ECOMMERCE GROWTH & COMMERCIAL STRATEGY
UNDERSTAND WHAT’S DRIVING GROWTH.
KNOW WHERE TO FOCUS NEXT.
You’ve built a successful business. Now you want to understand what’s really driving it – and make better decisions about what happens next.
I work with founders of growing eCommerce businesses to answer the commercial questions that aren’t always easy to answer from a dashboard: what’s really working, what’s changing, which customers and journeys are creating the most value, where growth is being held back – and where your attention and investment will have the greatest impact.
I bring together your customer, marketing and commercial data with the context and nuances of your business. Where it adds value, I can also speak directly to your customers to understand the motivations, perceptions and decision-making behind the behaviour we see in the data. Then I bring it all together to turn what we find into clear, commercially-grounded recommendations.
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO UNDERSTAND?
Sometimes you exactly what you want to understand. Sometimes you just know there’s something you want to get a better handle on, or you want to make sure you’re focusing on the right things as the business grows.
You might have a specific question, want to understand your customers more deeply, or have an ambitious growth target and need to work out the best route to get there.
We’ll start with what’s going on in the business and what you’re trying to achieve, and work out the right questions from there.
WHAT WILL HELP US ANSWER IT?
Every project is shaped around the question we’re trying to answer. That might mean bringing together customer, marketing and commercial data, mapping customer behaviour, modelling different scenarios, or speaking directly to customers to understand the motivations behind what we’re seeing.
The right approach depends on the question – and I’ll work out what evidence we need to answer it properly.
WHAT ARE YOU CURIOUS ABOUT?
WHAT'S REALLY DRIVING OUR GROWTH?
Which products, customers, channels and behaviours are making the biggest commercial difference?
WHICH CUSTOMERS ARE MOST VALUABLE, aND WHY?
What distinguishes your best customers, what brought them to you and what keeps them coming back?
WHICH MARKETING IS CREATING OUR BEST CUSTOMERS?
Look beyond first-order ROAS to understand which activity is creating customers with real long-term value.
WHY HAS SOMETHING IN THE BUSINESS CHANGED?
Repeat rate fallen? Acquisition become more expensive? Conversion shifted? Let’s find out what’s really behind it.
HOW DO WE CREATE MORE REPEAT CUSTOMERS?
Understand what happens after first purchase, where customers drop away and what your most loyal customers do differently.
WHAT NEEDS TO HAPPEN TO REACH OUR NEXT GROWTH TARGET?
Turn an ambitious growth target into a commercially grounded plan, identifying what needs to change, where the growth will come from and what to prioritise to get there.
how i can help
Every business, and every question, is different. So I don’t work from an off-the-shelf formula.
We’ll start with what’s going on in the business and what you’re trying to achieve. From there, I’ll shape the work around what we need to understand and the evidence we need to get there.
My consultancy work generally falls into four areas.
WAYS TO WORK WITH ME
THE COMMERCIAL DEEP DIVE
See the whole picture. This is for the founder who knows there’s more to understand about what’s driving the business, but doesn’t necessarily have one neatly defined question.
Perhaps growth is good but you’re not completely sure what’s behind it. Marketing activity has expanded and it’s become harder to separate what’s genuinely driving value from what’s simply generating activity. Or you’ve reached the point where the decisions you’re making are bigger – and you want a deeper understanding of what’s really driving the business.
I’ll bring together the customer, marketing and commercial picture to understand what’s really driving performance, looking at customer behaviour, acquisition, retention, marketing performance, products, revenue and profitability, and how they interact.
We might explore:
– How different acquisition channels translate into valuable customers, not simply first orders
– Which products, customer groups and journeys drive repeat purchase and lifetime value
– Where growth is coming from, and where it’s being constrained
– How customer behaviour is changing over time
– Where marketing investment is genuinely paying back
– Which metrics actually matter for the decisions you’re trying to make
– Where there may be opportunities or risks that aren’t obvious from the headline numbers
The outcome: A clear, commercially grounded view of what’s driving the business, what’s changing, where the important opportunities or risks lie, and what I’d prioritise next. Where useful, the project can also include scenario modelling or direct customer research to explore the reasons behind patterns we uncover in the data.
Best suited to: Established eCommerce businesses that want a deeper understanding of what’s really driving performance across the business, and a clear, prioritised view of where to focus next.
The commercial question
One important question. A clear answer. Sometimes there’s one particular thing in the business you want to get to the bottom of. Something has changed and you’re not sure why. The numbers aren’t behaving as you’d expect. Or there’s a decision to make and you want to understand the picture properly before you make it.
Need to understand what’s going on?
– Repeat purchase has fallen
– Customer acquisition is becoming more expensive
– Conversion has dropped and you’re not sure why
– One market is performing very differently from another
– A channel looks successful, but you’re not convinced it’s creating valuable, long-term customers
– AOV has dipped significantly
– Growth has plateaued
– A particular customer group is behaving unexpectedly
– You have two competing explanations for what’s happening and need to know which is right
Bring me the question. I’ll work out what we need to look at, dig into the relevant data and wider context, and get to the bottom of what’s really going on.
Depending on the question, that might also mean speaking directly to customers to understand the why behind what we’re seeing.
The outcome: I’ll give you a clear answer to the question, what I think it means for the business and my recommendations for what to do next.
Best suited to: a specific commercial question, challenge or decision where understanding what’s really going on could materially change what you do next.
THE CUSTOMER JOURNEY DEEP DIVE
Understand the customers behind the revenue. Not all customers are equally valuable, and two acquisition strategies that produce exactly the same number of first orders can create very different businesses over time. I’ll look beyond the first conversion to understand what happens next.
We might explore:
– Which channels bring you customers with the highest lifetime value
– Which first products are associated with future loyalty
– What your best customers go on to buy
– When second and subsequent purchases tend to happen
– Where customers drop away
– Which customer groups behave differently, and why
– How acquisition source, first order, AOV, repeat rate and lifetime value interact
– Which valuable customer journeys you’d most like to create more of
I’ll map how customers move from acquisition through first purchase, repeat behaviour and lifetime value, identifying the patterns that distinguish your highest-value customers.
For a deeper view, this can also include customer research interviews – bringing the numbers together with direct conversations to understand not only what customers do, but why: what brought them to you, what mattered in their decision, what created confidence, what nearly stopped them buying and what ultimately tipped them into yes.
The objective isn’t simply to increase retention. It’s to understand what creates a valuable customer for your business, and use that knowledge across acquisition, marketing, merchandising and customer communications.
The outcome: A clear understanding of what turns a new customer into a valuable, long-term customer – which products, channels, journeys and behaviours matter most, where customers are dropping away, and what you can do to create more of your best customers.
Where customer research is included, you’ll also understand more of the why behind the behaviour – what brings customers to you, what matters in their decision, what creates confidence and what keeps them coming back.
Best suited to: Established eCommerce businesses that want to understand what’s really driving customer value, and use that understanding to make better decisions across acquisition, retention and growth.
The growth roadmap
Turn the ambition into a commercially grounded plan. You know where you want the business to go. But what will it actually take to get there?
If you’re aiming for £5m, £10m or another major milestone, I’ll look at where the business is today and what needs to change to get you there – identifying where the growth could come from and which levers will make the biggest difference.
We’ll look at:
– The gap between where the business is now and where you want it to be
– Which growth levers are capable of closing that gap
– What different combinations of acquisition, conversion, repeat purchase, AOV, product mix, market expansion or marketing efficiency could deliver
– Which assumptions need pressure-testing
– Where investment and attention are likely to make the greatest commercial difference
– What needs to happen first, rather than trying to do everything at once.
I’ll model the potential impact of different scenarios so we can distinguish between something that sounds like a good idea and something capable of materially moving the numbers.
The outcome: A prioritised growth roadmap to take you to your target: what needs to happen, what matters most, where I’d focus investment and attention, and the sequence I’d tackle it in.
Best suited to: founders with a meaningful growth ambition who want to pressure-test how they get there and decide which levers deserve their focus.
Consultancy projects typically range from £3,000 for a focused commercial question to £10,000+ for more extensive strategic and research projects.
the bigger picture matters
“I’ve tried a few big flash agencies and you blow their results out of the water. What sets you apart is you look at the business as a whole before determining the right strategy and that pays off with incredible ROIs.”
Amanda Heath
