Case study · Lifecycle & email · Supplements e-commerce
Every sale was rented. Now some of it is owned.
Context
A supplements retailer relying entirely on paid traffic, with no owned audience at all.
The problem
When every order starts with an ad, the acquisition cost repeats on every single sale, including sales to people who have already bought once. There is no asset accumulating, and the business is exposed to every change in platform cost and targeting.
What I did
Designed the acquisition funnel around a lead magnet rather than a direct sale: an ebook, top-of-funnel campaigns promoting the free download, and post-purchase automation flows built in Klaviyo.
The decision that mattered
Paying to acquire an email address rather than an order. It looks worse on a first-purchase ROAS report, because the immediate return on that spend is lower. It is the right trade because the cost is paid once and the relationship can be used repeatedly, which a single transaction cannot.
Outcome
An email list of 22,000 subscribers, shifting a share of revenue away from paid acquisition.