Hello everyone,
I wanted to examine what everyone’s current approach looks like in light of growing ad costs and frequent algorithm adjustments. Are you still getting the best results from sponsored advertisements (Meta, Google, TikTok) or are you depending more on organic traffic (SEO, TikTok/Instagram reels, and content)?
What has recently yielded the highest return on investment? I’d be interested in hearing about your experiences!
I’ve definitely shifted toward organic more than I used to. Paid can still work really well, but with CPMs moving around so much, I’m less comfortable judging a channel from ROAS alone, especially if the product has a decent amount of repeat purchase potential.
SEO has been slower for me but feels more durable once the traffic starts coming in. Reels and other short form content can be a bit unpredictable too. You can get a ton of views that do absolutely nothing for revenue, then some random smaller post ends up bringing in actual buyers.
I usually look at the cost of getting the customer and what happens after that rather than just which channel generated the most sales that month. I’ve also started paying more attention to the technical side of SEO with SiteGuru, mainly because there’s not much point putting more content out if the store has basic issues getting in the way.
For me it’s less about choosing paid or organic completely. Paid is useful for testing and getting volume quickly, while organic gives you something that can keep bringing people in without paying for every visit.
"Our primary focus has switched considerably from pure paid ad scale to Organic & Retention (LTV) due to increasing CPMs and algorithm modifications.
Content/SEO: Since the initial cost is primarily time and creative work rather than direct ad expenditure, short-form organic video (TikTok/Instagram Reels) currently yields our strongest ROI.
Paid Ads: We continue to use Google Search and Shopping to find active customers, but we’ve reduced top-of-funnel Meta spending and put a lot of emphasis on retention—maximizing the lifetime value of current customers through email/SMS flows and post-purchase offers."
The title works, but I’d shorten it to: Rising ad costs: are you focusing on organic or paid traffic? It reads more naturally and keeps the main keyword up front.
For the actual strategy, I’m using both:
Paid gives faster data. Organic and retention make that paid traffic more profitable over time.
I still use paid and primarily on Meta, though depending on the exact product, TikTok and Google also deserve consideration. It’s a totally valid question, though. I believe Meta CPMs rose ~11% this year, and they’ve risen double digits for each of the last few years post-COVID.
To me, that means e-commerce businesses need to be increasing their customer lifetime value by at least 10 to 15% every year just to stay in the same place. That means boosting conversion rates, boosting AOV, increasing repeat buyer rates, building out subscription products, etc.
Of course, organic traffic benefits from all of these same improvements. It’s just tough to reach the same scale on organic alone.
What channels are you considering?
Everyone here is answering “which channel”, but rising CPMs don’t actually tell you to leave paid. They tell you your margin has less room in it than it used to.
The number that decides it is break-even ROAS, which is just 1 divided by your contribution margin. Keep 60% after product cost, fees and shipping and you break even at about 1.7x, so a CPM rise has to be brutal before paid stops working. Keep 25% and you need 4x, and you were probably already underwater before CPMs moved.
So the honest answer to “organic or paid” is that it depends on a number most people never calculate. Two stores with identical CPMs can have opposite correct answers.
Kim267’s point about lifetime value is the other half of this, and it’s the right instinct. If you know your margin you can work out what you’re allowed to pay for a customer, and then CPM is just an input rather than a verdict.
Hi @DanielAnderson
I’ve found organic work is more durable over time, especially SEO & short form content that can be re-used on multiple channels. Paid ads can be effective, but I’d look at contribution margin rather than ROAS solely. There’s usually a happy medium for this: buy traffic to test offers and audiences, then develop organic material that converts. With Shopify Analytcs, you can evaluate channel performance to see which channels are driving you the highest quality customers.