From Hidden Waste to Scalable Growth for Red Rooster Coffee

The Challenge

Nearly 20% of Red Rooster's annual advertising spend was allocated to just two campaigns with acquisition costs between $400 and $1,586 per customer. Approximately 85% of their ad spend was targeting existing customers who would likely purchase anyway. Their new customer acquisition efficiency ratio (AMER) of just 5.58 told a very different story than their overall MER suggested. Campaigns targeted ages 18-34 (which underperformed) and remote locations like Alaska and Hawaii where $16+ shipping costs eliminated profit margins on typical $50 orders. As founder Haden put it: 'It's hard for me to figure out how to quantify the spend... whether or not that did what I wanted it to do.'

The Solution

Financial clarity first: a comprehensive audit separating new customer revenue from returning customer revenue exposed the hidden waste. We immediately eliminated unprofitable demographics and geographic regions, restructured Google Ads, and optimized Merchant Center targeting long-tail keywords like 'fair trade coffee,' 'ethically sourced coffee,' and 'small batch artisan coffee.' We launched creative testing with 6–8 variations per concept across awareness stages. Budget scaling followed a 20% increment every 5 days for campaigns hitting KPI targets. As Haden said: 'What we need more than anything is close personal management of the account so we can change quickly when things need to be changed. We need a real partner.'

Ad Creative

The Results

Nearly 20% of annual budget was recovered from eliminated wasteful campaigns. A 48% projected CAC reduction came through audience targeting and campaign restructuring. Quick-win optimizations delivered 10–20% cost reductions in the first 30 days. Strong MER was maintained while shifting budget allocation toward new customer acquisition. A scalable creative system producing multiple variations was established, and Google Shopping campaigns were launched to expand reach.

“What we need more than anything is close personal management of the account so that we can change quickly when things need to be changed. We need a real partner.”

Haden, Founder, Red Rooster Coffee