Oaksmond / Insights
Understand the numbers.
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Guides and practical explanations of acquisition, retention and customer economics. For those who want to understand the decisions behind the work.
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Follow the sale through to contribution.
Same revenue. A different contribution margin changes what you can afford to spend.
01Sales value does not tell you how much is left.
Meta Ad Library: how to see competitors' Facebook ads
How to use the Meta Ad Library (Facebook's ad library) to see which ads your competitors run, how long they've run, and what you can learn from them.
Read articleWhat does Google Ads (AdWords) cost? Prices 2026
Google Ads has no fixed price. The bulk of the cost is your own ad budget (pay-per-click to Google), plus management (in-house or partner) and tooling. What matters isn't the number, but whether the budget delivers positive contribution margin.
Read articleHow to choose a marketing agency for the work you need
Assess expertise, ways of working and evidence. Questions that help you choose a partner.
Read articleHow to change agencies while keeping control
Plan the handover of accounts, data and ongoing work. Preserve history and agree responsibilities before access changes.
Read articleStarting with a marketing agency: the first month
From access and measurement to priorities and initial changes. A practical overview of a structured start.
Read articleWhat does a marketing agency cost? Scope, ownership and budget
How to evaluate an agency proposal: work, deliverables, media spend, licences and responsibilities. A fee only makes sense when the scope is clear.
Read articleCRO: how to lift conversion rate (and the whole account's economics)
Conversion rate optimization improves the economics of all your traffic at once. Here's the method — from where you find the leaks to how you test properly.
Read articleThe Meta Ads structure that scales in 2026
The full playbook: clean signal architecture (CAPI, EMQ, dedup), consolidated structure, creative testing as the engine and profit-led scaling of Meta accounts.
Read articlePOAS-driven bidding in Google Ads
From tROAS to profit: how we feed contribution margin in as the conversion value, structure Performance Max by margin, and bid toward what you actually earn.
Read articleKlaviyo flows that pay the rent
The whole retention engine: flows that lift CLTV and shorten payback, segmentation on RFM and predictive data — and how deliverability is kept alive.
Read articleHow to set your POAS target
A POAS target isn't found in a table — it's found in your P&L. Here's how to work out the number that actually secures a profit.
Read articleIncrementality testing in practice: geo-lift and holdout
Attribution can't tell you whether a sale would have happened anyway. Here's how to run a geo-lift or holdout test and measure the real added effect.
Read articleBudget allocation across channels
How do you split budget between Meta, Google and the rest when every platform lies about its own share? Here's how we steer by the total.
Read article7 mistakes that kill your Meta scaling
Most Meta accounts that can't scale fail on the same points. Here are the seven — and all of them are fixable.
Read article5 signs your tracking is broken
Bad tracking drains performance quietly. Here are five warning signs that your data foundation is leaking — and costing you money.
Read article10 Klaviyo flows you're probably missing
Most stores run three or four flows and leave the rest. Here are the ten a well-run Klaviyo account has — and why each one makes money.
Read article6 feed mistakes costing you sales in Google Shopping
In Shopping, the feed is your keywords. Here are six common feed mistakes that silently cap your visibility — and your revenue.
Read articleWhy your dashboard lies about your ROAS
The sum of your channels' ROAS often exceeds your actual revenue. Here's why the dashboard lies — and what to trust instead.
Read articlePerformance marketing for fashion & apparel
In fashion, visual content and impulse buys drive the top of the funnel, but high return rates and seasonal swings squeeze the margin. The key is to factor returns into contribution margin, use creative and UGC to create demand, and steer by profit rather than revenue.
Read articlePerformance marketing for beauty & cosmetics
Beauty & cosmetics is a UGC- and repeat-purchase-driven category: authentic content and reviews drive acquisition, and consumable products with high repeat rates drive CLTV. The key is pairing strong creative testing with replenishment and retention flows.
Read articlePerformance marketing for furniture & interiors
Furniture & interiors is a high-AOV, long-consideration category. The purchase is rarely impulse, so a full-funnel approach, strong product pages and nurturing over time are decisive — and the high order value leaves room to invest more in each customer.
Read articlePerformance marketing for jewellery
Jewellery is a high-margin, emotion- and gift-driven category. The strong margin leaves room for aggressive acquisition, while brand, story and occasions (gifts, anniversaries) drive the purchase. CLTV and retention extend the value of each customer.
Read articlePerformance marketing for food & supplements
Food & supplements is a repeat-purchase and consumption-driven category with predictable usage. The key is to maximise repeat purchase via replenishment flows and subscription — it's the high, predictable CLTV that makes aggressive acquisition profitable.
Read articlePerformance marketing for subscription
In subscription businesses, churn is the most important metric: a small change compounds dramatically over time. Growth is steered by the payback period and predictable CLTV, and retention isn't an add-on, but the product itself.
Read articlePerformance marketing for B2B e-commerce
B2B e-commerce stores have longer decision cycles, higher order value and strong repeat business. The value lies in the customer relationship over time, not the single order — so CLTV, retention and a patient, relationship-driven approach steer the economics.
Read articlePOAS vs. ROAS: what should you actually steer by?
ROAS measures revenue per ad euro; POAS measures gross profit per ad euro. ROAS is easy to report, but POAS is what tells you whether you're actually making money, so steer by POAS and treat ROAS as a quick gut-check.
Read articleMER vs. ROAS: why the total beats attribution
ROAS is often the platform's own attributed revenue for a single channel — and it double-counts across channels. MER is your total revenue against your total marketing spend, with no attribution. For budget decisions across channels, MER beats platform ROAS.
Read articleCAC vs. CLTV: the ratio that decides your growth
CAC is what it costs to win a new customer; CLTV is the total profit that customer delivers over their lifetime. They aren't opposites — the CLTV:CAC ratio (ideally 3:1 or better) decides how aggressively you can afford to scale.
Read articleMeta vs. Google Ads for e-commerce
Meta interrupts people who weren't searching and excels at creating demand and finding new customers. Google captures people who are already searching and harvests existing demand. Most e-commerce brands should run both, not pick one.
Read articlePerformance Max vs. Standard Shopping
Performance Max runs automated across all of Google's inventory with less visibility. Standard Shopping shows only Shopping ads but gives you control over search terms, bids and negatives. The choice is reach vs. control. Many run a combination of both.
Read articleAdvantage+ vs. manual targeting
Manual targeting means hand-built audiences (interests, lookalikes, detailed targeting). Advantage+ lets Meta's algorithm find the buyers itself. For most e-commerce accounts with clean data and volume, automation now beats manual detailed targeting.
Read articleKlaviyo vs. Mailchimp for e-commerce
Mailchimp is a broad email tool, good for newsletters and simple needs. Klaviyo is built for e-commerce with deep store integration, purchase-data-driven segmentation, advanced flows and predictive analytics. For data-driven retention, Klaviyo is typically the stronger choice.
Read articleAgency vs. growth partner
A classic agency delivers services and hours on individual channels. A growth partner owns the total result: strategy, tech and execution under one roof, steered toward profit and the bottom line rather than deliverables.
Read articleAgency vs. freelancer: which should you choose?
A freelancer usually handles one channel well and cheaply, but without the technical foundation and the strategic whole. An agency or partner ties channels, tracking, data and strategy together. The choice depends on whether you need help with one task or a system that works together.
Read articleWhat does Meta Ads cost? Budget and minimum
Meta Ads has no fixed price. The bulk of the cost is your own ad budget, paying for impressions and clicks. On top come management, creative and tooling. What counts isn't the number, but whether every ad euro delivers positive contribution margin.
Read articleWhat does Klaviyo cost?
Klaviyo starts free for small lists and scales from there with the number of contacts (and whether you use SMS). For a growing e-commerce store, the ongoing cost is typically modest against the revenue a well-run flow and segmentation engine generates.
Read articleWhat does performance marketing cost?
Performance marketing costs three things: media budget (the biggest item, paid to the platforms), management (in-house, freelancer or partner) and tech (tracking, tooling). There's no fixed price. What counts is whether the whole effort pays for itself on the bottom line.
Read articleROAS benchmarks for e-commerce in 2026
What's a good ROAS in e-commerce? Realistic ranges across Meta and Google — and why your break-even ROAS matters more than the industry average.
Read articleWhat is POAS?
POAS (Profit on Ad Spend) is gross profit before advertising divided by ad spend. Here, gross profit means revenue minus product costs and other variable costs.
Read articleWhat is MER?
MER (Marketing Efficiency Ratio) is your total revenue divided by your total marketing spend across every channel. It ignores the platforms' own attribution and shows how efficiently the whole marketing machine is working.
Read articleWhat is CAC?
CAC (Customer Acquisition Cost) is the sales and marketing cost included in the calculation divided by new customers in the same period. Specify the scope, such as ad spend only or fully loaded acquisition cost.
Read articleWhat is CTR?
CTR (Click-Through Rate) is the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions, expressed as a percentage. If an ad gets 30 clicks from 1,000 impressions, CTR is 3%.
Read articleWhat is CPC?
CPC (Cost Per Click) is ad spend divided by the number of clicks. Pay €55 for 100 clicks and your CPC is €0.55.
Read articleWhat is Quality Score?
Quality Score is Google’s diagnostic 1–10 rating at keyword level. It reflects expected click-through rate, ad relevance and landing page experience. The score is not a direct auction input.
Read articleWhat is Ad Rank?
Ad Rank is Google’s set of auction values determining eligibility and placement. It considers bid, ad quality, thresholds, competition, context and expected asset impact.
Read articleWhat is impression share?
Impression share is the number of impressions your ads received, divided by the estimated number of impressions they were eligible to get.
Read articleWhat is double opt-in?
Double opt-in is a sign-up method where a new contact must confirm their subscription via a link in an email before they're added to your active list.
Read articleWhat is Consent Mode v2?
Consent Mode adapts Google tag behaviour to consent. It does not collect consent or guarantee lawful processing by itself.
Read articleWhat is Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM)? Explained
Marketing Mix Modeling (MMM) is a statistical method that estimates how much each marketing channel (and factors like seasonality and price) contributes to total sales, based on aggregated, historical data instead of individual tracking and attribution.
Read articleWhat is ROAS? Formula, calculation and a good ROAS
ROAS (Return on Ad Spend) is the revenue generated by ads divided by ad spend. A ROAS of 4 means €4 in revenue for every ad euro, but says nothing about what you actually keep.
Read articleWhat is nCAC?
nCAC (new Customer Acquisition Cost) is marketing spend divided by the number of first-time buyers. Unlike ordinary CAC, it counts only new customers — not repeat purchases from existing ones.
Read articleWhat is CLTV?
CLTV (Customer Lifetime Value) is the total gross profit an average customer contributes across their entire lifetime as a customer, from first purchase to last.
Read articleWhat is AOV?
AOV (Average Order Value) is your total revenue divided by the number of orders in a given period. It's what an average customer puts in the cart per purchase.
Read articleWhat is contribution margin?
Contribution margin is revenue minus the variable costs (cost of goods, shipping, fees, returns). It's the amount each order contributes toward covering fixed costs and creating profit.
Read articleWhat is incrementality?
Incrementality is the added effect a marketing effort creates: the sales that happened only because the ad ran. Sales you'd have gotten anyway aren't incremental, whatever the platform credits.
Read articleWhat is attribution?
Attribution is the method that distributes the credit for a conversion across the touchpoints the customer encountered along the way. The model decides which channel gets the credit, and therefore where budget flows.
Read articleWhat is server-side tracking?
Server-side tracking sends conversion events from your own server (e.g. via a server-side Google Tag Manager container and Meta's Conversions API) instead of from the user's browser, so data isn't lost to ad blockers, cookie restrictions and iOS limitations.
Read articleWhat is payback period?
Payback period (CAC payback) is the time it takes before the profit a new customer generates has covered what it cost to acquire them. The shorter the payback, the faster capital can be reinvested in growth.
Read articleWhat is break-even ROAS?
Break-even ROAS is the ROAS at which contribution margin exactly covers the ad cost — neither loss nor gain. It's calculated as 1 divided by your margin.
Read articleWhat is blended ROAS?
Blended ROAS is your total revenue divided by your total ad spend across every channel. Unlike platform ROAS, it isn't built on attribution and therefore can't be double-counted.
Read articleWhat is conversion rate (CVR)?
Conversion rate (CVR) is the number of conversions divided by the number of visitors, expressed as a percentage. If 2 out of 100 visitors buy, CVR is 2%.
Read articleWhat is CPM?
CPM (Cost Per Mille) is the price for 1,000 ad impressions. Spend €6 to reach 1,000 people and your CPM is €6.
Read articleWhat is ROI?
ROI (Return on Investment) is the net return on an investment divided by the investment's cost: (return − cost) / cost, expressed as a percentage.
Read articleWhat is gross margin?
Gross margin is gross profit as a percentage of revenue — that is, revenue minus cost of goods, divided by revenue. Sell for €100 with €40 in cost of goods, and gross margin is 60%.
Read articleWhat is net margin?
Net margin is net profit as a percentage of revenue — that is, what's left once both variable and fixed costs, tax and interest are subtracted.
Read articleWhat is churn rate?
Churn rate is the share of customers or subscribers who leave you in a given period. A 32% churn means just under a third of customers aren't back next period.
Read articleWhat is retention rate?
Retention rate is the share of customers who are still active from one period to the next. A 68% retention means a good two-thirds of customers buy again.
Read articleWhat is repeat purchase rate?
Repeat purchase rate is the share of customers who have made more than one purchase. If 35% of customers have come back, the repeat purchase rate is 35%.
Read articleWhat is purchase frequency?
Purchase frequency is the average number of purchases per customer in a given period. If a customer buys 2.4 times a year on average, the annual purchase frequency is 2.4.
Read articleWhat is a cohort analysis? How to read one
A cohort analysis divides customers into groups (cohorts) by a shared starting point — typically their first purchase month — and follows each group's behavior over time, e.g. retention, repeat purchases and accumulated CLTV.
Read articleWhat is RFM segmentation?
RFM segmentation scores each customer on three dimensions: Recency (how recently they bought), Frequency (how often) and Monetary (how much for). The scores divide the base into segments like VIPs, loyal, dormant and lost.
Read articleWhat is refund and return rate?
Refund and return rate is the share of orders (or revenue) that end up returned or refunded in a given period.
Read articleWhat is Advantage+ Shopping (ASC)?
Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns (ASC) is a heavily automated Meta campaign type for e-commerce, where the algorithm itself controls audience, placement and creative mix toward a single conversion goal.
Read articleCBO vs. ABO in Meta: what's the difference?
ABO (Ad Set Budget Optimization) means budget is set manually per ad set. CBO (Campaign Budget Optimization / Advantage+ campaign budget) means a single budget is set at campaign level, and Meta distributes it automatically toward the best-performing ad sets.
Read articleWhat is the learning phase?
The learning phase is the period where Meta's delivery system is still gathering data to figure out who converts on a new or significantly edited ad set. It's typically exited after roughly 50 optimisation events per week.
Read articleWhat is Event Match Quality (EMQ)?
Event Match Quality (EMQ) is a score from 0 to 10 that measures how well Meta can match a conversion event to a user, based on the customer parameters you send (hashed email, phone, name, external ID and more).
Read articleWhat is the Meta pixel?
The Meta pixel is a piece of JavaScript placed on your website that records visitor actions (page views, add-to-carts, purchases), so Meta can measure conversions and optimise ads.
Read articleWhat are lookalike audiences?
A lookalike audience is an audience Meta builds by finding new users who statistically resemble a seed audience you provide, for example your buyers or your most valuable customers.
Read articleWhat are custom audiences?
A custom audience is an audience you build from your own data: customer lists, website visitors (via pixel/CAPI), app activity, video viewers or engagement on Meta.
Read articleWhat is retargeting?
Retargeting (remarketing) is advertising aimed at people who've already interacted with you: visited the site, viewed a product, or added to cart without buying.
Read articleWhat is prospecting?
Prospecting is top-of-funnel advertising aimed at new, cold audiences that have had no prior contact with the brand. The purpose is to build awareness and win entirely new customers.
Read articleWhat are Advantage+ catalog ads (DPA)?
Advantage+ catalog ads (formerly Dynamic Product Ads, DPA) are ads that automatically pull products from your catalog and show each user the items most relevant to them, for example products they've viewed or added to cart.
Read articleWhat is hook rate?
Hook rate is the share of ad impressions that turn into 3-second video views, that is, how many people stop in the first few seconds instead of scrolling past.
Read articleWhat is hold rate?
Hold rate is the share of viewers who keep watching the ad after the first few seconds, typically measured as the share who reach ThruPlay or watch a meaningful portion of the video.
Read articleWhat is UGC? Meaning and why it works
UGC (User Generated Content) is ad content in a raw, authentic format that looks like it was created by an ordinary user or customer, rather than a polished, produced spot.
Read articleWhat is an attribution window?
An attribution window is the time period after a click or view within which a subsequent conversion is credited to the ad. Meta's default is 7-day click and 1-day view.
Read articleWhat is iOS 14 / ATT?
App Tracking Transparency (ATT), introduced with iOS 14.5, requires apps to ask permission before tracking users across other apps and websites. Most users opt out, which reduced the data platforms like Meta receive.
Read articleWhat is Performance Max (PMax) in Google Ads?
Performance Max (PMax) is a Google campaign type that runs across all of Google's inventory (Search, Shopping, YouTube, Display, Gmail and Maps), steered by one algorithm toward a single conversion goal.
Read articleWhat is Standard Shopping?
Standard Shopping is a Google campaign type that shows product ads (image, price, store) based on your product feed, with more manual control than Performance Max.
Read articleWhat is tROAS?
tROAS (target ROAS) is a smart bidding strategy in Google Ads that automatically adjusts bids to hit a set target for return on ad spend.
Read articleWhat is Maximize Conversion Value?
Maximize Conversion Value is a smart bidding strategy that spends the entire budget to achieve the highest possible total conversion value, optionally with a tROAS target.
Read articleWhat are search term insights?
Search term insights (search terms) are the report of the actual search queries users typed when your ads showed, as opposed to the keywords you chose to bid on.
Read articleWhat are negative keywords?
Negative keywords are search terms you exclude from your campaigns, so your ads don't show on searches that contain them.
Read articleWhat are brand vs generic searches?
Brand searches are searches that contain your name (people who already know you). Generic (non-brand) searches are category and product searches from people who haven't yet chosen you.
Read articleWhat is Google Merchant Center?
Google Merchant Center is the platform where you upload and manage your product feed, so products can appear in Shopping ads, Performance Max and free product listings.
Read articleWhat are custom labels?
Custom labels (custom_label_0 through 4) are optional fields in the product feed where you can tag products with your own criteria, for example margin, bestseller status, season or stock level.
Read articleWhat are match types?
Match types determine how closely a user's search must match your keyword before your ad shows: broad match (widest), phrase match (medium) and exact match (narrowest).
Read articleWhat is PMax cannibalization?
PMax cannibalization is when Performance Max spends budget on, and credits itself for, conversions that would have happened regardless (typically brand searches and bestsellers), so its reported performance is artificially inflated.
Read articleWhat's the difference between flows and campaigns?
A campaign is a single email or SMS sent to a segment at a set time. A flow is an automated sequence triggered by a customer's behavior (like a sign-up or a purchase) that runs on its own.
Read articleWhat is a welcome flow?
A welcome flow is an automated email/SMS sequence triggered when someone joins your list: typically a welcome, brand story and a nudge toward the first purchase.
Read articleWhat is an abandoned checkout flow?
An abandoned checkout flow is triggered when a customer starts the purchase but doesn't complete it, reminding them to finish the order via email or SMS.
Read articleWhat is browse abandonment?
A browse abandonment flow triggers when a customer views a product or category without adding anything to the cart, and follows up with a relevant reminder.
Read articleWhat is a post-purchase flow?
A post-purchase flow is an automated sequence triggered after a purchase, with an order confirmation, product onboarding and a nudge toward the next order.
Read articleWhat is a winback flow?
A winback flow triggers when a former customer has been inactive for a while, and tries to get them buying again before they're considered lost.
Read articleWhat is a replenishment flow?
A replenishment flow triggers based on when a customer is expected to be running low on a consumable product, reminding them to reorder in time.
Read articleWhat is a sunset flow?
A sunset flow gradually steps profiles that haven't engaged over a longer period down and eventually out of active sending, to protect your sender reputation.
Read articleWhat is deliverability?
Deliverability is the share of your sent emails that actually land in the recipient's inbox rather than in spam or getting rejected entirely.
Read articleWhat are SPF, DKIM and DMARC?
SPF, DKIM and DMARC are email authentication standards that let the recipient's mail server verify that an email really was sent from the domain it claims, and therefore isn't spoofed.
Read articleWhat is zero-party data?
Zero-party data is data the customer proactively and voluntarily shares with you (like preferences, size, goals or birthday), typically via quizzes, profile questions or preference centers.
Read articleWhat is SMS marketing?
SMS marketing is marketing via text messages to customers who've given consent, typically used for time-sensitive messages like launches, offers and flow-triggered reminders.
Read articleWhat is a sign-up popup?
A sign-up popup is an overlay on the website that asks visitors to subscribe to email or SMS, often in exchange for an incentive like a discount or access.
Read articleWhat is list growth?
List growth is the rate at which your email and SMS list grows with new, consented contacts, net of unsubscribes and removals.
Read articleWhat is server-side GTM?
Server-side GTM (sGTM) is a Google Tag Manager container that runs on your own server instead of in the user's browser, so data is processed and sent to the platforms server-side rather than client-side.
Read articleWhat is GA4? Google Analytics 4 explained
GA4 (Google Analytics 4) is Google's analytics platform where all measurement is built around events rather than page views, and where web and app can be measured in a single property.
Read articleWhat are enhanced conversions?
Enhanced conversions is a Google Ads feature that supplements conversion data with hashed first-party information (like email), so Google can better match conversions to the clicks that created them.
Read articleWhat is first-party data?
First-party data is data you collect directly from your own customers and channels (purchases, website behavior, email engagement, contact details) and which you own and control.
Read articleWhat is cookieless tracking?
“Cookieless” describes a digital landscape where third-party cookies are gone and first-party cookies are restricted, forcing measurement and targeting onto new methods.
Read articleWhat is a data layer?
A data layer is a structured JavaScript object on a website where important data (product, price, order, customer) is placed consistently, so tags and tracking tools can read it reliably.
Read articleWhat is deduplication?
Deduplication is the process that prevents the same conversion from being counted multiple times when it's sent from both the browser (pixel) and the server (CAPI), typically by both sources sharing the same event_id.
Read articleWhat are UTM parameters?
UTM parameters are small tags you add to the end of a link (source, medium, campaign and more), so analytics tools can record which source, channel and campaign a visitor came from.
Read articleWhat is Profitmetrics?
Profitmetrics is a tool that calculates the real profit (contribution margin) per order and sends it back to the ad platforms as the conversion value, so bidding can optimize for profit rather than revenue.
Read articleYour next step
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