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- Misfits Market: Customer Acquisition Strategy
Misfits Market: Customer Acquisition Strategy
Meta ads, Optimised landing pages & Diversification
Hey guys 👋
After going through the survey responses, I’m testing out a more concise format today that comes packed with key insights of a proven growth playbook.
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- Dev
This is what I’m covering in today’s case study:
Misfits Market origin story
Meta ads approach
Utilising personalised landing pages
Diversifying across other channels
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FEATURE CASE STUDY
Misfits Market is an online grocer for ugly produce

Misfits Market is an online grocery delivery service that focuses on reducing food waste by selling “ugly” produce and other, selective grocery items at discounted prices. They source leftover and unaesthetic produce that might not fit the strict standards of traditional grocery stores but are still perfectly edible and nutritious. The idea came to founder Abhi Ramesh when he visited an apple orchard and saw more apples on the ground than on the trees. Motivated by this, he persuaded farmers to sell him their imperfect produce at low prices. Misfit’s Market started with a simple online pre-order page and $1,000 in ad spend.
THE STRATEGY
The new playbook of growth
Like most consumer brands, Misfits Market relies heavily on Facebook and Instagram because of its cost efficiency and targeting capabilities. However, they faced challenges with rising media costs and diminishing returns as market saturation increased, hindering their ability to scale efficiently and profitably.
They flipped their old playbook to reach new customers, improved their customer acquisition costs and explored new ways of tapping into their total addressable market.
Their new focus was on personalization and engagement across multiple platforms designed to connect with a broader audience in a more meaningful and relevant way.
THE PLAYBOOK
Elements that bring this strategy to life
Meta ads strategy

Misfits Market knew Meta was still the channel to lead with and scale. They had to bring the acquisition costs (CAC) down to scale while combating razor-thin margins.
They shifted from a laissez-faire to a more refined approach by restructuring their entire ad account. With the new restructuring they:
Niche down their audience targeting, segmenting to find the most interested.
Adopted creative testing by breaking their efforts into creative themes. From there, campaigns ran against different audience segments to find themes that resonated best.
Streamlined their messaging to focus more on their value proposition and what they were trying to achieve as a brand. Their mission to “save food from going to waste” became integral.
Included collaborations with key influencers in their ads to improve the brand’s recognition amongst its Gen-Z and millennial consumers.
Potential customers who were interacting with their ads were clear about their offering and how it could benefit them. Plus, being fed relevant content cuts through the noise and keeps the brand top of mind in case ‘problem-aware’ consumers aren’t quite ready to buy from them.
Post the restructure, Misfit’s Market reported a growth in revenue (reported at $386m over 24 months) and subscribers (up by 1,100%).
Key takeaway:
Implement a creative testing framework that allows you to find efficiency and create ad copy that addresses the pain points of your customers.
Tailored landing pages

They also prioritised improving their landing pages to drive up conversion rates to get the most out of their paid media campaigns. Makes sense, considering that in 2022 they spent upwards of $80 million in ads.
Here are the four key elements they focused on:
Delivery of a clear value proposition so people can make faster decisions.
They rotate three core messages: reducing food waste, affordability & high-quality produce.
Are upfront about offers and social proof signals.
Visually appealing page design that removes purchase friction for customers
Bright & engaging images of produce
Calls to action are well-positioned
Looks just as good on mobile as it does on desktop, providing a seamless experience.
Targeted copy based on segmented audience to match ad campaigns
Messaging based on customer feedback and survey data.
Crafted around the pain points of customers like “wanting to save money while eating healthy”.
Quantify savings in the copy. They are currently running ‘save up to 30% vs traditional grocer”.
When these elements come together, they provide a cohesive online shopping experience, making it easier, faster, and more appealing for customers to subscribe.
Key takeaway:
Optimize your landing pages with a clear value proposition, visually appealing design, and targeted messaging. Focusing on the shopping experience will increase conversion rates, creating opportunities with the existing traffic that you have.
Channel diversification
Instead of overly relying on Facebook and Instagram, they opted to widen their horizons by adding new channels like paid search, YouTube, Pinterest and affiliate marketing.
This expansion ensured they achieved full-funnel coverage while maintaining their customer acquisition costs.
They stuck to the fundamentals and focused on the following:
Identified new audiences through segmentation
Tailored the messaging on each channel so that it’s native to each platform
Developed platform-specific strategies like:
Meta ads - improved ad spend efficiency through creative optimisations and changing up their targeting.
TikTok - added personalities to personify the brand and tap into Gen Z humour and food trends. They invested in creating 9:16 content that they share across Instagram reels.
YouTube - Introduction of long-form videos creating content around inspirational recipes and showing behind the scenes of supplier farms
Pinterest - Recipe discovery
Paid Search - They have a prominent brand so they are bidding on their brand terms. However, their growth comes from going after generic food-related, discount and convenience-focused terms.
→ Generic food-related terms: grocery delivery, fresh produce delivery, online grocery shopping
→Discount-focused terms: cheap groceries, affordable produce, grocery savings
→Convenience-related terms: easy meal planning, quick grocery delivery, time-saving grocery service
Influencers - Works with both macro (celebrity) and micro-influencers. Notably, celebrity partnerships with chef Bobby Flay helped them validate their product quality amongst customers. Micro-influencers also help tap into a socially conscious audience.
Display advertising - helps achieve omnipresence across key ad networks programmatically, helping reach more people.

Examples of personifying their TikTok account.
For new customers, diversified channels made it easier for them to discover, and engage with the brand across multiple touchpoints. Plus, receiving targeted offerings familiarly on each channel helps take action.
Key takeaway:
Ensure your messaging is native to each channel, and leverage both broad and niche influencers to validate your brand and connect with different audience groups.
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