Advertising
Why your ROAS looks great and your bank balance does not
Branded search flatters every report it appears in. Here is how to strip it out, and what the number underneath usually looks like.
The Sentinel Brief
Notes from inside the accounts
What we are seeing across the accounts we run: fee changes, algorithm shifts, and the mistakes we watch brands make often enough to write down.
Operations
The fee errors we find in almost every account
Dimension mistakes, unclaimed reimbursements, and storage on products that should have been liquidated two quarters ago.
Retail media
What Walmart rewards that Amazon does not
Content quality score, shipping speed, and price competitiveness all feed placement. Copying your Amazon catalogue across ignores all three.
Creative
Read your returns before you rewrite your listing
A year of return comments will tell you more about your conversion problem than any competitor teardown.
Reporting
Contribution margin per unit, and how to actually calculate it
A worked example with the fee lines most brands forget, including the two that only show up on the settlement report.
Planning
Build the Q4 plan in June, working backwards
Start from the last Prime delivery date and count back through receiving, lead time, and freight. The purchase order deadline is earlier than you think.
The Sentinel Brief
One email, once a fortnight. Fee changes, policy updates, and whatever we have just learned the expensive way. No course, no webinar funnel.
Want to know what your account is really earning?
Send us your numbers and we will tell you where the money is going. You get the findings whether or not you ever work with us.