Paid Media
Ecommerce advertising built around LTV, not just first orders.
The brands that win in Indian D2C are not the ones with the best products, they are the ones whose unit economics work. That means first-order CPA below contribution margin, repeat purchase rate above 30%, and an LTV:CAC ratio above 3:1. Every advertising decision, which channel, which audience, which offer, must be made in the context of those three numbers. We build ecommerce advertising programmes around that standard.
The ecommerce advertising problems that kill unit economics.
D2C brands fail at the unit economics layer, not the product layer. Here is where the breakdown happens.
First-order CAC exceeds first-order contribution margin.
If a product sells for ₹1,200, costs ₹400 to make and ship, and costs ₹1,000 to acquire, the business is losing ₹200 on every first order. This is a viable model only if repeat purchase rate is high enough that the LTV recovers the first-order loss, and most brands have not calculated whether it actually does. The CAC payback period determines whether the business is viable or just growing.
Meta ROAS is reported, not real.
The Meta dashboard says 3.2× ROAS. Shopify revenue is flat. The gap is signal loss, the Pixel is under-reporting conversions post-iOS 14, Meta is claiming credit for organic sales to fill the reporting gap, and the algorithm is continuing to serve ads based on inflated performance data. The reported ROAS is approximately 40% higher than the true incremental ROAS on most accounts we audit.
Google Shopping feed has never been optimised.
The product feed was connected directly from Shopify with no title optimisation, no category mapping, and no suppression of low-margin or out-of-stock products. Google uses the feed titles and descriptions to match products to search queries. An un-optimised feed matches to broad, low-intent queries, wasting budget and producing high CPCs on irrelevant traffic.
Retention is entirely organic, no automated email or SMS sequences.
Post-purchase communication is a confirmation email and an occasional newsletter. There is no replenishment trigger, no cross-sell sequence, no VIP programme, and no win-back campaign. The brands with the best LTV are the ones that turn the first purchase into an automated relationship, not because they are more creative, but because they built the retention system.
Multiple agencies are not coordinated and there is no unified P&L view.
A Meta agency, a Google agency, and possibly an influencer agency are operating independently. Each reports separately, none of them can see the other's data, and no one is looking at the blended CAC across all channels. Budget allocation decisions are made on individual channel ROAS, not on the blended picture, which means the most efficient overall allocation is never achieved.
How we run ecommerce advertising.
Signal integrity first. Campaign architecture second. Retention third. Everything optimised against LTV, not CPL.
Establish the real numbers before changing anything
- Unit economics audit, first-order contribution margin, CAC payback, and LTV:CAC by channel
- Meta CAPI implementation, server-side conversion tracking, Pixel deduplication, match rate lift
- Google enhanced conversions, hashed email and phone number matching for higher attribution accuracy
- Shopify / WooCommerce revenue reconciliation, ad platform revenue vs. actual Shopify revenue compared
- GA4 e-commerce setup, purchase events, add-to-cart, checkout steps with transaction IDs
- Looker dashboard, blended CAC, true ROAS, 30/60/90-day LTV by channel and campaign cohort
Rebuild for CAPI-era performance
- Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns, CAPI-powered ASC with dynamic product ads
- LTV-weighted lookalikes, top 20% customers by LTV seeded as custom audience → lookalike
- Sequential prospecting, cold → engagement → conversion sequence with CAPI purchase optimisation
- Cart abandonment retargeting, dynamic product ads to add-to-cart and checkout-abandoner segments
- New customer vs. retention budget split, defined CAC budget for new customers; retention budget separately tracked
Capture existing demand efficiently
- Product feed audit, title structure, category mapping, GTINs, and image quality reviewed
- Feed optimisation, titles rewritten with primary keyword + key attribute + brand in correct order
- Shopping campaign segmentation, high-margin, new-arrivals, and bestsellers in separate campaigns with different bid targets
- Performance Max, segmented by product category with audience signals and shopping feed as primary asset
- Brand defence, own brand search campaign to defend against competitor bidding
- Smart Bidding calibration, Target ROAS set from actual Shopify revenue data, not platform-reported data
Make the acquisition economics work
- Klaviyo flow audit and rebuild, welcome, post-purchase, replenishment, cross-sell, winback sequences
- Replenishment trigger, product-specific depletion date used to time repeat purchase email
- VIP segment, top 20% customers by LTV identified and moved to a dedicated retention sequence
- SMS integration, high-engagement segments enrolled in SMS alongside email
- Subscription model consideration, for consumables, subscription offer designed to improve LTV predictability
- LTV dashboard, 30, 60, 90, 180-day LTV by acquisition cohort and channel in Looker
What ecommerce advertising management includes.
Attribution
- Meta CAPI setup
- Enhanced conversions
- GA4 e-commerce
- Shopify revenue reconciliation
- Blended CAC dashboard
- LTV by cohort in Looker
Meta Ads
- Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns
- LTV-weighted lookalikes
- Dynamic product ads
- Cart abandonment retargeting
- Value-based bidding
- Incrementality testing
- Product feed optimisation
- Shopping campaign segmentation
- Performance Max (segmented)
- Brand defence campaign
- Smart Bidding calibration
- Search impression share monitoring
Retention
- Klaviyo flow rebuild
- Replenishment triggers
- VIP cohort programme
- SMS integration
- Win-back sequences
- Subscription model design
This is right for you if:
- D2C brands on Shopify or WooCommerce spending ₹8L+ per month across Meta and Google
- E-commerce businesses where Meta ROAS does not match Shopify revenue
- Brands with high new-customer CAC and low repeat purchase rate
- Companies whose Google Shopping feed was auto-connected from Shopify with no optimisation
- D2C businesses preparing to raise a round and needing clean LTV cohort data for investors
Not the right fit if:
- Marketplace-only sellers (Amazon, Flipkart) without a direct website, we manage website acquisition, not marketplace ads
- Brands spending below ₹3L/month on paid, the CAPI and feed infrastructure investment requires sufficient scale
Frequently asked questions.
Should we focus on new customer acquisition or retention first?
Both, in the right ratio. The rule of thumb for a sustainable D2C brand is: 70% of ad budget on new customer acquisition, 30% on retention. But the retention investment should not wait until acquisition is optimised, it is the retention rate that determines whether the acquisition CAC is viable. We build both simultaneously.
How do we know if our LTV:CAC ratio is healthy?
The benchmark for a viable D2C brand is LTV:CAC of 3:1 or higher, with CAC payback within 12 months. Below 2:1, the business model is under pressure. Above 4:1, there is typically room to increase acquisition spend aggressively. We calculate your current ratio on day one and track it monthly as the advertising programme runs.
What is the best campaign type for e-commerce on Meta in 2025?
Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC) with a properly implemented CAPI are the highest-performing campaign type for most e-commerce advertisers. ASC gives Meta the maximum flexibility to find the right product, audience, and placement combination while the algorithm is powered by accurate CAPI conversion data. The second layer is dynamic product retargeting for cart and checkout abandoners.
Ready to build ecommerce advertising around the numbers that actually matter?
Book a 30-minute call. We will calculate your current LTV:CAC ratio and build a clear plan to get to 3:1.
Book a call