Ads & Scale

+ BLOG

Insights & ideas

Practical thinking on data, growth, and marketing — from the team behind the dashboards.

PAID SOCIAL14 min read

Meta Ads for D2C Brands: The Complete 2026 Playbook

Everything you need to run profitable Meta ads for your D2C brand in 2026 — campaign structure, creative strategy, tracking setup, audience architecture, and the exact frameworks we use to scale accounts from $10k to $500k/month.

June 12, 2026Read →
PERFORMANCE MARKETING9 min read

Affiliate and Partnership Marketing for D2C Brands: Building a Program That Pays for Itself

Affiliate marketing is the most misunderstood customer acquisition channel in D2C. Done wrong, it's a coupon code distribution network with negative margin. Done right, it's a scalable channel with performance-based economics. Here's the difference.

June 8, 2026Read →
DATA & ANALYTICS9 min read

The Shopify Analytics Stack: Building Reporting That Actually Drives Decisions

Shopify's native analytics answer basic questions. The brands making better decisions are the ones who've built a stack that connects Shopify data to ad spend, email performance, and customer LTV in one place.

June 6, 2026Read →
PERFORMANCE MARKETING8 min read

AI Tools in D2C Marketing: What's Actually Working in 2026

AI is embedded in every layer of D2C marketing now — from ad creative generation to bidding algorithms to customer segmentation. Here's a grounded view of what's delivering real returns and what's still overhyped.

June 4, 2026Read →
PAID SOCIAL8 min read

Dynamic Product Ads: The Complete Guide to Catalog Retargeting on Meta and Google

Dynamic product ads automatically serve the right product to the right person at the right time — but only when your catalog, audiences, and creative templates are set up correctly. Here's what most brands get wrong and how to fix it.

June 2, 2026Read →
CRM & RETENTION9 min read

How to Build a D2C Subscription Model That Actually Retains Customers

Subscriptions promise predictable revenue, but most D2C brands that launch them see high churn within 90 days. Here's how to build a subscription program with real retention — starting with the offer structure, through the cancellation flow.

May 31, 2026Read →
DATA & ANALYTICS9 min read

First-Party Data Strategy for D2C: Building the Asset That Survives Every Privacy Update

Third-party cookies are dead, iOS tracking is broken, and platform attribution is unreliable. The brands winning in 2026 are the ones who own their customer data. Here's exactly how to build a first-party data strategy from scratch.

May 29, 2026Read →
CRM & RETENTION8 min read

SMS and WhatsApp Marketing for D2C: The Owned Channels Your Brand Is Ignoring

Email gets all the attention, but SMS delivers 98% open rates and WhatsApp drives higher purchase rates than any other channel for certain D2C categories. Here's how to build both without burning your list.

May 27, 2026Read →
PAID SOCIAL9 min read

Meta Conversions API: The Complete Setup Guide for D2C Brands (And Why Your Pixel Alone Is Broken)

iOS14 killed browser-based tracking. Meta's Conversions API is the fix — but only if you set it up correctly. Here's exactly how to implement CAPI, deduplicate events, and recover the conversion data your pixel is missing.

May 25, 2026Read →
PAID SOCIAL9 min read

Meta Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns: What Actually Works in 2026 (And What Doesn't)

Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns are Meta's most powerful automated format — and the most misunderstood. Here's how high-performing D2C brands are actually structuring, budgeting, and measuring ASC without letting Meta's automation run unchecked.

May 23, 2026Read →
PAID SEARCH10 min read

Google Search Ads for D2C Brands: When They Work and When They're a Waste of Budget

Search ads are the right answer for some D2C categories and completely wrong for others. Here's the tactical framework for keyword strategy, campaign structure, and knowing when to stop spending.

May 21, 2026Read →
CREATIVE & BRANDING9 min read

UGC vs. Studio Creative: Which Actually Performs Better on Meta and TikTok in 2026

The UGC-vs-polished-creative debate has a nuanced answer. Here's exactly when each format wins, how to brief creators for performance, and how to build a creative mix that doesn't leave money on the table.

May 19, 2026Read →