Media Performance Brief: April–December 2026

The Ask

We need to increase paid media spend and shift the performance goal from MER efficiency to total revenue growth driven by new customer acquisition. Our analysis of 27 months of data shows that the current low-spend approach, while producing a better MER ratio, is generating less total revenue after ad spend—and the business is losing more money per month as a result.

What the Data Shows

• Revenue after ad spend is lower, not higher. Feb–Mar 2026 generated $215K in net revenue minus spend. The same period in 2025 generated $272K—$28.5K/month more under a higher-spend approach.
• Every $1 cut in spend costs $2.81 in lost revenue. That’s well above the $1.85 threshold where cutting spend stops helping the bottom line.
• Fixed costs don’t shrink with revenue. The business carries ~$151K/month in fixed overhead. Below $280K/month gross, we cannot break even at any MER. We need volume.
• MER ratio can improve while the business gets worse. Retaining 71% of revenue after spend sounds better than 64%—but 71% of $151K is less than 64% of $211K.

Monthly Spend Schedule

These are minimum spend floors by month, based on seasonal conversion patterns. Total: ~$615K for Apr–Dec 2026.

Performance Goals

• Primary metric: New Customer ROAS (NC-ROAS). Target NC-ROAS of 2.5x or better on a 7-day click window. This is the number we’ll evaluate performance against.
• Secondary metric: Blended MER ceiling. Stay at or below the monthly MER ceilings in the table above. These are guardrails, not targets—spending up to the ceiling is expected.
• Focus on acquisition, not retention. We are investing in Klaviyo and lifecycle marketing to handle retention and repeat purchases internally. Paid media should focus on filling the top of funnel with new buyers.
• Revenue target: $400K+/month gross. At this level, the current cost structure reaches break-even at ~16% MER. This is the volume threshold we’re building toward.

How We’ll Measure This

We have a live analytics dashboard that tracks daily net revenue, MER, and channel performance against these targets. We’ll share access so we’re working from the same numbers. Monthly check-ins should focus on: NC-ROAS by campaign, whether spend floors were met, and creative performance—not on whether MER was “low enough.”