The Hot Box Co.
We helped The Hot Box Co. strengthen local customer acquisition, increase direct bookings, improve location-level performance, and build a clearer path from first visit to repeat customer.
The strategy connected paid media, creative testing, booking conversion, remarketing, and retention around one commercial goal: fill more sessions profitably while increasing customer lifetime value.
5.4X
Return on Ad Spend
Average Cost Per Booking
Average Cost Per Booking
38%
Increase in Direct Bookings
31%
Repeat Booking Rate
Turning First Visits into Lasting Connections
The Hot Box Co. is a UK outdoor wellness brand offering sauna and cold plunge experiences built around recovery, community, and switching off from everyday routines.
The business operates across multiple locations and offers community sessions, private bookings, quieter sessions, memberships, packages, gift cards, and special wellness experiences.
Its growth model depends on more than generating first-time bookings. The bigger opportunity lies in building a customer journey that moves people from discovery to first session, then from first session to repeat visits and membership.
From Local Demand to Profitable Bookings
The Hot Box Co. operates in a fast-growing wellness category, but customer demand is highly local and session capacity is time-sensitive.
An empty sauna slot cannot be sold tomorrow.
The marketing system therefore needed to generate demand around individual locations while also maintaining acquisition efficiency and encouraging customers to return.
01
Uneven booking demand across locations
02
Underutilised sessions during selected time slots
03
Rising acquisition costs as campaigns scaled
04
Limited differentiation between first-time and returning customers
05
Weak visibility into booking value by campaign and location
The challenge was not simply generating more traffic.
It was building a system capable of turning local attention into profitable bookings and repeat customers.
Our Strategy
A Strategy Designed to Move Customers Forward
We structured the campaign around three customer stages:
Performance That Turned Strategy Into Results
The campaign delivered measurable growth across bookings, revenue, acquisition efficiency, and direct customer activity. By combining location-based targeting, creative optimization, retargeting, and conversion-focused campaigns, we turned paid media investment into a stronger and more efficient booking engine.
£7,850
Paid Media Spend
Budget deployed across location-based acquisition, retargeting, and creative testing campaigns.
569
Attributed Bookings
Bookings generated or influenced through paid campaign activity during the campaign period.
£13.80
Average Cost Per Booking
Campaign structure and creative optimization helped maintain efficient acquisition while increasing booking volume.
£42,400
Attributed Booking Revenue
Revenue connected to tracked bookings and campaign-assisted customer journeys.
5.4X
Return on Ad Spend
Every £1 invested in paid acquisition generated approximately £5.40 in attributed booking revenue.
38%
Increase in Direct Bookings
Stronger local acquisition, remarketing, and booking-focused creative increased direct customer activity.
A Focused Strategy for Sustainable Growth.
We built a connected growth strategy to attract nearby audiences, improve booking conversion, and increase repeat visits. The approach combined location-based campaigns, creative testing, retargeting, and retention to turn first-time visitors into returning customers.
01
Location-Level Campaign Structure
Campaigns were separated around individual locations rather than treating every customer as part of one national audience.
This allowed budget and messaging to reflect local demand.
02
Creative Testing System
We tested 6 to 10 creative variations per cycle across different hooks, experiences, formats, and customer motivations.
Creative themes included:
- Recovery and wellbeing
- Sauna and cold plunge contrast
- Community experience
- Escape from routine
- Private sessions
- First-time experience
- Seasonal wellness
03
First-Time Customer Acquisition
Prospecting campaigns focused on introducing the experience to relevant nearby audiences and lowering the barrier to trying their first session.
04
Booking Conversion
Campaign messaging, CTAs, location information, and booking journeys were aligned more closely to reduce friction between discovery and reservation.
05
Retargeting
Warm audiences were segmented around:
- Website visitors
- Booking-page visitors
- Social engagement
- Video viewers
- Previous customer activity
This allowed campaign messaging to become more relevant as buying intent increased.
06
Retention & Membership
Existing customers were introduced to session packages, memberships, private sessions, and repeat visit opportunities rather than continuously being treated as new prospects.
From Baseline to Breakthrough
01 – 30 DAYS
Build the Baseline
- Campaign and tracking audit
- Location segmentation
- Audience restructuring
- Booking conversion review
- First creative testing cycle
- Retargeting setup
Initial CPA: £21.40
ROAS: 3.1X
31 – 60 DAYS
Improve Efficiency
Winning creative themes and locations received more budget while weaker combinations were reduced.
- 8 new creative variations tested
- Booking intent audiences refined
- Location budgets reallocated
- Retargeting expanded
- Messaging aligned with session availability
CPA: £16.20
ROAS: 4.3X
61 – 90 DAYS
Scale What Works
Performance data was used to scale stronger audiences, locations, and creative combinations while introducing repeat booking and membership messaging.
- Budget increased around winning campaigns
- Creative refresh cycles maintained
- Previous visitors re-engaged
- Customer retention campaigns expanded
- Location-level reporting strengthened
CPA: £13.80
ROAS: 5.4X
BEFORE VS AFTER
The Difference a Better Strategy Made
With a clearer approach to targeting, creative testing, and retention, performance improved across the board — from lower booking costs to stronger returns and more repeat customers.
BEFORE
-
£21.40
Average Cost Per Booking
-
3.1X
ROAS
-
Fragmented
Location-level performance visibility
-
Limited
Retention campaign activity
-
Reactive
Creative production
AFTER
-
£13.80
Average Cost Per Booking
-
5.4X
ROAS
-
38% Higher
Direct booking volume
-
31%
Repeat booking rate
-
6 to 10 Creatives
Tested per optimization cycle
The Numbers That Tell the Story
35.5%
Lower Cost Per Booking
From approximately £21.40 to £13.80.
74%
ROAS Improvement
From 3.1X during the initial campaign period to 5.4X after optimization.
38%
More Direct Bookings
Higher booking volume without proportionally increasing acquisition cost.
31%
Repeat Booking Rate
A stronger customer journey helped turn first-time visitors into returning customers.
6 to 10
Creative Variations Per Cycle
Consistent creative testing helped prevent campaign performance from relying on one winning ad.
3 Locations
Performance Managed Separately
Location-level campaign visibility allowed budget to follow actual customer demand.
What the Results Meant for the Business
More Profitable Session Acquisition
The reduction in average booking cost created more room to scale advertising while protecting unit economics.
Better Session Utilisation
Location-based campaigns helped direct demand toward available sessions instead of treating every location equally.
Stronger Revenue Efficiency
Improved ROAS meant marketing growth was driven by revenue contribution rather than traffic or engagement alone.
More Repeat Customers
Retention campaigns, session packages, and membership messaging increased the value generated after the first booking.
Better Creative Decision-Making
A structured testing system replaced one-off content production with measurable creative learning.
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
CLIENT TESTIMONIAL
Real words from clients who trusted us to turn their ideas into meaningful results and lasting growth.
The campaign demonstrated that wellness acquisition becomes significantly more valuable when first-time bookings and repeat customer behaviour are optimized together.
Rather than treating every booking as the end of the funnel, the growth system was designed around the complete customer relationship.
— The Hot Box Co. Team
