Q2 is still a couple of weeks away.

And if you haven’t started planning it yet, now is the time.

Many brands wait until the quarter begins to define targets, budgets, and campaigns. By then, most of the important decisions are already late.

In today’s issue, I want to walk you through a simple framework we use when planning upcoming quarters with our clients, so forecasts are grounded in what actually happened and what’s realistically achievable.

Topics we'll cover today:
💠 How to Forecast Q2 (Without Guessing)
💠 Crafting Great Offers Using Your Data
💠 Turning a Golf Network Into a Growing E-Commerce Brand
💠 Latest news in the DTC space

Most brands start forecasting by opening a spreadsheet and guessing what the next quarter should look like.

That’s usually where mistakes begin.

A better approach is to build the forecast from historical context and then layer in what you’re planning to do.

Here’s the process we use when planning a new quarter.

Step 1: Start With the Year-Level View

Before looking at individual months, zoom out.

Review the last 2-3 years of revenue performance and compare quarters.

Look at:

The goal is simple: understand how Q2 historically behaves.

Is it usually stronger than Q1?
Is it a slower quarter before Q4?
Is it one of the biggest revenue periods of the year?

You want to see the forest before looking at the trees.

Step 2: Break the Quarter Into Months

Once you understand the role Q2 plays in the year, break it down.

Look at April, May, and June individually for each of the past years.

You’re trying to identify patterns:

At this stage you’re building the first layer of your forecast structure.

Step 3: Go One Level Deeper, Analyze Weekly Trends

Monthly data often hides the real story.

That’s why the next step is reviewing each month week by week.

For example:

This helps you identify sales concentration.

Many brands see spikes tied to specific events like:

Understanding these spikes is critical for planning ad spend and inventory.

If your biggest week historically happens at the end of the month but you distribute budget evenly, you might run out of fuel before the moment that matters most.

Step 4: Add the Marketing Context (IMPORTANT!)

Now comes the most important part.

Numbers alone are not enough.

You need to understand what caused those results.

Ask the team or check historical notes:

Growth is often dictated by the marketing calendar.

If Q2 was historically strong because the brand launched four products and ran two major influencer collaborations, that context matters.

Because if none of that is planned this year, the forecast should reflect that.

Step 5: Build the Forecast Based on What’s Actually Planned

Finally, compare the past with the upcoming plan.

Look at the marketing calendar for this year’s Q2:

Then build the forecast based on the combination of:

That’s when a forecast stops being a guess and starts becoming a plan.

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Follow me on LinkedIn for more growth marketing content in the e-commerce space.

In 2025, we audited over 90 brands, and we found that many of them have been stuck in a revenue plateau for 2, and even 3 years.

So, the question is: will you stay in the same place for yet another year, or will you draw a line in the sand and start a new chapter for your brand?

At BSR, my agency, we’re offering just 1 spot for brands that want to unlock the next level of growth.

Will you be one of them?

Crafting a great offer has 2 main components:

Let me explain.

WHAT to offer:

Why guess, when you can actually know what your customers want to buy?

And I'm with you, Shopify doesn't make it easy for brands to find and analyze certain information.

That's why our team at BSR loves using a tool called Lifetimely, as it's able to unlock valuable data for our Shopify clients.

In this case, we're looking at the Product Journey report, in which we can understand what product type customers typically buy in each order.

For this client, the first purchase seems to be mostly pants.

Not only that, they seem to come back to buy more of them.

And, as you can see in the above chart, the same happens for Bras and Long sleeves.

However, those buying Tank tops behave differently: half of them buy another one in the second order, and the other half buy pants.

If you need more details, you can see this chart by product name:

WHEN to make the offer:

The WHEN is as important as the WHAT.

As they say, timing is everything.

In the first chart I presented, only 3% of those who bought a pant came back to buy a tank top.

However, as we can see in the chart below, 20% of "pant orders" contain a tank top. 🤯

This means that offering a tank top in a second purchase isn't as attractive as doing it in the same order, either as a bundle or a one-click upsell.

Now, WHEN should we actually offer customers something to come back? 

Great question, which can take forever to answer if you're only using Shopify to get the info.

But not with this tool!

As you can see in the chart below, the avg. time between orders for this brand is 60 days.

With this info, you can work on:

Disclaimer: I'm not affiliated with this tool. I just love it and thought of sharing it with you all. 

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If you own or work for a DTC brand and need help boosting profitability, feel free to book an intro call with me and we'll see how we can help.

Most founders focus on growth.

Very few focus on protecting the brand.

In this episode of The DTC Insider, we talked about why protecting your brand might be one of the most important things founders ignore.

Because when your brand starts working…

Copycats appear.
Competitors move fast.
And suddenly the thing you built is everywhere. 

If you're building a DTC brand, this is a conversation you don't want to miss this new episode with Taylor Artman, co-founder of Surf & Turf Golf.

🎧 Tune in

If you found this interesting, please leave us a review. It’d mean the world to me.

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Brian Roisentul is the founder & CEO of BSR, a growth marketing agency he started in 2013 to help e-commerce brands unlock hidden revenue by identifying misalignments between their marketing and customer behavior. He is also the host of The DTC Insider podcast, where he interviews thought leaders, founders, and directors in the e-commerce space.

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