Welcome to this issue of The DTC Insider newsletter. 👋

We strive to deliver the latest growth marketing news and trends in the DTC space straight to your inbox every Wednesday.

Do you enjoy reading this newsletter? It'd mean the world to me if you could leave a review here.

Let's dive in!

Topics we'll cover today:
💠 The New Customer Acquisition Flywheel
💠 (Free Training) How 7-8 Figure Brands Can Unlock Hidden Revenue
💠 Building a Bootstrapped Skincare Brand

Let me ask you something:

What’s your real system for acquiring new customers?

If it starts and ends with “run paid ads”, we’ve got a problem. 🤔

Smart brands are looking beyond their ad account to unlock the next level of growth.

Take it from Obvi's founders ($50M ARR). They wrote the following in their latest newsletter:

Chubbies' founder (9-figure IPO) has recently posted this on LinkedIn:

In that same post, he added:

Taylor Holiday (CTC founder) has recently created a video explaining the same concept:

Think about it this way: 

CAC is higher → That leaves you with less $ to spend on acquiring new customers

That's the game most brands play, which typically leads to:
Flat revenue + Decreasing margins = A race to the bottom

Instead, smart brands are adding the following to the above reasoning:

CAC is higher → That leaves you with less $ to spend on acquiring new customers → More $ you need to make per customer on the backend → That's more $ you can spend on acquiring new customers 

I call it: The New Customer Acquisition Flywheel.

Here’s how it works 👇 

1. Acquisition:
→ Paid traffic, influencers, organic
→ CAC is rising in 2025
🔄 Feeds into…

2. First Purchase Optimization:
→ Messaging that addresses real pain points and needs
→ Smart bundles and order-building offers
→ Strategic upsells
🔄 Feeds into…

3. Customer Journey Alignment:
→ Product recommendations based on actual customer behavior
→ Post-purchase flows timed to match real-world repurchase windows
🔄 Feeds into…

4. Revenue Per Customer Increases (AOV & LTV):
→ CAC payback shortens
→ Margins improve
🔁 Which loops back to → You can afford to scale Acquisition again

That’s the flywheel.

It’s not a hack.
It’s a system built to scale. 

And it’s exactly how 7 and 8-figure brands break through growth plateaus.

If you’re one of them and don’t have a flywheel like this in place…
You’re leaving money (and momentum) on the table.

Want help fixing this?

I’m offering a complimentary Journey Overlay Snapshot for a few brands this week.

We’ll analyze your customer purchase journey, overlay your ads and key email flows, and deliver a one-page breakdown showing:

✅ Where you’re winning
❌ Where you’re leaking revenue
🛠 3 fixes you can deploy right away to increase AOV and LTV

If you’re spending to acquire customers but not aligning what happens after they buy
This is the fastest way to unlock hidden revenue and scale more confidently.

👉 Book yours here.

Only 2 spots left for Q4!

The DTC Insider (newsletter + podcast) reaches a highly qualified audience of DTC founders, directors, and marketers. Learn more about the sponsorship opportunities we offer for your business.

On Monday, I released a free training showing the exact process we follow at BSR Digital to unlock hidden revenue for our clients.

In case you missed it, it covers:
→ Where most brands are leaking revenue (without realizing it)
→ How to map what your customers buy and when
→ Why your post-purchase emails might be perfectly timed…for churn
→ And how to increase AOV and LTV without spending another dollar on ads
→ If you're stuck, or scaling but unsure why profitability’s not improving, this will bring clarity. 

No fluff. No lead magnets disguised as content.

🎥 Watch the free training here →

Let me know what stands out after watching.

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

"A lot of brands forget to nurture their audience."

In this episode of The DTC Insider podcast, Brian Roisentul sat down with Sarah Vilenskiy, founder of Blossom Essentials.

Check it out 👇

We discussed:
👉 From marketing to skincare: Sarah’s founder journey
👉 Learning from agency experiences: good and bad
👉 Navigating the impact of iOS 14 on Meta Ads
👉 Transitioning from DTC to retail
👉 Adapting to economic uncertainty and changing consumer behavior
👉 Retail profitability vs. digital acquisition costs
👉 Building brand trust through education and transparency
👉 Leveraging direct mail and retention strategies
👉 Finding and owning your niche in a crowded market
👉 The importance of aligning brand voice with founder authenticity

Tune in:
📺 YouTube
🎙️ Spotify
🍏 Apple
🌐 Website

More episodes our listeners love:

💎 How Black Rifle Coffee Hit $400M with Donny Jensen
💎 How BRĒZ is Disrupting the Beverage Industry with Aaron Nosbisch
💎 Bootstrapping a $100M E-Commerce Empire with Bear Handlon
💎 The Secret Sauce Behind BattlBox's Success with John Roman
💎 IQBAR’s Journey to 10,000 Locations And $50 Million with Will Nitze

📰 US TikTok Ban To Be Upheld if a Deal Isn’t Finalized by Current Deadline
📰 TikTok invests in growing team to build out search ads as spending grows
📰 Amazon pulls out of Google Shopping ads

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

Brian Roisentul is the founder & CEO of BSR Digital, 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.