Completing the Puzzle is a puzzle rental subscription service with a unique seasonality curve. While many brands peak in November, their strongest demand consistently lands in December.
The product is highly giftable and naturally carries momentum into the new year. That makes December the most important window of the year, and also the most unforgiving if something is off.
Heading into this period, performance was stable but under pressure. We needed an unlock, and we needed it fast.
Going into December, two things were true at the same time:
CPMs were up more than 60% year over year, reflecting a much more competitive ad environment.
Conversion rates were largely unchanged.
That combination matters.
It meant demand still existed. The product still converted. But the cost of earning attention had gone up. In an environment like that, something has to give.
At a high level, there are only a few levers available:
The question wasn’t whether we needed an unlock. It was which unlock made sense given the constraints.
We were offering 20% off, and we did not want to go meaningfully beyond that. Historically, once discounts creep past the ~30% range on subscription, churn increases. Short-term efficiency improves, but long-term unit economics degrade.
So the offer was not the lever we wanted to pull.
Landing page optimization was explored.
We ran a handful of CRO tests and did see incremental wins. We added social proof to the hero section and introduced a review summary. These changes helped, but they were not transformative.
More importantly, landing page testing takes time. This window was tight. December was approaching quickly, and we did not want to miss it waiting on slow feedback loops.
We needed something we could:
That left one lever with the highest upside and the fastest feedback loop.
Most puzzle advertising sells the enjoyment of puzzling.
Customer behavior suggested a different tension.
People love puzzles. They hate clutter.
That insight reframed the entire category. If we could lean into that tension honestly and clearly, the creative could do more work per impression in a more competitive environment.
We rebuilt creative around negative hooks paired with negative imagery, supported by radical clarity.
Founder-Led Negative Hook Video
We scripted a video that opened with a line most brands would never say:
“Stop buying puzzles.”
The founder appears on screen throwing puzzles into the trash.
The visual immediately breaks pattern. It forces attention without relying on gimmicks. The message is direct. The problem is not puzzles. The problem is owning them.
Once the founder recorded the script, our video team tightened pacing, added B-roll, and sharpened the explanation of how the subscription actually works. The goal was clarity in the first few seconds.
Once deployed, the impact on efficiency was immediate.
Alongside video, we launched a static designed for instant understanding.
The ad looked like a series of subway billboards placed next to each other and read:
No abstraction. No lifestyle framing. Just a clean explanation of the value proposition.
This static became a standout performer and helped stabilize performance as spend increased.
● Launch negative hook creative
→ Immediate CAC improvement
● Scale daily spend 3x
→ CAC holds steady
● Add billboard static creative
→ Further efficiency gains
● Peak performance
→ 600+ subscribers/day
→ 8x daily spend vs. November
Creative unlocked the opportunity. Execution protected it.
During the holiday window, we ran a disciplined daily cadence:
This allowed us to move fast without losing control.
Efficiency
After launching the new creative, CAC improved by 39%.
The improvement happened quickly and held as spend increased.
Scale
At the same time, average daily ad spend increased by nearly 8× through the second half of December.
This happened during the most competitive advertising window of the year, without changing the offer and without relying on heavy discounting.
Additional Highlights
After launching the new creative, CAC improved by 39%.
The improvement happened quickly and held as spend increased.
Scale
At the same time, average daily ad spend increased by nearly 8× through the second half of December.
This happened during the most competitive advertising window of the year, without changing the offer and without relying on heavy discounting.
This allowed us to move fast without losing control.
Complementary Strategy: Scaling Facebook Ads: Revenue-Driven Growth
This was not a CPM story.
Higher CPMs simply revealed the constraint.
The real win came from:
When time is limited and competition is high, the teams that win are the ones that know where not to look just as clearly as where to focus.
When markets get more competitive, efficiency does not come from panic changes.
It comes from clarity.
By resisting offer creep, avoiding slow optimization cycles, and committing to creative as the primary unlock, Completing the Puzzle turned a narrow December window into one of its strongest growth periods ever.
Not by doing more things. By doing the right thing faster.
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without discount dependency, we can help.
