I spoke with a friend a couple weeks ago who said, “TikTok is crushing it for us right now, but I’m worried about what happens when it stops working.”
He’s not being paranoid. He’s being realistic.
The truth is, every acquisition channel in e-commerce will eventually plateau. It doesn’t matter if it’s TikTok, Meta, email, affiliates, or SEO. The nature of channels is that they get crowded, expensive, or over-optimized.
And if you’re still operating with the assumption that a winning channel is something you can ride indefinitely, you’re setting your business up for stagnation – or worse, a crash.
Let’s talk about why that happens, and what to do next.
Why one channel always plateaus
There are a few predictable reasons any one channel eventually stops working:
- Costs rise as competition increases. Your once-affordable CAC creeps up because everyone else figured out the same playbook.
- Fatigue sets in. Even the best-performing creative gets stale. Audiences get numb to your ads, especially in trend-driven channels like TikTok.
- Platform dynamics shift. Algorithms change. New ad formats take priority. What worked six months ago isn’t what the platform wants today.
- You saturate your own audience. You run out of new eyeballs. If you’re selling a niche product, it happens faster than you think.
This isn’t fear-mongering – it’s math. A single channel might carry you for a season. But if it’s your only growth engine, your business is running on borrowed time.
What most brands do next (and why it’s a trap)
When founders sense the plateau coming, their instinct is often to panic-optimize:
- Fire the agency
- Swap out creatives
- Try a new offer
- Throw more money at it
Sometimes that buys time. But eventually, the well runs dry.
At that point, most brands shift into what I call “Channel Roulette.” They jump from one shiny tactic to another – trying influencer whitelisting, launching on Pinterest, spinning up an Amazon storefront – without a strategy that ties it all together.
The result? More stress, more spending, and not much more growth.
The brands that break through do this instead
They stop thinking about “channels,” and start thinking about systems.
A high-performing e-commerce brand doesn’t rely on one channel. It builds an integrated ecosystem of customer acquisition and retention that can flex and evolve over time.
Here’s what that actually looks like:
1. You build a system, not just campaigns
Campaigns are temporary. Systems are designed to compound. Think:
- A quiz funnel that collects email + SMS before purchase
- A welcome series that converts new subscribers on autopilot
- A UGC pipeline that refreshes your ad creative weekly
2. You diversify with purpose
You don’t jump to YouTube Ads because it’s trendy. You expand to it after proving your offer works elsewhere and you have the margin to explore.
3. You understand your channel lifecycle
Some products are “scroll-stoppers.” Some do better with search. Some need long-form explainer content. You map which stages of the funnel belong to which channels – and build accordingly.
How to spot if you’re stuck in a plateau
A few symptoms I’ve learned that repeat with brands:
- You’re spending more just to maintain revenue.
- You haven’t tested a new acquisition channel in 6+ months.
- Your returning customer rate is flat.
- Your LTV-to-CAC ratio is narrowing.
If 2 or more of those are true, it’s time to build the next layer.
What to do this quarter
Here’s a simple audit you can run with your team:
- Score each of your current channels. Are they growing, stagnating, or declining?
- Map out the customer journey. Where do people first hear about you, and where do they drop off?
- Choose one new channel to test – but only if your system is ready. Do you have the tracking, offer, and creative to support it?
And above all, remember: the goal isn’t to find the next TikTok. It’s to build a business that doesn’t fall apart when TikTok stops working.
The bottom line
One channel will always plateau. That’s a feature, not a bug.
The founders who build enduring brands aren’t chasing the latest algorithm hack. They’re building systems that keep customers coming in – even when the internet shifts under their feet.
If you want sustainable growth in e-commerce, think beyond the channel. Build for the ecosystem.
See you next week.