The Intent Cost Index

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💰 The Intent-Cost Index: How to Price Your Traffic by Buyer Readiness

Blended CAC is a lie. Treating all traffic as equal just because it costs the same upfront is how even top DTC brands drain performance budgets. What you need is a precision model that prices traffic based on intent, not platform averages.

Here’s how to build your own Intent-Cost Index, and spot which traffic moves the needle on AOV, CRO, and LTV.

1. Stop tracking CAC by platform. Start tracking CAC by the intent layer

Performance teams often bucket traffic by ad channel (Meta, Google, TikTok), but that ignores what matters: where in the buying journey a click originates. A product query like “best zinc sunscreen” has radically different intent weight than “face sunscreen India,” even if both cost the same to acquire. The mistake is treating them equally in performance models.

2. Your most expensive traffic may be the cheapest long-term.

High-intent keywords often cost more, but they bounce less, return more, and convert faster. When you layer in scroll depth, dwell time, and return frequency, you’ll see some traffic clusters have 3× the downstream efficiency. Your $2 CPC on a TOF TikTok post might be 10× more expensive than a $5 CPC on a deep “buy” query.

3. Not all TOF traffic is bad, but you must model its latency curve.

TOF discovery traffic isn’t a waste if you know its timeline. A visitor from a viral UGC post might not convert today, but could reappear in 9 days via brand search or a remarketing trigger. You need to overlay session gaps, returning visitor rates, and assisted conversions to score TOF value properly, not flatten it into “didn’t buy.”

4. Build an Intent-Cost Grid to reallocate budget by journey tier.

Segment all top keywords (and their associated landing flows) into tiers: TOF (educational), MOF (comparison), BOF (conversion intent). For each, calculate actual blended ROAS and time-to-purchase. Once mapped, you’ll often find BOF gets underfunded because it looks “expensive,” when in fact it delivers the cleanest path to cash.

Plug SEMrush’s Traffic Analytics Toolkit into this framework:

• Use bounce rate, session duration, and return frequency across keyword clusters to see which pages attract decisive buyers.
• Cross-check with referrer trends to isolate TOF-to-BOF flows competitors are capturing.

You can try the Traffic Analytics reports on your top 20 URLs, watch how fast your “cheap traffic” myth falls apart.

This is the DTC traffic unlock most teams miss: traffic cost ≠ , traffic value. By pricing visits based on how buyers behave, not just what they cost, you can rewire your funnel for higher AOV, cleaner CAC, and tighter budget loops. The Intent-Cost Index isn’t a spreadsheet; it’s a new lens on where your profits begin.

Together with Insense

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📽️ Reel of the Day

What Works:

1) Anthropomorphism = Instant Affection - The teddy isn’t just a prop; it’s dressed in a robe, tucks itself into bed, looks into a mirror, and uses toner pads. That’s textbook anthropomorphism: giving human traits to non-humans. Studies show we instantly bond with anything that mimics human behavior, especially if it’s fuzzy, soft, or round.

2) Mood-based diagnosis, not skin-type boxes - Instead of segmenting by “oily” or “dry” skin, this reel maps toner pads to moods (breakouts, glow days, redness). This makes product education more intuitive and identity-driven; audiences can self-select based on how they feel, not just their skin's biology.

3)  Visual + Audio Storytelling - Camera framing: Every shot is tight, tactile, and built around slow intimacy, ideal for calming, high-retention Reels. Prop styling: Miniature robe with embroidered “Calmi” = high-sensory detail that evokes luxury but stays playful.

Broader Insights:

This is not a product reel. This is a moodboard for how you want your skin to feel 

Anua is teaching us that skin communication doesn’t need to be aggressive, scientific, or even about skin at all. With Calmi, they’ve unlocked a storytelling formula rooted in emotional proxy, softness-as-authority, and micro-ritual aesthetics, all while placing 3 products in-feed without selling once. 

Thanks for reading this edition! Keep pushing boundaries, testing ideas, and staying inspired. See you in the next edition with more ways to ignite your marketing success. 🥰