Orion's Comet — Fractional CRO Advisory
Green test reports. Flat bank account. Both true.
Fractional CRO advisory for 7–8 figure direct-response brands. I don't replace your in-house CRO — I make the one you already have far more dangerous.
60 minutes. Credited toward the audit if we work together. No pitch.
The Reframe
Your CRO isn't the problem. Your roadmap is.
Your in-house CRO is smart, motivated, and running tests. They're also two to five years into a craft that takes ten-plus to build real pattern recognition. That's not a knock — it's a stage. They don't need replacing. They need a senior operator in their corner who's already made every mistake they're about to.
Sound familiar?
3× more effective
I review the roadmap, kill the tests that aren't worth running, and turn your CRO's effort into wins that actually move revenue. Same team. Sharper decisions.
The Work
Architect the system. Steer the team.
What I do
- Architect the test roadmap — what to test, in what order, and why.
- Review and redline every brief before it reaches dev.
- Direct copy and creative. I steer; your team drafts.
- Run competitor teardowns and turn them into test ideas.
- Coach your CRO through the hard judgment calls.
- Tell you when a test isn't worth running. Often the highest-value thing I do.
What I don't do
- I don't write copy. I direct it. (Can be written for an added fee.)
- I don't do QA, media buying, or project-manage your devs.
- I don't work with brands under $3M — not enough traffic for clean tests.
Every “don't” is deliberate. A senior advisor defines the box. Junior consultants say yes to everything and then disappear into scope creep.
The Cadence
A real engagement, week to week.
MON
Async Review
I review last week's results and the live pipeline. Your CRO walks in prepared.
TUE
Strategy Call
Founder + CRO + me. Align priorities, approve the next sprint. 45–60 min.
THU
Tactical Call
Just me + your CRO. Sharpen briefs, kill weak tests. 30 min.
ALL WEEK
Async Access
Slack + Loom for copy, briefs, and teardowns. Capped at ~2 hrs.
~4–5 hours of my time a week. The force multiplier isn't my hours — it's the quality of the decisions your team makes in theirs.
Proof · Anonymized — named on request
+88%
conversion-rate lift · e-commerce rebuild
+320%
average order value · same rebuild, 30 days
$92
CPA, 9-figure quiz funnel · down from $700
+30%
upsell revenue lift · +$13 / customer, catalog-wide
“They didn't have a page that sold. They had a page that displayed.”
Fit
Who it's for. And who it isn't.
Built for
- $5–50M DR brands — supplement, e-comm, info, financial
- A sharp in-house CRO who wants a senior brain
- Teams that can execute: real dev, QA, copy
- Founders ready to hand off the roadmap
Not for
- Under $3M — you need an offer strategist, not a CRO advisor
- Founders who relitigate every test
- Teams with no execution capacity
- “Blame CRO, credit the ads” cultures
The Path
Four ways in. Start where it fits.
Diagnostic Call — $500.
60 minutes. The 2–3 highest-leverage moves I see. Credited toward the audit if you move forward.
Two-Week Audit — $4,500.
Full teardown, competitor analysis, a prioritized roadmap your team can run. 50% credited toward the retainer.
Fractional Retainer — $9–11K/mo.
The core engagement. Two calls a week + async. Performance ($9K + per-win bonuses) or flat ($11K).
Project engagements — $5–10K flat.
VSL restructure, quiz or upsell architecture. Standalone or added to a retainer.
Most start at the diagnostic and ladder up. The path protects us both.
Who you'd be working with
I'm D.J. Gelner — a 12-year direct-response marketer and former attorney. I've run CRO across supplement, info, financial, and e-commerce offers at the 7–8 figure level, which means I've built the pattern library most in-house CROs are still accumulating. That's what I rent out, a few hours at a time.
Reply “I'm in.”
Book the diagnostic and I'll send everything you need. Not ready? Tell me one test your CRO is running this week and I'll grade it — free, no pitch.
Questions
Do you sign an NDA?
Yes — happy to, before you share any funnel data.
What if we don't have a CRO yet?
Then you may need an offer strategist or a hands-on build first. Tell me your setup and I'll give you a straight read.
Is there a minimum commitment?
The retainer is a 3-month minimum. The diagnostic and audit are one-offs.
Do you actually do the work, or just talk?
I direct; your team executes. If you need hands-on building, that's a project engagement.