TheSpreadsheetNobodyWantstoSee
Every ecommerce brand has products they shouldn't be advertising.
Products where the margin is too thin. Products where the return rate is too high. Products where the average order value doesn't support the cost of acquisition.
Most brands don't know which products these are. Most agencies don't tell them.
The spreadsheet:
We build a spreadsheet for every client. It maps:
- Every product in the ad account
- True margin (after COGS, shipping, packaging)
- Return rate by product
- Average discount applied
- Cost per acquisition
- Contribution to profit (not revenue)
Then we sort by contribution to profit.
The bottom of that list is painful.
What we typically find:
- 20-30% of products generate 80%+ of profit
- 30-40% of products are break-even or worse
- 10-15% of products actively destroy profit
- The "best selling" products are often the worst performers
The best-selling products point matters. High volume at negative margin is not success. It's subsidised failure.
Why agencies don't build this spreadsheet:
- It requires data clients don't share easily
- It often recommends reducing spend
- It makes comfortable ROAS numbers uncomfortable
- It creates difficult conversations
If your agency is charging a percentage of spend, they're actively disincentivised from building it.
Why we build it anyway:
Because it's the only way to make decisions that matter.
Without this spreadsheet, you're optimising in the dark. You're improving efficiency on campaigns that shouldn't exist. You're celebrating wins that cost money.
With it, you can make the difficult choices that create real profit.
The spreadsheet nobody wants to see is the only spreadsheet that matters.