Hi there,
Thanks for reaching out. Happy to give you some initial thoughts and guidance based on what you've told me about your D2C apparel brand and the challenges you're facing scaling paid acquisition and trying to figure out which agency to work with.
We'll need to look at traffic quality and your website...
One of the absolute first things any potential agency partner should be discussing with you, even before getting deep into ad strategies, is your website and the conversion funnel on there. You mentioned you've had some organic traction, which is brilliant, but paid traffic is often different and tends to be less forgiving of any snags in the user journey. We've seen it time and again, campaigns that look great on paper just fall flat because the website isn't up to scratch.
For a D2C apparel brand, the site needs to do a few key things really well. It needs to load fast – people are impatient, especally on mobile. It needs to look trustworthy and professional. High-quality product images are non-negotiable; they are the digital equivalent of letting someone feel the fabric or see the fit in person. Good product descriptions are also vital, not just for details but to tell the story of the piece and your brand. If people are landing on a product page and there's barely any info or the photos look blurry, they're just going to bounce, and you've just paid for that click for nothing.
Think about it from the customer's perspective. They see an ad they like on Meta or Google. They click through, hopefully to the specific product page or maybe a category page. What happens next? Can they easily see the product, different angles, zoom in? Is it clear what sizes are available? What about returns, shipping costs, delivery times? If they like it and add to cart, is the checkout process simple and quick? Every single step is a potential drop-off point. An agency that just drives traffic to a bad site is just burning your budget. A good one will be pushing you to optimise the whole flow, maybe suggesting A/B tests on product page layouts or checkout steps.
Also, consider trust signals. For a new brand, people are naturally a bit hesitant buying online. Things like customer reviews (visible on product pages and potentially a dedicated reviews page), clear contact information, easy-to-find shipping and returns policies, maybe even links to your social media showing real engagement can make a huge difference. If you sell on other platforms like Etsy or have been featured anywhere, highlight that too. These things build confidence and can seriously improve your site's conversion rate.
It's not just ROAS, you'll need to look at other metrics too...
You're absolutely spot on to look beyond simple ROAS projections when talking to agencies. ROAS is the headline number, sure, but it's a result of many other things. Focusing purely on ROAS can sometimes lead to an agency being too conservative, only targeting super high-intent audiences and missing opportunities to reach potential customers earlier in their journey, or worse, hiding poor performance elsewhere.
Ask them what other metrics they track and why. You want to hear them talk about things like:
-> Click-Through Rate (CTR) and Cost Per Click (CPC): These tell you how well your ads are resonating with the audience you're targeting. Low CTR and high CPC can indicate your ad creative (the images, videos, copy) or the targeting itself isn't a good match for each other or the platform.
-> Website Conversion Metrics: As we touched on, they should be looking at things like landing page view to product page view rate, product page view to add-to-cart rate, and add-to-cart to purchase rate. These show you exactly where people are dropping off on your site after they click the ad. An agency should be keen to help you diagnose and improve these bottlenecks alongside running the ads.
-> Cost Per Acquisition (CPA): This is the total cost divided by the number of purchases. While ROAS tells you revenue back for spend, CPA tells you the average cost to acquire one customer. Tracking this helps understand the efficiency of the campaigns in simple terms.
An agency that understands performance marketing for D2C apparel will be tracking these granular metrics religiously because they are the leading indicators of campaign health and tell you where to focus optimisation efforts. They shouldn't just be presenting you with ROAS numbers; they should be explaining the story behind them using these other metrics.
Testing everything constantly is how you improve...
Another sign of a good performance agency is their commitment to rigorous split testing. The paid advertising landscape, especially on platforms like Meta, is constantly changing. What worked last month might not work this month. You need an agency that has a systematic approach to testing. They should be testing different ad creatives (varying visuals, copy angles, video lengths), different audiences (interest-based, lookalikes, retargeting segments), different offers (discounts, bundles, free shipping), and even different campaign structures or bidding strategies.
For apparel, creative is huge. Static images, lifestyle shots, product-focused shots, videos of the clothes being worn, user-generated content style videos – all these can perform wildly differently depending on the audience and platform. We've worked on eCommerce campaigns, including for women's apparel and cleaning products on Meta, where refreshing creative and finding winning combinations through constant testing was key to maintaining and improving ROAS, sometimes seeing figures well over 6x return on ad spend.
They should have a testing roadmap and be able to explain what they are currently testing and what they plan to test next, based on the data they are seeing. If they just set up a few ads and let them run, they aren't truly optimising.
For platforms, Meta (Facebook and Instagram) is generally a strong channel for apparel given its visual nature and powerful audience targeting based on interests and demographics. Google Ads, particularly Shopping campaigns and Performance Max (PMax), are also essential as they capture demand from people actively searching for specific types of clothing or brands. A good agency will have deep experience on both platforms for eCommerce clients.
Putting it all together: Recommended actionable solutions...
Based on your situation, here are some key areas you'll want any potential agency to focus on and explain their approach:
| Area | Action for Agency to Detail | Why This Matters |
|---|---|---|
| Website & Funnel | Propose a collaborative plan to review and optimise your site's speed, design, product pages, trust signals, and checkout flow. | Even perfect ads fail if the website doesn't convert visitors into customers efficiently. Improves overall campaign ROI by lowering CPA. |
| Metrics & Reporting | Explain which metrics they will track daily/weekly (beyond ROAS) like CTR, CPC, Add-to-Cart Rate, Checkout Initiated Rate, Purchase Rate, and how they'll use these to diagnose issues. Provide clear, understandable reports. | Allows you to see *why* campaigns are performing a certain way, identify bottlenecks, and ensures the agency is focused on the right leading indicators, not just the final outcome. |
| Testing Strategy | Present a clear plan for continuous split testing across ad creative (images, videos, copy), targeting audiences, offers, and potentially landing pages or product pages. | Ensures campaigns stay relevant and effective over time, finds new winning combinations, and adapts to platform changes and audience fatigue. Essential for scaling. |
| Platform Specifics | Detail their experience and approach for Meta Ads (especially Instagram for apparel) and Google Shopping/Performance Max, including specific campaign types and strategies they've used for similar D2C brands. | Confirms they have relevant expertise in the channels most likely to drive results for an apparel brand and understand the nuances of each platform. |
Evaluating agencies isn't just about comparing their past ROAS numbers, but understanding their process, their philosophy, and how they plan to work *with* you to improve the entire customer journey, not just the initial click.
Why expert help might be worth considering...
Trying to navigate all of this yourself while also running your business and managing product development is a massive undertaking. Scaling paid acquisition effectively requires significant time, expertise, and a deep understanding of complex ad platforms that are constantly changing. Learning through trial and error can be incredibly expensive and slow. An experienced agency that specialises in performance marketing for eCommerce brands can bring proven strategies, efficient testing processes, and insights gained from managing significant ad spend across many clients.
They should be able to accelerate your learning curve, help you avoid costly mistakes, and potentially scale your acquisition more quickly and profitably than you could on your own. It's an investment, but the right partner should deliver a return that justifies their fees.
Happy to chat through this in more detail if you like and offer some initial thoughts tailored specifically to your situation. You can book in a free consultation via the link in my profile if you're interested.
Regards,
Team @ Lukas Holschuh
