Bought a DTC brand last year. Here is what I wish I had checked on the digital side before close.

April 30, 2026

by a professional from Michigan State University in New York, NY, USA

Wanted to share something for anyone searching in the ecom or DTC space since I do not see this talked about enough. When I was evaluating my deal I spent a lot of time on financials and almost nothing on the digital marketing side. Traffic looked healthy in the broker's numbers. Paid ads were running. Reviews were good. I assumed that meant things were fine. Post close I found out that roughly 70% of organic traffic was concentrated in two keywords, the Meta ad account had a prior policy flag that nobody disclosed, and the email list had not been scrubbed in two years. None of it was in the SIM. None of it came up in the QoE. I had to deal with all of it in the first 90 days. For anyone currently searching, curious how you are actually handling the digital marketing side of DD before you sign. Specifically: Are you verifying traffic concentration and source quality before LOI or after? Are you getting direct access to ad accounts or tools (besides the classic Semrush)? Curious people's perspective here.

Reply by a professional
from Technische Universität Berlin in Miami, FL, USA

This is a really useful post - the traffic concentration problem especially. Two keywords driving 70% of organic is the kind of thing that looks fine in aggregate data and is terrifying when you zoom in. The meta ad account flag is the one that would have kept me up at night. That's not a "fix it over time" problem, that's a "you could lose your primary acquisition channel tomorrow" problem. One thing I've started doing when helping buyers look at digital-heavy businesses is using AI to run a quick pre-LOI audit - feed in whatever public data is available (domain history, ad library, Google search footprint) and ask for concentration risks and single points of failure before spending serious time on the deal. It doesn't replace getting direct access to the accounts, but it surfaces the right questions to ask before you request access. Saves a lot of time on deals that aren't going to work anyway.

Reply by a searcher
from Columbia University in Miramar, FL, USA

I look very closely at how sophisticated their ad measurement is. If simply using Meta and Google reporting I know there's opportunity. DD is as simple as hiring someone who knows this inside and out and can quickly scan ad accounts and reporting to call out flags and items to be aware of. I get excited when I see holes, that's the growth opp for you. Also look at: - email open and click thru rates adjusted for apple privacy

+7 more replies.

Join the discussion