The Value Trap

What separated the growing e-commerce brands from the rest in 2025, and why the cleanest dashboards so often belonged to the brands losing revenue.

Efficiency is usually read as progress. Cheaper clicks, rising CTR and a falling CPA all look like an account getting healthier. Our 2025 sample tells a different story. The strongest predictor of revenue growth was average order value, with growers lifting AOV by a median of 21% while decliners saw theirs fall 17%. Six in ten decliners grew their conversion count and still lost revenue. The brands that grew paid more per click and let CPA rise, because every order was worth more to them. Seeing that trade-off at the moment you plan is exactly what we built Billy Grace to show you.