DTC growth playbook
📖 3 min readUpdated 2026-04-19
DTC growth revolves around paid acquisition economics, retention via email/SMS, and LTV expansion.
Flywheel
- Paid acquisition (Meta, Google, TikTok)
- First purchase activation
- Email/SMS retention
- Subscription or repeat purchase
- Referral + UGC
Unit economics
- CAC < 1/3 LTV
- Payback under 12 months
- MER > 3x
Creative is king
Creative volume drives paid performance more than any other lever.