Starting Out with BigCommerce? 6 Tips for Beginners
April 19, 2025
Harnessing the sharp acumen of industry specialists, this article illuminates key metrics and strategies essential for measuring marketing ROI in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) space. It strips away the complexity, presenting clear-cut guidelines and actionable insights. The focus is on empowering marketers with the knowledge to effectively assess and optimize their campaign investments.
To effectively measure ROI, it all starts with aligning the attribution model to the campaign’s goal and conversion cycle.
For campaigns focused on generating high-quality leads — especially when the sales cycle spans 2-4 weeks — I’ve found Linear attribution to be the most effective. It helps us understand how multiple touchpoints (first-click, retargeting, etc.) contribute to revenue over time. This gives us better insight into where to optimize budgets and ads across the funnel.
On the other hand, when the goal is direct revenue and conversions happen quickly (within ~7 days), last-click attribution can be sufficient — especially if the first touch isn’t as important. In those cases, if tracking is dialed in, we’ve been able to lean more confidently on the native ad platform’s attribution models.
The key metric I track across both cases? Revenue per lead or revenue per click, depending on the objective — it’s the clearest lens into campaign profitability when paired with the right attribution view.
Rebecca Fernandez
Marketing Optimization Manager
If I had to pick one metric, it’s customer lifetime value. CLV tells me more than any other number. It shows how strong the brand is, how good the product is, and whether people actually want to stick around. If CLV is low, it usually means something’s broken; maybe the product’s weak, maybe retention’s bad, maybe the offer’s not built to last. But if CLV is climbing, I know the foundation is solid.
A lot of people get stuck on ROAS or CAC. Those help in the short term, but they don’t tell you if people come back. CLV forces you to think long-term. It makes you focus on the full journey, like acquisition, experience, retention, and referrals. That’s where the real profit is. I’d rather pay more to acquire someone if I know they’ll spend over and over again.
The more I’ve leaned into CLV, the more it’s changed how I make decisions. Offers are now built around retention. The product roadmap shifts based on what high-value customers keep using. Even email flows get rewritten based on what drives second or third purchases. It’s not just a number I check. It drives the whole strategy.
Josiah Roche
Fractional CMO, JRR Marketing
For DTC marketing, I focus heavily on Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) and how it stacks up against Customer Lifetime Value (CLTV). It’s not just about getting people in the door–it’s about making sure the customers you’re bringing in are worth more in the long run. If your CAC is too high and your CLTV is low, you’re not scaling profitably. Measuring this balance tells me whether our marketing spend is actually driving sustainable growth. It’s the key to knowing when to double down and when to tweak.
Justin Belmont
Founder & CEO, Prose
At Evenskyn, one primary metric we emphasize for our social media advertising campaigns is the “Return on Ad Spend (ROAS).” In essence, ROAS calculates the revenue generated for every dollar spent on advertising. This metric is pivotal for us because, in the competitive beauty device niche, it’s not just about creating visibility but ensuring that visibility translates to tangible sales. For instance, when we launched our latest anti-aging device, a campaign with a high number of impressions but a low ROAS would indicate that while many saw the ad, few found it compelling enough to purchase. This direct insight helps us optimize our ad content, target audience, and even pricing strategies. In essence, ROAS gives us a clear snapshot of the financial efficiency and effectiveness of our ad campaigns.
While we track multiple metrics, Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC) to Customer Lifetime Value (CLV) ratio has become our North Star measurement for small business marketing effectiveness. We’ve developed a proprietary scoring model that factors in customer retention indicators, upsell probability, and referral potential to create a predictive CLV that guides our campaign optimization in real-time. This approach has helped us identify which marketing investments generate sustainable business growth versus those creating temporary spikes. For most small businesses we serve, we aim for a minimum 3:1 CLV to CAC ratio before scaling any channel.
Vick Antonyan
CEO, humble help
When it comes to measuring the ROI of our direct-to-consumer marketing efforts at Oskaloosa Self Storage, we focus on a few core metrics, but the one we track most closely is the cost per rental. Since our goal is to convert online visitors into paying tenants, this metric gives us a clear picture of how efficient and effective our marketing campaigns are.
We calculate it by dividing the total marketing spend—whether that’s from Google Ads, local listings, or social media—by the number of new rentals that came directly from those efforts. For example, if we spend $500 in a month and secure 10 new rentals directly from that spend, our cost per rental is $50. From there, we look at the average rental value and how long customers typically stay with us to determine if that cost is justified.
This helps us not only fine-tune our ad spending but also understand which channels are bringing in the most qualified leads. We also keep an eye on website conversion rates and call tracking to see where inquiries are coming from. At the end of the day, the key is tying marketing efforts directly to occupancy and lifetime value so we know we’re spending in the right places and growing the business sustainably.
John Reese
Owner, Oskaloosa Self Storage
