Growth & Strategy
Personas
SaaS & Startup
Time to ROI
Medium-term (3-6 months)
Last year, I watched a brilliant client with a catalog of 1,000+ products burn through their entire marketing budget on Facebook Ads. The product was solid, the creative was beautiful, the targeting seemed perfect. But after three months and thousands of dollars spent, their ROAS sat at a miserable 0.8.
The problem wasn't their product, their ads, or even their audience. It was a complete mismatch between what they were selling and how they were trying to sell it. They had fallen into the same trap that 90% of businesses fall into: assuming that if Facebook Ads work for Company X, they'll work for them too.
This was my introduction to what I now call the product-channel fit crisis - and it's costing businesses millions in wasted ad spend.
In this playbook, you'll discover:
Why product-channel fit matters more than your conversion rate
The real reason my client's paid ads failed (and how we fixed it)
My 3-step framework for finding the right channel for your product
When to quit a channel (before you go broke)
Case studies from 3 different industries where channel pivots saved the business
If you're struggling with low ROAS, high acquisition costs, or channels that just "aren't working," this might be the most important article you read this year.
Reality Check
Why most businesses get channel selection completely wrong
Let me guess the advice you've been following:
"Test Facebook Ads first - they have the best targeting." "SEO takes too long, focus on paid search." "LinkedIn is for B2B, Instagram is for B2C." "Everyone should have a TikTok strategy in 2025."
The marketing industry loves these blanket statements because they're easy to package into courses and "proven frameworks." But here's what actually happens in reality:
Channel-first thinking - Most businesses pick channels based on what's trendy or what competitors are doing
One-size-fits-all mentality - If Facebook Ads work for dropshipping, they must work for SaaS, right?
Ignoring customer behavior - Assuming all products can be sold the same way
Short-term testing - Giving up on channels after a few weeks instead of months
Attribution obsession - Believing that if you can't track it perfectly, it doesn't work
This conventional wisdom exists because it's easier to sell "universal" marketing strategies than to admit the truth: what works depends entirely on your specific product and how your customers actually behave.
The problem with this approach? You end up forcing your product into channels that fundamentally don't match how people want to discover and buy what you're selling. It's like trying to sell luxury watches in a gas station - technically possible, but you're fighting against human psychology.
That's where product-channel fit comes in, and why getting it wrong will drain your budget faster than any other marketing mistake.
Consider me as your business complice.
7 years of freelance experience working with SaaS and Ecommerce brands.
OK, so let me tell you about the project that completely changed how I think about marketing channels. I was working with this French e-commerce client who had built something genuinely impressive: a curated catalog of over 1,000 handmade and artisanal products.
Their average order value was €50, margins were decent, and the products themselves were beautiful. The founder had this vision of becoming the "Etsy for premium handmade goods" and was convinced that Facebook Ads were going to be their growth engine.
Here's what we tried first, because everyone said it would work:
Dynamic product ads showcasing their best sellers
Interest-based targeting for "handmade" and "artisanal" audiences
Lookalike audiences based on their existing customers
Video ads showing the crafting process behind the products
The results? After three months and roughly €10,000 in ad spend, we were sitting at a 0.8 ROAS. People would click, maybe browse one or two products, then disappear. The conversion rate was brutal.
At first, we did what every marketer does: blamed the creative, the targeting, the landing pages. We A/B tested everything. New ad copy, different audiences, mobile vs desktop optimization. Nothing moved the needle.
That's when I started digging deeper into the user behavior data, and the pattern became crystal clear:
Facebook users wanted to make quick decisions. They'd land on a product page, see something they kind of liked, but then realize they had 999 other products to potentially explore. Instead of diving deeper, they'd just leave. The platform was built for impulse purchases, but this business required discovery time.
Meanwhile, our organic traffic - small as it was - showed completely different behavior. These visitors would browse 8-10 pages per session, spend 4-5 minutes exploring different categories, and actually convert at a 3.2% rate.
The problem wasn't the ads, the audience, or even the product. It was a fundamental mismatch between how Facebook users behave and how this product needed to be discovered.
Here's my playbook
What I ended up doing and the results.
After that expensive lesson, I developed what I now call the Product-Channel Fit Audit. Instead of starting with channels and hoping our product would fit, I started with the product and customer behavior, then found channels that matched.
Here's the exact framework I used to turn that failing Facebook campaign into a profitable growth engine - just not where we expected:
Step 1: Product Discovery Mapping
I analyzed how their existing customers actually found and bought from them. Not through surveys or guesswork, but through real behavioral data:
Time spent browsing before first purchase (average: 18 minutes across 3 sessions)
Number of products viewed before buying (average: 12 products)
Search behavior patterns (90% used category filters, 60% sorted by price)
Return visitor patterns (40% came back within 48 hours to "think about it")
This data told a story: their customers needed time and options. They weren't buying on impulse; they were curating.
Step 2: Channel Behavior Analysis
I mapped this customer behavior against different marketing channels:
Facebook Ads: Optimized for quick decisions, impulse purchases
Google Search: People actively looking for specific solutions
SEO/Content: Users willing to spend time exploring and learning
Email/Newsletter: Relationship-based, repeat engagement
The mismatch was obvious. We were trying to force discovery-based purchasing behavior into an impulse-driven channel.
Step 3: The Strategic Pivot
Instead of abandoning paid advertising entirely, we completely restructured our approach:
Moved budget from Facebook to SEO content creation - Invested in comprehensive buying guides for each product category
Used Google Ads for high-intent searches - Targeted "handmade [specific product]" rather than broad interests
Repurposed Facebook budget into email automation - Created browse abandonment sequences that gave people time to decide
Built a comprehensive content hub - "Ultimate guides" for finding the perfect handmade gifts
Step 4: The Implementation
The actual execution took 6 months, but the results started showing within 8 weeks:
Organic traffic increased by 340% through targeted content
Google Ads ROAS hit 3.8 (compared to 0.8 on Facebook)
Email automation recovered 23% of browse abandoners
Overall customer acquisition cost dropped by 60%
The breakthrough wasn't finding a "better" channel - it was finding channels that matched how their customers actually wanted to discover and buy handmade products.
Channel Mapping
Match your customer's buying journey to channel behavior, not channel popularity
Attribution Reality
Track behavior patterns, not just last-click conversions - most journeys span multiple touchpoints
Budget Reallocation
Test channels with small budgets first, then double down on what shows natural product-channel alignment
Timeline Patience
Give channels 60-90 days minimum before declaring failure - some matches take time to develop
The results from this channel realignment were dramatic, but they didn't happen overnight. Here's what we achieved over 6 months:
Traffic Quality Transformation: The organic traffic we generated through SEO showed 4x higher engagement than our previous Facebook traffic. Visitors spent an average of 6.3 minutes on site (vs 1.2 minutes from Facebook) and viewed 8.7 pages per session.
Financial Impact: Customer acquisition cost dropped from €47 per customer (Facebook Ads) to €18 per customer (SEO + targeted Google Ads). More importantly, these customers had a 35% higher lifetime value because they found us through intent-driven channels.
Sustainable Growth: Unlike the Facebook campaigns that died the moment we stopped spending, our SEO content continued generating traffic and sales months later. By month 6, organic search was driving 60% of their revenue.
The Unexpected Outcome: The biggest surprise was how much easier everything became once we found the right product-channel fit. Content creation felt natural because we were solving real search problems. Customer support inquiries dropped because people were finding exactly what they expected. Even our conversion rate optimization tests worked better because we were optimizing for the right audience.
This wasn't just about fixing a marketing problem - it was about aligning our entire growth strategy with how customers actually behave.
What I've learned and the mistakes I've made.
Sharing so you don't make them.
Here are the most important lessons I learned from this experience and dozens of similar projects since:
Channel popularity doesn't equal channel effectiveness - Just because "everyone" uses Facebook Ads doesn't mean they'll work for your product
Your product dictates your channels, not the other way around - Start with customer behavior, then find channels that match
Attribution lies, but behavior doesn't - Focus on understanding customer journeys rather than obsessing over last-click attribution
Quick wins vs. sustainable growth require different approaches - What works for 30-day sprints might kill your 12-month growth
Channel testing requires patience - 2-3 weeks isn't enough time to determine product-channel fit
Budget allocation should follow behavior data - Not industry benchmarks or competitor strategies
Some mismatches can't be fixed with better creative - If the fundamental behavior doesn't align, move on
The biggest mindset shift was realizing that marketing isn't about forcing customers to adapt to your chosen channels - it's about meeting customers where they naturally want to discover and evaluate your type of product.
When you get product-channel fit right, everything else becomes easier. Your ads perform better because you're reaching people in the right mindset. Your conversion rates improve because customers arrive with proper expectations. Your customer acquisition costs drop because you're not fighting against human psychology.
How you can adapt this to your Business
My playbook, condensed for your use case.
For your SaaS / Startup
For SaaS startups, product-channel fit is critical because selling software requires trust and education:
Map your free trial length to your discovery channels - longer trials need relationship-building channels
B2B SaaS often works better with LinkedIn + content than Facebook impulse campaigns
Consider your sales cycle - enterprise sales need different channels than self-serve products
For your Ecommerce store
For e-commerce stores, product-channel fit determines your customer acquisition cost and lifetime value:
Complex product catalogs need discovery-focused channels like SEO and content marketing
Impulse purchases work well with social media advertising
High-consideration purchases need multi-touch attribution and longer nurture sequences