Marketing Pulse

GeistM Performance Analysis

Agency Audit — Data through March 30, 2026

Source: Northbeam (Clicks Only, 1-Day Click, Accrual)

Executive Summary

GeistM has been running for 6+ months at $331 CAC (90-day) to $463 CAC (last week) — 3-5x the $90 target and 2-3x what in-house Meta achieves at $174 CAC. The only campaign that works is VsRyze on Meta. Taboola, Pinterest, and X campaigns generated 1 total new customer on $83K spend in 90 days.
Last Week
Spend$22,096
New Customers48
CAC$463
ROAS0.73x
Last 90 Days
Spend$328,239
New Customers992
CAC$331
ROAS0.52x
Comparison
In-house Meta CAC$174
Google CAC$59
Target CAC<$90

26-Week Trend

Weekly Spend vs. New Customers

Weekly CAC Trend

Site Traffic & Conversion Funnel

26-week view — Impressions, visits, CTR, visit-to-NC conversion rate

Site Visits
CTR (Click-Through Rate)
Visit → New Customer CVR
eCPC (Cost per Click/Visit)
Funnel Analysis

The traffic story is chaotic. GeistM is driving 8K-44K visits/week with massive swings. The Oct 28 peak (44,270 visits) was 5x the Dec 23 trough (8,404). This volatility suggests they're constantly shifting between platforms and campaign types without consistent delivery.

CTR collapsed as they scaled impressions. In October, GeistM had 5-10% CTR on ~500K impressions/week. By Feb-March, they're running 2-4M impressions/week but CTR dropped to 0.5-1.0%. They shifted from high-intent placements (likely Meta feed) to low-cost, low-engagement inventory (Taboola, display). More eyeballs, fewer clicks.

Visit-to-NC conversion is abysmal. Only 0.13-0.63% of GeistM visits convert to new customers. The best week (Feb 17, 0.63%) coincided with their highest NC week. The worst (Oct 28, 0.13%) was when they drove 44K visits of garbage traffic. For comparison, your in-house Meta typically converts site visits at 2-3%.

eCPC is cheap ($0.71-$1.73) but misleading. GeistM gets very cheap clicks — about 75% cheaper than in-house Meta ($4-5 eCPC). But cheap clicks that don't convert are worse than expensive clicks that do. At 0.31% visit-to-NC rate, each GeistM new customer requires ~320 visits. At $1.42/visit, that's $455/NC — which tracks with their CAC.

Phase Analysis

Phase Dates Avg Spend/wk Avg NC/wk Avg CAC ROAS Pattern
Launch / Steady Sep 30 – Nov 4 $25K 54 $454 0.33x Consistent $20-30K, low efficiency
BFCM Push Nov 11 – Dec 2 $25K 66 $366 0.44x Slight improvement into holiday
Holiday Pullback Dec 9 – Jan 6 $15K 46 $328 0.76x Lower spend, better ROAS
Q1 Ramp Jan 13 – Feb 10 $22K 68 $330 0.55x Ramping back up
Peak Spend Feb 17 – Mar 3 $41K 127 $323 0.40x Doubled spend, NC followed
Pullback Mar 10 – Mar 30 $24K 63 $397 0.67x Spend cut, efficiency didn't improve

Campaign Breakdown (90-Day)

Campaign Platform Spend NC CAC ROAS
VsRyze Meta $203,046 851 $239 0.51x
5Reasons (multiple) Taboola $52,465 0 N/A 0.00x
DTSLogo Taboola $17,252 0 N/A 0.00x
DTSCollage Pinterest $10,220 10 $1,076 0.10x
BestFor Meta $8,818 14 $651 0.12x
DTSVideos X / Twitter $7,524 0 N/A 0.02x
VsEverydayDose Meta $5,829 13 $461 0.37x
DTSRecipeVideos X / Twitter $5,735 1 $5,735 0.02x
MultiContent RT Meta $3,819 13 $294 0.23x

Spend by Platform

New Customers by Platform

Key Findings

Only Meta campaigns convert. $83K spent on Taboola + X in 90 days generated 1 new customer total. This is the clearest waste in the entire marketing budget.
VsRyze is 62% of all GeistM spend and basically IS GeistM's business with MUD\WTR. At $239 CAC it's expensive relative to in-house Meta ($174 CAC).
The Feb spending spike didn't improve efficiency. GeistM doubled to $48K/week — NC went up but CAC stayed at $336. When they pulled back, CAC got worse ($463).
Best CAC was during lowest spend. The holiday pullback ($11-15K/week) produced $238-$300 CAC and 0.85-0.88x ROAS. Efficiency breaks down at scale.

The Question for Leadership

Is GeistM providing incremental reach you can't get yourself? The VsRyze campaign runs on Meta — the same platform your in-house team runs at $174 CAC. What is GeistM doing that your team can't replicate for half the cost?
Is the Taboola/X/Pinterest spend justifiable? $83K in 90 days for 1 new customer is not a viable media strategy.

Recommendations

Critical Kill all Taboola and X/Twitter campaigns immediately. $83K in 90 days, 1 NC.
High Audit VsRyze vs in-house. Run a 2-week test: pause GeistM VsRyze, reallocate $29K/week to in-house scaling campaign. If in-house acquires ~120 NC at $174 CAC instead of $239, that's $7.8K/week savings.
High If keeping GeistM, cap at $15K/week. Best efficiency was at low spend.
Medium Demand a creative and media plan review from GeistM.