For DTC eCommerce brands doing $250K–$20M/year
Your reports look healthy. Your growth tells a different story.
Search moved upstream — AI answers and product feeds now shape how people buy before they reach your site. Phase 0 reconciles your data and shows you, with evidence, whether the gap is measurement, demand, or capture.
(2-minute assessment)
Forest City Digital — performance marketing built for DTC eCommerce
$30M+
in client revenue driven last year
96%
client retention rate
6- and 7-figure
DTC brands served
Automotive · Sports · Lifestyle & Apparel · Kitchen & Foods · Regulated verticals
The walkthrough
Watch the 7-minute breakdown
Kenny walks through the three most common measurement gaps we find — and how Phase 0 catches them.
Short on time? Everything in the video is on this page — keep scrolling.
(2-minute assessment)
What you’ll know
What you’ll know after Phase 0.
Your real blended MER
net revenue after refunds and discounts, divided by all marketing spend
Where revenue actually comes from
new demand created vs. demand you already had
Your AI-sourced revenue
sessions and sales from ChatGPT, AI Overviews, and answer engines, measured in GA4
Data integrity gaps
where platform numbers and Shopify's bank-verified revenue drift apart
A prioritized list of leaks
ranked by leverage, each backed by evidence
Common signs
Many brands come to us noticing one of these patterns.
- Platform dashboards look strong, but cash flow and growth tell a different story
- It's unclear which channel is actually creating new demand
- Meta, Google, and email each seem to claim the same sales
- Refunds rarely show up in the marketing math
- There's a hunch that AI and search shifts are affecting results — with no way to see it
None of these mean something is broken. They’re simply signals worth reconciling before you spend more.
Curious where you stand? Take the 2-minute assessmentProof
Three accounts. Three numbers standard reports missed.
370
Reported conversions
Each one an add-to-cart, not a purchase. The account was optimizing toward a metric that never represented a sale.
Example from an account we audited.
$345K
Refunds across seven months
More than twice the marketing budget for that period, and absent from every report the founder was shown. The highest-leverage fix wasn't a campaign.
Example from an account we audited.
22.6x → 16.0x
Reported ROAS → real blended MER
The platform reported 22.6x ROAS. Reconciled against Shopify net revenue, the real blended MER was 16.0 — healthy, and honest. The gap showed the ads were capturing existing demand more than creating new demand.
Example from an account we audited.
Examples from real engagements. Results differ by brand, category, and channel mix.
(2-minute assessment)
What changed
Search split in two. Most reporting still covers one half.
- Google's AI results, ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and product feeds now shape the journey upstream — often before a click exists to attribute
- Example: in one catalog we track, the keyword footprint barely moved while AI Overview presence more than doubled — the demand didn't disappear, the answer moved
- Across accounts we track, some of the best-converting AI traffic is also the least attributed
0 → 2,292
AI Overview keywords · one catalog, 24 months
3.32% vs 0.87%
AI feed vs. organic conversion rate · selected accounts
Largest AI traffic bucket
often the least attributed
Examples from accounts we’ve worked with. Individual results vary.
Every month you scale on unvalidated numbers, the cost of the gap compounds.
(2-minute assessment)
What Phase 0 includes
Three passes, in order. Each one gated by the last.
No analysis happens on numbers we haven’t validated first. That sequence is the whole point.
Data Integrity Audit
- Trace conversions end to end
- Reconcile Shopify net revenue against every platform's reported numbers
- Resolve any gap over 15% before a single number is used downstream
Demand Analysis
- Your real blended MER, from validated data only
- Where revenue actually comes from
- Where spend is being wasted
- What your AI-sourced revenue actually was last month
Root-Cause Diagnosis
- A prioritized set of recommendations
- The evidence behind each one, plus the cost of leaving it alone
- Written in language you can repeat to your board
(2-minute assessment)
What you’ll receive
What you’ll receive.
Every Phase 0 engagement closes with a structured handoff. Here’s exactly what that includes.
Live walkthrough call
Kenny reviews every finding with you directly. You can ask questions, push back, and pressure-test the recommendations in real time. Not a recorded video. Not a one-way presentation.
Written diagnostic summary
A clear written record of what was found, what was reconciled, and where the gaps are. Structured for reference, not for filing away.
Prioritized action plan
Your top recommendations ranked by leverage, each with the evidence behind it and the estimated cost of leaving it unaddressed. Not a list of suggestions — a sequenced plan of what to fix first and why.
Diagnostic deck
A presentation-ready document your team or board can review independently. Covers data integrity findings, demand analysis, and root-cause diagnosis in plain language.
Board-ready language
Every major finding is framed so you can repeat it accurately to investors, partners, or a leadership team without needing to translate agency terminology.
Bonus: Performance Marketing Report
A complimentary supplemental report flagging potential leaks across AI automation, tracking, site friction, SEO, and email — and where revenue may be quietly slipping.
When Phase 0 is done, you’ll know what’s actually true — and exactly what to fix first.
(2-minute assessment)
Testimonials
In their words.
“The team delivered thoughtfully and professionally.”
“We're quite impressed with their authenticity and results-driven approach.”
“Everything has been a success so far.”
A selection of brands we’ve worked with
Authority
Why brands trust Forest City with the diagnosis.
- More than $30M in client revenue driven last year — across brands doing six and seven figures
- 96% of clients renewed — because the diagnostic method produces findings worth acting on
- Work spanning automotive, sports, lifestyle & apparel, kitchen & foods, and regulated categories
- A methodology built on reconciled data — not platform dashboards
- Every engagement starts with a diagnosis, not a pitch
“I built Phase 0 after seeing too many founders scale on numbers no one had validated. The method exists to fix that — evidence first, tactics second.”
(2-minute assessment)
How it works
What happens after you click.
Three steps. No ambiguity about where you’re going or what comes next.
- Step 01
Take the 2-minute assessment
A short qualification survey. It tells us whether Phase 0 is even the right move for your brand. No prep required.
- Step 02
If it's a fit, book a 30-minute call
Only qualified brands see a calendar. If you're not a fit, we'll say so — on the spot.
- Step 03
We show you exactly what Phase 0 would examine
Scoped to your brand, with what it costs. No disguised sales call, no ninety-minute “strategy session.”
After you submit, you’re routed based on fit — either to a booking link or a straight answer that it isn’t right for you right now.
(2-minute assessment)
Pricing
Fixed price. Fixed scope. No surprises.
$5,000
Fixed scope. About two weeks. No retainer required.
- Move forward within 30 days and we credit half the audit fee toward your retainer
- If the findings point to something outside our scope, we'll tell you plainly
- We don't manufacture findings — the goal is diagnostic clarity, not a forced engagement
- If it isn't a fit at all, you'll know before you spend a dollar
(2-minute assessment)
The assessment
Get your diagnostic review.
Answer a few quick questions — about two minutes, no prep. We’ll route you to the right conversation, and your answers help us show up prepared. Only qualified brands move to a call; if it’s not a fit, you’ll know right away.
This is for DTC brands doing $250K–$20M/year that have a real media budget and suspect their numbers aren’t telling the full story. If you’re pre-revenue or just getting started with ads, Phase 0 isn’t the right move yet — and we’ll tell you that plainly.
What the 30-minute call looks like:
- Kenny reviews your answers before the call — you won't be repeating yourself.
- We tell you whether Phase 0 is the right fit for your brand, and why.
- If it is, we scope it to your specific situation and give you the price and timeline on the spot.
- If it isn't, we say so. No follow-up pressure, no nurture sequence you didn't ask for.
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Forest City Digital · diagnostic.forestcitydigital.com
