Episode Number:

33

July 14, 2025

In this episode of The eCom Growth Show, Danan Coleman sits down with Ali Babul, Chief Evangelist at Trellis, to unpack why lifetime value (LTV) and customer acquisition cost (CAC) are mission-critical KPIs for Amazon brands. Ali lays out practical strategies for identifying your halo ASINs, optimizing ad spend, and building a smarter, long-term growth playbook.

Meet Ali: The Evangelist for Smarter Amazon Growth

Ali Babul is the Chief Evangelist at Trellis, a growth engine for Amazon and Walmart brands. Trellis helps sellers manage and optimize the four P’s—Product, Price, Promotion, and Placement—through advanced tech and data science. With a background in performance marketing and a passion for turning metrics into action, Ali is focused on helping brands make better decisions and scale profitably.

Why Brands Need to Look Beyond ACOS

ACOS may be the most common metric for ad efficiency, but Ali explains that it only tells part of the story. Real growth comes from understanding how much value a customer brings over time (LTV) and how much it costs to acquire that customer (CAC).

  • ACOS = Efficiency; LTV/CAC = Strategic planning.
  • Focusing on LTV leads to better targeting and longer-term profitability.
  • CAC shows you how much you can afford to invest in acquiring customers.
Insight: Growth isn’t about buying a sale—it’s about acquiring the right customer at the right price.

The Power of Halo ASINs

Ali breaks down the concept of a “Halo ASIN”—the product in your catalog that brings in the highest repeat sales across other SKUs.

  • Identify which ASIN leads to cross-selling or additional purchases.
  • Use this halo product as your customer acquisition tool.
  • Amplify its reach with strategic ads and bundles.
Pro Tip: Halo ASINs are not always your bestsellers. They’re your best door-openers.

Bundles, Samplers & The Halo Effect

Ali and Danan explore how bundling complementary products or offering sampler packs can boost both LTV and CAC ratios.

  • Bundles increase average order value (AOV).
  • Sampler packs reduce CAC by offering low-risk trials.
  • Virtual bundles help drive catalog exploration and upsells.
Key Move: Create a low-cost entry product that’s irresistible and opens the door to your broader catalog.

Why Most Brands Misunderstand CAC

Too many sellers equate CAC with ACOS, but Ali insists they’re not the same.

  • CAC = Total ad spend ÷ New brand customers acquired.
  • It’s about understanding how much you’re truly paying to gain a customer.
  • This metric lets you forecast ad spend with profit in mind.
Growth Metric: When paired with contribution margin, CAC helps you set profitable acquisition thresholds.

Enter Amazon Marketing Cloud (AMC)

AMC allows sellers to track the full customer journey—not just last-touch attribution.

  • Understand multi-touch ad influence: DSP, Sponsored Brand, Sponsored Product.
  • Build lookalike audiences from your most profitable shoppers.
  • Create ad strategies around real behavioral data.
Strategic Advantage: AMC enables precision audience targeting and smarter re-engagement.

Where Brands Should Start

To improve your LTV-to-CAC ratio:

  1. Get on AMC to analyze shopper behavior.
  2. Identify your halo ASIN and map the product journey.
  3. Shift from campaign-based thinking to customer journey mapping.
  4. Allocate budget to both acquisition and retention touchpoints.
Key Takeaway: Focus on acquiring the right customers—and keeping them engaged across your catalog.

Continue the Conversation with Ali

If you’re not yet leveraging Amazon Marketing Cloud, Ali can help you get started:

Final Thoughts

Ali emphasizes that the Amazon landscape has evolved: it’s no longer about keyword bidding wars or chasing ACOS. Winning brands are those that understand their shoppers, engineer their go-to-market strategies around halo products, and use tools like AMC to act on real-time data.

Rather than copying playbooks, it’s time for brands to build their own. Your path to growth starts with understanding your true unit economics—and aligning every part of your strategy to amplify them.

More conversations like this are on the way. Subscribe to The eCom Growth Show and get the insight you need to win smarter on Amazon—one episode at a time!