Friday 27th February 2026

Hello,

Have you noticed that February always moves faster than expected? By the time you look up, March is around the corner, Q1 is almost gone, and you start asking the unavoidable questions:

• Should we increase our budget?
  

• Should we launch something new?
  

• Should we change agencies?
  

• Should we test another channel?

Well, calm your nerves, because today, I will let you in on some industry secrets.

THE QUIET PROBLEM NO ONE TALKS ABOUT

By late February, most ecommerce brands are tired. They’ve tested new creatives. They’ve adjusted budgets. They’ve even tried to “optimize” their way into better numbers.

Yet nothing works consistently.

The problem usually isn’t effort. Most brands are working hard. The problem is that the structure underneath hasn’t changed.

The instinct is to do more.

More campaigns. More variations. More spend to stabilize ROAS. And that's where many founders make the mistake.

You don’t improve Q2 by forcing Q1 to stabilize. You improve Q2 by fixing what’s broken.

WHAT WE’RE SEEING ACROSS SKINCARE, SUPPLEMENTS & APPAREL

When we look across the brands we review each week, we notice a pattern.

The brands that are the most stable aren’t necessarily the ones testing the most or spending the most. They’re the ones operating within a structure.

Instead of launching campaign after campaign every time performance changes, they’ve built frameworks that allow them to see what’s happening. When something works, they know why. When something doesn't work, they can diagnose it without starting over.

They also approach creativity differently. 

And importantly, they’ve treated retention as part of growth. Their email and SMS flows aren’t just there to send discounts. They’re structured to increase lifetime value, which gives them more room to operate on acquisition without squeezing their margins.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF FOR A SECOND

If you turned ads off for a week, would your business slow down gradually, or would it fall off immediately?

Is your best-performing creative something you intentionally built and can recreate, or did it simply hit at the right time?

Do you know your real allowable CAC based on lifetime value and contribution margin, or are you using last month’s ROAS?

Is your retention strong enough that you can afford short-term volatility in acquisition?

WHAT WILL HAPPEN IN MARCH

If your creative process is inconsistent, your performance will remain inconsistent, but we can help you change that.

We'll simplify your accounts so you can access your data. We'll remove unnecessary complexity so you can make decisions with confidence. We'll build creative systems that consistently generate new angles rather than relying on occasional winners.

And finally, we'll align your acquisition strategy with retention so that you can 3X your profit.

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P.S. Got a question, trend, or idea you want me to cover in the next newsletter? Hit reply, I'm all ears!