DTC growth strategy for ecommerce founders aiming for 20% more profit
You don't need more channels. You need one growth plan that makes money.
Most DTC brands run Google, Meta, email and SMS as separate jobs. Often with separate agencies.
Each agency reports a good ROAS. Yet your profit margin keeps shrinking.
I help DTC founders build one profit growth plan that links ad spend to profit. I judge every pound of ad spend on profit margin, customer acquisition cost (CAC) and lifetime gross profit (LTGP). Not on clicks or opens.
Find out how to increase your profit margin before spending money on paid ads →Does this look like your performance marketing?
One DTC growth strategy. Six channels. Each one judged on profit.
Winning a customer and keeping one are the same job. When they run as one system, every pound of ad spend is worth more.
Part 1: Win customers at a cost your margin can carry
- Build campaigns around product margin, not total revenue.
- Set a breakeven CPA for each product range. Then bid to it.
- Fix your Shopping feed so Performance Max spends on products that make money.
- Cut search terms that cost money and never sell.
What it does for you: lower CAC from people already looking for what you sell.
- Plan budget by product margin and stock, not gut feel.
- Test 3 to 6 creative angles per idea before you scale one.
- Judge ads on new customer cost, not platform ROAS.
- Split spend between new and past buyers, so you stop paying twice for the same customer.
What it does for you: more new customers at a cost you can afford.
Part 2: Keep customers and grow what each one is worth
- Build the core flows first: welcome, browse, cart, post-purchase, reorder and win-back.
- Time each flow to how often your customers buy.
- Group customers by what they're worth, not by their last open.
- Measure revenue after discounts, not total email revenue.
- Use SMS for high-intent moments: back in stock, cart, reorder and early access.
- Keep it in step with email so nobody gets hit twice.
- Cap sends to protect your list and your margin.
- Track every send through to the sale.
- Reward what grows profit: second orders, referrals and full-price buys.
- Test the cost of every reward against your margin before launch. That stops loyalty becoming a hidden discount.
- Use tiers to give your best customers a reason to stay.
- Measure repeat purchase rate and LTGP, not points issued.
- Offer it on products people use up and reorder.
- Price it so each subscription still makes money after the discount.
- Cut cancellations with easy skip, swap and pause options.
- Track churn, months kept and profit per subscriber.
Fix acquisition first. Then make every customer worth more.
Paid ads show problems fast. Once Google and Meta stop leaking money, the next limit appears.
Often it's the landing page. Then it's that most buyers never come back.
Retention lifts what each customer is worth. That raises the CAC you can afford.
That lets you outbid rivals on Google and Meta. That loop is the plan.
A common ecommerce target is an LTV to CAC ratio of 3:1 or better. It's a rule of thumb, not a law.
Your right number depends on your margin, cash flow and how fast you need your money back. We set it from your numbers.
16+ years. 9 sectors. One system.
What you get
I judge every channel on margin and LTGP. Not ROAS, opens or clicks.
Winning and keeping customers share one set of numbers and one owner.
You work with me. Not a junior account manager.
Monthly revenue, spend and breakeven CPA, tied to your P&L.
Ads, emails and texts built from what your customers say. Tested before we scale them.
I train your people, so you rely less on agencies over time.
Tools I work in every week
Agency, junior hire or fractional growth lead?
Each option suits a different business. Here is the honest version.
If you need a big team making content every day, an agency may suit you better. Tell me on the call and I'll say so.
“Most brands don't need more traffic. They need to stop paying twice for the same customer, and earn more from the ones they already have.”
Who this is for, and who it isn't
How it starts
30 minutes. Free.
CAC Diagnosis, Paid-Acquisition Profitability Check, and the Margin and Media-Spend Calculator.
Coaching, training, a done-for-you plan, or nothing at all. You decide.
Questions founders ask
Both. Most founders start with a fixed project. See how I work as a growth marketing consultant. If you need a senior lead every week, see fractional CMO for DTC brands.
It's one plan for how your brand wins customers and keeps them. It covers paid ads, your website, email, SMS, loyalty and subscription. You judge each channel on the profit it adds, not on its own report.
No. Most brands under £2M should fix Google, Meta and the core email flows first. SMS, loyalty and subscription pay off once you have repeat buyers.
You work with me. No middle layer. I earn the same fee whether your ad spend goes up or down. So I have no reason to push spend you don't need.
Yes, if that's the right fit. But most founders start with coaching, so their own team learns to run it.
Cutting wasted spend often shows within weeks. Retention takes longer. It follows how often your customers buy.
About 3 months of order data and your ad spend by channel. If you're not sure what to export, I'll send a short list.
Find out where your margin is leaking before you spend another pound.
30 minutes. Your real numbers. Three clear answers.
Find out how to increase your profit margin before spending money on paid ads →