Acquisition Cost Breakthrough

Client Overview

An e-commerce company selling premium apparel and accessories direct to consumers. With 95 employees and annual revenue of $24M, they were facing increasing customer acquisition costs threatening their profitability.

The Challenge

Despite strong product offerings and customer loyalty, the company was experiencing steadily rising customer acquisition costs (CAC) across digital channels. Increasing competition and platform algorithm changes were driving up advertising costs faster than revenue growth.

Key issues included:

CAC increased by 47% in 18 months across primary channels
Declining return on advertising spend (ROAS)
Limited first-party data utilization
Over-reliance on paid acquisition channels
Ineffective personalization across customer journey
Inadequate measurement of cross-channel effectiveness

Our Approach

We implemented our Growth Accelerator program focused on acquisition efficiency:

Acquisition Assessment:
- Conducted comprehensive channel performance analysis
- Mapped customer acquisition journeys and attribution
- Evaluated data collection and utilization practices
- Analyzed lifetime value across customer segments
Acquisition Strategy:
- Developed customer segmentation framework
- Created first-party data strategy and roadmap
- Designed multi-touch attribution model
- Established channel diversification approach
Implementation:
- Deployed customer data platform for unified profiles
- Implemented personalization engine across touchpoints
- Created automated campaign optimization tools
- Developed content engine for organic acquisition
Measurement and Optimization:
- Established CAC and LTV metrics by channel and segment
- Created incrementality testing framework
- Implemented weekly optimization cadence
- Developed predictive cohort analysis for acquisition planning

The Results

Within 9 months of implementation, the company achieved:

CAC reduced by 31% across all channels
Average order value increased by 43% through personalization
Customer retention improved by 28% for new cohorts
Organic acquisition increased from 22% to 41% of new customers
ROAS improved by 57% across paid channels
Marketing efficiency ratio improved from 0.68 to 0.41

The marketing transformation enabled the company to reverse the trend of rising acquisition costs while simultaneously improving conversion rates and initial order values, creating a sustainable foundation for profitable growth.

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