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Channels that don't talk to each other quietly compete

A great PPC account, a great email program, and a great CRO process can still lose to a competitor running a worse version of each — because those three, run separately, are optimizing three different definitions of success.

What's different here

Most e-commerce brands hire for channels, not for the system connecting them — a PPC specialist, an email agency, a CRO consultant, each optimizing their own dashboard. The actual leverage sits in the handoffs: whether email segments are built from the same margin data PPC bids against, whether CRO tests are prioritized by what the paid funnel is actually sending traffic to, whether the product feed one team maintains matches the page another team is optimizing. We run this as one system with one shared contribution-margin model, not as parallel channel budgets that happen to share a logo.

1.1% → 3.9%conversion ratee-commerce & dtc averageFrom Digital Squad client accounts. Orientation, not a guarantee — your starting point changes the range.

Trusted by teams at

NorthwindLumen LabsHarborlineVerdantAtlas FoodsPoka HealthBrightsideCobalt BankMeridianArdentFoundryKestrel
Vertical-specific tactics

What e-commerce looks like for e-commerce brands.

These are the plays that wouldn't appear on a generic e-commerce page — they only make sense in e-commerce & dtc.

01

One contribution-margin model, every channel bids against it

PPC, email offers, and CRO tests all get evaluated against the same per-SKU margin data — not platform ROAS, not email revenue percentage, not conversion rate in isolation. A channel that looks great on its own metric but is quietly selling margin-negative SKUs gets caught here, not three reports later.

02

Retention data shapes acquisition targets, not the reverse

Repeat purchase rate and LTV by acquisition source set what you can actually afford to bid — a brand with strong retention can outbid one without it on identical products. Running acquisition without that input means guessing at a ceiling the retention data already knows.

03

CRO priorities come from where paid traffic actually lands

Testing roadmaps built in isolation from paid campaign data optimize pages nobody's driving traffic to. We prioritize tests against actual landing-page traffic volume and paid spend, so testing effort concentrates where it can move real revenue.

04

One product feed, every channel and page reads from it

GTIN coverage, pricing accuracy, and category structure feed Shopping campaigns, email product blocks, and on-site merchandising from the same source — instead of three teams maintaining three versions that drift out of sync.

The constraints

What holds e-commerce brands back

01

Rising CAC is eating your margin

Meta CPMs climb every year. Without conversion rate and AOV improvements, your unit economics get worse even when campaigns 'perform'.

02

You're optimizing platform ROAS

A 3x ROAS on 30% gross margin loses money per order. Platform ROAS ignores COGS, shipping, returns, and discounts entirely.

03

One-and-done customers

If every order needs paid acquisition, you're renting customers. Repeat purchase rate is the strongest predictor of DTC profitability.

04

Your store converts below benchmark

The median Shopify store converts at 1.4%. Good ones run 3–4%. That gap is worth more than any targeting change you'll make.

Scope & process

Same rigor, applied here.

The full e-commerce scope and process are identical whoever the client is — what changes for e-commerce & dtc is the tactics above, not the delivery model.

What's included

Unit economics modelShopify build or optimizationPaid acquisition managementProduct feed optimizationConversion rate optimizationAOV expansionRetention & lifecycleCreative production

How it runs

  1. 01Model the economicsWeeks 1–2
  2. 02Fix the storeWeeks 2–5
  3. 03Build retentionWeeks 3–8
  4. 04Scale acquisitionMonth 2+
  5. 05ExpandMonth 4+
See the full e-commerce scope, process, and pricing
Investment

Scoped like the core service, no surcharge.

Every engagement is quoted from your actual brief. There's no vertical surcharge for this combination — request a quote and we'll scope it properly.

Store Build

New store or a full Shopify rebuild.

Scoped to your brief

  • Custom Shopify theme
  • Product page optimization
  • Checkout & cart optimization
  • App integrations
  • Analytics & tracking setup
  • 60-day support
Request a quote
Most popular

Growth

Full-funnel DTC growth management.

Scoped to your brief

  • Paid acquisition (all channels)
  • Email & SMS retention
  • Ongoing CRO program
  • 20 creative assets/month
  • Feed & catalog management
  • Contribution margin reporting
  • Weekly growth calls
Request a quote

Scale

8-figure brands and multi-market expansion.

Scoped to your brief

  • Multi-market & multi-currency
  • Marketplace expansion (Amazon, TikTok Shop)
  • Headless commerce architecture
  • Dedicated squad
  • Custom data warehouse
  • Retail & wholesale channel support
Request a quote

All engagements start with a free audit. Prices exclude media spend, which you pay directly to the platforms on accounts you own.

Questions

E-commerce & DTC questions, answered straight.

Within a single channel, sometimes — a specialist PPC shop may out-execute a generalist on bid strategy specifically. What they structurally can't do is see the handoffs between channels, because that's not their scope. We're not claiming to out-execute a specialist in isolation; we're claiming the system connecting the channels is where the compounding return actually lives, and that's invisible to anyone optimizing one channel at a time.

E-commerce × E-commerce & DTC

Let's talk about your growth constraint.

A great PPC account, a great email program, and a great CRO process can still lose to a competitor running a worse version of each — because those three, run separately, are optimizing three different definitions of success.

Our commitment: Free store audit including a full contribution margin model. Yours to keep, whether or not you hire us.