The POAS Scorecard
How much profit is your Google Ads account leaking?
8 questions, 2 minutes. Scored against how we run accounts to POAS (profit on ad spend) for £3M to £100M+ ecommerce brands. No call required, no obligation, honest result.
What the scorecard measures
What is POAS, and why score an account against it?
POAS is profit on ad spend: contribution profit divided by advertising cost. Contribution profit is what remains after cost of goods, shipping, payment fees and returns. ROAS, by contrast, only compares revenue with ad cost, so it treats a sale at 8% margin exactly the same as a sale at 60% margin. Two accounts can report an identical 4x ROAS while one funds the business and the other quietly drains it.
The POAS Scorecard checks whether your Google Ads account is set up to know the difference. It looks at eight signals we assess on every account we take over, from whether margin data reaches the bid strategies through to which number sits at the top of your weekly report. It is a diagnostic, not a pitch: at some scores the honest recommendation is that you do not need an agency at all.
The eight signals, and why each one matters
1. Spend level
Below roughly £5k a month, structural profit work rarely pays for itself once fees are counted. Between £15k and £500k+ a month, a one point shift in contribution margin is usually worth more than any bid tweak. The scorecard weights this first because the right answer at £4k a month is different from the right answer at £150k a month.
2. Contribution margin per SKU
Gross margin at company level is not enough to bid on. Contribution margin means the money left after cost of goods, shipping, payment fees, picking and returns. Accounts that know this figure per SKU, and keep it current rather than reviewing it once a year, can bid to profit. Accounts that do not are guessing with a blended average.
3. Whether margin data reaches the bidding
Knowing your margins and feeding them to Google are two different things. Smart Bidding optimises to the conversion value you send it. If that value is revenue, Google will happily buy revenue at any margin. Margin-adjusted conversion values, cart data with cost of goods, or a POAS layer are what close the gap.
4. Margin spread across the catalogue
A catalogue where every product sits at 45% margin tolerates revenue bidding reasonably well. A catalogue where some SKUs run at 10% and others at 60% does not: revenue bidding systematically overfunds the thin end. The wider the spread, the more profit a revenue-run account is leaking.
5. Shopping and Performance Max structure
One campaign for the whole catalogue hands allocation entirely to the algorithm. Splitting by product category is better but still commercially arbitrary. Splitting by margin tier or by the commercial job a SKU does, which is the basis of our BOI® framework, lets you set different targets for products that are doing different work.
6. Brand and non-brand separation
Brand search converts cheaply and flatters every blended number in the account. When brand runs inside the same campaigns as prospecting, or inside Performance Max without exclusions, the reported ROAS is largely demand you already had. Separation is what makes the non-brand numbers honest.
7. Returns in the reporting
In categories such as fashion and footwear, returns can remove a quarter or more of reported revenue. If returns are not reflected in targets, by category rather than as one blanket haircut, then the profit figure the account is optimising towards is fiction.
8. The first number in the weekly report
Reporting reveals priorities. If ROAS or revenue leads the weekly report, the account is being run to revenue whatever anyone says in meetings. Blended MER is a step forward. Contribution profit at the top of the page is the tell that an account is genuinely profit-led.
Scoring
How the score is calculated and what each band means
Each answer carries weighted points to a maximum raw score of 95, converted to a score out of 100. The three heaviest weights sit on margin data reaching the bidding, campaign structure by commercial role, and profit leading the weekly report, because in our experience those three decide most of the outcome. Spend below £5k a month overrides the score entirely.
Under £5k/month spend
Not yet
Agency fees eat the maths at this level. Get margin data into your own reporting with the free POAS script and revisit when you are spending £15k or more a month.
0 to 35
Revenue-run account
Bidding cannot see margin, so it overfunds the thinnest products. This tier holds the most recoverable profit, because the leaks are structural rather than tactical.
36 to 65
Partially profit-aware
The intent is right and some margin thinking exists, but the signal drops somewhere between the spreadsheet and the bid strategy. Usually a plumbing problem, not a strategy problem.
66 to 85
Profit-led with rough edges
Better than most accounts we audit. The remaining points sit in SKU-level commercial roles, returns-adjusted targets by category, and keeping margin data current.
86 to 100
Profit-led throughout
Margin in the bidding, structure by commercial role, returns in the targets, profit first in reporting. This is how we run accounts. You need peers, not an agency.
Questions
POAS Scorecard FAQs
What is POAS?
POAS stands for profit on ad spend. It is contribution profit generated divided by advertising cost, where contribution profit is revenue minus cost of goods, shipping, payment fees and returns. ROAS measures revenue against ad cost and ignores what each sale actually earns you, which is why two accounts on identical ROAS can have very different profit.
How is the POAS Scorecard scored?
Eight questions carry weighted points to a maximum raw score of 95, which is converted to a score out of 100. The heaviest weights sit on whether margin data reaches Google's bidding, how Shopping and Performance Max are structured, and which number leads your weekly reporting, because those three determine most of the profit outcome.
How long does the scorecard take?
About two minutes. Eight multiple-choice questions, one screen at a time, with a back button if you want to change an answer. You enter an email at the end to see your score and receive the question-by-question breakdown.
Is the POAS Scorecard free?
Yes. It is free, there is no call required and no obligation. If your spend is below £5k a month the scorecard will tell you plainly that agency support is not worth it yet, and point you to the free tools instead.
Do I need SKU-level margin data to take it?
No. Not having SKU-level margin data is one of the answers, and a common one. The scorecard is designed to show you which foundations are missing, not to filter out accounts that have not built them yet.
What happens after I get my score?
You see your tier and the fixes that matter most for it on screen, and we email the full question-by-question breakdown. There is no sequence and no sales chase. If you want to go further, you can book a 30-minute Profit Audit call.
Who is the scorecard for?
UK ecommerce brands turning over roughly £3M to £100M, typically spending £15k to £500k or more a month on Google Ads, with catalogues from a couple of hundred SKUs upwards. Founders, ecommerce managers and marketing directors are the usual takers.