Judge every campaign by what it earns, not what it books

1. 01

   Write down one order's full cost

   Take one typical order and list every cost that follows it: discount, payment and platform fees, product cost, pick and pack, packaging, the shipping you pay that the customer does not, and the average cost of returns and refunds. What is left is contribution.

   Finance owns the numbers. Marketing and operations check them. Use your own books, not a benchmark.

   • List every cost line
   • Fill each one from your books
   • Agree the sheet with marketing and ops
2. 02

   Give every product its own line

   Products do not cost the same to sell. One has a high margin and rarely comes back. Another sells well but is heavy, discounted and often returned. Work out contribution per product, not just per order.

   This is the start of a profit card for each product. A spreadsheet is fine.

   • List your top products
   • Work out contribution for each
   • Mark the ones that lose money
3. 03

   Report campaigns on contribution

   Next to ROAS, show what each campaign earned after costs: the products its buyers chose, the discounts they used and the returns that came back. Here is an example. A campaign at 4x ROAS that sells discounted, often-returned products can leave less than one at 2.9x that sells high-margin products to buyers who come back.

   Marketing owns the report. Finance checks the cost lines once a month.

   • Add contribution to the weekly report
   • Keep ROAS beside it, not in place of it
   • Rank campaigns by contribution
4. 04

   Group customers by the month they arrived

   Track each month's new customers as a group: what it cost to acquire them, the contribution on their first order, how long until their second order, and what they are worth at 90 and 180 days. Split it by channel.

   Some channels bring cheap first orders and no second one. Others cost more and keep buying. You will only see that by month and by channel.

   • Start a cohort sheet by month
   • Add channel to every new customer
   • Look at 90-day value, not first order
5. 05

   Move spend once a week

   In one weekly meeting, marketing, finance, operations and support look at the same sheet. Cut spend on campaigns and products that lose money after costs. Add it to the ones that earn. Pull ads from products about to run out.

   Write every decision down with its owner and the date to check it. That log is how you learn what worked.

   • Book the weekly review
   • Bring one sheet for everyone
   • Log every spend change
6. 06

   Check the cash on Friday

   Compare the week's contribution with the cash that actually moved: new stock paid for, refunds sent, and fees taken. If revenue is up and cash is down, find which line did it before you spend more.

   A record month that leaves less cash is a warning, not a win.

   • Compare contribution with cash
   • Find the line that moved
   • Bring it to Monday's review

of 18 done

Gross margin, contribution, returns and a role for every product. Copy the profit card.

How one brand found where its record month's cash went. Read the brand's story.

A printable version is on its way.