Reporting discounts and promo codes without fooling yourself

Keep the discount visible

• Report gross sales, discounts, refunds and net sales as separate lines, so a discount cannot hide inside revenue.
• Write which revenue each ratio uses. ROAS on net revenue already carries the discount, and ROAS on gross revenue does not.
• Track the discount rate: discounts as a share of gross sales, by month, by campaign and by code.

Separate code orders from ad orders

• A code can be shared on coupon sites, in newsletters or by partners. An order with a code is not automatically an ad order.
• Keep code orders out of the ad numbers, and show them on their own line beside them.
• Check which codes were already in use before the campaign started, and whether they were live during it.

Check the margin

• Recalculate contribution margin and break-even ROAS at the sale price, for every product in the promotion.

Judge a sitewide sale on its own terms

• A sitewide discount lowers the value of every order, including orders that would have come anyway. Compare sales with the same weeks of earlier periods, or with a holdout where one is possible.

What to write in the client report

• The discount rate by month and by campaign, with gross sales, discounts, refunds and net sales shown as lines.
• Code redemptions in a separate table, with the rule that decides what counts as an ad order.