How do you sell direct profitably when every click has a cost?
By planning full-funnel media around a real view of customer value, so acquisition spend follows profit rather than volume. Route plans and buys direct-to-consumer media across Google Shopping, paid search, paid social and retargeting, and reports on the orders and sales that result.
Who this is for
Founders and marketing leads at direct-to-consumer and online retail brands who own the customer relationship and live or die by acquisition economics. If the goal is profitable growth, not vanity revenue, this is how we plan.
Why Route
Because a D2C business is only as healthy as its unit economics. We plan around customer value and profitability, splitting spend between finding new customers and converting warm ones. Then we measure through to orders so growth stays profitable.
How we plan for direct-to-consumer brands
We build D2C plans full-funnel and around economics. Paid social and shopping platforms find new customers; paid search captures active intent; retargeting recovers browsers before they drift; and we measure everything through to orders and sales, not clicks. We allocate spend to demand and hold it accountable to a target return, so acquisition follows profit rather than chasing volume.
Two live examples show the model. For Knitwear Queen, a specialist knitwear retailer selling direct online, we combined paid social across Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest with Google Shopping and text ads to build online sales. For Cream Cornwall, a Cornish homeware brand, we ran Google Shopping, paid search, dynamic retargeting, paid social and Pinterest across a pandemic peak including Black Friday and Christmas, lifting sales by 237% and orders by 236% year on year.
Related work
Cream Cornwall - e-commerce growth
+237%
Sales
Paid search, shopping and paid social built around customer data for a heritage homeware brand's first digital campaign.
Read the case study
Knitwear Queen - Shopping and social
Google Shopping, paid search and paid social keeping a specialist knitwear retailer's sales moving through a new website launch.
Read the case studyCommon questions
How do you keep direct-to-consumer growth profitable?
By planning around customer value and profitability, not raw volume. We set a target return, split spend between prospecting and converting warm audiences, and measure through to orders so acquisition stays economically sound.
Which channels do you use for D2C?
Typically Google Shopping and paid search to capture intent, paid social to find new customers, and retargeting to recover browsers. The exact mix depends on your products, pricing and customer value.
Can you handle seasonal peaks?
Yes. We allocate budget to demand and warm audiences ahead of the busiest periods, so peak-season spend converts efficiently. Our Cream Cornwall work ran across Black Friday and Christmas.
Will campaigns run in our own accounts?
Yes. Your ad and analytics accounts stay yours, so you keep the data and the customer relationship, and you see the same numbers we do.
Ready to grow your D2C brand profitably?
Call +44 (0) 191 933 7588, email info.route@route.agency, or send us your brief and we make every effort to respond within one working day.