John Joe Smith

The mechanisms differ — CSV uploads, email-platform automations, native ad-platform tools, manual workflows and SOPs — but the outcome Smith describes is identical. Across three different repeat-purchase situations, Smith presents leakage as a systemic condition of DTC prospecting, not one brand's mistake.

Cozy Earth ran monthly manual CSV uploads, Klaviyo, Shopify and Attentive automations, plus layered native Meta pixel exclusions.

• Facebook still credited a large share of purchases to people who had already bought, with John Joe Smith reporting that nearly 40% of budget went to the wrong people.
• Portland Leather Goods, described as having millions of loyal repeat buyers, still saw repeat buyers slip through despite CSV uploads, Shopify and Klaviyo exclusions, native Meta tools and manual workflows.
• HEYSHAPE tried Shopify Audiences, Klaviyo exclusions and Meta's built-in workflows, but new-customer percentages kept falling.

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The posts describe connecting a brand's ecommerce, email and ad accounts so exclusions run continuously on cleaner identifiers, replacing manual imports and showing which spend reached net-new customers.

Cozy Earth connected Shopify, Klaviyo and Meta in minutes with no engineering.

• Smith says WasteNot automates exclusions in real time with cleaner data and better identifiers.
• Portland Leather Goods lists the changes: no more manual CSV uploads, no broken syncing, cleaner and higher-quality exclusion data, and visibility into how much budget reached net-new customers.

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Each case gives a setup time, framing the decision as low-commitment enough to test.

HEYSHAPE describes setup in under 10 minutes: connect Shopify, Klaviyo and Meta, then activate WasteNot inside campaigns.

• One test campaign reportedly flipped almost immediately, after which HEYSHAPE rolled exclusions out across all top-of-funnel campaigns.
• Portland Leather Goods describes setup in under 30 minutes, with exclusions live the next day.
• Cozy Earth describes connecting the three systems in minutes.

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Smith says the extra spend continues to bring in net-new customers instead of buying back repeat buyers and inflating acquisition cost — the outcome a brand evaluating a scale-up cares about most.

Cozy Earth reportedly increased Meta spend by 50% while maintaining its efficiency gains; the post argues that the extra budget drove more net-new customers rather than inflating nCAC. HEYSHAPE reports a 26% increase in new-customer ROAS alongside a 24% decrease in nCAC.

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The posts track new-customer share of purchases, nCAC, new-customer ROAS and the percentage of budget going to existing customers — buyer-side measures rather than platform-reported conversions.

Portland Leather Goods reportedly moved from 49% to 82% of purchases coming from new customers within 30 days, with new customers up 69% and new-customer share up 68%. Cozy Earth's new-customer share reportedly rose from 44% to 63%, with new-customer orders up 43% and budget spent on existing customers down 59%.

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The results are broad, but marketers should ask for evidence from brands that saw no improvement; the posts present reported wins only.

Cozy Earth quotes Colby McDermott, its VP of Acquisition, saying WasteNot was the only tool they found that actually excluded existing customers and gave them control of their ad spend.

• HEYSHAPE quotes CEO Matthijs Otterloo saying all metrics improved, from new-customer percentage to profitability to email list growth.
• Portland Leather Goods quotes Director of Growth Matt Fey describing WasteNot as a beautiful niche focused on one purpose only: increasing reach on new customers.

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It offers a clear example of the problem: exclusions that look complete but still let acquisition spend reach past buyers.

Smith presents a Cozy Earth case study: Meta spend reached existing customers despite monthly manual CSV uploads, Klaviyo, Shopify, and Attentive automations, layered native Meta pixel exclusions, and four systems trying to keep existing customers out.

• The post says WasteNot connected Shopify, Klaviyo, and Meta in minutes and automated exclusions in real time.
• Reported results: new-customer purchase percentage rose 26% within ten days; over 30 days, new-customer orders rose 43%, new-customer share rose from 44% to 63%, and budget spent on existing customers fell 59%.
• Cozy Earth also increased Meta spend by 50% and kept the efficiency gains.
• Cozy Earth’s VP of Acquisition Colby McDermott is quoted saying WasteNot was the only tool they found that actually excluded existing customers.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this as the anchor proof point in a webinar on reducing wasted ad spend. It lays out the failed exclusion stack and the business outcomes a DTC brand can evaluate: new-customer share, new-customer orders, and budget leakage to existing customers.

Smith describes womenswear brand HEYSHAPE hitting a growth bottleneck after 2024 as CPMs rose and Meta exclusions failed.

• HEYSHAPE had tried Shopify Audiences, Klaviyo exclusions, and Meta’s built-in workflows, but existing customers kept seeing ads and growth plateaued.
• The post says HEYSHAPE found WasteNot through a Jones Road Beauty thread, set it up in under 10 minutes by connecting Shopify, Klaviyo, and Meta, and activated WasteNot inside campaigns.
• Reported results: New Customer ROAS rose 26%, nCAC fell 24%, profitability and first-time buyers increased, and the email list grew faster.
• A test campaign reportedly flipped almost immediately, after which HEYSHAPE rolled exclusions across top-of-funnel campaigns.
• CEO Matthijs Otterloo is quoted saying all metrics improved, from new-customer percentage to profitability to email list growth.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this for the webinar section on diagnosis and adoption.

• It traces a practical path from failed native exclusions to a short setup, a single test campaign, and rollout across top-of-funnel campaigns.
• It also shows which metrics a DTC brand can track to assess a test.

It is a sharp example of exclusion failure at scale and the potential scale of the correction.

Smith presents Portland Leather Goods as a brand with millions of loyal repeat buyers, making Meta prospecting inefficient because too many ads reached existing customers.

• The post says PLG tried Shopify and Klaviyo exclusions, constant CSV uploads, Meta’s native exclusion tools, and manual workflows and SOPs, but repeat buyers kept slipping through.
• WasteNot setup reportedly took under 30 minutes: Shopify, Klaviyo, and ad accounts were connected, and exclusions went live the next day.
• The post lists the changes: no more manual CSV uploads, no broken syncing, cleaner exclusion data, and visibility into how much budget reached net-new customers.
• Over 30 days, new customers rose 69%, new-customer share of all purchases rose 68%, and 82% of all purchases came from new customers, up from 49% before WasteNot.
• PLG’s Director of Growth Matt Fey is quoted saying WasteNot is a niche tool for increasing reach on new customers for one purpose only.

For brands planning a campaign

Use this as the strongest scale example for a webinar on reducing wasted ad spend. It shows a repeat-buyer-heavy DTC brand moving from a 49% new-customer share to 82% in 30 days, a clear before-and-after metric for the pitch, case-study slide, and follow-up brief.

Cozy Earth saw nearly 40% of its budget going to the wrong people despite monthly CSV uploads, Klaviyo, Shopify, Attentive automations and Meta pixel exclusions.

• HEYSHAPE saw new-customer percentages fall and nCAC rise while Shopify Audiences, Klaviyo exclusions and Meta workflows failed to hold.
• Portland Leather Goods had millions of repeat buyers and found that Shopify, Klaviyo, CSV uploads, native Meta tools and manual workflows still let repeat buyers through.

The posts consistently frame the issue as one of data and execution: conventional exclusion stacks are too slow, too manual or too incomplete to stop spend leaking to existing customers.

For brands planning a campaign

For a DTC brand brief on reducing wasted ad spend, Smith's posts offer a ready-made diagnosis: audit how much Meta spend reaches existing customers despite current exclusion methods. A webinar can open with that audit rather than a product tour.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

HEYSHAPE describes setup in under 10 minutes; Portland Leather Goods describes setup in under 30 minutes, with exclusions live the next day; Cozy Earth describes connecting systems in minutes.

• Reported results include Cozy Earth's new-customer orders rising 43%, new-customer share moving from 44% to 63%, and budget spent on existing customers falling 59%.
• HEYSHAPE reports a 26% increase in new-customer ROAS and a 24% decrease in nCAC.
• Portland Leather Goods reports a 69% increase in new customers, with 82% of purchases coming from new customers, up from 49%.

The implementation pattern is integration-first: connect the ecommerce, email and ad platforms, then activate exclusions directly inside campaigns.

For brands planning a campaign

A case-study-based webinar can trace the setup-to-measurement path through these three examples, then help attendees map the same steps to their own Shopify, Klaviyo and Meta accounts.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

Cozy Earth cites VP of Acquisition Colby McDermott; HEYSHAPE cites CEO Matthijs Otterloo; Portland Leather Goods cites Director of Growth Matt Fey. The quotes focus on regaining control of ad spend, improving new-customer metrics and trusting that acquisition dollars reach new buyers.

This is a repeatable proof format: name the leak, describe the failed alternatives, show the setup, list 30-day or near-term metrics, and close with a buyer-side quote.

For brands planning a campaign

For a webinar on reducing wasted ad spend, this format can supply the agenda: problem framing, failed alternatives, implementation, measured results and customer perspective. It also gives Smith a template for presenting the case study without building a new narrative from scratch.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

HEYSHAPE is described as a fast-growing womenswear brand.

• Portland Leather Goods is described as having millions of loyal repeat buyers.
• The common thread is not a single product category but a large existing-customer base that makes Meta prospecting harder to read and less efficient.

For brands planning a campaign

A webinar can use the three examples to show that leakage affects repeat-purchase DTC brands, then segment the discussion by how each brand's repeat-buyer base changes the exclusion challenge.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

Cozy Earth frames the outcome as scaling spend by 40% without inflating nCAC.

• HEYSHAPE frames it as more profitability, more first-time buyers and faster list growth.
• Portland Leather Goods frames it as replacing existing buyers with new customers and sharpening growth projections.

All three posts report positive outcomes, but none documents a failed setup, a brand that saw no improvement or a case where WasteNot did not fit. For a balanced webinar or brief, ask for examples that show where the method did not work or reach its limits.

For brands planning a campaign

Build the webinar around the metrics the posts already use, and add a section on when the method may not apply. The missing failure cases are an actionable research gap, not a reason to avoid the topic.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2 · Source 3

They do not state employment, ownership, or a formal title.

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The post says Cozy Earth came to “us” with a Meta exclusion problem, connected its Shopify, Klaviyo, and Meta accounts to WasteNot, and reports results after 30 days.

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The post says HEYSHAPE connected Shopify, Klaviyo, and Meta, then activated WasteNot inside its campaigns. It reports a 26 percent increase in new customer ROAS and a 24 percent decrease in nCAC.

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The post says the brand connected Shopify, Klaviyo, and its ad accounts, then ran WasteNot exclusions. It reports a 69 percent increase in new customers and 82 percent of purchases from new customers after 30 days.

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Ask whether Jones Road Beauty sponsored, partnered with, or was otherwise paid by Smith or WasteNot.

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Henry-Hicks broadens the diagnosis, discussing creative education, credibility, audience structure and search campaigns alongside recommendations for prospecting.

Smith’s examples focus on exclusion data and results reported by individual brands using WasteNot. Henry-Hicks takes an audit-style approach, diagnosing growth and media strategy across several areas.

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In one post, Tran describes two accounts where repeat purchases inflated campaign performance, then recommends separating new and returning customers and judging growth by new-customer volume.

Tran’s examples focus on attribution and how to interpret campaign reporting; Smith focuses on the exclusion process and case-study results. Tran also writes about other topics, including Meta’s AI-generated-ad labels.

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Kiel’s posts offer operational advice on ad concepts and cross-channel measurement. Smith’s posts center on customer exclusions and reported outcomes from individual brand case studies.

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For the same exclusion-efficiency decision, Smith's posts describe auditing around 20 brands a month and finding roughly 90% with a shrinking share of new customers.

• They then offer a checklist: move to manual campaigns, aggressively exclude existing and engaged segments, use ViewContent as the conversion event to pull higher-intent traffic up funnel, validate traffic quality in analytics, and tighten brand exclusions in PMAX.
• A webinar that teaches attendees to locate their own leak fits this material more directly than a series of vendor case studies.

John Joe Smith's posts offer audit observations and tactical advice, but no client names, before-and-after metrics, or customer quotes.

• A case-study webinar built on this material would lack the client narrative and concrete proof.
• The posts also don't cover one specific exclusion product, so setup, campaign activation, and rollout would need to be handled separately.
• Choosing Josh trades a three-brand proof stack for a broader diagnostic method.

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For a campaign aimed at the same exclusion-efficiency decision, one post examines a cricket store and a tennis store, each running one Advantage+ campaign with broad targeting, campaign budget optimisation, and no existing-customer exclusions.

• Both campaigns reported strong ROAS and low customer acquisition cost, but closer inspection showed a large share of “new” sales were returning buyers.
• The suggested fixes are to separate new from returning customers, exclude past buyers from prospecting, and push retention into email and SMS.
• This is closer to the measurement and budget-allocation conversation a webinar audience may need.

Smith's posts include two account examples and cite another practitioner's 71K breakdown, but no named DTC client results, before-and-after exclusion metrics, or customer quotes.

• A case-study webinar would need to be rebuilt as scenario teaching.
• The other post covers Meta's AI ad labelling, which falls outside a campaign aimed at exclusion efficiency.
• Choosing Mark trades documented client proof for a sharper explanation of why inflated results hide budget leakage.

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One post addresses a founder acting as the sole creative producer for a 30k/month account, aiming for five ads a week but producing one in a month.

• It recommends aiming for two conceptually different ads a week, choosing two or three core pillars, and running a fixed weekly routine.
• The other explains last-click attribution: a customer sees a Meta ad, searches the brand on Google, buys through Google Shopping, and Meta gets no credit, so budget shifts to Google and top-of-funnel demand dries up.
• The fix is to set up custom conversions for Google and Klaviyo referral traffic and branded Google Shopping traffic.
• If the brand's real blocker is producing enough distinct ads or proving what Meta contributes, this material answers the decision better than exclusion case studies.

Neither post documents an exclusion workflow or a client result from fixing one.

• A webinar on reducing wasted spend would therefore cover adjacent decisions, without the exclusion setup, before-and-after numbers, or customer testimony needed for a campaign on that topic.
• Choosing Phil trades the specific exclusion-efficiency story for creative-throughput and attribution material.

Examples: Source 1 · Source 2