organic traffic improvement +18.6% (YOY growth)
• Conversion rate +20% (YOY growth)

We work with a ROAS (return on ad spend) of 4, meaning that every euro of advertising budget generates 4 euros in revenue, and this serves as the rule for scaling further.

We are also making strong progress month by month in terms of SEO.

Organic traffic since January 2021.

Conclusion

Machineland and Hybrid have succeeded in building a sustainable partnership focused on growth and optimization.

The combination of performance marketing, strategic support, and a focus on the customer journey has helped Machineland achieve its digital transformation.

Geert Eyckerman concludes: “The partnership with Hybrid has not only helped us double our revenue but also prepare us for the future. We now have a solid foundation to build on, and I am confident that with Hybrid by our side, we will achieve much more.”

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