01
Acquisition tuned to LTV
Meta and Google budgets set against retained subscriber value by source, creative that sells the habit not the discount, and offers designed so the first order doesn't attract people who leave.
Fractional CMO for subscription brands
A fractional CMO for subscription brands where growth is decided by who stays, not who signs up.
I'm Monica Hacker, a fractional CMO for subscription DTC brands. Cohort economics, first ninety day retention, acquisition tuned to subscriber LTV and the AI system that runs it, with one senior person accountable for the number.
Part of my DTC and ecommerce practice. Based in New York and Miami.
The pattern
Subscription brands grow on paper and shrink in the cohort curve.
The subscription story always looks great in the top line. Subscribers up, MRR up, the ad account buying new sign ups at a number that seems fine. Then you plot the cohorts. A third cancel in month one. Another chunk by month three. The brand is a bucket with a hole in it, and the answer so far has been to pour faster.
Subscription economics are simple and unforgiving: acquisition cost against the LTV of the subscribers you actually keep. Which means the highest leverage work is almost never in the ad account. It's in the first ninety days: onboarding, the second box, cadence that matches real usage, the save flow, the pause option, and buying customers who wanted a subscription rather than customers who wanted a discount.
So I start with the cohort curve, month by month, by acquisition source. Then retention gets rebuilt where the curve breaks, and acquisition gets retuned to buy the customers who stay.
What I run
How an engagement usually works.
02
The first ninety days, engineered
Onboarding, expectation setting, the second shipment, cadence controls and a save flow that catches cancels before they happen. Email, SMS and in account.
03
Reporting that shows the truth
Cohort retention, LTV by source and contribution margin per subscriber in one view, updated weekly by the AI system so the Monday meeting starts with the answer.
Who this is for
Subscription founders I tend to work best with.
A DTC subscription, box, replenishment or membership brand that is already spending on growth, has a product people should keep, and a cohort curve nobody senior is looking at.
Usually paid is being run well enough by an agency or a freelancer and the retention side has no owner. That's the gap I fill.
This sits inside my DTC and ecommerce practice. Selling supplements on subscription? There's a page for that too: fractional CMO for supplement brands.
Where to start
Start with a Subscription Growth Audit.
A cohort by cohort read on where subscribers cancel, what they're worth by source and what to fix first, delivered in 7 to 10 days with a recorded walkthrough.
What I look at first
- Cohorts: retention month by month, by acquisition source and offer
- Acquisition: what a retained subscriber costs versus what a sign up costs
- First ninety days: what happens between the first order and the third charge
- Cancel and save: why people leave, what the save flow does, and what it could do
- The verdict: where growth is leaking and what to fix first
Starting at $1,500
Delivered in 7 to 10 days
Credited toward your first month if you move to a retainer.
Fair questions
What subscription founders ask me first.
What does a fractional CMO do for a subscription brand?
Owns the growth number across acquisition, onboarding, retention and the cohort economics, leads whoever is doing the work, and reports LTV and retention by source instead of sign ups. With me you also get the AI system that keeps that reporting current.
How much does a fractional CMO cost for a subscription brand?
From $8,500 a month for about 10 to 12 hours a week, 4 month minimum, review at month 3. Paid acquisition on its own from $4,500 a month. A Growth Audit is $1,500 and credited toward your first month.
Where does subscription churn usually come from?
One of three places: the customer never felt the difference, the cadence doesn't match real usage, or the offer bought someone who wanted a discount and not a subscription. The cohort audit tells you which, by source.
Should I offer a pause option?
Almost always yes. A pause is a saved subscriber. A hard cancel is a customer you'll pay to acquire again. The save flow is usually the highest return work in the whole business.
Do you work with subscription apps like Recharge and Skio?
Yes. The app matters less than what you do with it. I work in whichever one you have and connect it to the reporting so cohorts are visible without exporting anything.
Let's fix the curve, then fill the top.
I take on a few new clients each quarter. If you're building a subscription brand people should keep, let's talk.
Book a call →Thirty minutes. Bring your numbers, or just bring the problem. You'll leave knowing what I'd fix first.