Northbeam × Cardle — Acquisition & Retention Program
PROPOSAL · NB-2025-0418
April 18, 2025
Full-Funnel Acquisition & Retention Program

From one channel
to a measured engine.

A six-month program to move Cardle off paid-social dependence — built on multi-touch attribution, profitable acquisition, and retention that compounds LTV.

Prepared for
Prepared for
Cardle, Inc.
Engagement
6-Month Program
Monthly Investment
$9,500/mo
Start
May 2025
NORTHBEAM PERFORMANCE STUDIOConfidential · Cover
01 / OPENER

Hello, Cardle.

Thank you for the conversation last week — and for being candid about where the numbers are flattening. We started Northbeam because we kept meeting brands with genuinely great products whose growth was being throttled by one channel and a fuzzy view of what was actually working.

Who we are

A performance-marketing studio built around measurement. We run paid acquisition, lifecycle, and retention as one system — and we instrument every dollar so decisions are made on attributed truth, not platform-reported claims.

Why we reached out

You have product-market fit, a loyal base, and a brand people love to gift. What you don't have yet is a second and third profitable channel — or a clear picture of which touchpoints actually drive the sale. That gap is exactly our work.

9
Yrs measuring DTC
31
Brands scaled
$140M
Ad spend managed

This is a proposal, not a pitch deck. Everything that follows is sized to your real numbers — your AOV, your current blended CAC, and the retention curve we'd build against over the next six months.

NORTHBEAM × CARDLEPage 02
02 / THE SITUATION

Stated back to you.

Here's what we heard — and what the data you shared confirms. If we have any of it wrong, this is the first thing we fix together.

78%
Revenue from paid social
$41
Blended CAC, climbing
22%
Repeat-purchase rate
A.

One channel carries everything

Roughly four of every five dollars comes through Meta and TikTok. As CPMs rise into Q3, your CAC rises with them — and there's no second engine to absorb the pressure. Growth is now hostage to auction prices you don't control.

B.

Attribution is platform-reported, not true

Each platform claims the same conversions, so the dashboard adds up to more than 100%. You can't confidently reallocate budget because you can't see which touch actually moved the buyer. That uncertainty quietly taxes every decision.

C.

Retention is left on the table

A 22% repeat rate on a consumable, giftable product like fragrance is well below where it should sit. Every point of retention you recover lowers the CAC you can afford — which loosens the whole acquisition constraint.

The real problem isn't your ads. It's that one channel + unclear attribution + thin retention compound into a ceiling. Break any one and the others ease. Break all three and the model changes.

NORTHBEAM × CARDLEPage 03
03 / OUR APPROACH

Measure, then scale.

We never scale spend into a channel we can't measure. Our work runs in a continuous loop — instrument the truth, find profitable headroom, then compound it with retention.

01

Instrument multi-touch attribution

We stand up server-side tracking and our multi-touch model so every conversion is credited across its real path. One source of truth replaces three conflicting dashboards — this is the foundation everything else stands on.

02

Diversify acquisition on attributed data

With true incrementality visible, we test paid search, YouTube, and lifecycle-fed channels — funding only what proves out. The goal is a second and third profitable engine, not more spend in the same auction.

03

Build retention that lowers effective CAC

Flows, segmentation, and a reorder cadence built for a consumable product. Every point of repeat rate recovered raises the CAC you can profitably afford — directly funding more acquisition.

04

Report on profit, not platform claims

A weekly dashboard tied to contribution margin and blended MER. You'll always know what's working, why, and where the next dollar should go — no black boxes.

The throughline: nothing gets scaled until it's measured. That discipline is slower in week one and dramatically faster by month three.

NORTHBEAM × CARDLEPage 04
04 / SCOPE & DELIVERABLES

What you get.

A full-funnel program — acquisition, measurement, and retention — run by a dedicated pod, not a rotating account team.

01Attribution build

Server-side tracking, multi-touch model deployment, and a clean data foundation across all channels.

02Paid social management

Full management and creative testing on Meta & TikTok — restructured around attributed performance.

03Channel diversification

Paid search, YouTube, and lifecycle channel launches — scaled only on proven incrementality.

04Retention & lifecycle

Email/SMS flows, segmentation, and a reorder program built for a consumable fragrance product.

05Creative direction

Performance creative briefs and a monthly testing roadmap; production coordinated with your team.

06Live profit dashboard

Always-on reporting tied to contribution margin and blended MER, with weekly readouts.

Cadence

Weekly working sessions, a monthly strategic review, and a shared Slack channel with same-day response during market hours.

Your pod

A growth lead, a paid-media strategist, an analytics engineer, and a lifecycle specialist — the same four people for all six months.

Out of scope: ad spend (paid directly to platforms), and creative production beyond direction. Both are quoted transparently and never marked up.

NORTHBEAM × CARDLEPage 05
05 / TIMELINE

Each phase ends in something tangible you can point to — not a status update.

PHASE 01
Wk 1–4

Instrument & audit

Deploy attribution, audit current spend, establish the profit baseline.

End state
Live single-source dashboard & true CAC.
PHASE 02
Wk 5–10

Restructure & stabilize

Rebuild paid social on attributed data; launch first retention flows.

End state
Lower blended CAC; flows live & sending.
PHASE 03
Wk 11–18

Diversify channels

Test search, YouTube & lifecycle; scale what proves incremental.

End state
Two new profitable acquisition channels.
PHASE 04
Wk 19–26

Compound & systematize

Optimize reorder cadence, lift repeat rate, lock in the playbook.

End state
Documented engine & rising LTV/CAC.

By Week 26 you own a diversified, measured acquisition engine and a retention program that keeps lowering the CAC you can afford — and the documentation to run it.

NORTHBEAM × CARDLEPage 06
06 / THE INVESTMENT

The investment.

A flat monthly retainer across the six-month program — no percentage-of-spend incentive to inflate budgets.

Attribution & analytics infrastructure
Multi-touch model, server-side tracking, live dashboard
$2,500/mo
Paid acquisition management
Paid social, search, YouTube — strategy & execution
$4,000/mo
Retention & lifecycle
Email/SMS flows, segmentation, reorder program
$2,200/mo
Creative direction & reporting
Testing roadmap, briefs, weekly readouts
$800/mo
Monthly retainer
6-month program · $57,000 total
$9,500
Milestone payment schedule
20%
Kickoff (Mo 1)
$11,400
25%
Phase 2 (Mo 2)
$14,250
40%
Phase 3 (Mo 3–4)
$22,800
15%
Close (Mo 5–6)
$8,550

Schedule sums to $57,000 — the full program total.

Optional: Quarterly retention deep-dive
Cohort & LTV analysis with a fresh retention roadmap each quarter.
+$1,500/qtr
NORTHBEAM × CARDLEPage 07
07 / WHY NORTHBEAM

Why us, specifically.

Plenty of agencies run ads. Our edge is the measurement layer underneath them — the part that makes diversification safe instead of a guess.

2.4x
Avg. LTV lift, 6mo
−34%
Avg. blended CAC
3.1x
Channels at exit

Attribution is our craft

Our proprietary multi-touch model is the reason clients can confidently move budget. It's not a bolt-on — it's how we see, and it's why our channel bets land more often than they miss.

We've done this in fragrance

Consumable, giftable products have a retention curve we know intimately. We've turned 20%-range repeat rates into durable reorder programs — the exact motion Cardle needs.

Client, growth-stage candle & home brand

Northbeam found us two profitable channels we'd written off and rebuilt our email so it actually paid. For the first time we know which dollar did the work.

Terms, briefly

6-month term. 30-day notice to pause or end. Retainer billed monthly per the milestone schedule. Ad spend paid directly to platforms — never through us.

Ownership

All accounts, data, dashboards, and creative are yours and remain yours. We document everything so you're never locked in.

NORTHBEAM × CARDLEPage 08
Acceptance

Let's build the engine.

Signing below starts the six-month program: a measured, diversified acquisition system and a retention program that compounds your LTV — beginning with attribution in Week 1.

Program
6-Month Full-Funnel
Monthly
$9,500
Total
$57,000
Start
May 2025
Deposit to start

20% kickoff milestone, due on signature.

$11,400
Signature — Cardle, Inc.
Date

Questions before you sign? Reply anytime — we'd rather get the scope exactly right than rush the start. We're genuinely looking forward to this.

NORTHBEAM PERFORMANCE STUDIO · hello@northbeam.studioPage 09