Poki Yoki — 90-Day Operating Plan
The execution companion to the two-paths analysis: what we run, in what order, at what budget, and the exact gates that decide each next move.
v1 · 2026-06-13 · budget: $15,000 media / 90 days · owners: Mawn (media) + founder (offer/site) · run to the thresholds, not the calendar
The plan in one box
Path B is the engine; Path A is a bounded test. Run classic DTC paid social restructured around the Family SKU ($85) as the continuous revenue + social-proof channel (≈$12.5K). Run the game funnel as a $2,500 stage-gated experiment whose only job in 90 days is to measure the verified-mom→buyer rate — not to drive revenue. Goal of the 90 days is not profit (no path is profitable in 90 days at this budget); it's to (1) generate reviews + repeat buyers + a Family-skewed AOV story that makes Month-4 spend efficient, and (2) get a real read on the game channel for <$2.5K. Allocation follows the proven 70 / 20 / 10 rule.
1 Budget allocation ($15,000)
| Bucket | $ | % | Owner | Purpose |
|---|
| B Meta paid social | $9,000 | 60% | Mawn | Revenue engine · 2 ad sets max · Family as hero · ≥$1,050/wk/ad-set to exit learning |
| B Creative production | $1,500 | 10% | Mawn/UGC | 10–15 assets/mo · refresh winners every 14–21 days |
| B Influencer seeding | $1,500 | 10% | Founder | 30–50 gifted units to mom micro-creators · amplify winners as dark posts |
| A Game traffic + promo | $2,250 | 15% | Founder | Drive US-mom plays · build ~400–500 verified moms + ~1,500 retargeting pool |
| Buffer / holdout | $750 | 5% | Shared | CPA rescue, clean holdout cell, pivots |
| Total | $15,000 | 100% | | (Mawn's confirmed $3K/mo from June 15 sits inside the Path B line) |
2 Pre-flight checklist — must be TRUE before Day 1 spend
⛔ Do not start paid traffic until these are done
- Family ($85) is back in stock. The whole unit-economics fix depends on leading with Family; ~5–6 units (May 2026) is not enough to run a Family-hero campaign. This is the #1 blocker.
- Family-hero landing page built and live ("complete system, one purchase, lifetime warranty"); Starter is the secondary/fallback CTA, not the hero.
- Meta + TikTok pixels + Shopify Conversions API firing correctly; a holdout cell defined so attribution can be sanity-checked.
- Klaviyo flows ready: 5-email welcome, abandoned-cart, and a Starter→Family 14-day upsell sequence.
- A Post-signup survey wired in the game: one question — "How old is your youngest child?" (this measures contamination from Day 1).
- A COPPA-clean architecture: neutral age gate, parent account, no behavioral ads/IAP to kids. (Also the trust story.)
- A If the giveaway prize pool >~$5K: official sweepstakes rules + NY/FL registration via a platform (ViralSweep or equiv.).
- Share-event tracking live in the game (to read the k-factor by Day 14).
3 The Family-SKU restructure (the single highest-leverage move)
Starter ($45) is first-order unprofitable above ~$22 CAC; Family ($85) is profitable below ~$43. At the corrected ~$55 base CAC, leading with Family takes first-order economics from −$33 (Starter) to −$12 (Family), and shortens the path to first-order profitability from Week 9–10 to Week 5–6. Concretely:
- Landing page: Family $85 is the hero offer; Starter is the lower-commitment fallback CTA.
- Creative: lead with the complete-system / lifetime-warranty value prop and the satisfying magnetic click — not the $45 entry price.
- Retargeting, segmented: Starter buyers → Family/expansion upsell within 14 days; cold prospects see Family first.
- A/B test from Day 1: "Start at $45" vs "Get everything for $85." Track Family mix % as a primary KPI — target ≥45–50% of orders.
4 Week-by-week cadence
Weeks 1–4 — Launch + the proof-of-conversion sprint
- B Launch 2 Meta ad sets (1 prospecting, 1 warm/retargeting), Family-hero. Spend ≥$1,050/wk/set to clear learning by ~Week 3. Do not edit campaigns (resets learning). Seed 30–50 influencer units.
- A Run the <$5K proof-of-conversion sprint: Family-System giveaway, signup gated on saving the Poki Pet, mom-verification via the "ship-the-prize-where?" field, clean holdout. This is the whole Path A budget concentrated into one measurable cycle.
- Instrument everything (see §6). By Week 2 you'll have the first reads on contamination and Family-mix.
Weeks 5–8 — Iterate + scale the winner
- B Kill bottom creatives by 3-sec-view/CTR; refresh winners. Turn on retargeting + the "your Poki needs a real cup" bridge to any game-list emails. Scale budget 20–30% every 3–5 days only on ad sets past learning with CAC trending down.
- A Run the email/retargeting nurture on the sprint list. Test micro-influencer Spark Ads (parenting TikTok engagement runs high).
Weeks 9–12 — Hard push + the Month-4 decision
- B Limited-time Family bundle / promo to convert warmed audiences; this is where Family-led weeks turn CM3-positive.
- A Hard conversion push to the game list (promo code). Tally the verified-mom→buyer rate — the number that decides Path A's future.
5 Stage-gates — the decision tree
Day 30 gate
- B Pass if: Meta has exited learning AND Family ≥25% of orders AND CAC trending toward <$50. Fail → rebuild the landing page / creative before scaling.
- A Pass if: contamination acceptable (see §7) AND ≥1 verified-mom purchase from the sprint. Fail → reallocate Path A's remaining budget to Path B.
Day 60 gate
- B If CAC trending <$40 on a Family-led mix → increase budget 20–30% and prepare a Month-4 scale case. If CAC stuck >$70 → pause and fix the offer/creative, don't keep spending.
- A If the game list→buyer rate is invisible → stop Path A spend, keep the Arcade as a retention asset.
Day 90 decision
- ≥5% verified-mom→buyer from the game list → Path A earns a Month-4 scale budget.
- <3% twice → the Arcade is a retention + repeat + warm-pool asset (the proven Webkinz/Monopoly job), not an acquisition channel. Rewrite its case on LTV, not CAC.
- B Lock the Family-led playbook and the winning creatives; carry into the Month-4 scale plan.
6 The weekly metrics dashboard
Track these every Friday. The ones in bold are the decision drivers.
| Metric | Target / watch | What it tells you |
|---|
| Family mix % (of orders) | ≥45–50% | Whether the unit-economics fix is landing (KPI #1) |
| Blended CAC | → <$40 | Path B viability; vs $22 Starter / $43 Family breakeven |
| CVR by SKU (Family vs Starter) | Family ≥25% of orders by Wk2 | Landing-page architecture health |
| ROAS (blended) | → 1.0×+ | Cash efficiency trend |
| Contamination % (game) | <40% non-mom | Whether Path A list is real moms (kill-switch) |
| Verified-mom→buyer % (game) | ≥5% by Day 90 | The number that decides Path A entirely |
| k-factor (game shares) | ≥0.3 | Whether the funnel can blend toward cheap CAC |
| Cash on hand | watch vs ~4–6mo runway | Survival; pace the spend to it |
| Email list size (buyers + moms) | grow | The compounding asset for Month 4+ |
7 Kill-switches — decide the triggers now
Pull these without debate if hit
- Contamination >40% (youngest child none/over-6) by Week 2 → stop Path A spend; the list isn't moms.
- Family <25% of orders by Week 2 → rebuild the landing page before Week 3 spend; the AOV fix is failing.
- k < 0.1 (organic signups <10% of paid) by Day 14 → move Path A budget to Path B; no viral engine.
- Path B CAC stuck >$70 at Day 30 with Family-led mix → pause + fix offer/creative; don't keep burning.