Let’s get something out of the way: your customer acquisition cost isn’t going back down to 2019 levels. I know, I know. Nobody wants to hear it. But sitting around waiting for Meta ads to magically become cheaper again is like waiting for petrol to go back to £1 a litre. It’s not happening.
Here’s what is happening though: CAC has become a cross-functional mission, not just a channel-level tactic. And that’s where most DTC brands are getting it spectacularly wrong.
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The Problem Isn’t Where You Think It Is
Every marketing manager I know is having the same conversation with their finance team:
“Why are we spending £60 to acquire a customer who only spends £45 on their first order?”
And the immediate response is always: “Let’s cut our Meta budget” or “We need to find cheaper channels.”
Wrong answer. Well, partly wrong.
The issue isn’t that paid social is expensive. The issue is that you’re treating CAC like it’s purely a media buying problem. It’s not. CAC is the sum total of your brand’s ability to convert interest into action—from ad creative and targeting to pricing strategy and site speed.
Think of it like this: if your kitchen tap is leaking, you don’t just keep mopping the floor. You fix the tap. But most brands are so busy mopping (throwing more money at ads) that they never look at what’s actually broken (the entire funnel).
The Real Culprits Behind Your Rising CAC
1. You’re Ignoring the Top of the Funnel
Many DTC brands still over-index on bottom-of-funnel tactics whilst under-investing in awareness and consideration. Translation? You’re trying to close people who’ve never heard of you.
Imagine walking into a pub and immediately proposing marriage to someone at the bar. That’s what your retargeting ads feel like when you’ve done zero brand building.
The uncomfortable truth: if people don’t know who you are, even your best conversion-optimised landing page won’t save you. You’re just paying more to convince sceptical strangers.
2. Your Tech Stack Is a Mess
66% of brands cite cost management as their biggest tech-stack-related challenge, and I’d bet good money you’ve got at least three tools that basically do the same thing.
You’ve got Northbeam or Triple Whale sitting there gathering dust whilst your team makes decisions based on… what exactly? A hunch? Last month’s report? The measurement gap isn’t about access to tools—it’s about adoption.
Having fancy attribution software doesn’t help if nobody’s actually using it to inform creative testing, audience strategy, or media planning. It’s like owning a Michelin-star cookbook and still ordering Deliveroo every night.
3. Your Positioning and Pricing Don’t Match
Here’s a painful one: many DTC brands price for premium but market like they’re selling a deal.
You can’t charge £85 for a candle whilst running ads that scream “BUY NOW – 20% OFF – LIMITED TIME.” You’re just training customers to wait for discounts and making your acquisition costs balloon in the process.
Premium pricing needs premium positioning. If you’re not willing to do the work to justify your price point at every touchpoint, you’re going to keep haemorrhaging cash trying to convert people who think you’re too expensive.
So What Actually Works in 2025?
Right, enough doom and gloom. Here’s what the smart DTC brands are doing:
Build a Proper Full-Funnel System
Not a campaign. A system. That means:
- Top of funnel: Brand awareness content that doesn’t ask for the sale (yes, really)
- Middle of funnel: Education, proof points, social proof, comparison content
- Bottom of funnel: The conversion-optimised stuff you’re already good at
The goal isn’t to spend less, it’s to spend smarter, with a system that ties every impression back to an intentional growth lever.
Own Your Data (Actually Own It)
92% of marketers now say that first-party data will play the most significant role in generating strong outcomes, up from just 54% who relied on third-party data last year. That’s not a minor shift—it’s a complete restructuring of how successful brands operate.
But here’s the kicker: collecting first-party data isn’t enough. You need to use it. Build customer profiles. Segment your audiences properly. Create personalised experiences that feel personal, not creepy.
Zero-party data (the stuff customers actually volunteer) is gold. Quizzes, preference centres, post-purchase surveys—these aren’t just nice-to-haves anymore. They’re how you stop wasting money showing ads to people who will never buy from you.
Get Your Creative Right (Finally)
Your creative is probably the issue. There, I said it.
Brands that whitelist creator handles for ads see three times better engagement than traditional influencer posts. User-generated content outperforms polished brand content by a mile. But you’re still running studio-shot product photos with generic copy, aren’t you?
Stop treating influencers like one-off partnerships. Treat them like content licensing deals. Use their stuff across all your paid channels. Test, iterate, and actually listen to what resonates.
Embrace Retention Like Your Life Depends On It
Because it does. Acquiring a new customer costs more than retaining an existing one, and with CAC continuing to climb, retention isn’t just nice to have—it’s essential for survival.
Your email list isn’t just a place to blast discount codes. Your SMS strategy shouldn’t just be for abandoned cart reminders. These are owned channels that cost you virtually nothing to use, and they’re sitting there whilst you burn cash on cold acquisition.
LTV isn’t just a metric to track—it’s the metric that determines whether your business model even works.
The Bottom Line
Your CAC problem isn’t a Meta problem, a creative problem, or a market problem. It’s a strategy problem.
The brands winning right now aren’t the ones with the biggest budgets. They’re the ones who’ve stopped playing the 2019 playbook and built an actual ecosystem—one where every pound spent has a purpose, every touchpoint is intentional, and every customer interaction is an opportunity to gather data and build loyalty.
So the question isn’t “how do we get cheaper clicks?” The question is: “have we built a system that turns strangers into customers and customers into advocates, efficiently and profitably?”
Because that’s the only question that matters in 2025.
Need help building a marketing ecosystem that actually works? Let’s talk. We help DTC brands stop haemorrhaging cash on broken strategies and start growing profitably. No jargon, no nonsense—just results.
