Let me tell you about a supplement brand I worked with ...
They were doing about $3.5M annually. Profitable on paper. Stressed in reality.
The founder's exact words … "I feel like we're one bad month away from panic mode."
Here's what was happening:
They were running promos every month to hit revenue targets.
Contribution margin was thin … around 25% after ad costs, fulfillment, and fees.
They couldn't scale ad spend without their stomach dropping.
Inventory buys felt like gambling.
And every time revenue dipped even slightly, they'd change something within 48 hours.
Sound familiar?
Here's what they thought the problem was … "We need higher prices or lower costs."
Here's what the problem actually was: The system was under-yielding.
Meaning … customers were buying, but they weren't committing deeply enough. And that shallow commitment was leaking value everywhere.
Here's what we found …
Customers had too many entry points (5 different "starter" options).
The path after purchase was unclear … people didn't know what to do next or what "working" looked like.
The offer wasn't aligned with the product timeline (results took 60 days, but people were buying 30-day supplies).
Refund rate was creeping up because expectations weren't set correctly.
None of this was obvious in the dashboards. But it was killing yield.
So here's what we did … and this is important … we didn't touch pricing, we didn't cut costs, and we didn't change the product.
We simplified the entry (one recommended start instead of five options).
We aligned the offer with the timeline (starter kit = 60 days, not 30).
We built clear progress milestones so customers knew it was working.
We removed choice overload and made the path obvious.
That's it.
Within 90 days …
Contribution margin improved.
Refund rate dropped.
Repeat purchase rate stabilized.
And here's the part that mattered most … The founder could breathe.
Scaling ad spend didn't feel scary anymore. Inventory decisions felt boring instead of dramatic. Cash smoothed out.
They didn't need urgency tactics to hit the month. They didn't need to discount for relief.
The business created enough surplus that they could afford to be patient.
And patience is what let them stop breaking things.
Tomorrow I'm going to give you the diagnostic … the questions you can ask yourself to figure out if you're under-yielding.
Because once you see it, the fix becomes obvious.
See you tomorrow,
Jeremiah
P.S. The most important thing this brand did wasn't tactical. It was philosophical … they stopped asking "How do we sell more?" and started asking "Where are we leaking yield?"
100% Typo Guarantee … This message was hand-crafted by a human being … me. While I use AI heavily for my research and the work I do, I respect you too much to automate my email content creation.
There was no review queue, no editorial process, no post-facto revisions. I just wrote it and sent it … therefore, I can pretty much guarantee some sort of typo or grammatical error that would make all my past english teachers cringe.
Anonymous Data Disclaimer … Most of my clients prefer that I not share the inner workings of their businesses or the exact details of the marketing strategies we develop. In order to be able to share my own proprietary intellectual property without violating the sensitive nature of my relationship with them, I often anonymize what I share with you. This may include changing the specifics of their industry, what actually happened, or what we developed together. When I make these changes, I work to preserve the success principle I want to convey to you while obscuring sensitive data. This is necessary.