Work · 02 · Method
I did not auditthe website.
A business audit for a product company that sells direct to customers. Brought in for marketing. I started with the cost of every product instead.
02
The situation
Two agencies had already worked on it.
A friend’s product business brought me in for marketing. Two agencies had worked on it before me. The ask was the usual one: more people to the site, more sales.
03
What I did not do
I did not start with the website.
Everyone before me had. A new site, new ads, new photos. I did not open it. Whatever was wrong, it had survived two agencies, so it was not on the site.
04
What I did
I asked what every product costs to make.
- 1Costed every product: materials and makingNeeds: duration
- 2Took out what shipping and packaging cost per orderNeeds: duration
- 3Priced the owners’ hours, which nobody had countedNeeds: duration
- 4Put the three numbers next to the selling priceNeeds: duration
05
What it looks like
The table. Shape only, values private.
One row per product, five columns: cost to make, shipping and packaging, owner hours, what is left. No revenue, no margins and no order counts appear anywhere on this site.
This is the whole method. One row per product, five columns. No revenue, no margins and no order counts appear anywhere on this site.
06
What happened
The advertising had never been the problem.
The products being advertised could not have paid for advertising at any level of performance. No campaign fixes a product that loses money on every order.
What the owners did next is theirs to tell. The method is public. The client is not.
What the owners did next is theirs to tell. Friends of fifteen years, and the findings were not flattering. The method is public. The client is not.
07
What I would do differently
Ask for the numbers before saying yes to the brief.
Needs: Đorđe's own admission. Placeholder aboveNeeds: Đorđe's own admission for this one. The line above is a placeholder
I do this on the free audit too.
Thirty minutes. We look at your numbers before we look at your idea.