DTC / Ecommerce marketing audit: published findings and scope
Separate acquisition from contribution after product costs, shipping, returns and discounts. A blended ROAS does not establish contribution profit.
The 10 published DTC / Ecommerce case highlights sum to $590k in annual figures, with a lower median of $53k. Each case explains its own outcome; the sum does not establish realized cash recovery.
What the DTC / Ecommerce figures mean
10 published DTC / Ecommerce cases: $53,000 lower median annual highlight figure. The estimator uses a separate $54k model reference. Equal figures in some sectors do not make these the same statistic.
The population is the 74 published case studies, with one selected highlight figure per case. It is not a representative sample of all SMBs or a total of every finding in each audit. A lower median is the middle value after sorting, using the lower of the two middle values for an even count. Published annual figures include different outcome types; they are not all collected cash, profit or recurring savings. Case publication dates do not establish common observation, implementation or recovery periods; use each case for its supported timing and outcome.
Separate acquisition from contribution after product costs, shipping, returns and discounts. A blended ROAS does not establish contribution profit.
Where DTC / Ecommerce budgets leak
The 10 published DTC and ecommerce audits found most of their money where a ROAS dashboard cannot see it. Paid media carries the largest share: 4 cases worth $262k a year in case figures, led by two prospecting campaigns that were buying revenue below break even once shipping and returns were counted ($134k a year, found in 6 days). The others in that group are a campaign credited with sales it did not drive, retargeting paid twice across two platforms, and affiliate links paid on organic and branded purchases that needed no incentive.
Unit economics comes next, with 3 cases from $47k to $61k a year: a free shipping threshold set years ago, freight and packaging costs that never reached the price, and marketplace fees and returns that pushed the hero products below contribution. Promotions add 2 more, where always on codes and a bundle pulled buyers off full price items.
The thread through all 10 is the measure. Revenue and blended ROAS reward volume; contribution after product cost, shipping, returns and discounts shows which sales pay. That is where every DTC audit starts, and the five checks further down are the first ones we run.
Four patterns across the 10 published DTC / Ecommerce cases. Each card names the cases it rests on; open one for its evidence. The five patterns behind them are defined in the margin leak guide.
Blended ROAS hiding the losers
Winning campaigns subsidize losing ones, and platforms claim sales they did not drive. Split by contribution margin and checked for incrementality, the blended number stops hiding the campaigns that lose money.
4 of the 10 published cases · $31k to $134k a year- Scaling prospecting spend was losing money on every sale, +$134k a year
- The agency’s ‘winning’ campaign was the biggest loser, −$53k a year
- Retargeting was paid twice for the same customer, −$31k a year
- Affiliate commissions were being paid on sales the brand already owned, −$44k a year
Shipping, fees and landed cost
Free shipping thresholds, freight, packaging and marketplace fees drift while prices stay put, so the best sellers slip below true contribution.
3 of the 10 published cases · $47k to $61k a yearDiscounts that train buyers to wait
Always on promo codes and bundles pull buyers off full price items and teach the best customers to wait for the next offer.
2 of the 10 published cases · $38k to $68k a year- A discount habit was training the best customers to wait, +$68k a year
- Bundles were cannibalizing full price hero SKUs, +$38k a year
Churn hidden behind new trial spend
Aggressive trial acquisition can keep sign ups growing while net revenue retention sits below 100% once the incentives stop.
1 of the 10 published cases · $55k a year$134,000 a year, found in 6 days
Scaling prospecting spend was losing money on every sale. Two prospecting campaigns were buying revenue below break even after shipping and returns.
The 10 DTC / Ecommerce audits
What the audit checks for DTC / Ecommerce
- Campaign profitability by SKU margin, not blended ROAS
- Feed quality, search term bleed and negative keyword coverage
- Checkout funnel and shipping threshold economics
- Email and SMS flow coverage against a best practice map
- Attribution double counting across Meta, Google and GA4
Running paid search or paid social? Each has its own self scored checklist: the Google Ads audit checklist and the Meta ads audit checklist.
“Short version, we were about to cut the wrong thing. Glad we got this done first.”
$134k a year, read a year after a 6 day audit
Contribution margin on the two top campaigns: −7% → +9%
“Revenue grew and cash didn't. Victoria rebuilt margin per order after shipping, returns and payment fees, and our two biggest prospecting campaigns were losing money on every sale. We stopped scaling them.”
Victoria MillerLead auditor on this audit“Founder was on the kickoff call, the auditor who did the work ran the readout. Small thing but I've never had that with a consultancy before. You actually talk to the people who know the answers.”
$118k a year of wasted spend cut in 7 days
Rebates paid on volume never actually earned: 19% → 1%
“Rebate expense outran distributor volume and we could not see why. Cristian reconciled rebates paid against volume actually shipped and paid for, tier by tier: accruals had run off gross purchase orders. Quarterly true ups now catch it.”
Cristian BragauSenior Auditor · signed this audit off“The thing that won me over was a line in the report that basically said "we can't prove this one, so we're not counting it". Nobody does that. Made me trust everything else in there.”
$96k a year of wasted spend cut in 7 days
App installs that funded a real account: 24% → 63%
“Installs looked great and funded accounts stagnated. David followed sign ups through to funding, and the bonus was buying registrations from people who claimed it and never transacted. Incentives now pay on activation, not the download.”
David JacksonSenior Auditor · signed this audit off“I've paid for a few of these "audits" over the years and they usually end with a pitch. This one ended with a list of what to fix and which parts we could do ourselves. Some of it was not what I wanted to hear. All of it was right.”
$92k a year found in 7 days
Enterprise deal margin lost to quarter end: 5 pts lost → 0 pts lost
“Bookings hit target while margin slipped. Cristian split our discounting by timing and rep: concessions spiked in the last days of every quarter because buyers had learned to wait. Approval thresholds fixed it without losing deals.”
Cristian BragauSenior Auditor · signed this audit off“Solid work. Lost a star only because the first week dragged, mostly getting them access on our end so partly our fault. After that it moved fast and the readout was really clear.”
$88k a year of wasted spend cut in 7 days
Paid social proven to lift store visits: ~1 in 3 → 9 in 10
“Our CFO doubted that online ads drove store visits. David's matched market geo lift test proved the doubt right: footfall barely changed where the ads were off. The budget moved to markets and channels that passed the test.”
David JacksonSenior Auditor · signed this audit off$88k annual budget redirection identified in 7 days
Congress spend with a tracked return: 8% → 88%
“Six figures a year in congresses and KOL sponsorships, renewed on habit. Leslie tried to connect it to share of voice, engagement or prescribing and found no instrumentation at all. The unmeasurable part now funds engagement we can track.”
Leslie MartinSenior Auditor · signed this audit off$74k a year of wasted spend cut in 7 days
Courier bonuses paid into already full zones: 22% → 3%
“Incentive spend rose while service levels stayed flat. Alex matched bonus payouts against real time courier availability by zone: in dense areas we paid couriers who would have worked anyway. Bonuses now fire only where coverage is short.”
Alex PopSenior Auditor · signed this audit off$63k a year found in 6 days
Active users actually being billed: 93% → 99%
“Expansion lagged what we saw inside accounts. Victoria reconciled active users against billed seats: many customers used more seats than they paid for. Automated true ups now capture it, and nobody pushed back.”
Victoria MillerSenior Auditor · signed this audit off$62k a year found in 6 days
Qualified inbound calls that became bookings: 2 in 3 → 9 in 10
“Marketing hit every target and revenue stalled. Leslie followed our qualified calls into intake and about a third were dropped at busy times or never followed up. Fixing staffing and call handling converted demand we had already paid for.”
Leslie MartinSenior Auditor · signed this audit offThe five leak patterns every DTC / Ecommerce audit tests
Every DTC / Ecommerce audit tests the same five patterns that drain SMB marketing margin. The 2026 benchmark shows how often each one turns up across industries.
- Non incremental paid
- Attribution inflation
- Mispriced offers
- Retention leaks
- Discount habits