andydataguy
SALES & GROWTH . E-Commerce Growth . 2017

Home Decor E-Com

$10K to $150K in 90 Days, then $1M+

Andy Houston author chipBY ANDY HOUSTON
A plasma torch retraces the cut it made in a steel sheet of look-alike cells, and the piece that came away stands forward of the sheet with a family-name form cut into it and its edges still hot45+ · IPHONE · GIFT$10K / MO90 DAYS$150K / MO$10K / MO90 DAYS$150K / MO
$10K→$150K
per month / 90d
$1M+
at month 7
8-figure
eventual brand
Cohort
driven

Context

DTC metal art brand selling custom family name pieces. Stuck around $10K/month, barely breakeven, while a personality-driven competitor dominated feeds.

Problem

The account had spend and volume but fragile, flat performance. The team was copying the competitor "handsome founder" angle without ever mapping who was actually buying and why.

The account was copying a face the product could not inherit

The competitor's ads worked because a good-looking founder was in them talking about himself. Running the same angle for a brand that sells steel with a family name on it borrows the format and none of the reason it worked. The right-hand panel is the same ad frame holding what the buyer actually wanted.

One dark steel sheet split down the middle by a glowing torch cut. In the left half, a phone-shaped ad frame holds a faceless, featureless standing figure in cold blue-grey. In the right half, the same ad frame holds a plain steel wall piece hanging on weathered barn boards in warm lamplight.

Approach

Exported all Facebook ad data to CSV, built Google Sheets macros, and created cohorts by creative, age, device, and headline. The pattern popped immediately: 45+ women on iPhone, buying as gifts and emotional home anchors. We rebuilt the offer around that reality ("Family is Forever," "Make Your House a Home") and split campaigns by age and gender to control budgets and bids.

Splitting by age and gender is what made budget decisions possible

A cohort finding is worth nothing until the account is built so somebody can act on it. One blended campaign gets scored into a band per age and gender, winners get fed in small steps, losers get killed, and one band gets a deliberate push. Step through it: budget share is drawn as width, and no per-band figure is shown because none was recorded.

One blended campaign. Every buyer is in the same auction, so there is nothing to feed and nothing to cut.ONE AUCTIONEVERYONE, ONE BUDGETBUDGET SHARE DRAWN AS WIDTH · PER-BAND SPEND NOT RECORDED

One blended campaign. Every buyer is in the same auction, so there is nothing to feed and nothing to cut.

Three dimensions agreeing on one buyer is what a cohort is

The cohorts came out of exported ad data by hand, before any code: an export ribbon feeding three planes, one per dimension of the split, with a single cell hot where all three agree. The account-level figures are the only ones the record carries, so they are the only ones drawn.

A perforated export ribbon runs into a stack of three cut-steel planes, one per split dimension, and where all three agree a single cell is hotEVERY AD, EXPORTED BY HANDBY CREATIVEBY AGEBY DEVICE45+ · IPHONE · GIFTACCOUNT-LEVEL · PER-COHORT NOT RECORDED
RECEIPT FILM . THE ARC BEFORE TO AFTER
SCROLL TO SCRUB

The before-to-after, silent-legible: where it started, what the data showed, the decision that turned it, where it landed. Past performance guarantees nothing. The diagnosis method is the product.

RECEIPT · METAL-ART-10K-150KBEFORE / AFTERWHERE IT STARTED$10K/mobarely breakevenBreaking even, ads to everyone, chasing a competitor's face.WHAT THE DATA SHOWEDCOHORTS BY AGE / DEVICE / INTENT45+ · iPhone · gift buyerThe cohorts popped: 45-plus women on iPhone, buying as gifts.THE TURNWe rebuilt the offer around the gift buyer.WHERE IT LANDED$150K/moabout 90 days, then $1M+ by month 7THE METHOD IS THE PRODUCTPast performance guarantees nothing. The diagnosis method is the product.

Stack

  • Facebook Ads
  • Google Sheets
  • Manual macros
  • Basic cohort analysis

Result

$1M+
7-month run

From around $10K/month to around $150K/month in around 90 days. Within around 7 months this line crossed $1M+ in revenue and helped the brand grow into an 8-figure operation with its own in-house team.

$1M+ · 7-MONTH RUN

Four figures the record states, notched on the same cut edge the hero opens with. The spacing is sequence rather than scale, because the intervals between them are not all recorded.

A cut edge running the width of the frame with four notches on it, each carrying one figure the record states, and a bright torch line tracing the edge from the first notch to the last$10K / MOAT THE START$150K / MOABOUT 90 DAYS$1M+BY MONTH 78-FIGUREIN-HOUSE FROM HEREFOUR RECORDED FIGURES · SPACING IS SEQUENCE, NOT SCALE

Impact

Gave the founder a working playbook for budget allocation, creative briefing, and seasonal pushes instead of guessing. They went from "hope this month works" to a machine they could plan around.

She was buying an anchor for her home, not wall decor

The offer was rebuilt around what the piece is for once it is on the wall. That is why the winning angles were about family and home rather than about the product, and why an ad built from a customer's own photograph outran the studio work.

An evening living room in flat warm planes. A lamp at the left throws a wide amber wedge across the wall. Above a mantel hangs a steel wall piece formed from one continuous flowing curve that resolves into no letter. Three small picture frames stand on the mantel below with blank faces.

Lessons

Segmentation beat the competitor's face. Mimicking a competitor face never beats understanding your actual buyer. The boring, CSV-driven cohort work made more money than any clever hook.

Why this matters to you

Ideal for DTC founders plateaued with decent traffic and spend but no clear read on who is really paying the bills.

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