Reversing a Revenue Decline Into Triple-Digit Growth
THE CHALLENGE
I joined a DTC home fragrance brand with stalled growth in Q4 2025 as their Fractional Head of Marketing & E-Commerce. It was clear their growth was stalled because their full-funnel strategy relied mainly on paid branded search terms, with new customer acquisition down 63% and revenue down 33%.
THE APPROACH
I rebuilt the full-funnel DTC growth plan across paid, lifecycle, and site experience; ran the search for and transition to a new paid media agency (see the companion case study on that decision); and rebuilt the marketing calendar around the brand’s launch milestones and product seasonality. A daily-updated pacing model fueled by Triple Whale tracked actuals against forecast and prior-year actuals, so the trend was visible in real-time, not just at quarter end.
THE RESULTS
Revenue growth flipped from a 33% YOY decline in January 2026 to sustained, accelerating YOY growth every month since. April 2026 alone was up 396% YOY, and June 2026 was up 260% YOY.
First-half revenue for 2026 came in 140% above first-half revenue for 2025.
YTD 2026 revenue (through mid-July) exceeded the entirety of 2025’s revenue, achieved in a little over six months.
Full-year 2026 revenue is on pace to roughly double 2025’s total revenue.
New customer acquisition YTD 2026 (through mid-July) exceeded all of 2025’s new customers by 84%, with almost half the year remaining.
Data from internal forecast compared with Triple Whale and Shopify actuals, comparing full-month periods in 2025 and 2026 through mid-July 2026.