Jacob Canfield

running - full growth CPG agency.
media buying + creatives + growth strategy = scale

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

The order of importance for scaling an ecom brand to $10-100 million+ as a @Shopify first brand. (this might be the most comprehensive playbook written on x and is 100% my personal opinion)

Bookmark this for later. **this is not a paid post but I mention a lot of tools and people in this article... and just a note, but none of it was written with AI**

I also turned this into a graphic with all the KPI's you want to monitor for each section.

Unit Economics and assumed CAC payback period (if you're a subscription brand) - I would rank this above all other levers of growth, because everything else is a function of this.

You need to know your contribution margin per order. COGS, shipping, pick and pack, payment processing and returns. You MUST know this for all of your products to have a target CAC you can grow at. Without it, every scaling decision below is a guess. - learned from the goat @jordanmenard.

1.) Product market fit - this is a combination of is the product good (what's your Amazon rating?), does it actually do what you say it does and do the consumption economics match your subscription rate you're recommending. (most common cause of cancellations I've seen is... "I have too much product."

You can scale an 'okay' product with great marketing but you will eventually run into an LTV crisis if re-order rates are too low or churn is too high.

Note on PMF: The brands I've seen grow the fastest have MASSIVE TAM and aren't afraid of saturation. i.e. Weight loss, greens, electrolytes, creatine, etc.

TAM = total addressable market.

Example: A niche focus supplement for gamers will not be able to scale like a menopause support supplement will due to size of the markets.

Lots of ways to find PMF, but two of the easier ones is @kalodata or @H10Software.

Don't just guess. Test and measure before going all in.

2.) Offer Architecture and pricing -
Offer = Product + Price frame + Risk reversal + Urgency

Your CAC, CPM's, conversion rate and AOV can all be heavily influenced by this and I think it's one of the things most brands get wrong or never test.

This is the first thing you need to get right before being able to scale without burning a hole in your credit card. Again... you must know your unit economics to get this right though. I think @jforjacob might be the best at this on x.

3.) Landing pages & CRO (conversion rate optimization) - Offer architecutre is technically part of #3, but other things like social proof, benefit driven copy, authority icons, clinical evidence or statistics to back up your claims, video testimonials, reviews (@judgeme) and strong hero images are important to have structured well.

Beyond that, having landing pages for each stage of awareness. (top of funnel -> advertorial, middle of funnel -> listicle, bottom of funnel -> PDP with strong offers goes without saying.

I've seen @conoritaya completely turn a brand around by just fixing the offer and LP without changing anything else in the brand.

Taking CVR from 1% to 3% took CAC from $140 to sub $80 using the exact same creatives.

Extra tip on LP's: Gruns, IM8 and other high growth brands will also dedicate PDP's to entire angles for higher congruency from ad->pre-lander->product page. (Example: Gruns Gummies ad about GLP-1 -> listicle on 7 reasons why GLP-1 users are consuming Gruns -> PDP offer.)

You need a dev that can adadpt and move quickly to launch pages. I use @pedro_maradea a lot for these kinds of ad specific LP's.

4.) Creatives - Could argue this should be above #3 with the Meta andromeda update... since the creative has become the targeting.

A great creative strategist or creative agency can be worth their weight in gold. The way meta serves up your ads requires you to have a complete funnel architecture hybrid of top of funnel, middle of funnel and bottom of funnel ads at all times.

You should also add how to use the product, common questions, objections in your ad mix as it'll still show to people that will engage but bring them one step closer to buying.

Statics and AI video:
@arshsiidhu at DOJO is one of my favorite creative agencies I've worked with so far and crushes ad accounts. His creative strategists are elite level.

Whitelisted Creators Outreach & Onboarding:
@BngrAgency (mine) and @RefunnelApp are great ways to find new creators for partnership ads to get lower CPM's and more new visitors to your brand.

For finding new ads and inspiration:
@Trendtrack_io and @gethookdai are two of my favorite softwares for finding new ads for my brands.

5.) Media buying strategy - if you want hyper growth, having a strong media buying team that is monitoring the ad account and aggressively scaling / killing ads for cost efficiency is key.

You have to have all the other pieces in place before this becomes a determinant factor though. I've seen @buffalofink be able to spend 10x more money at the same efficiency with his team.

I've seen @JemBourouhDE do the same, but on Google.

Big note on media buying: Having dialed in attribution and knowing which ads are driving new visitors vs converting existing gets overlooked by most junior media buyers.

They look at meta and crank budgets on BOF ads when they won't hold spend at higher scales and don't have a @northbeam or @triplewhale to make the correct decisions.

6.) Retention & Multi Channel Strategy -
Knowing Blended CAC (your aquisition cost across all channels) allows you to know how much you can spend form day to day.

Brands that scale to 9 figures are often not just on meta. They're also using TikTok Shop, Snapchat, @AppLovin and especially Amazon.

Meta still remains king of aquisition... but do not discount the halo effect of having an army of affiliates on TikTok and Meta awill have for word of mouth and Amazon growth.

A Note On Amazon - when you have PMF on meta, you can create your own category on Amazon. Serene Herbs did this with Soursop Bitters and I've seen 2 other brands do this. With scale... you can BECOME a category.

BASIC RETENTION: SMS/EMAIL/CANCEL FLOWS - A very underrated area of optimization in my opinion, but keeping every customer you acquire with strong win back campaigns and cancel flows can create significant lift with your brand. Reducing every % of MoM churn compounds VERY quickly at scale.

ADVANCED RETENTION: Giving more flavors, more products and more form factors of your existing products for customers to choose from. Meaning: if you have an electrolyte and you only have two flavors, give them more to try. Give them a reason to keep coming back and buying new things from you.

If you have a gummy, put it in a capsule or a liquid or a stick pack. Gummy LTV is usually 4-5 months and then it drops off pretty hard. Different people like different ways of consuming your product.

I work with some great manufacturing partners for all these form factors if you need some for your brand. Feel free to DM and I can connect.

I learned a lot from @iamshackelford at @CommerceRound on what makes people want to come back to brands. Highly recommend hearing his talks and following him on x.

7.) Logistics and finance - Having a great 3PL, packaging, inventory forecasting, strong terms with your manufacturer and knowing that your manufacturer can match your scale of growth, CAC:LTV ratio dialed in on 3 month, 6 month and 12 month cohorts with look back tracking.

I've loved @glenwomble and robo3pl for my brands so far.

8.) Customer service - Being responsive, strong support, putting the customer first all keep people coming back and give you stronger reviews.

Brand / Organic - In 2026, I think these have been largely forgotten and are probably the MOST neglected ways to scale. One viral video can change a business overnight and founder ads are still the strongest performing ads that rarely fatigue.

I have a strong theory that the brands with good organic have better CPM's than brands with no organic presence.

One way I've seen this work well is with strong top of funnel celebrity / creators that have a strong story. I think that @ChrisLangSocial and @theisaacmed are two of the best organic marketers in the game.

For new ecom operators, I think that @9operators is one of the best resources for new trends in terms of growth and scaling ecom brands.

NOT INCLUDING RETAIL IN THIS ARTICLE. THAT IS A COMPLETELY SEPEARTE TOPIC... BUT SHOULD BE ADDED IN MULTICHANNEL.

Open to hearing others opinions on what they believe the strongest lever to scale is, but this is what I've seen peeking beneath the hood of 50+ brands at all different stages.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

Anybody else in Vegas for @SupplySide conference?

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@jatingargiitk @Mho_23 Local brains using notion.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@ostentatiousHQ send plz

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

Me every day

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@buffalofink Dressing up as a guy that only launches 50 ads a month?

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@cryptoklotz Brother. I am now vibrating on my plane with zero shot of sleeping, haha.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

Nothing quite like my 80 year old uber driver playing Michael Jackson at max volume on the way to the airport at 5am.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

For being a trillion dollar company, ads manager desktop and mobile app are two of the worst softwares in existence.

I should be able to manage my ad account from my phone.

@Meta please fix

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@marccolcer The trump debate bit and navy seal bit are all time premises.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@petevza @TrybeUGC Depends on the brand.

Some brands we get 500+ ads a month

Other brands we focus on 50-100 a month

Most defined by creative testing budget and goals

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@whoisnakamoto @TrybeUGC Trybe attribution is a 7dc attribution model vs 1dc. It's going to be 40-50% less than FB reported.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@laloxroas @TrybeUGC Roas on first order. Can check cohort data in a few months as it’s tagged properly for look back

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@therobertleonar @TrybeUGC GMV on other brands.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

This is where most brands get it wrong. You really could do it with 5-10 proven creators.

Don't think about it as 'seeding' creators. You're building a small community of creators that get to know and love your brand and create the best possible content for you.

By keeping it small, it means a higher likelihood that their ads will spend in the account and they all get to win.

Spreading it out to 100+ creators makes it hard for any of them to make money with your brand.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

All my friends are arguing. Someone tell me what to do.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

Brandon’s my quant.

[Kai @kaixrogers]

Objectively true.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

Agency is the highest characteristic I look for when hiring... and the highest value brand owners look for when partnering.

Can they be delegated a task and take it from concept to completion with no outside help, while utilizing their own instinct, critical thinking skills and non-linear problem solving abilities to figure it out.

When you find people like this, they're the highest value employee you can have because it removes oversight and micro management from your plate.

You want to buy these people courses, send them to conferences and work shops and invest as much time into them as you can and pay them absurdly.

They're very rare and I'm seeing that too many people rely on AI to become agentic... without posessing agency themselves. (this will always backfire)

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@SteveLeq30 @Atif_Rz @buffalofink I’ll always make time for you bb.

[Jacob Canfield @JacobCanfield]

@grok @buffalofink @Peter_Quadrel Can I say gay at the BBQ?