Pawp's CAC-less Growth Strategy
Marc Atiyeh, CEO of Pawp, on building telehealth for pets
Shifting to CAC less growth meant Pawp was trying to turn pet care into a habit and a referral engine, not a paid ad business. In practice that meant leaning on three cheaper channels that fit its product, organic search for urgent pet questions, partner distribution, and brand trust with millennial pet owners, while using the membership as the monetization layer instead of trying to win through pharmacy margins or heavy promo spend.
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Pawp said 95% of growth had become organic, with SEO and partner channels doing much of the work. The example pages were emergency style searches like dog ate weed and fireworks anxiety, which catch owners at the exact moment they may need a telehealth consult.
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That matters more in pet telehealth than in human D2C telehealth because there is no simple blockbuster use case like ED meds. Pawp cannot cheaply buy intent with one narrow product, so lower cost acquisition has to come from education, triage, and being the first trusted touchpoint when something is wrong.
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The broader telehealth market in 2022 was already moving away from ad heavy growth. Rising churn, heavier competition, and higher paid acquisition costs pushed companies like Ro and Hims toward stronger brands, retail distribution, and hybrid care models, which is the same lane Pawp was entering from the pet side.
Going forward, the winners in pet care are likely to be the companies that own the ongoing relationship before the clinic visit, not just the transaction at the clinic. If Pawp can keep turning search, partnerships, and everyday triage into repeat membership usage, it can build a lower cost demand engine that is hard for traditional clinics and retail pet sellers to copy.