Why Lifecycle Targeting Is Key to Ecommerce Growth in a Flattening Market

Not long ago, eCommerce growth was simple: spend more on media, sell more products, scale the business.

That model doesn’t hold anymore. With rising costs and increased competition, revenue-first campaigns are starting to fall short. Growth now depends on the quality as well as the quantity of your conversions.

That’s why at Bonfire, we structure campaigns around how your business actually earns revenue. We align bidding to lifecycle stages. We connect first-party data to Google Ads. And we assign greater value to the actions that lead to sustainable growth.

Why Default Google Campaigns Don’t Match Real Business Economics

Google Ads is designed to make getting started easy. Campaigns can be launched in minutes. Results can show up just as fast. And if your only goal is short-term revenue, the platform usually delivers.

But that convenience comes at a cost.

Default campaign structures don’t distinguish between new and returning customers. They don’t know which products bring in first-time buyers, or which ones keep your best customers coming back. They don’t ask whether a $30 sale has the same value as a $300 one, or whether either of those customers is likely to convert again.

When every conversion is treated the same, the algorithm learns to optimise for what’s easiest, not what’s most valuable.

That’s how brands end up with strong ROAS numbers but slowing growth. Campaigns look like they’re performing. In reality, they’re recycling the same customer base and burning through margin.

The Smarter Alternative: Targeting by Lifecycle

We segment customers based on where they are in their journey:

• New customers – People not found in your CRM or email database
• Returning customers – Profiles matched via Customer Match lists or active email users
• Lapsed customers – Buyers who haven’t transacted within a set timeframe
• High-value customers – Shoppers with a historic spend above a defined threshold

Each group gets its own bidding strategy, creative messaging, and performance goals.

We assign greater value to the conversions that matter most—like first-time purchases or high-margin products—so Google’s algorithm optimises toward long-term growth, not low-effort returns.

How Lifecycle Targeting Builds a Smarter Marketing Engine

Targeting by lifecycle makes your campaigns more relevant and strengthens your entire marketing engine over time.

When you treat each customer stage differently, your campaigns start to build on themselves:

• New customers become returning customers, and that shift is captured and valued.
• Returning customers become high-value, because your structure knows how to recognise and prioritise them.
• Lapsed customers re-enter the fold, because the system is designed to re-engage them—not write them off.

Each cohort fuels the next. Each conversion improves the algorithm. Each signal makes your data more useful.

That kind of momentum doesn’t exist in default campaign setups. When every click looks the same, the algorithm keeps fishing in the same pool, and eventually, that pool can run dry.

Lifecycle campaigns don’t just reflect behaviour. They shape it. They create structure, consistency, and compounding returns so you’re not starting from zero every month. You’re building something that gets more efficient with time.

Structure Determines Scale

Campaigns that chase conversions will always deliver something. But if they’re not designed around how your business actually earns, they won’t deliver real growth.

When your campaigns are structured around lifecycles, every interaction adds value. Your media spend becomes more efficient. Your signals get sharper. And your customer base starts to grow on its own momentum. And in a flat market, that’s exactly what it takes to move forward.

If you’re ready to structure your campaigns around how your business actually earns, reach out to one of our Senior Advisors via our Contact page. We’d love to show you what lifecycle targeting could unlock for your brand.