Bricks & Mortar Marketing: Chasing Break Even

This inner city salon and spa entered the Growth Method during one of the most challenging stages of its business journey. As a brick and mortar operation in the Auckland CBD, fixed costs were exceptionally high and the runway to profitability was narrow. This meant the break even point needed to be reached far faster than most service based businesses, and every decision had to be driven by data, efficiency and precision. Discovery began with us working through the financial reality in detail, modelling the sales volumes required to sustain the business and determining the maximum allowable cost per acquisition. This clarity formed the backbone of every action that followed.

Once the commercial numbers were set, Cole led the data phase by configuring The Data Lab and building out their dashboard. This allowed the team to see the true performance thresholds the campaign needed to hit. In the foundation phase, the team developed the internal systems required to support rapid improvement, including a designing a meta ad campaign, planning messaging hierarchy and providing forecasting tools that the client could understand and follow.

When the acceleration phase began, we launched tightly controlled Meta ad campaigns designed to deliver immediate revenue uplift while staying well within the acquisition limits established during discovery. Because the pressure was high and the margin for error small, every element was scrutinised in The Data Lab each Tuesday. Even small improvements in click quality, audience targeting or booking flow made measurable differences to the forecast models. Within the first month, the results were already outperforming expectations. Conversion rates were higher than both the optimistic and conservative forecasts. Cost per sale dropped below historical performance, and average booking value increased beyond what had been predicted. By closely watching the weekly metrics we can stay super responsive throughout the month! 

Although the business is still in the acceleration phase, all indicators show it is tracking toward profitability within the six month model developed at the outset. The Growth Method is particularly effective in high pressure turnaround situations like this because it brings discipline, structure and data accuracy to environments where instinct alone is no longer enough. The team’s ability to collaborate, problem solve and refine the work each week has been central to the early progress of this campaign, and it continues to drive the business closer to its break even point with each cycle of optimisation.