Deep diving into e-commerce measurement

TL;DR

E-commerce success isn't just about ROAS. Smart marketers look beyond surface metrics to understand customer lifetime value, profitability, and the full customer journey. This means balancing short-term acquisition costs with long-term customer value, especially during high-stakes periods like Black Friday.

Performance marketers often get tunnel vision on return on ad spend, but the reality is messier. The most successful e-commerce businesses understand that profitable growth trumps vanity metrics every time.

Watch the full video below or listen to the episode here for the complete conversation. Prefer to skim? Check out the top takeaways below.

What media buyers can actually influence

E-commerce marketing might seem simple (run ads, get sales, measure ROAS), but experienced marketers know there's a web of interconnected metrics that really drive business success.

Media buyers control audience targeting, creative placement, channel selection, budget allocation, and optimization strategy. The real skill is in understanding how these levers interact with broader business metrics like inventory management, customer lifetime value, and unit economics.

You're not just acquiring transactions, you're acquiring customers. That shift in thinking changes everything about how you approach measurement and optimization.

Beyond ROAS: the metrics that matter

ROAS gives you a snapshot, but it doesn't paint the full picture. A $10-per-day campaign with 20x ROAS might generate $200 daily, while a high-volume campaign at 2x ROAS could drive significantly more profitable growth.

The most important ratio to track is customer acquisition cost (CAC) to lifetime value (LTV). Industry benchmarks suggest 3:1 is good, 4:1 is great, and 5:1 means you're leaving money on the table by not scaling more aggressively.

But different business models require different approaches:

Multi-product businesses focus on driving high average order value purchases and maximizing ROAS across their product catalog.

Subscription businesses prioritize first-time subscriptions over immediate ROAS, since the real revenue comes from recurring payments.

High-LTV brands can afford to compromise first-purchase profitability, getting more aggressive with acquisition costs because they know the payback period.

Let’s talk about the funnel

When performance marketers talk about "top of funnel," they're usually starting where brand marketers would consider bottom funnel. Add-to-cart becomes the new consideration metric, while true upper-funnel work focuses on brand awareness and video engagement.

This creates what we sometimes think of as a "funnel within a funnel" - you can layer brand messaging down to product-specific pushes across different audience targeting strategies. The creative message determines where you really sit in the customer journey, regardless of platform optimization.

How we think about Black Friday

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are the ultimate test of e-commerce measurement. CPMs can double during peak sale periods, making audience building in early November crucial for efficient execution later.

The biggest mistakes happen when marketers:

1. Scale too aggressively too late. Quadrupling budgets the Sunday before Black Friday leads to inefficient spending when competition is highest.
2. Lack contingency planning. The most successful marketers plan for multiple scenarios, from product stock-outs to competitive pricing pressure.
3. Focus only on new customer acquisition during the sale. If your Black Friday relies heavily on existing customers, you probably didn't do enough upper-funnel work in Q3 and early Q4.

The smartest approach treats Black Friday as two distinct phases: pre-sale audience building when CPMs are lower, then efficient execution during the peak shopping period.

We wrote an entire blog on BF/CM 2025 planning here we highly recommend reading. 

What about profitability?

Holiday shoppers acquired through deep discounts typically show lower lifetime value. They’re often bargain hunters who wait for the next sale rather than regular customers willing to pay full price.

This creates a dangerous cycle where brands train customers to expect promotions, eroding price premiums and long-term profitability. The CAC-to-LTV ratio helps balance short-term efficiency gains against long-term brand value.

What this means for your business

E-commerce measurement sophistication separates growing businesses from those stuck in the vanity metrics trap. The key is understanding the interaction points between media buying decisions and broader business metrics.

Start by mapping the relationship between your acquisition costs and average order value. If you can drive higher-AOV customers, they're often higher-LTV customers too. Use this insight to inform your bidding strategies and creative testing.

Most importantly, get comfortable with being uncomfortable. The most successful e-commerce marketers approach their work with healthy skepticism, always questioning whether they're optimizing for the right metrics and leaving money on the table.

The businesses that master this nuanced approach to measurement don't just survive competitive periods like Black Friday, they use them to pull ahead of competitors who are still stuck thinking ROAS tells the whole story.