Luke Halliday was burning $18K/mo on Meta ads with a CAC that didn't pencil. The DTC wellness brand had a great product (Ayurvedic-inspired meal kits with strong organic word-of-mouth) but the paid funnel was bleeding.
The audit revealed two structural issues: (1) the quiz-to-checkout flow was too long with weak qualification, sending tire-kickers to the cart and inflating CAC; (2) post-purchase retention was a single welcome email — no agent layer, no behavioral nurture, no win-back sequence.
We rebuilt the quiz architecture with ICP-aware branching: serious customers got a fast-track to checkout with personalized recommendations; curious traffic was redirected to free recipes (capturing email for nurture without polluting the paid funnel).
The retention agent was the game-changer. It picked up behavioral signals (subscription pauses, decreased order frequency, support tickets) and intervened in real time with personalized offers, recipe suggestions, and check-in messages. Retention quadrupled from the previous baseline.
Net result: CAC dropped from $94 to $25 in 60 days. Retention quadrupled. Luke Halliday's monthly burn is now profitable for the first time, and they've referred four DTC brands to AutomateScale since.
"Three weeks in, our CAC dropped from $94 to $25. The retention agent alone justified the engagement. We've referred 4 brands to Adam since."— Luke Halliday, CMO · Luke Halliday
3 of 5 Q3 2026 slots filled. Adam interviews every applicant within 48 hours.
