PE-backed Direct to Consumer
Profitable growth restored
A PE-backed DTC brand was burning cash on paid acquisition with declining returns. We fixed the conversion path and built a replenishment engine. First measurable impact in six weeks.
The Challenge
CAC had doubled in 18 months. Platform-reported ROAS had become a vanity metric, masking what was really happening downstream. When we mapped spend to true revenue, the data showed three problems.
Creative by committee had stripped the punch from ads. The result was safe, generic messaging that was completely misaligned with landing pages. Product pages were cluttered with competing offers and conflicting bundles, driving a 72% mobile bounce rate. And post-purchase relied entirely on discount blasts that ate into margins and trained customers never to pay full price.
The board wanted profitable growth, and cutting spend wasn't on the table.
Our Approach
We ran a six-month turnaround built around a simple principle: one clear message, one path to purchase, one next step for the customer.
Top of funnel, we killed micro-targeting and moved to broad audiences backed by stronger creative. We reallocated 40% of budget away from low-intent retargeting into problem/solution content that spoke to what customers were actually struggling with. In the middle, we stripped product pages back to bundles designed for three specific buyer types and aligned ad copy to landing page headlines. Bounce rate dropped by nearly half.
Post-purchase, we replaced discount blasts with a replenishment cycle built on actual usage data. Using the brand's 45-day average, we triggered personalized reorder flows before the customer ran out. The message went from "save money" to "never run out."
The Outcome
The numbers are strong: 26% lower CAC, 1.4× LTV, 3.1 MER. The margin story might be even better. By reducing reliance on discounts, gross margin improved by 8 points. With a 3.8:1 LTV-to-CAC ratio, the brand isn't in survival mode anymore. They're building a predictable, high-frequency customer base.
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