You're celebrating a 4x ROAS on your latest campaign. Traffic is surging. Sales are climbing.

But here's the uncomfortable truth: You might be slowly going bankrupt.

Because while you're obsessing over acquiring new customers, your existing ones are quietly walking out the back door.

The Acquisition Addiction

Most DTC brands are addicted to the acquisition high:

• New customer celebrations

• Fresh traffic spikes

• That dopamine hit of "first purchase" notifications

Meanwhile, 70% of their customers never buy again.

It's like filling a bucket with a massive hole in the bottom. No matter how fast you pour, you're never getting ahead.

The Math That Changes Everything

Here's what the smartest brands figured out:

🎯 Acquiring a new customer costs 5-25x more than retaining an existing one

🎯 A 5% increase in retention can boost profits by 25-95%

🎯 Repeat customers spend 67% more than new ones

Yet most brands allocate 80% of their budget to acquisition and 20% to retention.

That's backwards.

The LTV-First Framework

Instead of chasing new customers, start here:

Step 1: Calculate Your Real Numbers

• What's your 90-day retention rate?

• How many customers make a 2nd purchase?

• What's the average time between purchases?

Step 2: Fix Your Leaky Bucket

• Identify where customers drop off

• Build post-purchase engagement sequences

• Create reasons to come back before they forget you exist

Step 3: Design for Lifetime Value

• Bundle products for higher AOV

• Create subscription or membership models

• Build a community around your brand

The Retention Revenue Reality

One client shifted just 30% of their ad spend from acquisition to retention campaigns. The result?

• Overall revenue increased 40%

• Customer acquisition cost dropped 25%

• Profit margins improved by 60%

Same total budget. Dramatically different results.

Your Retention Reality Check

Answer this honestly: What percentage of your customers make a second purchase within 90 days?

If it's under 25%, your acquisition efforts are just expensive customer rentals.

Time to plug the holes before you pour in more water.