How agencies and online stores can beat rising CAC by plugging into Ascendia’s outcome-driven affiliate network.
- Marcio Fasano
- Nov 25
- 5 min read
You’re not imagining it: getting a sale online is more expensive than ever.
CPMs and CPCs on Meta and Google have crept up year after year – and when Black Friday or Q4 hits, the auction turns into a knife fight. You push bids up to stay visible, watch CAC climb into the tens of dollars per new customer… and then you still have to deal with Amazon, Temu, Shein and friends casually outbidding you while promising next-day delivery.
For many agencies and e-commerce brands, the pattern is the same:
More spend → more noise → higher CAC → same or worse profit.
At Ascendia, we see this from a different vantage point: as a network. And from where we sit, one thing is very clear:
If you try to win 2025 with only auction media, you’re playing a game that’s rigged in favour of giants.
It’s time to rebalance the mix.
The Attention Auction Is Broken (for Everyone Who Isn’t Huge)
Let’s be blunt.
Meta and Google are amazing machines – but they’re also marketplaces where:
Larger players can absorb higher CAC because of scale and LTV.
Marketplaces (Amazon, etc.) are happy to bid aggressively just to keep you out.
Seasonal peaks push prices into silly territory, especially for saturated verticals.
So you do all the “right” things:
Better creatives
Tighter audiences
Smarter bid strategies
…and your CAC still creeps up.
Why? Because you’re not just competing on creative – you’re competing on balance sheet.
There Is Another Way: Pay for Outcomes, Not Eyeballs
This is where performance and affiliate marketing should stop being “nice extra channels” and become core infrastructure in your mix.
Instead of:
Paying per impression or click, hoping the maths will work…
You:
Pay only when the outcome you care about happens – a sale, an approved lead, a funded account, a subscription.
From a CAC perspective, it changes the question completely:
“How much can I afford to pay per click?”➜ “What is a profitable CPA for my business – and who can send me customers at that price?”
That’s the game Ascendia plays every day.
What Networks See That Single Brands Often Can’t
Because we sit in the middle – between thousands of publishers and a portfolio of advertisers – we get a panoramic view of where attention is actually converting:
Content sites, newsletters and niche communities that big platforms ignore.
Price comparison engines, cashback and voucher players that dominate late-stage intent.
Email, native, influencer and review traffic that doesn’t always start on Meta or Google.
Many agencies and e-com brands know these channels exist, but hitting critical mass alone is hard:
You can’t talk to 500 publishers one by one.
You can’t QA thousands of tracking links.
You can’t manage dozens of small, fragmented partners and still run your day job.
As a network, that’s exactly the problem we were built to solve.
How Agencies & E-Commerces Can Use Ascendia to Beat CAC Inflation
Here’s how we see smart partners using us to push back against rising acquisition costs.
1. Turn a slice of your paid media budget into pure CPA
Instead of throwing 100% of your acquisition budget into auctions, ring-fence a portion as performance-only:
Agree a CPA you know you can profitably handle.
Keep your existing network payout structure (no setup fees, no overrides with us).
Let our 17K+ vetted partners compete to send you converting traffic.
Result: you’re no longer just buying clicks – you’re buying customers at a fixed, predictable cost.
2. Use the network as your “attention hedge”
Meta spikes? CPC on search doubles overnight? No problem – you still have:
Content, email, loyalty, comparison, influencer and niche affiliate partners active.
Multiple GEOs and traffic types that don’t all move in lockstep with the same algorithm update.
You stop being hostage to a single auction and start building a portfolio of attention sources.
3. Scale what works, kill what doesn’t – fast
Because Ascendia is performance-based:
If a partner doesn’t convert profitably, we switch off, optimise, or reallocate.
If a publisher is a star for your brand, we double down with exclusivity, higher caps, nominative codes, custom landing pages.
From your side, you’re not guessing. You’re seeing transparent reporting and only paying on approved outcomes.
Agencies: This Is a Value-Add Your Clients Will Actually Feel
If you’re an agency, your clients are already complaining about CAC. You don’t need another deck explaining “rising CPMs”.
What you can bring them is a new story:
“We’ve added a performance layer via Ascendia – you only pay for real results, at the same commission you use on other networks. No setup, no extra fees.”
Benefits for you:
De-risked testing – you’re not asking clients to pour more money into the same auctions.
Stronger retention – you’re seen as the partner who found a way to acquire customers in a saner way.
New angles – affiliates often discover creatives and hooks that later inform your paid social/search.
You keep your existing media activity, but you’re no longer 100% exposed to auction inflation.
E-Commerce Brands: Stop Renting All Your Growth from Meta & Google
If 80–90% of your new customers come via 2–3 platforms, you don’t have a funnel – you have a dependency.
Performance partnerships through Ascendia help you:
Reach buyers in the wild – reading reviews, blogs, newsletters, comparison tables – not just scrolling ads.
Pay only when they convert, at a CPA you set.
Tap into Black Friday and seasonal peaks through publishers who already know how to push offers hard, without you reinventing the wheel.
You’re not abandoning paid ads; you’re giving yourself a second engine.
So, What’s the Call to Action?
If rising CAC is keeping you up at night, do this:
1. Define your “comfortable CPA”
What can you realistically pay per sale or approved lead and still be happy with margin and LTV?
2. Run a focused test with Ascendia
Not vague, not fluffy – a clear pilot:
90 days
X key campaigns
Y GEOs
Z target volumes
We’ll:
Plug you into the right slice of our 17K+ publishers.
Set up tracking, reporting, and support (WhatsApp / MS Teams – 24/7).
Optimise aggressively to hit or beat your CPA, or we stop.
3. Compare it honestly with your current CAC
At the end, put the numbers side by side:
Auction CAC vs performance CPA
Volume, quality, approval rates, LTV
If we haven’t delivered meaningful value, we shake hands and you walk away with clarity.If we have – you’ve just found a scalable way to grow without letting CPM inflation dictate your future.
At Ascendia, we don’t pretend we can fix the auction economy.
What we can do is give agencies and e-commerce brands a smarter way to acquire customers:
👉 Pay for outcomes, not for the privilege of shouting in a crowded room.
If you want to explore what that looks like for your brand or your clients, reach out and let’s design a performance test that makes sense for your numbers – not for the algorithm.
Drop us an email contact@ascendiaprime.com or
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