acquisition-channel-advisor

SKILL.md

Evaluate acquisition channels by unit economics, customer quality, and scalability to decide whether to scale, test, or kill.

Assesses three core dimensions: unit economics (CAC, LTV, payback period, LTV:CAC ratio), customer quality (retention, churn, NRR by channel), and scalability (magic number, addressable volume, CAC trends)

Delivers one of four recommendations: scale aggressively (LTV:CAC >3:1, payback <12mo), test and optimize (marginal economics with fixable problems), kill or pause (unsustainable unit economics), or continue with caps (strategic channels with poor short-term ROI)

Flags common pitfalls like scaling broken channels, ignoring customer quality, celebrating vanity metrics, and over-relying on single channels

Supports multi-channel comparison and budget reallocation across your acquisition mix

Purpose

Guide product managers through evaluating whether to scale, test, or kill an acquisition channel based on unit economics (CAC, LTV, payback), customer quality (retention, NRR), and scalability (magic number, volume potential). Use this to make data-driven go-to-market decisions and optimize channel mix for sustainable growth.

This is not a channel strategy framework—it's a financial lens for channel evaluation that helps you avoid scaling unprofitable channels or killing channels with fixable problems. Use when deciding how to allocate marketing budget across channels.

Key Concepts

The Channel Evaluation Framework

A systematic approach to evaluate acquisition channels:

Unit Economics — What does it cost to acquire, and what's the return?

CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost)

LTV (Lifetime Value)

LTV:CAC ratio

Payback period