# The brief chain, from awareness to retention

Planning is where a plausible strategy becomes falsifiable. One message chain feeds four funnel briefs, and each brief names the evidence it expects.

All four briefs are available. Each one names an audience, a promise, the proof it depends on and the metric it will be judged on.

## Awareness

Cold UK supplement buyers. Promise: know what is in every serving. Proof: sourcing and dose table. Metric: qualified landing sessions.

## Consideration

Buyers comparing labels. Promise: compare the label, not just the price. Proof: third-party testing and a clear dose comparison. Metric: quiz starts per 1,000 impressions.

## Conversion

Buyers who completed the quiz. Promise: make a first order with clear delivery and cancellation terms. Proof: publish the terms before checkout. Metric: first purchases per completed quiz.

## Retention

First-order customers. Promise: make the habit easy to keep. Proof: usage guidance and reorder timing. Metric: second order within 60 days.

- **Planned paid-media envelope:** $35,000 per month across the three illustrative channels. Illustrative planning budget. Excludes production, agency fees, software and tax. It is not the recorded run's budget.
- **Primary diagnostic:** Quiz completion by device and week. September 1–7 and 8–14 paid cohorts, each observed for seven days.
- **Business outcome:** First purchases and 60-day second orders. The example assumes $80 for a first order; this is not a verified UK price.

## Channel roles

The illustrative $35,000 monthly paid-media envelope covers paid social, paid search and paid video; it excludes production, fees, software and tax. Owned email supports retention outside that envelope. The roles are a plan, not observed performance.

- Lead with ingredient transparency; support every product claim with evidence on sourcing, dose or testing.
- Candidate A: ‘Know every ingredient.’ Proof-led and specific; use only when the ingredient and dose table is live.
- Candidate B: ‘A simpler daily supplement.’ Broader and easier to say, but reject for launch because it does not answer Oliver’s proof question.
- Paid social: test the transparency message against a price-led control.
- Paid search: capture label and dose questions with a proof-led landing page.
- Paid video: introduce the sourcing and dose table to qualified audiences; judge on completed qualified visits, not views alone.
- Owned email: set reorder timing without inventing a discount.

## Worked measurement contract

Count distinct retained quiz journeys, not raw events. A journey starts once from a source-tagged paid click and is assigned to its cohort by that click. Quiz completion requires quiz_start and quiz_complete in the same retained journey. First purchase is assigned once, by the last eligible paid click. Subscription starts and 60-day second orders are separate outcomes. Every metric carries its unit, period and denominator. A repeat event never increases the journey count.

- RSA:
Know every ingredient (21/30)
See the dose and source (23/30)
- Nurture email (week 2 of the six-email, four-week sequence): Subject: Your ingredient guide. Revisit the sourcing and dose table before choosing. See how each amount is listed and what the third-party test covers. View the guide. No discount or health outcome is promised.
- Measurement contract: quiz_start → quiz_complete → first purchase → subscription start → 60-day second order. Analytics owns event definitions; the growth lead owns the decision. Before launch, verify one retained journey, duplicate-event handling, consent state and the seven-day cohort window.

## Why this choice

Fund the four briefs as one chain. A channel plan that cannot name the proof and the event it expects is not measurable, however polished it looks.

## Next step

Proposed message categories, channel roles, the measurement plan and launch prerequisites move into launch planning.